Life is beautiful. Life is short.

My life has seemed paradoxical these last couple of weeks. Celebrating the birthdays of children alongside the last days of dear loved ones. My sweet Uncle Tom passed this morning after a long, valorous fight with cancer. His pain is now gone, his body at rest, his soul at peace.

I will remember many things about him--his joking sense of humor, his devotion to his family, his passion for sports. He always engaged me with questions about me--he cared to ask. He embraced Patrick into our family wholeheartedly, paying both of us compliments we will always treasure. "You did good, Kristy. He's solid."

It's always difficult to contemplate the brevity of life. The limited opportunities. The wasting away. Sometimes I find myself aligned with Macbeth's eloquently spoken philosophy:

To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

But then, I am thankful that my life DOES signify something. As a child of the Father, I am not living for the glories and manifestations that this earthly world can provide, for the mere "hour" of my one-act play. I am thankful for a Savior that has provided eternal life, eternal peace, eternal satisfaction in him. I am thankful to serve a patient, gracious God, and I praise/pray these words of truth to my Father:

8But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. ~2 Peter 3: 8-9.

I know that he was patient with my Uncle Tom, and I pray for his continued patience with me.

I like to imagine the afterlife as something like this:

"I think of Heaven as a garden where I shall find again those who have made my world." ~Minnie Aumonier

Happy Holiday Season to Me!

I love this MAN! And, Addison and I are BLESSED to have him home with us for the next 10 weeks. No hotels. No suitcases. No sad Sundays. We get to enjoy Birthday season, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years all together! We are praying to enjoy each day to the fullest--since we don't know what our tomorrows will bring.

"Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!" ~2 Cor. 9:15

October Flashbacks

I can't believe my favorite month passed by so quickly and that I only have one post to show for it. This will be my attempt to recap our family's October fun!(New Picture: From the box at the Titans game--the one that we WON! :))

The first weekend of the month, P and I kept our sweetheart of a niece, Savannah. I alluded to her "Swiper-ness" in my lone post for the month, but we had so much fun in our 36 hours of extended baby-sitting. We took the girls to the Spring Hill Ham festival, grocery shopping in the Publix cars, to pick out pumpkins at the pumpkin patch, to the neighborhood park, and we ended the day with a pillow palate to expend their remaining energy. Sunday morning, we actually got all four of us ready for church, and we even made it halfway through the service. At the weekend's culmination, we were exhausted, but we rejuvenated by joining Addison for her afternoon nap.We enjoyed celebrating our 4th Wedding Anniversary with a hot date and my first time leaving Addison for the night. We weren't even away from her but for 14 hours--10 of which she slept-- but it was refreshing to just be Patrick and me for a little bit. My mom brought her to meet us at Henpeck where we were breakfasting, and I've never been so excited to see my little Pilly.

From breakfast, we headed out to Gentry's Farm for a hayride, a small little zoo, a corn maze, and a pumpkin picking experience. It was chilly, but Addison cock-a-doodle-dooed while chasing the rooster, "boo-ed" (instead of moo-ed) at the cows, and held as many pumpkins as she could.

We had a fun fall family party at the Wheelers and enjoyed good football and good food with good friends. Jen set up a picture setting, and we all took family portraits and kiddo shots.
Halloween was an extended event at our house. We had several dress rehearsals so that our little lady bug was ready for the main event. We enjoyed trick-or-treating with Savannah in the red wagon and our traditional Halloween chili supper with Halloween pumpkin and ghost cookies.
We finished off our holiday weekend by cheering on the Titans to their first victory. The box is right next to the big jumbo tron, and Addison kept waving and saying "hi" to it when people were doing interviews. Each fan got a T-RAC stuffed animals, and Addison and Savannah thought it was as good as Christmas.

What a fun month!

Rich Inner Life

I want to update about our weekend keeping Savannah while her mommy and daddy were in Knoxville at the UT/Auburn game, but I don't have my camera right now to upload the accompanying pictures of our trip to the Spring Hill Ham Festival, the Publix car, the park, the pillow palate, etc. Some little pick pocket swiped it! Linds called Sunday afternoon and said, "You left your camera in Savannah's backpack... wait, that doesn't sound right... I think Savannah put your camera in her backpack... oh. my. goodness." Hilarious. So, I will be updating on that soon.



In the meantime, I found my new favorite blog: Rich Inner Life and Etsy shop: Letter Girl via Erika's last post. I so want to do something like this, but I'll just be reading and living vicariously right now until I find my angle...

1 year celebration

This weekend has really been one of my favorites ever--my little girl's 1st birthday. It has been a weekend of celebration and reflection, of bittersweetness, jubilation, and awe. God is so good.

I took off Friday to have a mommy/girlie play date, and it was so worth it. I think it even helped me enjoy her party more because I didn't feel like it was slipping by too quickly. We had a lunch party on Saturday, and Addison got to tell all of her "family" that she was 1. Little girl knew exactly who the party was for too. It was hilarious. Seriously, though, it was special for her to be surrounded by so many people who love her--she is one blessed little girl!

Today, on her actual birthday, we just did special things with our little family of 3. We watched Elmo's World, read books, rode in our new Cozy Coup and Radio Flyer Wagon, went to the park, swung on the swings, and blew bubbles. Addison took 9 steps in a row too--she's getting more confident each time! It was a day that I know I'll not forget. Here are a few pictures, but I've posted some others on facebook.

Thanks to everyone for making it so special!










***Update: We went to the doctor yesterday, and Addison is in the 95th percentile for length at 31 inches, the 50th for weight at 20lbs and 14oz, and the 75th for head at 18ish inches. Sweet girl had to get 4 shots and yelped with the best of them! :)

The power of influence and "Time Out" already?

So, my daughter calls me Kiki. This morning I went up to get her from her bed, and she popped up, waved, and said, "Hi, Kiki." Sure, when she is sad or tired or mad, she wails, "Mama," but a casual greeting, and it's Kiki.

Where did she learn this? From her almost 2 year-old cousin. It's amazing what this almost one-year-old learns from that almost two-year-old. "Oh Boy!" Her laugh. There's no telling what else! When these two catch each other's eye--whether it is across the church building, at a wedding, at Jaydee's--Addison can hardly contain herself. She starts shaking, giggling, and clapping. She LOVES her Vanni. And Savannah loves her too.

So much that she even puts her in "Time Out." Seriously. Last Wednesday when Mom was keeping the girls, Savannah was lying on a pillow watching "Dora." Addison thought she'd lie next to Savannah on her pillow, but Savannah had other plans. She said, "No, Addy." When Addison's reply was to giggle and body slam herself back down on the pillow, Savannah said, "No Addy. Addy, TIME OUT!"

Oh, to be a fly on the wall...

pillow palates and dress up days

Daddies are the most fun, aren't they? I have the fondest memories of "Sunday Wrestle War," backyard ball, and "rain from the trees" with my own daddy-o, and Patrick has already started his vault of daddy-isms. Addison LOVES to bounce on our bed--it's her new thing. She bounces and flails her body all over the place. When P took over for a bit on Saturday, he decided to turn our rec room into a pillow palate--taking all the pillows from the guest room, couches, and chair and a half, spreading them across the floor, and covering them with a plush blanket. SUCH a Daddy-thing. I came home from the grocery store hearing breathless giggles, and I walked upstairs to find our little girl bouncing and body slamming herself all over the floor. It was priceless.

This morning in 2nd period, I heard a kick kick-knock knock on my classroom door, and when I opened it, I was greeted with a little person sitting in her stroller, clapping her hands, smiling, and saying, "Oh boy!"--her word of the day that she said 76 times. Made my morning.

Then in 4th period, one of my students who works in the daycare walked into class and flashed me this picture from her phone:Looks like it was dress up day in the Eagle's Nest--don't know if this little Pilly wants to be a princess, huh! I loved it, so I got her to email it to me. How funny is that?