Round-Up Day at School

Today was Round-Up Day at Mili's school. She enjoyed dressing up in her cowgirl clothes and just HAD to wear the hat (and the pink bow as well). She made a horse out of a wrapping paper tube and "tried" some beans and bread. Mili doesn't try anything new to eat...she has to be forced to do it at home.

Take a look at this cute little cowgirl. During her photo shoot she said....."cheese, cheeseburger, and celery (never heard of this one but it worked....maybe you should try that one Chelle). She must have gotten that from when she had her school pictures taken by Jeremy (she came home and said "at picture day, Jeremy took my picture...yea, his name was Jeremy). Such detail!

Love to ALL!!!

Sadie's 1st Birthday

Sadie turned 1 year old a month and a half ago. I am still a little behind on my blogging if you can't tell. So here are a few shots from her party. The party was a combined party with her cousin Isabella who was turning 4 years old. We had it in the church fellowship hall. That is why you see Sadie sitting in an antique high chair....haha.

Hope you enjoy the pictures of our 1 year old princess!!!


This one was a keeper......a LOUD keeper!!!


Sadie LOVES books and asks to read them all the time (she signs book very well).



Our little rock star with her new guitar.....She will be playing with Daddy in no time.


Calling all of her friends in MD already. Good thing there were not long distance charges involved in these calls......we have an unlimited plan!!!

Sadie's baby cake for smearing.

Her first very petite bite!

Finger lickin' GOOD!

This is much better with ALL of my fingers!

How do you like my new lip stick.....I think I will call this color "cotton candy".....you can pick it up at any bakery near you.....it has a great taste too.

Love to ALL and hope you guys have a fabulous week!!!!

A Little Creativity and A Moving Box

The other day Mili asked me if we could make a rocket. I said, "No, Mommy doesn't know how to make a rocket, sweetie!" That answer was not good enough for my little strong willed child so she went and started looking for boxes. She came out of her room with a tiny box and started trying to make a rocket (that she was suppose to fit in). I felt sorry for her and went to the storage room and got a big box and started cutting away. We worked on that thing for an hour or so, decorating and all. She has spent hours playing in her rocket.

Enjoy the pictures of her in her creation.

A Frisbee serving as a steering wheel!


The bottom of a drum makes a great Astronaut helmet.


A working door, with door handle.



Proud of her creation and it had to have a flag.

Sweetness!!!!

I LOVE being Mili's Mommy. It makes my heart happy to have moments like these with her. Hoping for many more creative moments in the future with my sweeties.

Love to ALL and Miss YOU GUYS in MD!!!!

We Are Still Alive!!!

Sorry....I have been a little behind.......

I know it has been forever since I have blogged. I have had several comments from my friends (especially in other states) that they want to know what is going on in our household.

Well, Brian is enjoying his job but we are not seeing a whole heck of a lot of him around here. He is working late two nights a week (arrives at the girls bedtime) and the other nights he gets home in time to eat and play with the kids an hour or so before their bedtime. We are adjusting to the new schedule here, however, I want my east coast time zone back. I liked it much better.

The girls are going to Mother's Day Out two days a week for about 5 hours each day. I am working during that time and it is definitely keeping me on my toes. It feels as if it takes me all day to get their bags and stuff ready for them to go to school the next day. I don't know how I will handle it when they are in school EVERY day. It makes me tired just thinking about it. I am sure I will get into some kind of routine soon. We are pajama wearing people around my house most of the time so it is a big change for me and them. Mili LOVES school. She wants to go every day but Mommy won't let her nor does Mommy have the money to send her every day (it is bad enough two days a week...the cost, I mean.....I enjoy the break).

We love our apartment. It is much newer and EVERYTHING works in the apartment on the first try. No more drying clothes three or four times and No more running the dish washer two times. The air conditioner has not stopped working one time since we have been here....what a relief. Mili and Sadie LOVE the room they have to run and play inside. We will be buying a house within the next year or two.

We are still a one car family but hope to change that soon. Right now we are having a hard time finding the time to look for a car. Please pray that we buy the car that God wants us to have. If we don't get one soon I am going to pull my hair out. If you would like to see a bald Alice then pray we don't find a car soon.

I appreciate all the comments and encouraging words from my blogger friends out there. We are doing fine and finally getting into some sort of normalcy around here. Please pray for the girls they have had many colds since we have moved back. Not sure if it is colds or Arkansas weather and allergies.

We love you all and I promise it won't be so long before I blog again.

I forgot to mention that Sadie is walking all over the place and is now 13 months old ( I will post her birthday pictures soon).

Here's YOUR Sign!!!

Do you ever wish you could get a huge, flashing neon sign of what God wants you to do with your life? I often wish that every part of my life was a neon sign. I hate to make decisions, in part because I don't want to make the wrong one and also because I worry about it being what God wants for His kingdom.

If you have been reading my blog for a while then you know that I "met" this wonderful lady named Angel on her blog several months ago. I am not sure how I linked to her blog but I am now sure that God directed me there. She is a breath of fresh air for me. She has adopted two children and believes in taking care orphans. She and her husband, Russ, were part of the crew that started Red Letters Campaign. Through Angel, I found Tom Davis' blog and saw a man who is committed to helping orphans have quality of life, education, and spiritual mentoring. I am reading his book Red Letters right now.

All that background to say this.....I tend to be very stubborn when it comes to listening to God. I go to church, pray and read my Bible but many times I second guess what God can do through me if I am a willing participant. I try to tell God that I am not able because of this or that and all of it is just an excuse not to step out of my comfort zone. Before I "met" any of these people in the blog world, I was starting to feel like God wanted me to step out of the 4 walls of the church building that I LOVE so much. Don't get me wrong, I think the church does great things inside the 4 walls but there is so much more to do.

I started reading Dangerous Surrender by Kay Warren and started seeing what life is like outside of my city, state and country. Life is too short for us not to share our money, time, ideas, and energy to help others. We are so blessed in the US and many times we feel entitled to that lifestyle when there are many others who could have clean water, food, clothing, medicine, education, spiritual mentoring, and ultimately salvation and a way out of the poverty they live in each day of their lives if we would only give a little of what we have.

Since we moved from Maryland back to Arkansas in the last month I have been totally focused on our family and the transition for our family. While that is all fine and good it has it's flaws. Satan has been using that to keep me from finishing the book Red Letters and from being involved in a ministry I think God has called me to promote.

I recently got my NEON sign.......I saw a commercial on television for a comedian named Anita Renfroe. You may know her mom song, you can watch it on YouTube (I tried to get it to link but it wouldn't). I felt as if I needed to go see her, partly because I was grieving leaving my friends in Maryland and felt I needed some laughter. That next weekend at church they announced that we could go in with another church down the road and get discounts on our tickets to go see her. I was so excited and met the ladies from our church at a bigger church where Anita would be doing her thing. When I walked into the foyer to the church I saw a huge Saint's Coffee sign. I thought, ok God, I am listening since I copy and pasted that badge from Tom Davis' blog and had never seen it before seeing it on his blog. As we went into the auditorium we were handed a brochure that had Children's HopeChest on it. You know that feeling of your heart racing and your hands become sweaty and a little bit of speedy breathing going on. Well I had all of the above. I could not believe what I was seeing. Then at the end of the show Anita started talking about Children's HopeChest and about Tom Davis and there was a message on the big screen from him. All I could hear in my head was the conference call that I was on with Tom Davis and the others from Children's HopeChest and the Red Letters Campaign. God was really working on me there. I was in tears as I saw the video just feeling that sense of "God is going to do something in my life to help children have a chance to have a better life and ultimately find Jesus."



You may think that that was enough for a neon sign for me but oh no....not Alice. I was still in my zone of trying to get my family back on track. That next Monday was Labor Day and we had a gathering of family on Brian's side of the family at the church. While we wanted to see everyone since we hadn't seen most of them in 7 or 8 months, Sadie was sick. Because Sadie was sick we (Brian and I) switched off taking care of Sadie at my in-laws house. When it was my turn to take care of Sadie I sat down to rock her and watch some television. While doing some channel surfing I ran across a familiar face. None other than, you guessed it, TOM DAVIS. I broke into tears and couldn't believe my eyes. I watched the rest of the program and then as I was flippin' those channels again the next day it happened again. I watched the rest of the program (it was a two parter) and was so inspired to get back on track with reading Red Letters and trying to see where and what God wants me to do for Children's HopeChest.



I can't look at the events mentioned above and believe that it is all coincidental. Please pray for me to know where I need to go with this. There will be more about this after I finish reading Red Letters and another book The Art of Listening Prayer by Seth Barnes.

Just thought I would share my neon sign moments. Please share some of your neon sign moments from God. They are always encouraging to others.