Our sweet neighbors

A couple of weeks ago, our neighbors threw us a little party! We had yummy food, sweet fellowship, a beautiful (and yummy cake), a poster that they had all signed (including the kiddos), and a card. I did my best not to cry the whole time, but can I just tell you that we are SO SO SO SO very blessed to have found this kind of community. This is what I dreamed of, and I know that the Lord will bless our friendships into the future.

I love that my baby got to live her first (almost) three years of life in a neighborhood where there are kids to play with, a park down the street, neighbors that love her and look after her as their own, and a community that laughs with and loves one another.

I truly believe that "We have shared together the blessings of God." --Phillipians 1:7 Ginger gave me a card that sums it up: "We've shared laughter, memories, hard times, little moments, big blessings, and lots of joy! We've shared Life...and as [we] move away all that's in our hearts will stay and stay and stay."

We are so grateful for the confirmation in our hearts of God's plans for our family at this time, but I sure could fill a bucket up with my tears. This is our first home as a family. It's the home that we brought Avaree home from the hospital to. It's the home where we learned to be Mommy and Daddy. It's the only home Avaree has ever known. But, while change is hard, I can't even begin to tell you all of the little details that we have already seen as God's hand in our lives during this transition. We are so grateful, and we are so blessed.

Please enjoy the pics from our neighborhood party the other night! As you can tell, sprinklers were involved. ;) Thanks to all of you that have loved us the last three years. I know that God sent us here to meet you all.

 

 

 Tears. Love these faces so, so, so much!!! We got our keys to the apartment and storage building this morning, and we moved a few things. My home is in complete dissaray, and moving day is Tuesday. Princess castle, here we come! Please say a prayer for us!  Love. 

Happy Father's Day!!!!!!!

Dear Daddy,

I love you soooooooooooooo very, very much!

I hope you have a Happy Daddy Day, even though I told Mommy that it is really Happy Avaree Day.

Even though I don't have all of the knowledge and emotion to tell you thank you for all of the sacrifices that you have made for our family, I hope you know that I will one day. For now, I am so happy that you like to play with me. I especially like singing and dancing with you. Thank you for teaching me to swim and ride my bike. Thank you for teaching me about Jesus. Thank you for teaching me to drink the milk out of my cereal bowl--it always tastes better than plain milk. You know all the best tricks.

I hope you liked your monkey bread and cupcakes that I helped Mommy make for you.

See you at church, Daddy--with Pastor Jeff and the sucker. You sing at church, Daddy.  [Can you tell who is speaking and who is typing what she speaks?] Daddy, I love you!

Love,
Avaree Grace Barton

Happy Father's Day to all the Dad's out there! Thank you especially to my Dad--for all of the sacrifices that you made for us. I'm so proud to say that you're my Dad! I love you!

VBS 2012

We just finished up VBS 2012! Our theme was God's Amazing Adventures! I had the two-year old class, but most of the kids were almost three! :) I teach most of the same kids on Sunday mornings, so I already had a relationship with them. Plus, I got to have MY baby in my class! At times, that was wonderful, at other times, it made my arms extra full (but that is pretty wonderful too)! I have a new appreciation for Avaree's school teacher's though! Three and half hours with 8 two-year-olds had its challenges, and they have 14 two-year-olds for nine + hours. Wow! I got to teach with Mrs. Stacy, and I enjoyed getting to know her better! She is a two-year old expert, and I learned some good tips from her since she teaches two-year-olds every day, but took her vacation week to teach them at VBS--wow!!

This was the first year for Brandon to actually teach a class too! He had the four year olds and helped with the morning worship rally! It was fun to see him in the halls, and Avaree loved it that Daddy picked her up from class every day! I packed a lunch for us every day (except for Wednesday when I woke up late, and we "had" to go to Chick-fil-A for lunch-ha!), and we had a picnic lunch in Daddy's office. Ave had fun talking to everyone in the office. She especially loved visiting with "Mrs. Ta-Donna!" We all three slept in this morning, and we didn't get out of bed until after 8am! It was a wonderful, full week! It's amazing what the little ones can comprehend, process, and reveal in their little actions and language!

Our church does an amazing job with VBS! We were so happy to be a part of what God is doing with the little ones in our community!! Here are a few pictures that I took of my little class for a craft that we were making!! The lighting in our room was awful, so I had to make most of them b/w. As you can see, music was their favorite part of the day!  :)

 This is Mrs. Brandi, and came to the preschool rooms to do music with the kiddos. She was a-ma-zing! I seriously want to take lessons from her. She is so calm, creative, and confident! She would say something like, "well, thank you, my friend, I love that you want to play with instruments. I'm so glad that you reminded me of that. I will bring those for you tomorrow." And, then in the next breath she was talking about Jesus, and the kids were so attentive to her! She is obviously an amazing Mommy too!

We had a great time at VBS, but now it's time to buckle down and get this move started. We are moving to an apartment in two weeks. We told Avaree that she is going to live in a Princess Castle, and that has her excited--even though she obviously doesn't understand that that means we won't be here anymore. Please pray for us as we prepare for and make this move. We know it is what the Lord wants for us right now, but it will still be hard. Right now I am torn between wanting to be outside with my neighbors, wanting to bunker down in my "home" with my family, and needing to pack. I know it will all get done though.

Love to all! Happy Summer!

My TEN YEAR High School Reunion!

Last weekend was my TEN YEAR high school reunion! Brandon, Ave and I could only attend the family picnic, but it was still so much fun! If you didn't know already, I grew up in a small town that is full of good people with really big hearts! I loved seeing some of my friends and catching up with everyone. The picnic was at my Mom's house, so that was nice! :) It felt like we were missing a lot of people. Several of our classmates couldnt make it, and so many of my close friends were from the classes above and below me that it felt funny without them! It was still so nice though! Thanks to all for coming!!!! (And, thank you to my mom and Ken for hosting!!!)

Are you ready for a flashback? This was Senior Prom...ten years ago! :)


And...ten years later! :)

Some of my best friends from high school: Amanda, Hillary, and Kylee! :)

 The ladies...

 Avaree and Banks (Kylee's sweet boy)!

One of my favorite pictures ever: Avaree fishing with Uncle Penser!

 Beautiful Kylee and Banks!

 Celesta and Kaitlyn (Lizzie's baby girl!)

 Avaree enjoying the waterslide! Brandon and I discovered that we are too old to do such things. We could hardly walk the next day! ;) It was sooooooo fun though!

 Ranger does not know that he is a dog. He is the funniest thing, and he LOVED the water slide. He raced Spencer and Brandon down the slide several times!!!

Sweet Banks

  My lovey enjoyed sliding from Aunt Shannon to Daddy!!!

 Spencer and sweet baby Bryer! I got lots of baby loving last weekend! :)

 My girl.

my favorite guy :)

Mom and Avaree :)

Banks went swimming!

Brandon and Bryer

 i think they favor one another... :)

Here's to ten more years!!!! :)