My treasured friend

Almost exactly four years ago a super skinny college girl walked through our front door and into our life. I was uncertain about leaving my babies with a stranger and, though she's never said it, I think she was a little uncertain about me too.

I asked a lot of questions, gave a lot of instructions and had high expectations.

At first, I cautiously left our young children with her in small spurts; to run quickly to the grocery store for a gallon of milk or to pick up a prescription.

But over the course of a few months, I could see that I had every reason to trust her with my most treasured possessions. My babies. She met, no exceeded, my expectations.

Back then, we were just barely more than acquaintances. While I cared about her, we both kept our distance emotionally. There were hard questions I wanted to ask her about her walk with the Lord but I was afraid of offending her, or worse, scaring her off and being left with out help. She was good and I couldn't afford to lose her.

We functioned in harmony almost immediately. She loved on our kids and I could tell she genuinely cared about them from the start. Weeks rolled into months and months into years. And somewhere along the way that super skinny college girl became one of my dearest friends.

Two years ago, she and Nick got engaged.

Sixteen months ago, they got married. She was a stunning bride.

Over the last three years, Luke and I have had the privilege of calling Nick and Amanda our friends. Our dear friends. Somehow, in a delicate balance, Amanda has continued to work for us and, if anything, our relationship has been strengthened by her being here nearly every day.

And this is where the story gets sad. Well, at least in some respects.

In about a month, my dear, beautiful (and still ridiculously skinny) friend will deliver her first child. A daughter. Yesterday, I had the extraordinary joy of taking her maternity photos.


As I stood behind the camera, knowing what my camera had captured of Nick and Amanda over the last two years and what was yet to come, I continually choked back tears.

While I'm thrilled for them to experience the joys, trials and overwhelming love of parenthood, I'm going to miss this girl so much.


Instead of taking care of other people's kids, she gets the joy of caring for her own child and being a stay-at-home Mommy herself.


And while I'd never want her to forsake her calling to be a wife and mother exclusively, I'm just not sure how I'm going to function throughout the week with out her smile, friendship, love and warmth walking through my door consistently every week.


I know I'll still see her all the time. I know that our kids will get to love on baby Harper regularly. Because, the truth is, Nick, Amanda and baby Harper, they're not just our friends anymore.

Over the last two years, they've become our family. Treasured family.


Amanda and I have moved from once-awkward roles to nearly like sisters. She calls me out on the things I need to be called out on and gives me access to her heart and front row seats to her life. I'm just so blessed by her.


So while my heart is sad at the changes that are to come, I know that the joy ahead is worth this momentary sorrow.


My beautiful, loving, thoughtful friend is becoming a mother. The mother she's been preparing to be her whole life. The mother that God foreknew she would be before the world was set in motion.


And I have no doubt that she will be wonderful at motherhood. Not only because of the years of practice she's had with other people's children but because of who she is.

I praise the Lord for the blessing of her and that super skinny college girl that walked into my home four years ago.

I treasure her more than she could know.

And Baby Makes 4

Sometimes, I like to pretend that I'm a photographer. We have two great friends who are real photographers and for one of them the way we "pay them" for our own family photos is that I attempt to take photos of their family.

On Friday, I got to spend some time with my (one of two) BFF. Britt and Matt are expecting their second child, a baby girl, due mid-March. Their son "J" is a feisty, newly turned 2 year old and I was pleasantly surprised with some of the good shots we got.

Here are a few of my favorites. I love J's face in this one...

I've started loving shots like this one, where you only see from the shoulders down. It gives you just enough info about the people to sort of create your own story in your mind.

I think J began to wonder why baby girl was not in HIS belly. Such a sweet boy he is!

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. - James 1:17 (NIV)

For some reason I have this thing about taking pictures of feet. Don't ask me why, but something about kid feet next to adult feet makes me shutter happy. Maybe it's a comparison thing because kid feet are constantly changing. I don't know. And notice I said I just like to photograph them, not touch them.

Pregnancy does Britt well. She just glows throughout her entire pregnancy. And even though Britt is several years younger than me, I look up to her in so many ways. She takes her role as a wife and mother so seriously and I truly believe that she exemplifies everything that a Proverbs 31 woman should.

And her baby bump is just precious.

I just love this awesome family and I can't wait to meet that sweet baby girl in a few short weeks!

I &hearts Aldi

The kids and I are outside (me on the laptop, obviously) while the kids ignore a perfectly blown up and watered down bouncehouse (RRIAP for those of you who are new around here) and instead all three big kids are pulling around a plastic red wagon filled with water.

At least they know how to make the best of their resources, right?

Baby Girl is upstairs asleep and Aaron boy is devouring 15 Mrs. Freshley's Apple Cinnamon Cereal Bars. What's that? Who is Mrs. Freshley? I'm SO glad you asked. You see, I've wanted to blog for a while now about this little love affair I'm having with a certain someone something. But before I tell you about my undying devotion, I'd like to tell you about the time we first met.

This is Aldi. The first time I met Aldi, I didn't like her (him?) very much. You see, they don't provide bags to bag up your food, they rarely carry name brands and, this was the kicker for me, they make you provide a quarter to "borrow" one of their buggys (that's a shopping cart for you'ins that live up nawrth). Yep, you put in your $0.25 then when you return your buggy, you get your quarter back. It was not my beloved Walmart and I did not have an isle by isle chart permanently etched into my brain. It was different and I didn't like it, at all.

But then, I heard that Aldi had milk for $2.39/gallon. I figured another peruse through the store couldn't hurt. And, seeing as how it might be cheaper for our house to just buy a freakin' cow than to continue to pay Walmart's ridiculous price of $4.01/gallon., I figured $2.39/gallon for milk could possible allow us to finally begin contritubing to our kids' college funds, rather than watching them drink away their hope of an undergraduate education. (Plus, Walmart's milk has hormones that make 5 year olds go through puberty, okay not really. I love that you can so clearly tell that this supposed email was written by a southerner. They use the word "fixing" as a verb. You know, she was "fixing" to have surgery.)

Wow - tangent, sorry. Back to Aldi. I went in for milk and saw a few other odds and ends that I needed. The cashier rang up my total and it was something ridiculous like $15.00. Can I just tell you that I have NEVER IN MY LIFE left Walmart with a total as low as $15.00? Ever. Even if I'm going in for just milk, I have never left with less than $30.00 worth of stuff (which conveniently always fits in one bag).

I went to the car and examined my receipt. From that day forward I've been an Aldi fan and we now sport matching BFF necklaces.

Hey! Dont' judge me, you'd be BFF's with Aldi too if it cut your grocery bill by almost $200 a month. I'd say that's worth a BFF necklace anyday.

So the moral of this story? Don't judge your BFF on your first encounter. You never know how much money they will save you.

Bizzy And The Jett

We have these friends, good friends, the friends that just "get you." Until 17 days ago, they were the only good friends that we had left, that were still not parents. 17 days ago, they welcomed their 1st born, a precious son named Jett.

Elizabeth and Britt are ultimate "girlfriends." Seriously. I have never seen a 24 year old and a 4 year old "get" each other the way these two do. Maybe it's the common presence of curls, maybe it's the "girly-girlness." Maybe it's because Britt (aka "Girlfriend") is one of those people that kids automatically adore. Either way, Elizabeth, Girlfriend and Ashlee are tight. And one day, I'm sure Baby Girl will be right in the mix, girlfriendin' it up as well.

Elizabeth knew that Girlfriend was having a baby. She has watched Girlfriend's tummy grow, we had talked about Girlfriend's week long labor, complete with contractions that would stop her mid-sentence. We had said that Girlfriend's baby was coming, very soon.

Well, Girlfriend had her baby and one week later, Luke and I left for the mountains. Needless to say, this cut in on Elizabeth's Girlfriend time. So tonight, being the good girlfriend that she is, Girlfriend (and Matt) brought over their new baby boy.

We had hoped it would be a surprise, but when I told (spelled to) Luke that "B-R-I-T-T and J-E-T-T and M-A-T-T" would be coming over tonight, Elizabeth stopped dead in her tracks and said,

"Girlfriend's coming over? Is she bringing her baby? Is she bringing Jett?!!"

Apparently, my 4 year old can spell J-E-T-T. Who knew? She was the happiest girl in the world tonight as she perfected her mini-mommy skills on this sweet baby boy.

Technically, I only received permission to post this one picture:

So Matt, close your eyes as I post 2 more, because Jett, in all his cuteness, deserves more than just one picture on ANY blog that he graces.

Oh little boy. This is the first of many, many, many sessions with your new Littlest Mommy. Prepare yourself my boy, prepare.

PS-If you haven't figured it out yet, "Bizzy" is Elizabeth's nickname. Lucas and Ashlee gave it to her when they were first learning to talk, and it's just sorta stuck.

Good Times, Best Friends

I told you all I'd have pictures in tow from our time with my BFF and her family so here they are! You might want to make sure the warranty is up to date on your monitor because these kids are so cute your screen might just explode.

Sweet Addie, playing in the water



Mason enjoying the water in his own special way



The "Best Friends"



Rub-a-dub-dub....5 kids in the tub


Top: Mason & Elizabeth
Bottom: Ashlee, Addie & Lucas

Now, which two are the twins? I think all our kids favor so much it's scary. Guess when you've been friends as long as Amanda and I have, your DNA starts to merge. I know our brains are pretty much wired identical, except for a few minor changes.

Blogging Vaca

My best friend Amanda, her husband Jeremy and their two kids arrived early this morning at 7am. They drove the entire night, 12 hours, from Arkansas to visit us for a couple days before heading off for a family vacation in Gatlinburg. I am soaking up my time w/ her since I only get to see her about once a year. So, that means I'll be on a blogging vaca until at least Sunday night. See you all then....with pictures in tow!

My Bestest Friend In The Whole Wide World

I have the most amazing best friend. 13 years ago, we met, as sophomores in high school, and became instant friends. She proves to me that soul-mates exist. She has seen me at my best, my worst, worse than my worst and, all too many times, she's scraped me up off the floor and helped me stand up again. She's patted my back and cheered me on when I'm sailing through life. She's held my hand, cried with me and understood when no one else could.

For the last 5 years, we've lived over 700 miles apart. Even though we are separated physically, we have become closer each and every day. I am amazed that God has blessed me with such an incredible person. She challenges me, loves me and prays for me, just when I need it most. Just this morning, she sent me the best email. Even though she had no clue, I've really needed prayer lately. As I've pondered all the things God seems to be revealing to Luke and I, I've also begun to second guess some of my choices and feelings. Through her words, God affirmed that He hears the desires of my heart, He cares and He is still answering prayer. What an amazing Creator! What an amazing friend! I don't believe that I am worthy of either relationship, but I praise my Lord for the blessings I receive from both, on a daily basis...

At our High School Graduation

Almost 10 years later