Clay's 1st Haircut

Clay screamed & was scared to death! 

Nathan held him while cousin Woody cut off his baby curls!  :(

But aren't I a handsome big boy now?  ;)

 

Kaley Mariah Turns 10!

    

     Our oldest child Kaley Mariah just celebrated her 10th birthday.  The Lord blessed us with her almost 11 months after we were married.  Some say that is just too soon, but we wouldn't change that for a minute!  She has been wanting to have a slumber party for years...patiently waiting until we thought she was old enough.  She invited 5 of her closest friends.  All 5 came!  They are all very sweet girls.  I was so impressed at their immature innocence in playing card games, board games, Wii games, & even playing restaurant, etc...being so polite & kind.  They were a blessing to keep, even if we stayed up over half of the night!  :)

     She also received great presents from both sides of the family.  My parents bought her a Kindle Fire.  The kids have really enjoyed it.  Nathan's parents gave her money & his mama took her shopping with it.  She had such a fun day with her Mamaw.  Our families are such a blessing!  Also, special thanks to EE once again for a beautiful cake!  :) 

We Heart Our Church!

     So have I ever mentioned that we love, love, love our church?  I thought so!  ;)  We began pastoring Aimwell Calvary Holiness Church in Vidalia, GA in March.  We were very unsure of ourselves & happy with our home church...not looking for anything else.  Yet, God in His wisdom had other plans for us.  He always knows best.  Now we couldn't imagine being anywhere else in the world.  It has truly been the most amazing 6 months of our lives.  God has showed himself so real to our family. 
     The 1st Sunday in September, Aimwell honored us with a Pastor Appreciation & Baby Shower.  Lots of special family & friends came.  We are both humbled & ever so grateful for everyone's presence & presents.  We feel an overwhelming amount of support & love from our church family.  The gifts were just WAY too much! 
     The next day was Labor Day, so we celebrated with a church cookout at our house.  We enjoyed every minute of being together!  We had a blast!  We love our church!  I just don't know who had more fun...the adults or the kids?  lol  Be thankful I love you because I'm not posting the embarrassing photos/videos!

 

Raegan Amily Turns 3!

     Our baby daughter Raegan just recently celebrated her 3rd birthday Dora style!  She loves everything Dora!  "EE," my Aunt Ethel Ann, made her a beautiful cake & cupcakes.  Raegan even wore her Dora dress.  She was so excited!  She loves birthdays~especially hers!

Church Youth Trip

     Our hearts have always been turned toward children & youth.  Since we began pastoring about 6 months ago, we have been planning our 1st church trip.  After several meetings, generous donations, & a coca-cola fundraiser, the trip became reality!  Destination:  Atlanta, GA

     We had such a great time!  The children were all extrememly good!  We enjoyed every minute of making wonderful memories with our new church family!

A Peek Inside Our Home

     Since baby #5 has been on it's way, we have know for a while that we had to swap bedrooms for the kids around.  With that brings about some redecorating & work to do.  The girls needed the largest bedroom to fit 2 full sized beds in there.  After a long hunt, I finally found 1 that resembled their other antique bed at a store in our area.  Then, we bought a little bit of fabric, paint, decorations, & went to work.  My mama sewed the quilts on the end of the beds, pillow shams, & dust ruffle.  The results:

     For the boy's room, we used all of our existing furniture & the fabrics & picture from my sister's twin's rooms.  The room was already striped yellow.  All we basically did was order their vinyl names from wordsanywhere.com & rearrange.  My mother in law made the beautiful baby car seat cover and her mother stitched the quilt at the foot of the bed when Clay was born.  :)  

The meek little hallway with the $30 flea market find is used for the kid's linen storage.  I used cheap picture frames, candles, mirror & pictures:

     The kid's bathroom is still WAY girly.  I had just redone it before we Clay.  It will have to be the next room to make a change as the boys grow.  Any ideas for a quick fix?

     Our Den:

The Playroom is right off the Den.  This use to be the back screened porch.  If I ever build a house, this would NOT be located in a visible area from the main part of the house.  This is always the messiest & loudest room in the house!  I guess as time passes it will evolve from mostly girl toys to the boys...

Our Master Bedroom with the Master Bath off the side:

Dining Room & Kitchen:



     Our house has been a work in progress ever since we married almost 11 years ago.  We live in a trailer on the family farm that is almost as old as us.  The rooms are small & make for careful planning & organizing for our growing family.  All of our furniture is either hand-me-downs or bought at antique flea markets.  Mama usually sews all of my curtains & bedding & helps with the decorating, too.  We buy most decorations at TJMaxx, similar discount stores, or flea markets.  Alot of the material we buy comes from clearance tables or sheets.  I love to use inexpensive picture frames to decorate with since it's both personal & cheap to develop them at Walmart.  The only room not pictured is the school room since it was included in a previous post & the tiny laundry room since it is not decorated at all.  I hope you've enjoyed the tour of our humble abode.  Come visit sometime!  :)