8.20

8.20.81: Some time before I was even an embryo, a not-so-tiny baby boy was born to two young parents.  He grew up in a lovely home with the same hopes most all boys have.  He was rough and tough and happy and easy-going.  He ventured through school and made memories on the playground.  He was a  fun-spirited child who loved being outdoors. He was giving by nature, rarely got upset, and was a peacemaker among family and friends.  He had a calic, too. He was popular and athletic and grew into a handsome young lad.

Or so I'm told.

I didn't know this little boy until much later, but oh, how he changed my life.  He came into my tiny world and made it feel larger than ever before.  And at the time I met him, I could only dream of the lucky girl who would one day be his wife.  I never dreamt that God had something so grand for me, that I would be that girl.

8.20.11: A not-so-young man enters the world of 30.  He lives in a happy home with two parents.  Only this time... he is the parent.  The parent of three wee lads.  He has dreams that are bigger than most.  He dreams of ministering to the broken and seeing people changed by grace.  He is rough and tough and happy and easy-going.  He ventures through work making memories in staff meetings.  He is fun-spirited and loves to be outdoors.  He is giving by nature, rarely gets upset, and is a peacemaker among family and friends. He still has a calic, too.  He is not only liked by all, but loved by many and athletic and a handsome middle-aged lad.

Or so I say.

And he is so much more.  He is the man who calls righteousness up in me.  He is the one who leads our family in prayer and the one who makes us laugh.  He is the guy who will talk to me for hours upon end and still listen to me as though I am fascinating.  He makes me feel beautiful and loved and safe and happy.  He is boldness tempered with grace.

He is my husband and I couldn't be more proud to say that I am in love with Brad Ingram, age 30.

Happy late birthday to my guy.  I adore you!

forever.

A Master Birthday Boy in Disguise

Happy Birthday (yesterday) to my very own magician!

We love you babe/daddy/funny man!

The video wouldn't post yesterday, so I'm a day late in my blog birthday wish. We had a fun few days of celebrating our birthday boy and closed the celebration with a great night with friends!

  Can you tell what Noah is wearing? Boys. (sigh)

This old video brought back memories of our old house. Fun times.

Take Your Man to Jesus

Praying for my husband....

It is one of the biggest callings and blessing the Lord has bestowed upon me as a wife. 

Yet, I fail. 

I am so thankful for my husband, I want only the best for him and I know the Lord has brought me into his life to enrich it, not to deplete life from him.

Tonight, the Lord put this little call on my heart to spend ten days intensely focused on praying for my husband. 

Does anyone want to join me?

If so, leave a comment and let me know you are on board.

What I will do is give one topic for prayer per day, for the next ten days, directing us in how to pray specifically for our husbands. 

This isn't a Love Dare or a lengthy challenge, just a way that one gal can encourage another gal in praying for her husband or boyfriend or fiance or special someone. And in return, you will be giving me accountability in what the Lord has laid on my heart. I want my hubby to have a great start to 2009. 

I will put up the first short prayer direction sometime tomorrow for those who want to participate. 

You So Ugly

Friday night our small group hosted an Ugly Sweater Christmas Party. It was a blast!

I could not believe the terrible sweaters everyone wore. I don't even have pictures of half of the couples. I'm hoping we make this a yearly tradition.

I went with my fierce candy cane red nail polish for fullest affect. I borrowed Kayt's hair bow. The joys of having another girl in the house.

 Brad was proud to sport a homemade sweater, lovingly crafted by his Meme. She wore it many years ago and now the family fashion trend continues. Maybe one day we can pass our fashions onto our children. I put a shiny new penny in each of his penny loafers. And he wore my stripped Christmas socks. There were paper thin on his feet, seeing as how I wear a six and he wears a twelve (or thirteen). 

Our super, stylin' husbands.

Hillside's finest. What church wouldn't be proud to employ these fellas?

A few pictures I have of couples at their ugliest:

Sparkmans

Ingrams

Murphrees

Andrews

Attaways

Bunches

Soon-to-be Melugins

This is my cousin, Brenna. She is marrying one of our friends on the 19th of December. Aren't they cute? 

Ugliest Sweater Winners...the Beukelmans!

I wanted to show pictures of the CUTE ornament that I stole during the exchange, but blogger isn't cooperating. Maybe later. 

We had such a great time playing games and hanging out. Anyone want to come next year? :)

Brad's Ordination

Yesterday evening was Brad's ordination service. It was such a special day for Brad and our family. In his four years in ministry, Brad has had several opportunities to be ordained, but he never felt like it was the right time. He takes his calling and his position as an ordained minister very seriously. 

Many special people were a part of the ceremony. Thank you to all of our family and friends who attended! Clay, Brad's brother, spoke about Brad and the great relationship that they have.

Jody led worship.

Our friends, Ryan and Heather, came in from Dallas. Ryan spoke and did a fabulous job. My camera battery died before we were able to get a picture with them. 

The elders prayed over Brad and I, commissioning him as an ordained pastor and petitioning the Lord on behalf of our family.

It was a memorable, encouraging day!

Vegas Las Viva!

Ahhh, Vacation! We are home from our lil' trip; we had such a wonderful time. The best part of a getaway like this is having my husband ALL to myself. I didn't have to share him with anyone or anything. Not the kids, not work, not friends, not television (except for the Cowboys game), not even his cell phone! He left his phone in the hotel room every single day. This is big! (I'm not sure if he even realizes that I noticed. I did. Thanks Babe!) 

 He was ALL mine! 

We did a wholelotta whatever-the-heck-we-wanted. Sounds great doesn't it? We  had no agenda and we loved it that way. We shopped, walked, ate, slept, relaxed, lost a little mula, and a lot more. I will spare you the majority of the photos and only give you a peek into how we spent a lil' bit of our time.

One of my favorite things was the romantic gondola ride through the Venetian.

With a real, live Italian host. Oh wait, I mean...she had a beautiful voice.

By this point, we had walked about a million miles on this hot Las Vegas day. Thus, the fresh-from-the-shower look.

Awaiting the Belagio water show on our way to a Cirq du Sole show. 

Not posed. Promise. :)

And Brad's not-posed picture. He DESPISES having his picture made. Which is all the more reason for loving to have him 'make like a tourist' and smile.

And we relaxed by the pool. (This is the only pale, white bathing suite shot YOU will see.)

I had to show Brad how I could tie a cherry stem in a knot with my tongue ;-)

The Monte Carlo treated us right!

Viva Las Vegas!!!

Do you see the hand coming out of my arm pit? Kind of weird, hugh?

We were SO anxious to see our kids.  Kayt, Noah and the nice shiner on his eye greeted us at the front door.  We spent the evening kissing their faces off. Gosh, I missed those sweet kisses. 

To remind me of our lovely time, all I have to do at this point is turn my head and inhale deeply to smell my hair. I am still reminded of the cigarette smoke that spells Vegas. My body is still on Vegas time, making me think the night is young, but my mind knows that I am back in the real world. With that, I think I will shower and head to bed. 

Thank you to my sweet spouse for treating me to such a wonderful birthday getaway. You're good to me! I love you!

These are few of his fav-orite things

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens....

Kidding.

My husbands favorite things (according to me). I've even supplied a visual stimulant for my reading impaired friends.

• Coffee. No question about this. Black and strong. Just like... I'll stop there.

• Dudes and Donuts. Every Saturday, Noah and Brad head to the Donut Stop for dudes and donuts. They eat breakfast and watch the *ucks pass by. They both love Dudes and Donuts. In fact, a few weeks ago, I got up and got ready thinking Kayt and I might just join them for breakfast. Noah said, "where you goin' mom?" I told him that today it was going to be Dudes, Dudettes and Donuts. He said, "No it's not. It's just for the boys. You and Kayt need to stay here. We'll bring you one." He shut that idea down.

• Candy. Sweetarts, skittles, Sprees, Sour Worms, anything fruity or sour. On road trips, we will barely get out of town before we make our first candy stop. He's a sucker (no pun intended) for a good convenience store. 

• Coke with lime. Not the canned stuff. A real Coke with a real lime.

• His grandpa. He admires him so much.

• Jody. They are weirdly crazy about each other. I don't even ask anymore. 

• Friends. He loves to spend time with friends whenever he can. He has a lot of them.

• College Game Day on ESPN. I happen to be a huge fan also.

• Texas Tech. Get your guns up!

• Cowboys. Yep.
  

• Mavericks. Double Yep.

• Golfing. He loves it. I, on the other hand, think it takes entirely too long. We compromise.

• Poppyseed Chicken and Angel Pie. Or anything his mom cooks. 
  

• Jesus. And all that encompasses. His job. His ministry. His calling.
  

no visual here :)

• His offsprings. He totally digs his kiddos; he is a great daddy!

• Me. Obviously. For reasons too numerous to list. Kidding.

I tag:

Anyone who wants to participate. It was kind of fun to think of all my spouse enjoys.

p.s. Thanks for tagging me Magen! And thank you for the lovely birthday card.

My Birthday Week and My Wonderful Gift

It is my birthday week. 

For me, it has always been that the week(s) leading up to my birthday were fair game for being celebrated. Brad jokes about this because I like to start celebrating a week or two early and then often carry the celebration on after the actual date of my birth passes. He would rather no one even know it is his birthday. 

Since we have had kids, my birthday importance has slipped through the cracks. A lot of things have slipped through the cracks. Or gained cracks, physically speaking. Last year I had a 2 week old on my birthday. The last thing my flabby self wanted to do was go out in public. The thing is, I'm now okay with my once "important" day being overlooked. It actually pails in comparison to my family. It is amazing how your perspective changes after  these little, all-consuming people enter into your world. 

Thursday morning I am leaving for the Women's Retreat at our church. Brad will have the kids all by his lonesome until Sunday evening. I think that is better than any gift he could give me, don't you? The few times I have gone away without Brad and the kids I look forward to it, but I also carry a sense of guilt about leaving. Partially because it always seems like a good idea in theory and then when the time gets closer, I don't want to leave my family. And partially because I always feel bad leaving Brad with the kids. He is wonderful with them and can 'hold down the fort'(probably better than me), but that is a lot of responsibility to place on him. 

Before Brad popped into my life, I  knew that I wanted to marry a man that would be there when we had children.  Not just there physically. Not just at the sporting events or school functions, but that was as much a parent to his children as I would be. I had seen all too many marriages where the mother had to leave a list of instructions for the father, just to be gone for an hour. I grew up knowing women who trusted babysitters with their children more than they did their own husbands. I never wanted that. I wanted to be able to leave the house and be confident that my husband knew the drill, had the schedules down, and could handle the children. The Lord has answered my prayers one hundred fold. 

Though I feel guilty leaving my family for days at a time, in the end, I know it is good for everyone. My times away always make me feel more appreciated and loved, as well as refreshed and encouraged. 

I am looking forward to my 'retreat' and time of connection. But, as I leave, I know that it is not without the sacrifice of someone else. Thank you babe...my heart if overflowing with love for you!

Are you fancied?

Since I've been a bore lately, I thought I would fancy you with these...

Noah is potty trained!

I am so proud of him. He was such an easy subject to work with. I couldn't believe how simple the entire potty training process was for us. He and his daddy are at Jump-N-Jive as we speak celebrating his accomplishments!

The birthday boy and his his mini-me

Good morning my loves!

In the mornings we usually spend some time reading books, this particular morning Noah told me I could 'go cook in the kitchen because he and his KK needed to talk.'

When Kayt was born, Noah started calling her She-tah because that was the closest thing to sister that his 17 month old mouth could conjure up.  

Shortly after, she became Shetah to everyone. 

But now he's stopped calling her Shetah; now she is KK .

I have a feeling that she will always have a nickname from her big brother, but I have to admit that I was a little sad to have seen the first one come and go. 

Shetah-(n) a non-sense word that holds a very special place in my heart!

The 'almost birthday girl'!  

Isn't her bubba's hand on her leg sweet?

My girl.

For my handsome hubby:

My husband is very like-able. 

Before I knew Brad well, I was so drawn to the fact that everyone liked him. Young and old alike enjoyed being around this guy. 

After I began to get to know him, I started to understand why his presence was so attractive. 

He is laid back and funny.  

He is optimistic and humble. 

He is approachable and loyal.

He does not seek the praises of people, he really strives to be honorable before the Lord. 

He is giving and genuine.

He is forgiving and spontaneous.

When I watch Brad interact with high-schoolers, joke with his friends or have so much compassion for a stranger I am so so thankful for him.  His perspective is steady and he is full of wisdom. He hears from the Lord often and clearly. He knows what is best for me long before I can accept it.  He encourages me in my gifts and always makes me feel so loved. 

When I was a little girl, I dreamed of the day I would marry the man of my dreams. Only I never knew the goodness the Lord had in store for me in Brad. He is more than I asked for. He meets my standard and then some. I have so much love for my husband. He is God's tangible evidence of his love for me. 

On his special day, I wanted to tell you how special my husband is to me. He isn't loved by just me, but by countless people. If all of my children turned out to be just like their daddy, I would be so thrilled. I want to be like him when I grow up too!

Happy Birthday Love!

p.s. My friend Magen is also having her baby girl, Anna Grace today. Please keep the Robersons in your prayers as they welcome Brad's little birthday buddy.