TEN!

They're TEN!!!

Two Whole Hands!!

Double Digits!!

A Decade!!

Happy birthday, my sweet girlers!

Healed!

July 8, 2009 - A day we will never forget.

(You can read the entire story here.)

(Sorry it's blurry. I was driving & looked back and had to snap this with my phone.)

We had traveled from LG to Baylee's orthopedist in Little Rock. Through divine appointment Brandon had talked to Dr. Matthias early that morning. When we checked in to ASO the front desk phone rang. It was her doctor wanting to know if we had arrived. Coincidence? I think not. He left the hospital and ran across the street to meet us. No appointment scheduled. He dropped what he was doing and made a spot for us. So, a four hour car ride, doctor appointment, CT scan, full arm cast later and this is what Baylee looked like. Beat up and exhausted.

I'm happy, thrilled, elated, ECSTATIC to announce as of Monday, February 28, 2011 Baylee was officially released from the doctor. Unfortunately, Dr. Matthias left ASO in August (we had said our heartfelt goodbyes then and yes, I shed some tears) & so he left us in the capable hands of one of his colleagues. In her words, "Based on today's x-ray I wouldn't be able to tell she ever had an injury".

PRAISE THE LORD!!!

Baylee has come a long way since that summer day.

(Bless her heart. She was beat up!!)

(She bit completely through her bottom lip and had 14 stitches in her chin.)

(This is what Bay referred to as her "rotten peach". I've never shown this picture before. When she landed she must've landed on a rock. This was an area they were concerned about some internal bleeding. Praise the Lord there was nothing. Just a nasty, NASTY bruise. To this day it's still raised a bit and there's a scar, but we can handle that.)

(Our God send, Dr. Matthias, and Baylee. He had a special connection with both of my girls. When he left ASO he took with him cards the girls had made him. He packed their cards along with special items his own children had given him. Precious man & we miss him.)

We are happy to put this season behind us. It could've been a lot worse. And for that we are thankful. So very, very thankful.

Here's our sweet girl two days ago being silly at the optometrist. What a blessing she is.

Missed opportunity

It's almost five o'clock and about time to start dinner. It's white chicken chili tonight. In fact, it's been a chili/chilly week. Chili last night. Chicken Chili tonight. And the temperatures outside are mighty chilly as well.

As I type I hear the girls banging around outside. They just bundled up (again) to go frolic in what's left of the snow. I assume school will be back in session tomorrow.

It just dawned on me that Caylee wanted to make snowmen sugar cookies this week in honor of the four inches of snow we got.

I forgot all about it. She said it once. At Wal-Mart. I think it was our third trip to gather necessities for the impending snow-in. She said it & I forgot it.

Until now. Now that it's too late.

I wonder if she even remembers wanting to make them? I'm sure she does. I wish I wouldn't have been in a hurry to fill the buggy up with goodies so we could create memories.

I wish I would've slowed down and created those memories that weren't necessarily part of my plan.

Love you, my sweet Caylee

Hello, 2011!

I'm back! Blogging will be a priority again in 2011! Are you ready? ;)

I suppose I shall start this new year off with some resolutions. Ideally, here is what I would like to accomplish....

1. While a stay at home mom, do my part in saving money.

*I don't have a job that pays monetarily, but I can learn new ways to stretch our dollars. And if I'm paid to make a cake or two or some sugar cookies here and there, then that'd be great too! :)

2. Lose 50 pounds.

*In all honesty I have about 150 pounds to lose. I'd LOVE to lose all of that this year. But let's be real. That's just not a reality. If I buckled down right now I could probably get close to 100. But I'm going to stick with a manageable 50 pounds. I'd rather lose more than fail, ya know? :)

3. Establish a daily cleaning routine with assigned tasks for each week day.

*I'll have been married for 10 years in August. You'd think I'd have the cleaning regimine figured out by now. Well, I don't. But I will soon! :)

4. Have "The Talk" with Baylee and Caylee.

*Umm.... this one makes me NERVOUS!! I've got butterflies in my stomach just thinking about it! But, they will be in fifth grade come August (Ahhh!! Where'd my babies go?!) and it's time. I am NOT looking forward to it. Oh, we've already had the period talk, now on to s-e-x. :/

5. Consistently have family devotions each night.

*We bought the girls a new devotion book for Christmas. This one will just take discipline to stick with.

6. Put my phone down in the evening.

*When the girls get home from school I only have five hours with them before it's bedtime. I don't want them to remember me as constantly playing with my iPhone every night.

7. Make "Fantastic Friday Family Fun Night" a priority again.

*Pizza delivered from Papa John's and a Redbox movie is okay every now and then. But it's time to make FFFFN exciting again! I'm thinking bowling! Game night! Wii night! Craft night! :)

8. Be a better wife

*Focus on meeting Brandon's needs -- not expecting him to always meet mine.

9. Be a better mother.

*When I'm frustrated, take a second to breathe before I yell. Yelling is ugly. I want to be gentle & patient. And kind.

10. Above everything else, improve my relationship with my Heavenly Father.

*Seek Him first, in all things. When I do that, I believe everything else will fall in to place.

Do you have any goals/resolutions for the new year?! I'd love to hear about them!

Happy New Year!

Silly girl

My girls are quite hilarious. Most people, sadly, never get to hear their silliness because they are also quite shy. But I'm here to tell you people, they are a riot. Here's one of the latest things to crack me up...

"Hey mom, did you know a (insert certain animal that I forget and should have written down. It was probably a horse or something like that.) can weigh 400 pounds? That's as heavy as the world's fattest priest!".

What?! Who knows how much the world's fattest priest weighs? Apparently Caylee does. And she wasn't trying to be funny. She was dead serious. Hilarious.

:)

Reservation for 4!

During a recent production of "Heaven's Gate's and Hell's Flames" at our church, there was a scene where an entire family is killed in a car crash. They wake up in heaven and see the angel with the Book of Life. The teenage daughter says, "Angel? Are our names in the book? We're the Smith family. We have a reservation for four." The angel finds their names and they run into the arms of Jesus. An entire family, together for all eternity.

Well, my friends, I am so happy to say that, as of August 16, 2010, the Beaver family now has a reservation for four. Caylee asked Jesus into her heart and made our eternal family complete.

I was tucking the girls into bed that night and Caylee broke down in tears. I thought she was nervous of the upcoming school year, but that wasn't it. She was consumed with fear. She, at nine years old, was so scared about dying. I assured her that once someone becomes a Christian there is no need to fear. I went about our nightly routine and before I left her room she said she was ready.

I could see in her eyes she was completely serious and knew exactly what she was doing. (And since Baylee took hours to work through everything, I was prepared for a long night.) We headed to my bedroom, climbed on my bed, and I let her just talk. Through her tears told me she felt dirty, like a piece of trash. Isn't that SAD?! Within a couple of minutes she began praying. She knew exactly what to do and didn't wast any time. She prayed the sweetest prayer and in a matter of moments our family became a complete Christian family. (I love it that the girls' experience was so different. Baylee wanted to talk and talk and talk before she prayed. Caylee knew exactly what she needed to do and got right to it. Haha!!)

My parents were in for that week, and after Caylee and I finished talking about some things, she ran into the living room and told Brandon, mom, and dad that she was now a Christian. You could see the joy inside of her. She was so proud. But the sweetest thing was when we rejoined Baylee in their room. She told her sister what she had done and then they embraced and Baylee told her she was proud of her. So sweet!!

It's now been a couple of months since that night, and it still fills my heart with joy when I remember all the details. There's nothing like knowing our family will be together for all eternity. Nothing will separate us. Praise the Lord!

Precious Memories

Ever since we moved four hours away from all of our family, the girls have looked forward to summertime. Yes, they have adjusted well and have friends and we're happy here, but to them Oklahoma is still home. They often talk about moving back and being closer to family. They're Sooners, what can I say?! ;) Anyway, when school breaks for the summer, they always retreat back to Oklahoma and we rarely see them.

Some people can't even begin to imagine what that's like. They're either flabbergasted we could survive that long without our girls, or they're overwhelmed with the mere thought of some "freedom". It's quite hilarious to see people's reaction. To me, though, it's a time of reconnecting. Brandon and I get a lot of quality time. And since we had three month old babies when we got married, we always look at this as our newlywed phase, if you will. Want a midnight run to Sonic? Sure! Why? Because we CAN! :) But even as Bran and I are reconnecting, the girls are strengthening their relationships too. They have the opportunities to make memories they probably would've still made if we lived closer, but they aren't as quick to take them for granted. It's a win-win situation for everyone.

While the girls love their Oklahoma time, they are required to come back to The Natural State for certain events. The first being Vacation Bible School. I have very vivid memories of VBS growing up and remember a lot of the songs. Brandon and I thought it was very important for them to come home and attend our church's VBS this year. The theme was Saddle Ridge Ranch and we knew the girls would absolutely love it! I mean, horses? Come on! That's right up their alley. What we didn't know was how significant this VBS would be.

After four the fourth night we were all a little exhausted. We had been swimming every afternoon, coming home and getting cleaned up and fed, and then heading out for Bible school. On Thursday night, though, the girls were unusually restless. Caylee began telling me all about some fears and insecurities she has. While it was painful to hear, I am so thankful she feels she can talk to me. I tried reassuring her through my own words, but it wasn't until we began talking about Jesus did things begin to take a sudden turn in a different direction.

Our girls have been in church since they were nine days old. They have been covered in prayer since before they were born. They know the stories and they know the motions. But on that Thursday night, June 17, 2010, things began to click for them in a way it hadn't before. I was telling Caylee all about Jesus being with us always (Deuteronomy 31:6) and when we become a Christian He comes and lives inside of us (Romans 8:10-12). Friends, it was as if the lightbulb of faith had been turned on. Everything they had been learning was all of the sudden beginning to make sense.

Baylee joined us on Cay's bed and we had the sweetest talk about heaven (Psalm 103:19) and hell (Luke 12:5), salvation (Acts 4:12), the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38, Romans 5:5) and what it means to be a Christian. I had this overhwelming feeling that something eternal was about to happen. And Praise the Lord, it did.

After and hour and a half talk, and her heart poured out, my dear sweet Baylee admitted she was a sinner (Romans 3:23), believed in His death, burial, and resurrection (Romans 5:8), and confessed her need for Him to come into her heart (Romans 10:9) at 11:47 p.m. It was the most sincere and precious prayer I have ever heard. And the smile she had afterwards is one I will never forget. She walked into my room, tapped her daddy on the shoulder (he had been asleep and had no clue what was going on in the other room. Ha!) and said "Daddy, I'm a Christian". Oh, it just feels my heart with joy to relive that moment when he embraced not only his daughter, but his sister in Christ. Amazing.

Caylee doesn't think she is quite ready yet, and that's okay. I know there will be a day when the angels will rejoice over her salvation. We are praying that she is sensitive to the Spirit's call and will trust Him with her heart. What a precious day will be when our family is complete and will spend eternity together!!!

And so this summer will hold not only the memories of fishing and swimming and late nights with Grammy and Grampy, but it will also be the summer Baylee can always look back on as the time when she became a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Praise the Lord!

Friends, if there is even one of you reading this now, and you don't know Christ as your personal Savior, please know you have been prayed for and that He longs for a relationship with you.