taylor goes to prom …

Ready for a great big photo dump?!

Taylor went to her first prom … really her first big dance … a couple of weekends ago. It was so fun dress shopping, getting her hair and makeup done, and of course taking these photos of her and her boy!

I tried to grab a couple of shots as Taylor came out of her room all ready to go, but she was embarrassed and wouldn’t pose for me. Soooo, her ham-it-up boy decided to show her how it’s done.

In seriousness, these two have a lot of fun together. They’re playful, silly, and the sweetest two kids you’ll ever meet. Her boy, Travis has grown to be like a son to me.

I’m so proud of these two and love them with all my heart!

Posted in family photos, taylor

---

wynter’s first horse show!

The Lord your God is with you, a Powerful One Who wins the battle. He will have much joy over you. With His love He will give you new life. He will have joy over you with loud singing.
Zephaniah 3:17 {NLV}

Soooo … I mentioned recently that Wynter’s got the riding bug … badly! And last weekend she had her first show!

I am so proud of this girl. Not for the ribbons she won, but for the fear she conquered.

This performer of a girl wasn’t afraid of riding in the show. And her fears didn’t play out fully until we arrived at our accommodations for the night.

The show grounds were about 1.5 or so hours away, and Wynt needed to be there Friday afternoon for a training ride before the shows began on Saturday and Sunday. That said, I needed to pull the girls out of school a few hours early on Friday and we headed out of town from there.

I’d had an important call I needed to be on and figured the car ride would be the perfect time, so scheduled it for then.

Weeelllllll … I was so intent on my call, I missed our main exit, which threw us 45 minutes to an hour off course.

I finally got back on course, but when locating the show grounds, ended up in the middle of nowhere and couldn’t find my way back to the Interstate.

FYI … sometimes Siri doesn’t really know where she’s going!

I could see the anxiety starting to rise in my girl and she’d ask questions if we were going to make it on time, and find our way, etc., etc.. I assured her we would and with calls to her trainer, we’d be there soon and she’d still get her ride in for the day.

She did get her ride in and all went well. But as we left the show grounds and headed to our hotel, which ended up being a bit of a deserted motel … Wynt was a mess. The woman at the front desk was NOT nice. I had reserved two rooms, which I thought would connect, but did not, so wanted to cancel one of them and the woman would not {because I booked online}. Wynter’s the kid who takes those types of stresses on herself.

And as we made our way into our room, my girl was in a puddle of tears. She wanted to go home. She doesn’t like to travel and feels safest when she’s “safe and sound” at home.

I’ve only recently realized how deep and real her fears and anxieties are, and I’ve been doing what I can to guide and counsel her through them.

Hold that thought … let me first bombard you with photos! :)

{here she is heading out for her first class}

{in the show ring}

{her very first show as a three year old in comparison to her nine year old self}

{who’s that babygirl in there!?}

{typically in a show you want to stay a good horse length away from the rider in front of you. with kids, probably even more so! wynt and her pal kept ending up next to each other and wynter thought it was “so much fun!” “we would would just ride and talk to each other, it made it so fun!” i didn’t have the heart to tell her not to pair up next time!}

{piper and wynter circa 2006ish}

{the first day she took a 1st, two 2nd’s, and grand champion. the second day, she took the exact same ribbons! consistent she is!}

{little & big}

{taylor at one of her first shows. wynter at hers.}

{representin’}

Still with me?

Finishing where I left off … when we walked into our motel room that Friday night, Wynter broke down into a hot nine-year-old mess! Real fears and real anxieties, and this momma didn’t know what to do.

Knowing how real her anxieties are, do I tell her we can go home? Or do I encourage her to push through it and we stay?

Those two questions up there sound real easy to answer. They sound easy enough just typing them out at least, but oh how my momma-heart was a hot mess all itself that night in our little motel room!

After some of my own private tears over her pain, I decided to sit with her, pray with her, hold her, and let her know I’d walk through the next two days with her. I poured blessing into my girl and she came out a winner.

don’t want to miss anything?
sign up to get each post sent right to your inbox!

Posted in family photos, parenting, riding, wynter

---

merry christmas 2012

One of the primary reasons God sent His Son to earth was to bring tender salve and relief to those whose hearts were broken.
~ Beth Moore

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted,
and he saves those whose spirits have been crushed.
Psalm 34:18 {NCV}

A child has been born to us;
God has given a son to us.
He will be responsible for leading the people.
His name will be Wonderful Counselor, Powerful God,
Father Who Lives Forever, Prince of Peace.
Power and peace will be in his kingdom
and will continue to grow forever.
Isaiah 9:6-7 {NCV}

I’ll be forever thankful for the saving power found in our Lord Jesus Christ.

For His joy.

His strength.

His grace.

His mercy.

His blessing.

His peace.

And His mighty love.

Wishing you all the merriest and most blessed Christmas ever!

Posted in christmas, family photos, photography

---

god’s beautiful thing …

No one else will ever know the depth of my LOVE for you.
After all, you’re the only one who knows what my heart sounds like from the inside.
{quote source}

This girl amazes and surprises me almost everyday. Honestly, she always has.

Some of you may know I’d been homeschooling Taylor the last 2 years. She’s had some issues with learning in the past, so last summer I decided to have her academically tested. The results weren’t too far off base from what I’d already observed, but one finding had us quite shocked.

It’d been recommended Taylor not go to a four year college. Given the results of her testing and the fact that she’d missed key educational facts throughout her schooling years, there didn’t look to be anyway she’d thrive, let alone succeed, at a four year school.

Needless to say, we felt deflated and started thinking about other options.

After a school year of falling very far behind, much to my surprise, this past summer Taylor started talking about going back to “real school.” Given that she was very behind in her schoolwork {like still doing 10th grade work at the end of her 11th grade year}, I wasn’t too sure how realistic her request was. I told her if she buckled down {what a mom thing to say!} and got all her schoolwork done, that I’d look into it.

Wouldn’t you know? A few weeks later, she came down with stacks of books and schoolwork, she’d had it almost all completed! If you had any idea how much work I’m talking about, you’d think she’d hired someone to finish her work for her! With just a few other things to complete, I started calling the local high school to find out what we’d need to do to get her registered.

No easy feat.

But we did it.

Taylor started high school this past September and she is full-on loving it! Like loving. Like she’s a self-proclaimed nerd and loving it!

She works with a tutor four days a week, she’s working part-time at Justice, and she continues to ride her best-buddy Cozmo.

Taylor started the year as a junior {instead of a senior}, and will graduate a year behind “schedule.” But she’s completely focused and determined to get herself into a four year college of her choosing!

Although this kid continues to be stuck in the middle of adversity and stress, she takes it in stride … offers grace and forgiveness.

I continue to learn oodles from this love of mine. Namely, perseverance.

Not sure why, but a scene from Dirty Dancing comes to mind … it’s the final show, Baby’s stuck sitting with her parents, and in walks Johnny with his now famous line, “Nobody puts Baby in a corner.”

Others have wanted to put my baby in a corner … with labels, with lies, with negativity. But my baby in all her amazeball-ways consistently declares to herself, “Nobody will put me in a corner!”

I love, love, love the song, Beautiful Things by Gungor. It reminds me of my sweet babygirl every time I hear it.

Taylor … my sweet babygirl … you truly are God’s beautiful thing. I wub you with all my heart and soul.

 

Posted in family photos, movie, music, parenting, taylor

---

god is in the details …

The girls and I were unexpectedly blessed this weekend and I wanted to share how I believe God is in the detail business!

Piper was set to have a “marathon” sleepover this weekend.  Her friend {and her friend’s sister} would be sleeping over both Friday and Saturday nights.  But when I met up with the girl’s mom {also a new friend of mine} for the transfer of weekend necessities, she told me they were surprising the girls {and their family, they have 6 kids}, with a weekend trip to the beach.  They’d just closed on their new beach house the day before.  So that meant only one night sleepover.

Only she didn’t want me to tell the girls because she was going to surprise them the next day.  My heart pretty much immediately broke for Piper, as this sleepover weekend was all she’d talked about last week!

Anyway, come Saturday morning, I covered Piper in my prayers and started thinking of some other fun things we could do that day.  A couple hours later, whaddaya know? I get a call from my friend with a crazy idea!  She invited the girls and I to go with for the weekend.  She knew I didn’t have anything else going on and said they had plenty of room.

Yes!  Yes, we’d love to go!  And when we finally told the girls, they were all ecstatic!

With my four, her six, two other friends, and 3 adults … there were 15 of us in 3 cars headed to Isle of Palms, SC!

The beach house was beautiful and well … right on the beach!  I’d never stayed on a coastal beach before … just tropical.  So this was something different for us and we all had a great time!  I even got an adult night out to dinner while all the teens stayed home with the younger kids.

Anyway.  I was worried and hurting for what I knew would be Piper’s hurting heart.  I prayed for her Saturday morning and literally a couple hours later, an unexpected blessing came our way.  It’s one small way {if you choose to look at it that way} to see that God is in the detail business.  He cares about our hurts and worries.

Ann is once again counting 1000 gifts in a years time.  She’s calling it the Joy Dare and has invited all of us to join her.  I’m in!  And so are my girls.

This year especially, I want to be uber-aware … I want my girls to be uber-aware of every detail, every blessing, every gift that comes their way.  How better to understand and recognize that God is on our side, is with us always, and cares about the smallest of details?

Posted in blessed, family photos, family thoughts

---