Auburn Cake

Here is a picture of a 16th Birthday Auburn Cake I did recently.  The cake is chocolate with white buttercream icing.  I made fondant tiger paw prints around the sides with a fondant orange and blue 16 in the center.  I did a navy scribble design on the top and did an alternating orange and blue piping around the border.

A New Home

Here is a picture of our new home.  We are so enjoying it!!  I never thought I would be able to downsize by 800 square feet, but it really has been a great blessing.  Even though we lost square footage, the space we do have is so much more functional and better utilized.  I did have to get rid of alot of stuff, but I'm not a pack-rat and so I loved the excuse to throw some stuff away.  I feel much better organized and not ruled by cleaning an over-sized house.  We love visitors, so we hope to see you soon :)

Disney Cruise

We recently took a Disney Cruise to the Bahamas and Disney's private island, Castaway Cay. All I can say is it was worth every penny. Let's just say before we left, Leah cried that she didn't want to get on that big boat; the morning we had to get off, she cried that she didn't want to get off the boat. I'm gonna share a few pix, but they are just a few. The kids' favorite part was the princesses and of course, Charles and I loved the relaxation of it all (and the food). I also loved the fact that someone else cooked our meals, cleaned the dishes, and picked up our room :) If you can, I encourage you to take one!

The Disney Dream

Castaway Cay -- looks like a postcard doesn't it?

Kids playing in the ocean

I've always liked Goofy!

I think the kids had their pix with Snow White at least 3 times

Leah's favorite -- Ariel

Another Leah favorite -- Tinkerbell

Leah's favorite place -- the Mickey pool

Ella's favorite -- the water slide ride

Stones of Remembrance

We wanted some new family portraits made and I had always wanted some made on location at our house.  Well, since we were leaving I thought that would be the perfect thing to do.  For one, I've always wanted to and two, it would make the perfect stone of remembrance to put above our fireplace in our new home.  Our river house is so special to us as it was the first house Charles and I bought after being married and it is where we brought our children home to.  I really thought it would be where our children would grow up and we would grow old.  God had other plans and that's just fine but this house will always hold a special place in our hearts.  Jerusha DuPre came and did our pictures and she did a phenomenal job!  She gave us 460 pictures to choose from.  Can you say IMPOSSIBLE?  I want sooo many and need to get some printed and distributed but I guess that will come in time!

Our old house

 

Our new family pix above our fireplace

So glad my girls love each other so much!

FUN!!

My beautiful Ella, age 6

My beautiful Leah, age 4

My honey and me

The best gifts I have ever received!

Lessons Learned

Thankfully, it has been quite a while since this moving ordeal and I must say, I think we are finally settled.  Whew!
As I read over my last post, I was still ashamed.  I hate that I doubted God.  I feel like a worm.  But, I have asked for forgiveness and now I must move forward.  So much has happened in our lives over the last month and a half, it really is hard to go back and try to capture all of it, but I will point out my biggest lessons learned.

1) God is in control.  He always has been and He always will be.  Praise the Lord!!  I am so glad I am not in control of everything...it has been proven over and over that if I were, I would surely make a mess of things.  I am so grateful that He carries me.
2) When we sit in worry and doubt, we miss the big picture.  Even this morning I was reminded of Exodus 4 when God told Moses to go back to Egypt and all of the men who wanted to kill him were now dead.  Moses feared things that he didn't even need to fear...God had already worked it out.  Just like in my case, I worried and doubted and was so negative about how things would turn out, but even in the midst of all my worry, God had already worked it out.  Thankfully, He is a God of details and He sees all that we cannot.  Again, I am thankful He is in control.
3) God loves me (all of us) so very much.  Sometimes I forget that He is not only God, but my Father.  His word says that we who are sinful give good gifts to our children so how much more would He give to His children.  He wants to bless me, why do I so doubt that He will?

All I can do now is rest in Him, be ever so grateful for His blessings, and pray that I do not doubt Him so the next time. 
Now, I will try to catch up the rest of my blog...Disney Cruise, new house, Auburn Cake.....