More BIrthdays

Miles was so tired from partying it up at his daddy's bday party the night before, he couldn't stay awake before we left to go to his friend, Graham's birthday party!!  Thankfully, he slept in the car the entire hour and half drive and was excited to go to another party!

Graham and Miles are a few months apart and have had the opportunity to "grow up" together while living in Saudi.  We were excited to spend the day with our friends, The Acords.  Che had lots of fun activities planned for the kids with the Surf's Up theme!  Gavin and Miles loved making cereal necklaces, going fishing, coloring, and eating some yummy snacks! It was precious and lots of fun for everyone.  I was able to make the cake for Graham's party, too and happy the surfboards and palm trees withstood our weather!  The kids got to play outside at the beach, even though the wind was blowing hard, they didn't mind.

 

Happy Birthday Graham!

Happy 29th Birthday

Brooks turned 29 on March 8th and we had a busy weekend celebrating him!!  For years, I think we've celebrated Brooks' and Micah's birthdays together so this year was no different.  We had a group dinner at our house, Steph and I cooked and had all our friends over.  A Great American Cookie Company opened up in the town an hour away from us so Steph and I decided to do something different then having me make a cake and we ordered one.  After viewing some of the cake places' custom samples, we opted to choose a generic one that was pre approved for the decorators.  Thus, the football themed cake.  These guys can be competitive with one another so we felt the Brooks vs. Micah theme worked!  We had a fun time with all our friends celebrating birthdays!    

Happy Birthday Brooks!  

Having a Vision & Commitments

I feel extremely vulnerable sharing this blog post, but am excited and hopeful that it has the potential to help me strive to meet my goals, keep my commitments, and continue holding onto a vision that I have.

At the beginning of the year, Brooks and I sat down and shared with each other our vision for this year, individually and as a couple.  We talked about:
- goals we have
- things the Lord has laid on our hearts and that we feel called to do
- specific areas in our lives we want to change and work on
- scripture we want to pray over for ourselves, our family, and our kids
- tentative plans for the year -- not that what we plan will always happen, but we can HOPE! 
- trips we want to take
- new things we want to try

We wanted to be open with one another and show each other what's been on our hearts so that we can help support each other and hold each other accountable.  It's really been an amazing experience to walk through some of this together and to see how far we've come in a matter of months.

One of my commitments was to not yell at our kids in anger when disciplining them.  This is something I've struggled with, what mom doesn't?  But, I honestly wanted to make a change and speak to my kids out of love and to teach and train them without yelling.  I've only slipped twice in the last 82 days, which I'm quite proud of, but the best thing I've noticed is how my kids have been interacting with one another.   Gavin has stopped screaming at Miles when he gets mad and their overall conversations together or towards us when they get upset have drastically changed. It's so true how our kids react based on what they see or observe from us.  I've also been extremely encouraged to know that our kids are still learning right from wrong and life lessons even without me having to yell.  So far my commitment has produced some positive things!  I feel like I like myself more when I'm calm and observant of my actions.

Brooks and I both discussed the calling we had on our hearts about building up our marriage and speaking into the lives of others' marriages.  Over time we watched the Lord orchestrate the opportunity for Brooks and I to speak at one of our weekly meetings.  Due to the large response we had from attenders and other schedule conflicts, it ended up being a 3 week series that we lead and were able to incorporate some great messages from our home church, CCCC, from a Redeeming Marriage series they had.  God really had his hand over that entire situation as Brooks and I learned even more about ourselves and our marriage was strengthened.  While we were preparing for the messages a few "issues" came up and we were forced gently reminded on a continuous basis

While I've been tackling issues inwardly, I decided to make some commitments for me that had to do with taking care of myself.  Besides learning how to fix, curl, and style my hair, which has gotten really long; I've started doing some strength training work outs every morning at the gym (my sweet hubby created a small program for me), AND I've cut out eating sweets.  I never realized how much sweets I consume on a daily basis and it was just adding up.  I've actually kept up with this commitment for the past month and allow myself one sweet treat on the weekend, if I made it all week not cheating.  It really hasn't been that hard-- but I've become much more aware of when I do want to snack on some chocolate and have been eating fruit, yogurt, or nuts instead.  I'm hopeful I can keep this up and eventually want to make other decisions to decrease the amount of fried foods or starches that are in my diet.  I, non intentionally, gave up soft drinks, but that's more because I'd rather have another cup of coffee in the middle of the day then a diet coke.

So far, I'm loving the results from my commitments and have the motivation to keep up with these things!! It's all because I grabbed onto a vision I had and am following through to make that vision happen!

Saudi Heart Walk

For the last 2 1/2 years of living here, I've always dealt with and struggled with all the things we miss out on by not living back in the states.  It's a very hard place to be when you want more then anything to celebrate a birthday, go to a wedding, attend a funeral, be with friends and family during both good and trying times.  I've had to come to the place where I've accepted not being there, and have tried finding ways to still feel apart.  

You all know our friends, The Carpenter's, and you know their story.  They were able to participate in  Keep the Beat Heart Walk in Houston to raise awareness and funds for those who have CHD.  I was so sad that we weren't home to walk with them, that I had the idea to have our own Heart Walk here in the KSA.  Steph and I planned a big fundraiser style walk where we accepted donations, sold t-shirts & pizza, and asked all those on our compound to come out and support Susie and Darrell and to remember Cade and Addi.  Our goal was to allow whatever donations from the walk, t-shirts, and food to help Susie and Darrell as they prepare for their next journey in having children.  We were incredibly amazed and humbled by the amount of love and support we received from our community.  People who have never met the Carpenters were eager to donate and offered up their thoughts and prayers for them.  The night was a huge success.  We raised over $3,000!  Simply amazing!!!!  

Everyone met at our rec center at sunset and we made the walk around our compound alongside a beautiful beach!  It was the same beach that we met together and remembered Cade and Addi and got to say our goodbyes to them, since we weren't home when they passed away.  The entire walk I kept remembering those precious kids; their laughs; their silliness; their caring hearts; and their loving personalities.  Not a day goes by where we don't think about Cade and Addi.  We miss them so much.  

Valentine's Day

Valentine's day this year was a fun and memorable one.  To start things off, I actually made a holiday style decoration AND finished the project before Valentine's day.  I found some wooden hearts at our local book store, painted them, then used my Silhouette machine to put our names on the hearts.  It's still hanging up inside the house since it didn't get to hangout that long before Valentine's day.   Brooks surprised me the night before V-Day and we went out to dinner just the two of us.  He  took care of all the planning- arranged 3 baby sitters, prepared our kids dinners, took care of transportation, and got the kids off to their houses for the evening!  Sometimes, it's just nice to not have to take care of all the details.  We ate at a local Chinese restaurant we've yet to go to since we moved here over 2 1/2 years ago and we really enjoyed it.  The atmosphere was neat, the place was clean, we were secluded inside a curtain (I actually opened my abaya up during dinner), and the food was pretty good!  We really enjoyed the time away and getting to celebrate together!!  

Since Valentine's day was on a Thursday, which is our weekend, but Brooks had to work, I decided to make it a day full of celebrating.  I blew up red balloons and put around the house for the kids to play with, we had heart shaped pancakes for breakfast, heart shaped suckers for a snack, heart shaped grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch, red & pink yogurt for afternoon snacks, then a heart shaped strawberry cake for dessert after dinner.  The kids and I played together all day and made some sweet memories.  

Saudi Gras

Our compound had their 3rd Annual Saudi Gras Festival and as usual it was a fun time!  Thanks to my mom brining a bunch of Mardi Gras decorations over with her last year, we were prepared and able to dress up, decorate our strollers and scooters and off we went for the parade.  Our friends were there to celebrate with us and we all "Laissez les bons temp rouler!"  The kids thought it was hilarious to throw beads to people and got a kick out of them getting candy thrown to them!  

Ladybug Party

We celebrated Brooklyn's first birthday with a Ladybug party!  We decided to have her party at the house since it was just going to be our close friends and then had dinner afterwards.  We decorated everything in red, black, and white.  I used pictures from her 1 year photo shoot around the food table (pretty sure I went overboard with this, but who cares, right?!?) and made grilled cheese sandwiches with some fruit and chips and dip.  I saw on Pinterest the idea where you use plastic tablecloths and stream above the ceiling, so we did that with the extra tablecloths we had and it turned out cute!  Brooklyn came downstairs from her nap and saw the ceiling and couldn't stop staring at it!!  

I went back and forth for weeks about what I wanted to do with her cake and decided to push myself and try something new.  I could have gone with just polka dots everywhere, but loved the idea of a ladybug on top so that's what I did.  Each tier was a different flavor of cake and it was all edible.

I found Brooklyns outfit on Etsy and it was actually what prompted me to do a ladybug themed party.  I thought it was precious and had to get it!  She loved wearing her tutu and played with it throughout the party.  Her bow was rather large for her and she kept pulling it off, but oh well! We invited our close friends so Brooklyn got to play with Jake and Savannah.  Jack and Aden came too, along with Graham.  It was a fun time with all the kids running around.  Gavin, Tucker, and Peyton played together and were anxious to sing Happy Birthday to the birthday girl, as well as eat cake and open presents!  

When it came time to sing Happy Birthday, Brooklyn knew what was going on.  She locked on to her cake and didn't take her eyes off of it.  She was excited to eat some cake!

 

Opening presents was some what of a challenge, but her big brothers were there to help mommy out!  I had to keep reminding them those were Brooklyns presents when they kept saying it was all girl stuff!  FInally, we have girl books in this house!!  I've waited years to have girly books!

Not to take away from anyone else's gifts they gave Brooklyn, but as always, Mi-Mic and Aunt Steph gave the favorite gift... a beach chair with matching umbrella for when Brooklyn's outside on our beach soaking up some sun!  She was beyond excited when we set it up and she insisted on sitting in the chair!!!  Too cute!  We got her some sunglasses so she's all set for some beach fun!!

 
It was a fun birthday party for Brooklyn.  We can't believe our little girl is already 1 years old!