Throwback Thursday... Better late than never

Ok, I missed my throwback Thursday post this past week because we were all caught up trying to get home from Jackson for Anne Elise's first birthday.

It's only appropriate that we go back to a year ago Thursday, September 6, 2011. Our sweet angel was born!

This has been the most wonderful blessing we could ask for as any mother can understand.

Exodus 2

Tonight I read in Exodus where Pharaoh's daughter sent Moses back to his mother to be nursed, & my heart just cheered for God! For Moses! For his precious mother!

Can you imagine sending your infant off to float in a straw-like fixture for the day on the river with your daughter? We panic about leaving our sweet babies for the first time... For a few hours... When they are 6 months old! I can't imagine my 3 month old hungry, confused, tired, no Baby-wise schedule, & stuck in a make shift float.

Your daughter texts you several hours into the day and alerts you that your baby has drifted into the line of sight of authorities. Your heart sinks knowing it's completely out of your control, & before you know it, she's home & tells you to keep him, nurse him, & love him until he is grown. Then he will go to live in the mansion of royalty.

At this point in the story I'm cheering for this Mom & the miracle God has performed! Yay! He's home. She gets to enjoy all those infant snuggles (plus she's getting paid for it... Whew!... Wish I got paid to nurse!).

It puts a whole new meaning on thanking God for allowing us to be mothers. Thank you, thank you, our precious Lord! I'm so grateful for my task as a mother, whether they are hard or easy. I'm so thankful for our security & blessings.

Blessed

I lay here in bed snuggled with my precious baby in tears. I placed her in bed with me after tragedy struck this small town. I begin to think as I'm laying in bed how blessed I am to have been chosen as her mother.

Somewhere in this world lies a sleepless mother who knows she cannot provide for the blessing she brought into this world. Maybe it's food, maybe clothing, or even security they lack, but she lies awake in fear for this little baby. I pray for her. I pray she can provide, & I pray that God may lead me to a way to help.

For myself, I pray God strips me of my comfort zone. So often I find myself clinging to it. Tear me from it, God so that I can follow Your plan. That I may guide this blessing in Your truths, not my own. I alter Your Word to reveal to myself what I want to hear, & I pray that you show me Your way.

I pray for those who have caused harm. I can't imagine what may be running through their minds & hearts, but God, I know Your power can change their hearts.

I encourage you all to pray for your family. Pray hard for those precious blessings. Strive daily to enter through the gates for "many will try to enter." I know sometimes I think I can do it without God, but He has humbled me . Beg His army to stand guard of your home.

Throwback Thursday

I love everyone's new "Throwback Thursday" themes on their blog, so I thought I'd start one myself. I find it appropriate that I begin with our wedding. It's only fitting due to the hurricane weather we are having now.

Yes, it was hurricane like weather on our wedding day, and we had an outside wedding. My luck! The day was beyond perfect. We started pictures early, and the sun was with us all throughout the wedding. He left during the reception, and the clouds rolled in about 30 minutes later. We had a beautiful day. . . no complaints! Our reception got cut a little shorter than planned, but we love everyones "hurricane Heather" stories from that day.

Photos by Patrick Remington

This is the house on Grenada Lake where we got married. 

 Arthur III, Arthur IV, and Arthur Jr. 

And then came the rain. . . 

The Bakers

Abbie and Tony got married in Yazoo City in early May. They have had to hold out a great deal of patience with me while we moved. Note to self: next time I move and plan a 2 week vacation all in a month, I will hire a babysitter to watch AE while I finish up all galleries. It's quite annoying to have a "to-do" list hanging over your head amongst such chaos!

Back to this sweet couple. . . They got a reveal before we moved of raw shots only, but as of today. . . ( a little tardy, right?), they have a full gallery of edited and touched-up photos of their sweet day.

Colored Rice? Seriously!

A few weeks ago, I posted a picture on Facebook of 80 lbs of colored rice & promised to blog about it later. It's taken some time, but here it is!

The colored rice is for our new sandbox. Arthur & I have been hard at work in the back yard building that sandbox, & it is finally finished! Yay! This is our birthday gift to our sweet girl. Surprisingly, it wasn't that hard. I can't wait for her to get up from her nap & try it out for the first time.

Colored Rice:
Take five cups of rice & put in a ziplock bag. Separately, mix 5 tablespoons of alcohol with a few squirts of food coloring. Poor the mixture in to the rice bag & spread it around evenly. I left them in the bags for about 30 minutes then spread them out in a large container outside in order to dry. The alcohol will evaporate & leave you with fun colors of rice!

Don't I have such a cute handyman?

It's Almost Birthday Time

We are spending this week preparing for Anne Elise's FIRST birthday party! Yay!

We have lots of work to do, but mommy is enjoying all the projects. It's keeping me occupied!

This week we are hoping to finish up the patio project. I'm so thankful our amazing builder, Mr. Rusty Crane, has put off a few projects to come help us. Rusty has been amazing, & we can't thank him enough for all his hard work.

Our patio furniture should arrive this week, I'm hoping to put together a few Candyland decor candies together, finish details with the cake & food, wrap up all moving-in type projects, & clean! Whew! This should be fun. O yes, & AE & I are working diligently to learn how to blow out a candle. You can tell her to "blow out your candle," & she puffs out the biggest breath she can muster including a little spit. However, you put a flame in front of her, & it throws her off. Not sure if we'll have this trick worked out by Saturday!

She is so excited! And she has been quite the "helper" for me this past week while we decorated the patio. She preferred to do it all naked.