a few more pics...

Nana with the girls on Easter Sunday morning.
We love to snack.

Painting at the children's museum.

Starting to eat like a big girl with a spoon!

trying to protect our hair by putting underwear on our heads. It didn't work so well.

4.5 years later...

Last night I watched the DVD of Caleb and I's wedding. There were a lot of pictures of us sitting on the same steps as this picture below. What a different picture 4.5 years later! I am pretty sure in the picture below Makayla is mad at us, Ava is losing her mind, and Anniiyah is cooperating for the sake of the upcoming Easter Egg Hunt. Somehow, this is the best Easter picture of all of us that we ended up with:).

This week has been challenging. A few things happened that were completely beyond our control but they are things that could have drastically changed the current picture of our life. I have a hard time giving up control of life. Even when I have so clearly seen God's faithfulness to me over and over again, I want to fix things myself. I pray that I will go to my knees more and seek my Savior for the answers to hard questions. I pray for patience when the answer is not as I think it should be. I am so grateful for the picture of our current life. I don't know why God calls each of us to different things and different places but I want to cling to Him through every step. As I watched our wedding video, I was reminded that Caleb and I stood on the steps of my dad's church and said that we wanted to love the Lord and love each other and that we would see where that would take us. Only a few years later, it has taken us to Atlanta, kept us in Atlanta, and given us three wonderful girls to spend our time loving. In the midst of laundry, cooking, cleaning, mending, kissing hurts, sitting people in time out, rescuing little people from potential danger, I am trying to remind myself that these things can be done for the Glory of the God that I serve. The journey continues...

settled?

It's been a month now that the girls have been with us. I think we are as "settled" as you can be with three kids. I feel like I am learning a lot with all this. Here are a few things that I think I have learned and that I am still learning...

* bed time is beautiful for a lot of reasons...we all pray together and read a story. Makaylah names every person we can think of to pray for. It also means that Caleb and I finally have a chance to connect...I realize even more how important that time is.

* Follow-through is really important when it comes to discipline. I am still working on this one.

* Toe nails and finger nails are ALWAYS growing!

* Those same finger nails are easier to clip when there is just a little bit of peanut butter underneath them:).

* a 10 hour road trip is manageable with enough Beyonce'.

* a six year is old enough to get herselfed dressed but not old enough to find the motivation to make it happen at 7am.

* Anything is better if it gets a kiss from Mama Ashawee.

* a 4 year old can be as sassy as any adult I know...

Here are my most recent cute quotes and conversations...

"I Love daddy Caleb so much...I just want to hug him and not let him go"

Makaylah: "It's my Uncle Shoe"

Anniiyah: "No, no he all of our Uncle DREW'S"

Makaylah: "Nope, he just MY Uncle Shoe"

Anniiyah: "Ashawee, I don't like when she says that he not my Uncle too"

Makaylah: "Kourtney, is that your brother?"

Kourt: "No, this is Brandon...I am going to marry him."

Makaylah: "You going to marry your brother?"

Kourt: "He is my fiance'"

Makaylah: "Brandon is your Beyonce'?"

Anniiyah: "Dear God, Thank you for the world, thank you for all my friends, thank you for the way you care, thank you for the friends we share." (she is on a "rhyming her prayers" kick)

Makaylah (walking through the target parking lot): "Ashawee I love you...oh no, oh no...."

Ashlee: What? (looking down I notice that her pants have fallen to her ankles). I hate it when that happens!