In John's first life ....

.... he was an artist. While we were dating, he drew this of me. When he pulled it out last week and Sidge saw it he said, "Wow! I mean that looks more like Mom like mom even looks."

We need to get this one framed in our house for sure. 

 

The waiting

The waiting. 

How hard it is when you wait.

And wait.

And wait some more.

And you aren't sure, really, if the waiting will ever end.

I'm promised eternity.

But I am not promised that this life on Earth will give me all I hoped for.

And then, Isaac was born.

And the waiting was done.

 

Some Snaps from our Week

I absolutely love this picture of my niece, Genevieve, and Ritter. (I call my cousin's kids nieces and nephews because it is just easier). Ritter is such a lover! He lets anyone and everyone lay all over him. 

Genevieve and Hannah with their ballet teacher -- Ms. Meg. She's a senior at Central Ballet and heads up their class which is quite an endeavor ... my Hannah is truly there for the socializing. 

It was Fall Break here in TN. This meant that our friend, Bailee, who goes to public school, was off for the week. Bailee is a church AND ballet friend. So she spent four days with us this week! We had a blast. On Tuesday she joined us for all our errands before ballet. 

She jumped right into our homeschooling. She participated in things she liked, played with whoever was on break, and read her book if nothing else fit for her. 

We learned to draw cats in our online art program.  

Go Bailee!

John also let the kiddos try the first persimmon of the fall. Here's an important fact: if a persimmon is not ripe it is AWFUL. (Think a mouth full of cotton balls.) If it is ripe, it is UH-maz-ing!

Wee-wind Wednesday

A flash back to January 2017. Hannah would have been a little over four years old. 

Be still my heart

When your husband is a doctor and his organization system for medical supplies thus far has been big tubs .... THIS is like an early Christmas present!!

He did this. Himself. Ordered the tubs and surprised me!!! 

Better than a candlelight dinner any day of the week for this gal!!!!

I promised myself I would NEVER do this ...

It's Fall Break here in East Tennessee -- which means ballet classes are a bit more empty than usual. 

Tonight, the ballet class that Abigail and her cousin Ana takes only had ten girls. Because there was more room, Lori Ann decided to do floor barre with the girls instead of their normal barre time. 

They got in three lines and there was a whole bunch of room in the back of the studio. So she looks over at Erin and Jessica and I -- ballet moms who enjoy chillin' together and just watching our girls dance sitting over in the cheering section -- and asked us if we wanted to jump in.

I have always said I would NEVER do anything resembling ballet. I mean, a girl has to have standards you know? But this was really just a gigantic stretching hour so I decided I could slide into the back row and participate. Jessica and Erin begrudgingly went with me. 

Here was Abigail's face when she saw what I was doing. (I'm thinking she wasn't thrilled with the idea?!)

And here's a picture of me wondering what the heck I am doing:

Erin snapped a picture of me doing what was supposed to be a big ol' center split. (Yeah ... right!)

While I am trying to do a split, here's my view of girls actually doing them:

And I snapped a picture back of Erin doing this move:

I didn't get a picture of Jessica, which was a shame because she was actually pretty good (especially considering she was doing it in her work clothes!)

I did, however, notice how nice of a ceiling they have at the studio while my athletic socks were sort-of-pointing towards it:

Abigail made the following notes following my first attempt at ballet"

• "Ms. Jessica was pretty good. You, mom, were not."
• I asked her if she was embarrassed of me and she said, "I was a little, yes."
• She did say to me: "Could you show me how to do sit-ups sometime Mama? That was the one move you did that you knew how to do better than me." YAY -- this jock still has something left in her.
• When discussing in the car on the way home whether Karate was harder than Ballet, Abigail said: "Mommy can't really judge since she did ballet tonight but didn't do it very well."

So there you have it. I don't mind doing me some stretching but you won't see this 6'3" girl up on her toes anytime soon,