God is Good

As most of you have heard, I was involved in a car accident last night that I walked away with by the grace of God. First of all, I am so blessed by how much love and prayer I have received. It means more to me than you will ever know and I have truly felt the comfort of your prayers. Many of you have asked for details, so I will do my best to explain what happened.........I was driving Justin's truck because my car didn't have any gas, and I was already late to a girl's night at a dear friends house. So, getting gas, was the last thing I wanted to do. The weather was better than the night before, but still a little icy on bridges. I was going southbound on hwy 121 when I started to cross a bridge between Alma and Custer that I started to "fishtail". I tried to remember what they teach you to do in that situation, but things got out of control and everything I was trying to do to prevent a wreck, wasn't happening. So once I really got out of control, the truck slid and hit the side of the road, and I proceeded to roll down a muddy embankment where they are currently building the 121 toll. I know I rolled more than once because I felt that one time was too many and I remember praying for the car to stop rolling and it felt like an eternity before it came to a stop upside down. I did not black out and I remember thinking I want my family and I am going to live through this. I released myself from the seatbelt and while panicking, I tried to get out of the truck door. It only opened a few inches and I heard voices running down the hill to come and help. One of the voices was the pastor of Fellowship and I am so thankful to him and his graciousness. He and another girl called 911 and he then called Justin to tell him where I was at. By the grace of God, I walked away from that accident, WALKED, with a small scratch on my ankle that I cannot even really see anymore and a little soreness in my neck and shoulders. I went to Medical Center of Plano for precautionary reasons/x-rays, etc.
I have never felt so uplifted by my friends and family who have been praying and know that God had His hand in the whole thing. I pray that those people who kept looking at me and saying "you're so lucky", realize that it was not luck, but grace. I am so blessed to be at home and so thankful for every second of this day to be able to do laundry and wash bottles, pick up toys, talk to my friends and family on the phone, eat food........I could go on and on.

Side note: (kind of funny, you can laugh) The party I was going to required pajamas and house shoes, in which I felt compelled to explain to the firemen, EMS, police, chief battalion, highway patrolmen, etc that I do not normally wear these kinds of clothes when I drive and I think they all thought I was crazy, but it was a fun idea that I hope to do some other day under different circumstances;)

The Stockings are hung.....

(a little blurry) Jackson's reaction when he noticed Santa was around.

Jackson's reaction to Santa when he got up close. Not so sure;)

Kate with her new stocking.

Jackson when he got his stocking in the mail just in time for Christmas.

.........by the chimney with care!!! The lights are up and the tree is decorated! We are ready for Christmas before Thanksgiving! I can't help it. It just all goes together for us! We love Thanksgiving and normally, we would put the tree up the weekend after, ............well, who am I kidding? I usually have everything up before, I guess. Justin likes to tell everyone how one year when he was gone on a business trip (before I had kiddos), the weekend before Halloween, he came home and the tree was up. I got a little bored and decided to go ahead. We were trying to sell the house we were in at the time and the next weekend we had a showing and Justin happened to be at the house and he overheard the realtor say, "maybe they keep it up year-round". Well, actually, Justin wanted to say, "my wife is actually a little Christmas crazy"! It's just too much fun!!!

It's November 25th and we've been to a Christmas tree lighting, seen Santa and his reindeer, which by the way, if you haven't been to the new shopping center in Allen, you've got to go. They have the greatest Santa set-up with real reindeer and a little village for the kids to play in. They let us take 2 of our own pics with Santa and the kids and we didn't have to buy their picture. I don't know about you, but I am not a fan of purchasing the $14.95 blurry picture of Santa and the kids.

Hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving! I am so thankful for each of our family and friends, our church, my husband, Jackson and Kate, and most of all, God, who is so good to us!

"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever." Psalm 107:1

Halloween Fun!

The cousins
Our ladybug

Brooke dressed up like she's living in the '80s.

Having some pre-Halloween fun at another fall festival

Jackson, the T-Rex

Carving our pumpkins!

Campout

The Set-up
Justin, Jackson, Sydney and Carson

The next morning

The City of Allen had a campout for whoever wanted to do so at a nearby park. They showed a movie, played games, bounced in bounce houses and slept in their tents! Justin and Jackson participated in this with their cousins and Uncle Joe. They had so much fun! I went to "help" set up. I took a lot of blankets and made Justin bundle Jackson up because we had just had a cold front come through and it got down into the 40's at night. Kate and I stayed at home in our warm house with Nanna that weekend. Justin said he had been preparing Jackson all evening that they were eventually going to go to sleep in the tent, hoping it would be easy to do so. When Justin went to zip them into their tent, Jackson wasn't so sure, but once they got into their sleeping bags, he was ready to go to sleep. They had a blast!

6 Months

We've moved out of the carrier and into a "big girl" car seat.

I'm reading ; )

Yes, it's already been 6 months since our little Kate has entered the world! She is learning so much everyday. I had to throw in a picture of her trying some peas. She's quite the messy little eater. She's almost sitting up independently. A boppy helps;) She loves being held (A LOT), loves toys she can put in her mouth, a warm bottle, her mommy and daddy, and especially Jackson. If Jackson is anywhere in sight, she notices and immediatley starts smiling. It doesn't take much, and Jackson will have her laughing hysterically. She gives mommy and daddy "a run for our money" when it comes to getting her to laugh. But, I'm glad she sees her big brother as someone she looks up to and loves so much!

My Little Punkins

The Hayride

Jackson and his friend Lily Glenn
Amy, Nick and Lily Glenn

It was another fun, fun trip to the Big Orange Pumpkin Farm this year! Jackson loves to feed the farm animals. I love getting pictures in the pumpkins of my little 'punkins'. Although, getting two kids to smile at the same time and making eye contact with the camera is almost impossible. Jackson was only interested in feeding the animals, while Kate was distracted by anything that moves. We had a blast with the Glenn family!

Happy Fall Everyone!

Baby Long

I am happy to announce I am going to be an Aunt for the first time and it's a boy!!! My brother Stephen and my sister-in-law Brooke found out today that they are having a boy! His name is Gavin Nicholas and he is supposed to make his debut around the first of March. We can't wait to meet him and I cannot wait to be an aunt and for Jackson and Kate to meet their first cousin! Congratulations Stephen and Brooke!!!!!

Kate's Dedication

Last Sunday, we had the priveledge of dedicating Kate to our Lord and Saviour at our church in the presence of our family and church family. In doing this, we have made a commitment to God to teach her throughout her life, with His guidance, about His love and saving grace. And to model our lives in a Christ-like manner that is pleasing to Him and glorifies His name in everything that we do and say, so that we may further His Kingdom. 3 John 1:4 says, "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth." Our prayer is that Kate will one day soon choose to accept Jesus as Lord of her life and will walk in the truth, so that He will have no greater joy.

Festivals and More Festivals

State Fair
Jackson and this camel are having a staring contest.

Plano Balloon Festival

Kate enjoying the festival!


It always seems like once Fall hits, it's Festival time. Balloon festivals, State Fair, Fall festivals, etc. Lots of fun family time! We do like to try and make it to all of them on our free weekends. Jackson is at such a fun age and really enjoys the ones we go to and we love to hear the word "festi-bal" as part of his vocabulary. We have also decided if you want to know our family on a personal level, just ask Jackson. He tells it all just like it is at our house. Today, when Justin picked him up from his Sunday school class, the teacher proceeds to tell Justin that Jackson was "ironing" in the home center and the teacher asked him if he was ironing like Mommy does. Jackson replied, "No, I'm ironing like Daddy." It's so true. I wish I was better at that job, but as Jackson has observed, apparently, Justin is the one who does the ironing in our house.

Yum, Yum!

5 months old and we're trying cereal. Most of it ends up on Kate, myself or the bumbo, but she's trying. Kate started sleeping through the night pretty early on, but randomly started waking again recently, so our pediatrician said to try some cereal and it actually worked, or it was definitely coincidental! It's a wonderful thing when your baby sleeps through the night.

Congratulations Ben and Sarah!!!

Waiting among "the question"!
Here comes Ben!
Running to get the ring before Sarah landed.
"Is that for me?"

We're adding another member to our family and we couldn't be more excited! My brother Ben finally proposed to Sarah! We were so honored to be invited to the engagement which was the most exciting engagement I have ever seen! Ben and Sarah recently went skydiving as Ben's birthday present from Sarah, and they loved it so much that Ben decided to propose this way. It started out with Ben and Sarah getting on a plane while we (Justin, me, Jackson, Kate, Brooke, and some of Ben and Sarah's friends) waited in a holding room to run out to the area where they land to lay out the words "will you marry me" made by Ben in his living room with 100 pieces of hot pink poster board. Very creative! Ben jumped first, landed, ran to get the ring from his friend and was waiting for Sarah as she came down saying, "Is that for me"? Her tandem partner replied, "Well it isn't for me"! So much fun and we can't wait to hear all of their plans and for the actual wedding!!! Congratulations Ben and Sarah! We are so excited for the both of you and to have Sarah a part of our family!