60 Years and Counting

Dad's 60th birthday is tomorrow, and last weekend, the girls and I celebrated with him.  We decided to take a Saturday and drive him around down memory lane.  We started out in Ninety Six, SC where we saw Granny Berry's home and the Beasley's home.  He showed us his grandfather's grocery store locations and where Nonny and Granddaddy went to High School.  We also got to see the church they grew up in.  I can't remember spending much time there before, so I really enjoyed the history lesson!  

From there, we headed towards Anderson and came across the intersection where a novice driver ran into dad and flipped his VW bug into a field.  We saw the old convenient store where they called the police.  Then we went to New Silver Brook Cemetery, where we met up with Faith, to see Nonny and Granddaddy's grave.  That was a sweet time of thinking about sweet Nonny.  We took this picture while we were there.  

Then, it was lunchtime, so we drove over to Little Pigs to get our bellies full.  Dad laughed about when he and mom first got married, they would stop by little pigs to eat on their way to Non's house.  Dad would order a regular BBQ sandwich with fries, and a jumbo BBQ sandwich and eat it all on the road.

Our next stops were Granddaddy's old church, the parsonage, LaFrance Elementary and Pendleton High School, and an old mill house that mom and dad moved into when they were newly married.  

We took a pitstop at Non's house and took this picture in the front yard.  Lauren and Kristen smelled the laundry room and we were back on the road.  

From there, we drove to Clemson, stopping at The Athletic Dept for Lauren and dad to make some Clemson purchases (a straw hat, a baseball hat, a wallet, a nurse badge, some t shirts, etc).  Dad took over the driving at this point, pulled through Starbucks (for mom) and then onto the Clemson campus to find the ice creamery.  We got back on the road towards Augusta after splurging on peach and cookies and cream ice cream...yummy.  

Our last pitstop was at Zaxby's for some tater chips and crushed ice, and then home.  

We had a BLAST celebrating dad's life.  Lauren, Kristen, and I are blessed to call him dad.   

Kindergarten and Mother's Day Out

One of the reasons that I love Eric is the fact that he took this picture of the girls on the first day of school.  He loves his time with them in the morning, and they love it too!  This year, Eve is attending half day kindergarten at Grace with Ms. Ashley.  Clara and Ellie are attending MDO 5 days at Grace, with two different sets of friends (Adalyn is in their Tuesday and Thursday class) and teachers.  Coleman is at Grace Tuesdays and Thursdays with Mrs. Leslie and Mrs. Meredith, and at First Baptist of Evans on Mondays and Wednesdays, and alone with dad on Fridays.  

It is going to be a great year!

All Out of Love

Eric was feeding Coleman the last bit of his corn one night at dinner.  The conversation went something like this:  "Coleman, I hope you appreciate that I am giving you my LAST BITE of corn out of love for you!"  Eve speaks right up, "Daddy!!!  You are all out of love for Coleman??"

Let The Arguments Begin...

Well, it's been a hectic and busy and loud few years as the "twin girl Lairsey's" have grown up into "little girl Lairsey's".  We've enjoyed (mostly) the journey, but we have now crossed over :(.  Crossed over into the world of sibling arguments!!!  Up to this point, Eve has been able to boss and sass the little girls around and if they joined in, great; if not, they'd just say "no" and go the other direction.  This week, I overheard the first (of many, I'm sure) argument between Ellie and Eve.  It went a little something like this,

Eve: Ellie, those are my princess shoes I got for Christmas!  Take them off!
Ellie: No ma'am, Ebe.  I'm gonna take you home!
Eve: Give them to me!
Ellie: You are an E I E I O!
Eve: Well, you are an L O V E!!
Ellie: NO!  You are an E I E I O!

I couldn't help but giggle to myself, but then I wanted to cry...for a few reasons.  One.  That my girls will be bickering over toys, shoes, clothes, money, etc for several more years! Two. That my girls are even old enough to argue with their big sister!

Fun times ahead at the Lairsey house.  :)

Stay tuned!!

 

Talking Up A Storm

Some of Coleman's favorite phrases at 18 months are:

*You, You, You ... meaning he wants to listen to "You, You, You" from VBS songs.  He points (just like Eve does when she's doing the motions to the song), and I PROMISE when we were at Gatlinburg, I heard him say, "you, you, you, you can trust God!"  

*Get down!

*Get up!

*Shoes on

*Jesus, Amen

*Thank you

*Sorry

*Bird, up there
*Oh Toodles (from Mickey Mouse).  He says this with his hands over his mouth.

He LOVES to give his sisters a "hug, kiss" before nap or bedtime.  

He LOVES to run to the laundry room to put his shoes on when he thinks it is time to go. 

He LOVES to pull a toothbrush out of the drawer and chew on it.  

He helps putting diapers in the diaper trash can.

He helps me put the wet clothes from washer into dryer.

He walks around with the broom.

He LOVES balls of any kind.

He squeals and screams and giggles at the sight of any animal.

Cute stuff.  

Eve's Vision

The other day, Eve came up to me while I was making breakfast and said, "Mommy, when are we going to have little brown boy and girl babies at our house?"  I stuttered around, a little unsure how to respond and she kept going, "You know, the babies who don't have a mommy or a daddy at their house need to come live at our house."

Wow.  She IS listening.  We have several very special families around us right now that are bringing children home from South Africa, the Congo, and China.  Eve and I have had some very deliberate and detailed conversations about adoption and how awesome it is and how God loves those boys and girls so much that He gives them a new mommy and daddy.  Apparently, Eve wants to know when our family is going to join in.

Hmmm.  I guess I'll leave that one to God.  

Nonny

Nonny.  I've been thinking about her lately.  I miss her.  I wish she was here to watch our babies grow up.  I wish my little kids got to meet her, and have memories with her.  I know she would love being a part of our little Lairsey's lives.   I look forward to giving her a great big hug one day soon.  I love that woman.  One of the things she has forever left in my heart is a verse.  She sent me the verse in a handwritten note she mailed me after she found out about our first miscarriage back in July of 2009.  She died one month later, and that verse is still one of my favorites.

Isaiah 61: 1-3

  The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.  He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives, and release the prisoners from darkness.  To proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance for our God.  To comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion - 

to bestow on them a crown of beauty for ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.  They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendor.  

I want BEAUTY instead of ashes, JOY instead of mourning, and PRAISE instead of despair.  But more importantly, I want my life to be planted for the display of the Lord's splendor.  Let it be, Lord.