Tonight I took Mason downtown to trick or treat. There were so many kids running around and even more gnats. He really had fun trick or treating from store to store and looking at what all the other kids were dressed up as. He was the Ghost Rider. Several of the kids were afraid of him. I had to keep taking his mask off to show them that he was just a boy.

Pirate Jackson


Butterfly Jordan

McKenzie, Mason and Gabby

Now that Mason's hair is growing, we can do all kinds of funky styles in the tub.

I Googled "Lori needs" to see what would come up. Here is my list of needs according to Google....

Lori needs ideas and volunteers.
Lori needs to be aware of her own anger.
Lori needs help.
Lori needs a change.
Lori needs to cut her mom some slack.
Lori needs a little hocus-pocus from dear departed Aunt.
LORI NEEDS CAFFEINE TO STAY AWAKE!!!

Pretty funny!!

This Sums It Up For Me Right Now.....

Desperately, helplessly, longingly, I cried;
Quietly, patiently, lovingly, God replied.
I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate...
and the Master so gently said,"Wait."

"Wait? you say wait?" my indignant reply.
"Lord, I need answers, I need to know why!"
Is your hand shortened? Or have you not heard?
By faith I have asked, and I'm claiming your Word.

My future and all to which I relate
hangs in the balance and you tell me to Wait?"
I'm needing a 'yes', a go-ahead sign.
Or even a 'no,' to which I'll resign.

You promised, dear Lord, that if we believe,
We need but to ask, and we shall receive.
Lord, I've been asking, and this is my cry:
I'm weary of asking! I need a reply.

Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate
as my Master replied again, "Wait."
So I slumped in my chair, defeated and taut,
and grumbled to God, "So, I'm waiting...for what?"

He seemed then to kneel, and His eyes met with mine...
and He tenderly said, "I could give you a sign.
I could shake the heavens and darken the sun.
I could raise the dead and cause mountains to run.

I could give all you seek and pleased you would be.
You'd have what you want, but you wouldn't know Me.
You'd not know the depth of My love for each saint.
You'd not know the power that I give to the faint.

You'd not learn to see through clouds of despair;
you'd not learn to trust just by knowing I'm there.
You'd not know the joy of resting in Me
when darkness and silence are all you can see.

You'd never experience the fullness of love
when the peace of My spirit descends like a dove.
You would know that I give, and I save, for a start,
But you'd not know the depth of the beat of My heart.

The glow of My comfort late into the night,
the faith that I give when you walk without sight.
The depth that's beyond getting just what you ask
From an infinite God who makes what you have last.

You'd never know should your pain quickly flee,
what it means that My grace is sufficient for thee.
Yes, your dearest dreams overnight would come true,
but oh, the loss if I lost what I'm doing in you.

So, be silent, my child, and in time you will see
that the greatest of gifts is to truly know me.
And though oft My answers seem terribly late,
My most precious answer of all is still "WAIT".

Author Unknown

Pumpkins

Saturday we took Mason and our niece, Jordan to the pumpkin patch. They had fun running around looking for the perfect pumpkin. Mason can't wait to carve it!
My sweet Jordan Pie

After I picked Mason up from school today, I took him to the Port Royal sands to look for sharks teeth. Although we didn't find any sharks teeth, Mason found some tiny hermit crabs. He picked one up, laid it in the palm of his hand and said, very sweetly, "Mommy, it's so cute. I want to keep it forever. Ahhhhh, he's so sweet." Then he said he needed to find another one. When I asked him why he needed a second one he said, in a totally different tone of voice, "I wanna make them fight." Boys will be boys!
We walked all the way up the tower and had a stranger take our picture at the top. We looked like tourists but I don't care! It was fun!
Today is Ivette's birthday! Mason wanted to get her a cake and a candle that plays the Happy Birthday song. He loves his Aunt Ivette so much and so do I!
This is my Layla girl wearing her Halloween costume. She was giving me the evil eye..... can you tell?

The Glory Of His Works

Last night Brett, Mason and I went out for a boat ride with my brother. On the way back, the sun was setting and the sky in front of us was red. It was a red that I had never seen before. Absolutely gorgeous! I looked back at the sky behind us and is was almost purple. It was so perfect and beautiful. I started thinking about the glory of His works. Who else could create a sunset like that one but God? The entire ride back to the dock, I thought about all things that are going on my life. I have a good life but there are always days that go by when I want a "do over". For instance, I raise my voice to Mason when it really wasn't necessary. Or I don't pay enough attention to the people that I love. I started thinking about the fact that I am not guaranteed tomorrow or even my next breath. That sunset was so gorgeous but it only lasted a few minutes and then it was over. I am really going to try to live in the moment more instead of concentrating on what tomorrow may bring. The moments in life past just as fast as that sunset but it was beautiful while it lasted because I took the time to watch it. It's funny how God works. He used that big sunset to open my eyes to the little things in life.

Happy Fall!

Today the weather is perfect! The skies are so blue and the temp is just right! I love Fall. I open my windows and let the fresh air drift through. Love it!

I haven't blogged in a long time. We have been busy living life and I just haven't taken the time to update my blog. Sorry!

Mason turned 5 in September. I can't believe that we have a 5 year old. It doesn't seem possible that that much time has passed since I had him. He is growing fast. That makes me sad in a strange way. He is my baby... I don't want him to grow up.

Brett is good besides being covered in poison oak. I guess we have it growing in our backyard and now it is spreading all over Brett.... even between his eyes. Poor baby!!

There are a lot of different things going on in my life.... some happy and some sad... but nevertheless, I praise God for all that He gives me.

I have found a blog that has really touched my heart. Go read some and you will see what I am talking about. I have added this sweet baby girl to my daily prayers. I hope that everyone who reads her blog will do the same.

My friend Bonnie just found out that she is having a baby boy! Congratulations to her!!

I guess this post is just a lot of rambling but at least I am blogging, right?

A Special Kind Of Love

My grandparents just celebrated 61 years of marriage. Can you imagine? They have stuck by each other through all the trials of life and are still standing strong, together. It takes a special kind of love to last all these years. God has blessed them with a love that lasts forever. It is a love that is unbreakable. When I grow up, I want to be where they today.... in love. Happy Anniversary Mot Mot and SkeeBo!

Love You Forever

Last night Mason choose the book "Love You Forever" as his bedtime story. I haven't read him this book in a really long time. He listened as I read about the mommy who would sneak into her son's room, crawl across the floor, pick him up and rock him back and forth singing, "I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always. As long as I'm living, my baby you'll be."

After I finished the book, he wanted me to pretend that he was sleeping so I could crawl across the floor, pick him up and rock him back and forth, singing the song. He thought it was pretty funny. So, we said our prayers and I thought that he was about asleep..... until I felt his arms go around my neck and he started to rock me back and forth while singing a pretty good version of the song in the book. He sang, "I'll love you forever. I like you every day. As long as I'm living, my mommy you will be." He thought I was really sleeping so I didn't say a word. He rolled over and went to sleep. I lay there with big fat tears in my eyes, thanking God for giving me such an amazing child.

Pictures From The Weekend

Our New Baby Girl

This is Carolina, our newest addition! It's our first kitten and so far we love her. She seems to like Mason and she is tolerating our dogs. She's definitely a keeper!

Randon Thoughts

Last night we started Vacation Bible School. I am helping Carla with the 3 and 4 year old class. This is my first year helping with VBS and I can already tell you that this week is going to be awesome...... exhausting but awesome! Some say that the first night is unorganized and crazy but I think that it went really well. The kids had smiles on their faces and seemed excited about the night. We enjoyed snacks, music, recreation, crafts, missions and Bible Study.

Voices of Praise sang a special Sunday morning in church and had practice with the adult choir Sunday afternoon. We are joining together to sing a special this coming Sunday morning. I am really excited to see what God has planned for us.

Friday night a group of fellow Flip Floppers had dinner at Outback. Carla is moving very soon so we wanted to get together before she leaves. I am going to miss her so much. When she leaves, she will be taking a small piece of this Flip Floppers heart. I look forward to August, when she will be back for our 1 year anniversary weekend at Harbor!

Our Newest Addition

This is Yoshi. He is a bearded dragon and our newest baby. If you have been to our house in the last few weeks, then you have had the pleasure of meeting him but I wanted to post some pictures for those of you who haven't been over. Before we got Yoshi I had NEVER held a lizard. I will hold an occasional tree frog but never a lizard. At first I was a little bit apprehensive. But he is so gentle and sweet. One of the first things that Mason does in the morning is hold Yoshi. He helps me feed him and give him water. Although it may be hard to believe, Yoshi responds different to Mason than he does to anyone else. He tilts his head when Mason talks, he will sit in Mason's lap for as long as Mason wants him to and if Yoshi is in a feisty mood, he calms down the second he sits in Mason's hands. It's pretty amazing.

We feed him tiny crickets and let me tell you that he can eat them at the speed of light! He also loves strawberries. He shed his skin last week. Mason was in a panic until it was over. He didn't understand why his skin was coming off. I told Mason that it was because Yoshi had grown too big for his old skin. I guess it worried Mason.

When we went to pick Yoshi up a few weeks ago, Brett told me that there was no way on earth that he would ever hold a bearded dragon. By the time we got home that night, Brett was begging for his turn to hold him. Now I catch Brett in Mason's room holding Yoshi all the time. Or sitting at the computer with Yoshi hanging out on his shirt.

Our Weekend!

This morning I woke up with a head ache and my legs where extra achy. Before I left to take Mason to school I loaded the dishwasher and turned it on, folded a load of clothes and started more, made the bed, watered my outside plants, gave Chewy his medicine, fed the dogs and the lizard, spent at least 20 minutes trying to help Mason pick out his clothes and finally had to take 4 Motrin before walking out the door. I was tired and my day had just started. I know that I am not the only one who has mornings like this. I know that some of you do the same things with two or three kids to get ready. Y'all are hero's in my eyes! I really feel like I never get to sit down and do nothing. I know that is my fault because when the opportunity presents itself, I sit and think of things that I should be doing..... so I get up and do them. I end up stressing myself out!

But this morning when I got in my car and dropped my head to the steering wheel to say a quick prayer, a song started to play in my head.... "When He Reached Down His Hand For Me". I was really feeling frustrated and mad and tired and irritable. I really wanted to go back into the house and get back in my bed. But instead, I put in the CD with that song on it and I pushed repeat. Mason and I listened to it all the way to school. I know that God was testing me this morning. The things that I did this morning where no different than any other morning except today the devil was riding on my shoulder. He was whispering in my ear, filling me with anger and ungratefulness. But the minute that God put the words to that song in my head, the "grumpiness" started to lift. He showed me that even when we have something as simple as a bad morning, He will reached down and lift you up again.

Right in my own backyard....

For those of you that didn't know, I joined the Youth/Young Adult Choir at church. I have never sang in any choir and have never thought that my voice was a good one. The only person that I have ever sang to is Mason because mommy's always sound pretty, right?

When mom asked me to join the choir, I didn't hesitate. I jumped right into practices and listening none stop to my cd's. But after every practice I feel so frustrated with myself. I don't want to sing loud because someone might actually hear me. I don't want to stand to close to anyone because then someone will definitely hear me. Pretty silly, huh? Yeah, it is!!

We had practice Sunday night and once again, I was feeling less than confident. I was trying to sing quietly because I felt like I was really sounding like a sick cow. But then we started working on a new song. "Let Everything That Has Breath Praise The Lord". I stood there thinking, who am I to not raise my voice and praise God? So I don't sound fabulous. Does that really matter? To God's ears, my praises are precious, no matter how off key they are. So, I plan on listening to my cd's, learning my part and singing to the best of my ability. I plan on praising God through song and allowing Him to use me as a witness. If you happen to be the one who stands beside me at practice..... sorry if I'm off key or mess up. But I'm gonna keep on keepin on and I am gonna PRAISE!!

A Campin' He Will Go!

Mason has been invited to go camping this weekend and he is so excited about it. This is his first camping trip. When I asked him if he wanted to go, he asked me a lot of questions. Where would he sleep? Who would be in the tent with him? Where would he brush his teeth and change his clothes? What if someone saw him naked? Would he have bug spray there? Would he have to use the bathroom in the woods and could I please pack some toilet paper just in case. On and on he went with his questions. He finally decided that he definitely wanted to go. He says that he is going to catch every fish in the pond and he also says that he going to try to sneak one home so he can cook it and eat it. He doesn't even like to eat fish. Silly boy!

So, Brett is going out of town Friday and now so is Mason. What am I going to do with myself? At first I thought I would start my spring cleaning..... then when I came to my senses I decide not to! I'm sure that I will find something to do.

Thanks to Jeremiah for inviting Mason to go this weekend. I'm sure that it will be a memorable time for Mason especially if he catches his very first fish. You and McKenzie might have a permanent fishing partner after this.