Turning 3

Sunday, July 26th, my baby turned 3. How did that happen? It seems like yesterday that I was holding her for the first time. She was our little blessing that we were told wouldn't happen without help and low and behold, God gave Hope when Grace was almost 21 months old!

She is our little Diva! Hope loves playing dress up and anything with a little (ok, a lot) of bling on it. She loves her bows and lets me know if I forget to put one in and is a loving momma to her babies. Her favorite princess is Sleeping Beauty. She adores her Aurora costume and dances around the house singing, "Hail to the princess, hail to the princess, hail to the princess Aurora!" at the top of her lungs. She is experimenting with big words and using them in context. On our long drive home from Florida she was watching Sleeping Beauty (again) and told us that Malificant was "Ridicuwus!" She loves bible class and her favorite song is Jesus Loves Me. Her favorite person in the whole world is her big cousin Brandon. We have to call Brandon and let her talk to him. She is my little ray of Sunshine. She wakes up with a smile on her face and is ready to greet each day. She loves eating fruit and probably eats 1 banana, apple, peach, and a handfull of blueberries each day. She loves watching Handy Manny , The Mickey Mouse Club, Sleeping Beauty, and Ariel. Her new thing this summer is wearing goggles in the pool and going underwater. For a 3 year old, she has an amazing imagination. Hopes loves her big sister and can push her buttons like no one else. When she cries, she still has sticky tears (for those of you who don't know, sticky tears are the kind that are still on her face 15 minutes after she has stopped crying). She loves to see how things work and is very mechanical.

Hope is truly a blessing from God and it is amazing how much she has taught me about love. It is my prayer that she will grow up to be a stong, loving, and giving young woman with a servant’s heart. I thank God everyday for my little blessing that he suprised me with! I love you Hopie-Lopes!

A Magical Day

Today ranks as one of the best days I have ever had with my husband and kids. While yes, we it has been an adventure for us and we ended up in Florida at the last minute because Hunter’s Grandfather Lynch passed away. This is really the first vacation we have taken alone as a family. Today we took the kids to Magic Kingdom and had a blast!!! We rode rides, had story time with Belle, met Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and Belle (we saw her 2 times! and had our pictures taken with them. Grace was thrilled because her favorite princess is Belle and Hope’s is Beauty. They signed our autograph books and laughed at my adoring daughters. We had ice cream right before we ate sandwiches for lunch and met Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, and Eyore at dinner. We saw the light parade go down Main Street USA and left tired but thoroughly happy. Here are a few photos of our FABULOUS day…

A Trip to Florida and Loss

This has been one crazy week at our house! We were supposed to leave today to go Branson, Missouri. However, Hunter's grandfather in Lutz, Florida passed away on Tuesday and we had to switch gears. Thank goodness for our timeshare and being able to cancel at the last minute. As luck would have it, we were able to change our resort to one in Kissimmee on Wednesday. Which meant that we now were looking at a 17-hour drive to Florida. We are still an hour away from where the funeral will be but on short notice, we got close.

It is very sad for Hunter. It has only been in the last 2 years that he has even had contact with him. He has not seen him since he was 18 months. However, as I stated above, Grandpa Lynch reached out to him and we to him in the last 2 years. We sent him pictures of the girls and emailed him our blog every time I updated it. He and Hunter talked on the phone occasionally and emailed each other alot. He was getting to know a lot about his past and his heritage (he was 1/2 Cherokee Indian). Grandfather Lynch had mentioned numerous times that he wants to see Hunter and the girls. They were trying to figure out a time where we could come see him. Unfortunately, he died before Hunter and the girls were able to make the trip. So now, Hunter is dealing with his loss. There is a lot regret on his part that he did not make the trip to meet him. However, we have photos of him in his military uniform and many stories that he had shared with Hunter. We get to tell him goodbye on Wednesday. Please pray for our family in this time and pray for healing of some hearts that so need it!

Shoe Girl

To really know me is to know that I LOVE shoes. I do not know own half as many pair as I used to but I still love them. Unfortunately, the Good Lord decided my foot needed to grow with each of the girls and now I have this crazy thing called "Plantar Fasciitis". I used to be able to wear and buy ANY shoe. Well, not anymore. My little size 6 1/2 feet are now a size 7 1/2 or 8. Yuck!

Since it is so hard for me to find shoes, I have fallen into buying LOTS of shoes for the girls. It seems that my sweet Hope loves shoes as much as her Momma! And... if they are pink, shiny, glittery, or sparkley she loves them even more! Tonight, she wanted to go outside and I told her to put on shoes. She came in wearing 1 hot pink cowgirl boot and and a pair of purple and white DORA tennis shoes. Plus, they were on the wrong feet. She was so proud and so darn cute! Here she is...