Sleeping Beauty

My sweet little Sophie's first ballet recital was Thursday night at Briarwood. The name of it was "A Royal Tea Party" and all the classes were different princesses. Sophie's class was Sleeping Beauty. The evening began with makeup, a ballet bun and a precious pink costume complete with a tutu. We arrived early for their dress rehearsal. I am slightly embarrassed to admit that I was the crazy mom waiting first in line at the door so that we could get good seats when they opened the door.

We sat down about thirty minutes early and waited for the pitter patter of little ballet slippers to enter the auditorium. When the girls arrived, however, there was no pitter patter to be heard over the silly giggles, talking, and "hey mommy" from every single one of them.

When the recital began they all gathered on stage and sang a song together. Hearing 50 sweet little voices singing "Come into my heart Lord Jesus" was so sweet. After the singing came the dancing. Now, all along, Sophie has been much more excited about her costume and makeup than the actual dancing. I knew that going into this so I wasn't sure what to expect. She was absolutely precious though and I think she did a great job even if she did march to the beat of her own drum! Watch and you'll see what I mean... At the end, no recital would be complete without flowers and a ballerina musical jewelry box. All in all it was a great first recital!

Easter Celebration! Fun with baby ducks!

We had a great Easter this year filled with lots of memories. The most meaningful thing to me was that Sophie for the first time could talk about (in simple terms) what Jesus did for us.

She learned how he died on the cross "Mommy, did you know that they put those things in His hands and they put Him on the cross?"

She learned how he rose from the dead "And then they rolled the stone away and there was an angel!"

She started to learn what it means to have Jesus come live in your heart "Mommy how does he get in there? Do they cut off your head? Does Jesus eat when he's in there? Does he live in your legs too?"


I loved hearing her little heart start to understand the beginnings of what I know will be a strong relationship with Him one day.

We also had fun at Mimi's as usual with all the cousins and the ducks! I do hope the ducks were not traumatized, but all in all, it was a great day! Here are some pictures in no particular order!

Sophie being the clean child she is was very content to watch and not touch.




Luke was all about the ducks, what a cute smile. Love my Lukey Boy!



I think Lillian loved them best of all. She almost got in the bucket with the ducks! She is fearless!

Towards the end of playtime, the ducks huddled. I think they were thinking "Stick together, safety in numbers!"

Selah in her bunny ears (at the end of the day)
She looked at us like, "Really, can we be done with pictures already?"


Sweet sisters!

Almost all the great grandkids! Wow there are a lot of them (ages range 6 years to 5 months)

Attempt at a family pic at the end of the day=)

Olivia and Sophie - both firstborn, both girls, both sweet big sisters, so much alike!

Powerful lyrics!

Every now and then I fall in love with a song, usually because it touches me and reminds me how much Jesus loves me! I think this is especially appropriate right before Easter when we celebrate Jesus, the One who came to earth and paid the ultimate price for our sin on the cross so that we could spend eternity with Him. Thank you Jesus!!
Here's the latest song that I love. Listen and read and enjoy.
Love you all - Abby

Something Changed by Sara Groves

Something changed inside me broke wide open all spilled out
Till I had no doubt that something changed

Never would have believed it till I felt it in my own heart
In the deepest part the healing came

And I cannot make it
And I cannot fake it
And I can't afford it
But it's mine

Something so amazing in a heart so dark and dim
When a wall falls down and the light comes in

And I cannot make it
And I cannot fake it
And I can't afford it
But it's mine

Ahhh, Tulips!

When Sophie was about 6 months old, we lived in Park Lane Apartments across from the Botanical Gardens. One day when Trey came home from school early, we decided to take Sophie and the camera across the street and take some pictures. The tulips happened to be blooming then an so we decided to continue the tradition and take Selah back for pictures with the tulips in the same outfit=) Here are a few pics from this trip and the one three years ago when we took Sophie. They'll still be around for a while if you have a chance to go!

2006

2009