We are Texans again!!!

After my last post about October, so much has happened that I've spent too much time living our life to blog about it!  Things have slowed down a bit in the Smith household, so here I am ready to tell our story again!

Here's what we've been up to:
We came to Texas the last week of November and first week of December to visit family and look at houses.  Here's where God and social media really came through for us.  A friend from our Jackson Meadows neighborhood (the neighborhood we lived in before AZ) posted on Facebook that they were thinking about listing their house and asked if anyone might be interested in buying it.  We really were!  We asked for pictures of the house and it appeared to be a PERFECT fit for us !! 

When we came in town, we decided to look at the house and it was as perfect for our family as the pictures we saw!!! Thanks God and Facebook! We put an offer on the house, negotiated a bit and voila we are homeowners for the second time in our lives!! 

After this, things really got busy for us.  We went back to Arizona on December 9 after 21 hours of driving.  By the time I had caught up with laundry and cleaning, not to mention all the Christmas shopping and mailing of our gifts, it was time to pack for our family trip to Colorado. 

We left for Colorado Decemer 26 and I experienced my first super intense mountain snow driving.  I drove for 7 hours in the mountains, got caught in a snow storm and eventually made it to our destination... Crested Butte.  I drove the twins in the Traverse and Marc and Shiloh rode in the Corolla! Thanks to Frank, Zach and Sam- they drove our Corolla back to Texas so that when we moved we wouldn't have to put it on a trailer.

We spent an amazing 7 days in Colorado!!  Shiloh skiied for the first time and the twins played in the snow for the first time.  A super fun trip of firsts for our family!  (pictures to follow)

After Colorado, we hit the ground running.  We got back on January 2 and had until the 16 to pack our entire house, clean it and move to TX!!  With three kids, that was quite a challenge, but we did it!

We moved and are FINALLY settled into our new house... just a few houses down from the first house we bought in 2009!  We still have some painting and decorating to do, but have ZERO boxes left to unpack!

I have to add that I am beyond HAPPY to be back in Texas!! I am HOME, I am HOME, I AM HOME!!! Thank you Lord!!!!

Here's my photo journal of November 2012-March 2013:

All three girls reading

 

We got family pictures and here are the wonderful pics:

 McKenzie

 McKinley

 Zee, Shiloh & Lee

 Me and my love

Our Colorado Trip:

Here's Shiloh modeling her cute winter ensemble

 The oldest and youngest cousin

 COUSINS!!!! (and Uncle Mike)

Shiloh Skiing!!!

 I was really nervous to let go of Shiloh... but she did a great job!!

 Daddy and Shiloh

 Shiloh skiing!!

 McKenzie

 McKinley

 The girls running in the snow (and Daddy)

 Snow Angels

Marc Showing Off

 Marc being goofy

Me Skiing

 Being a Sweetheart!

 Sledding!!

 

Group Shot!

 Zee

 Lee

 

More pics to come...

 

 

 

 

 

 

October 2012

We had many exciting things happen this October!  Shiloh turned 3!!!!! Marc did quite a bit of traveling, one of my best friends from Baylor (Katie) came to visit and my mom came to stay with me and the girls for a week!! October just FLEW by!!

I really cannot thank Katie enough for visiting! Her visit filled my heart so much and gave me the quality girl time that I was so desperately wanting and needing!  We had great conversations and I felt like she got to see me be a mom, which was extra special to me because we met and became friends in a very different season of life for both of us.  I feel so blessed that we keep in touch and can continue a great friendship beyond college... Kate, it is a privilege to have you as a friend!  You were my Maid of Honor in my wedding and will always be special to me!!  Her visit was a WONDERFUL time had by all!! 

Right after Katie's visit, Shiloh turned 3!!  It made me very excited that Shiloh's birthday was special! We did not have a party for her and I was afraid that it wouldn't be as exciting of a day because we weren't celebratin it with a party, but it was wonderful!  I stayed up until 2am the night before decorating the house and preparing her a special breakfast for when she woke up.  I packed the diaper bag and got everything ready for the day so that I could give her extra special attention on her day! 

She slept in, which NEVER happens.  Marc really wanted to see her when she came downstairs with all of the decorations, so he woke her up and brought her down.  She ran through streamers and we cheered for her.  I then told her, "Shiloh, you went to bed a 2 year old and woke up a THREE year old... BIG GIRL" and we cheered and celebrated!  She had special pancakes with sprinkles and icing and we continued to celebrate all day.  We went to the park for a few hours, had an extra special lunch, had a Skype party with Pops, Oma, Uncle Mike and Panda,  and then went for a long family walk!  The next morning we facetimed Uncle CJ an Aunt Stephanie.  After that Marc took her to build a bear and they built Ruff, her new doggie!!  When they came home from build a bear, NINO was here!  We celebrated her even more with Nino's visit (my mom)!

Nino's trip was a BLAST!!  We shopped, went to the Grand Canyon, Sedona and Flagstaff!  We had a great adventure!  Mom, I can't thank you enough for the wonderful conversations, for all of your help with the girls and for an overall amazing time! Pictures below! Thank you for jumping into my crazy life and seeing how hectic and fun every day is!

Here it is November and we are working on saying things that we are thankful for everyday to prepare our hearts for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I'm only 8 days into writing down at least one thing I am thankful for, and I have to say that it has been an amazingly encouraging activity! This may need to be a new habit for me... stop and think about something to be grateful for everyday. There is so much that I often forget to say Thank You for!

Pics from October:

My Best Friend Katie!!!  Drawing for a fun photo op

Shiloh and Kate!  

 

 Kate and I at a Wine Tasting

Kate is a Children's Book Writer and Illustrator.  Here is her Halloween book on the shelf at Barnes and Nobles!!

M&M in the cute chairs my mom gave them for their B-Day

In a bounce house at a Pumpkin Patch- McKinley

McKenzie and Shiloh

 

Decorations For Shiloh's Birthday!!!

 Shiloh on her Special Day

 At Build a Bear

 

At the Grand Canyon with Nino!!!

 

 In Sedona

 

Shopping with Nino (Shiloh opened an umbrella and used it the entire time)

Trying to Get a picture of Nino and the girls playing

My Girls made the October Issue of the Baylor Magazine!!!

Shiloh all dressed up for a mommy Shiloh date to Starbucks!

 

I can't forget to mention that Shiloh was STUNG by a scorpion.  We are pretty sure that she instigated the sting by poking the creepy thing, but it stung her never-the-less. We had to take her to the hospital (doctors orders), but praise the Lord the sting was a dry sting, or a non-venemous sting, so she didn't need the anti-venom.  Here's our brave girl at the hospital.

 

Halloween!! Shiloh LOVED it!!  I thought it was adorable how she did not understand any of the creepy or scary things.  We went to several houses that had a mini haunted house you had to walk through for the candy and she did it completely oblivious to the fact that she was supposed to be scared.  Thankfully no one jumped out to scare her, but even the actors laughed that she smiled at them and excitedly said "Hi!" as though they weren't scary at all.

 

 

 

 

 

August & September 2012

I am writing on Election day, so in other not so important news here is what the Marc and Reci Smith family has been up to!!

August: August was a rough month for me.  We came back from Texas and I was extremely homesick.  Marc was the constant rock and encourager that he always is!  I am so thankful to be married to an amazing man who knows how to love me and encourage me so well!! 

I was so homesick that towards the end of August, I flew back to TX and looked at some houses.  Marc and I decided to put an offer on a house that needed to be completely remodeled.  We were essentially going to buy a shell and fix the entire thing.  I absolutely LOVED this house because it had such character and charm, and I thought I was willing to do all of the work.  After much debating and bringing several specialists to the home, Marc and I decided to back out of the contract. 

GOD IS SOVEREIGN.  I know the Lord doesn't promise us an easy life, but Marc and I had prayed and prayed about this house.  We both knew the Lord was telling us no, and in retrospect I am SO thankful we decided not to buy the house.  I am not a fixer upper kind of gal... I spray paint things to make them look better... I don't build things.  (I'd love to but that's just not me and being honest here, I'm not going to take the time to learn :)).

September:
We learned that we'd be staying in AZ for a while (no house in TX and we won't be back til Christmas).  God finally spoke to me and helped me to focus on Him and not being so homesick.

For Labor Day weekend, we decided to take a trip to San Diego and go to the beach!  The twins experienced sand for the first time and LOVED it!! Shiloh had a blast playing in the ocean!!  The trip was a great success!

The twins turned 1!!!!  They both began walking and by the end of the month... running.  You'll see in pictures that it's near impossible to get all three girls in a picture now :/. For this picture obsessed Momma, that has been quite the challenge.

Pops (Frank) came to visit us to celebrate the M&M's birthday!!  It was wonderful to have him here and super encouraging for my heart!!  Shiloh loves her Pops dearly, so I know she felt energized by his trip!

My dad and Molli also threw a birthday party for all three girls!!  One of the many reasons I had been so sad was that we didn't have anyone to celebrate my girls birthdays with.  I know they will never remember this birthday, BUT birthdays are really special to me and it just broke my heart that we didn't have anyone to celebrate with.  They invited lots of their friends over and had a party for all three girls!  I am grateful they did that!

Here are pictures from August and September:

August:
Most of the pictures are on my other post. 

Here are the girls 11 month pictures

 

 

September:

 

 

San Diego

 The 4 Smith Ladies loving the Ocean

 

Daddy and two girls venturing farther out

 

All 5 of Us

Best picture that had all 3 girls

Family Pic Gone Wrong

 

Shiloh and Pops!

Cute B-Day Girls in the Hats!

 

First Cupcake- Lee

First Cupcake- Zee

Birthday Girls

 

 Mommy and Zee

 

M&M and Pops Playing!

 

Marc & I proudly support RG3

Shiloh excited about the party at my Dad's and Molli's

The Adorable Cakes and Decorations Molli Made

 

Some friends Playing with Shiloh

 

Shiloh blowing out the candles on the cake!!

 

Hanging out with my dad and Molli

Election Day 2012

2012 Election Day:
I am writing tonight as we just re-elected Obama as President of our country.  It is still projected right now but looking like he's got the office.  I am glad to see Obama in office, but regardless of who is declared winner- I choose to respect the leader of our country and I will continue to pray for our country and the hearts of its citizens.

Marc and I talk often about how we want to live prayerfully and missionally no matter the circumstances.  This is one of my prayers for our country tonight: I pray that Christ Followers will decide to live for Christ and have their hope in Him regardless of the election.  It is important, but so are the souls of the people we live amongst daily.  Let's be rays of hope to the lost in our country and in our world.

The Lords Voice

I love it when God takes a hold of my heart and reminds me that He is my ultimate purpose. 

“Worship, therefore, is passionate, zealous, uninhibited all-out engagement with the presence and character of God.” (Rory Noland, The Worshipping Artist)

I stumbled upon this quote tonight and cannot stop myself but to take some time to reflect on it.  I often find myself enjoying worship when I am emotionally engaged in it; however, this quote reminds me that it is so much more than that.  I feel challenged after reading this to not only lean on my emotional connection with God but to search for His character and lean on that to guide my daily life. 

Since I have moved to Arizona, it has felt like God has been silent.  I have tried to seek Him, but the month of August and partly September, I was pretty me focused.  Lately, it feels like the floodgates have been opened and He has welcomed my mind and my thoughts back with open arms.  He has helped me to take my mind off of myself and onto Him.  Through this change, I have been able to feel so joyful even if I am still a little homesick. 

I am so thankful to have a savior who helps me to be loving, kind, compassionate and graceful... none of these can I achieve without Him and all of these things I yearn to be.

Here is my prayer for the week: Lord, please guide me as I try to teach your wisdom and grace to my kids. Please take my thoughts captive and allow them to be filtered through your lens before any actions or words take place. I seek to glorify you with my daily actions, please help me! Amen