I Love This Week...

It has been filled with fun, friends, and freedom! I am officially done with the spring semester! I think I made another 4.0...Yay! Last night was my last class and the weight of the world was lifted off my shoulders. I have a whole summer to look forward to and I am going to enjoy every second of it:)

Here are some pictures of our week so far (thanks, Kelsey)!
Saturday we hung out with Kelsey and Jennifer at the park and then dinner at McAlister's.
Monday we spent the day with Angela and Elly playing at the mall and park.
Tuesday Dondi, Kristi, Logan and I had a day of shopping for the kiddos.
Tomorrow night is girl's night and I am so excited!

Oh! And it turns out Tech owes me $2,500!! What a nice surprise to start the summer off with:) God answers prayers!

Connor and Madison...aren't they cute:)






A balloon and a sucker is all it takes to make Connor happy:)

To All My Tweeps...

Come follow me @chamandal. This is my third Twitter account, so if you are following my old account it doesn't work anymore. I think Twitter is playing some sort of sick joke on me as they somehow split my first account into two and I wasn't able to access it anymore.
So anyway, now that Jenn has actually met her Twitter goal of getting Soleil Moon Frye (Punky Brewster) to follow her, I am totally inspired! My goal is for Oprah to follow me!! How hard could it be:) If anybody has any good ideas to grab her attention let me know!

The Angels are Rejoicing...

Because Taylor accepted Jesus Christ into her heart this morning at church!! Words fail me right now...I am so thankful for her sweet spirit and her desire to grow closer to the Lord. And I am so thankful for a God who loves her even more than Chad and I do.

Church On The Rock had their Easter service at the Civic Center and it was wonderful. The sermon was a drama with some awesome worship mixed in. While we were singing I was able to sneak a few glances over at Taylor, and she was just singing her little heart out. I know that she was experiencing the presence of God.

When Jackie asked if anyone wanted to know Jesus as their personal saviour, I looked at her. Her face was lit up and she nodded her head excitedly. She raised her hand and I followed her to the prayer room (she was a little shy about that part). But what an awesome thing to see your child begin to understand the love of God.

After church we had lunch and an Easter Egg Hunt at Dondi and Poppi's. What a wonderful Easter!!


Before church


After church!!


Connor and Logan


We bargained with them...there would be no hunting until we got this pic!


So excited to find eggs!


The boys could have cared less about hunting eggs.


Pooped!

Happy Easter...

I am so thankful that God loved us enough to sacrafice his only son. So much of the time I can't wrap my head around that kind of love, but the little glimpses that I do get leave me overwhelmed!

Here are some pics from our weekend. The Masters is on and Chad hasn't moved from the couch except to play a little golf himself. He is hoping that Connor will be on the course with him soon!


And then last night this happened. Chad was out in the front yard talking on the phone and swinging his club. He didn't see when Connor walked right behind him. I don't do blood or seeing my kids with open gashes very well, so I stayed back and let Chad take care of it. Poor thing, he looks like Rocky.

It's Been...

A really long time since I have sat down to just write. I guess with school, homework, and life that's the last thing I want to do. But today is one of those days I want to remember. I want to remember what it's like to have a 7 year-old, a five-year old, and a two-year old. I want to remember their little voices and their innocence.

I've been reading other people's blogs about welcoming precious babies into their lives, and the joys and struggles that it brings. I was there. I remember the raw emotion that comes with being a new mom (the good and the bad). I thought I had forever with my kids. School-days seemed like a distant future. Now here we are. Soon, I will only have one NOT in school.

Today I took Averi to Honey for Kindergarten orientation. I really had no emotion whatsoever leading up to today. It was just another thing on the to-do list. But when we got to the there it hit me like a ton of bricks...this is really happening. At the meeting the kids were asked to go with the teachers to explore, while the parents got information about the year, etc. Averi is so shy and wasn't too keen on the idea of going without me. It broke my heart to let her go seeing the hesitancy in her face. Thankfully one of the sweet teachers came and held her hand as they walked away. But, dang! Being a mom...you might as well wear your heart on your sleeve, because of piece of it will always be with your children.

I am excited about the stage of life we are in. And my prayer is that whatever stage we are in, it's my favorite. I don't want to live always looking back, wishing for days that are gone, or waste time worrying about what lies ahead. My goal is to embrace today!

They Did It...

This past weekend we went to Dallas with Heath and Kelsey for the half-marathon. The race wasn't until Sunday so we had a couple of days to shop and eat, eat, eat! We had so much fun!


The traffic on the way to the race was terrible. We almost didn't make it.


These two are funny together:)


Mile 6. We happened to be at the right place at the right time, and got to cheer our guys on!


There goes Heath in the blue shirt.


Kelsey, me, and the bananas.


Chad finished in 2 hrs;4 minutes.


It was cold and windy, but they did it!!