Captured

A couple of months ago, we had some family pictures and Beckett's one year pictures taken.

Our sweet friend and fabulous photographer, Jenny of jml photography, did such a wonderful job of capturing moments with our family and some precious ones of both kids.

I love pictures because it's like freezing a moment in time.  Capturing days that go by too quickly, but having a photo makes it feel like you can hang on to those days forever. 

Just one look at a picture brings back a flood of memories, and I am so grateful that we got some wonderful pictures of this time in our lives.

Enjoy some of my favorites :)

{and contact Jenny if you live in BCS...she's awesome!}

I love, love, love all the faces she captured.

I know I will just treasure these pictures more and more as time passes.

I am so thankful for my little family.

Twenty Four

24.

24 children that were trafficked are now free. 

24 children that we had the privilege of holding hands with as they walked from their old lives of captivity and fear into new life full of hope and opportunity.

24 children are living today in a shelter that looks and feels like a haven, surrounded by beautiful trees and lush vegetation, and they are safe.

24 children are currently running, laughing, playing soccer, eating 3 meals a day, and learning.

24 children have their very own beds to sleep in every night.

24 children are learning what it means to be children.

24 children have changed my life.

They have been changing my life for 2 years, but seeing their faces made all the difference.
These 24 children have individual identities and unique gifts given to them by their Creator.
My prayer is that they will begin to dream about who they can become and who God created them to be and that they will recklessly pursue those dreams.

 To God be the glory for each one of these precious faces!

Pumpkins and A Happy Halloween

I am a sucker for almost all holiday traditions.  I love all the cheesy stuff, and I especially love it now that we have kids.  As soon as fall rolls around, I start getting excited about football, yummy fall candles, soups, cooler (supposedly) weather, and pumpkins.

We have a small pumpkin patch near our house that benefits the Aggie Habitat for Humanity, and we like to support them.  We also discovered an awesome pumpkin patch at a local produce market.  It was so great that the kids and I wanted to go twice to make sure that daddy and LeeLee could experience it with us.  So, that makes 3 total trips to pumpkin patches this season, and I loved every minute of it! That also means I got lots of fun pictures for you to enjoy :)

I pretty much love these pictures where the kids aren't looking and smiling, and Beckett decided to try to climb the hay bales.  They perfectly capture where we are in life!


The only thing that makes all of this better for me is that Micah shares my love for all things holiday.  She was so excited about going to the pumpkin patch and picking out special pumpkins for us.

 Be still my heart.

 She was beside herself over the animals they had.

 Hay maze!

 Love these two and their precious relationship.

 She got to feed the goats some hay.  It was so fun.

We carved pumpkins for the first time as a family this year.  I actually don't think Chris and I have ever carved pumpkins together.  Crazy, I know!  Micah was into it until she realized how much work it takes.  She also wasn't a big fan of the icky, sticky goo as she called it.  She much preferred to sing and dance while Chris and I did all the work :)

And, if I thought she was excited before, I had no idea until we got to Halloween.  She wanted to be Snow White and talked about it for weeks.  Her excitement was palpable.  She literally squealed while she was getting dressed.  Love it!

And, I think Snow White and Dopey were pretty precious.
 

We had a great October, and we are looking forward to centering ourselves on this season of Thanksgiving.