Family is a gift that lasts forever...

With the holidays always comes time with family, but this year after the holidays were over I have had the priveledge of having much more time with family. My brother, Grant, and his wife Ashley are in town staying with us for 10 days. They just moved to Pensacola, FL from Hawaii where my brother was previously stationed. My eyes have just really been opened lately to how important your family is, and how precious of a gift that it is. When no one else is there and you feel all alone, aside from our creator, we will always have family. It has been so much fun to spend time with my brother and his wife, my parents, my MawMaw, my cousins, and my Aunt and Uncle.
One woman in particular has really shown me and Robbie unconditional love, and has opened my eyes even further to the gift of family, and that amazing woman is my (step) Mom. I put "step" in parenthesis because if I didn't tell you, you would never know that we weren't her biological children because of the love and selflessness that she shows us. She has helped heal wounds, shown me what unconditional love really means, and just shown such a great example of a Christian mother! I love you!
I also have a wonderful biological mother that I love very much, and is a great Nana, but its a DOUBLE BLESSING to have two great Moms!
I just can't say enough about my entire family who are all wonderful people, and to all of you who I didn't speak to specifically in this blog, you have all taken part in making me who I am and
I LOVE YOU VERY VERY much!

ONE!...wait what???

I can't believe my little boy is ONE!  Where did the time go!??!  But man, what an incredible year it has been!  I have watched my little bean turn into a fun-loving little boy.  I am one of the luckiest mom's in the world, I had an incredible baby who at five days old slept through the night (and has ever since I might add), didn't really cry very much just grunted to let us know he needed something, and has always been very mild mannered.  It has been an honor to call myself Caleb Haiden McLaughlin's Mommy for a year now, and I can't wait to continue with that name for the rest of our lives.  To know that God has entrusted me with such an amazing little boy is such an honor and I hope I never get over that.

We had Caleb's first birthday party on his birthday, Sunday, December 28th.  It was so much fun to be able to celebrate Caleb's first year of life.  We had friends and family over to our new home and ate lots of food and cake, and watched Caleb open the sea of toys he recieved! =)  But, definitely the best part was watching the confused look on Caleb's face as we all stood around him singing Happy Birthday with a cake that had fire on top sitting in front of him, lol.  The other GREAT part was getting to watch Caleb dig into his own little Birthday Cake, just waiting for us to tell him to stop because surely he wasn't aloud to be making a mess and eating something this good!  I love my little boy and I can't wait to see what this years brings us!

A season for everything...

I just had to sit down tonight and talk a little bit about my man...now for those of you that hate all of that mushy stuff, I will try and keep most of that out! Robbie has just blown me away lately with how selflessly he has given himself to his work and the position God has him in at Next Level Church right now.  He is not getting to do all of the things that he has always loved and is EXTREMELY talented at, like leading worship, speaking, or shepherding.  But, he is just doing what he feels like God has called him to do right now, because he loves getting the opportunity to learn from and work around some of the most amazing leaders!  AND not only is he doing it, he is doing it whole-heartedly, and passionately!  He is constantly giving himself away without needing or requiring praise for it, but he still does it and doesn't complain. I watched Robbie go to the church this morning at 8:00 am, and is still there now, even long after everyone else is gone, working, without complaint.  Why, because he loves his church, his job, and his God!  WOW, what an incredible man of God that truly loves his creator and longs to see everyone know the savior he knows!