blessed beyond measure

Brandon and I were blessed with an impromptu date night last night. We dropped Trey off with his Nana and Granddad, and headed off to a night of high school football amid misting rain, gusting wind, and chilly temps. Here we are huddled together beneath an umbrella. Despite the weather and a loss for my hubby's alma mater, we had a great time. Best of all, it was free since Brandon is a member of the faculty, or in his words, a VIP. Big fish in a small pond is what Brandon calls himself. He's right - every time we are there for any event, current and former students seek him out, yelling across parking lots, sitting with us in the bleachers, bringing us stuff from the concession stand. I love seeing Brandon in his element, right where the Lord wants him. He's a great teacher, and it shows because his kids just love him. And he just eats up the attention. It's like he's in high school again, only better. I wouldn't relive the high school years again if y...

Taking good pictures these days is hard. Trey is a very active child, almost always running around or squirming. Plus he's developing more of a mind of his own, and the same thing no longer makes him smile time and time again. Trey likes the camera, always has. He knows what to do but is often not patient enough for the focus and the flash. So a lot of shots are blurred or of the back of his head as he runs away to find something more entertaining. Brandon says to me last night, "You're a photographer by volume, aren't you?" True that. One out of every, say, 15-20 is bound to be good. But this also scares me a little bit. Sometime before the end of the year, maybe more than once, we're either going to need to take some good, quality, formal-esque snapshots, or have professional portraits done. I'm not sure if my snapshots can be formal-esque anymore, given the reasons above. But I'd hate to pay a wad of cash for professional portraits, and ev...

Trey has started calling me mama. Only for a couple of days now, and only every once in a while, but it's there. He's been saying mama for months and months, though now he actually reaches out for me. Oh the joy that courses through me to hear my son say my name - the name that only he can use for me. And how much must the Lord love hearing me call His name. God has many, many names in scripture, all of which describe something about Him. My favorite name for God is El Aman, the faithful God. If I had to sum up God's presence in my life in one word, I would say that He is faithful. ...I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to His voice, and hold fast to Him. Deuteronomy 30:19-20 Choosing life is a daily challenge, one I fail more times than I would care to admit. But I can say with confidence that the Lord is true to His word. The choice of ...

Trey and I had a fun evening together tonight. Brandon was at O3M practice, getting ready for a weekend gig, so it was just the two of us. My boy is turning out to be all boy, and is teaching me some things in the process. He has just recently started showing some affection to his stuffed animals - he will hug them and nuzzle his face in them, then in the next second throw them on the ground, stomp on them, fall on them and roll around. Man love, I guess. And bless his heart, this kid was born to have a ball in his hand. We have all kinds around the house - he almost did some major damage this past weekend with a real baseball, and we all take cover when he finds a real golf ball lying around - so we try very hard to make sure he only plays with the soft plastic or foam/cloth variety. Here we have (in the span of about 10 minutes) a golf ball, a wiffle ball (can't see it well, as he was in mid-throw), and a basketball. And this just beats all...The only basketball goal in the ho...