Hannah's Makeover

Hannah received a makeover 2 weekends ago! She will no longer answer to "Shaggy Dog". Her bangs were so long and we kept thinking that the longer they get the easier it will be to put her hair back with a little barrett or pony tail. The only problem is Hannah will pull out anything that's in her hair within about 20 minutes regardless of how tight the barrett is (I mean it had to hurt when she was ripping those things out sometimes with stands of hair left in them) and regardless of whether or not her hands were covered in mac and cheese or any other food group that she would then rub all in her hair.

So when I was at my cousin Jenn's salon on Saturday for a haircut we stuck Hannah in the chair first for a mini-makeover. As you can see, she left the curls in the back. :)

God is so good!

I have great news for those who haven't heard! I'm transfering to a department in Springfield with the company I work for sometime in March. I'm so excited that I will no longer have to make the commute from Springfield to Monett everyday with Hannah. I know Hannah will be glad too.

As with several events in my life, God made it so clear that this is exactly what He had planned for me. I would like to share this journey. I originally applied for this positon back in October. I wanted it so bad, I was starting to completly stress myself out about it. On the afternoon when I knew the decision was going to be made and it was down to me and one other person, I was a nervous reck. I didn't know what I was going to do if I didn't get it, but at the same time knew that may be the outcome...it may not be mine this time. I went into the bathroom at work (oh yes, the bathroom) and prayed. I told God that I knew He knew how much I wanted this right now but I also knew that this may not be the plan He has for me. I asked Him to take the burden of me worrying about this job because I couldn't handle it anymore. It is just amazing what God will show you when you just ask Him. I had this picture in my mind of me lifting my hands and another hand reaching down and taking what I was holding in my hands. The hand then came back down and scooped up what was on my shoulders. It was as though God was telling me "I'm going to take all this worry and fear that you just had in your hands to give me but I'm also going to take these worries that you don't even know you have or that you think you can handle but I know you can't." It was an incredible picture, it was overwhelmnig for me. When I got back to my desk, I had a message, the job was not mine this time, but I was okay with that and I was 100% certain that this was part of His plan for me right now.

Fast forward about 3 months to January. I was having a bad week at work and I really didn't think I could take anymore. I had walked down to the cafeteria to bring something back for lunch. On the walk back I was by myself and I prayed. I told God that I know He says He will never give us any more than we can handle and He may think I'm stronger than I feel I am, but this was all I could handle. I told Him I could not take anymore. I knew He had a plan for me but this can't be it. I had not even been at my desk for 5 minutes when I got a note from the supervisor I had interviewed with back in October asking if I was still interested...he had another opening. When I saw that message I immediatly thought, God is good! I knew that this was not a guarantee that I had a new job and I had to go through the interview process again but the fact that God gave me a clear and almost immediate sign that He was by my side. I will never forget it.

Oh the things kids say...

Sydney went to the Kids Night Out at the Y on Friday night. One of the things they got to do was swim. When she got home that night she told me: Mommy I didn't even swim with a life jacket on. All I had was a noodle around my waist and I swam all the way to the deep end. I didn't even drown! Mommy: Great job! I'm so glad you didn't drown! :)

Saturday afternoon we went to a birthday party for a friend in her class at Skate Port. This was her first invite to a party from a friend at school so it was a very exciting time. Skate Port, by the way, hasn't changed in 15 years. Same blue carpet, same white lattice separating the snack bar from everything else, same loony toons characters on the wall of the DJ area, it was like going back in time almost. This was probably only the third time Syd has been skating and bless her heart she has my coordination. She her legs spread about 3 feet wide most of the time and I watched her take a few falls, some that would have probably made her cry had it just been me and her there. When we got in the car to leave after the party, I asked if she had fun. Sydney: YES! I had a lot of fun...except when I fell down real hard.

Too close for comfort

What a night last night! We were hit by storm after storm - 4 all together.

Around 4:45 the sirens went off in Monett and we were all sent downstairs to the vault. It was just before 5 when they said the worst would be in Monett until 5:15 so that's when everyone heading toward Springfield asked to go ahead and leave. They said we could at our own risk. I left to get Hannah at Sandy's, she doesn't have a basement so she had already enacted her tornado plan and taken the kids to a doctor's office a couple of blocks away. I was leaving Monett at 5:08. The sky was as dark as I've ever seen it and the lightening was fierce all around. I was just praying to get home safely. When we got to Aurora, the radio stated a tornado had been spotted in Verona...not even 5 miles behind me. Driving through Marionville, then Billings, then Republic all had their tornado sirens blaring. I hate that sound. When I got to Republic around 5:45 I had 2 different vehicles flash their lights at me. I still don't know if they had seen the tornado and were trying to warn people or what. I knew I would be home at 5:55 and they were calling for the storm to be in Battlefield by 6. Luckily Battlefield missed most of the first storm but the sirens were going off when we pulled in the garage. I've never be so thankful to be home safe...next time I'll stay put. When Corey picked Sydney from school after work they were in the hall - duck and cover.

We spent most of the night in the basement watching for number 2 and then 3 to come through. My cousin Jenn and her husband Robert came by with their doggies to ride it out with us. They left around 9 and by 11:30 we had gone to bed. At 3am I awoke to the sirens again. Corey was already up watching the news. I looked at the radar and it seemed to have already pasted Battlefield at this point so I went to lay back down. Not even five minutes later everything got really calm and the windows started moving to a point that I was sure they were going to burst. I ran back out to the LR and now Battlefield was completely in red on the radar...how could it have changed so quickly. We grabbed both the girls and headed back downstairs. Luckily we had no damage and I think it was just very high straight line winds that we experienced, but that is the closest I ever want to be to a tornado, I really thought it might be the real deal last night.

Sisterly love...

I was going through some Christmas photos from this year and came across a couple I wanted to share. I realized before Hannah was born that having another child was a wonderful blessing. What I didn't know is how much joy I would get from watching Hannah and Sydney together. Sydney is a loving and helpful big sister and Hannah just thinks the world of her big sister. I love watching them play and spend time together. Sisters are a great thing to have in your life. I know I'm lucky to have one...love you Miss.

Hannah's One!

Well as if the Christmas time isn't busy enough already adding a birthday in there doesn't make it any easier. As you can see from my belated post, it's been a crazy couple of weeks. Hopefully next year I will be a little more prepared. Hannah had a small party at our house. I think she had fun overall until we started singing Happy Birthday, something about the entire focus of attention on her singing...maybe not so in tune, directly at her was not her idea of fun. You can see from the video she literally wanted to crawl over the back of her highchair and leave.

It has been a crazy busy time of year but more importantly it's been a very happy and great time. Spending time with and seeing family and friends that we haven't seen in a while. I just love this time of year! I have taken some advice from people who have "close to Christmas birthdays" for Hannah such as no Christmas/Birthday combination presents and no wrapping birthday presents in Christmas wrapping paper, but it really is pretty special having a little one so close to Christmas. I found myself thinking of that a lot this Christmas. One night in particular I was rocking Hannah before bedtime and singing Silent Night to her. I found myself thinking of Mary and how she must have rocked Baby Jesus to sleep while singing when He was just one year old. I thought of the love I have for Hannah and how amazing it feels when she looks in my eyes when I'm holding and singing to her and then I thought of how that feeling must have even been multiplied for Mary. Can you imagine holding God's son in your arms and singing Him to sleep? It truly is an amazing gift!

Merry Christmas...

from our elfin' family http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1416312864