It's Been a Whirlwind!!

Well, we finished first grade and we have been off and running!! Here are some fun pics...Malaya at field day!

This past weekend we went down to Houston for Jed's 1st birthday party! We got to have fun time with Josh and Kayci and Truitt as well. We got there just in time on Friday to watch my brothers sky dive! I could NEVER do this but these 2 guys have always stretched themselves with danger:) My SIL, Kayci wants to go next time and David might go along too.

Malaya bought an MP3 player with her birthday money. I thought this picture was so cute. Jonathan and Jennifer each had an earpiece in their ear listening to a song that Malaya wanted them to listen to.

Mom and Dad enjoying their 3 grandkids at Jed's b-day party.
Truitt's first time to take a dive:) (No, we were not baptizing babies at the party:)
Enjoying his 1st birthday cake! Jen made the cakes from scratch and they were delicious!!


A few more updates:
The day we got out of school my SIL (David's sister), her 4 kids, and my MIL all stayed with us for 5 days!!! We had the best time. Have I mentioned before how much how love Dina! She is amazing!! I praise God for her friendship, her Godly wisdom/example and her conversation!
Malaya went home with them for 4 days. It was a little rough on me and Malaya but we made it through. I bawled for a few hours after she left but made it through with some entertainment from a friend. :) Malaya is going to 2 VBS's this week and is loving it, though she had to miss yesterday b/c I think her body just wore down!

We have a rally next Thursday at the Potter's House for anyone that is close that would like to come check out KidStand, Have some fun, and worship God with 1500 kids! Is there anything better??? If anything, please pray for the night!

We are looking forward to the rest of our summer. Hope you are having a great one!!

Blessings in Nephews

I am an aunt who is totally in love with her 2 nephews! The three of us made a trip down to H-town to see my newest nephew Truitt. He is PRECIOUS!! I also got to spend some fun playtime with Jed. He is one of the silliest kids!! He cracks me up! He and Truitt are going to have some good times ahead! Here are some fun pics from the weekend!

Isn't he beautifully handsome!!!

Such a weird ( in a good way:) stage of life to watch my brothers transition to being daddys! What a blessing it is to see them love their sons so passionately! Kayci and Jennifer are amazing moms! I can't wait to watch their families develop! I tell them both ALL the time (probably annoyingly too much:) that Malaya and I can not wait to babysit!!

Jed just keeps me in stitches (just like his dad). As you can see, his new game is peekaboo. He is one precious kiddo. I can not believe he is about to be the big ONE!!!

I LOVE being an auntie!! Next week 3 of my neices and one other nephew will be coming in town! Malaya is so excited to have her cousins come stay!! There will be lots of great memories to share!

We had a great Mother's Day! Good family time!Here is the precious miracle that gave me the title of mommy 8 years ago!! She makes my heart burst! Speaking of her...she is almost a stinkin' 2nd grader!!!!!!!!!!!!! Where does the time go???? I LOVE being her mom! I am excited about our summer together!

We passed through a major milestone tonight and I survived!! Every night since the day she was born (with the exception of a few nights when she was a new born and I was too tired:) I have read to her. As I was doing the dishes tonight I started thinking that one day she is not going to want me to read to her anymore, she will want to read by herself. It wasn't 10 minutes later and she came into the kitchen and said she would like to read on her own tonight!!! I think God put it on my heart to prepare me for the heart break. :(:(:(:( As we did bedtime I told her I would make a deal that she could start reading on her own but I still wanted one night a week! Is that selfish?? Don't tell me if you think it is:) Let me grovel in my own selfishness for as long as she will let me.

Pray for me....:)

MY SECOND NEPHEW IS BORN!!!

Well, Truitt arrived early!! He was born at about 3:30 today! Check out the handsome new Ross boy at www.truittross.blogspot.com
We will be waiting VERY impatiently till we get to see him next weekend! Please say a prayer over him!!
YAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!!

I'm Alive!!

I really have gotten bad with this blogging thing! Thought I would fill you friends and fam in on what has been going on in our world. It has been a busy, busy month. I feel like I am just now recovering from the weekend! I was wiped!!!

Continued from the last blog...Malaya wanted a slumber party this year so we had 8 little girls over for some pizza, dancing and no sleep:)

2 girls had to leave early so here is the all night crew. We had a dance contest which the girls took very seriously. There were some future KidStand back up dancers in the mix:) I will just show Malaya to not embarrass any of the girls! The party started right about the time tornado sirens started going off and it began down pouring! Another mom stayed b/c of hail so I calmly gathered all the girls and we sat in my bathtub for 30 minutes. Many funny times from that!

My cousin Hutt is graduating this year. A few ladies from their church threw Hutt a party. It was so nice! I can not believe he is graduating. He is one of the smartest people I know. He is an amazing baseball player! He has an amazing singing voice! He is a great leader in his youth group. I am so proud of him!
Another SUPER exciting thing is that my brother and sister in law will become parents next Monday the 7th!!!! She is being induced that day so hopefully he will come fast!! His name is Joshua Truitt Ross and we will call him Truitt!! I can not wait to meet him! These little nephews are going to be so much fun!! Jed and he will be good buddies and I am sure Malaya is ready to teach them all the ropes! Here is a pic from her shower a few weeks ago. Doesn't she look beautiful!! I love my girls!! I have such amazing sister in laws.!!Malaya is so blessed to have such great aunts. Almost every time we are with them Malaya wants to "dress them up" by either doing their make up or hair. Jenn is always so patient and lets Malaya do pretty much anything she wants. She allows Malaya to practice her "creativity":)
I wasn't able to get a great picture but Malaya signed up for a speaking part in their 1st grade play. I was so proud of her. We practiced her lines for weeks and she whipped them out like a pro! You may not be able to see but she is the pig! I cannot believe this year is almost over!!

This past weekend, the whole KidStand team went to Fort Lauderdale, Florida to do the children's area at a huge Christian festival! We worked our tails off but it was SOOO much fun and God was so good! When we first got there Satan tried his attack hard but we prayed and fought and God revealed his glory in some powerful ways!! 80 kids signed up to know more about Jesus and wanted to dedicate their lives to Him!! ( 26 of them never went to church before) Each child was individually counseled by our team and were encouraged to find a church home, Christian friends, to be baptized, and to start reading the Bible. It was an amazing experience to be a part of. Our team consists of some AMAZING people that I learn so much from. Because we were ministers at the festival we were allowed backstage access. On Friday night Jeremy Camp was the headliner! He led us through a powerful time of worship! I am such a huge fan of him and his wives music. The lyrics to their songs have meant so much to me at different phases in my life. "This is My Desire" is still one of my fav songs of all time! He is an amazing writer! So we were able hang out with him backstage for a bit and get a pic with our team! My friend, Liz got a pic so as soon as she sends it me I will post it!

On the last day the festival got finished about 6:00 so we took off to spend a few hours at the beach!! Considering the only beach I have ever been to is Galveston, I was stunned at the beauty of the beach! It was beautiful to be there with my friends and KidStand family! I love each one of them!!

Liz is taking the pic. But here is the line up: Joe - does our marketing and carrying equipment:), his wife Kim - does fundraising and lots of other stuff:), me - KidStand assitant (I dab a little in it all.) bottom is Marissa, KidStand dancer, Jessie - Kidstand visionary, founder, president, Valarie- KidStand dancer and actress, and Solrun (KidStand dancer).

Life is such an adventure! God is still working through a lot of junk in me but I hope He is being able to use the parts of my heart that do belong to Him. ("I pray that he continues his good work in me.") At least I hope it is good:):) I am learning a lot lately about the broad community of faith and it exists WAY outside of my little box. He is so much bigger than I have ever known and I know He will continue to amaze me right up to the point I look into His face of glory. It is a blessing to have people in my life that continuously point me to that moment and encourage me to live me life with that moment in mind!

Blessings on you until next month when I update:):)

Yep-She's 7

I can not believe it! I am the mother of a seven year old. The joy she has brought me is indescribable. She is a "precious one". As I prayed over her at bedtime tonight, fresh, new prayers were being put on my heart. I love this little girl beyond all understanding. Praise God for her birth, life and eternal existence. My life is forever changed b/c of the events of this day, 7 years ago! I love you, little Biz!!

Malaya's school took a field trip to the Dallas Arboretum. Mom and I went along for the fun! They had a class and learned about the metamorphisis of a butterfly. Here is Malaya demonstrating the stages. Feel free to use these pics for your children's learning pleasure:)

They also put on wings after they came out of their 'cocoon' but Malaya would not be still enought for me to get a good pic.

Fun b-day pics-

David went and got donuts for our birthday, breakfast in bed. Malaya got new goggles for this upcoming swimming season:)

Emaline and I took Malaya Mc Donald's for lunch today!

For some reason Malaya decided to revert back to being 1 and ate her molten cake and ice cream with her hands. What kind of mother would I be to stop her:)

Fun family game time ahead!

This day 7 years ago, God placed in my hands a little girl. A new perspective into heaven became a little more visible that day. I look forward to this 7th year of her life and seeing more of Him through her.

Easter fun!

We had a great Easter weekend. We built up to today and tried to think through the week as what Jesus would have been doing each day a little less than 2000 years ago. We got to spend some time with great friends at LCC. Rhonda did (as always) a great job with the Easter Eggstravaganza. Malaya had a blast getting to catch up with all her LCC friends. We got to have a celebration of Jesus' resurrection last night. We got to worship with my parents and grandmother with the Christians at Decatur. That was a blessing to be there with them today!

Dying Easter eggs last night was fun. We "marbelized" them this year.

My prissy almost 7 year old! (B-day will happen on Tuesday. Pray for me:)

Man, I have a good lookin Husband!!! And a beautiful daughter! WOW!!

My precious mom has made this cake every Easter since I was a little girl. It gets yummier every year! Thanks mom for making it again!
Malaya's mouth is full of a roll but we thought her smile was too cute with these chipmuck cheeks!
We had a great day! The Savior of men and Lord of our hearts ROSE AND IS LIVING!! Still blows my mind!!
Have a great week!!

Philly and New York

We have had a fast and furious last few weeks! I had the HUGE blessing of traveling with KidStand to Philadelphia last weekend. Jessie taught 4 workshops and we put on a rally on Friday night. It was neat to see the Lord work through the rally and see people get pumped up to teach kids about Jesus. The workshop got finished Saturday afternoon and we had a few hours to do some "sight seeing". We decided to be very spontaneous and we took a train into New York! This WILL go down as one of the highlights of my life. It was all so overwhelming and just like the movies. I tried sushi for the first time ever and probably will not be eating it again:) Here is Jess leading the adults and a few kids in worship. This was an interactive workshop to teach children's leaders some motions to children's songs! We had a blast!

On the train to New York! (Man, sitting between these 2 I desperately need a tan and some highlights :)I made a great new friend, Susan Gray on the right. She challenged me spiritually in some major ways. She is a worship leader and has a praise and worship CD out. I loved getting to know her. And then of course Jessie is on the left. I praise God for her friendship this past year. She has taught me so much and is faithful in prayer and seeking God's will for her. Talk about using her talents for God! I love these friends! My first sushi experience!When we walked up stairs from the train station this was my sight! I was just in awe!! New York is an interesting city. I saw some things that I have never seen and probably will never see again! We definitely were not in Texas anymore:)

I DID!!

I cried this morning when I took Malaya back to school!! I LOVED having her home last week. This past week made me so ready for the summer! We had lots of special time together and we really didn't do "much". We played and enjoyed being together all week. She was in very joyous and mature spirits all week so that helped:) I love watching God continue his beautiful work in her! There are very specific things that I prayed for her when she was in my womb and I am beginning to see God fulfill those prayers with approval. Even though some of those qualities have been torturous to see God develop. :) Very hard lessons for me and her.

We closed out our week with a day at our new favorite family get away, GlenRose. We picnic'd in Dinosaur Valley. We then hiked for about 4 hours in the hills. It was BEAUTIFUL!!

Only 9 more weeks until summer vacation!!!!:)

Fun Family Time

We decided this afternoon to go check out Grapevine Lake. We have never been out there before!! We had a great time!! We did some hiking, fishing and lot's of laughing. (Our laughs are mostly when one of us falls or trips or something. I know it's weird. We owe this to Grammy.:)

Here some pics from our day.

Malaya LOVES to climb. She is quite adventurous in nature. She climbed this cliff in the pic on the left. I skipped out on that adventure!

I love this picture. They were in deep conversation about "influence".

Malaya has always been into ladybugs. It was her "pet" for the day. By the way, that is cranberry juice/dirt on her lip not facial hair:)

No, this is not Jesus walking on water!! :) He is standing on a rock but I thought it looked pretty neat!

We had a great day!! We will be going out there again soon for some more memories!