We Love Fall!!!

Fall is my favorite season! I love the leaves changing colors, the crispness in the air-at least on some days, and I absolutely love to cook this time of year. I do not know why I enjoy it more now than other times, but I do. I also like to decorate my house for fall. I think it is like getting yourself slowly prepared for the Christmas decorations that are soon to follow. Much bigger task than the few things I do for fall.

I have found some great fall decorating ideas and recipes at Pinterest!!! Oh My Goodness! Have you been to this website?! BEWARE. It is addictive! Ellie and I tried out one of the recipes I found there.

It was a little messy:)

But it turned out really yummy. It is Cinnamon Sugar Pull-Apart Pumpkin Bread. My family loved it, which is never an easy task.

We also made some of these. We are going to call them S'more Pockets. I have no idea what they are really called but I think this works.

You take crescent rolls, put chocolate chips and mini marshmallows in middle, and roll them up, folding sides over.

Then follow baking directions on roll package.

Yummy Goodness! I love s'mores so these were a big hit for me and my children. They are best when they are fresh from the oven. I am going to try to make them with 2 large marshmallows to see if that will work. The little ones melt completely and I would like to have a little bit of it left. I'll let you know how that turns out.

Today, we went to pick pumpkins. I love doing this! My children ask every year when we are going, even my 10 year old. Our adult class at church goes every year and we have a great time. First, we take a hayride out to the pumpkin patch. Then, we pick out our pumpkins. All our kids get one. They try to get one sized like them.

John Adams' is the biggest.

Riley

Ellie

And Charlie's is the smallest.

Speaking of, he is 11 months today.

One more to go before the big #1!!!

This is most of the children that were with us. You know, all the kids on one end and their parents on the other. Funny how that happens :)

It was such a fun day!

My Mentor

Last week, all the ladies of our church, who wanted to be involved in the mentorship, met together for about an hour. We went over again what a mentor relationship might look like and that this was a commitment. We each filled out an information sheet about ourselves, our families, hobbies, and what we wanted to get out of the mentor relationship. Their was a small group of women who put the mentors together, we are actually calling them Big Sister/Little Sister. There was also a small group that prayed over each name and for God to put just the right people together.

I will admit that I was a little nervous about who I might get as my mentor. I did not know every person in the room last week. I knew some very well, some casually, but some I did not know at all. It would really be ok if I got someone I didn't know, but I think we all feel more comfortable talking/spending time with someone we at least know a little bit. I have been praying God would just put me with exactly who He wanted me to be with.

I am happy to say He did just that. My mentor is Kim(hopefully, I will have pictures soon). She is such a sweet, godly person. I do know her and I have always looked up to her. God is so good!!! They have asked us to try to talk every week and get together at least twice a month. We are going to try to get together this week for lunch.

I have no doubt that God is at work. Not only in my life, but in the lives of the women of our church. I believe He is at work in our whole church and our community. I can't wait to see what He does.

Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day weekend is always so much fun. Our family always takes a trip to the lake and we celebrate my dad's birthday, which being on September 5th, always falls on or around Labor Day. We, also, usually go to the first Auburn game of the season. This year was no different. It was Charlie's first Auburn game. Now, if you know me and you know my family, you know that my family is big Auburn fans but my husband is a big Alabama fan. I honestly do not care. I feel I have the best of both worlds. I can cheer for both and no one can be upset with me. I have seen too many people act really ugly to each other over football. There are just too many bigger fish to fry than football. I'm sure it is all in fun but it does not come across that way. Anyway, back to the game.

Charlie was in awe of all the screaming people in orange. He did have on this really cute little outfit my friend Andi let us borrow. Unfortunately, in true baby fashion, he pooped all in it right before the game started. So much for that. Andi, if you are reading this, it all came out:).

So this was who we were really there to see. My niece, Mary Grace, is an Auburn cheerleader this year. We are so proud of her! We have a slogan in our family,"Family before Football". My husband and my son, the Alabama fans of my crew, wore their Auburn attire to the game in support of MG.

After the game, we went to the lake and celebrated my dad's birthday Sunday. My dad is my hero. Not because of his success or achievements but because he loves the Lord. God comes first then his family. I have no doubt of his love for the Lord and I feel truly blessed to be able to say that. I also know he loves us. He loves being with his family. I can look on his face, when we are all together, and just see that he would not want to be anywhere else. I love him so much!!! Thank you Jesus for giving me a godly father.

Michelle, Jed, Dad, and me

My brother and Charlie relaxing after a fun but busy weekend. I think Charlie wants to be like his uncle:). That would be ok with me.

Growing Up

Charlie is 10 months old today. He is growing so fast. I think because he is our caboose, I am soaking in every moment and everything new he does. He is clapping, blabbling, saying DaDa all the time, pulling up on everything, and starting to cruise around the furniture holding on. Wow! I can't believe he is big enough to do that. I am loving every minute of it. He is also playing ball,which is so cute and so funny! Charles took this video last week. I mainly wanted to post it so I would have it. He recorded him on his phone, and well, you just never know when those things might up and die. So here it is...

God Working Through Women

Last night, I attended a dinner for the women of our church. It was such a great event that I wanted to share it with you. The main topic was about mentoring. Women mentoring women to be specific. What a wonderful idea! How wonderful to have another godly women to go to for prayer support, advice, wisdom, etc. When I first heard about this, I thought,"I don't need that. I have my Mom to go to for advice." Well, obviously, not everyone has that luxury nor does everyone have that kind of relationship with their mom. So, is it for me? Of course it is. Can anyone have too many godly people in their life? Does one person have all of life's experiences that they have all the answers. Obviously, the answer is no. I am so excited to get involved in this. I have come to the point where I realize I want to glean as much wisdom as I can from the older generations. Titus 2:4-5 says, "Older women must train the younger women to love their husbands and their children, to live wisely and be pure, to work in their homes, to do good, and to be submissive to their husbands. Then they will not bring shame on the word of God." There will be things that I will learn from my mentor that I could never learn from anyone else. I believe that God allows us to go through things in our lives, great and not so great, not only to draw us closer to Him, but also to share them with others. To help someone else through the same experience. This can mean anything from helping me be a better mother to 4 children or helping me through the challenges of being a minister's wife. We may meet together to discuss a book over coffee or take a walk and pray together. Lots of things and I am looking so forward to it. Not only to the wisdom and knowledge I will gain from this relationship but also getting to know another lady in our church that I may not already know. The idea is to, hopefully, meet with your mentor twice a month.

Another thing we are starting is prayers in the homes. This is not just any praying. The ladies of the church, from moms of babies to moms of adult children, will go to different homes, based on the age of their children, to pray specifically for their children. We will meet once a month for an hour for one year. I am really excited about this as well. Our children are bombarded by so many things and influences that we need to constantly be praying for them. I know this will be such a blessing to all of us. Just to be praying with other moms whose children are dealing with same things mine are. Wow! It is going to be awesome.

So, I am so excited!!! God has some great things in store. I don't want to sit back and watch others reap the blessings. I want to be right in the middle of His work and I know He is working. Praise Jesus!!!

The Last Two Weeks

Well, we have had quite a busy few weeks. John Adams and Riley started school.

John Adams is in 5th grade. He also got braces right before school started. FUN!!!

And Riley is in the 3rd grade this year. Yes, these are the only pictures I have of them from the first day of school. They were totally embarassed that I even took these. We have reached that point. So sad :(.

Ellie liked the picture taking experience a whole lot more. That is just her personality, at least for now. She started kindergarten a week later.

We have also had Ellie's birthday. It was yesterday. She turned 6. We had to have a "pretend" birthday for her because her birthday fell on a Sunday. Charles is a minister and, well, Sundays are our busiest day of the week. So we celebrated, as a family, on Saturday. We have a tradition where the birthday person gets to eat whatever or wherever they want and we all do whatever they want to do that day. Ellie wanted to go swimming. Or relaxing, whichever you want to call it.

Charlie splashing, which is all he does in the water :).

Maybe he is just thirsty. HAHA!

The big boys played football.

We then went home, ate dinner (her selection), got ready, and went bowling. So fun!

Sunday we actually did have a celebration with the whole family. It was short and sweet, but I don't think she even noticed. Loved the cake! Our friends, Ricky and Amanda Chilton, made it and it was so cute and delicious.

Charlie was napping during picture time.

Ellie has been such a blessing to our family. She is always smiling and laughing, which makes the rest of us smile and laugh. If she isn't happy, something is very wrong. I absolutely love that about her. She also has a very big imagination. She plays pretend all the time. I will just watch her sometimes and wonder where she comes up with some of the things she does. I hope she enjoyed her birthday "weekend".

We have been busy but have had a lot of fun. You know, the first few days of school are always fun. When the new school year or birthdays role around, I always get a little sad. The time is going by much too quickly. Sometimes I wish I could just make it stop, for just a few hours, so I could savor those moments. Maybe I should just be trying to savor it at the pace it is already going. Not getting so caught up in the details. We are so blessed to have these busy times. To have all the chaos that comes with a lot of children. Jesus, You have blessed us above and beyond what we could have ever asked or imagined. Thank you!

Mom's Birthday Celebration

I had hoped to post this yesterday but it just didn't get done.

My Mom's birthday was yesterday and we celebrated her birthday and Riley's at my brother and sister-in-law's house Thursday night.

We had a great time with plenty of food and laughter. Charlie got corralled into one of my Mom's gifts. Wish we had known about this before dinner :).

As always, we had to take pictures. sometimes that can get a little crazy. At least with the boys.

The girls are much more subdued. In the pictures anyway.

And then all the grandchildren, 12 total. We were missing Mary Grace, who is back at Auburn getting ready for rush and cheerleading. WAR EAGLE!!! And we were missing Mary Alan, who is in China but will be joining the Colbert family in late fall.

I think Charlie had the most fun, or at least the most ice cream.

My Mom is an amazing woman. She has been through a lot in her life but has always used her experiences to help those around her. She is very generous with her time, not only with her family but also with her friends and those she might not even know. She is always there to help when needed and I can always rely on her for Godly advice. I know I am very blessed to have a mother like her. I know many people do not. I know this is a gift. I also know that each day I make a choice. What kind of mother am I going to be? What kind of legacy am I going to leave? Only with God's help and His grace am I going to be the mother, wife, friend, sister, daughter that He has called me to be. My Mom is not perfect nor am I. We fail every single day. Multiple times a day. I hope that one day my children will be able to look back and be thankful for who I was and I am.

An Early Birthday Wish

My sweet Riley's birthday is tomorrow. I don't want to be busy on the computer tomorrow so I am posting today. I am so proud of Riley. She has grown so much in the last year. She asked Jesus to be her Lord and Savior this year, she has become a big sister again, and she has taken on many responsibilities on her own without us asking her to. She is my child who gets up by herself each morning and gets herself completely ready without any prodding from us. She helps me so much with Charlie and he loves her so much.

When I found out I was pregnant with Riley, John Adams was only 8 months old and Charles was just about to graduate from seminary. We had tried for a couple of years to have children, before John Adams, and though we had been successful, 3 of the 4 pregnancies had ending in miscarriage. So once John Adams got here, we were just breathing a sigh of relief and thanking Jesus for the opportunity to be parents, if only to this one little boy. Well, as happens so many times, God had bigger plans and along came Riley. At first, I was a little overwhelmed to think of having 2 'babies' but it didn't take long to be completely excited at this blessing God had given us at just the right time.

Riley is such an incredible blessing and rarely does a day go by that I don't look at her and think of God's goodness and grace.

Happy Birthday,Riley!

I love you and pray that in everything you do, you will SHINE for Jesus!

Time with My Girls

Several months ago, I was talking to my girls about what they wanted to do for their birthdays. If your children are anything like mine, they start thinking about birthday parties way before their birthday. I asked them if they might want to go to the American Girl store in Atlanta, which is the closest store to our city, instead of having a big party. Riley's and Ellie's birthdays are 3 weeks apart so it would be perfect. Well, they decided to go to Atlanta. So, this past weekend, my girls and I, along with my sister, Michelle, and her daughter, Ivy, loaded up for a road trip.

The store has a restaurant inside so we made reservations for lunch. The day before, we went shopping at the store because the girls had to have matching outfits for them and their dolls.

May I just put in a plug for the Marriott at North Point. They have a whole American Girl package that we happened upon but what so great. They decorated the girls' room in pink, gave them doll beds, cookies and milk for them and their dolls, tiaras, cupcakes for their birthday, and breakfast was included. They also had a separate check-in for their dolls. (Side note: they also have a Good Knight package for boys). It was wonderful!

The American Girl Bistro does such a great job of catering to the girls and their dolls. They have highchairs for the dolls and even a place for them to 'hang-out' in the restroom. They also give them a little cup and saucer should your daughter want to feed some lunch to their doll.

This weekend could not have been what it was without my precious niece, Ivy, who loved her dolls dearly when she was a little younger. Or without my sister, who took time away from the rest of her family to spend the weekend with us.

The last thing we did before traveling back was get the dolls' hair done and ears pierced. That was a gift from their cousin.

You know, I realized this weekend that my girls are at an age that is so sweet and innocent. Riley will be 9 this week and this may be the last year that she loves her baby dolls and would enjoy doing something like this. I am so glad we took the time to take them and make some very special memories with just the girls.