i heart fall

Fall is great for so many reasons.

Here's a few of my favorites:

my momma's birthday!

Evan's birthday!!

GREEK festival with les

carving pumpkins with my girls!

fuzzy boots

foodie friday

In honor of the holidays and all the fabulous food that I plan on eating, I have decided to dedicate Fridays to my favorite recipes. Please feel free to add your favorite recipes in a comment or on your blog. If there's one thing this girl loves, it's FOOD!! :o)

I am starting with my new favorite food in the whole entire world:
Pumpkin Crunch (or pump dump, if you are lesley)

1 can pumpkin
1 lg can evaporated milk
2 t pumpkin pie spice
1 t salt
4 eggs
1 box yellow cake mix
1 cup crushed pecans
2 sticks butter

In a bowl, mix the first 5 ingredients. Pour into a greased 9X13 pan. Top with the cake mix, then pecans. Thinly slice the butter and lay across the cake mix/pecan mixture. Bake at 350 for 50 minutes, or until golden and crunchy. Top with cool whip! Enjoy!

It's basically a dump cake with pumpkin pie in the bottom. Oh my word, I can eat the entire pan of this!!!

family photos

My sweet friend, Emily, took family photos of us last night. They turned out SO good!

I love...

*hearing "i love you, mommy"
*sonic raspberry lemonade
*early morning workouts with kelly
*putting my cold toes on micah's warm legs
*laughter
*monday nights with whitney & lesley
*office giggles with sara
*hillsong
*anything pumpkin
*middle school students
*lunch with beth
*john mark & caroline together
*wendy, amy, callie & kristin
*blog friends
*chronicles of the king
*emails from kellie
*facebook
*Sunny's blog
*VS sweatpants
*pictures
*cold pillow cases
*lazy saturdays
*road trips

In my life, be lifted high
In my world, be lifted high
In my love, be lifted high
--hillsong

blog party gift

I have to give a shout out to sweet Natalie for her awesome blog party gift! She made this adorable halloween sign and some precious fall cards of John Mark for us to send out. Thanks, Nat! This was such a fun idea! I hope we continue the tradition for Christmas!

more pictures

Saturday morning we decided to take a little hike down a nature trail we had found. It was beautiful, and hearing Micah explain things in nature to John Mark... well, let's just say that even I learned things. :o)

our hiking trail... i'm kind of obsessed with this picture

I think this is quite possibly the sweetest look

fun with the self timer

Micah's artsy picture of John Mark and me walking

again with the self-timer

he was asking us if he could jump

tired, needing a break for the walk home

you might be a mommy if your ipod has episodes of mickey mouse clubhouse on it...

a few pictures

view from the deck

sitting on the dock

checking out "big boats" at the marina

eating ice cream at the buss stop

snuggling with daddy early in the morning

the leaves were BEAUTIFUL!

family pic at the lake dam

riding the train in eureka springs

standing with daddy on the train

home sweet home

We just walked in the door from a long weekend in Arkansas.
It was a fabulous, relaxing time.
I have a million pictures and stories to post.
But for now, I sleep.

how can i keep from singing?

I have been overwhelmingly reminded of His love in recent days.

I went on two very different retreats over the weekend-
one with the staff I work with,
the other with lively 7th and 8th grade students.
Both of these retreats were beautiful reminders.
THIS is my calling- to glorify Him.
whether that is making copies for Amy,
filing PO's or mailing postcards...
whether I am laughing with friends,
crying over hurts or praying fervently...
whether I am teaching 7th grade girls,
worshiping or sitting in silence-
this is where I belong.

How can I keep from singing Your praise
How can I ever say enough
How amazing is Your love
How can I keep from shouting Your name
I know I am loved by the King
And it makes my heart want to sing
--Chris Tomlin

bloggy buddy

Lauren, your gift is in the mail!

little rock star

John Mark has become our own little rock star. He loves to "pay-tar" (play guitar) and uses anything he can find to be his very own guitar. It might be a hairbrush, a vacuum tube or book. He doesn't care! We hung out at our friends house the other night playing rock band. John Mark had a GREAT time playing a "real" guitar and wouldn't give it up to let the grown ups play!

But his REAL treat came last weekend when he stayed with mom and dad... they got him an actual guitar that plays music! Here is a video of him dancing and playing his guitar. Enjoy!

Each time He said, "My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness." So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That's why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

love one another

John Mark spends all day Monday and afternoons Tuesday and Thursday with my sweet friend Jamie and her little girl Caroline. Caroline has a little mermaid v-smile game where kids sing songs and push buttons. John Mark's favorite song is "I'm friends with the crab, snap-snap-snap..." it goes on and on listing different sea animals.

Anyway, last night we were reading our bible story and then looking at our bible verse. The verse was "Love one another", so we were talking about what that means. I said something about loving our friends and I asked John Mark, "who are your friends?" Without skipping a beat he looked at me and said "the crab."

i CAN be crafty!

I have to admit- I am so jealous of people who are crafty.
I try. Really, I do.
But usually my crafting experiences usually end sadly.

For example, the very first time I met my dear friend Jamie, we were at a girls sleepover in college and we were painting terra cotta pots. Lets just say that was a tragedy I would like to forget, but Jamie will never let that happen...

Anyway, I recently decided to try my hand at crafty-ness once more.
I have been wanting to paint my bulletin board to hang my necklaces from.

So I went to hobby lobby.
I bought brushes.
I got paint and stencils...

Behold, my treasure!

night, night

We have a routine that we try to do with John Mark each night.
It's so sweet and he is always so precious.
I decided it would be fun to walk you through our "night-night" routine.

We start with a bath. Now, I have to make a confession- I am not a fan of giving John Mark a bath. I don't know what it is, but I am much happier when Micah gives him the bath, which is usually.

After bath time comes lotion (he always says "put the lotion on skin, mommy"... yes, my 2 year old quotes joe dirt. Thank you Micah & Chris Wehunt), diaper and jammies. He is pretty particular about his jammie choice. His favorites are Cars (obviously) and his new "monkey pay 'tar" (sock monkey playing the guitar). If those are dirty, "most-0-cycle" jammies are the next obvious choice.

At this point, the whining (I mean, sweet, perfect asking) for "MIIIIILK", "nigh-nigh" (his blanket), "eeyo" (eeyore) and "nemo." Those things get gathered in his arms (Nemo is HUGE) and then he chooses one of us to "hold you."

We go into his bedroom and sit in the rocking chair. Someone gave us a sweet, sweet picture bible with stories and cool pictures, so we read a couple of stories from there. He always asks Micah to pray ("daddy, paaay to Jesus") and then we turn out the light and lay down on his bed. This is usually preceded by the announcement "mommy snuggle non nart big boy bed."

(I am totally getting teary thinking about this... it's so sweet!)

Now for my favorite part- singing songs. He always picks songs for us to sing and he sings along with us with all his heart. His favorites are "Jefuh love me" (Jesus loves me), "tikle, tikle" (twinkle, twinkle little star) and "spiduh" (the itsy-bitsy spider). After we sing a few of those songs he starts to sing "How Great is Our God." And oh my gosh, nothing gets to me more than hearing him sing "how geat our God... sing me how geat..." I have been singing that song to him at night since he was a baby. I love it.

Usually at this point he is getting sleepy. We say goodnight, give kisses and hugs and tip-toe out. Some nights he goes right to sleep, other nights he talks for a while. Either way, bedtime is quite possibly one of my favorite parts of each day.

micah's sweet new ride

yes, that is my husband rockin' a 1968 Vespa scooter, shipped here all the way from Vietnam.

growing pains

I have a very distinct memory of being young and walking into my parent's bedroom in the middle of the night, tears falling down my face because my body ached. I could never fully express what I was feeling, so mom and dad named them growing pains. It seems like just yesterday my legs were tight with growth, my arms being stretched beyond their capacity. Those were aches that every child experiences during their growth process, but I was certain I was falling apart and no one else in the world had ever lived with such pain.

Last night mom asked me if I was okay. I can't say something is WRONG. But I would have to say I am living with some growing pains right now. These are growing pains of the spirit. I can feel my heart and soul being stretched; the refiner's fire is at work within my life, melting away the stone to create something beautiful for my God.

And I know that, like those pains of my early days, this is a period of growth in my life. I will come through this with a deepened confidence in my faith, a newfound appreciation of the holiness of my God.

"I guess I thought that I had figured You out.
I knew all the stories and I learned to talk about
How You were mighty to save.
But those were only empty words on a page.
Then I caught a glimpse of who You might be.
The slightest hint of You brought me down to my knees."
--Addison Road

"and the things of earth will grow strangely dim
in the light of His glory and grace"

--Jesus, make the things of this world pale in comparison to You.
give my heart a hunger and thirst for You,
for Your truth and Your voice.

now i understand

If there is one thing I have learned in my 2 brief years of being a mom is that all my preconceived notions regarding motherhood have flown straight out the window.

For example, I always hated kids with boogers. Gross. Now I understand that in the winter, nothing short of a surgically implanted kleenex will keep a toddler completely booger-free.

My most recent discovery came with one of John Mark's birthday presents... the dreaded LIGHT UP article of clothing. You see, I have always been entirely opposed to all things "clothing" with lights- shoes, hats, etc. I never understood why these were popular. To me they were entirely unnecessary and waaaay too cheesy.

Two weeks ago my proclamations of "my child will NEVER wear light up clothes" was put to rest. John Mark was given a light up cars t-shirt. And he fell in love. It's the only shirt he wants to wear. So what did my mother do? What any self-respecting grandma would do- buy him 2 more.

So I am now officially "that mom." You know, the one whose kid only wears shirts that light up.

18 weeks to 26.2

That's right.
This begins my first week of official training for the full marathon in Dallas.
Every time I think about it, I get so excited.
A separate blog is in the works to be dedicated entirely to marathon updates, so keep your eyes peeled.

Until then, here is my training update for today.
Running total: 3 miles, 26 minutes
Uniform: Gray mesh shorts, hot pink dri-fit racerback tank
Playlist: Rihanna, The Killers, Telecast, U2...

our party

On account of our ridiculously busy schedule, we are waiting to do John Mark's big birthday party until after August 17. The reasons for that date are too many, and probably too boring, to list here. So if you are a friend who is wondering if we have somehow forgotten to invite you to the 2-year-old bash, please know you are not forgotten! I just don't have a chance to breathe until summer slows down... but once life gets a little less hectic, you will all be invited to something ridiculously fun. Well, probably not all of you, because some of you are just stalkers that I could never invite since I don't know who you are. :o)

Anyway, last night we had a fun little "rigdon family" birthday night. We started off the evening with the first present. I casually mentioned the present when talking about the evening. Later I asked John Mark if he wanted to eat pizza, to which he replied "no, present" and sat down in the chair. So we got out his first present, a totally awesome sesame street school bus that sings the ABC's, which he has already thrown on the ground and broken. But he loved it for the evening!

Then I made mini pizzas for each of us, since pizza is John Mark's favorite food. Micah & JM got pepperoni and cheese. I got an oh-so-yummy pizza that I will post a recipe for later. After pizza, John Mark proudly proclaimed "Presents." So we got out his next presents. This was the hodge podge of gifts we bought to pacify him on the bus ride to Florida (I know, I know, I still haven't posted those pics yet... give me time, people!) that we never made it to. He got a Diego magna doodle, cars magnet set and little plastic tools.

After these presents, of course we had to eat cupcakes. Micah graciously made the cupcakes, since I had to work Monday and he had the day off. We sang "Happy Birthday" and John Mark attempted to blow out the candles. After very little success, we helped him out. He enjoyed the cupcakes quite a bit, if you can't tell from this picture:

That pretty much sums up our evening. Oh, he went to the doctor yesterday for his 2 year check-up. Here are his stats:
*Height: 38', 105% (they say if you double their height at age 2, that will be their adult height... that puts him somewhere between 6'3"-6;4")
*Weight: 35 pounds, 105%
Yeah, he's pretty much huge. But that's cool. We love him!

2 years

Today is a day for looking back...
for remembering that day,
two years ago when our lives changed forever.
I'll start at the beginning.

It was hot. Not the kind of heat you can ignore, but HOT. Sweat rolling down your temple as you walk to the car kind of hot. Imagine this heat magnified by an added 60 pounds and a 10 pound baby heater in your stomach.

I had just finished a fabulous lunch at Saturn Grill with Jamie, her sister Amy and baby Caroline. After a quick shopping trip to Target, we had headed to our respective houses to get ready for our monthly small group party.

Did I mention it was HOT?

As I walked into the house, I noticed I was a little more tired that usual. I didn't think too much of it, having spent a good part of the day walking. So I laid down on the couch. The longer I laid there, the more I began to realize something was going on with my big ol' belly. I began to pay closer attention. As the clock neared 5:00, I was guessing this was labor. So I did the only intelligent thing to do- I called Jamie. She assured me that this was, in fact labor and I should call the hospital.

Micah got home from work and we called the hospital. They politely informed there was no room. Feeling a little like Mary, I began to follow their instructions: lay down, walk around, drink water, take a bath... but nothing was stopping the pains from coming quicker.

We called again. They told us we could stay in the holding room. We grabbed our bags, cell phones and car seat and set out. Along the way, phone calls went out to everyone who needed to know. Mom & Dad headed that way from Central High... Tiffany & Russell went to the wrong hospital... Micah's family sat aside their evening plans and drove to Lakeside.

Time seemed to slow as they made all the necessary precautions. We made ourselves comfortable for a while in the room no bigger than a closet. Laughter and tears (ahem, TIFFANY) flowed as we all waited in anticipation.

Who would he look like?
Would he have hair?
How much would he weigh?

The moment came- come on back to surgery, they said. Jamie & Natalie waved at me excitedly as I walked back to surgery. I laid down on the table, quietly waiting for Micah to arrive in his scrubs. Meds were given, blue curtains went up, the doctor went in...

Micah & I sat chatting about this new life coming into the world.
Prayers were said.
A cry.
The announcement from the anesthesiologist-
"Good grief, lady, you just delivered a toddler!"
The curtain dropped,
My son.

waiting in the hospital

the "toddler" i delivered

family picture, 2007

florida, 2008

i need you so much closer

Late Thursday night I stood on the beach,

a salty breeze ruffled my sundress around my ankles.
All around me students were face down in the sand,
crying out for God to move.

I watched from the back,
John Mark sleeping soundly in my arms.
I was reminded of a time when I was desperate,
needing nothing except for Jesus.

Somewhere along the way life got busy.
Things grew hectic,
my passion began to wane in light of other things in my life.
Nothing bad, in fact, most of it was quite good.
But even good things can become burdens.

So on a clear night in July,
twinkly lights illuminating the sand around me,
I asked Jesus to move.

the distance is quite simply much too far for me to row

it seems farther than ever before
--death cab for cutie

We are headed to Florida for a week with the HS students from church.
I'll have lots of fun pics and stories to post when we return!

If you think of it,
say a quick prayer for us.
18 hours is a LONG time on a bus,
especially with a 2 year old!