The House of Burgesses: We mad it a whole Year!!

Well, I have to start with an update on the past year...

We lived, well, survived through the renovation of our house. I will post a few pictures below.

Jon had a job change, he now works for Shoals Pharmacy, I went back to teach first grade, and the kids grew and grew and grew.

We have all grown actually🙄

Collins is talking more and more, and is super entertaining. He had tubes at 18 months when we found out he wasn't hearing very well. He is a great communicator just not much of a talker. Collins is in the 98th percentile in height, weight, and size of head. He is our great big cuddle bear.) He is quite rough sometimes, especially with Charlie Kate, but she taught him, so…)

He had a Toy Story party for his 2^nd birthday a few weeks ago. That’s right; we have a two year old boy and four year old girl! Crazy, right? So, Collins is attached to Woody for sure. He loves to play outside with the dogs. Since mom and dad have moved back (they live next door) they come give golf cart rides and tours of the growing plants in the garden regularly. Both of the kids love it. Collins is so attached to mommy! He has had a hard time going to classes at church and clings to me when he thinks I might be heading out when grandma comes to watch the kids. Collins did potty camp this summer and is doing much better than I imagined. He runs to the bathroom yelling, “PEEEEE”. He wears big boy underwear. He has had a few accidents, but usually only when he is in a new setting. We are getting rid of the paci or “EE” as he calls it. at Christmas, but for now he can have it at bed times. He LOVES everything that Charlie Kate does. He is her little shadow.

Charlie Kate is so grown up y'all!! She is all about all animals and bugs. She calls herself “Wolf”. She crawls and shakes her booty as if to wag her tale. It’s amusing. She has gotten a little nervous when going outside to play since she just recently got her first wasp sting. She talks about it often. The dark is beginning to be a little noticeable fear of hers too. We just took swimming lesson for her for the third year. She is almost swimming on her own. Collins did well too, but wasn't as much of a fan as Charlie Kate. They are both just so brave and I'm so proud. Charlie Kate had started memorizing our address, memory verses, my phone number and how to spell her name. She is also an amazing impromptu song writer and singer. She is so thoughtful! She wants to sing “Happy Birthday” to anyone who has one, and is especially insistent when it's a cousin of grandparent's birthday. She sings about God and His creation, she makes up the sweetest words and sings without hesitation. I adore this about her and hope that she is always shouting Glory to God. Her prayers are so thoughtful and genuinely what is on her mind. She is also extremely passionate about her “plans”. She gets “frustrated” with me often over her plans not being what our plans are at the time. FUN Times!

We have two amazing kids who have been super awesome through the whole year of new things. We had to move out of our house for a while in order to put in our floors and finish up the kitchen. We moved in with Travis and Debbie. The kids were both sick a few times during that time frame but they just did so good. Of course during this whole process we have had so much support from our parents. They have allowed us into their home, met people to get estimates, met people to unlock doors, and even gotten their hands dirty doing work on it themselves. We appreciate all of it so much. We Love our home and all of the love that was put into it. It's also really special to me that my kids get to grow up where I did.😊😊

Now that things have slowed down with the house we have taken on a few of our dream projects. More about those in the future posts, but we are also just contemplating the next steps in our family and the kid’s lives. Our prayers lately have been that they adapt to the changes and truly learn life lessons from any adventure that we might embark on. We hope that they apply the things they learn to their lives in the future.

Dear Charlie Kate and Collins,

We hope that you remain secure in yourselves, but with the understanding that Christ in you is the only way to truly be yourself. We hope that you are glad in your weakness because it will secure your reliance on God. If you are struggling in life we pray that you lift your cares and speak His name KNOWING that He is there listening to hear your hearts desires. He loves you! We hope that we have encouraged prayer so much in your life that you don’t know how else to address a joyous event, problem, pain, loss, gain, or an insight into God’s love for you other than praying to Him over them. We pray also, that you see the sacrifices we make as they are, and that you understand the meaning behind things that we choose for you-- in time. We know that now is the time in your lives that we are making all of your big choices and we pray that those choices are what God wants for you. We desire for you to know Jesus and Gods love for you. We pray that you grow with Faith that makes life here on earth clear. You two are already vibrant with joy! You illuminate with innocents and excitement. We can't wait to see how you change lives and can't wait to help you understand daily what we're living for. We are proud that you're ours!!

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

Charlie Kate's first memory verse:

"Follow me," said Jesus, "and I will teach you to fish for men."

Matthew 4:19