Thankfulness

Today, I am filled with gratitude. The Thanksgiving "holiday" is officially over, but I feel even more thankful today than I did a few days ago! Here is why...
On Thanksgiving Day at my Memaw's house, she told me that there was a box of "my stuff" up in her attic. She asked if I wanted to go and get it all because she was afraid it'd get ruined. I didn't even realize that I had a box of stuff up there. What I found was priceless. It was my journals from high school. I did not remember that I had journaled EVERY SINGLE DAY in high school. Thank you God that I did. I came home with all of them and immediately became addicted to "revisiting" my past. I felt like I was one of those teenage girls reading the Twilight Series!! I couldn't put them down. Only, it wasn't a book someone else had written. I was addicted to my own books!! For several hours over the next couple of days, I read every single page of those books. To spare you from going into all of the melodramatic details, I was filled with thankfulness that God allowed me stumble upon these journals. They were FILLED with mine and Dennis' journey! What joy it brought me, along with some hurt, to relive our journey together, day by day, year after year. Wow. Crazy. I had forgotten so many things about our past together. Some, I wish I could still forget. More, I am so glad I got to remember! So, today, I am thankful that not only did I give Dennis a second chance (and a third...and I think maybe a fourth), but I am thankful that he gave me a second chance as well! I found a part in my journal where on my 17th birthday, he took me to eat at Texanas and just did some other special things for me, and I poured my heart out on the pages of that journal and said "I looked at Dennis tonight and saw my husband in his eyes". Never did I ever imagine in my wildest dreams that those visions would one day become a reality! What a sweet journey we have shared together and continue to share. I cannot wait to show those journals to Sadie one day. I feel like they serve a greater purpose than just to give me a glimpse into my past. I feel they will serve a more greater purpose in the future maybe when Sadie experiences heartache or maybe just when the kids want to know how "mommy and daddy" began!
The 2nd reason I am filled with gratitude today is because I feel as though God has brought a special opportunity into my life to start a little side business with AdvoCare. I will explain details later, but tomorrow I start not only my road to a healthier lifestyle (and hopefully a little weight loss!), but I also hope tomorrow begins a journey to some sort of financial freedom for Dennis and I.
Thank you God for continuing to show me that YOU are not finished with me yet. I am STILL important to YOU and YOU love on me in ways I can't imagine.
Stay tuned...

My Dream Home!

We are finally moved! We are settled! We are giddy with excitement! This move was QUICK! We've never moved all of our stuff in ONE day. ONE day! We got up early on Thursday morning and we were 100% completely moved into our new home by about 1:00 the next morning. So, I guess technically speaking, we moved in one day and 1 hour. What a LONG, LONG day. I almost had a major breakdown when I left my "old" house for the last time. Almost. Except that I was too tired. Thankfully, I was too tired because it could've gotten ugly. It wasn't the fact that I was leaving our old home for a new home. It was the memories that we made in that home. Both of our kids took their first steps in that home. My sweet baby boy came home from the hospital in that home. We've made some of the greatest memories of my life in that home. I walked into Sawyer's room at one point and I smelled "his smell". All of you mom's out there know exactly what I'm talking about. It's that delicious smell that only your kids have. It's a familiar smell. That smell you LOVE and just want to taste sometimes. That smell was what about caused my breakdown. I had to just leave the room and move on. His sweet little smell will move with us.
We love our "new" house, which is definitely not "new". It's OLD. I actually think it might be older than me. But, it's exactly what we wanted. I told Dennis last night that although I know it sounds a bit corny, I feel like I'm living in my dream home. This house reminds me a lot of my own that I grew up in. It's got the big porch, big trees, big yard, etc. But the house itself is nothing big. It's precious and we love it, but it's not the house itself that makes the home. I knew it was home when I saw the kids toys sprawled out all over the floor and there were sticky spots on the kitchen floor from spilled juice and I could hear the laughter of them playing up in the play room. It's home. It's our new home and I absolutely cannot wait to make lots of memories here. And, it doesn't hurt that we can be much more financially stable in this home too!!!! :)
We had so much help while we were moving. Grammy and Captain kept the kids for us for a few days so that we could get moved in. My mom came over and "helped" which mainly meant sharing lots of meaningful conversations, keeping me fed, laughing and maybe unpacking a box or two....oh, and she helped me clean my old house after the movers got out. I love you mom!!!! We had FUN!
My dad was with us for about 48 hours straight! He helped move TONS of loads of stuff from one house to the other. He built storage shelves for me in the garage. He hooked up my washer and dryer, and so on and so on and so on! We couldn't have done it without him. He was Dennis' right hand man all day on moving day and he didn't leave us until late Thursday night and he STILL had a huge smile on his face. He came right back over on Friday EARLY morning and he stayed all day again to help me while Dennis had to work. Oh yeah, AND he cooked all day on Saturday and brought us dinner too. Wow. Machine.
The kids love the new house. Sadie squealed with excitement when she saw her room. Sawyer is so proud of his. They love having a playroom with ALL of their toys. God picked this house out for us a long time ago. He knew the desires of our hearts and he satisfied every stinkin' one. WAIT ON THE LORD! He never ceases to amaze me! Thank you God for picking this house out for us. We love it!

Long Time, No See...

It's been a very busy past 2 months! Sadie absolutely loves school! She loves it 10 times more than I ever thought she would. She has learned so much over these past 2 months. I am amazed at how quickly she has learned certain things. I am extremely impressed with the teachers and the preschool that she is attending. I am very thankful that God led us there. I can't wait for Sawyer to start next year. He is going to love it. He already runs into Sadie's classroom every day and wants to be a part of it so I know he will fit right in and love every minute of it!
We recently got back from the best vacation EVER! We never thought anything could ever top last year's Hilton Head trip, but this year's DID! God blessed us so much with wonderful weather every day again this year. The kids were so awesome. They were both so much more independent this year. Dennis and I actually got to relax quite a bit and it was wonderful. We made so many memories and shared so many special moments. I literally already can't wait to go back next year. Sadie also gave up "Big Orange" on this trip which was a huge milestone! Praise the Lord for that one!!!
We also recently sold our house and bought a new one all in the past month. Thankfully, we sold our house in about 3 months, which was much sooner that I had ever anticipated. What a blessing!!! Then, we stumbled upon the exact house that we've been searching for! We wanted an older, one-level home with a bonus room and we found just that! We move next week and we are super excited to have a smaller space. We never built this house that we are in now with the intentions of wanting a huge house. We built it with the intention to sell it and make enough money to pay cash for something and be debt free! Obviously, our plans fell through when the economy when PLOP!!!! So, we had to sit down a few months ago and see what was best for us and that's when God laid it on both of our hearts to downsize BIGTIME! Our church has recently gone through the Crazy Love Campaign and we both felt led to try and get rid of our big house, which comes with BIG bills and get into something more comfortable so that we have the opportunity to help others more. We are excited to see what God has in store for us next. I truly feel that God is about to do something big in our little family. He keeps dangling things here and there in front of our face to show us clearly that He is at work in our family and He definitely hasn't forgotten about us!!! So many times over the past few months, I ask Him..."God, what do you want us to do about this (or that)"...He just keeps saying to me "Baby girl, I'm right here and if you let me, I will lead you down the right path. Just keep your focus on Me and I will take care of the rest". So, that's what I'm trying to do on a daily basis!
So, that should catch everyone up to what has been going on in the Phillips household.
Sadie is just precious. She is growing up so fast into an amazing young lady. She is super protective of Sawyer, but loves to pick on him too!!!! She has started to have a huge opinion on what she wears and it drives me crazy. So, I try to give her choices of what she can wear each day. I never thought she would care what she wore at 3 years old. She also has started to have real "fears". She wants her door cracked when she goes to bed and she wants the light on in the laundry room so that there's some light in her room. I never want her to be scared of anything, but she's definitely become somewhat of a scaredy cat. It breaks my heart. She's still just like me in the fact that she's super shy around people when she first meets them. She is full of love and energy and she has a huge heart and I love her more than life itself.
Sawyer...oh, Sawyer. My little man. Full of more energy than any boy I've ever seen. We've started to nickname him "Taz" because he reminds us a bit of the Tazmanian Devil!!!! ha ha He still loves his momma more than anything and would be perfectly content if I sat and held him all day long. He is so precious. His goofy little smile and big brown eyes absolutely melt my heart. He's super smart and talks really well for his age. He absolutely adores the ground that Sadie walks on. He wants to do every single thing she does. He is definitely her little shadow. They are so much alike, yet so different. I'm so thankful for their closeness in age because they seem to really like a lot of the same things. Sadie has taught him everything she has learned in school. He's just edible. I love that little guy.
That's about all for now. Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to document what's been going on for the past few months. I had planned on posting a bunch of pictures, but I'm having computer issues, so I'll have to come back and do it later on.

Preschool!

My baby girl started preschool last Friday. The days leading up to this day were not fun for mommy. I cried several HARD cries and had several random breakdowns. The worst being while I was at the grocery store one day buying snacks for her lunch. It hit me what I was doing and it broke my heart. I boo hoo'd the whole way home.
She seemed so excited about going though so I knew I was doing the right thing. When Friday morning, August 6th rolled around, I felt knots in my stomach and lumps in my throat bigger than I thought existed!!!! We had gone and met her teachers, Ms. Pam and Ms. Shannon, the day before and she couldn't wait to go for her 1st day!
Daddy even stayed and went with us that morning to take her.







She seemed great all the way up until we put her lunchbox down and I started to walk out. Then, the tears started. And, they weren't just tears. The tears came with holding my leg, screaming for me not to leave her and sobbing. I was trying to be strong, so I took her out of the classroom, (well, actually, I think she was running out after me at this point) and sat her down and told her that she was going to be fine and that she would have so much fun and that I would be back to get her very shortly.
This didn't work...at all.
She was still sobbing, yelling, flailing, etc. Yes, I had "the kid" that everyone was staring at!!!!
So, Ms. Shannon saw what was happening and came and just took her. She told her that she would take her to see Ella Claire and Greyson right down the hall. She was still screaming as I walked out the door and it was one of the hardest things I've ever done. I had to leave. I knew it was best for her.
I cried for a while, but then realized she was okay. Rachel Fontenot checked on her and said she was already okay and it'd been less than 5 minutes.
Since then, she has loved every single minute of it. She gets so excited about going and hardly wants to leave when I pick her up, although she gets REAL excited when she sees me at the door.
I love this time in her life. I want her to remember it forever. The hardest part is seeing her grow up so quickly right in front of me. Every time I pick her up from school, I feel like she's grown even more. She seems smarter, more independent, etc.
I want her to learn and have so much fun, but it's hard to let her go!
I thank God every day for being with her and giving her excitement that I was afraid would take a lot longer to come. She's such a big girl and I fall more in love with her every day.