Election Day

Today is election day and these pictures have absolutely nothing to do with that!  Except that they are pictures of my little girls who are so blessed to be born in a free country where they will one day have the privilege of choosing their leader.  Going to vote is such an exciting experience!  It gets me every time!!

As sisters they will inevitably disagree and argue on many topics.  Politics may even be one of them.

I pray as they grow, so will the love and respect they have for one another.  That love and respect should always trump any other differences.  

And I hope they show that same love and respect to others who differ in their views and beliefs. 

We will teach them to love their family, friends, and country.  But that's easy.  Anyone can do that. 

I also want them to love those who don't love them, who don't believe what they believe, who come from different backgrounds with conflicting viewpoints, and those who no one else feels worthy. 

That's hard for me to do, much less to teach my children.

The only hope I have is if their hearts truly belong to Jesus.  That is the prayer I pray the most for my girls. 

I want them to be happy like every other parent in America.  But more than that, I want them to experience the joy of Jesus Christ and be that joy to others.  They are certainly that joy to me!

"No one has ever seen God.  If we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us."

1 John 4:12

We thought it would never happen...

The Tennesse Volunteers battled the Troy Trojans on Saturday.  I never thought we'd be a house divided unless Tennessee was playing Memphis, but we were definitely split on Saturday.  Since it was Tennessee's homecoming, we decided it would be the perfect first game for our girls to attend.  Despite how incredibly hard a football game is with a 1 and 3 year old, we are glad we did it and lived to tell about it!

We started at the Vol Walk cheering on the team as they entered Neyland Stadium.

We met the Odoms by the Torch Bearer.  I love this picture only because it shows perfectly how our morning was going: out of focus, a few tears, and a whole lot of crazy!

Finally some smiles!

Attempt #2 at a family shot.  Caroline supported the Volunteers while Elizabeth wore red (but still cheered for the Vols with her orange pom!)

As Christy and I took pictures of all of our babies together at their first UT game, I couldn't help but laugh at how much things had changed since our time in Knoxville.  It may not be a walk in the park, but seeing these smiles is worth it!

 

These next 3 pictures make me laugh so much.  In the moment, I was not laughing!  We just wanted one pciture, but my children were less than cooperative.  I'm glad we have these to sum up our experience and to prove that we were there and we survived! 

Elizabeth kept saying, "Let's go watch footbal!"  She was so excited when we started walking into the stadium.  Bert may not have been given a son, but a cute little girl who loves football may even be better!

We enjoyed the first quarter of the game with the girls.  The second quarter got ugly real quick!  On the field and in the stands (i.e. Caroline was over it!) 

We left before halftime started, and were almost home to Marietta by the end of the game.

Our photo booth pictures!

Care Bear was asleep in the stroller before we got out of the stadium.

Both girls were asleep by the time we left campus. 

They might be 15 before we try this again, but I'm glad we gave it a try and got to see Troy play Tennessee.  Maybe a first and a last.

Flashback Friday

We are on the road to Knoxville tonight so my "flashback" will be random pics from the past week.















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Trick or Treat

Elizabeth informed me tonight that Halloween is her "faaavorite". To be fair, everything is her favorite right now. But the kids and the parents had a blast tonight. I really love seeing all of our neighbors out and about. Watching each others kids take such good care of the younger ones makes me so happy. I feel like Halloween is the true kick off celebration. Thanksgiving and Christmas are right around the corner!





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Fall has arrived!

We have already started using our fire place to stay warm, and it makes our living room so cozy at night.  Elizabeth will ask her daddy to start the fire, and then we play, play, play.  I just want to slow down time so I can remember every moment with my little girls.  Caroline is my little snuggler who would cuddle up in my arms all night, except that she loves playing with her big sister too.  Elizabeth is our entertainer who loves putting on a show and keeps us all laughing right until bedtime.  At least until she plays too rough with her sister, and they both end up in tears (but that's just real life, right?!)

Trunk or Treating

Today we went to, not one, but two trunk or treats.  The first one was held at our chuch at 11:00am.  This is the first year that we opened our trunk to pass out candy.  I was determined not to spend any money and to reuse some of the stuff we already have.  We definitely had a girly trunk.

Elizabeth chose both costumes this year.  She is "Olivia" and Caroline is "Peppa Pig."  She even insisted that Bert and I wear pig noses as "Mommy Pig" and "Daddy Pig."

waving to everybody



Pumpkin bowling



haryride

sweet church friends

Caroline, Gabriella, Elizabeth, Alana, Bright, and Marin

the Snow Queen and Olivia

Our church trunk or treat had blow up bouncies, slides, and mazes along with tons of other activities.  There was food to eat and so much fun with friends.

Tonight, our neighborhood trunk or treat started at 6:00.  It's the first year we had it, and the kids had a blast.  We filled the clubhouse with crafts and games for the kids.  The trunks were amazing.  And we set up a fire pit with bales of hay for the kids to sit and make smores.  This day has probably made Halloween Elizabeth's favoritte holiday. 

Olivia and Repunzel

This is the toddler gang: Caroline, Luke, Ian, Riley, and Elizabeth

I think they were tired of me taking their picture at this point.

swinging with Kara