My Papa

My Papa.  He's the kind of man that you want your sons to grow up to be like.  Faithful, married to the same  (lovely) woman for over half a century.  A good ol' boy with deep, Christian values.  The kind of man that makes you laugh, gives good hugs and always lets you know how proud he is of you...just for being you.  My Papa is the kind of man that will go out of his way to bring something by your home...just because he was "in the area" and thought you'd like what he had found for you.  The kind of man that opens doors for ladies and warms up the car in the winter for his wife.  My Papa is the kind of man that will go back into the grocery store to give the cashier girl a piece of paper with encouraging words on it.  Just because he thought she needed that little extra breath of hope in her day.  That's my Papa.  He is also the kind of man, at 80+ years old that will get down on his hands and knees, kneeling, and will gently clean off the graves of our two sons...because it's Memorial Day weekend and the family will be visiting the grave site...to pay respect and honor to the men and women who have given up their lives for our country...and to remember the littlest of lives that have impacted our hearts so deeply.  That's My Papa.  And I love him so much.

Papa, thanks for taking such tender care of my babies, it means the world to me.  

I love you more than words can say.  

*Grace*

Happy {3rd} Birthday, Precious Eli!

It's hard to believe that it's already been three years since our sweet Eli entered the world.  3 years since I heard that whispered, yet very distinct  "still small quiet voice"...and boy am I glad I listened!  Our precious boy was spared by the grace of God, and though he started out life quiet, without a cry, and needing medical assistance, he is now a rambunctious, LOUD, healthy little boy!  And we {LOVE} him!  He brings a lot of joy, energy, love (and noise!) to our family!

Happy Birthday, sweet Eli Robert!  WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!

All my love on this wonderful day!

*Mommy*

It's a GIRL!!! Our 3 Little Birds Gender Reveal Party!

This past Saturday we had our gender reveal party to share our sweet news with our families and friends.  Our theme was 3 Little Birds since this will be our third little bird added to our nest, and because the song, 3 Little Birds (by Bob Marley), is one of Johnathan's very favorite songs..."three little birds sit on my doorstep, singing sweet songs, melodies pure and true, saying this is my message to you...don't worry about a thing, cuz every little thing is gonna be alright."  Our subtle Jamaican theme also had special meaning to Aaron and I since we spent our honeymoon in Jamaica...you might say that Jamaica is where our quest to add to our nest actually began!  ;-)

So many awesome people were able to help us celebrate (I think we had 40 people here!) and the quick version is this...It's a GIRL!!!  Woohoo!  Another boy would have been just great to add to our family, but a GIRL?!!  We're beyond excited that God chose to bless our family with a little bit of sugar and spice this time around.  AND, being the 8th grandchild (on my side) with only big brothers and cousins above her I know this little girl isn't going to lack for protection!  

We had a blast hosting everyone for this fun reveal.  I wish we would have taken more pictures during the course of the evening, but we were too busy having fun to do that.  The sequence of events was fairly simple...we ate lots of yummy food including fruit ka-bobs, apple slices with brown sugar cream cheese dip...YUMMY!!!...fresh, crunchy veggies with dip and of course Jamaican Jerk Chicken (something we loved eating in Jamaica!).  We played a few fun games and then headed outside to do the reveal.  

Aaron, the boys and I had all helped to make some cascarones which we used to tell everyone whether we were having a Boy or Girl.  We made a few dozen eggs with green confetti inside of them, and inside of just 1 of the eggs was the correct colored confetti...PINK!  

All our guests headed outside with the instructions to crack the confetti eggs open (on other guests heads of course, ha!) to find the ONE egg that held the correct color for the gender.  NO ONE knew at this point except for Aaron and I what the gender was, so it was pretty fun seeing everyone scramble (egg humor!) for the right egg.  It was pretty funny because almost all the eggs had been cracked and still just the green confetti was falling out.  Finally someone yelled "PINK" and I looked over and saw that the Gender Reveal Egg had been cracked and pink confetti was floating down!  Then it was just a chaos of hugs and everyone yelling, "PINK" & "It's a GIRL!"  Pretty fun stuff!

We did actually make an extra pink egg for a photo op...so here's the "official photo" of our gender reveal (gotta love Aaron's Jamaican dreads!)...

We had a BLAST telling everyone this way, and now we can't wait to start planning for Baby Girl!  Woohoo!  It's going to be awesome!

Thanks to everyone for sharing our sweet night with us!  Love y'all!

*Grace*