My Mom

On March 1, 2013 my mom went to heaven to be with her Lord and Savoir Jesus Christ.  She fought a hard and courageous battle with cancer for 14 years, and I miss her dearly.  My mom loved deeply, prayed hard, and laughed loudly.  Most people probably didn't know how hard her battle truly was, and she wanted it that way.  I didn't write about it on here for that reason.  Even as I'm writing, I'm not sure how much to share.  I want to honor her, but also this is real life for our family.  Although we have had some great times and wonderful memories, my mom is not here and we, of course, are still trying to heal.  When I go back and read this blog, I want it to be a picture of who we are in good times and in bad, in smiles and in tears.  We are not a perfect family and we don't always have everything together and many times I only hit the highlights on the blog because "behind the scenes" we were hurting, yet it was my mom's battle and I wasn't free to share.  At my Bible study this spring, I asked my group to pray with me that God chooses to give me even a glimpse of what is doing and teaching me through this season of sadness and pain.  I know that God does not promise to give us the reasons behind our suffering on this side of heaven but I am praying that he does.  Our teaching leader at BSF said, "don't waste your suffering" in a lecture this spring.  It was in reference to Joseph and the suffering he went through to ultimately fulfill God's plan for His chosen people.  It stuck out to me because I don't want to waste this time.  There are days I want to pull the covers over my head and cry, and I have done that, but I also want to God to use me through this as I heal.  I know the healing process will be long and to be honest, I am a very emotional person, and I am learning that it is okay.  There is definitely a big whole in my heart and life is different without my mom in it, but I am adjusting to this new normal.  I am thankful that my mom is healed and free from the pain she suffered in this earthly life.

These are the last pictures we have of my mom:

Pumpkin Patch

In mid October, we made our annual trip to the Pumpkin Patch.  We decided to try a new one, and overall we enjoyed it.  We especially liked the one price for everything including the pumpkin, stead of having to pay for each activity.  

We started with the corn maze, which was comical because we couldn't find our way out and the maze had some very muddy spots.  Eventually we saw a little opening in the corn and we cut through it to get outside the maze.  I'm not sure how long we would have been in there if not for the short cut.

 They had a much easier time in the hay maze!

 

We took a hayride to the actual pumpkin patch, which ended up being quite an ordeal.  Emma Catherine had in mind the kind of pumpkin she wanted and she didn't see it where they dropped us off, so she and I walked and walked and walked to find her perfect pumpkin.  Ryan finally sat down on top of a pumpkin to wait for us.  Bailey was crying because some pointy stickers we getting on her socks and pants.

Fall Festival

Every year one of Riverchase Elementary's big fundraisers is the fall festival.  This year I worked at the ticket booth during most of the festival, so Ryan was super dad and took them around with one of their friends.

Fall Trip to Florida

In late September, we went to Florida to celebrate my sister's and mom's birthdays.  We only went for the weekend, so it went by very quickly.  Even so, it was fun weekend and we always love being with family.

Cheerleading

This year Emma Catherine decided she wanted to try cheerleading.  In Birmingham, you can start cheering for youth football in 1st grade.  When we signed up, we didn't know if we would know anyone on her squad but thankfully, 3/4 of the squad were girls from her school.  She cheered for the Spain Park Jags and she ended up really liking cheering. 

At the end of the year, the girls had a gymnastics party to get their trophies and wrap up the year.  We loved Coach Paige and Coach Amy and look forward to next year.

Kick Off Game

Over the summer we decided to get tickets to Auburn's kick off game against Clemson and my sister decided to go with us.  My college friend, Jenn, lives in Atlanta and hosted us for a pregame tailgate at her house.  We had a fun time at the game but I sure wish Auburn would have won.  Maybe our season would have turned out differently?

On Sunday, we were looking for something fun to do with the girls and we thought about possibly going to the aquarium but when we drove by the line to get in was around the block, and we quickly decided that the aquarium was a no go.  We then decided to drive back to our hotel and park and then to walk around Centennial Park since it was a beautiful day.  We played on the playgrounds, walked around, and then let the girls play in the fountains. 

First Day of School

I am going to try to catch up on the blog.  The last time I tried to blog (sometime in November), blogger said I was out of picture space.  I wasn't sure what to do, so I just didn't blog.  Tonight I thought I would see what to do to fix the problem and blogger let me post pictures.  I have no clue why, so I'm just going to go with it.  I really like to keep everything in order, so I am going to try to plug away little by little.

This summer flew by and before we knew it, Emma Catherine was starting school.  She was very excited about 1st grade and was ready to start school.  Her teacher this year is Mrs. Woodie.

She also got to be a "buddy" for her friend, Campbell.  Any new students at the school are assigned a buddy for the first few weeks of school.  Campbell moved in near us over the summer so Emma Catherine was excited that they were in the same class and that she would be Campbell's buddy.  On Meet the Teacher Day, Emma Catherine got to take Campbell on a tour of the school.

First Days Pictures!

About a week later, Bailey started her last year in preschool.  Wow, how time flies.  Her teacher this is Ms. Cheryl.

Bailey's first day!