Shoe Show

I love shoes. It's not a secret, I do love shoes! I know I drive David crazy with the "need for new shoes" all the time, but I cannot help it! I love them.

All kinds too... high heels, pumps, flats in all colors, sneakers (those are tennis shoes for those of you from the South), boots, flip flops... and the list goes on and on.

My favorite shoe story is one that took place while moving into our first home. We'd been married about a year and here is how the conversation went...

David upon arrive home from Lowe's says: "I got a shoe holder thing to hang in the closet."

Holly: "Great!"

David: "Yeah, it holds 10 pairs of shoes!!!"

Holly: "And where will I be putting my shoes?"

David: "What do you mean?"

Holly: "Honey, all my shoes won't fit a 10 pair holder."

David: "What do you mean?"

Holly: " I have WAY more than 10 pairs of shoes!"

David: "Well, how many pairs do you have? What size holder should I get?"

Holly: "How big of one do they make?"

David: "I don't know! We need the biggest one? How many pairs of shoes do you have?"

Needless to say, he went back and got the biggest one. And still I have some spots that have more than one pair of shoes in it!!

I say all that to tell you that now that I have a girl I get to buy shoes for her as well. The great thing is, I can get hers at consignment sales!!! Below are pictures of the 4 new pair of "winter" shoes I got for her. They are awfully cute, if I do say so myself!!

Yes, those brown boots do have little pink studs on them! She's hip for sure!

Nine Years

Every little girl dreams of her wedding day. She dreams of big flowing skirts with long beautiful trains and lovely headpieces and soft veils, sweet smelling bouquets and her prince charming.

That dream came true from me 9 years ago.

Actually our anniversary was yesterday but I didn’t get this post done then so here it is today!

And my wedding day was all I could have ever hoped for!

The air was filled with excitement, anticipation, joy and love! The room was filled with friends, family from near and far, lovely dresses, pretty shoes, gorgeous flowers, and even a wedding day candle. It was perfect! From the time I got up that morning… everything was perfect. My hair looked great (there was one small glitch – I dropped the curling iron on my chest while trying to curl my hair), my make-up was done beautifully, my family from PA was here and I would soon be putting on the wedding dress of my dreams to marring the most wonderful man ever!!

It was a perfect day – again except the burn, and as it turned out I had the veil on upside down - which my cousin had painstakingly handmade for me! Oh yeah, and we had to send our good friend Larry Payne out to get an additional guest book because at almost the last minute the wedding director didn’t think the one book would be enough! Then there was the small “miss-step” with the isle runner and the flower girl! Yes, I had an isle runner (I am after all a princess, right?!!?) and yes, my flower girl (also my second cousin who was 4 years old at the time) did a GREAT job… she just stepped to the side letting the guys pulling the runner go past her and she stepped right back onto it and keep on going. She was a real pro at this wedding thing, as it was like her 4th one!!

Still the day was perfect. The ceremony was lovely – our pastor did a great job – we exchanged vows we had written and then the party started at the High Point Women’s Club. It was a great day for sure!! I would do it again, in a heartbeat!

(This is from our 5th anniversary trip. I don't have any wedding photos - that was before digital camera's were the "in" thing!)

Now 9 years, 2 kids, 1 dog, 1 condo, 2 houses and countless cars later…. I’m still totally in love with the Prince I married that day! Not every day has been easy or fun for that matter, but ever day has brought us to where we are now. Every day had proven to be a blessing. It’s drawn us closer to each other and closer to our Savior. It has taught us more about each other and the importance of our relationship. It has brought two amazing children to the world! It’s changed me… it’s made me more thankful for the things that are really important in life!

I have a faithful, loving, hardworking husband who loves Jesus, me, and our children! He takes care of me, he makes me feel safe, he’s smart and he’s wise. He’s awesome and I’m so blessed to have him!

I’m looking forward to whatever the Lord has for us in the coming years!

I love you David! Thanks for loving me! Happy Anniversary!

My Little Gem

Welcome to Unwrapping Tuesday’s over at Chatting at the sky. It’s this really neat thing that happens at one of the blogs I read. I’ve been reading for a while but this is the first time I’m linking up!

The point is to find the small special things in the ever day (bog you down) stuff. Since I’ve been reading this blog I sure have been more aware of the small gems in my days!



Craziness comes into full swing at the Winslow house hold everyday right around 4 or 4:30. It’s like the day is drawing to a close and my kids have done all the things they can do for a day. They’ve played with each and every toy (yeah right!) they’ve looked at every book (uh hu… we have more books than the public library) and done every puzzle about a million times and now that’s boring!

Of course this is the same time of day that I like to start getting dinner together. Even if I don’t cook it, I like to get it all put together and ready to go. Needless to say this is a hard time of day for all of us.

That is until recently

When something changed

The kids have started playing - - (wait for it) - - together!

Yes sir – playing together! It started off kinda small. One day Luke joined Avery – on a whim - in her room to play with her new plastic store (which was one of my consignment sale deals!) and since then they have done a great job just playing together in the afternoons.

Now, some days it’s still loud and crazy because they choose to play tag…

Or hide and seek (which always involves screaming!)…

Or race cars (sometimes they play with hot wheels, and sometimes it’s with baby strollers!)…

Or balloon (who knew that a 10 cent thing could bring so much joy!)

But sometimes they do more quiet activities like doing puzzles together or playing in one of their bedrooms.

Either way, it does my heart good to see them enjoying each other and playing together! I think it might be school attendance that has made the difference, but whatever it is, I’m very thankful for it!

Growing Pains

This weekend is the Wendover Hill’s Wesleyan Church’s ladies retreat and I’m not there, I’m at home, and honestly and surprisingly I’ve had several “moments” due to the fact that I’m not there.

Now, if you go to WHWC and you’re reading – please know I love you with all my heart and pray for and wish the best for you and the church – this is simply my feelings on the matter and since this is my blog, I’ll be sharing my feelings!

I didn’t expect to feel anything about the retreat. And until Thursday afternoon I didn’t. For the last several years I’ve been on the planning committee for the retreat. And even back to September ’04 I lead a “break-out” session on prayer during the retreat. So it’s been many years since I didn’t have some part in the retreat whether it was as an attendee, a planner, or a teacher.

After thinking about it some here’s what I’ve decided is the cause of the “moments” I’ve been having - other than our old pastor and his wife (who up and moved to Florida!), all the people we were very close with at our old church - we are still very close with. My girlfriends I see weekly, and since I’m still part of Bible Study I get to see all those ladies as well. We have had dinner with, been to cook-outs with, and even birthday parties for our friends and their kids. Don’t get me wrong, we’re making new friends at our new church as well. But since my closest friends still go to WHWC we’ve had continual contact with our old church family.

But this weekend is different. The ladies are all together, on a trip I didn’t plan, without me, and I’m sad about that. Really sad actually. Until now there weren’t too many hard parts of changing churches. Of course it was weird and there are some folks who I wish we saw more than we have since we left. But the move felt so right and I still know it was the right thing for our family – it’s just that this weekend I’m feeling what I think could be classified as growing pains.

With change sometimes comes some aches and pains, and I’m experiencing some of those this weekend. It’s weird for me to think about all the fun things I know the girls are doing while they are away, and part of me wishes I was there also. But I know they are having fun and getting the break and spiritual revitalization they need… just miss being there with them!

Sorry

I am still here. I'm sorry it's been so long since my last blog. It's not that my life has been overly busy, that I haven't had time... it's just there's been a lot going on in my heart, head and life and I haven't had the time, energy or desire to blog.

The kids are good. Growing so fast! Avery changes every day and is starting to talk up a storm! She repeats EVERYTHING she hears! She's as cute as ever!

Luke is doing well also! He's learning a lot a school and really looks forward to Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays so he can go to school and play with his friends.

There will be a more "real" post sometime soon - I promise!

School and new babies!

I don’t have too much to say – ok, well I guess that’s not really true. I always have lots to say, so I guess more accurately I don’t have a whole lot of time for a big long post. I know some of you are glad! I did just want to give a quick update.

We’ve had a good week at school! Both kids are adjusting well. Luke of course loves school because it offers more social interaction as well as something “fun to do today!” I hope he keeps up his love of school! Today will be his last day this week and of course we’re all off on Monday! Avery only goes Monday and Wednesday so this morning is Mommy-Daughter time (I think we might go shopping!), so I’m looking forward to that as well! Avery seems to enjoy her time in the classroom with other children as well!

This week brought a really fun new experience for me. I got to be up at the hospital a good bit of the day on Tuesday while my lovely and wonderful friend delivered her second baby! As with most deliveries things moved kinda slow (she was induced) the early part of the day, and thanks to my mother in law I got to be at the hospital for a few hours during the day! Then I came home had dinner with the fam and went back to the hospital to wait for Baby Caden to arrive! Although I was not in the delivery room for the actual delivery – I was there for a few pushes (which is totally amazing to someone who had 2 c-sections!!!!) and in the waiting room for the rest of the 30 minutes it took for Caden to arrive – it was still a really great experience for me! I’ve never been to the hospital for a delivery other than the birth of my own two children! It was awesome!

God is so good, and the birth of a child is just another reminder of just how amazing our God is! A big thanks to Glen and Crystal for letting me join in – in small part - in the birth of the newest addition to your family! I pray many blessings, rest and strength on you all as you adjust to another sweet baby boy in your family!