THREE!!!!!

I have to throw in amidst all the Christmas stuff (because it is thrown in amidst all the Christmas stuff) that Piper had her 3rd birthday on the 5th. Three - is it possible?? This little girl is all fun, loads of laughs, super sweet, and sometimes a little naughty. She is absolutely adored as the baby of this family.
 Happy Birthday Pippi.

 Such a treat that our new little friend, Jing Yan Lauren, who just got home from China with her forever family 2 days before, was able to come celebrate with us!!! She is too cute for words...

 And how could I not include this beautiful little Jireh in Santa get-up. So so so cute!!!

Happy birthday my little Pipster. You are loved, loved, loved.

CK Christmas

Our Created Kids Christmas party was, once again, a super fun celebration, with people we dearly love.

Madison - almost 13

Carson- 11

Allyson- almost 10

Colson - 8

Wilson - 6

Tyson - 6

Piper - almost 3

It's so fun to get dressed up. And I have to point out that my girls' outfits were dropped off anonymously on our front porch. What a blessing!!!

Posing in front of the tree...

 Making ornaments...

 She loves her daddy...

 With our good friend, Lydia...

 Ally and Clara...

 Ty's ornament...

 Such sweet girls...

 Best buddies...

 The "cool" guys...

 Lydia getting into mommy's purse to get some lip gloss...

 My precious, precious friends...

 Girls who will change the world...

 And of course there was dancing - which somehow lead to Pip being on the floor...

It is so easy each Christmas season to go through the motions. I have been trying to truly reflect and ponder and worship this season. The God-man invading human history in the form of a baby so that he might die and reconcile sinners with a holy God is mind boggling and nothing we should ever grow numb to. Thank you Lord for Jesus!

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever!

The oldest 4 were all part of a production of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. They were spectacular. The Playroom Theater Company really puts on fantastic performances and the kids were spectacular in this one.

Madison was the snobby goodie goodie, Alice Windlekin. For being such a sweet girl I was amazed at how well she played that role of a selfish snotty girl Ally played the part of Charlie (little brother turned little sister). Her part was hilarious. She had a lot of the comic relief. Especially when she sings "Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer, because there are no Heardman's there."

Carson played Father - who also had us in stitches most of the time. He had to use lots of sarcasm... hmmmm... wonder where he learned to do that? Sweet, Abigail, played a truly convincing Mother and looked stunning to boot!

Cole, sweet, sweet, Cole played Ralph Heardman. He had really struggled this semester. He had all his lines memorized but trying to make sure he said them at the right time was a new challenge this semester. He was fabulous! I was so proud of him. Look at that sweet dirty little face (with Creed who played Leroy)

2nd to the terrific acting abilities, my favorite part of the play was when our precious friend, Lydia, was trying to offer her baby doll when she overheard the line about no one wanting to let them use their baby for the play. Lydia got right up out of her seat and tried to walk forward saying "You can use my baby!" She is SOOOO cute!!

Once again I am so proud of my little actors.

Reformation Celebration

OK - I'm so behind on blogging that I am going to post a few pictures from our Oct. 31 festivities and then link you to my dear friend, Amy's blog where she beautifully recounted the night.

We were missing our sweet Madison as she was in Peru. The rest of the gang tackled Dr. Seuss...

Thing 1 and Thing 2...

 Cindi Lou-Who...

The Mayor of Who-ville...

Ally-Woo-Who...

And the Cat in the Hat himself...

We celebrated the Reformation at my friend, Tiffany's house. You can read all about it and see more pictures here... http://ack-livingmystory.blogspot.com/2010/11/reformation-day.html

"Beautiful are the feet...

...of those who bring the good news!" That's what the Bible tells us in Romans 10:15. So, I thought it only fitting to take Madison to get her first pedicure before she left on her first missions trip. Uncle Jack helped to score both manicures and pedicures. She loved it!

She said she felt like a queen with servants doting on her and getting her water when she was thirsty. She is so precious.

I cannot not even put into words how full my heart is when I think of this girl. She is truly amazing. I can't imagine my life without her and I continue to pray that she will desire to pour her out in the service of the Lord to advance His Kingdom. I love her like crazy cakes!

Go Grambling!

I know it's been forever since I've posted. Kinda ironic that my last post of "keeping it together" has been sitting on the blog for so long because I can't find the time to post recent activities. Oh well, when school is in session priorities change.
Last month we planned on going to Dallas to meet my family and see dad's team play at the Cotton Bowl. We planned on going down on Saturday (at least that's what the kids thought). But Friday morning Uncle Joby video called us on the laptop and informed the kids that it was spontaneous day (this is Joby's annual day - you never know when - that his gives the kids gifts and a super fun day)! He told the kids we would be coming to Dallas right away and spend the day with him. He also had them look in the oven where they found 3 Nintendo DS consoles to entertain them on the drive!
Once in Dallas Joby took the kids swimming on the roof of our hotel (thanks mom & dad and Jack & Josh!)

What a view!!!

Joby became the "Uncle Joby Express" in the pool... so fun...

And Papa joined us a little later...

Uncle Jack, Josh, and Nana all joined us by evening and we all went out to dinner. It was great to be with my family. It was also fun to see SO MANY people in the hotel and around town in their Grambling tshirts.

The next day we were going to continue spontaneous day with passes to the zoo that Joby got us but it was POURING and storming outside. We went to mall and walked around instead and ate lunch at La Madelines. We headed back to the hotel in the rain and got some naps in for Pip and me.

When it was time to leave for the game the rain stopped and blue skies emerged. It was a very fun game and the Tigers were victorious.

Pip and Uncle Jack - she was scared of him (it was kinda funny) at first but warmed up in no time...

Some famous (I think) rapper did part of the half time show. Right up my alley - haha.

Distracting the kids with treats while the Grambling dancers perform quite a number at half time...

Go Papa - so proud! (And the Tigers have won every game since! They are 8-1 as of today.)