Too tired to try...

Ever felt too tired to try to do just one more thing??? That's how I feel at this moment - God knew what He was doing when He stopped at 24 hours for a day because if He had given me just one more minute, I would certainly have filled it to the brim with who knows what other activities I thought I might squeeze in...

When we finally settled in for the evening, I had the wonderful opportunity to sit down and listen to my daughter read me a bedtime story. These precious moments are what keep me going when the stresses of life seem to bog me down. I am so thankful to the Lord today that He has given me such a wonderful husband in whose arms I find refuge at the end of a long day and a daughter in whose eyes I discover unbiased, unconditional love for her mommy that refuels me and melts my heart all at the same time.

I will close for today before my eyes do...

How does your garden...grow???

As I write tonight, my brain is spinning thinking of all the things I've done today, would like to get done, and will probably do tomorrow...meanwhile, our garden (or what is hopefully to soon be a garden) continues to patiently wait on me. After digging, testing soil, digging some more, adding peat moss, digging some more, adding more peat moss and pitching out only God knows how many rocks from the plot of land, our garden is finally looking more like a place that plants might like to inhabit!!! Yes, I'm probably too particular about the way it "looks" and the seed is just waiting to get placed in the ground so that it can do its thing, but that's just me...wanting it to be PERFECT before I begin. Isn't it that way with everything I do??? And what is ever perfect in this world these days??? I know, I should give it a break and just do this and get it done - I will, but it will be as close to perfect as I can get it before I start planting those precious little seeds.
As I write this, my best friend Amanda is probably counting down the minutes between contractions and trying to figure out if they should go ahead and leave for Birmingham now or not??? That, to most of you, probably seems like something the farthest from a garden topic as you've ever heard - well, I'll have you know it's not. Amanda just so happened to have been in her garden last night hoeing until 8 PM. So, if you're having trouble getting your baby to decide to join you in this world, get out in the garden!!! They will make their grand entrance into this beautiful world sooner than you might think.

Pinhoti Trail Hike

Today we took a hike at the Pinhoti Trail, and what a beautiful day it was! Savannah never ceases to amaze us at how keen her eyesight is. I've added a picture of a tiny mushroom that she spotted underfoot that Sloan and I would have missed - I guess it's true that children know better than we do to "take time and smell the flowers." She also spotted a frog in the middle of the trail that blended so well into its environment that we would never have seen it. Whenever we take the time to get out into God's beautiful creation away from the day-to-day stuff that we're so accustomed to, I realize just how amazing He is. From the huge oak trees to the tiny lizards, craw fish, and butterflies, He blesses us so much if we just take the time to appreciate it. May we remember this as our week cranks up and we again become busy, so that we may slow down and truly take the time for the things that matter most in this life...

Kittens are crawling!!!!!

Today as we arrived back home from running some errands, Savannah and I realized that there were only two of the four kittens in their box and there was some VERY LOUD crying coming from the other two...but, where were they???

After some careful listening in the garage, we finally realized that their mommy, Heather had moved them behind one of Sloan's old kayaks...not sure why - maybe since they started crawling today, she thought that would make them stay put??? Who knows, but we turned the box right-side-up now so that they can't climb out and Heather can still climb in to feed them.

What we learn when we take on these endeavors!!!

Savannah's Butterfly Release

As I write this post, I am reminded of just how gracious our God is to us. Last Thursday as Savannah and I were doing our grammar lesson in school, we turned around and noticed that four out of the five of our butterflies had emerged out of their chrysalises and were waiting for their wings to dry so that they could try them out. Of course, we were concerned about the one "late bloomer" that failed to emerge, and then as we completed our lesson we noticed that silently and unnoticed by us, it had emerged. God is so patient with us, knowing what the "finished product" is going to look like, yet time and again we get impatient and wonder "when is this going to be done???"

Through the excitement of seeing this metamorphosis through Savannah's eyes in her science lessons, we have again realized the awesomeness of the God we serve and how he can bring something as strange looking as a caterpillar and turn it into something so beautiful and graceful as a butterfly! This gives me such hope!!! We'll close for the night with this thought..."This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!" 2 Corinthians 5:17

Ballet Recital

Savannah's end-of-the-year "Report of Progress" was yesterday, May 13th, 2008. We enjoyed having her grandparents there to celebrate this occasion with us. I don't think any of us will soon forget our waiter at dinner afterwards at the Macaroni Grill who told Sloan, "There is nothing better in this world than a banana sandwich with peanut butter!"

Savannah poses above with her teacher, Ms. Jenna and as she does a superhero stretch - I love that smile!!!

First Blog...

This is the first blog that I have posted, and frankly it is so late that my eyes are closing, but I wanted to get this started so that I could add to it and keep everyone posted on what is going on with the Bryan clan. Savannah had her ballet recital this afternoon to close out her 3rd year of ballet, so that was very exciting. I will post some pictures and video clips of that tomorrow when I can sit down and figure all of this out. I praise God that He has blessed us so much with a beautiful, healthy daughter who loves to exercise and dance. I will update everyone later on this and other events in the Bryan household. Until next time...