The Hepners

I hope they don't mind that I stole their picture, but I really wished I had been able to get one of all of them while we were in Serbia in June.

Our trip to Serbia in June wouldn't have been half as special if this precious family had not been there.

The Hepners are some of our old friends from the first time we lived in Greenville.

They have been living and serving in Serbia for the past 3 years and are home for a few months.

We got the chance to spend a few hours with them today in our home and I am so thankful!

We love this family so much and are so overjoyed with what the Lord is doing with them and through them.

Please check out their blog, (it's in my blog roll) and if you are a praying person please add them to your lists! They're such a special family with FOUR adorable kids!

GNO Thanksgiving 10

This week we had our 2nd annual GNO Thanksgiving feast.

I love these girls. I say it all the time. But I am so so thankful that I have them.

We had a blast, Amanda's house was beautiful, and we ate like royalty!

I even had to rest on the couch for a few minutes after dinner. Baby Jesse wasn't making enough room for the two plates of food I had.

Our Christmas GNO is coming up soon and I can't wait.

New Each Morning

It's been a hard few weeks. Last week on Thursday Benji left to go hunting for a long weekend. It was his annual "man trip" with a few of his childhood friends.

Emery is a great child. We have the normal discipline issues, but on a whole she's a dream. She sleeps through the night, I just lay her down and she falls asleep on her own. She naps great still and she is pretty easy to take out to eat at restaurants.

All in all once she was born she found her place in our already established family, she didn't completely change the way we lived, if that makes since.

Anyway I say all that to make sure it's clear that It's not "hard" for me to be her mother. I love it, I can take her anywhere and I even get my pregnancy nap in while she's napping.

But it's exhausting, and long and draining when her daddy's gone!

Emery LOVES Benji so much. I mean so much that when he's not here she talks about him constantly. I think the reason she is this way is because he IS here so much. He is so involved with her and his work schedule allows him to be with her more than I ever imagined.

He takes her to MMO twice a week most of the time since it is at our church, he comes home almost every day for lunch with us (we purposely bought a home close to the church so that he could do this) So for that I am thankful.

Sunday night as soon as Benji walked in from his weekend away, I mean as he turned THE KEY in the door she started puking all over the couch.

All over. MY couch. My very light covered fabric couch.

He walked in the living room and she was still spewing.

Not a fun night. I did have to laugh at the timing though, haha, I simply said, "hey! perfect timing! Glad you're home!"


Needless to say the week ahead was not so fun. THEN Emery passed her bug onto me. The only thing worse than puking is puking while 24 weeks pregnant. It was a nightmare. Thankfully it looks like I'm in the clear now. Benji let me sleep in today and I'm feeling much better tonight.

It's funny that the same struggles seem to follow me. I have always had a hard time seeing past my immediate circumstances.

I'm a good dreamer, A good planner, but when I'm faced with difficult days I have a hard time remembering that the hard days, like all the other hard days before, will also pass.

So this post is to remind myself that thankfully, God's mercy is new each morning.

We are all feeling better, Benji's home for the weekend and tomorrow is a new day. :)

24 Weeks

Well we already take less pictures of the 2nd kid and he's not even out of the womb yet.

Honestly it's mainly because I'm fatter this go round so it's taken longer for me to really look pregnant, even though I'm bigger this time. And my camera memory card is full so we've resorted to using Benji's phone. It is SOOO convenient to be able to upload pics instantly off of his phone.

Any way, it's late, and I just got home from our GNO Thanksgiving dinner, we had a blast as usual. Hopefully by tomorrow there will be some pics to steal off of facebook so I'll have some to share.

Oh yeah! haha that is why there's whipped cream on the counter in the picture. :)

I was about to walk out the door for GNO and was taking it for my dessert dish.

Hot Air Balloon Guy

This is our friend David, he was at Angela's annual Halloween party.

Isn't this the best costume ever!?

W.W....Who's That Girl?

I tried to post this for wordless Wednesday...but I just couldn't do it with out SOME words.

I do not even know who that girl is, in the pictures that were taken only a few years ago. Before babies.

Yeah the one next to my husband.

Honestly, this is probably the hardest thing about being a mother for me.

I love the way I look when I'm pregnant. I feel pretty and whole and comfortable with a growing womb. My skin clears, my hair is thicker.

But once the baby comes out.

Well, you know.

I'll never be that girl in the pictures again. I wish I had known then what I know now. I would have loved and appreciated her more.

Halloween 10

Once again my friend Angela's Halloween party was the best party of the year.

Last year Emery and I only got to stop by for a few minutes because Benji had a party for the high schoolers at our house. THIS year I wanted to make sure we were able to attend because I wanted Emery to trick or treat for the first time. Angela has the perfect neighborhood for little ones.

We didn't get many pics of the actual trick or treating, because it was dark by then and we were having too much fun!

Emery had a blast, as well as the rest of the kiddos and of course the adults were having a pretty good time too. :)