MARCH 2022!

QUOTE OF THE MONTH:

"Our lives are in His hands,

and He keeps our feet from stumbling."
~Psalm 66:9

MARCH MEMORABLE MOMENTS

• A fun belated bday weekend celebration with my cousin, Kristin!
• The NRCYS parenting classes (three 9-hour Saturdays)
• Applying with the Gossett adoption agency
• Making a list of baby items I'll need over Ted's to-go lunch with Sarah
• Finding some old letters Mom wrote the year I was born
• Fun with the fam at The Brooke and Gathering Place over Spring Break
• Phone call catching up with an out-of-state friend going through a very hard season
• Reading (yes, an actual physical book) The Story of You: An Enneagram Journey to Becoming Your True Self by Ian Morgan Cron
• Touring Mend followed by New York Bagel Cafe lunch with Chet and Kristin Foster
• Celebrating Mark's bday with friends at Andolini's
• Feeling a growing pull to move closer to my family
• Noticing a job opening in Cleveland County posted March 3rd...
• Praying over it a while then finally applying March 22nd (Tuesday)
• Driving down for an interview on March 25th (Friday afternoon)
• Judge Walkley calling to offer me the job on March 29th 
• Telling Tiffany and Laura, taking some deep breaths, then submitting my resignation letter that afternoon
• Phone calls with Sarah, Chet, Jeff, Kelly, and both Kristins to share this major news
• My last jury trial in Creek County (boring civil case) and my last "waiting on a verdict" pic with Laura and Tiffany
• Meeting with Monica who gave me a 4-page list of things to do to stage my home to list it for sale soon!
• LIFE-GIVING:  Feeling a deep, God-given sense of peace about all of this!   The word I chose for this year was "manna," and I've thought about it a lot - about staying present and trusting that God is with me and for me, and His grace is enough day by day!  Also, feeling genuine support from all sides as I begin this transition process... it's bittersweet to think of leaving the Tulsa area, and it's always nerve wracking to tell people big news without knowing how they will react, but across the board, the reactions have been very positive and gracious and kind, and I'm exceptionally thankful for that!!! ❤
• LIFE-DRAINING:  The times when I've thought too far ahead in worry or too far back in nostalgia.  I'm working on staying present and staying in peace, and speaking positive things over my life and my future!

HAPPY LISTS

I Listened To:

• Attached: The New Science of Adult Attachment and How it Can Help You Find - And Keep - Love by Amir Levine and Rachel Heller
• How to Raise Successful People: Simple Lessons for Radical Results by Esther Wojcicki
• Colossians through Revelation
• The usual favorite podcasts, adding The West Wing Weekly and Peloton: Fitness Flipped

I Watched:  

• The West Wing season one on HBO Max
• Some old favorite shows and movies

I'm Celebrating:  

• My new job!!  (Working with Special Judge Brockman in Cleveland County, beginning April 18th)
• Making prayerful decisions and feeling peace about it
• God's goodness and grace following me wherever I go

March was a whirlwind, and the first four days of April even more so!!  (I am backdating this post so that it shows up on the March blog archives if ever I look for it in the future.)  Thank you for your support and kindness! ❤

A Farewell Tribute to 4633

Jeffrey Edward and Kelly Marie will be closing on their beautiful new home next week!!  I'm looking forward to seeing it in person, and I'm praying it will be a smooth move and transition for their whole family!

I wanted to take a minute today for a Tribute Tuesday post to honor all the great memories I've had at their first home, 4633!  (*Not to be confused with Bobbi's old house at 4622, but I did a doubletake when I realized the address numbers are so similar).

...It all started in February of 2010.  Jay went out of town, and Jeff invited Jay's LifeGroup friends over for a fun game night at his place!  (I remember a whole inside joke back then about how Jeff was stealing Jay's friends.)  Anyway, this guy we mostly knew as Jay's friend from the Caravan made us sopapilla cheesecake and told us some of his stories that had us laughing, and we became friends pretty quickly... (I know that mostly because five short months later, he joined three of us for a memorable Vegas trip! lol) Anyway, that first night, we played some fun games, and in the middle of one of them was the memorable cockroach incident and mini-freakout by me, and that story became legendary. lol

Jeff was kind enough to host an Engagement Party for Jay and Bethany, and I remember being impressed by all the personal touches and details, and how much work and thought went into planning it!  A little later, Jeff invited friends over for a Baylor game where he sang their fight song for us, complete with hand motions, all by himself in his kitchen... the Baylor loyalty and passion was endearing and entertaining!

There was Chet Lee's 25th birthday dinner (I still use my blue mason jar from that gathering), a Thunder game watch party, the cruise afterparty, a couple of Kelly's birthday parties, Super Bowl parties that included a delicious chili cookoff, some beautiful backyard dinners, and playing nertz and other fun games!

After Jeff and Kelly were married, our Diving Deeper Women's LifeGroup started meeting at their house... so I have loads of memories of Tuesday night Bible studies, staying to watch This is Us with the girls, Thanksgiving dinners, Christmas present-wrapping mission events, and a fun Galentine's party!  I miss that group!

There was meeting Penny Moss and the chickens in 2016, a pre-marathon pasta dinner Kelly hosted in support of Jeff's Route 66 race in 2017, co-hosting the Baby Shower brunch for Tate in 2018, a fun surprise Halloween drop-in 2019, multiple "Convivial Cozy Christmas Parties," bringing them dinner when Ellie Faye was born, a socially-distanced backyard dinner for JEM's 40th birthday, a couple  of sweet dinners with their family, and of course, celebrating Miss Ellie's 1st Birthday party in 2020 (before the pandemic hit)!

I'm so grateful for Jeff and Kelly's friendship, for their gift of hospitality, and for all the fun memories we've shared in their first home!!  

It was Jeffrey's first home in Tulsa, their first home together as a married couple, the main meeting place of our women's group and their current Anthem small group, Penny's first home, and the first home to welcome their beautiful daughter, Ellie Faye! ❤  So here's to 4633, to the end of a sweet era and the beginning of a beautiful new one!!  

When I think of that home, I will think of their thoughtfulness and generosity... and I'll remember sopapilla cheesecake, the always beautiful landscaping by Jeff, the denim couch, the German books, the infamous cockroach, sunny backyard dinners, chili cookoffs, Penny and the chickens, the backyard hammock, Bible studies, "naughty and nice" Christmas party punch, and lots of laughter and warmth and fun!  ...Here's a happy slideshow of memories, only two of which I wasn't personally present for (their epic Jurassic Park Halloween pic and a cute Baylor pic of Jeff and Ellie)!

Congrats on your new home, Moss family!!  

And thanks for helping to create lots of great memories and wonderful friendships that we get to take with us wherever we go! ❤

Birthday Weekend!!

I had a fantastic weekend with my cousin, Kristin!!  Details below...

I knew Kristin had been planning something special for a belated birthday present, but it was full of awesome surprises!  When I saw the basket filled with gifts, it definitely took a minute to register that they were all for me - YAY!!

After a delicious late dinner at Andolini's, we came back to my house and I opened at least a dozen gift bags and boxes.... including a Scripture-covered journal, two baby books (my first baby-related gifts from anyone), Martha Stewart heart-shaped coasters, blank canvases for future paintings, fruity pink wine, a balloon puppy figurine, a pink cashmere scarf, Black Cherry Merlot soaps + candle + wallflower with a cute pink heart design, and a Pioneer Woman Sweet Rose planter!!

The amount of detail she put into everything -- from the glitter heart on the envelope to extra glitter and jewels on the wrapping paper and choosing tissue paper I love -- was very impressive and made me feel seen and loved and very grateful!  Of course, there were also bundtinis and she bought my brunch and dinner on Saturday! 

Our weekend included not one but two brunches at the Cheesecake Factory... she got the breakfast monte cristo and I got the giant Belgian waffle and then French toast... and we tried pineapple mimosas this morning... I gotta say, highly preferable to orange!

And after that, we took a road trip for a fun afternoon and evening in Pawhuska!!

We shopped around at the Mercantile... I skipped the shirt but got the cute "Wash away your worries" laundry basket!  I looked at her cookbooks hoping she had one themed with healthy-ish foods, but no such luck thus far. lol  

They gave us directions to the Lodge (about 25 minutes away) so we headed down the gravel road to see it!  This is where Ree Drummond (aka the Pioneer Woman) films her show, and it was really fun to tour it and take a few faux-cooking photos! =)  She even had the same little planter that Kristin had gotten me, so I had to snap a photo of that!

There are several bedrooms for people to stay there when they're filming - all open to the public when they're not.  They encouraged you to feel free to open any drawers and cabinets, etc., then they had fake snakes in a few of them, which made me laugh!  When I saw these Sweet Rose dishes on prominent display, I said, "Yay, she has my dishes!!  Or I guess technically, I have hers." lol  I like that it's also her favorite of all the patterns she's made.

Anyway, we had fun looking around... then we sat outside for a few minutes looking out over their 433,000 acres... right up until I saw a spider crawling on Kristin's leg.  And then we were done with the great outdoors. lol

We traveled back and stopped at the Mercantile Bakery to pick up a few treats, then put our name in for the waitlist at P. Town Pizza.  We perused several little boutique shops around that area, then eventually sat down for some tasty pizza!

That was followed by a bit of ice cream at Charlie's Sweet Shop - I'm so happy to finally see all these places in person - it's all so cute and fun!

We had lots of car time and meal time to get caught up on all of life, which was delightful!  On the road trip back, we had fun looking up different songs on Apple Music.  Then we had a PJ-clad movie night watching Jumanji (the first one with Kevin Hart and the Rock) and eating leftover pizza. =)

We slept in, had a lovely brunch, then looked through some old scrapbooks this morning.  Then Frankie and the boys came to pick her up, and they were very cute looking through my house and wondering why I no longer had a pool (thinking Mamaw's house was mine when they came to swim last summer). lol  

And that's my weekend recap - cheers!

Thanks so much, Kristin!!  This was incredibly generous and kind and well thought out, and it was all super fun! ❤

Gathering Place (Photo Friday)

Oh, I love the imagination of kids, so this was delightful and funny to me.  Jace got on this boat and played with the steering wheel and a couple other things for a minute, then quickly climbed to the front and struck a commanding pose...

If your mind doesn't immediately go to this moment... well, then you probably didn't see Titanic 15 times in theaters. lolol  It's definitely a classic movie moment that captures his playfulness and the innate desire to lead and be great... well done, James Cameron and Leo!

I also thought of this "Booze Cruise" moment, of course! LOL

Anyway, it made me smile that this was his natural instinct with zero direction from me and having never seen that movie.  If I knew how to photoshop things, I'd change the sand and rocks to water in the background and frame this for him!

Jumping back a bit, the fam came to visit me in Tulsa on Tuesday.  They picked me up around 11:30, then the Wilson fam joined us for lunch at The Brook South!  (Sadly, I didn't get any pictures of us all together, but Jace had fun playing with Tate and Parker, and Kyndal Faith had fun coloring this lovely cupcake.)

We drove from there to the Gathering Place... where I definitely underestimated the Spring Break crowd!  It took us forever to get there with all the traffic, then took Dad forever to find a parking space!  He dropped us off, so Mom waited in the Lodge whilst me and the kids went out to explore the crazy crowded park!

Spring Break at The Gathering Place... would not recommend! lol

They had fun, though, and I was happy to hang out with them!

❤❤

It was fun to watch them climb and slide and find fun things to do!  The zipline and the cool hammock swings all had a long line that they were too impatient to wait for, so we really need them to come sometime this summer when there's not a capacity crowd!

Photo op with random stilts guy while we crossed the bridge to try and meet up with Grandpa (after he finally found parking)!

They both loved this slide!

I took slo-motion videos of them on it, and it was fun to watch their expressions!

This is a bit odd and creepy, if you asked me.  They have these giant purple hands that move around during the concerts at night.  Granted, I haven't seen them in action, but the whole concept seems strange.

Just climbing out of the blowhole of this giant whale! lol

A road trip pic... J&K forcing themselves to get close to each other and smile after loads of petty arguing and pushing each other away. #siblingrivalry

And we ended our day with a trip to Sugar Llamas, where only me and Mom and T-man ate the amazing mini donuts!  Kyndal was grossed out by them being crunchy, and Jace just looked at them and quickly decided he was unwilling to try them. #lamesauce ...J&K both got the Tutti Fruitti ice cream, something that appealed to them because of the bright colors, but it was a pretty awful bubblegum flavor.  And Dad put gas in the car while we all ate on the patio outside... this is not a car-friendly dessert! lol

A Saint Patrick's Day throwback from 2017 - they were racing and kept pushing each other out of the way! lol

And a fun Friday optical illusion for you... these circles never touch and there is not a spiral pattern.

See? lol

Anyway, that's all I've got for now, friends!  Happy Friday, and hope it's a fun weekend ahead!!

St. Patrick's Thankful Thursday (#141)

"You will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous,

so that through us your giving will produce thanksgiving to God."

~2 Corinthians 9:11

Happy St. Patrick's Day, friends and family!!*

Today, I am thankful for:

1.  Getting to hang out with the fam yesterday in Tulsa (more pics coming in a Photo Friday post tomorrow)!

2.  The power to build up, advocate for, or tear down myself and others with what I say... I want to think, speak, and write words of life and hope!!

3.  Moments of epic cuteness... I parked next to this pickup, and three little Yorkie dogs perked up to look at me through the window -- I rolled my window down and talked to them for a second, then two of them were camera-shy and ducked back down as I snapped a quick photo, but y'all can trust me that it was the very cutest!! lol

4.  The ability to change my thought patterns, habits, words, life, and future... and through that effort, to change the lives of others!!  Also, the ability to gradually heal and let go of broken things from my past.

5.  Sugary goodness at Sugar Llamas with the fam! lol  For reasons I can't explain, the Flintstone (vanilla + Fruity Pebbles) is officially my favorite of these four, even with all the fun chocolatey flavors (cookies n' creme, s'mores, and peanut butter cup)! 

6.  Finally getting to watch the Harry Potter Reunion Special on HBO Max!!  And tearing up with joy and nostalgia multiple times, as you would likely expect!  So fantastic.

7.  Loyal friends.  This pic was after a celebration dinner at Redrock seven years ago.  And when I saw it, I immediately felt grateful that everyone in the photo is still an important part of my life!

8.  Audiobooks -- specifically Attached and then this parenting book that was recommended by my cousin, Ashley!  Filled with some great insights about building trust, respect, independence, collaboration, and kindness in our children!!  

I am still moving toward adoption and motherhood!  Not certain yet about which path is best... but I'm trusting that God will make it clear to me at the right time.

*Don't forget to wear something green today!  And I hope you have a beauti-mous day ahead!! ❤