Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad (Pops and Mimi!)

Today is my parents' 34th Wedding Anniversary. I feel so blessed to have parents who are still married and have raised us to love God.
Thanks for being a great example to us, Mom and Dad. Love you!

More company

Okay, so here are more of our pics! Top left is of my parents, Caleb, and the kids at the Health Museum, where we visited an exhibit "Grossology." Caleb loved it. Enough said.

The next pic (which I think is really cool) is my cousin Tasha's three boys, Bryan, Dylan, and Joel. We were in Galveston. The next is a picture of her gorgeous daughter, Olivia.

Then is a picture of my cousin Nola from South Carolina with the kids. She was in Houston for work and we had such a good time hanging out for the first time in 4 1/2 years!

Last but not least are Lindsey and Alan (my sister and brother-in-law) at the fireworks for Fourth of July. I think Lindsey should get frequent-driver miles as she is the one who appeared most at our house this summer! Don't go back to work, Lindsey!

I didn't get any pictures when Mandy visited with her three boys. :( But we had such a good time as well.

I guess life here in Houston will settle down to normal now, whatever that is!

Company, company, company

Over the past month or so, we have had TONS of company! I have enjoyed it so much, and know that it is over for a while now that school is starting. :(

Thought I would share some of the pictures from over the weeks: top left is Landon with my cousins Peyton and Emilyat the Hays family's first Astros Game! (Emily is 2 days older than Landon!). They were visiting with their parents, Stephen and Holly. (Stephen is my uncle, but we won't tell! :) )

Second pic is Landon with Cameron, one of our former youth and now a very good friend. Happy 21st birthday this week, Cameron!

Next is Allison, with my college friend Nicole's daughter, Allison. Yes, they are both Allison! So cute. Mine is Allison Danielle and hers is Allison Noelle, which was almost our Allison's name! Wow, that was a mouthful!

Then, Landon is shown with Nicole's son Zethan. They had such a good time together!

The last picture is of my cousin Mitchell. We went and saw his family in Galveston, and then they visited us in Houston! (yes, that is Caleb buried in the sand behind him! My mom did that!)

I'll have to add more pics on another blog because I couldn't put all of them on one post!

suckers for sweets!

Just to show you how much my kids love sweets, here are some pics of them actually sucking through the gum wrappers to get to the flavor! Came up with that idea all on their own, I'm sure!

When I caught them doing it, I took the gum away, but then gave it back for a few pics! Decided I needed to capture the moment, and not stress about it!

The Fruit of the Spirit: Love

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.- Galatians 5:22

At the prompting of the Holy Spirit, I am going to begin a (hopefully!) weekly Bible study on my blog. I am starting it specifically for some girls I, along with my friend Kristina, discipled at Emmanuel (our old church), but anyone is more than welcome to participate!

Here is the format: I am going to take a fruit of the Spirit each week and get YOU to study that particular fruit. That way, we can each learn what God wants us to learn! When you have completed the study for the week, post your responses as a comment. That way, we can all learn from each other! Then, at the end of the week, I will comment on everyone's responses and add some thoughts of my own.

So here we go for the first week:
Go to crosswalk.com and look at the top right corner. Enter the word "love" (Or whatever the topic of the week is) in the search engine where it says "Search the Bible." I used the New International version, and got 496 results! After this, choose ONE verse and then, go to your own Bible and read the entire chapter that includes that verse. For example, the first that came up is Genesis 20:13, so I would go to my Bible and read Genesis chapter 20. BUT since there are 496 results, each of you choose your own!

Then, comment on this post (you don't have to be a blogger to do this, just check the name/URL option and type in your name) and answer these questions:

1)Was the love talked about in the chapter you chose speaking of God's love towards man, man's love towards God, or man's love towards another person? Briefly summarize what the chapter is about, since we're all reading different ones!

2) What can we learn about love from this chapter?

3) What have you learned from this chapter that you need to apply to your life, concerning love, or anything else God wants you to learn?

Since this is the first week, I will do an example under the comments section. Try to have your responses in by next Thursday (August 7) and by then, the next topic should be posted! I am so excited about this! E-mail me if you have any questions!

Random Child thoughts and actions

I love having children- they really do say and do the cutest things. For example, one day Landon and Ben were talking about God. Landon said, "Where is God? I want to go to his house. I want to hold him and hug him and give him five!" That just melted my heart. And it made me think- how badly do I want to go to God's house (in this instance, I'm talking about Heaven, not church), and how happy am I in my current home (earth)?

Allie is getting her own personality, as well. She just loves her baby dolls and.... her toothbrush! That's right. She will carry that thing around as long as we let her, and screams when we take it away. So she has one we let her carry, and one we brush her teeth with. Now that is not to say she doesn't get the good one, and Landon's, and mine, and Ben's whenever she has a free chance. She will drag Landon's stool around just so she can reach up on the counter! So if your toothbrush goes missing, check the Hays house!

I would love to hear cute things about your kids, or kids you know, say/do!

July 18th: a bittersweet day

July 18th. This day always brings mixed emotions for me, and undoubtedly I will cry, at some point, on this day. You see, today is the anniversary (3rd this year) of Landon's life-saving surgery that he had at teensy, tiny seven weeks old.

At seven weeks old I handed him over to a nurse I had never met before, kissed my precious baby good-bye, and walked out into the waiting room- where I would sit, stand, talk with the 30 friends and family members that travelled to be with us on that day, cry, and even laugh a little. Mostly, though, I stared at the photograph of Landon I had carried with me. I still have it, and it is wrinkled from my carrying it around all day- nine hours to be exact. Nine hours. It was within these hours that our life's course was determined, I feel. If Landon had not had biliary atresia, we probably would have been released from the care of Texas Children's, and Houston would by now be a faint memory of Landon's first year.

But he did. Sometimes I want to scream, "God, you could have chosen a different way to get us here! We would have obeyed whether Landon was sick or not!"

But, where would our connection be? (although my grandmother received excellent care at MD Anderson, I never actually had visited the Texas Medical Center before Landon was a patient) It makes so much more sense for us when explaining why we came when we tell them how we fell in love with Houston, because of the great care Landon received here.

So, yes, today is a bittersweet day. Bitter because I remember the heart-wrenching grief I felt as a new mother, trusting our wonderful surgeon, Dr. Wesson. But it is also sweet, because it enabled me to have the adorable, fun-loving little boy that I have today.

Thank you God, for modern medical technology.

I love my son.

**The first picture is the one I carried around all day with me. The second is Landon now! Praise God