Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to you our dear friends and family! And hello from the beach!

We have had an exciting and busy year in 2011.  In November of 2010, Jeremy got laid off from his job.  It was a shock.  Immediately he began looking for jobs and  by God’s grace, he had two offers quickly.  They were both great jobs at great companies.  But one provided a better opportunity for Jeremy.  Problem...we had to move.  It was a grueling several weeks and we sought the Lord and got counsel from our friends and family.  It became clear that the Lord was calling us to move.  In February, Jeremy started that new job with Bristol Industries in Snead’s Ferry.  Yep, at the beach!  The girls and I finished out the school year in Charlotte and moved down in June.  I can’t believe this week makes six months that we’ve been down here.  It feels way longer!

We like it down here.  I don’t love it, but Jeremy does! I miss my family and friends a lot.  But the Lord has been gracious and faithful to provide new friendships quickly.  I really can’t get over his kindness in this area.  He is seriously good!  We have a new church family that we love as well.  

Jeremy is really enjoying his job.  It’s been a blessing.  He travels every other week for a few days.  The mama doesn’t like that too much:)  Neither do his girls.  We miss him! At church, he is getting ready to start helping with the youth group.  That has always been a passion of his.

I am busy running carpool these days!  We spend at least two hours in the car getting the girls to and from school.  We live way out!  40 minutes to Target to be exact! I am also working on my photography business.  I’ve loved learning and growing in this art and meeting new people.  It’s always a joy to hear someone say they love the memories I’ve captured for them.  It’s lindsaygphoto.com if you want to check it out. I’ve also enjoyed going to a women’s Bible study on monday nights.  So refreshing!  We are studying Daniel right now.

Gracie girl is 8 now!  Crazy.  She just celebrated her birthday at the skating rink.  She is in second grade and doing really well in school.  She just started learning to play the piano too!  This fall she played softball and now she is playing basketball.  She loves sports!  It has been so neat to watch her improve over the season.  She works so hard.  She is still an amazing helper to her momma.  This girl is a servant!  She can single handedly run this household:)  For a few hours,at least!

Piper is 5 1/2.  She is doing gymnastics and loving it.  She is really good!  Ask her to do a split for you next time you see her.  She is in kindergarten and really excels.  In fact, she is already finished with kindergarten and is starting first grade in the spring. As her teacher says, and we totally agree, she demands perfection.  The girls does not like to be told no.  Wonder where she gets that from? She is also taking piano.  She’s pretty cute banging away.  If you remember my sister Lauren as a kid, you have a pretty good picture of who Piper is.

Reese is 2. Whoa.  She is a tornado!  Our only blue eyed baby girl loves her dog Reilly, playing outside in the sand, and making messes.  Big messes.  Like painting the bathroom with vaseline kind of messes.  Man we love her though!  She is so funny.  Talking like crazy and saying the cutest things.  My favorite thing she says is, “Ont gib a kiss Gaycee. Ont gib a kiss Pipey (I want to give a kiss to Gracie, and Piper)” when we drop the girls off at school.  It melts my heart every time.  She is so good at saying thank you.  And she’s really working on yes ma’am.  I wish you could hear her say that. Two is still my favorite age!

We pray your Christmas is wonderful and that you have lots of time with those you love. Much LOVE, Jeremy, Lindsay, Gracie, Piper, and Reese

Mama.....

"Mama, is Santa a Christian?" This was Gracie's question to me the other day while we were folding laundry.  I was taken aback for a minute.  Then I realized, what a great question my girl just asked.  So I asked her some questions about how we know someone is a Christian.  And we talked about the original St. Nick and how he served the poor.  A definite trait of a believer.

Then I asked her if she believed in Santa.  She said emphatically, "NO mama, I believe in Jesus!"  But what she meant was, she knows that Jesus is the only one who saves.  She knows Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.
  She does believe in Santa.  That he delivers gifts and is a kind man.  And that the original one was a Christian:) We've never made much ado about Santa, and she hasn't asked me if he's real or not yet. But she knows where his place is, at the foot of the cross with the rest of us.

  It was a sweet reminder that God is working in my children, despite me.  They are his, and he will capture their hearts.

Piano

The girls have started learning piano with Dr. Gray.  They are loving it!

The week they got out for Christmas Break we got a little concert.

 Yeah, that's a crazy Piper face.
She was so cute pounding away on those keys.

Then it was Gracie's turn

Since it was Gracie's birthday that week, Dr. Gray did a celebration around the globe with her.  I've never seen this before.  But she had Gracie go around the globe 8 times, once for each year of her life and we talked about something important that happened with each year.

It was a sweet time to celebrate our firstborn!

I actually have video of their performance so I'll see if I can get it uploaded.

Six Months

Ok, I've been writing this post for two days.  I want to be real and honest about our new life here.  Here goes...

I can hardly believe that 6 months ago this past week, we packed up our little family and moved to the beach.  It's still surreal, knowing the town I was born and raised in, is not where "home" is anymore.  It has been a growing season for our family. Lots of changes, lots of learning.
        Last night Jeremy and I went on a date.  It's the first one we've been on in over a year.  Since he got laid off last November!  We were talking through our marriage and the struggles we face in communication, our very different opinions, and personalities, and just how we are doing.  Honestly, I thought this move would be great for our marriage.  I thought it would be just what I needed to focus on serving Jeremy more.  I would be away from the many distractions I had in Charlotte and I would have more time to be the wife he desires.  Whoa, it hasn't happened that way at all. The distractions are different, but the end results are the same.  So we are talking through how to find common ground and have things to enjoy together.  So that when our kids are grown we aren't looking at each other going, "Who are you?"  We've always needed to grow in our friendship with one another.  When we first moved here I felt like we were doing really well at this.  It seems we've gotten sidelined though with learning to do life here.
   It's been the busiest season of our lives since moving!  I am constantly in the car running the girls to school, sports, and Awana.  And if they want to play with friends, we have to drive for that too.  I've learned that living at the beach means you drive for everything.  There's not much going on in beach towns friends.  We have to drive to the city for entertainment, shopping, sports, and food.  You name it, we drive.  And people are fine with that.  I am learning to be fine with that.
    The girls are doing really well.  I think this feels like home to them.  I am so grateful for that.  Honestly, I think they would have been happy to stay here for Christmas.  That is pretty amazing.  The mama wasn't having that, but they could have been content here.  I love that.  Don't get me wrong, they love going back to visit friends and family, but there is a contentedness here in their hearts.  They love their friends and want to be with them as much as possible.  Gracie is loving sports and Pipes, gymnastics.  Reesee goes with the flow, or err something like that.  She makes her own tornadoes.
  We have started searching for land and houses.  Big debates are where to live, like closer to the beach and continue all the driving, or move closer in towards Wilmington and cut some serious commute.  I love the beach communities though!  They are more what I am looking for, but they're further out.  Still a little shorter drive than we are now, by about 10 mins.  There's one neighborhood I really like with super fun beachy colored houses:)  I think it would be a great place to do ministry and raise our girls.  The friends would be abundant.  Lots of young families in there.  On the other hand, being closer to town and having more land is also appealing.  Or do we scrap all that, buy a foreclosure and live cheaply?  Or does your hubby build you a home that you can get a return on?  He's good at it you know.  So, so much to think about and pray through.  If you think about it, would you pray for us?
      There have been some huge blessings moving out here too.  First of all, just knowing this is where God called us.  There is peace in that.  I'm still not sure exactly why he did, but I know he will reveal it in his time.  I definitely really miss my hometown.  I am trying really hard not to call it home anymore.  I hate missing my niece's plays, birthdays, and hanging out with my old neighbors, and watching my sister blossom carrying my nephew, and being with my family.  All of these things make me ache to be away.  But when God strips those things, he becomes more. More real, more  faithful.
  One of the big ways he's shown himself faithful is through our new church, Grace Topsail.  It's a small church, with about 15 families, and tons of kids!  They have been so kind to us.  They have befriended us, invited us to whatever they are doing, and just loved us.  It's been crazy to see the Lord's hand in this area of friendships.  He has provided them, above what I asked or imagined.  I imagined it being a long road to true friendships.  But it's been natural, and a real blessing getting to know these families.  I look forward to lifelong friendships with them.
   And, we live at the beach!! Enough said, right?:)  It's pretty crazy to be able to just drive over whenever and look at the water.  I don't do it near enough. But I am resolving to do better at it. I'm hoping to see snow on the beach this year:)  They got 8 inches last year!

  So, that's that.  Six months at our new place.  It's a journey.  And I want to be where God calls me.

Gingerbread Houses!

The girls have been out of school for a week and a few days now and I have loved having them home.  I miss them so much during the day.

I was a little concerned this year about having things to do so that they wouldn't get bored just hanging out at home.  We've kept busy doing crafts, hanging out with friends, and shopping for gifts.  Gracie and Piper wanted to shop this year with their own money for their family.  It has been absolutely precious watching them do this.  We made lists and budgets, and they've gone to town.

The first day home they wanted to make their gingerbread house....

Reese just sat and ate candy the whole time

I just let the girls go to town and I helped them if they needed me

I promise Reese wears pants.  It seems like every post has her half nakey.

Gracie's side

Piper's side

Pipey's side complete

See, we even have hardi-plank siding:)  In cool beach colors

Gracie Girls completed side

We deemed this our greatest gingerbread creation to date:)  It's still standing too...bonus.

Tree Shopping

We went to a local tree lot this year for our amazing Christmas Tree.  bwahahaha

Honestly, all of their trees were wonky, but the man was soooo nice and I couldn't say no.  SO, we picked one out.  But I didn't realize it was that bad till I got the thing home. Or, I should say Jeremy got the thing home.

We walked through the lot and picked an 8-9 ft tree.  The biggest we've ever gotten!  The guy told us the commercial trees were cheaper but they had a messed up side.  As long as we had a wall behind it, it would be fine.  Just turn the ugly side to the wall.  Buuuuutttt, this tree has all ugly sides. hmph I've been told the pictures I posted about the tree weren't that bad.  Trust me, they don't do it justice.

Anyway, here are my precious babes with our ah-mazing tree

The sweet man gave the girls goodies:)

Daddy loaded it up

Reese was mesmerized by the blow-ups.  If I could stomach them in my yard, I would totally get this kid one.  But I can't.

That's Reese standing at the bear just ooohhing and ahhhing

And there you have our Christmas Tree Hunt of 2011

Reese

This little girl is a hoot.  She is growing in leaps and bounds these days, especially in her vocabulary.  I spend most of the day just smiling and squeezing her for the cute and funny things she says:)

Some examples: When we drop the girls off for school...."Ont kiss Gaycee. Ont kiss Pipey" (I want to kiss Gracie, Pipey)
"Momma, sit heah"  (Momma, come sit here and play with me)

NO Ma'am (she hears that a lot)
yea ma'am (but just writing it does no justice to how she says it:)

She's always so good about saying " tank too" (thank you)

If she doesn't like something we do, she'll say "you mean" And when we give her the look, she quickly says "you niiiiice"  Which has now turned into an automatic "you niiiiice," when she wants to call us mean:)

One of her funny habits is to attach herself to a certain thing for the day.  Some days it's one of my shirts, sometimes it's her shirt, but this day it was La La's scarf.  And she wasn't giving it back for anything.  She wore it around the whole day.  She likes to rub things and suck her thumb.

La La had given up on ever getting it back.  But after two days we were able to rescue it from Reese without another thought of it.  She was on to the next thing.

But at the skating rink, and the whole day before...it was hers

When I left for England the week before Thanksgiving I kissed her goodbye and was walking away.  She said, "I love uuuuu."  All on her own.  Melted my heart.

EIGHT!

Gracie Girl turned EIGHT yesterday! Yikes!

She asked to have her party at the skating rink.  She's never been skating before but she assured me that was what she wanted.  So I agreed:)

We decided to team up with the Balts and have Ellie's party too.

These are some ridiculous smiles but I had to include them anyway...

Piper, Tristen, Gracie, Ellie, Faith, and Aubrey

Getting her skates

First go...with Nanny

EK (Erik) is Reese's favorite person:)  so she sat in his lap most of the night:)

We saw lots of this...falling

Poor T Bird hit the deck lots and lots

 Gamma

See, her hiney was so sore.  She didn't even want to sit in her seat to go home.

Connor even gave it a go

Reese got lovin from papaw

They were starting to get the hang of it!

Man it's been a LONG time since I've been skating

Me helping precious Anna Cate, with her daddy to our left.  He got the cool blades

Ek took his turn too

Sydney

Go Girl!  She did really well!

Faith kept wanting to race me.  Little stinker is good!

Abbie doesn't looked amused.  Neither was I that she was risking my nephew's life out there.  Wait...I haven't blogged about that yet have I?!  Oh it is coming!  YEP a BOY is coming!!!

Kim and I spent most of our time patrolling the middle:)

Avery

The benchwarmers

Kim and Madison

Oh boy, the fun really begins when dad takes to the rink

He makes me laugh so hard

Unfortunately I don't have a picture of him laid flat out on his back.  I think he quit after that:)

Aubrey really got the hang of it too!

So cute, stopping for a little break

Even Madison got out there

Yeah, it's super hard to get clear pictures when you are on skates!

Raise your hand if it's your birthday!!

The whole rink sang to them

Ellie was having nothing to do with this guy

Then it was pizza, cake, and present time
                                  

Gracie liked reading all of her cards.

  Seven and Eight!

Thank the Good Lord for this thing!  The littles played in here all night!

Happy Birthday Girls!