Why I love my job.........

I truly can say that I LOVE my job! I feel so blessed that

God has called me to be a stay at home mom.

Why I LOVE my job.......

I get to play all day with my sweet

Cowboy - Knight - Batman !

I get to see his eyes light up as he discovers new things

I get to watch my children grow and learn together

I get to go on field trips

and capture every moment as I

watch my sweet girls every step

as she embarks on life's journey

I love my job for many reason, but as I was looking at these pictures of our week I was overcome with emotions. When I started downloading pictures for this post I was planning on a simple post of our week, but God reminded that I am truly blessed and I am thankful that I am part of every area in my children's life.

They grow up too fast and I get overwhelmed at times of the thought that I have the awesome yet scary responsibility to teach them and prepare them for the world that they are about to enter.

On most days, I find myself taking my job for granted. As I start off this new year, I want to take in every moment and treasure this wonderful calling and job that God has assigned me on.

This morning during my quite time, God laid on my heart a devotion book that I read over a year ago. I went to my closet and pulled it out and began to remember what a great book it was .

On Monday I am going to start that devotional again. The book is Mothers of the Bible, and it is an easy to read devotional, I am not big reader, so it is just my style.:-) It focuses on 12 mothers of the Bible and takes you through their struggles of life and faith. It is encouraging and helps strengthen you as a mother. I have added a link of the book just in case you want to check it out for yourself. I encourage all you mothers to check out this book. Please feel free to leave me comments.

http://www.amazon.com/Mothers-Bible-Devotional-Ann-Spangler/dp/0310272394

I hope and pray that you have a blessed weekend!

Getting back into the swing of things.....

Well, school has started and our little vacation is over.:-( I have LOVED having Grace Anne and Drew both at home with me! I know alot of moms that just could not wait until school started back, but I was not ready for it!

We had a wonderful Christmas break. My parents were here the week before Christmas and we had a great time with them. Daniel was off most of the break, so nice to catch up on some much needed family time.

Grace Anne's first day back was yesterday(Monday). She had a great day and was excited to see her friends and teachers. She was not too happy about getting up early! During the Christmas break we were on our No Bedtime-Sleep In Rule!!!! So Monday morning was rough for all of us!!!
As for this month, we have a FULL calendar.
Daniel will be busy with things going on at church and he is preaching at another church for 2 Sundays. Patti and Donnie(Daniel's parents) are coming in a few weeks, we still have not had Christmas with them. Also when they are here Daniel and I will be going to a conference at the beach with the rest of the church staff. We are very excited and looking forward to that. We also have started an 8 week study at church on Marriage. We are excited about that and look forward to what God is going to do!

As for me and the kids, we will be busy with field trips, doctor and dentists appts, gymnastics and who knows what else!!!:-)

I did want to post a few pictures
Last Friday, Daniel was so kind, he watched the kids while I went shopping with some friends in Columbia. When I got home that night the kids were so excited to see me and wanted me to hold them before bed.

Well, the next thing I knew..........I woke up to a big FLASH!!!

I love moments like this. I pray that my kids will always get excited when the see me and that they will always want me to hold them, no matter how big they get!!!!!

Also I have added some pictures from December.
I forgot that I had pictures of our trip to the zoo on my phone. We went again this year to Christmas at the Zoo in Columbia. We had a great time as always, except that we were all COLD!!! The kids enjoyed looking at all the lights and playing in the snow. Yes, I said snow, but remember we live in South Carolina, so it was fake snow!!! But the kids loved it, so that is all that matters!

The kids and Santa

Grace Anne playing in the fake snow.
You can't see the snow in the pictures:-(

Drew catching the snow!

Not sure what GA was doing here, but I love that face she is making!!!

And this last pictures is from our Sunday School Class Christmas Party!
I know I have mentioned this awesome group of people several times on my blog, so now you can see them for yourself!!!!

This group of people are such a blessing to us! We are very thankful for them!!!

That's all for now, I Hope you have a great January!

Happy New Year!!!!

We had a great time spending the last hours of 2008 with friends! The Nutter's, The Lee's and The Orr's came over to our house and helped us ring in the New Year!

Here are some pictures from our night with friends!


Drew hiding! The kids were playing hide-n-seek
and this was Drew's hiding place!!!:-)

GA, Big Drew, Chandler, Bryce and Baby Drew

Counting down to 2009!!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

Picking up the mess!!!!

As I think back over the past year the one word that comes to mind is BLESSED! We have had our ups and downs in 2008 but through them all, God has been right there with us. I can't begin to imagine where we would be without God. I am so thankful for all the many blessings we have encountered this year and look forward to what 2009 brings!

A friend was over the other day and was looking at ALL our many Christmas cards that were taped ALL over my fridge. As she was admiring the pictures and I was telling her who everyone was in the pictures and how we and knew them. She made a comment to me that I will never forget. She said "Wow, ya'll have a lot of contacts and have great memories with lots of people!" She is so right!!!! We are so blessed that God has allowed us to live in 3 different places and have met many people. We will always cherish those friendships and continue to thank God for you!

I want to thank each of you for your love and support both near and far. We are thankful for your friendship!

Christmas Day!!!! Merry Christmas!!!

We had a wonderful day. It was so nice to be able to stay in my PJ's ALL day and watch the kids play with their new toys! We enjoyed spending time together and making sweet memories. Here are some pictures of our day............................


Time to open presents!!!!!

The kids showing off their new dress up clothes

Is it Miley or......................

Hannah Montana!!!!!:-)

The kids LOVED their dress up clothes

(I'm glad I hit the 75% off Halloween sales!!!)

Daniel reading the kids the Christmas story

The kids singing Happy Birthday to Jesus

They enjoyed the Cake:-)

Hope you enjoyed the pictures. I pray you had a wonderful Christmas and that we all celebrate the life of our Lord and Savior all year long!!!!

Merry Christmas, sending you love and blessings

Daniel, Lori, Grace Anne and Drew

Christmas Eve

We have had a wonderful time these past few days spending time together and reflecting on the birth of Jesus. These memories I will cherish forever! The kids are at such a sweet age. We so are blessed and thank God for this awesome job of being parents.

On Christmas Eve, like always we made a birthday cake for Jesus. This was the first year that Drew has been interested in helping.:-) We had fun baking together.

We also went to the Christmas Eve service at church. To our surprise the kids sat during the entire service! YEAH!!!!:-) It was a wonderful time of singing and worship as we celebrated the birth of our Lord and Savior!

When we got back from church the kids enjoyed working on a fun craft that Nana gave them! They decorated Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, a shepherd and the wise man as we told them the story of the birth of Jesus!

I have added pictures of our fun day! Hope you enjoy!!!!

Getting ready to bake!!!!

This is the best part about baking!

Our finished product:-)! HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS!!!!!

working on their craft

Oh, I forgot to add that the kids always get to open up 1 gift each before bed on Christmas Eve(it is always new PJ's). They were very excited! Drew did not have on any clothes because he had just gotten out of the bath!!!:-)

Showing off their new PJ's before bed!

Well, that sums up our Christmas Eve. I will be posting pictures of Christmas Day soon!!!!!