Welcome to the Party

Welcome back!

Welcome! I’m participating in the Ultimate Blog Party from 5 Minutes for Moms watch my intro vlog below.

More about me:

For 5 years I have had a ministry to girls and their moms, Beauty by Design Ministries, this started as a speaking ministry, warped into an online ministry that involved a lot of time weekly spent creating content for my site, but recently has returned to just a speaking ministry, as my focus needed to shift back to my family.

Besides ministry, I also do freelancing from home, writing and blogging, both of which I enjoy tremendously. My latest blogging project is a local online magazine / blog for the moms in my community, Delta Hills Moms. This change has allowed me to simplify my life and focus more on my family.

I am blessed with three beautiful children and and amazing husband. We as a family have a wonderful church family and great friends that are truly our extended family. We enjoy spending a ton of time with them on the weekends.

In addition, we have flesh & blood family that live close by as well that we love to be around. We live in a small but fabulous community where it is a joy to raise our children.

This is my “home on the web” and I hope you’ll stick around, read some posts, and share your thoughts with me.

If I were inviting you into my real “home” I’d pour you a Coke, slice you a piece of lemon pie and have you sit down, why not do so “virtually”? Y’all come back now, ya hear?

Oh…. I almost forgot today is my dear ole daddy’s REAL birthday! Why not let him think this party is for him? I love you Daddy! Happy Birthday and thank you for being a strong influence in my life and for making me the determined, strong woman I am today!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!

Daddy, Momma & Me {circa 1982}

Can you tell my Daddy Happy Birthday for me? If you know me, tell him what kind of job he did raising me …. if you don’t just give him a shout! Thank you!

Don’t forget to fan my page on Facebook and follow me on Twitter.

Ten Reasons My Daddy is the Best

My daddy and I have a great relationship.  He is the strong, quiet type, but you know he means business too. Here are ten reasons why my daddy is the best.

1.  He is a Godly daddy.

2.  He practices what he preaches.

3.  He always keeps his word.

4.  He loves his kids and grandkids unconditionally.

5.  He loves my momma.

6.  He is so wise.

7.  He overcomes many obstacles to give us everything he can.

8.  He is a hard worker.

9.  He taught me self-discipline and determination.  My daddy made me believe in myself.

10.  He is my daddy!

I love YOU very much!  Happy Father’s Day.

His Eyes

There are moments when you just need to write, to get it out of your system to get the thoughts out of your mind.  This moment is one of those times.  For the past several months we’ve been noticing my 8 month old son’s right eye looks off to the right at times when he’s trying to focus. My doctor even commented at his last visit back in December and told me to keep an eye on it and alert him if I noticed it doing it frequently.

So, I watched, and it is true he does it often.  The doctor’s first thought was “lazy eye”, my husband has one so that’s probably a pretty safe bet, but that’s not the only possibility.

This may not seem like a huge deal, however, some of you know that my daddy is legally blind.  Today, as I was working in the living room re-organizing a book shelf I had Brady in his high chair eating some snacks.  He was fine.  However I was close by.  I squatted down to reach the books on the lower shelf and he cried out, it was a horrible scream.  I looked up and at him, and at that moment I saw my daddy in his eyes.  He looked so much like my daddy has many times in my life, the look was “where are you?”  Even as a little girl I can remember that look in my daddy’s eyes.  The look says, “I can’t see you and I need you”.  My daddy looked that way even when I was a little girl and he was trying to locate me in a dark room or in the yard when I had ventured too far away.  My daddy cannot see far away at all, he can see extremely close up, he can see an outline or shadow of things at a certain distance.  He has been this way since birth, my grandparents discovered it when he was about Brady’s age, he wore glasses at Brady’s age and throughout adulthood, he got contacts at some point and has worn them my entire life.  Even with their aid he only sees as much as I explained.

As we have been told this runs in his family and is in daughter’s sons,  meaning that it falls specifically on Brady’s generation, in that he is a daughter’s son.

The night before Brady was born I was being induced at the hospital so I spent that night there, anxious to have a baby I couldn’t sleep, instead i read my bible and prayed.  I also wrote in my prayer journal.  The Lord was speaking to me and was telling me this child would be special.  I wasn’t sure what that meant.  Many of you know that I did NOT plan for this child.  Though he is a blessing, and I believe now more than ever this may be the thing that God was trying to tell me about then.

I do not believe that this would be ALL bad.  My dad is one of the most determined people I know, even with his handicap he is an amazing person and lives a very full life, that being said my momma does ALOT for my daddy.  He does not drive, cannot see to do a number of things we take for granted and relies on her fully for those things.  His sight has only worsened with age.  Without my mom I don’t know how my daddy would be able to do so much.  So, if Brady were to have the same thing my daddy has he will need someone in his life throughout his life to do the same for him.

Either way, I know God will provide Brady’s needs.  Even still it is my responsibility as his momma to pray.

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