2017 in a Nutshell

We visited Busch Gardens Christmastown for the first time this year! Chase was disappointed there weren't many rides open, but the beautiful lights made the night worthwhile. We even snuck in the "Scrooge No More" show. 

This picture made our 2017 Christmas card stating we are dysfunctional at times but we are always joyful in Christ. The picture was taken Thanksgiving Day.

Chase's short lived martial arts experience

The boys' school pictures were taken back in September (bad lighting since this is a picture of a picture). They've already changed so much since then, especially Chase with having his braces and a new haircut now. 

I love seeing the boys in their matching PJs...this may be the last year I can get Chase to do this. 

A big smile on Chase as he arrives at school on the first day on the school bus.

A fierce Batman and Skull Ninja

This picture was taken when Gabe got his first metal at school for reading 100 steps (one step = 15 minutes of reading). He's covering his metal in this picture and the lanyard blends in with his red shirt, but it's there and he's proud of it!

The beginning of fall with leaves turning and falling...this picture was taken after church on one beautiful Sunday

A good Christmas morning includes messy hair, PJs, and big smiles.

One of Gabe's favorite gifts from Auntie Amber: a Home Depot leaf blower and toy chainsaw set. 

Do you ever receive Christmas cards with those letters inside where friends and family brag on their loved ones and accomplishments for another year? I see nothing wrong with these letters, but I do find myself rolling my eyes from time to time because life isn’t always as peachy keen as those letters depict. I use my blog to recap the year and brag on my family too, only I also include the bloopers that occurred as I feel it’s a better representation of reality. As I mentioned in my last post, it’s through those mishaps that we truly learn those important life lessons. It’s also those imperfect moments through which we can live, laugh, and love.

2017 was by far the quickest year of my life. As cliche as it sounds, it’s a fact: the years truly do go by faster as we get older. Although it was a lightning-fast year, it was a good one. I won’t recap the whole year because past 2017 blog postings tell the story. However, I will recap the last third of the year since my last posting was before school started (wow!).

As a family, we experienced a pretty big transition switching the boys over from a private Christian school to Isle of Wight County public schools after Labor Day. This transition entailed not only a new school for the boys, but a new childcare provider before and after school hours. Thankfully, these changes went over fairly smoothly and the boys handled them with God’s grace. As soon as they walked into Kids Come First (their new before/after school childcare provider), they blended right in and talked with the staff as though they had always attended there.

They also got adjusted to Hardy Elementary pretty quickly. For Gabe, it wasn’t as big of a deal because he had been going there for speech since he was 3 years old. Kindergarten was going to be a big new experience for him regardless of which school he attended, but I’m thankful to say he’s done even better than expected at Hardy. He is already reading small books on his own and scored above average for math at his age. Another huge bragging moment (drumroll, please): Gabe’s speech has improved so much that he only needs to go twice a month now! This time last year we were still going twice a week! Amazing progress! His teacher believes he won’t need any more speech therapy after this school year. What a huge blessing that is considering he was so inarticulate at age 3!

On the other hand, Chase has never struggled with speech, except in the sense that he doesn’t know when to stop it. Although he has made the honor roll so far since he’s been at Hardy, he at first struggled with rushing through assignments too much and socializing instead of listening to the teacher’s instructions. He is learning to slow down and listen better, but there’s no changing the fact that he’s a social butterfly. He gave martial arts a try for 5 weeks (about 10 sessions), but it didn’t take long for him to realize that it wasn’t a social sport. After his sensei had to reprimand him for not being focused enough and goofing off too much during multiple lessons, we decided martial arts wasn’t Chase’s forte. He may want to try it again in the future when he can take it more seriously, but for now, he’s going to stick with soccer.

Speaking of soccer, Tim’s team the Pirates went undefeated for another season in the fall. Gabe scored several goals and seems to finally be getting the hang of the sport. Chase’s team didn’t do as well, but they still had a blast playing. Both boys are going to play spring soccer in 2018 and Tim is going to test out his luck coaching the 8/9 year-olds for the first time.

In the meanwhile, Gabe is signed up for swim lessons this winter at the Smithfield YMCA. I offered swim lessons and swim team to Chase, but he swears he is already an Olympic swimmer and doesn’t need any improvement. So, Chase is just going to wait out the winter and look forward to soccer practices beginning in March.

We had an exciting fall with soccer season and typical autumn festivities. We went trunk-or-treating at First Baptist in Hopewell and trick-or-treating around our neighborhood in Smithfield. Gabe dressed up as Batman at his school and was Robin for going around the neighborhood. Chase was a ninja. We enjoyed celebrating the many fall birthdays in our family. Tim and I also got to sneak in a date day/night at Busch Gardens Howl-O-Scream. We concluded the fall with Thanksgiving with Tim’s family in Hopewell. We celebrated with my family the Friday after Thanksgiving.

That brings us up to one of our favorite times of year as a family: Christmas! I’m sad that it came and went so quickly, but I’m also excited for all of the new adventures 2018 will bring. The boys had a fun Christmas and Santa was very good to them. We did the typical cookie baking, decorating the house and trees and attending Christmas Eve service at church. Gabe’s offering during the service was that he farted and proudly announced it. I don’t think anyone else noticed outside of Tim and me, but that was quite an embarrassing Hallelujah moment.

Of course Christmas to us also means spending time with family. Unfortunately, one of the cornerstones of our family (Grandma) got sick on Christmas Eve with flu-like symptoms and spent most of her day in the ER. She was unable to join us Christmas Day, but she is better now and we were able to visit her on Friday to exchange gifts with her. She said even though she was sick on Christmas Day, she enjoyed the peace and was able to rest and reflect on the true meaning of the holidays (JESUS!) without having all of the chaos of family being around. I can’t help but wonder if this was God’s way of preparing us for future Christmases without Grandma with us...as much as I hate to ponder the thought of losing her, I have to remind myself that she is almost 92 years old. She is amazingly healthy for her age and gets around well, but she’s had a few more scares within the last year.

Along those lines, we never know what lies ahead of us...we could live to be 92 like Grandma or die tomorrow. With that said, let’s make every day count in 2018 as though we could be Heaven-bound at any moment! If you're unsure if you'll be Heaven-bound when you die, don't delay believing in Christ as your Savior and committing to Him in 2018...I can assure you the Christian life isn't always easy, but there's immeasurable peace and joy that accompany it! Happy New Year!

2017 Summer Bloopers

Chase's picture made the Richmond Times! This was from the Chesterfield County Fair magic show. 

Chase got to ride Alpengeist for the first time this summer (rollercoaster at Busch Gardens that has a snow ski theme)

On top of the Hatteras Lighthouse on our 16th wedding anniversary

My silly Gabe

Enjoying the waves in OBX. Rock on!

Gabe, Bella, and Chase in Auntie Laurie's pool; we were celebrating all of the summer birthdays 

Made in the USA!

Probably one of my favorite pics from summer with Tim's family in Snowshoe, WV over the 4th of July holiday

Gabe, Jaycee and Chase enjoying the pool at Smithfield Swim Club; we were celebrating Tim's birthday (and mine) with his family

These two can conquer the world! They can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens them. (Phil 4:13)

Instead of one of my traditional blog postings, I figured it would be more fun to just note the summer mishaps, but with a positive spin. We live in a world with enough negativity so I always say we should make lemonade out of the lemons life throws at us. I hope you enjoy reading the following bloopers as much as I enjoyed living them.

• Crappy Summer Part 3: I'll forewarn you that this first blooper is gross, but I still find it hilarious. For some crazy reason, my kids and my niece think it's an adventure to do #2 in the backyard at my grandmother's house. There are a few logical reasons for this; for one, kids get to playing and having fun outside and don't want to interrupt the momentum by having to run inside when nature calls. Second, my grandmother keeps the bathroom door shut and locked in the house so the little kids can't get in there and decide to have a play date with the toilet; with that said, the older kids don't feel like going through the hassle of having to ask an adult to unlock the door when they're in a rush to take care of business. It started a few summers ago with my niece pooping in the backyard and of course denying it. Chase thought the scenario was hilarious so he did the same thing last summer. Somehow an imaginary stray dog always got blamed even though there are no roaming dogs in my grandmother's neighborhood to my knowledge that have ever jumped the fence to get to the backyard.  The tradition has continued into this summer with someone doing it again, but of course none of the kids fessed up right away. The older kids decided to blame Gabe, but he said there was no way he could have done it because his "products" weren't that big and they were more green in color (the brutal honesty in this situation kills me). We finally narrowed it down to Bella who was already punished enough by stepping in her own poop. Somehow, she's the kid every summer that steps in poop even if she wasn't the one who dealt it. Anyhow, which kid is going to carry on this crappy tradition next summer?
• Our past annual OBX trips have been tainted by a variety of issues: a cooler of ours getting stolen with our whole week's worth of food (this dates back to our camping days), a flat tire, a broken half axle, a hurricane (or two), a tropical storm, and just several days of rain from some other storm systems.This year we faced a different challenge. With all of the construction going on with the new Bonner Bridge, the construction workers accidentally drove a steel casing through the transmission cables that connect power from Nags Head to Hatteras and Ocracoke Islands. Sooo, the southern OBX islands had no power while we were there. Unfortunately, the damaged cables weren't a quick fix and the power outage occurred for several days (it ended up being a full week), so we decided to cut short our vacation. We toughed out one hot, sticky night in our motel but still got in some beach time. The day after we left a mandatory evacuation was in place for all Hatteras Island visitors so we made the right call by leaving early. Sometimes we just have to laugh at the OBX curse that seems to strike us every year during our vacation. However, God blessed Tim and me with a gorgeous 16th anniversary trip at the beach at the end of August...the pirate cursed is finally broken!
• Gabe's life continues to be a musical. This little boy sings all of the time. He was even singing and dancing in the orthodontist office. There's nothing like hearing a 5-year old break it down in a waiting room with, "someone call 911. Shortie fire burning on the dance floor, whoooa!" Or how about being serenaded by, "I beweive I can fwy..." while you're grocery shopping? He also sang "I Believe I Can Fly" while he was jumping at the bounce-house in Williamsburg...very fitting song as he jumped high!
• Going along with the last bullet about the serenading at the orthodontist office, Chase is actually excited to get braces and was bummed out that he didn't get them right away at his first orthodontist appointment. He was equally bummed that he still doesn't need glasses at his recent eye doctor's appointment. Since when are kids excited about braces and glasses? I'm just thankful he can see clearly as braces have already put enough of a dent in our pocket. He gets his upper braces put on at the end of September and already has the expanders in place. So far, he has handled his expanders like a champ. 
• There's nothing better than relaxing poolside with your arms up over your head all to realize you forgot to shave one of your armpits. Yep, that happened to me. Amazon Lady!
• Although we thankfully haven't had a busy hurricane season on the east coast so far (and we're praying Irma stays away), I have a tornado that hits my home several times a day: Gabriel Lee Breeden! I've given up on trying to keep the boys' toys organized. Right now, I'm lucky if I can just keep them off the floor. For instance, I used to keep each Lego set in specific box or zip-lock bag, but Gabe keeps integrating Legos with everything else so I've let go of some of that Type A behavior of mine. Tim was sweet enough to surprise me one morning while I worked by having the boys organize their toys downstairs and purge the ones they no longer wanted. This was a step in the right direction since toys have taken over nearly every room of the house. I had the boys do the same thing the following weekend with the toys upstairs so we're slowly but surely making progress.
• Chase is addicted to watching screaming goat videos on YouTube. I don't know what's funnier: the screaming goats or hearing Chase roar with laughter watching them. 
• I've been lecturing Gabe on how he needs to stop whining about brushing his teeth and do a thorough job or else his teeth will fall out. As he discovered his first loose tooth this month, he freaked out and started crying and ran to me saying, "I don't want to lose all of my teeth. I'll do a better job brushing." 
• I more or less scared Gabe out of looking outside at all during the day of the solar eclipse with all of the warnings about how staring at the sun for too long can damage your eyes. He said, "I just wish this day was over," the day before the eclipse. Better to be safe than sorry. 
• Chase is interested in magic tricks and optical illusions. He even got to be a part of a magic show at the Chesterfield County Fair and his picture made the Richmond Times newspaper! His little brother has already figured out a few of his tricks and called him out on them, but Chase is still determined that he is a good magician.
• After doing yoga and a few cardio classes this summer, I was feeling pretty good about myself....until Gabe pointed at my "abs" (hey, I think I have at least the top two) while we were in line at Water Country and said in disgust, "oooooh." There's nothing more awakening than a child's brutal honesty. Of course I took the high road and told Gabe that he was the reason my belly wasn't a washboard. 
• Last but not least, for some unknown reason, the boys started referring to their rear orifice as "Tina." I have no idea where they got the name "Tina" and why they have linked it to their "bung-hole." They also sing some made up song that goes, "Tina, weena, Tina..."

The bloopers of our lives go on and on and I know there will be many more as we enter fall and get into the back-to-school groove. We have lots of adjustments and transitions coming with the boys starting a new school tomorrow and a new childcare center for before/after school. I can choose to get all worked up about it like so many other parents do or I can just roll with the punches and trust that God's got this! I'm going with the latter option as we begin exciting fall adventures with a new school, a new childcare center, a new soccer season, etc. I think the key to life is to learn to soak in the new and unplanned-not-so-pleasant moments, to learn to laugh at yourself, and to seek God's face during life's bloopers instead of going the anxious route...that's when you experience true joy and peace! 

Spring to Summer Whirlwind

Happy Father's Day, Tim! Tim pictured with Chase and Gabe by Connor's tree

My little wolves at Great Wolf Lodge

Same picture as above with more muted lighting (couldn't decide which one I liked better)

My neighbor was kind enough to pass along this picture she snapped of a rainbow over our house

Gabriel standing in line for the Grover rollercoaster at Busch Gardens

Chase opening up gifts for his 8th birthday (at Grandma's house)

Just a tad worn out after the Monsters on the Beach show and visiting with Auntie Amber

Not the clearest picture, but I'm sure you can guess which one is Gabriel at his preschool presentation

I posted pictures of snow in my last blog posting and here we are entering the summer season! This blog posting title is more than appropriate because life has felt like a whirlwind with how quickly it seems time is passing. Like it or not, here we are at the official start of summer! Before another season comes and goes, let me share some highlights from the past 3 months. 

Chase and Gabe turned another year older. I know that sounds like such a basic, simple statement, but every year is such a blessing. Chase turned 8 on 4/22 and Gabe turned 5 on 4/21. We had more subdued birthday parties for them this year, but they were still just as special and enjoyable as in past years. Instead of having big parties, we enjoyed spending Easter weekend with Tim’s family and the boys’ real birthday weekend with my family at my grandmother’s house.  We also took the boys to Busch Gardens for the first time this year on Good Friday. The boys also got to see Monsters on the Beach again this year with their cousins (Kenden and Jaycee), so they had plenty of attention and fun attractions surrounding their birthday timeframe. Since then, we’ve been to Busch Gardens two more times and Water Country once, so the boys haven’t had any shortage of fun activities.

The boys completed another school-year at Faith Outreach Education Center (FOEC). Chase had perfect attendance and straight A's the last semester of school. So proud! Gabe is now a preschool graduate! The end of the year preschool presentation at FOEC was adorable. Gabe's class sang a couple of songs and demonstrated all they had learned. Gabe even read a short sentence out loud during the presentation; that's no small feat for a freshly-turned 5 year-old who has overcome a severe speech delay. He will still require speech next school year but we praise God for how far he's come since we first started speech therapy over two years ago.

That brings me to my next big news (well, it's big to the boys and me). After much prayer and consideration, we've decided the boys will go to public school next year at Hardy Elementary in Smithfield. There are several reasons for this decision: 

1. Gabe will still require speech therapy and he already has an education plan (IEP) established through IOW County schools. Since we live in Smithfield, speech is of no extra cost to us (just part of being a tax paying citizen). He absolutely loves his speech teacher and has been seeing her since he was 3 years old. Once he begins Kindergarten in the fall, he will resume speech with the same teacher and speech will be integrated with his other classes at Hardy Elementary as part of his normal school-week. No more having to leave work early to pick him up in Hampton and rush him to speech class in Smithfield twice a week. 
2. As much as I hate to face reality, my mom and grandmother aren't getting any younger and I feel they need a break from taking care of so many grandkids at one time. They will still be watching my younger nieces and nephews as far as I know, so it won't yet be an empty nest for them. However, I still think having two less children will ease some of the workload for them. I still have to iron out the details of where the kids will attend before/after school care, but I have my eyes on a few places/programs.
3. I also feel it's time for us to get more connected in our own community. Even though we've lived in Smithfield since 2002, we're just now starting to get more involved with the community--having kids sort of forced that through sports and other activities. One of the many things that attracted us to Smithfield was the small-town feel of it. Although this little town has grown like crazy since we moved here, it's still not so big that our kids will just be another face in the crowd. I still feel like they will get plenty of one on one attention at their new school. 
4. To go along with my third reason, I think it will be good for the boys to have more diversity and friends to surround them. Although FOEC is an incredible God-loving school with an awesome staff, it is pretty small in size and I remember Chase saying a time or two that he wished he had more friends in his class. Both boys will have plenty of new friends and more activities to dive into in the years to come.

Before I get too far ahead of myself talking about another school-year, let’s enjoy another summer season! The boys are still attending summer camp at FOEC and getting to do lots of fun things throughout the week; they’ve already had field trips to various parks, to the movies, to the bounce house, and to the aquatic center. They also get to do water days at school and many arts and crafts. FOEC also did an end of the year trip to Great Wolf Lodge. Tim, the boys, and I got to stay there overnight and enjoy the water park.  We had so much fun. The only downer was that we had to get up early the following morning to rush the boys to their soccer games. This soccer season dragged out into mid-June due to several rained out games earlier in the season. Chase’s team Orange Crush concluded their season two weeks ago since they lost their tournament game. Orange Crush won a few games, but this season wasn’t quite like last year’s season with the Dolphins taking it all the way to the finals. Same goes for Tim’s team the Pirates; they won a few games, but didn’t go undefeated like they did in the fall season.  However, each season is fun and unique as we get the opportunity to meet new young soccer players and their parents; we also enjoy seeing returning players and getting to reconnect with parents we’ve already met in past seasons.  Tim has definitely found his niche with the 4/5 year-olds and I’m sure he’ll coach again in the fall. He is patient and very good at herding those kittens.

We have lots of exciting things planned for this summer including more trips to Busch Gardens, Water Country, OBX, and Snowshoe, West Virginia. Then of course, there’s Smithfield Swim Club right around the corner from our house too. The boys are now old enough to ride their bikes there (with adult supervision, of course). Gabe still isn’t quite ready for the training wheels to be removed. My hope is that he’ll be able to ride with no training wheels soon and swim in the pool without his swim vest by the end of summer. However, I’m in no hurry for my baby boy to grow up any faster than he already has…be still, my heart. Time, slow down!

Tim and I are still working hard in between all of the fun things we like to do with the boys this time of year. Truth be known, we are big kids at heart and we enjoy all of the summer activities just as much (if not more) as the kids do.  Tim continues to squeeze in as many overtime hours as his schedule will allow. Outside of work and running the kids around, I try to walk a couple days a week with my walking buddy in the neighborhood. I’m proud to say I survived a cardio exercise last week and I’m going to try to stick with it and yoga a couple times a week to stay in shape (preferably not round) this summer. I’m also still attending bible studies on Monday nights with several ladies here in Smithfield—what a blessing it’s been to get to study God’s word and connect with ladies from all walks in life. It’s just the encouragement I need on a Monday beginning a new work-week. You can never have too many prayer warriors in your life!  

Soak up the blessings this summer. Don’t rush time and miss the rainbows (like in the picture) that are in the midst of stormy seasons in life…the sun is still shining behind the clouds to make that rainbow! 

Springing forward from a Whimsical Winter

After several years of saving and looking for the "right one," we finally found this silver jewel. Love this sweet ride!

There is no such thing as a serious selfie with Gabriel.

Enjoying the only big snow we had this winter

Pulling back into the garage after a cooler ride around the block. Gabe wore his mask and carried his sword the whole way around the block.

Straight A's and Perfect Attendance (Gabe with a Spiderman glove on, bat in hand, and Ironman mask on his face...this kid is always imagining something super-hero related)

St Patrick's Day...no denying these boys have some Irish blood in them (Gabe said he was the Incredible Hulk in this picture)

Chase trying out the skates he got for Christmas. The skates were glowing with the black-lights on in the skating rink.

How is your 2017 going so far? If you're like me, winter is your least favorite time of year with colder weather and shorter days. Fortunately, spring is just a couple days away. Furthermore, my goal this year is to find joy in all seasons and I don't just mean the four seasons winter, spring, fall, and summer. I'm talking about finding peace even during those trying moments in life. My prayer for all of you reading this is that you'll share that same goal with me when trials and tribulations come your way (and perhaps they already have this year).

Our family had a glorious Christmas filled with celebrations from all sides of the family. The boys were pleased with all that Santa brought them. Tim and I kicked off the New Year by falling asleep on the couch watching TV....such the party animals, aren't we? We woke up abruptly to the sound of neighbors letting off fireworks at midnight. Don't get too excited; we went right back to sleep without a problem. Although not exciting, I feel like I started off the New Year well by organizing a few cabinets in the house and purging some of the boys' toys that they outgrew. After having over a week off from work I felt ready to go back to work knowing that the house was in better order. 

The first couple months of work this year brought on many challenges and long hours. Tim is still mostly working 10-12-hour workdays and some weekends. I worked a few extra hours myself and had some challenging job assignments. It didn't take long after coming back from Christmas for me to yearn for another vacation. However, I'm thankful for an abundance of work and keep trying to turn any of those anxious feelings that try to creep up into joy. 

Winter wouldn't be winter without snow! We had almost a foot of snow the second week of January. The kids went sledding in the ditch in our backyard and made plenty of snow angels. Even Tim made a snow angel and attempted to go for a ride on our motor cooler (it didn't do so well without traction, but it was a fun attempt). Although the snow was pretty to watch falling, by Day #3 of freezing temperatures the Snow Grinch in me was ready to see it melt. Since then, we've had many ups and downs with the temperatures rising all the way to the 80's and then back down to freezing. The groundhog didn't see his shadow in Hampton Roads, so I guess he's to blame for the shorter, milder winter we had (not that I'm complaining). Everyday is a surprise with the weather around here!  

Speaking of surprises, we haven't had any surprise birthday parties for this year. Last year around this time we had the big surprise party for my grandmother as she turned 90 years old and I'm thankful she made it to 91 this year! So far this year, the family birthday celebrations have been much more subdued. However, we did take Grammie Pam Breeden out to a Japanese restaurant for her birthday. Gabriel did not like the part when the chef lit the fire on the grill. He hid behind the chair, but he finally warmed up to the chef towards the end. 

Gabriel continues to do well in school and his speech is continuously improving. While he loves pan pizza from Pizza Hut and Digiorno's without the "wock-o-woni" (pepperoni), his appetite for learning has also increased. He's starting to get more curious about God and Jesus, which melts my heart. He's having a hard time understanding why we can't see God and angels. I love the many questions he's asking as it gets him closer to understanding the concept of salvation. He has expressed that he loves God and Jesus. As he grows, I'm looking forward to explaining 1 Peter 1:8. Meanwhile, big brother Chase has been reading Bible stories on his own before bedtime on some nights, which also melts my heart.  I'm so in awe that he's choosing to read Bible stories over the many other books he has to read! Chase also made straight A's again on his last report card. God is so good and I love seeing him work through my children--perhaps one of the greatest rewards on this earth! 

A few funny blurbs to wind down this post:

-Gabe calls Kool-Aid "Oh Yeah Juice" (as in how the Kool Aid mascot says "Oh Yeah!")

-Tim test drove a Tahoe and got airborne as we hit a hill going a tad too fast. Praise God, we did end up buying a 2015 Tahoe in March, but it wasn't that one! 

-Chase commented on a Cialis commercial, "Why on earth do those people have bath tubs outside?" Truthfully, even I thought it was a great question. 

-After a routine cleaning with the dentist in Feb, the dentist lectured Gabe on how he needs to stop sucking his thumb. Since then, he has totally stopped sucking his thumb but there was a time or two in between that I caught him sucking his thumb with a blanket over his head thinking I wouldn't see him. 

-Chase practiced with the wrong soccer team for the first practice session this season. He is now with the 8/9 year-old's since he will turn 8 in April. It wasn't a total oversight on our part because there are two teams called Orange Crush, one in the 6/7 bracket and one in the 8/9 bracket. We practiced with the 6/7 year-old's thinking we were with the right team Orange Crush the entire hour. It wasn't until I texted the right coach after practice that we figured out we were with the wrong team. 

Keep finding humor in the simple things in life and remember to seek joy in all circumstances (which can be a constant battle for most of us). Now that we've sprung forward, we'll have a lot of fun things to talk about in the next blog posting: another soccer season beginning (Tim is coaching the Pirates again), the boys turning another year older, birthday and Easter celebrations, longer and warmer days, etc. However, none of these fun things would be possible without all of the blessings God has given us. As we enter the Easter season, I pray we can all reflect on the ultimate sacrifice that was made for us on the cross so that we can experience grace and mercy. If you haven't read the book "The Shack" yet, I highly recommend it as it's a creative yet earth shattering perspective on the Trinity and the love God wants us to share with Him and each other. The movie "The Shack" just came out in theaters but I wanted to finish the book first. It's an incredible read and I only have a few more pages to go! 

Perhaps this winter wasn't a good one for you. Just as spring brings us warmer weather and new growth, God can renew us too. So spring forward rather than dwell on the past! 

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!"

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭43:18‬-19 NIV‬‬

Wishing you new, exciting spring adventures!

2016 Christmas Blessings

Posing by the tree before church one December Sunday

Jaycee and Gabriel excited for the broadway musical A Christmas Story to begin

Waiting for the broadway musical A Christmas Story to begin

I love the way Gabe is looking at the dog in this picture...the Bumpuses! 

Posing by the big Christmas tree in our church lobby area

Visiting Santa at Bass Pro Shop

Love my boys!

Can you believe we're already concluding the year 2016? The years go by within a blink of an eye, don't they? We can't slow down time, but we can make an adamant effort to enjoy this holiday season rather than allow the busyness of the season to consume us to the point that we forget the true meaning (JESUS!). 

Since my last post, we enjoyed Thanksgiving. What a wonderful time it was to fellowship with Tim's family. Chase admires Kenden and Gabe loves playing with Jaycee. In fact, perhaps Chase idolizes Kenden a little too much. Let me explain: Kenden wears glasses (as do several of Chase's classmates and other older cousins) and Chase thinks that wearing glasses is cool (in contrast to what I thought as a kid). Chase started complaining of not being able to see well in class so I naturally assumed he might need glasses for being slightly nearsighted. Well, I took him to the eye doc right before Thanksgiving and he had two pair of Raybans picked out within 5 minutes of us arriving at the office. The doctor examined him all to determine that Chase can see perfectly fine. Although I was relieved with the results, Chase was almost in tears that he couldn't get those Raybans. The doctor and staff assured me that they see 2-3 kids a week that end up not needing glasses because many kids think that wearing glasses is a cool ordeal (think about all of the cool frames available now compared to what I had as a kid). Anyhow, we'll get Chase's vision rechecked next summer when vision insurance is renewed just to make sure Raybans aren't in his future. 

We visited Tim's grandparents in Charlottesville the first weekend in December. Both boys were well behaved during the visit and car ride. Chase soaked up all of the doting he received from his great grandmother Lucinda and several other aunts and cousins from that side of the family. We're thankful for every year we get to spend with our loved ones. I'm blessed to say that my children still have both sets of grandparents, 3 great grandmothers and 1 great grandfather (and 1 great step grandfather) alive. 

The same weekend we went to Charlottesville we also got to experience a "Walk through Bethlehem" at First Baptist Church in Hopewell. It was really neat seeing the story of Jesus' birth being told through the perspective of the town of Bethlehem. There were actors dressed up like Bethlehem town vendors, Roman soldiers, Mary, Joseph and of course the star of the show: baby Jesus! There were even real goats, sheep, a donkey and a camel to represent all of the animals that were present for our Savior's birth. 

Of course the month of December wouldn't be complete without Mack Paul Breeden (our Elf on the Shelf) keeping a close eye to ensure the boys are behaving. They've still had their moments of mischief, but you can only raise the bar but so high with a 7-year old and a 4-year old. However, in spite of their mischief at home, they continue to do well in school. I'm amazed at how well Gabe has done with his speech just since my last post. He's also writing his name now, memorizing bible verses in school, citing the alphabet, and writing various numbers and letters. Chase continues to get straight A's. Both boys had their own Christmas presentations at school this year. Gabe was a shepherd boy for his play last Friday and Chase sang in the chorus for the older kids' presentation on Tuesday. Last night we also attended one of the Christmas celebration services at our church with my grandmother. It always warms my heart to sit in church next to a woman who was crucial in exposing me to God's love and the story of Jesus when I was a child.

The boys got to see Santa at Bass Pro Shop after church exactly one week before Christmas. This was the first year Gabe was actually excited to see Santa and of course Chase has been excited to bend Santa's ear for several years now. The boys realized they forgot half of what they wanted to tell Santa as soon as we got home so they wrote a note to Santa with the remainder of their wish lists. I told them to leave their lists on the table so our elf Mack could deliver it to Santa that night. We'll find out soon enough if all of Mack's reports back to Santa have been positive enough for them to get everything on their wish lists. 

Santa is such a fun aspect of Christmas for our family, but certainly not the primary focus. We were also able to give to those who are less fortunate than us this season.  We filled 3 shoeboxes with goodies and practical items for the Samaritan Purse project that delivers shoeboxes and spreads the word of Jesus to children all over the world. We also gave several bags of canned goods to our church pantry and to FOEC so they can disseminate them to several people in our community who are struggling just to have food on the table. My bible study group (called a "Connect Group") collected money to surprise the Smithfield High School staff with doughnuts one morning just as a "thank you" for all that they do for the children in our community. Last but not least, we baked cookies to hand out to our neighbors; we always include an invite to church or Jesus-themed Christmas ornament to share what the holidays mean to us every year. We never know what struggles our very own neighbors could be facing or if they even believe in God so this is such a small way for us to show them we care. 

We got to do something extra special as a treat this year. We went to see the musical "A Christmas Story" at the Children's Theatre in downtown Richmond. Tim's parents, Jaycee and Kenden went with us. The kids were so attentive to the show. Although everyone seemed to enjoy it, Gabe seemed to have the most fun singing and dancing along. He left the theater dancing and singing one of the songs. Make sure you don't shoot your eye or get attacked by killer icicles this Christmas. Ha! Seriously, let's keep our eyes focused on Jesus this Christmas and in 2017 and beyond! May God bless you and yours! 

Falling into Thanksgiving

Gabriel and Jaycee at Kenden's soccer game

Love the big smile on Kenden after his soccer game. His team played Smithfield's home team.

Love this picture of Gabriel on the pier of Titus Creek at Nike Park with the sun setting

Ladybug meets Ironman

How can you not laugh at this?

Trying to get a nice fall picture with the boys is almost impossible....but, this captures their personalities

Second Attempt

Chase as Spiderman, Tim, and Laurie's goldendoodle puppy Gus

October is perhaps the busiest month of the year for our family. We have four birthday kids (eldest to youngest): Emily, Kenden, Bella, and Jaycee. Then there's soccer, school, work, speech classes and don't forget Halloween rearing the month! Needless to say, I'm somewhat relieved we survived the month and are now in November. However, we have happy highlights to share from last month:

• Laurie decided to have a Halloween-themed costume party for Bella's birthday. Most everyone dressed up from the youngest in the family (Charlie) to my 90 year-old grandmother. So much fun! 
• Hurricane Matthew side-swiped the east coast and "gifted" us with its outer rain and wind bands but we kept power and didn't lose any trees in our immediate area. Unfortunately, folks in surrounding areas suffered more severe damage and are still feeling the repercussions today. 
• Soccer, soccer, and more soccer!  We even got to watch Kenden play a game at Nike Park with this travel team. Tim's team (and Gabe's team), the Pirates, wrapped up their season victoriously. Tim stepped down from coaching the 6/7 year-olds to trying his luck with the 4/5 year-olds this season in order to coach Gabe's first season of soccer. He transitioned incredibly well with an undefeated season! Gabe never fully understood the purpose of the game nor did he score any goals, but he at least tried and enjoyed playing.
• Chase did extremely well playing for a new coach after having had Tim coach him for the past 3 seasons. Chase's team made it all the way to the final championship game and played their little hearts out. They didn't win, but they hung close to the other team making it all the way to overtime and a shoot-out. Chase did awesome all season as the team goalie. He blocked countless goals and got to play a little offense in some of the games. After an undefeated season up to the championship game, he was disappointed not to win that final game. He cried along with several other players out of exhaustion and mere disappointment after trying so hard to get that final win, but we're still so proud of how well the Dolphins did! The kids quickly dried their tears as their coach presented them all trophies and individualized awards. Chase got the "Guts and Glory" award since he was known for showing no fear as the keeper and giving forth all of his effort. What an awesome soccer season with the kids, coaches, and parents! Tim and I met so many great people in our community this fall! 
• Gabriel had a field trip to the pumpkin patch with his class.
• Dawn had a pizza party for Emily after church on the 16th. Wow....Em is 15 years old!
• We enjoyed trick or treating in our neighborhood. Gabe was Ironman and Chase was Spiderman. The superheroes racked up a ton of candy! Our neighbors did such a great job decorating this year, which made it so festive! I think we saw almost as many Halloween lights as we do Christmas lights in the neighborhood. 
• Chase got straight A's on his report card!
• Gabriel's speech keeps improving. We can actually understand his bedtime prayers better now. He just recently asked God to heal Grammy Pam Sneed's back and knees and to bring him a dog....the last part of that prayer was very random with him asking God for a dog. I hope he realizes God doesn't work like Santa Claus. 

So here we are in November now. As we're into election month and voted in Trump as our next president, please pray for our country. We could argue all day long over which candidate we voted for and why, or why we're happy or discontent with the one that was elected. However, at the end of the day, we're still one nation and we have to move forward with our current leaders whether we like them or not. To hear folks in our country chant "not my president" towards Trump just makes my blood boil. In 2008 and 2012, I didn't vote for President Obama because I strongly disagreed with his policies (had absolutely nothing to do with skin color just to set that record straight). As much as I would love to see a woman be POTUS someday, I couldn't vote for Hillary Clinton either; once again, I strongly disagreed with her policies. I voted policy, not person! I could go on and on why I voted the way I did, but prefer not to make this a rant. I was disappointed both times Obama was elected, but I still put on my big girl pants, accepted the fact that my candidate didn't win, prayed for President Obama and respected his position. I pray we can all do the same for Trump without insulting each other anymore than we already have. I'm baffled at all of the Facebook wars I've seen over this election. Thankfully, I didn't lose any friends over it, but then again, I'm not one to befriend just anyone. Unlike some people who think the number of "friends" they have on Facebook represents a popularity contest, I choose to limit mine to people that I believe respect me regardless of my views.  Anyhow, I pray President (Elect) Trump will follow through with his policies and help bring unity rather than more division in our country. 

Furthermore, our Pledge of Allegiance states that we are one nation UNDER GOD. Even though our country now contains many people who don't even believe in God (don't forget our forefathers fought to give us those religious freedoms), I still put my hope in the true ruler of the world, my Lord Jesus Christ, more than any worldly leader.  We still have so much to be thankful for in this country. Let's not lose sight of how incredibly blessed we are to live in the USA! 

Beyond Election Day, we have Thanksgiving to celebrate at the end of the month. I always feel as though Thanksgiving doesn't get the attention it deserves as Halloween and Christmas overshadow it. Let's take the time to enjoy this holiday that has yet to be over commercialized. Slow down enough to breathe in some fresh air; listen to leaves crunch under your feet; take in the beautiful colors of fall; be thankful for friends, family, jobs, health, and all the many freedoms we have in this country! Let's count our blessings! Get your gobble wobble on!