A New Tradition

I don't know if you were watching Good Morning America this morning, but they kicked off a national campaign to collect donated coats for homeless people today. Ben Affleck was there donating some gently used coats of his daughter's and Burlington Coat Factory brought 300 new coats to donate. Burlington Coat Factory is also allowing their stores to be drop off zones for the coats. All of that is fine and good, but to tell you the truth, I almost turned the channel away. Almost, until I saw the montage of the people they are hoping to help.



Most of you probably know that Raylen was homeless for the first year and a half of her life. She was actually one of "those people" that we feel so disconnected from living in a homeless shelter in our prosperous country. It is very difficult for me as her mother to imagine that my little girl was in that position ever. We have a puffy green coat that is getting a little small for Raylen now, but still it hangs in her closet and will forever as far as I am concerned. Raylen got the coat her first Thanksgiving, I believe. Her Aunt Ro and Uncle Mike went to visit her in the Ft. Worth homeless shelter where she lived with her birth mother. Ro was so sad and moved to see that Raylen didn't have a coat in the cold weather. She went right out and bought that puffy green one and took it straight back to her in the shelter. Suprisingly, through the many ups and downs in Raylen's little life, that coat managed to stay with her right to her permanent home with us.



Today, when I saw the pictures of those children and families in the shelters, I was moved too thinking about my little girl having been one of those kids. I am so thankful for the kindness of Ro and Mike for making sure that she had that coat when I could not.



So, thank you Ro and Mike and here is a picture to document the coat that Raylen and I have given this year in your honor to someone else who's waiting for their miracle.

Mya Ann turns One

Last night, we celebrated my cousin Mya's first birthday. Mya was born last year after my aunt and uncle prayed to have her for thirteen years. She is a beautiful little girl and very serious. We can't wait for her to grow just a little so she and Raylen can really play together. Already Mya likes for Raylen to chase her a little bit.
Mya's parents love all things Native American, so Mya's party was Indian themed. She wore a little Indian Princess outfit and my uncle made little teepees for the kids.

That's our girl

I was looking at some pictures this morning and came across this one that I took Sunday night at my mom's house. Raylen and I helped her decorate her Christmas tree that night and I was just snapping random shots. This one, though is classic Raylen.

Anyone who knows her knows that she loves and adores shoes. She has since the first day we got her. She wants to have shoes on at all times and the world is out of sorts if something is on her shoe or the buckle is undone. She gets scolded often for running through our house with her plastic heeled play shoes on-Jason is petrified that she will fall on the wood floors and break something. Her love of shoes has now expanded to include my shoes. She thinks they're fancy I guess. They are, of course NOT fancy, but fascinating to her just the same.

So, when I examined this picture again, I noticed that she is in true Raylen form-decorating her G-Da's tree with my heels on. Priceless....

Abilene High Beats Southlake Carroll!

For those of you who don't know, my husband is originally from Abilene. He is faithful to his town heritage and with that comes a love of high school football. This past Saturday, Abilene High played the defending 3 year champions, Southlake Carroll at Texas Stadium. We really weren't expecting muc h since Carroll has won the past 3 years. But, in a nail biting thriller, Abilene took the victory with only a one point lead! It was exciting and even more exciting for Jason to see his little girl cheering on the school he loves. Here are my favorites from the day.

Better late than never!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I know, I know. It's December 3rd. Time has already gotten away with me this holiday season, but I wanted to make sure I posted a little about our Thanksgiving.
We had a wonderful time this year. On Wednesday night, we celebrated with my dad's side of the family. Raylen had a great time playing with her cousins and my girl cousins and I had a great time at my cousin Angie's house playing some new video karaoke game. We sang until 1:30 am! Fun!
On Thursday, we went to my Aunt Lynn's on my mom's side and we had lots of fun playing games and things after a lot of of turkey.
I hope that your Thanksgiving was as great as ours...we have so much to be thankful for!

L.O.V.E. just doesn't cut it

Before I was a mom, I heard mothers everywhere, including my own say that the love one feels for their child is unlike any other love they ever knew. I was envious of that love and wondered about how it was even possible. Like so many things in life, infertility and childlessness leaves you with a weird sensation of not truly believing something without experiencing it. Needless to say, when Raylen came to us I was anxious to feel this love and almost tried to make it happen on my own. I did love her immediately, but truth be told, with the speed of our situation and the events surrounding her adoption, I was numb and couldn't feel much of anything.

But now, after a year of chaos, our life has developed a routine and now I have learned to relax as a mother and really let myself feel what is developing between my daughter and I. Even at three, Raylen has a deep understanding of what the word love means...and the word L.O.V.E that we commonly say just doesn't cut it. No, she loves out loud, the way I remember my dad loving and the way I am learning that our Saviour loves. Passionate, unbridled, curious, physical and most of all LOUD. I can feel that love in my heart now for her and it shocks me everyday that it has grown again when I thought I had reached the peak.

This photo is one of my favorites of her because it captures her sweet spirit. She was tired of me posing her and she was ready to go play, but she didn't complain and kept sitting there.

Father's Day

Sunday was Father's Day. It was the first Father's Day for my husband. It got me thinking about my own dad and what my daughter will remember later about her dad. I decided to post the greatest thing my dad ever taught me outside faith in a living God. I actually have a list in my heart that I carry around with me now that Daddy is in Heaven, but for blog's sake, here is the top.

The most important thing my dad ever taught me was to love out loud---loud enough for those you love to really know you love them. My dad was great at that. If he loved you...hey, if he liked you, you really knew it. There wasn't alot of beating around the bush with Daddy. He told you right then and often and he showed it by being there for you and for giving all he had. I read recently that a good dad loves you and a great dad points you to the One who loves you. That's what my dad did for me. He knew what it meant to love every moment and like there was no tomorrow.