Being a Mom!

With Mother's Day around the corner I have been reflecting on what it really means to be a Mom... what being a Mom has done to for me....how mothering and raising our three boys makes me feel!  First of all there is no greater joy in life than being a Mom.  I am so thankful to God for choosing me to be a Mom.  And for blessing me with the three unique and beautiful boys that He did.  They bring so much happiness, joy, adventure, sunshine, tears & love to my life.  I love being responsible for everything they do, everything they are and everything they are becoming.  Although God is in charge, I know we do have a large part in shaping their every being!  We try our best to be sure that they know God, trust God and love God!  We know one day we will watch over them in their lives and be proud of every decision we made.  We have faith that they will allow God to lead their lives as well and will be strong in their faith and relationship with Christ.  And just when I think my heart can't grow anymore one of them smiles, or laughs or gives me a sweet hug and it grows!  It grows and it fills with love.  Just today Dylan tells me... "Mom, I like that shirt (it was a dress but still...) and it just melted my heart!  It is the small everyday things that make being a Mom so great!  I think I was meant to be a Mom and I am thankful God trusted in me to shape His little beings into one day strong, independent Christian men!

The boys as I was writing this....

Recent pictures!

So there is this famous building in Dallas, GA that has beautiful doors!  It is well known in the photography world!  My BF and I decided to take our kids over there and check it out!  Heres what I got!

We made magic!!!

SO our Disney trip has come and gone!!  What an amazing and memorable trip it was!!  We had a blast!  We went Saturday to Saturday and still could have used a few more days to really do everything we wanted!  We arrived Sunday to an awesome two bedroom place at an awesome resort!  The first night we even enjoyed the fireworks over the castle at MK right from our balcony!  That made for a great start to the week!! The next morning was Easter Sunday!  CHRIST had risen!  The Easter Bunny came and left their baskets full of goodies and some eggs hidden in our room!  That day we started our trip by chilling a little more; we spent some time at the pool and leisurely went back and forth to Magic Kingdom!  Well...we learned our lesson quick!  If you want to really see and do at Magic Kingdom or any of the parks really you have to be the early bird to "get the worm" or fast pass I should say!! So after Sunday and Monday half days at Magic Kingdom and a half day at Epcot we hit it hard after that!  We did a full day at Hollywood Studios on Wednesday and what a great day!  We had breakfast with the characters from Playhouse Disney- JoJo and Goliath from JoJo's Circus & Leo and June from Little Einsteins!  We all really enjoyed that!  That day also involved Star Wars Jedi training for Jacob and Dylan which was a huge highlight for them, Toy Story Mania ride which was cool, lots of Disney's Pixar movie characters and lots of pictures and autographs from Mickey, Mr. Incredible, the characters from Up and many more!!  Thursday we decided we needed another "early" full day at Magic Kingdom to finish off the park!  And boy did we ever finish the park!  By Friday when we hit our last stop, The Animal Kingdom, we were exhausted!!  By this point Ryan and Dad had gotten a virus and were at the hotel sick while the rest of us dragged through Animal Kingdom.  The highlight of that day were the animal safari which we did twice in a row and the Lion King show!!  We were so tired we were happy to be leaving there by 3:00 or so! The rest of our last day we spent swimming, having a final dinner with Mickey, Minnie and their friends and a movie, Finding Nemo, on the lawn of the resort under the stars! One other highlight from our trip was Tuesday night seeing the night time parade with the fireworks show in front of the castle which was AWESOME!! And Another huge highlight of our trip was a two night visit from Aunt Tess and Grandma!!!!!  They drove two hours to come and spend time with us!!  Grandma was a trooper and made it through Epcot and Hollywood Studios.  We rented her a cart which helped her (and the boys :)) from lots of walking...as well as getting us into a few rides quicker!!  LOL!! Sam was also a trooper and spent many long hours in his stroller without ever a complaint!  He did a lot of snoozing in the stroller and not so much in the pack and play! The enitre week was such a wonderful experience that we are all so grateful for!! God blessed us tremendously the entire week with beautiful weather and wonderful adventures! It was a trip I know we will all always remember!  We plan to go again in the future and can't wait to make some more family memories in the most magical place on earth!!

It was hard to pick and choose which pictures to post so here are a few that show some things I referenced in my post!

                                                                    Easter Morning!

Chip & Dale were at our resort Easter Morning!

Waiting for the parade and fireworks show!

The boys with Grandma and her cart!

At our breakfast @ Hollywood Studios!

The boys in their Jedi Training!

On the animal safari at Animal Kingdom!

The boys waiting for the monorail that we rode everyday to get around!

The view of the monorail and the castle from our room!

To see the rest of the pictures from our trip go to...

http://gallery.mac.com/rachellindsey#101147

I mean really?!!

So we are due to leave for Disney the day after tomorrow!!!  So exciting!!  Whats not exciting is that we are all, or almost all getting sick!!  I had a horrible stomach bug with fever all day yesterday!  I was SO sick!  And today (Thursday) Sam and Dylan are running fevers!!  If it is what I had then it is only a 24 hour thing so they should be good by tomorrow but what about Jacob and Jeremy and even my Mom who was over today helping!!  Yikes!!  I really hope they all don't get it on our departure day or there even!!!!!!!!  Please pray for us all-that we all get well for the trip and that no on else gets sick on or before our trip!!!!!  And of course I will post pics and an update after our trip!  Thanks!  -R

Does is get any better than this??

I have taken this beautiful day and really reflected on my life!  It is WONDERFUL!!  I wonder sometimes does it, can it or will it get any better than this?!!  I am SO blessed and thankful for all that I have.  I have the best, most caring, giving, loving, adventurous and kind parents on the planet!  They are SO good to us and are all around full of awesomeness!  I also have the BEST in-laws anyone could ask for!  They are also very caring, giving, kind and loving!  They supply us with so much love and affection!  The Lord blesses us daily with good health, safety & love in our hearts and I know it is because we live and devote our lives to Him and His glory!   After much thought today, I just felt the need to express how thankful and grateful I am for this life!  I hope to express and show the love I am given everyday with all of you!  God Bless!

Full Swing!

Well, baseball is in full swing along with Sam's wheezing again!!  I really don't think that baby will ever be well for longer than two weeks at a time!  His just wasn't blessed with the best lungs!  Jacob and Dylan had their baseball opening day parade, festivities and games this past Saturday!  They had a blast and from what I hear played awesome and hit well!  Unfortunately Sam and I were unable to make it.  Sam started with his high fevers Friday night so Saturday morning at the same time as the parade we were at Urgent Care.  His temps got up to 104-SCARY!!  I was worried, sad and happy all at the same time.  Worried for Sam, sad to be missing on such an exciting event with the other two and happy for J & D to be experiencing and enjoying the parade and baseball period!  They are both so good at this sport!  Jacob takes a little extra push at the beginning of the season not because he doesn't like it but because he for some reason doesn't want to play.  But once it starts he has a blast and loves it!  This season Dylan is still in T-ball and Jake's team is actually "playing" baseball.. this will be his first time actually playing by the rules.  Actually keeping score, getting outs and all that stuff.  It will be so much fun to watch!  Jeremy is also coaching & managing both teams which is quite the hand full with there being 11 players on Jake's team and 12 on Dylan's!!  I am once again Team Mom for both as well which is an even bigger job, I think anyway!  I have to keep up with all the paper work, emails, snack schedules, team issues and of course the Spring fundraising!!!  The hardest part so far is learning everyone and keeping up with who is on what team!  It is a lot f fun to be so involved!!  This will be a special season for all the boys because it will be Jeremy's last season coaching... we will be starting our new adventure soon which will be taking most of Jeremy's time.

On another note...spring is hopefully right around the corner and we are all SO ready!!!  Two hours at a ball field in 30 degree weather is not fun!  The boys are anxious to get outdoors and we are anxious to start enjoying our picnics!!  We are going to Disney in like 28 days!!!  We can't wait!!!!!

"This is the day the Lord hath made; let us rejoice and be glad in it!"  Psalm 118:24

Kitchen pictures!!!