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!