I know who is ready for Sunday!

Joseph Brooks Hanna was born on May 29, 2003 just after midnight. Curt and I still claim his entrance into the world to be the most exciting, unusual and amazing nights of our lives. His appearance wasn't graceful or easy, more like quick and painful (we love him no matter what!!!). I guess his birth is sort of like life, unexpected and messy! (we will save that for another blog) Named for his uncles, Brooks or JB, whatever you call him, is a child unlike any other that's for sure. He is so inquisitive, asking questions about everything, discussing things on a level way above his age and so very smart! He adores bugs, baseball, reading, reading and more reading, playing in the dirt and of course video games. In these 8 years we have had with him we have experienced joy, pain, love, tears and a pride unlike any other. I am so proud of my son, there is a joy I have that words cannot explain. Daddy and I are praying HUGE prayers for you little boy, prayers that God will grab your heart and take you on an incredible adventure as you follow HIS path. You are our joy, happy 8th birthday sweet boy!

5k Run for Children: ORPHANS

WOW, I have been so busy. After the amazing race weekend, we are now gearing up for our yard sale this weekend! We are so thankful to all of our friends and family who have been so amazing during this time of fundraising. The support from the town of Abbeville, words cannot express our joy!!!! God has blessed us so much and we only want to follow Him and bring glory to His name is all that we do. We were able to raise $3,700 toward our adoption! WHOOHOO!

We are well on our way to meeting that sweet siberian princess! We want her home and safe!

Pictures from the past few weeks.....

My baby brother is a college graduate!!!!

(Dad, Mom, Austin, Meg and Me)

Proud of Our baby brother!!!

My cuties on Easter!

(Brooks, Campbell and Luke)

Enjoying the zoo over spring break

They are in a bird nest......I guess pretending to be baby birds

My family on both sides and church family are absolutely precious! I wouldn't trade them for the world!!!

Another Reason Why We Do What We Do

Today we had baptism! When people meet Jesus, our crew goes WILD! The Oasis morning began a little differently today, we had a super guest speaker who is no stranger at all to us at OC Greenwood. Brooks Reames brought the WORD this morning, his first time ever, and did an amazing job. God is bringing such amazing people together at Oasis and I am so happy to be a part of it all. Not only did we witness two baptisms today, but we also had a first time guest accept Jesus as her Savior this morning! I am so excited and cannot wait for next Sunday.....it is going to be amazing!!!!

One week away................

With the race just one week away, there is so much that still needs to be done. Right now I am going through and documenting and rechecking all the registrations to make sure I have everything correct and in its place. We have close to 60 people registered so far and I expect to receive many more registrations this week and have tons more to register the day of the race!!! We are so excited and blessed to have such wonderful support from our family, friends and the city of Abbeville. If you have not registered you can go to THIS website and either pay through paypal or print off the form and mail it in! Remember that if you wait and register on Saturday the fee goes up to $30!

On another note, my sweet sister will be having her 2nd baby this week, and we are so excited for she, Wesley and big brother Nate! I am so excited to meet this new blessing to our family! So many great things are happening and I am thankful that Christ has allowed me to be part of it all!

I've got feathers, don't ruffle them!!

You may have seen this..............................or even this!

Feather extensions are everywhere, I have 6 as a matter of fact and my daughter has 1! Steven Tyler has them, the today show even did an entire segment on the extensions. Some people may think they are strange, tacky or unattractive, I on the other hand think they are a good way to change your look without committing to a complete hair color change. A friend of mine from NY even has some "feathas", as we call them. I adore them.....just don't ruffle my feathas!!!:)

Words of Wisdom....you can never hear this enough!

I do not always quote people on my blog, but I came across the following advice on Holly Furtick's blog. I have heard this before, but at this point in my life where I am juggling kids, my marriage, my job....well you get the picture. As a pastor's wife I see so much of the dark side of ministry and although we are early in our ministry journey we have already learned so much! One day we will write a book.......it is in our 20 year plan:) Here are some words of wisdom from Mrs. Furtick......

Here's the thing, and this is not just pertaining to ministry. In life, you can either become a slave to everyone's opinions of what you should do and say, or you can decide what your gifts and priorities are and order your life around that. BUT either way, someone is not going to be happy because you can never make everyone happy with you, no matter how hard you try. And it always hurts when people are not happy with you.

My goal should not be to make everyone happy. My goal should be to serve and honor the people God has directly placed in my life, to put them first and let everything else fall into place. For me that is my husband, then my kids, then my family, close friends and our church. And when, not if, someone gets upset because I did not meet their expectation, I will be sad, I will be hurt, but I will not be surprised.

So in clarification of this statement that I made last week, "As best as I can, I need to tell others who I am, not the other way around," telling others who I am doesn't always mean that everyone will be happy with me, but hopefully my kids will not grow up saying I put everyone before them. And hopefully, my marriage will be stronger in 20 years than it is today because I chose to make it a priority.