A Day of Silence....

This was shared with me be e-mail today and I thought it was beautiful and wanted you share with you all...

> Twas 11 days before Christmas around 9:38 when 20 beautiful children
> ran through Heaven's gate.
> Their smiles were contagious, their laughter filled the air, They
> could hardly believe all the beauty they saw there.

> They were filled with such joy, they didn't know what to say, They
> remembered nothing of what happened earlier that day.
> "Where are we?" asked a little girl, as quiet as a mouse.
> "This is Heaven!" declared a small boy. "We are spending Christmas at God's house."

> When what to their wondering eyes did appear, but Jesus, their Savior, the children gathered near.
> He looked at them and smiled, and they smiled just the same.
> Then He opened His arms and He called them by name.
> And in that moment was joy, that only Heaven can bring, The children
> all flew into the arms of their King.

> And as they lingered in the warmth of His embrace, One small girl
> turned and looked at Jesus' face.
> And as if He could read all the questions she had, He gently whispered
> to her, "I'll take care of mom and dad."

> Then He looked down on earth,
> the world far below
> He saw all of the hurt, the sorrow, and woe.
> He closed His eyes and He outstretched His hand, "Let My power and presence re-enter this land!"

> "May this country be delivered from the hands of fools"
> "I'm taking back my nation. I'm taking back my schools!"
> Then He and the children stood up without a sound.
> "Come now my children, let me show you around."

> Excitement filled the space, some skipped and some ran.
> All displaying enthusiasm that only a small child can.
> And I heard Him proclaim as He walked out of sight, "In the midst of
> this darkness, I AM STILL THE LIGHT."

Anonymous

Also, a sweet friend of mine and one of my wonderful team teachers wrote a blog post and I could not have said it more perfect myself... Check it out here.... I think you will enjoy. 

Have a BLESSED Tuesday...

Chunky Monkey Wrapped in Lights...

Not the best quality pictures, but when you're this darn cute.... quality doesn't matter. :)

Thought they turned out pretty cute!

Have a BLESSED Wednesday!

P.P.P.P. Link-Up!

Linking up with Katie @ Married....With a Pup for a fun link-up she is starting! :)

Peaks: highlights of the week; overall positives
Pits: low point(s) of the week
Praises: praising God for specific things that have happened throughout the week
Prayers: prayer requests that arose during the week or have been lingering


peaks

• Receiving our Christmas cards in the mail! Now on to getting them addressed & sent!
• The cold front that entered Alabama because that means a fire and hot chocolate at The Pody House every night! LOVE the smell of a real fire!
• Receiving Gage's sweet first Christmas plate we got made at Painted By U! She turned his precious foot into a reindeer! (Pictures later)
• Marking items off of my Family Christmas Shopping List. I still have a lot of shopping to do but I've made progress!  Santa is DONE with little man (I can't BELIEVE I am Santa this year;)!

  
pits

• Leaving my little buddy everyday for work.... I try not to talk about it a lot because I know it gets annoying (especially for the husband... he is very supportive though;) but it's still a struggle for this momma.
• I am a very organized person. I like my drawers, pantry, cabinets in order. It just makes me happy to open them up and see them neatly organized! Right now, I feel like I can't keep everything in order! I don't know what I would do without my wonderful momma coming to help me every week.... I would be a crazy lady! The other day I told my sweet "teacher friends" ( now I consider them much more than just my  "teacher friends") it is bad when I organized my dirty dishes before coming to work to make things look more in order. We can all relate...it's very hectic during the week. I hope to get things in order over Christmas Break when the Christmas decor comes down (insert sad face)! 

praises

• Spending Sunday evening with my family. Helping my mom put up Christmas trees, looking at all of our ornaments we made when we were little, fighting (not really, we never fight;) with my sister over what we are "stealing" to add to our decor, watching home videos,  laughing about things only WE would ever think is funny (others would think we have lost our minds),and watching my mom, dad, brother, & sister LOVE on our baby boy... makes my heart smile.
• Excited about all of the Christmas parties we will be attending this weekend! We have our Sunday School party, Lee's grandad's, and Christmas at Lee's parents (we're having it a little early this year, due to a little change in plans;).

prayers

• Praying for my sweet husband.
• Lifting up many prayer request from precious families we go to church with. 
• And always thanking God for our little miracle and our beautiful life.

Go link up with the fabulous Katie here! 

Have a BLESSED Tuesday!

Happy 3 Months, Monkey!

 I made the mistake of  taking these pictures at night, after bath, and before nighttime bottle but I was determined to get them!

 As you can see, pictures are not as easy anymore...
 Little stinker, he was pushing with his feet, sliding down, and pitching a good one!

These pictures crack me up:

"HMM... this looks pretty good."

"You not going to give me my bottle... I'll show you, mommy."

 HERE WE GO! He finally worked up a good one!

Stats: 

I weighed him the day he turned 3 months and he weighed 16 pounds and 13 ounces!

Tonight (Dec. 4th, 3mo. & 10days) this is what Chunky Monkey weighed:

Haven't been to DR. so not sure on length.

Milestones:

• First "real" chuckle at mommy (11/12/12)
• Gripped his toys on his play mat and brought them to his mouth... after several tries (11/15/12)
• Rolled over from back to tummy with sight assistance from a blanket under him (11/15/12)
• He is REALLY following us around the room now!
•  Turning his head when he hears our voices. 
• He is showing much more interest in his toys by grabbing and cooing at them
• Smiling right when we greet him
• He has definitely mastered the pouty lip now (I just love when he does that!)
• He loves his hands, he will sometimes stuff his whole fist in his mouth!

Firsts:

First family vacation/ trip to Gatlinburg 

First trip to the pool (which ended up being a hot tub;)

Survived his longest car ride yet with ease (4 1/2 hours)

Celebrated his first Thanksgiving!  

First trip to Christmas Village with mommy, MiMi, Aunt Lynie & Ale'!

Loves:

• Riding in the car

• Playing on his playmat

• Looking at the ducks at Gatlinburg

• Smiling

• His favorite way to take a nap (on my chest;)

• Mommy wiggling her toungue
• Talking to him in a deep voice
• Strrreeeetching out flat on his back
• Laying on his side watching TV

• Bath time

•  Watching TV with daddy (actually watching TV period)

• Kicking his little legs and flailing his arms really fast! (We say he's running for a touchdown!;)

• Nursing, and of course eating PERIOD!

Other Updates:

Gage is still taking 4 ounces of breast milk every 4 hours (possibly 3). Sometimes with a 2 ounce snack in between. He seems to be more hungry in the evenings. He  is sleeping 7 to 9 hours a night, most nights it is 8 hours (happy mommy). He is wearing size 3 diapers and 3-6 month clothes, mostly 6 month now. Little man is a happy baby most of the time! When he gets sleepy at night, he will start crying until mommy picks him up and puts him to sleep. It is harder for him to work up a cry now, it's actually funny to watch because he puckers out that bottom lip but just can't get it going!:) 

I just can't say it enough, I love him so much!

Santa, Maybe?!

Honestly, I have all I've ever wanted right here....

But it's always fun to make a little list for Santa....

1. Laura Mercer tinted Moisturizer in Nude.

2.  Clarisonic Mia 2!

3.  Mac Gloss is Nymphette.

4 & 6. Bubble Necklaces from here

5.  MAC Cremesheen Pearl Fall 2012

• I spotted these perfect yard flags on ETSY as well!  I love anything burlap right now!

• I am planning to get the Samsung Galaxy soon and of course I would love a personalized phone cover from none other than ETSY! But I am now eying the ones you can personalize with a picture from Shutterfly! 

• My sweet friend showed me these beautiful vases from ETSY and I fell in love! You can find them here!

• These cheetah tennis  are pretty adorable too! 

•  I want to eventually create a canvas collage in our family room... just a thought;)

There's the items I have been eying for a while now! Maybe I gave you some ideas too:) Go link up with Becky and share your list!

Have a BLESSED Monday!