A day in the life...

of us! Below is one of my favorite pictures of Mayer. Why, you ask? Because he's outside where he belongs. Look at him. Isn't that sweet? Sweet dog. He loves it out there.
This is where Mayer thinks he belongs--in my lap. He's over half of my weight, but he's unaware of that. He tries to run and jump onto my lap. I know it appears that I like him with all the recent pictures of the two of us. Don't be fooled. I tolerate him--BIG difference. He amuses me on occasion too.
Boo boo deep in...my guess is Rudolph or Caillou. We like Caillou because he encourages Sage to eat good food so she'll be big and strong. It works! Look at "-cess," PRINCESS, that is. And she is.
This is what my house normally looks like. Those are BOTTLE liners that used to be sterile. Now they are drinks for "her kids." She has a class of kids, in case you didn't know. They tend to be pretty needy too.
Look at the culprit.

That's My King

If you go to Word Alive, you can almost quote this. It's worth quoting though. I love it.

Candyland: More than child's play

Sage got Candyland for Christmas, and she does enjoy it...but not as much as Travis and me. We (and I mean HE and I) played game after game last night because I WON the first time, and he couldn't stand it. Meanwhile, Sage was running around playing her own game. Of course, I DID cheat the first time because I NEVER win. I saw he was going to get a card that would make it almost impossible to beat him, so I stuck it further down in the deck when he wasn't looking. I won that round and told him, so he said, "We're going to have our own game now." Ha, it is kind of funny looking back. I have cheated SEVERAL different rounds, and that was the only time it did me any good. So thank you, Grandmother, for the great gift for Sage. We...I mean SHE...is really enjoying it.

Sweet, sweet, SWEET

When Sage woke up from her nap, I went into her room to get her. She had been up for a few minutes playing quietly in her bed. When I opened the door, she said, "You're exactly what I needed." Isn't that the sweetest child ever? She's exactly what I needed.

The Cow and Eggs

You want random? Oh I've got random. I took these pictures of Mayer and me. I am standing up, leaning in a bit as you tend to do (for whatever reason) when you take a pic with another. Note: I am 5'7. Mayer is standing up on his hind legs with me. You may want to reread that. He's huge. He's going to weigh as much as I do soon.

His face makes me laugh here.
His head is as big as mine too. That's big. ;)

I got Travis this omelette pan for Christmas, and he and Sage have been cooking with it. Sage made her own omelette by mixing in what she wanted, and she was very proud of herself as she reaped the benefits by eating it.

Yum.
Breakfast with Poppa.

All The Way

I tend to be an extremist. All the laundry is done or none of it is done. The house is clean or the house is a wreck. I look like I just got out of bed or I look like I'm going to the club. I'm not sure why this is, but in my faith, it can get pretty serious. I felt, for a time in my life, that I was too "religious," that I didn't know how to be free. So I expressed that in basically doing what I wanted. Some of these things weren't bad, but it wasn't the "things" that I was doing but more what/who I was becoming.

I didn't really have this revolution (at least that I was aware of), but I'm not doing it anymore. I know that the Lord has spared me and has had more grace on me than I could ever even realize. I don't even know what happened, but I've just decided to go all the way for Him. I know He's been drawing me for quite some time, but something in me just finally responded! And I don't know if Travis realizes it, but I feel like I'm NICE. Nice isn't the key, and I know that I'm not a saint, but I feel kindness in me that isn't "me." Ahem, WASN'T.

I had been, and when I say HAD, being like the day before yesterday and LONG before that, just a really mean person. As I said in a previous post, I just had no grace for anyone or anything. I was mean to pretty much everyone all the time, and you better not have gotten in my way or I'd let you have it. I just feel...love. I feel purpose. We have this (or at least I did) this notion that God is sitting on a cloud with a lightning bolt ready to kill us the first mistake we make. It's as if He's WAITING on us to mess up. This is by far from the truth. God wants more than anything for us to prosper and live WELL--here on this earth! Furthermore, if God judged us, we'd all be dead. The fact is that God judged Jesus Christ on the cross for every mistake we'd make. That's it.

So I guess I want to encourage anyone who feels like they want to change, but they just can't--you are 100% correct. YOU can't change. I'd TRY to be nice, and it STILL didn't work. (By the way, you're not GOING to be nice all the time--I know this.) I had gotten way too comfortable.

We are far too familiar with a God we barely know.

He is gracious enough and loves us enough that He is constantly drawing and pushing us towards where we need to be. You will get there. We all will. He's that good.

Goodbye 2007

Today is New Year's Eve, and all over the world people are getting ready to do anything from getting ridiculously drunk to staying at home to going to a classy party to dancing in Times Square...I'm sure the list goes on. Tomorrow they'll eat a meal with their families or try to sleep off their hangovers. THEN the day after that, they will begin: the resolution(s). That is what I want to write about--my resolution or lack thereof, or maybe something in between.

I was thinking about the infamous New Year's Resolution last night. Typically, it's to lose weight. It seems people stuff themselves all through the holidays to burn it off in January. That's not my idea of fun, though the weight loss commercials do amuse me. I guess what I don't get is, "Why? Why is January 1st so special?" What is so magical about a new year? I actually will have the same issues and dilemmas that I had on December 31 at midnight tonight.

I guess it's like a fresh page for some, but I still don't understand why. Why...and this is so cliche'...but why can't everyday be New Year's? Ha, but seriously, is it not already? It's a new day. The saying "time heals all wounds" is the biggest lie. It's equal to "sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me." Fact is, time heals nothing and words do hurt. It's not time that heals but what you do in that time. Forgive, love, think before you speak. These are all things I need to do.

So if I want to "resolve" to do something, it would be those things. I want to be more gracious. I'm not so much at the moment. I always tend to think the worst of people. For example, I sat in church yesterday just like the rest of "the common people," if you will. I wasn't singing. I didn't get there early...it was just that. So there is this lady sitting in front of me, and to be honest, she drove me nuts. She had this goofy straw hat that I thought seemed more appropriate for a day at the lake in the summer rather than the cold, rainy day we had yesterday. She kept jumping up and down and going, "WOOO! Come on Jesus!" She was so excited, and it annoyed the heck out of me. She was clapping to a song that I thought DIDN'T need to be clapped to, and to top that off, she was off rhythm--terribly. We had a special guest yesterday who talked about how God was going to purposefully place people to offend us. Ha, was He?! Well done, God. Anyway, it was a really great message that touched my heart, but that lady still got on my nerves.

When service ended, people were leaving, she had turned around to face me and she said, "OH it's you! I can't believe I didn't recognize you, but I do now. I just want to tell you that I appreciate you getting up there to sing every week. You have no idea what it means to me. You have let out some notes that made me feel the Lord when I really needed to. Thank you, thank you, thank you." I was actually crying at the moment because of what she said, and unbeknown by her, the way I had judged. So that is why I lay awake thinking about what I want to do, what I want to be. Kind, full of love, and grace...like a Christian. We all know we're supposed to "love our neighbor as ourself," but very few of us have it down. I know I'm the least.

Who's Your Daddy?

Below is Mayer's dad, Dego, followed by a picture of Mayer. Think they favor? :)

She's not even 3!!!

It was really warm today, so I put a dress on Sage with socks and little mary jane shoes. She is in this phase now where everything is, "I'm going to do it ALL BY MY-SELF!" in a sing-song voice. So I let her put the socks on, and she insisted on having them pulled all the way up. I said, "Sage, roll them down so you can see the lace on them." She goes, "NO, I gotta pull it up." I said, "Sage it looks silly like that." Not missing a beat she goes, "Well, you don't have to look at it." I couldn't stop laughing. What am I going to do?!

My Favorite Gift

This was the last gift that I had from Sage. It was my favorite. I had been trying to get her to talk to Santa since he first arrived back at the beginning of November. Turns out, a little bribe of candy from Daddy sealed the deal. THAT must be the reason she got all that she wanted; she really did go and see him. She's obviously not too happy about it, but I love the picture. It makes me smile everytime I see it, and I believe it always will.

Fast Forward a bit

I know these posts go from the newest at the top and getting older as they read, but I wanted it to read DOWN--like Christmas Eve then Christmas, and I did that. However, I'm messing it up right off the bat (so it appears). I may have confused you more by this explanation or just myself. This is all being posted on Christmas Day at about 10 pm, and I slept for MAYBE 3 hours so bear with me. These are just some taken from Travis's new camera (read about that on the "christmas day" post), and I meant to post them where they belonged. Oops! Sorry.

Her solemn face.
THERE'S my girl! (Don't peek at her gift here!)
Yeeeahhh, this picture was taken Christmas morning after ALL gifts had been opened. You can see that Sage is feeling great. I, on the other hand, felt like I had taken handfuls of speed, and it had JUST worn off right before this pic was taken.
Thank GOD for makeup! I think Sage and I look alike here.

Angel face.
I adore this picture.
I'm the lamest person I know, but that's how I roll.
I didn't realize I looked like this all day. I was SO tired.
This is Sarah, one of my nieces. She is such a sweet girl.
Sage, Sarah, and I

HEEERE we are!

Merry Christmas (Christmas Eve)

Christmas Eve was really pleasant for us. I actually LOVE Christmas Eve. Christmas day itself kind of makes me sad because it always goes so fast. All of that anticipation, all the gifts, the lights, the secrets, the surprises are all tucked away for next fall/winter, and you're left with cold weather and tax season. Just call me Miss Optimist.

Anyway, Travis worked on Christmas Eve for a bit, which was fine with me because I could clean. I almost go into this "nesting" like mood where I want EVERYTHING clean, all laundry done--the entire house PERFECT. It's weird because less than 24 hours later it looks like a hurricane went through. The vet had also called that morning, and Chanel was able to come home. And it IS Chanel! She is TOTALLY herself: happy, excited, alert, eating and drinking. It's amazing the turnaround. Because she was licking her wounds, she came home with an added bonus to prevent that. I'll let you see the pic for that.

Christmas Eve is also that day that Sage and I bake a birthday cake for Jesus! We leave a piece of that out for Santa rather than cookies. She LOVED making the cake. I poured the mix into the bowl, walked around to the sink for a sec, and I hear, "MOMMY! This is SOOO GOOD!" Sure enough, her hand was in it. Haha, that's okay though, she had a blast. We danced to Christmas carols, which unfortunately, I have no picture proof of. You all will have to trust that we are SUPERB dancers...haha. We iced the cake, I wrote "Happy Birthday Jesus" on it, and I handed her the sprinkles. Having no concept of "SPRINKLE" she dumped them ALL in one spot...lol, making it THAT much more perfect in my opinion. Travis read the Christmas story from Luke 2, and we sang Happy Birthday to our Savior. She blew out His candle. :) Then we went to Travis's mom where Sage's cousins were. She was a little overwhelmed, but she had a great day. We all did.

Mixing up Jesus's birthday cake.
Now she's decorating.
She took this part VERY seriously.
And the finished product. I think He loved it.
Presents at Grandmother's.
You're not seeing double. The twins, Spence and Devon, just turned 3 a few weeks ago.
Any baby-like doll/animal is a hit with Sage--especially if it has accessories to help care for it.
A pup ready for Santa.

She got a new cast, but that's not all.
Chanel is not only home but ready in a second's notice should she have to go to outer space. Isn't this picture funny? (Seriously, she is feeling SO much better.)