Happy Anniversary!!

Well today marks eight years of being married to the perfect man for me. He really is my best friend! I was so blessed to be involved at what was then Highland Baptist in Waco (now Antioch) and a part of Life Groups. It was life changing in so many ways, but that is for another post! But one of the best "things" I gained from life groups was a friend named Kevin. He was a "Big Man On Campus" and I was the "weird girl with the loud car"(his words!). We were friends, maybe I knew I was interested... until he said at a life group leader meeting that he felt like he was supposed to stay single and serve the Lord. We all gathered around to pray for him and our co-leader started praying for Kevin to be blessed with the sweetest wife... and on and on she went. While she prayed I had the thought so loud and clear that it would be me!! I didn't say a word. And he was so mad at our co leader for praying as she did!! WE love her!! (Thank you Meggan)

And now here we are!

We fight and we wonder how we ended up together... and we laugh and tease and laugh some more. We stay up late talking and giggling (maybe i do the giggling), and staring in wonder at our 3 beautiful children--how could they be so beautiful!!? And I am so thankful to have a best friend that I can trust to lead our family well and that I can support in whatever he does, and who thinks highly of my thoughts and views, as a partner next to me.

Happy anniversary honey!

I will try to have a clean house for you!

I love You!

Elijah's Song

Kevin wrote a song. And it's my job to show it off right!!?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Na1YEvpdC-Y

1.I run to the mountain to stand in that place, to stand in the presence where you fill my faith and the winds will come and the mountains move but I will stand in that place where you will pass by.

When I am troubled, when I’ve lost my way, when I can’t see you Lord, when I’ve lost my faith, when I feel that there is no way out, I need a glimpse of your face…

2.I run to the mountain, to stand in that place, to stand in the presence, of your holy-ness, and the earth will quake and the fire burn but I will stand in that place, where you will pass by.

When I am hurting, when I am torn when I am fearing and needing you more, you have left an open door so I can come to that place…

3.I run to the mountain, to stand in that place, to stand in the presence receiving your grace and I’ll hear your voice in a gentle wind when I will stand in that place, where you will pass by.

1 Kings 19:11
And the word of the LORD came to him: "What are you doing here, Elijah?"
10 He replied, "I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too." 11 The LORD said, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by." Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.

Our Family

So I just had to show off these beautiful new photos of our family that we had taken. My dearest friend Sarah is a very talented photographer and she does it on the side for a very reasonable price (subtle plug there) So feel free to contact me if you live in my area and want some great pics taken!

OK on to the pics!!

Family of Foxes

The Cute Couple

Mama and her Girls

Sweet Annelise

Lovely OliviaI love this Picture!

Whole family walking off into the sunset!!

And of course I love this one of Daddy and one of his Girls, and the one he posted earlier.

Aren't these all beautiful! Thank you Sarah!!!!!

Pragmatism!

Do you ever look at your life and question how you came to be at this point? I have.



Don't get me wrong, I love my wife and I love my children, and I'm not necessarily dissatisfied with where I am, but I never imagined my life quite like it is. I'm not saying that I had telepathic abilities as a child to unlock the mystery of my future, but I never dreamed of being a music teacher that I remember.



Annelise says she wants to be a Ballerina teacher and a mother. In fact, most little girls that are friends with her have similar aspirations; which, in my opinion are well within their reach. When I was a little boy, my friends wanted to be Major League Baseball players or NBA basketball players or sports car drivers or rock stars or actors. Are girls just more pragmatic than boys?

Perhaps there are levels of pragmatism and one can move between them arbitrarily, at will or subconsciously. What about dreams? Do you have dreams, or did you have dreams? That is, are they behind you or before you, or maybe you buried them and they're nowhere to be seen. What is the purpose of those dreams? Are they God given or selfish ambition, a dream from your parent placed on you or environmentally influenced? More importantly, are they(the dreams) part of who you are, or chosen outside the scope of personality and ability.


If someone is extremely good at sports, recognized by many others, is it impractical for them to pursue the NBA or NFL? Someone once said to me, "Shoot for the stars and if you land on the moon then its still OK."


At times I feel as though pragmatism is caught like the flu. You catch it from well meaning people that have become content and pleased with their own practicality and think that you would be wise to do so yourself. Or perhaps their dreams were broken and they want to save you from the same fate.


When it comes to my children and their dreams, I have resolved to scrape off every last bit of pragmatism, practicality, fall-back-on thinking and encourage them to pursue those dreams and even move past calling them dreams and call them goals, and write them down and give them due dates, and come up with a plan to reach those goals, wow that's sounds pragmatic doesn't it! Though my method may be, my advice won't be, and then comes my part! Support. Encourage. Pray!

Annelise-future Mommy, Ballerina Teacher and Brain Surgeon

Olivia-Future Mommy, Adventurer(Missionary) and Veterinarian

Pragmatism:–adjective-of or pertaining to a practical point of view or practical considerations.

Our Fun Day

So going on a vacation isn't an option this summer, but we've had some Fun Days, and yesterday was one! We started off the day with a trip to I-HOP, mmm and I had way more than my pregnant belly should hold, but it was good! And the girls felt like it was such a treat!

Then we headed to Waco for a trip to the Children's Museum. Every Wed this summer they visit a different continent. Last time we went it was Africa and they had African Dancers. Annelise was gyrating for weeks! And now won't stop asking when we are going to Africa!

But this time we visited the continent of Australia. the first activity was playing The Moco the Gecko game. Geckos are called Mokos in Australia and they eat bugs (that's what the girls are doing here!)

They were able to see a Cocktail live (they are native to Australia) and Annelise wasn't even scared. They were totally in awe!

The most fun to me was seeing the Didgeridoo played. He had a slide show of all the beautiful faces of the Native Aborigine people. He talked a lot about how they were one with nature and honestly, my first reaction was that he was a little out in left field. But as he continued talking, I listen to him speaking about how all of nature has a rhythm and we just have to listen, because all of nature was created by the great mysteries. And although it all sounds a little new age, the truth is, our God is a mystery. He is unbelievably personal, and yet such a mystery. AND He did create all of earth to glorify him, if the rocks can cry out, then maybe all of creation does have a rhythm. Anyway, just my thoughts on the Didgeridoo dude. No pic of him cause we didn't have good seats to see, but we could hear and it was awesome!

We did some fun crafts then headed home for naps! It was our fun little day!

And for all of you who I am so sorry didn't know we were expecting, I had Kevin take a preggo pic of me this evening. So yeah, just a little pregnant! Please know that there were way too many of you than I'd like to admit that didn't know we were pregnant. After our loss last fall, I think we were just more reserved on sharing the news, and then it got to be so normal for us, we forgot we hadn't made any big announcement!

Well this is it for now!

Our Lovely Yard

We have a lovely yard, all thanks to Kevin. Hes worked so hard on it I wanted to show off on his behalf!! We bought this house with a yard that is just about 1/3 acre. It was a rental property for years and years before us, so needless to say, the yard was in sad shape.
Now doesn't that look lovely!! Our street is wonderfully covered in trees...except our yard! Now we do have a couple but there were stumps all over. WHY?!! WHY!?! So we have planted a couple so we match the rest of the street...in ten years!
Here is the front flower bed, I can't tell you what all of it is, but that it's growing beautifully, and Olivia and Oliver the cat enjoy it too!
This is the bed next to the front porch... the flowers are much bushier now.
On the other side of the yard are our two big trees, and oak and a magnolia, and here are my girls enjoying the magnolia:
Annelise is jumping trying to touch those pretty leaves, while Daddy put Olivia in the branches and she settled right in. She did not want down!!
Well this is our lovely front yard. I'll add another post about our delish garden in the back yard next.
Aren't I blessed!!