Caleb's Day!

"All of God's grace in one little face."

God bless Caleb August!  Brooke and Travis' son was baptized yesterday.  He is so precious and cute and has such a good temperament.  He loved the warm baptismal water flowing on his head.  It was a special day with family and friends.  It is such a blessing to me when the grandchildren get baptized.  I always joke, that Kirk and I raise good Catholics. We have been life long Episcopalians, but three of our four kids are Catholic or plan to be.  All parents can hope to do is instill the love of God in their children's and grand children's hearts through example.  I try to live each day with the love of Jesus in my heart. We are very proud of  Travis and Brooke and the example they set for their boys. Here are some pictures from the baptism.  Jesus loves Caleb!

The laying of hands

Travis' Uncle Kenneth and his wife Debbie are Caleb's Godparents

Hudson was a perfect big brother

Beautiful Caleb.  He wore the same Baptismal suit as Hudson

Abbey, Wyatt, Brooke, Justin, Caleb, and Travis

The Smith crew 

Party time!

Sleepy time!

Play time!

Brooke's friend- Megan and her baby Cole

 "Jesus said, 'Let the little children come unto Me' ...and He took them in His arms and blessed them." Mark 10:14 - 16

Count your Blessings,  Bella

Mothers Day 2013

Saw everyone in my family!  Amazing!

Saw a beautiful post from a blogger I follow.  Thank you Laura for your inspiring post:

"Hang on to the joy and embrace it with every part of your soul.   You'll need those joys to fill your soul with enough light to pull you through the dark moments of your life.    Don't get so caught up in the duties of motherhood that you forget the very people who have made you a mother.  Dishes and emails can wait.   Take the time to listen, notice, and embrace them right here and right now. "

" It's worth it. "


Here is my "right here and right now."

Also my sister and brother bought us a beautiful cake last week celebrating our return to Dallas.  Can't wait to begin our life there!

Count Your Blessings, Bella

Connor Time

Connor has had a busy, busy couple of weeks.  He had band banquet, percussion extravaganza, senior awards, prom, musical, 3 AP tests, and working on his Eagle project.  I don't know how he does it while juggling a girlfriend and parents that are moving to Dallas and spend most weekends up there.  I am just so proud of him.  He has helped me so much get ready for the move and helps keep the house "show ready."  Here are the highlights of some of his accomplishments:

Canyon Creek PTA Scholarship

Band Service Award

Marine Service Award in Music

Band Leadership Award

Westwood 4.0 Award

Pictures to capture the moments:

PROM

BAND BANQUET

PERCUSSION EXTRAVAGANZA

SENIOR AWARDS

CELEBRATION DINNER

 FOR CONNOR- CONGRATULATIONS

 Count Your Blessings, Bella

Wow! What a Week

Well they say the greatest stressers in life are getting married, having a baby, moving, and /or new job.  Well two of the four happened this week.  First let's talk about 1000 students,  1200 documents,  and 55 adults not making an error  that I am responsible for- that is called STAAR testing  week!  I got through that last week but had to turn in documents Monday.  It went well, but is a stressful process as any campus testing coordinator in the state of  Texas might know. Now let's talk about getting the house ready for moving, - each weekend for the last 4 Kirk and I have worked non stop getting our house ready for market. This includes cleaning out 5 bedrooms and over 8 trips to Goodwill.  Well we went live on Thursday at five and have already had 5 viewings as of Friday night..  See for yourself all the hard work- if I say so myself the house looks good and it feels so good to be rid of all the junk.

http://www.9612airelibre.com

Oh and did I say we closed on our house in Dallas on Monday during turn in.  Kirk had my power of attorney and I only had one call from him. It all went well.

Finally I am happy to report I did get a job this week in DISD.  I am not ready quite to announce as I have another interview in Dallas on Monday- so friends please pray God will show me the way.  But, praise God, I have a job!

So I don't know how much more to cram in for the week.  We also had Connor events.  His percussion extravaganza and senior award ceremony.  I will save the good news on that for another blog.  He loves being in my blogs!  Not!

Here are some recent pics to capture life as we know it around here:

After a clean up- sold the sailboat on Craig's List- my first sale!

Uncle Matt comes to town from Chicago!

Prom for Connor and Paige.  Aren't they lovely?

Sweet Wyatt ( Abbey and Justin's )

Caleb and Hudson (Brooke and Travis')

Riley and Finley ( Luci and Jeremy's)

Riley and Carter ( Luci and Jeremy's)

If the family were a fruit, it would be an orange, a circle of sections, held together but separable - each segment distinct. Count your Blessings,  Bella

If the family were a fruit, it would be an orange, a circle of sections, held together but separable - each segment distinct.

Count your Blessings,  Bella