Bride Wars

Ok, so our date last night was awesome and I LOVED the movie Bride Wars!! I think the reason I liked it so much was that it reminded me SO much of me and my best friend, Whitney! We have been friends for, well actually 2009 is our 20 year anniversary! :) Maybe she'll send me flowers or something! The funny thing is, I only lived in her town for 2 1/2 years. We moved away in 7th grade, but thanks to our parents, we were able to stay friends throughout junior high, high school, college, etc. We spent weeks at each other's house in the summer and saw each other throughout the year. We wrote letters to each other at LEAST weekly, and even were so cheesy that we would make cassette recordings of ourselves talking for each other!! We have about a million inside jokes that nobody else would ever get. Her family is my family, and vice-versa. So the movie just really made me think of her and how awesome it's been to have someone like her for the past TWENTY years!! Enjoy some pics...

6th grade

8th grade

High school seniors


We always begged our parents to let us sleep on the trampoline--they always said no. So the night before we started college, we did it! It wasn't as great as we were expecting....

And of course, she was my maid of honor :)

Just chatting...

So I haven't really blogged in awhile...so here are some things going on in my life...

I'm the parent of 3 kids under the age of 4--need I say more!! Between breastfeeding, potty training, and tantrums, sometimes I feel so NEEDED!!! But then there's the moments when Cason smiles at me, or Cambree says, "Mama...I pooped on the floor...it's REEEEELY REEEEELY nasty!" and Caedmon giggles (he has the cutest laugh EVER!) that it's all worth it.

Blu and I are going on a date tomorrow night!!! Our first date since Cason was born where we're taking NO kids!! Yay! We're going to see Bride Wars (yes, I know it's a chick flick, but we saw Valkyrie last time!) at this place called Studio Movie Grill, where you get a swivel seat and get to eat supper as you watch a movie....can you hear Cason crying? Did Caedmon spill his drink? Did Cambree steal one of Caedmon's fries? NO!!!! Just me and Blu :)

So I'm in the middle of this book called The Centurion's Wife (Jannette Oke and Davis Bunn). I've been reading it for like 3 weeks!! I finish most books in 2 days! It's the first book I've read that is set in the EXACT time period of Jesus' life. The centurion is hired to find out what happened to Jesus' body. It's good, but I just can't seem to finish it!

Speaking of reading, it seems that everyone in 2009 is reading the Bible through! Our church started a program, so my closest friend, my mom, my dad, my sister (I think..), my girls Sunday School class--we are all reading through the Bible together! Blu and I are in Exodus and Mark and are really loving devouring God's Word and discussing it together.

On a more depressing note, the baby weight does not seem to be coming off. :( I have done great at working out...not so great at eating.

February is a busy month for us. Our youth group does a Valentine's fundraiser where we sell balloon bouquets in the local schools. We make about $3,500 each year, but I swear it is SO MUCH WORK for the youth minister's wife! It should seriously be in the job description for the youth minister! Ok, maybe if I weren't so OCD it wouldn't be so bad, but I like it to run perfectly. Last year, we gave a sigh of relief that it would be our last year to do balloon bouquets...yeah, don't ever say that...

Speaking of that, I'm itching. Let's see...I have lived in TWENTY houses in my life. Yep, 20. Blu and I have lived in 5 places in the last 8 years. I'm a nomad. Every 2 years or so...I get the itch.

Other exciting happenings: one of my good friends is pregnant!! Should I say who?? Do you mind, Erika?! :)

Other crazy happenings: family member, $17,000, theft, prison, SOOOOO incredibly sad....we'll just leave it at that.....

I'm really rambling now, but you should be caught up on my life :) Night!

(I PROMISE to post an Africa story too...I just need some direction!! Someone tell me what you want to hear about and it will surely spark an interesting story!)

Cason - 2 months old

Family Pictures...

Ok, it may be awhile before we have a family picture of the 5 of us...as in 5 years from now.... Here's our 2 attempts this weekend:



Baby Cason and his cousin, Sky

For my Zambian sister...

I was talking to my sister on the phone today, and she requested some new pics of Cason. How weird that she hasn't met either Cambree or Cason! So here are some recent ones of Cason, and also a picture of Cambree opening a letter from her cousin Abigail in Zambia!

Memaw

Remember this picture?


We got to see Memaw at Christmas, and she was able to hold Baby Cason, her 9th great-great grandchild. Yesterday, Memaw went to be with Jesus in heaven. She was 93 years old and is one of those people that you are just proud they are a part of your heritage. When we left for Zambia, I remember thinking we probably wouldn't ever see her again. As we told her bye, she leaned her head out of the car and said "I'll be praying for ya'll!" Every time she saw us, she would ask Blu, "Boy, did ya make a preacher yet?" At Christmas, Blu told her "Memaw, I'm finally a preacher!" She was so proud. We know that today, she is in heaven drinking cokes, playing Skip-Bo (she cheats, seriously), sprinting (wheelchair is gone!), and talking someone's ear off. We'll miss you Memaw!

Where is God?

So I wanted to kinda gauge how much my kids know and understand about God. So the other day, I proceeded to ask, "Caedmon, do you know where God lives?" After a long pause (this took some serious thought), he confidently replied, "Africa!"

Technology...

Ok, in an effort to become more "hip", I have been working all day on getting a fancy-shmancy background. Remember, I'm the person who didn't know what "html" was until about 2 months ago. Do you like it?! However, I realized a bit too late that all of my old info was gone, deleted forever into cyberspace! I was especially sad to lose my list of blogs that I frequent regularly!!! So, if you read this, and you have a blog, please leave me a comment with your blog address so I can add it and not lose touch!!! (Becky, Melody, Melissa, Stacy, CeCe, anyone I'm forgetting, and all of you blog stalkers--this means YOU!) And my dear, sweet, Whitney, I wish you had a blog :( But I still love you!

Crazy Kids

Just some pics to make you smile...



And one to make you laugh, if you can tell what they're doing...

Decisions, Deep Thoughts, and Delight

Blu has now graduated from seminary, so we have some decisions to make. We know without a doubt that we are not called to full-time youth ministry, which means there is an inevitable move in our future. So basically, we have Option A or Option B. (Sorry to be so cryptic, but for this post, it doesn't really matter what the two options are anyway!) As we have discussed these two options for the past year, something Blu asked me has stayed with me. "Darbi, what would truly make you happy?" I couldn't answer...I have no idea. I might think one option is what I definitely want and would make me happy only to find out 2 years down the road that I'm miserable and the other option was the way to go.

In the midst of this, a verse has come to mind over and over again: "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart."

So, if I just delight myself in Him, He will give me the desires of my heart. Only problem--I don't know the desires of my heart! Then it dawned on me, (and I realize this seems simple to most of you, but it took me awhile to get it!), who alone knows my heart better than I do? So ALL I have to focus on is the delighting myself in Him. HE knows the desires of my heart, even if I don't, and HE will give them to me! What a relief!

So this year, I am focusing on DELIGHT. I will try not to stress about the future, not to weigh the pros and cons of option A or option B, not to WORRY, but instead to DELIGHT IN HIM, and sit back and watch as He gives me, Blu, and our family the desires of our hearts.