Thinking of Jenny

Today I will be thinking about Jenny. I know that the Ross and Bizaillion families along with all of those who loved her will be praising God and celebrating Jenny's life through the heartache at her memorial service at 1:00pm. My heart will be with them since I physically cannot be.

Jenny had a wonderful blog! I am sure it means so much for her family to have all of the posts written in her own words about her journey with God and those she loved through her life. I was looking at some posts Jenny had written on her blog and came across the following that spoke to me:

"But we rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." Romans 5:3-4

"Love it!! This has been one of my favorite verses for a long time!! What a hard process but what an amazing journey!! Bring on the hope!! Do I get an amen up in here??" ~ by Jenny Ross Bizaillion

Jenny touched so many people and we will all be the better for it. If you are reading this please say a prayer for David (husband), Malaya (her daughter), Rick (her Dad), Beverly (her Mom), Josh (her brother) and his family, and Jonathan (her brother) and his family along with all of the many other friends and family who loved her dearly. You will be dearly missed Jenny.

An Official Snow Day!

Well today was our second time to experience snow this year! It was also Kaylee's first official snow day. It was so much fun to watch her expression when I told her we would not have school at all today. She really could not believe it! We were all pretty excited to wake up and find snow on the ground this morning and the fact that it continued to fall till after lunch was just icing on the cake. I love snow!!

We started the morning with cinnamon streusel muffins and hot chocolate. Does it get any better than that? Since the snow was coming down pretty hard and Campbell is getting over a virus I told them we would not go outside until after lunch. Believe it or not there was not one word of complaining. I think snow has a magical effect on my sweet girls.

After a lunch of grilled cheese and yummy soup we bundled up to head outside which I have learned is no small feat. It was such a blessing to hear Kaylee and Campbell's laughter and just expressions of pure joy! Since our last day of snow was not that long ago Kaylee had the list of things to do all ready:

1. Snowball fight

2. Make two Snowmen

3. Make snow angels

4. Make snow ice cream

My big girl does not miss a thing. Glad I had another can of Eagle Brand in the pantry or number four would not have happened.

This time we decided to put our Snow people together so that they would not be lonely according to Campbell. We also had to have a boy and a girl, or princess and hunter;-) They even have sticks for arms this time so we are getting better as we go. The only bad thing about playing in the snow is all the mess that gets tracked into the house and the wet clothes but i will take that trade off any day.

I am so blessed to be the Mom of these two precious girls. Due to the "life storm" that we have gone through the past few weeks with Jenny I have learned to really stop and be thankful for these moments that God sends us. To me today was a little gift from Heaven after receiving the news of Jenny's passing yesterday. I want my children to see me loving our family, friends, life, and Our Lord fully and completely each day in all that I do and say. There will be days that I fall short but God's grace is amazing and each day we get a new slate. Thank you Lord for my incredible husband and two beautiful girls. Our God is an Awesome God!

Valentine's Fun!

Well this year was a little different than previous years because we actually got snow close to Valentine's Day so Campbell's party was postponed but Kaylee's went along as scheduled. Here is a low-down on all the fun we had this year.

Kaylee's party was on a Friday afternoon so Campbell got to attend too. I think Kaylee was even a little excited to have Campbell there with her. The party was so much fun for the kids because they got to play games, guess the number of conversation hearts in a jar, frost/decorate their own cookies, and the best of course was opening all of their Valentines. All of the children were so well behaved and there were a lot of parents at the party to lend a hand. We have really enjoyed the second grade this year and most of it is due to Kaylee's amazing teacher "Mrs. C ". It is so obvious that she has a gift and passion for what she does with those children each day. What a blessing!

Here is Kaylee with two of her sweet friends. Kaylee and Chloe (in the striped scarf) have been friends since they were in the three's class together at YCW. We were so excited that they finally got to be in the same class in elementary school this year.

Campbell finally got to have her party on the Tuesday after Valentine's Day so by the time it got here she was really ready since she had already seen all of Kaylee's Valentines. I arrived at her school just in time to see them all lining up to deliver their Valentines into all of the boxes they had made. Mrs. Tiffani and Mrs. Anne are so organized that the party went off without a hitch. I cannot being to tell you what a blessing these two ladies are in our lives. After watching and directing all the children in delivering their treats it was time for them to look inside their boxes.

As you can see from the picture Campbell was more than ready for this part;-) They were also pretty excited about the cupcakes and juice. I have never seen such quiet children at a party!

I am so glad I got to share in both the parties!

Valentine's Date

I have to say that this year will go down as one of my favorite Valentine's Days even though I felt less than stellar. First of all my sweet parents came into town to celebrate my birthday and watch the girls so Cary and I could go on a surprise date. I knew about a few of the details but most of them were kept from me.

Saturday morning before my parents arrived Cary left for an errand which turned out great for me and the girls.

I got my favorite sterling roses. We used them in our wedding and I just fell in love with them after watching the movie "Bed of Roses" many years ago.

Not to be left out the girls each got a rose from Daddy too. You would have thought he had given them the moon because they were both so excited. I love that he thought to spoil them a little too. My Dad still gets me a box of chocolates each year and I look forward to it so much. The special moments are not about the gift itself but the thought behind them. (Thanks dad for always remembering me.)

Now on to the date. My first clue that this was not our average date was that we left at 3:30pm with our friends Mark and Meredith. Turns out the only time Cary could get a reservation at Perini's was at 4:00pm so that was our first stop where Craig & April along with Mark & Kelly joined us. We had the best time just relaxing and talking with our precious friends. When we first moved to Abilene I wondered if we would ever have friends to spend good times with because the transition seemed to take forever. I am so happy to say that my cup runneth over with the friends God has placed in our life here. I definitely treasure moments like these more than I use to.

In case you have not figured it out our next stop was bowling. It was not just any bowling, it was bowling at the ACU bowling alley. Ha! I do not think I have bowled there since I took the class in college. We had a blast! There is nothing quite like bowling to bring out your funniest side.

(Mark & Meredith)

(Craig & April in the top picture, Mark & Kelly in the bottom picture)

Once we had finished two rounds of bowling we moved on to the Civic Center to see the comedian Gabriel Iglesias aka "The Fluffy Guy. A few of his opening acts were questionable but he was very funny without the language that some comedians use. Needless to say by the time we left I was sore from laughing and tired from all of the activities we had backed into our eventful day. Thanks friends for going with us! We had a blast!!

Fun in the Snow!

This morning I woke up disappointed because all I had heard for several hours was rain coming down steadily. When you go to bed thinking that you are going to wake up to snow then rain does not make you happy. However, by the time I was fixing breakfast for the girls things started to change and in just a few hours time our street looked like a Winter Wonderland. That's right the snow started coming down and there were some of the biggest snowflakes I had ever seen. (That does not take much since most of my life has been spent in areas of Texas that do not usually get much snow if any.)

School went along as scheduled with the exception of Campbell having an early release. We decided to take that opportunity to get Kaylee out a little early to avoid the road conditions later in the day and to have a little fun in the snow.

Yeah! I do not know who was more excited about playing in the snow, the girls or me? We started off with a snowball fight. Both Kaylee and Campbell loved it! Who knew running around the yard could be so much fun for the three of us.

Next we moved on to building a snowman. Well Kaylee and I built the snowman while Campbell cheered us on. Kaylee thought that the Bello hat from the circus was a nice touch and I have to agree. Campbell kept asking if our Frosty was going to come to life. I had to tell her "not so much."

Since we had so much fun building the first snowman we decided to go to the front yard and build a snow woman. We all played a part in building this one. Campbell wanted to put a princess crown on this one because she is a "Princess of the snow" according to Campbell.

Of course, we had to use some of the snow in the front yard to have another snowball fight too. There is nothing like snow to make you feel like a kid again even if you are 36;-)

I do not think the smiles on their faces could have been any bigger.

Even Oliver got in on the action. Can you find him in this picture?

A day in the snow would not be complete without making snow angels, right?

Before going inside to get warmed up we had one more snowball fight. We made so many wonderful memories together. This was the first time our girls got to play in the snow, or at least that they remember. (I think it snowed once when Kaylee was about one but she was too young to enjoy it. ) The only thing that would have made the day better is if Cary had been able to join us instead of being at work. Maybe next time it will snow on a Saturday or Sunday;-) I will definitely carry this day in my heart forever. The laughter, excitement, and pure joy just filled my spirit. I love my girls and feel so blessed to be their Mom. Thank you Lord for these two abundant gifts! My cup truly overfloweth.

After a quick bath the girls put on their new Valentine pajamas and Campbell was evidently worn out. I am sure that all three of us will sleep great tonight with pleasant dreams filling our minds.

Snowy Day

I am so excited that it is snowing outside, a lot!! We missed the snow here at Christmas so I am looking forward to playing in it this time with the girls. I love snow!! It just makes everything look beautiful.

T.O.T.S Performance

A few weeks ago we got to watch Kaylee perform at halftime at the high school basketball game. She has been in a program all year called TOTS and has loved it. It reminds me of all the tricks that we grew up watching the Harlem Globetrotters do. They all did really well! I was amazed by the coordination and concentration of these children ranging in age from kindergarten to second grade.

In this picture you can see how excited they are to get on the court and perform.

Here you can see the very focused look on Kaylee's face. She had already told me there would be no time for smiling at the camera because it would mess her up. Got it!

Here Kaylee is doing the double dribble. She was so excited that she was one of the few who perfected this trick and got to perform it in front of everyone. I thought she would be very shy but my big girl was very confident and had a blast! I loved getting to watch her perform and was such a proud Mom sitting in the audience. Yeah Kaylee!!