May Beginnings

May sure has been a cute month! Full of all kinds of goodness! Great weather, darling kids, precious mornings and cuddly bedtimes, outdoor play and water hose fun, sweet friends... May has just been good. 

I have lots to post and most of my blogs are already queued up! I just need to re-read everything and hit publish! So hopefully you'll get some blog action this week! We are headed out Thursday morning to go to 'Booper's beach' and LuLu and I both couldn't be more thrilled. 

I. NEED. A. VACATION. 

Seriously. I feel like a kid the last week of school. I've just mentally checked out of everything and need a good little break from all of life to just rejuvenate. I picked London up from school today and she came crashing into my arms squealing in this crazy, loud, happy fit. When she finally calmed down, I realized she was saying, 'let's just get in the car and go to the beach RIGHT NOW.' It's all she can talk about! We both need a vacation!

On to our little first of the month updates:

London's teacher gave me this the other day. It's the first person London's drawn that actually looks very much like a person! I was so proud of her! I thought this was pretty great!

Mom said it looked like a Rugrat (a cartoon from the 90's) and I think she's right!

I played a nice game of Cars-something-or-another with Caden a few weeks ago. As you can tell by the look on his face, he was VERY serious about it. I loved these 15 minutes. I rarely get just boy time and I soaked it in. However, it's pretty essential that you know how to read while playing this game, so if he asks you to play, make sure you've got a back up reader! He destroyed me because every time I'd guess his car, he'd say, 'nope, not it' because he couldn't read their names! :)

Unbelievably delicious goodies from my Farmer's box. London experienced her first BLT and she actually ate it! Pay no mind to the TWO whooping sandwiches on the right that were all for me... tubby. These tomatoes were so incredibly good!

Mom and Dad have been taking a hand gun training class. We are actually so glad that they took this class because they did it together and have both talked non-stop about it! Love that they are doing something that they both really love together! PS. Booper is a DEAD EYE. Don't mess with Booper. You're likely to get capped! :)

Lizzy painted this! So good, right?!?!

One night Lu and i were goofing around and I got all serious on her and started super mommy fussing about how if she doesn't stop growing I will be forced to stack books on her head. She ran off playing and came in a few minutes later and said, 'Look Mommy! I have books on my head and will grows NO more!!' HOORAY!!!! 

Sunglasses on at 6:30 am. Never too early to accessorize in our house. She is the cutest thing ever. 

...45 minutes later... still styling!

Beautiful Lizzy's ballet picture! Isn't she the most beautiful, porcelain doll? Her recital was this weekend and was amazing! We are so, so proud of her! I have TONS of pictures to come! Also- Lauren's mom brought Lauren's first recital picture to show everyone and we all thought it was Lizzy! They look so much alike! Me Mommy- if you remember, will you snap a picture of that and send it to me? I'll do a side by side on the blog!

Slumber party with mommy....

..... which are the sweetest, most amazing things ever. (my heart explodes)

AND.... HE'S DOUBLE TOOTHLESS!!!!! :) 

Cute London-isms as of late:
1. She talks great but we still have a few words backwards. One day I asked her if she wanted a bunch of something and she replied, 'no, just a lot a bits.'
2. She was playing pretend in the backseat one day and named herself Princess Ginasaurus Tootie Lovesteed, which i thought was just fantastic.
3. She was reading a crossword puzzle one day and was going around the paper naming the letters she knew. She would say 'F, B, C, L, Jingle, T, R, A, Jingle, L, D, Jingle'. :) Im not sure if she was just kidding or if she thinks jingle is a letter. She was being very serious and not goofy!
4. Each week she counts the days until we go to the gym. One day she asked, 'Is it going to be Wednesday this Saturweek?'
5. We played hide-n-seek last weekend (which consisted of her hiding on the bed every single time and her placing me in my hiding spot during each of my turns) and when it was time to say 'Ready or not, here I come....' she would scream, 'ON THE NUT, HERE I COME!!' :)
6. She always tells me stories that go like this... "When I grow up to be a mommy and you grow up to be a little girl........." Her story goes that Im going to grow into a little girl and London's going to grow up to 5 years old when she can be a mommy. :/ She also always tells me that when she's a momma, she's going to wear a watch because that helps.

Ok, lots more to come!! Thanks for reading!

Red Mountain Park: Part 1

Fast forward just a few days later. This whole period of about two weeks was just a very difficult time for me. One chapter of my life closed and I wasn't sure how to process it. There are scores of people who claim that they celebrate the closing of this particular chapter of life, but I did not. I mourned instead. I very much wanted to withdraw and be alone. I didn't want to be around anyone. I just needed some space. 

Luckily, about two years ago, God dropped this incredible golden egg in my life. Jill Thomas, BFF. She knows my thoughts before I think them. She protects me in the most loving, fierce way imaginable. She knew exactly what I wanted but cared enough to only give me what I needed. She gave me a few days to decompress, then picked up on the first ring saying 'Im there' before I ever even told her I didn't want to be alone anymore. 

We went to hike a new trail here in Birmingham. Red Mountain Park. I told her I thought it would only take 45 minutes to an hour... that way she could get home to her kids. Silly me. Knowing she wouldn't have left until 3 am if that's what I needed. We ended up hiking for hours. Talking all the while. Some times about nothing at all. Sometimes talking about things of substance. Family. God. Kids. Friends. Books. Food. Pasts. Futures. Anything. Everything. 

The path lay ahead of us, and just like Jill's done for the entirety of this year, she helped me put one foot in front of the other and allowed me to heal....

It was all so beautiful. The scenery. The history of what built this great city. The design of this particular mountain. 

We ended our hike and got in our cars and went our separate ways. I got home and literally hit the floor crying over how thankful I am for this dear, sweet, gorgeous woman. She is simply the face of Grace to me. Tangible evidence that God cares deeply for me. She is His extraordinary faithfulness with skin on. 

I've never met anyone who gives you so much freedom to be exactly who you need to be at any given moment. She doesn't expect me to always be happy. She isn't surprised that there are days that hurt like all get out. I've born a burden this year, but if that burden weighed 100 pounds, Jill shouldered 50 of those pounds so that I wouldn't have to do it alone. One days that I need to laugh and have fun, she is THE MOST FUN OF ALL. We practically live at her house. She is as much of a parent to London as I am. She acts like it's perfectly normal that we are just part of her family now. 

She has walked every step with me. She's known of every tear, fear, and frustration. She's genuinely celebrated the victories and joys. She's prayed like a warrior over our life. She's spoken truth and encouragement and honesty over me. She rescued me. 

I texted her while writing this blog and asked how long we've known each other. Her response was just exactly right...

'It doesn't feel like we've ever not known each other.' 

Sweet Jesus, THANK YOU. 

A Close Shave

A boy becoming a man. Caden's first 'shave'! :) 

(Oh my....)

South Shades Crest Festival

I really have got to get all of these saved posts up because I have SO MUCH NEW STUFF to blog about and my memory is only good for 3 or 4 days so I'm starting to forget really great, moving stuff that would make you love my blog! I'm gonna get on it!! 

Insert: one of the best days of my life. This had been a HORRIBLE day. The day ended and I either wanted to go home and be dead silent or go somewhere where there was too much going on to think about me for one single second. Best sister-in-law on the planet to the rescue. The kids were having their elementary school fund-raiser festival and Lala invited us to meet them there. It was INSANE fun. So much to do. 3 cousin kids who are the best of friends. Me playing photog with Lala and Me-Mommy... two of my favorite people ever. It was like God just said- 'here kid. I'm throwing you a bone. Enjoy.' And that we did. 

This was a blow up jump maze. If Caden would've weighed more, he would have stomped every ounce of air out of this thing. He ran through this at LEAST 60 times. Let me try to paint a word picture for you...one of the obstacles was that you had to jump over a chest height inflated wall. It's a solid air wall but at the far ends there was a crease between the outside walls. Somehow London got stuck good at the very bottom of this crease and started blood curdling screaming. I ran in to rescue her and came to this scene: There were her 2 precious cousins. One holding her hands, one holding her feet, both PULLING with all their might. So no one was making any progress at all! It was kind of hilarious after we all calmed down! :)

{love}

Toothless!

Hair dye. I love this picture!

One of my favorite pictures of the 3 of them yet. I can still hear the giggles and squeals! Makes a heart flip right upside down. 

I love this pile of people so much!

I can't even put into words how glad I am that God set the road of my life to land with my family right in my back yard. This city is great. My friends are incredible. But my heart belongs to my people. So very thankful that my baby's growing up with her family. There is nothing as strong as blood.

Jesus You Are Able To Turn Everything Into Gold

I had to share this. I love her last sentence so very much. Meet Carolyn. Just typing that and knowing the story behind Carolyn makes me smile! Carolyn is a missionary in India and is doing remarkable things in her village. The stories she writes and pictures she sends of people praising God will move you to the core. Mom will have to clarify the details when I have time to speak with her, but Carolyn is an adult now, married with two children. One of her children's name is Bette....

How Carolyn came into our lives from a world away....
When Carolyn was 13 years old, she received a shoebox from Operation Christmas Child (a mission for Samaritan's Purse). In that box were odds and ends and a letter from one Bette Rhea. Now, gosh, probably close to 10 years later, Carolyn and Bette are still pen pals.

She sends us the details, needs, and prayer requests of her mission in India. In turn, we have a prayer warrior from a world away. This past year I have been abundantly blessed by her 'Sister Taylor' emails that have been divinely timed and so encouraging and hope filled.

We got this email from her today. I just love it. God is in every single detail of our lives.

(Her English is a little broken so you may need to fit the language together a bit)

Dear Family

        here is a testimony on how God helped us through a problem.Once again He proved that He is good all the time. when we are returning from youth camp for VBC, someone snatched my handbag in the train, we felt so bad because many of my important things camera and money is in that hand bag.all that we can do is praying. we don't know that time that God kept some police men to catch that thief immediately.

       next day we received a call from railway police, when we spoken with them we find out that everything in that bag is safe. Bhaskar (her husband) went to the police station in hyderabad again.
 I am so happy now to lose that hand bag. when the police asked us to come and take that bag back, Bhaskar went to the police station. the Superintend of police is there that time and he asked Bhaskar about his occupation and Bhaskar told he is a pastor. then the police officer asked Bhaskar to tell him why we follow Bible. Bhaskar answered Him " that is the only way for a person to live Holy". then the officer invited Bhaskar in to his cabin and spent some time hearing God's word. THANK YOU JESUS YOU ARE ABLE TO TURN EVERYTHING IN TO GOLD. 

Thank you so much for all your prayers everyday for us.

Love

Easter 2013 + Big Brothers Bday

Easter this year was different. Great! But different! This was the first Easter the whole fam hasn't been together! It was fine, but I missed the egg dying and treasure hunting and silliness with my sweet nieces and nephew! I traded my brother's family for my best friend's family, which was awesome, but there was a place missing in the house that Barry's sweet people typically fill! 

As evidenced below, Barry was super sad to have missed Easter with us and instead suffered through celebrating his 37th birthday on the ocean with his awesome brother in law! I love this picture! Fishing is so fun and Ryan gave Barry a great day!

Also sadly, that's the only picture I have of the Rhea's Easter! When the psycho photographer isn't around, we tend to have less photos for the ole' family blog! 

On to the patriarch Rhea Easter vacation! My best friend Jill's husband is the track coach for UAB. This is 'track season' which is filled with much travel and work. Jill was going to be alone with her sweet boys on Easter so naturally mom and I were having none of that.
So, bright and early Saturday morning, we all packed up and headed to C-town. It was a quick Saturday/Sunday trip, and it rained the whole time, but there is no matter of weather that can squash a child's enthusiasm. The kids loved dying eggs and the adults decided to leave a set of eggs in overnight to see how bright they'd get! They were beautiful and there is documentation of them somewhere but I'm just now realizing I didn't save all of my pictures to this post! If I can find the others, I'll do a part 2 recap!

Knox. He is seriously this darling all the time. 

Sweet, amazing Jill and her mini-me, Lucas. 

Due to the rain, all of our egg hunting was moved indoors. Let me remind you the hunters are all of three years of age. We're still in the general 'keep things simple' stage.  Jill, the worst (best) egg hider ever, hid the eggs like this. Invisible eggs. Have fun finding eggs you will never lay eyes on kids!!! :)

Jill has a TV in her car. ENTERTAINED. 

Cutest early morning boy ever!

Best friends and future spouses! 

I put this picture on Instagram and asked everyone to vote if this was an early morning cheese face or drunk, ornery old man. Hard to tell. 

London hiding eggs for Knox and bossing the mess out of him to not follow her into the other room. This is her, in her best bossy voice, hand in a 'stop sign', saying 'stop right now, Knox.' 

.... and here are the eggs she hid for him. :) She's a bit more fair than Jill!

Bubbles!

We had a great, fun 24 hours but we are definitely planning a re-do so these kids can run in the big green field and just be kids! (And the mommy's can fix a margarita and not worry about them breaking anything!) I'm so very thankful for my sweet-hearted parents who open their home to anyone who needs a loving roof over their head! I am so proud to be their child.

And, as you noticed, my initiative to blog about the week leading up to Easter week fell rather flat. On the drive home, I was feeling a bit defeated that I didn't do a better job of pouring myself into Easter this year. As I crossed the bridge in Tuscaloosa, I glanced to my left, and there it was. The most beautiful, gloriously orange, sunset over the water. 

I had this immediate, heavy sense of  reason for that moment. I was awash with joy that just like the sun rose this very day, so did my Savior. I felt like that sunset was proof that he is right where he belongs; sitting on his throne, with his feet propped on the setting sun, speaking peace to us through the sky he paints. I was renewed that even though my initiatives may not fully flesh out, there is grace for that. God understands I'm a busy momma. I know my calling here. I'm doing my very best to encourage and engage people in conversations about salvation. And for the times I just right fall flat, there is a bottomless pit of grace for that and a loving Savior who loves me in spite of my shortcomings. 

Amen. Amen. Amen.