Home again, home again....

We have had quite the busy past week. We had a birthday party at Chuck E Cheese a few days early.

Check out those smiles.

Then she had another party at the grandparents.

And if you can't tell that is a cupcake maker. It makes cupcakes. One at a time. In the microwave. And no, we haven't tried it out yet.

I wasn't feeling well, so I spent a lot of time like this....

And speaking of my napping buddy, she met her cousin at my mom's.

That's her hiding between my brother's legs.

Here's my formerly-afraid-of-dogs son.

I think he's over it, don't you?

And lastly, the ever popular gingerbread train.

Hope you had a great holiday!!

Happy Birthday little girl

Today my little girl turns 8! How can that be? Wasn't it just yesterday that she was learning to walk?

Rebecca, 8 years ago today I became a mom. It's the best job I could have ever had. Although you've been my guinea pig I think you've turned out pretty well for an 8 year old.

You're smart and hard working. Athletic and creative. Funny and tender hearted. You have some of the best parts of your dad and me. (And unfortunately some of the worst ones too!)

But they all go together to make one fantastic kid. You are a terrific big sister and a sweet friend. I'm proud of you and I'm blessed that God has let me be your mom. I love you to the moon and back Becca Boo.

Help Wanted

Does anyone else have a 3 year old (or HAD a 3 year old, or KNOW a 3 year old) who basically loses his mind around 5pm every day? My kids, but mainly my 3 year old goes absolutely crazy every evening. He is wild and disobedient and on my last nerve.

And I know that's part of it. I'm tired and frazzled by the end of the day and so everything he does seems worse than it probably is.

But I'm pretty sure it's not my imagination that they really do get wilder at the end of the day. Any ideas on how to make it through that last little bit until dad gets home? I mean besides just sending them out in the cold and dark to play. And don't think that hasn't crossed my mind. And don't think I haven't done it when it wasn't quite so cold.

Don't judge. Just help me out.

And you lurkers out there, you know who you are. Speak up because I know who you are too and I know you've had a 3 year old. :)

Mighty to Save

I love this song.  We sang it at nearly every meeting when we were planning our last Brazil trip. 

"Savior, He can move the mountains.

My God is mighty to save, He is mighty to save.

Forever, author of salvation.

He rose and conquered the grave,

Jesus conquered the grave!"

We've never sung this at our church.  Hey, somebody who has some pull (Val), let's sing this soon!

 

Sing for the glory of the Risen King on this Saturday!

Pro-Life

A bloggy friend of mine, Amy Beth (Ministry So Fabulous!) wrote a post today that really touched me.   Her friend and roommate whom she calls Roomie had a precious baby boy the other day.  She's been living with Amy Beth for the last few months as she prepared to have the baby and AB's been her support and coach and friend.  A really great friend.  As in, we all should be so blessed to have a friend like Amy Beth. 

Anyway, I thought you might like to read what she wrote.  It will make you think.  It may make you cry.  It may even make you feel ashamed of some of your thoughts or attitudes. 

And sometimes that's a good thing. 

A Good Day

Yesterday our family went with friends to the NC State/Duke game.  Oh did I mention we were the only State fans in our little group?  Not only were they all Duke fans, they were all Duke grads!  (Well, except for Katie who went to UK but married a Duke grad.  But she ended up going back home with her little one who got sick in the car half way there.  Must have been her new Duke shirt making her sick, right KT?)

Anyway, except for that, it was lots of fun---especially since State won!  woo hoo!  Here we are all decked out in our State gear. 

                                

                      

                            

Isn't this campus beautiful?

                                  

                        

                                    

                       

Becca and Peter spent a lot of the game here.  She said they high-fived the Duke band and cheerleaders as they walked by.  She seemed very excited about that.

                       

 

                     Hayes spent a lot of time playing cars...

                        

                                  and hanging on me and Daniel.

                         

          

                                                      Happy Hubby

                        

Pray Over Your Children

So yesterday I was reading Angie Smith's blog, Bring the Rain, and she had a great idea. She had looked up scripture to pray over her children at various times of the day. I really like to pray scripture. Something about repeating God's words back to Him make me feel like I can't mess it up, ya know?

Anyway, she posted the seven verses so that others could copy them and use them to pray over their children every day for seven days---see, 7X7. A kind of challenge, if you will. Well, at the least it was an encouragment.

And I took it! I typed up the scripture and taped them up around the house. For example, the one to pray when they are eating is taped to the pantry door. And the one to pray when they leave the house is on the back door. And so on.

So if you are interested in praying these for your children, or somebody else's children, you can find them here. And you can get that sweet little button above here.

Tot School

So it has been forever since I've participated in Tot School over at Carisa's.  Not that we don't do it, but I just never take pictures.  And the ones I took today aren't all that great.  (How's that for a build up?)

I didn't get pictures of it, but he also practiced letters and numbers.

Here's Hayes putting puzzles together.  He did this one all by himself!

               

 

And now we're playing dominoes while Becca works on math. 

                

              

 

And here's my little gracious winner doing a little dance:

                      

Maybe we should be working on modesty and humility instead of dominoes.  

A Big Day

The verse I am repeating over and over today.....

"Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God." Romans 13:1

New Addition

Meet the newest member of the Bridges' family.

Hailey

She's been in the family approximately 4 hours. We've been to the pet store and loaded up (with a little help from our dog savvy friends). Y'all, it's been like 20 years since I've had a puppy. Yikes!

Little Hailey is part wire-haired terrier, part (maybe) beagle. We found out the mom and 6 babies were found in a house. A family had moved to Texas and left them! Who does that? Anyway the mom and now 2 puppies have been adopted. If you want a sibling and live in the area, go here to check them out. (Ben has been adopted and Uma is our Hailey).

She's a sweet little thing. We haven't heard her bark yet, only whimpering a little. And only one accident so far. She's asleep in her crate right now. Hopefully that will continue all night! ha!

Oh yeah! Our pictures are up on Heather's blog, Sprouts by Heather. Go see them! Here's my fave so far.

Sorry about the spacing above! I can't get it fixed!