FIVE on Friday

I'm excited to participate in a new link-up this week! I thought I would use this week's link-up to catch you up on a few changes in our world here lately that I haven't gotten a chance to officially share yet and some other randoms!

One-
I'm officially a stay at home Momma this year!! (with a little side gig of working in my Momma's store on our historic main street) This was a long time coming in my desires and I feel so, so grateful that God has gifted me this opportunity.  This desire started when I had Adeline and just longing to not have to go back after having her (as a teacher, I LOVED my students but my heart was being pulled to my own baby).  So after finishing my fourth year of teaching after my maternity leave, I opted (was so blessed by this!) to job share 2.5 days a week as art teacher at my school last year! And then God kept up the awesome blessings by helping us realize we could take this leap of faith after Justin got a new job (see #2)! Mommy is definitely my favorite job!

we lounge

and lounge some more

and play our days away

Two-

Speaking of the above...Justin is now a full-time Youth Minister! (along with working part-time almost full-time in our family's Landscape/Hardscape business). The process occurred in the Spring with his application and interview.  June 1st was his first day, and it has been such an amazing blessing so far! Our summer was a crazy yet fun whirlwind of mission trips, retreats and many other youth functions! We actually grew up in this youth group and our youth pastor (that is now our associate pastor) is a great mentor to us.  I am so proud of Justin for his dedication and perseverance to see God's direction in this phase in his life through to this exciting, culminating change for our sweet family! I am loving working alongside him in the ministry and excited to see where God takes us on this journey! He works his bum off and I'm so proud of him!

Justin's first official Sunday

Three-
I'm currently working on limiting my soft drink intake.  Especially diet (to stay away from aspartame). Mainly because I'm an all or nothing person.  I have a hard time just limiting.  So I went a good month or so with NO soft drinks at all.  Now I've slowly been reintroducing a Dr. Pepper here and there simply because I crave the taste! But that being said, I have turned into SUCH a coffee drinker! I have to have my coffee in the morning or I'm quite the bum!

Four-
I often stay up way. way. way too late chatting it up on Facebook Messenger with Mallorie, Natalie, Beth Ann, Allie and Jordan.  It still amazes me how God can bless you through online friends that feel like you have known them forever and see them daily.  We tend to chat about all things mommy, faith and other random tidbits that could easily make people blush (right, ladies? ;) Gotta love sweet friends you can be real with!

Five-
Adeline is more and more verbal these days (well let me be honest...she has always been such a "talker") but I am LOVING the sweet little conversations we can have these days where she puts a couple words together or a long list of words together that I don't quite understand ;) .  Whether it's if she wants milk or juice, what dress she wants to wear, or who she wants to pray for at bedtime.  These are the moments that melt my mommy heart. And I try to hold onto oh so tight as she giggles back when I laugh at the silly things she says.

 

things that make you a good mom

...loving your children
...being the best example you can be for your children
...providing all the basic needs for your children
...raising them in a loving home
...giving lots of kisses and hugs
...doing the best with what you have
...loving your children
...molding them and shaping them
...following your convictions
...and your mommy instincts

and did I mention?

...loving your children

In the midst of so many things in our world that SCREAM at us how to be a "good" mom, I get tired of it.  I get tired of the put-downs and comparisons.  I get tired of the "I'm better than yous" and the "That's wrong, I'm right."  I get tired of the "I'm that kind of mom" just to look good on paper. or on facebook. or on the blog.  Whatever it is.  Whether you say it, imply it, write it.  It's all silly.  At the end of the day all that matters is if we're doing the best we personally know how to do as a mom. And that we stay mold-able.  Stay shapeable.  And that we're learning daily by grace.

Because I want my baby to know love.  And I want her to know grace.  Those two things are enough for her to conquer this world.

We all have a story.  Let's take time to read and hear each others.

you may have missed it...

If you're anything like me, you easily miss some many posts on your favorite blogs.  So I thought it may be fun to show you a few of my faves from the past 6 months (one from each month) that you may have missed and would enjoy reading.

{February}

 Handprint Heart Art (and other handprint art)

{March}

 diligence

{April}

 monthly pic how-to

{May}

 BIG news

{June}

 the fun (reminiscing) begins.

{July}

our story and engagement!

adventurous days

As soon as I saw you,

I knew an adventure,

was about...

to happen.

 

~Winnie the Pooh

anniversary getaway!

We celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary on July 19th! It's funny looking back, because our 5th anniversary was going to be our big "babymoon" out of country tropical trip.  We thought that was a good monumental anniversary to celebrate and then start thinking babies.

Well God had a different plan, and our 5th anniversary was an overnight trip 1.5 hours from home and the first time I had left Adeline overnight.  We're thankful God has better plans than ours.  Adeline is the most amazing blessing that has happened to us in 5 years!

Anniversary Celebration Run-Down

year 1- couples massage and dinner

year 2- Ruth's Chris Steak House

year 3- stayed overnight in the same beach-front Florida resort room 

we stayed for our honeymoon

(pregnant with Adeline)

year 4- baby-free dinner out and then a beach walk 

(we were on a family trip to St. Simons, Georgia with my fam)

We threw around a lot of ideas for our 5th and none were with the mention of an overnight.  I hadn't been able to get myself to stay overnight away from Adeline her entire 20 months of living. (Breastfeeding also threw a tad hiccup in that because of her still wanting milk at bedtime and in the morning.  Totally okay with me...but I started to realize the need for us to get away.)

So I decided to make my gift to Justin the gift of time...that I would commit to an overnight trip away. I was so excited planning it, and because of that, knew I was ready to stay away from her overnight.

{disclaimer: many self-taken, fuzzy iPhone pics ahead ;) }

We left after church on Sunday and drove out of town 1.5 hours away to a scheduled couples massage at the same place we had our first anniversary couples massage.  Simply amazing! We aren't ones to splurge on things like that, so it made it extra special!

rejuvenated after our massage!

After that, we went and checked in at our hotel.  We stayed at the same hotel we stayed our wedding night.  What made it even better is that they had renovated all their rooms and their pool area, so it made it extra nice and a bit different.  It's a very classy, horse country, southern hotel.  We had made a note that it was our 5th anniversary and we had stayed their our wedding night when we reserved the room.  When we got to our room, they had booked us the balcony room on the top floor of one wing of their hotel.  We had a HUGE balcony overlooking part of the city.

After relaxing a bit and getting ready, we headed to a new, trendy Mexican restaurant we had heard a lot about.  They had great food and our table was facing the huge jellyfish tank that is centralized in the restaurant.

We spent the evening after dinner walking around a gorgeous park with a beautiful fountain.

The next morning we enjoyed sleeping in (which never EVER happens post-baby ;). We took our time, grabbed coffee and a danish and then explored the town some more, including eating a yummy lunch at a local place.

We decided that afternoon to hit up the oldest working distillery in the US for a tour since it was on our way home.  We had never taken a tour and even though we aren't drinkers, we were super interested in the history of it all.  It was a fun time and we learned a lot about our state's history, which was pretty cool!

That night, we met up with my family and Adeline at dinner to pick her up.  She acted like she could care less when we surprised her. ha! I'm pretty sure we missed her a tad more than she did us! :)

while mommy and daddy are away...the toddler will play!

It was a great time and such a special reminder of why Christ calls us to put our marriage first.  We were able to soak in some wonderful uninterrupted time together to reconnect.  That alone was the best gift we could have given each other!

Here's to at least 80 more amazing anniversaries with my amazing hubs!

adeline at 20 months!

sweet as popsicles

there are many things adeline loves about summer.

the "wah-wah".

the "ish" in the "wah-wah".

the "wees" (slides).

the "wah"s (walks).

the "buh-buh"s (bubbles).

 

the "choo choo" watching.

did I mention the "wah-wah"?

But one thing she REALLY loves about summer are the "poh-poh" (or something like that).

summer.

in her eyes...

it's all about the wah-wah and the popsicles.  who can blame her?