To My Son

My darling Westin,

Today is your first birthday! Everyone warned me this year would fly by, but there was no way for me to prepare for how fast it really did go! You have been a constant joy in my life and I am so thankful I was blessed to become your mommy.

You have taught me more in these twelve short months than I will probably ever teach you in your lifetime. I've learned so much about you, about myself, about life in general, and most importantly, about our Lord.

I've learned that I CAN function on less than a perfect eight hours of straight-through sleep! I've learned it is possible to physically hurt when someone else hurts, and that there is no greater joy than watching your child's delight. I love to watch you learn and discover! You are such a bright little boy and I know the joy of discovery has just begun for you. I hope and pray that you and I have many, many years to discover new things together. You are so active! You love to do things fast, which you get from your Daddy. I know one day soon when you decide to give the walking thing a chance, you're going to be ALWAYS running!

The most important thing you've taught me this year is a deeper understanding of the love our mighty God has for us. There truly is no way to begin to comprehend the depth of the love He had to have for us to be willing to watch His only son suffer and die for us. The last thing I can ever imagine myself doing is giving you up. I can't imagine what kind of a love it would take for me to begin to imagine watching you suffer the way our Lord did, knowing that I could take your suffering away at any time. Westin, our God is so mighty and so faithful. He loves us so deeply and my most earnest desire is that you will choose to serve Him with your precious life and that someday after our life on this earth is over we will be able to spend eternity together, praising our awesome God. I pray that you will grow strong and healthy and that you will have an unquenchable desire for our Lord. I pray that you will never be satisfied with your understanding, but will continue to seek Him and to find Him.

I love you so much, Westin! I'm thankful for every moment of the past year that we've been able to spend together. I wouldn't trade one sleepless night or one colicy day! I'm looking forward to each new phase of your life and each new memory we make together. Happy Birthday, sunshine!

Love,
Mommy

PS-- we're partyin' tomorrow... will post pics & recap...

mama

Sunday was my first mother's day! Last year I missed it by four days :) It was a great day-- I was able to spend it with my little boy and also with my mom and my grandma.

I started thinking yesterday about how being a mom myself has helped me to see things about my own mom I was too quick to take for granted before. I'm so thankful for the relationship I have with her! I feel like I need her now more than ever before... when I don't know how to deal with colic and teething and temper tantrums... and when I'm not sure what to substitute for condensed milk... and when fevers reach 103... I'm so thankful for her wealth of knowledge and her willingness to not laugh at my ignorance! We are such good friends and that means so much to me.

I'm also so thankful for my grandmothers! I have one grandmother who spent most of her growing-up years without a mother. I can't even imagine! My mind won't let me go there... but she's the strongest lady I've ever met and a wonderful grandmother and great-Grandmother to Westin! My other grandmother is currently spending most of her days caring for her mother who has less than 25% of her heart working. The love and the selflessness that she displays day in and day out is unbelievable!

I'm also thankful for my mother-in-law, who is also a beautiful, selfless woman! I'm so thankful for the blessing she is in my life and for the relationship that we have. I'm also thankful for the wonderful mother that she is to my husband and the precious Nana she is to my son!

Thank you, Heavenly Father, for surrounding me with such a "great cloud of witnesses." I have such a vast resource of examples to look to when it comes to being a great mother-- which is my constant desire. I have so much to learn, and yet, I can honestly say I am enjoying every step of the journey!

My Dream Job

I started my dream job this week! My job description is as follows:

Volunteer position requiring intense training in breastfeeding, child development, early childhood behavior, and interpersonal/intergenerational group dynamics. There is a strongemphasis on time management

, accounts receivable, accounts payable, tracking inventory, procurement, and cost reduction. I am required to work with no supervision or guidance, to make quick, crucial and often unprecedented decisions regarding policy, to effectively guide the Organization in the most profitable direction, to set and meet my own deadlines, and to successfully foresee, and plan for, possible contingencies which may effect the overall direction and health of the Organization.

I am responsible for overseeing, and providing effective guidance to our Junior Member still in the start-up phase, one Founding Member in the established phase, and one Mascot in the puppy phase. I arrange, and lead, frequent meetings between the founding members to set common goals, and to assess the financial status of the Organization. Additionally, both Founding Members work closely with one another to promote the healthy progress and development of the Junior Member, and the mascots, in accordance with shared goals and objectives.

I arrange and host special events. Special events include, but are not limited to, annual celebrations of the anniversary of each Member’s joining the Organization, Industry-specific networking events, recognition and celebration of Organization milestones, outreach events meant to enhance the Organization’s connection to local non-profits, and casual, impromptu events which improve the Organization’s standing in the community. I also source event venues, and liaise with caterers and other temporary contractors.

I am the official Organization Spokesperson at education planning meetings, as well as with medical and other professionals. This requires that I keep abreast of the educational needs and progress of our Junior Member, track and document

any changes relating to the health and well being of all Organization Members, and remain current on legislation affecting the operations, goals and fiscal health of the Organization. I must take immediate action, when needed, to head-off, or correct, potential and actual educational, health, and legal problems facing individual Members, as well as the Organization as a whole.

I also provide therapeutic services as needed, and kiss many, many boo-boos. (from beyondjane.com)

I am officially a stay-at-home mom! I'm so excited and thankful for this opportunity I've been dreaming of my whole life. It really is my dream job, and I'm excited to perform it to the best of my ability. Please keep us in your prayers as we adjust to a one-salary budget. We know it will present its own challenges, but the rewards will far outweigh the challenges. Thank you, Kreg! I love you!

Meet Beau

We added a new member to our little family. Beau is our new, cute, fluffy, black English-style labrador. We agreed over the winter that when the weather got nicer, it would be good to find Max (our 18-month-old lab/beagle mix) a brother to keep him company now that I've transitioned him to a mostly "outside" dog :).

We had seriously considered adopting a friend from the humane society, but once we got down there all the dogs were sick with kennel cough and we realized we had no way of knowing what kind of a history the poor dogs had... and with an 11-month-old, we decided not to take our chances and that we would be better to find a puppy that we can train. Besides that, Kreg really wants a bird dog! So, we opened the paper Friday and found a breeder who had 8-week-old English-style labs. When we called, we found out 9 of the 11 had gone that morning so Kreg and Kortney and I RAN 45 minutes down the road to pick up Beau, who has been wonderful so far! We all love him, including Max and Westin. I told Kreg that this was "his" baby that he would get up with during the night, since I get up with Westin who STILL does not sleep through the night! Lo and behold, Beau got up once the first night and has been sleeping through til 6:30 am every night since. Not fair in my book, but I'm happy that Kreg gets his sleep :).

Happy First Easter, Baby Wes!

We had a blast with Westin on his first Easter! He is a pro at hunting for Easter eggs :). We were able to join my family for my Dad's breakfast burritos before church and have an egg hunt there, then worship our God & risen savior at church, then eat far too much ham & cheesy potatoes for lunch! It was a great day.

I have to confess, one of my favorite things about being a mom is experiencing all these fun "firsts" with Westin! Holidays are a big deal to me and I have LOVED picking out his Christmas stocking and his Easter basket and doing all the fun things that go along with it... watching the discovery and the joy on his face is priceless! And he is one expressive kid :) I can't wait for his first birthday! Only one more month to plan.. :)

Well, here it goes! We've been contemplating giving in and joining the world of blogging for quite some time... we really want to be able to share the special little things going on in our world with our friends & family. Especially right now as we're constantly being entertained by our Westin! So, to start off, here's a recap of our story!

Kreg & I met at Lenny's Sub Shop in spring 2006... that's the short version :) Kreg's sister Kim was my basketball coach in high school and she had been working on both of us to meet since she found out I was planning on going to Harding University... although I would see him on campus from time to time, I didn't want to just introduce myself to him because I figured he probably had a lot of girls doing that all the time! But, when I realized he worked at my favorite lunch spot, I finally did introduce myself one day-- and to my surprise, he knew who I was! At some point that semester he managed to get my number and the next thing I knew, he was flying out to Colorado to visit me over the summer. After that visit, there was no doubt in my mind I would marry him!



Kreg left the country three weeks later to spend the semester in Italy. I was completely jealous but I tried to soak it in vicariously through his experience :). It was a great time in our lives and it really helped us to start our relationship off on the right foot-- slowly, with lots of writing back and forth. When he got back, he flew out to Colorado again and spent my birthday with me, then we drove back to Arkansas together to finish our sophomore year of college. I wish I could re-cap all the fun things we did while we were dating but that would take far too long! We had the time of our lives-- we took road trips all around Arkansas/Texas/Colorado/Missouri, we had lots of Wal-Mart dates & study dates in the library, basketball and football games, campfire dates at Mamaw & Papaw's farm, Sonic runs, KJ's for breakfast on Saturdays, and a week in Florida with my family. If I had to pick three favorite dates from our time dating they would be: seeing the Lion King in Dallas, spending the day in Mountain View and Camp Tahkodah, and watching fireworks and listening to the symphony at the River Market in Little Rock.

Waiting for the symphony & fireworks to start

The Swing at Camp Tahkodah

About to see The Lion King!

Christmas 2007, I was at home spending Christmas with my family and the plan was for Kreg to come in time for New Years. I won't lie, I was hoping with all my heart that he might ask me to marry him on New Years... Christmas Eve is when my family opens our gifts from each other. Usually we start with the youngest, but this year my family said I got to start because a special gift had come for me. As I started opening the special gift, I realized it was my stocking from Kreg. It was filled with all of my favorite things! At the bottom of the stocking was a book he had made that told our "story" up to this point. It was so very sweet! The very last page of the book said that there should be one more thing in my stocking. As I dug to the bottom, I pulled out a ring box :) When I opened it, it was empty... but just at that moment, Kreg came into the room with the ring and a dozen roses! He flew in early and had hid in my basement while my family & I went out to dinner. It was the perfect Christmas gift :) Of course I said yes as soon as I could get the words out!



Our wedding day was perfect. I can't remember it (strangest phenomenon ever), but I have plenty of pictures and a wonderful video to remind me that yes, it was perfect. We got married on May 31, 2008 at Shove Chapel in Colorado Springs. The weather was perfect, all of our closest friends and family were there, and lots of our family members were able to participate in the ceremony. I loved getting married in the gorgeous Shove Chapel! I couldn't get enough of the pillars and stained glass windows and the enormous organ that played as I walked down the aisle! We had an outstanding pianist to play the grand piano and lots of candle light to set the mood! I married my best friend and after all was said and done, that was the best part of all!








We went to Cancun, Mexico for our honeymoon. We stayed at the gorgeous Riu Palace de las Americas, which is an all-inclusive resort. We spent the week lounging in the sun-- by the pool or on the beach, eating wonderful gourmet food, kayaking, shopping, and relaxing! We would go back in a heartbeat and hope we are able to someday!





We spent the rest of the summer in Colorado and were able to go to Italy! It was such a special trip for us because we spent so much time dreaming about being there together and Kreg really did fall in love with the country while he was there studying. We spent ten days seeing Cinque Terre, Taormina, Pompeii, Sorento, and Dubrovnik, Croatia. It was the trip of a lifetime and we still didn't get enough! We plan to go back again and spend the majority of our time in Rome and Florence.

On the via del amore!

Dubrovnik

We went back to Harding to finish our last year in fall 2008. That's when the whirlwind started! We found out in October we were pregnant... couldn't have been more NOT planned, but we were so excited! We got our fist puppy, Max-- half lab, half beagle. Max is a great dog and gave us plenty of practice for our newborn! We tried forever to get him to relax and go to sleep in the bathroom the first night we had him in our apartment... but of course he cried all night until we brought him to bed with us. Prophetic, let me tell you!



Westin Wayne was born five days after we graduated from Harding. My mom & sisters were able to be there for his birth, which was awesome! He is the most perfect blessing and we enjoy every little discovery he makes and every precious smile he flahses. He is all boy and very strong-willed... which he did NOT get from me. I'm learning though, and he really is as sweet as can be!








Two weeks after Westin was born we packed up and moved to Colorado Springs. We bought our first home, and Kreg started working with State Farm. Six weeks later, I started work part-time. While I work (usually in the afternoons), Westin stays with my mom (Mimi to him) which has been a huge blessing to us!

We enjoy spending time at my family's cabin in Estes Park, CO, working on our home and yard, and photography! We're involved with our wonderful church family at Tri-Lakes church of Christ and have been working with the college & 20-something's group there. We're big LOST & the Office fans and Westin & I are crazy about Smallville.

Well, there you have it-- a re-cap of how our family started! I promise the rest of my posts will be shorter :)