Sunday, September 18, 2016

Sweetness in the busyness...

It'a been a busy couple of weeks!

-Grace continues to LOVE her "big girl' school, so much so that she was trying to convince David and I that she needed to go after church today.  She especially loves having a backpack with her daily folder in it.  Every day right when I get home from work she wants to get out her folder and go through her daily sheet that tells us all about her day.  She also loves "telling mommy stories" just like Abigail and Andrew (1. who made you smile 2. did anything hurt your feelings today 3. how did you show Jesus' love).  Here are some fun pictures that her teacher posted...

She loves to play dress up at school...



Look how tiny our sweet girl looks (second one from the left)!


Love this pic of Grace reading a book (far left in the pink shirt)!

No wonder Grace loves school so much... they do a lot of dancing there, her favorite!  This was at their Fancy Nancy Party!


I always love when they do messy activities at school ;-)

Music time!

-Abigail and Andrew are also enjoying school.  Abigail continues to love spending time with her precious friends with special needs, it has been so neat to see a number of her friends desire to work with the special needs kids along with her.  God is doing big things at Campbell Elementary.  We continue to witness Andrew's growth as a leader in school, Cub Scouts, etc.  Here are a couple of neat projects they have done at school over the past 4 weeks.

This is a poem that Abigail wrote.  It's titled "Where I'm From."  This poem feels super personal for some reason, I guess because it's such a glimpse into her heart, but she approved my posting it.  Enjoy :-)

Here is one of Andrew's writing assignments that we loved!

-All 3 kids had Grandparents Day at school!



-We enjoyed a Cubs vs Astros game with David's family last week!  Grace loves to sing take me out to the ball game, so she couldn't believe it when the whole stadium was singing her song!


The crew!
 Grandma Crack got lots of snuggles at the game!


Thumbs up for a Cubs win!

These two cousins led cheers the whole game



-We had one of the busiest days ever yesterday, let me take you on a journey...
 1)  I ran 10 miles early in the morning with great friends which is always fun, but it's always a struggle to convince myself to set my alarm for 5 am on a Saturday morning (especially when coming off of a sleep deprived week)
2)  Grace had her first soccer game which was the culmination of so many feelings, mostly overwhelming gratitude for God's goodness in allowing Grace to not only be alive, but healthy enough to run around in the nasty heat and stickiness that is Sugar Land, Texas in the Summer, keep up with her typical peers, and love every minute of it.  Some highlights of the game were when Grace would be running and looking at us on the sideline saying "you see Gracie?!" (she was so proud of herself), every time someone scored (whether it was our team or the other team) Grace would look at me and give me a thumbs and want a high five, and one of the best is when she would look at me from the field and say "Momma, Gracie sweaty!" I would tell her that sweaty is good, it means that you are working hard and she would smile big and get back in the game.  We also appreciated the friends that came to cheer Grace on.

Grace is SUPER excited that she's number 9, just like her sissy!  In fact, the evening she got her shirt at practice she thanked God during her night time prayers that she is number 9 like sissy!  

Our favorite #9's!!!

Look at that hustle!!!

3)  Grace had music therapy and a photo/video shoot for the Gala at "Gigi's House."  If you are interested in attending the Gala, our biggest fundraiser of the year, please let me know!  We would love for you to join us, it's going to be a blast!

Music Therapy is everyones favorite!

Fun with friends at "Gigi's House!"

4)  Abigail and I went to an event called Secret Keeper Girls, which was a neat mom and daughter ministry centered around teaching young girls what it means to be a child/princess of the one true King, looking for opportunities to serve others, seeing others through God's eyes, and the value of the garments that you wear on the inside while dressing modestly on the outside.  It was a treat to see lots of friends there!

Some of the friends that we saw at Secret Keepers!

5)  We skipped our evening plans and decided to spend time together as a family just talking and laughing together.  I'm reading the book 5 Love Languages for Kids, so it was fun to be purposeful about trying to uncover what their individual love languages are, so that we can love and lead them well (the way that they feel loved and affirmed).  If you haven't read it yet, I would highly recommend it!

Thanks for hanging with us, Village!