Thanksgiving......

Our family minus a few...............

The SPREAD...............my Dad, Uncle Larry and Mom

We are home from my parents (Olive Branch, MS). We had an absolute blast. I love going there. This time was a little sad though because Tim stayed here to spend Thanksgiving with Dustin and Eric. This is the hard part of blended families. Tim's favorite holiday is Thanksgiving. He's not big (at all) on Christmas because of what has happened to it. Anyways, he likes being with family with no expectations of gifts - just each other. I have switched holidays all of my adult life (going Thanksgiving one year then Christmas the next). This was our year to go to my mom and dad's. My three look forward to going to their Nana and Papaw's all year long and now JD who is obsessed with his NANA talks about going all the time. So we went and Tim stayed here. Dustin and Eric have a grandfather that is not in good health so they need to spend all the time they can with him (especially holidays). I do hope one year they will choose to go to my folks with us to make it a perfect Thanksgiving.

I do have to say I enjoyed getting to spend 5 straight days with my kids and grandkids having fun. The Princess, Kenzie, became extremely attached to her KK. She at times wanted me over her mom. Sorry Steph. You are still her one and only Mama. I remember when Stephanie was a baby - she preferred her Nana over her Mama most of the time. At first it hurt my feelings then I grew to love it because I knew she still loved me but how special to have to special grandparent. Stephanie and her Nana are still extremely close. I hope Kenzie and I will be!!!!!! I just enjoyed the heck out of her reaching for me and wanting me to hold her and THAT SMILE. OH, THAT BEAUTIFUL SMILE.

JD, on the other hand is obsessed with his NANA. I love it though. He walks in the room in the morning and sees no one but Nana. Says....."Nana, and runs straight to her." I know JD loves his KK because when Nana is not around, I get that same treatment!!!!

My three...............this picture is my favorite because it's been way too long since I have had one of just Steph, Shan and Matt

How precious family is. How precious grandparents are........parents are.........grandkids are............kids are...........!!!!

Four Generations

I have so many other great pics so I'll keep posting. Most of them have stories so I'll have posts for the next week or so!!!

Hope you and your family had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!

Abounding Thankfulness..........

I know, Thanksgiving is still a week away but I am in the mindset as I type these words. I am so full of thankfulness that I can hardly contain myself. I can not express in words how grateful I am for the Lord's goodness to me. Thankfully, He knows as He looks upon my heart!

The cornucopia is a time-honored symbol of abundance, long associated with Thanksgiving. However, it was symbolic well before this holiday existed. The word 'cornucopia' actually dates back to the 5th century BC. It derives from two Latin words: "cornu," meaning horn (as in the name of that one-horned creature, the "unicorn") and "copia," meaning plenty (a relative of such words as "copious" and "copy"). Thus, "cornucopia" literally means horn of plenty, and the names are used interchangeably. It was usually depicted as a curved goat's horn, filled to overflowing with fruit and grain, but could actually have been filled with whatever the owner wished.

I feel like my life is the "horn of plenty" right now. Overflowing and abounding goodness. I can not contain all that is in me. It overflows like the fruit and vegetables of the horn of plenty. Abundance. That's what I have.......not in material things, though I feel blessed in those but what I'm talking about is the intangible good things. The blessings in your heart that your treasure. Abundance. Yep, I got it!!!

In no particular order here is a list of just a few things I am so thankful for:

1. My Best Friend and Soul-Mate, Tim.

2. The incredible experience of being loved by Tim.

3. Laughter............and lots of it! Thank you Tim for making LIFE so fun.

4. My wonderful children, all 5 of them!

5. The 2 precious little joys of my life - the Prince & Princess of our family.

6. A wonderful son-in-law, Jimmy. Thanks for being my Steph's dream come true.

7. My parents. The love they have bestowed on me throughout my life.

8. My siblings and their families. Family, oh, what a blessing.

9. The blessing of friends that I treasure. Some I see often, some I haven't seen in some time but they are eternal friends.

10. My salvation.

11. The fact that sometimes as it seems my world is turning upside down, knowing God still sits on HIS throne and never takes HIS hand off my life.

12. God's forever faithfulness.

13. God's amazing grace and mercy on my life.

14. Watching God move in our family.

15. Answered prayers.

16. Living in freedom!

I could go and on but these are the top!

Father, thank YOU so much for Your agape love! Thank YOU for giving me so much to be thankful for. Thank YOU for the abounding and overflowing goodness. You are the BEST!!!!

End of another season......

Well, Tim and I leave the office in 5 hours to head to Miami, Florida for the last NASCAR race of the season. We did the annual Texas race 2 weeks ago and had a blast. I know this weekend will be super fun and super needed.

Every now and then, well, actually almost all the time I just want to go away from everything with my man. I absolutely treasure our family and our lives but with all that has been going on and the way life gets so busy, I just want to be alone with Tim sometime. I just want to focus on each other and chill. That is the plan for this weekend.

We have an office in Miami so we have some good friends there. We'll most likely hang out with them some. We are going with a friend we work with and his wife and should have a blast. I'll update next week.

I can't really share right now in any detail but I just want to give a SHOUT OF PRAISE to the Lord. He is working in our family. We still have a road to walk but I BELIEVE we will make it. He has done a few things over the last few days to remind me of HIS constant faithfulness and sovereignty. My heavy heart is lighter!!! Thank YOU FATHER!

God Bless America.....

All I have to say on this whole thing is we better stay on our knees for this country. God is still on His THRONE!!!

The PRINCESS is oNe!

I so wanted to post this last week right after MacKenzie's first birthday but we left 3 days later for our annual NASCAR trip to Ft. Worth and I was a busy KK. BUT, I still have something to say about this................

The Princess of our family turned 1 last Sunday, October 26 and it was indeed a party for a princess. She looked so adorable. I can not tell you how blessed our family is to have her in it.

Miss Kenzie,

Your KK thinks you are so precious and so adorable. I want you to know that the day your sweet mommy told me she was pregnant, I knew you were going to be a princess! Your mommy was the girliest of all girls growing up and I knew God would bless her with getting to live that experience through her own little girliest of girls!!!!

I am so grateful that the Lord chose us as your family. Your KK and PaTim adore you and want more than anything to help raise you to be a wonderful, caring, considering, loving and Godly young woman!!!! It is your heritage!

Happy Birthday Princess!!!!