Our Hope Endures!

2 Choronicles 7:14 "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."

Psalm 71:14 "But as for me, I will always have hope; I will praise you more and more."

Romans 5:5 "and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us."

OK, so I must admit. I have spent the last month or so being totally consumed with the election. I have always been somewhat of a talk show junkie and it just became a "close to" addiction of mine to listen to what was going on with the election and such. I believe that it is very important to be informed of what is going on, but I think that I was just a little too informed. I mean, I haven't watched ANYTHING except for Fox News for the past few weeks. I also love to listen to talk radio on my XM Radio. I am saying all of this to point out that sometimes it is easy to get so consumed with what is going on around us that we can easily forget what is important. I don't think it is a bad thing to be interested in the news etc... It is just so vital to keep priorities in tact. So I must confess, I spent much more time soaking up all of the things of no eternal value than soaking up the Word of God and finding what HE wanted me to hear amist all of the uncertainty concerning the election and the outcome.

In the last few days, I have heard the word of FEAR mentioned a lot. 2 Timothy 1:7 says, "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." Nothing happens that doesn't come through the hand of God first. The wonderful thing about God is that He has given us free will. How rewarding would it be to Him if we served Him like robots. When God's people cho0se to be obedient to Him and glorify Him through our lives, it is so much more rewarding. Although it breaks my heart to see that we as a nation are more concerned about the economy than the precious life of an unborn child, the Spirit prods me and says, "You have the answer, you have the hope, share it with all people!" I have dropped the ball. If we all get real with ourselves, we may be astonished to realize that serving our Lord is indeed not our number one priority. We have cheapened the awesomeness of God. It is like trying to offer someone something of little value. A child is not going to be all crazy about getting a gift that has missing peices or is outdated. We act so many times as if the Lord is "Just OK!" Why in the world would anyone want anything that we represent so poorly?

Jesus is The Way, The Truth, The Life. He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is my sustainer, my rock, my salvation, my strength, my song, shelter from the storm, everlasting father, prince of peace.... The list goes on and on. I encourage you to make it a priority to clearly represent the One you Serve to everyone around you. He is the only One in which we can place our trust. Share the hope that is within you.

My Japanese Doll!

We had a sunday school social a few weeks ago in which we dressed up the kids (some adults dressed up also.) It was such a wonderful time. Audie bought Michaela this outfit when she was on mission over in Tailand before Michaela was even born. I was so excited to realize that it fit her because I am not one to really dig going out and buying a costume. We went trick or treating in the neighborhood and she had a blast. Thanks Chris and Victoria for opening your home up!!!! We had a great time.

Country Pumpkins

Well, I have to say that the weather has been absolutely gorgeous here lately. I actually feel like we are experiencing fall. It normally seems to me like it goes straight from summer to winter. We had such a great time at the pumpkin patch a few weeks ago. Michaela definitely enjoyed the freedom of running around and getting her hands on everything in sight. I just love getting out with the family and enjoying each other. I know that I take the fact that I have such a wonderful husband who takes time out of his schedule to spend time with us for granted. He works so hard, yet manages to let me know that we are his number one priority. God has blessed me so much.

Birthday Party with Aunt Kelly

Michaela and Aunt Kelly share the same birthday. This is a short clip of them blowing out the candles. This is going to be great fun celebrating their birthdays together each year. Happy Birthday Aunt Kelly!!!!

Party with Aunt Katie

Michaela's first birthday celebration was with Aunt Katie. Katie was able to come in town Labor Day weekend, so she wanted to give Michaela her gifts early. Both of my sisters absolutely shower Michaela with love. I am so thankful for the relationship I have with both of my sisters. I miss you and love you Audie. Michaela still calls you on the phone quite often.

Michaela's BDay Party at "School"

She didn't know whether she liked the hat or not!
Yummy Cupcakes!

Michaela and Mrs. Lucy! She loves Mrs. Lucy!
A picture of Michaela and her class friends.
Daddy and Michaela blowing out candles.
We celebrated Michaela's birthday at CDC last week. She had a great time. She didn't know what to think about blowing out the candles or wearing the hat at first. It did grow on her though. She started school over a month ago, and she absolutely loves it. If it was up to her, she would go everyday instead of just two days a week. She talks about her teacher, Mrs. Lucy, and her friends often. She loves to talk about Ella "Lella" the most. I have been so pleased with the program so far. Mrs. Lucy has been wonderful. She gets a daily report sent home everyday. It states how she ate, her behavior, nap stats, etc... Here are some funnies that have happened.

Last line of a report given to me a few weeks ago, "We did talk about keeping our clothes on at school today!!" OK, so turns out I have a very unmodest child. I am told that she tapped her teacher on the leg while working with another child on an art project. Mrs. Lucy turns around, only to see my "litte lady" in nothing but a diaper. She had taken her shoes and clothing off and placed them in the corner of the room. I got a good laugh out of this, but did have to talk to Michaela about stripping at school. She knows we only do that before taking a bath or getting dressed. Didn't realize that I needed to cover that upon going to school.

About two weeks ago she comes home from school. She had a substitute teacher and received good instead of great on the behavior portion. I decided I wanted to see why she didn't get a great. I say, "Michaela, Did you get in trouble today?" She replies, "Yes." I asked her what she did. She says as plain as day, "I pulled Lella's hayer!" So, of course we talked about using out hands to be gentle, etc... I am thinking for days that my child has become a violent individual. I ask the teacher the next time I saw her about the incident. She looked at me baffled and said, "Michaela didn't pull anyone's hair. She got along great with everyone last week." So I have come to two conclusions: My child either lies to get herself in trouble or she is pretty dang sneaky. I am just glad that I just talked to her about it and didn't get too upset about it. I just was shocked that she answered so matter of factly.

So, to sum this all up, Michaela loves school and I love to give her a chance to interact with other children and I enjoy the time I have to get things done that otherwise don't get done on a normal basis. She is so funny. I love kids at this age, minus the few terrible two traits that come with it!!

Happy Birthday to my Sweet Miracle.

Mommy and Michaela at her birthday celebration at my parent's house.
Blowing out the candles with daddy!
She really enjoyed tearing into her presents.
She was so funny saying "YAY" and clapping very consistently as we celebrated her life!

We have been at Orange Beach this past week, so we were able to celebrate Michaela's second birthday with both sides of the family. This was such a blessing. It was a lot of fun because she actually understands that it is her special day. She sang "Happy Birthday to Daddy..." along with every one else's names for days. She has been singing a lot within the past few weeks which is such sweet sounds to me. I hope she grows to have a love for music like her mommy.

I have had some emotional days here lately. Not because my baby is growing up so fast, but because with each day I realize how blessed I really am. I have a wonderful, loving husband who meets my every need and more. I also have a healthy, darling little girl in which I am so proud of. I know that she is a miracle and I never want to forget what the Lord has done for me by placing her in my care. She showers me with affection and words that make me want to shout praises on a daily basis. How is it that God can bless me in such an amazing way? I don't deserve it, but boy am I thankful.

I really desire to have more children, but I am so thankful for what I have. I never want to desire things I don't have more than things I do have. For God to bless me with another child would be Him working a double miracle in my life. I know that He is more than capable of doing that, but I also know that His plans are higher and more amazing than my plans. I am learning more and more each day to be content with what I have. It isn't hard at all when I focus on all the wonderful things I do have. God is so good.

Just some pics from over the past two months.

Chris and I love to make her hair wild in the bath tub. As a child, I called this an "orsheegorsheeorsheeoo." Yes, you may call me strange. I think I was and am still a little.

What a cool BB! Michaela was lovin having a "big kid" in the pool with her.


Do you see a pattern? She likes to stand and "cheese" in the mirror.

First Day of "School"

Michaela started going to the CDC program at Fairview last week. She absolutely loved it. As a matter of fact, everyday since and in between she gets up in the morning and says "Play with Mrs. Lucy?" I am so glad that Mrs. Lucy Crawford is her teacher. I know that Michaela is going to have a wonderful year with her. There are two girls and two boys in her class (including Michaela.) I am so thankful that she is able to be around other kids her age more often. She is around other kids at church, but this is just more of a good thing. I know she gets tired of being around all of us old people all of the time :) (Even though I love having her around!)

I have decided that I am going to allot one day for fun and one day for work. I was able to get my entire houser cleaned on Thursday, which was great. Here is a picture of her on her first day. I will post a picture of her at school later when I am able to get some!!!

First Haircut

Lookin a little stringy!
BB had to get her attention. For all of you that know Michaela, you know sitting still for any amount of time is not in here vocabulary.

I know it has been forever and a day since I last posted. Reading has taken any free time I have, so I have not taken the time for an update. We have had a fab summer so I will try to post a few to fill in the gaps.

Here are some pics of Michaela's first hair cut. It was beginning to look a little stringy. I am so glad that I trimmed it because it looks a lot healthier now. I should have gotten an after picture.

Michigan Trip!

Michaela, Megan, and Danny!
A small portion of the sprinkler park they have right down the road.
Kisses!

Here is a pic at the fam get together. We had a great time. Michaela loved her twin cousins, Danny and Megan.
Here are most of the cousins. We missed Steve and the family!
Here are the men at the golf club. They had a great time!

It has been quite a while since I have sat down to fill everyone in on what is going on in the life of the Clardy's. I feel like we have been out of town more than we have been in Columbus for the last several weeks. That may even be the truth! Anyways, we spent the second week in June in Michigan visiting family. We had a wonderful time. This was Michaela's first time to fly commercial and she did exceptionally well. She either slept or looked out the window talking about all the cool things she saw. It was a lot of fun. I especially liked the 2 hour travel time versus about 16 hours driving time! Airplanes are great when you have little ones like Chris and Michaela. I say that because Chris doesn't like spending lots of time in a car. He gets ants in his pants! :) This was our first time to meet my cousin Scott's twin sweeties, Megan and Danny. They are very close in age to Michaela and they had a great time. Unfortunately, Michaela was coming down with something, so she was unusually timid and quiet. If you know my child, you know she is not particularly timid. She is usually a ball of energy. They still had a good time though. They had the neatest park down the street from them. We would practically live there if we were lucky enough to have something like this. They have a community park with the most amazing sprinkler playground. It is free, yet it is more fun for the kids than most any water park I have ever seen. They have the neatest things for families up there.

We stayed at my moms sister and brother in laws house. The have three levels to their house, so Michaela has mastered the art of climbing stairs. Aunt Sandi and Uncle Ed also have two dogs in which Michaela loved to pester! I know she is going to want a dog as soon as she knows how to beg for one. I am trying to hold that off for as long as possible though. I don't want the extra responsibility right now. I would rather add another human to the family first.

We are blessed to have such a wonderful family. I hate it that so much of our family lives so far away, but i am grateful for times in which we can spend together. They are special times.

Pictures!

Michaela got pictures taken a few days ago. Addie Talley took the pictures for me. I highly recommend her! She did a fabulous job! You can see more at Talley Images. Here are a few pics. I can't believe my baby is getting so grown!

Yeah, Audie has a blog!

Just wanted to let you guys know that Audie has entered the blogging world to keep everyone updated! She will be moving to Seoul in July. We are going to miss her greatly! I can't think about it too much or I might cry. We had a surprise party for her on the 17th. It was a lot of fun. You can read more about it here. I am so excited to see what the Lord is going to do through Audie's life. She is going to have such a joyous time being right in the center of His will! Love you Audie!

I have been tagged... twice... so here goes!

OK. If you know me, you know that I don't respond to emails where you have to fill out facts about yourself. I don't know why, I just never find the time to do it. Well, I am sitting up with not much to do for a change, so I thought, Why not?

Angie, I am finally following through!
FIVE THINGS I DO FOR:

Myself:
1. drink a big glass of milk with Ovaltine everynight before I go to bed (I like milk for breakfast, lunch, and dinner!)
2. hang out with Chris everynight before we go to bed. I talk and talk and talk. He many times has to give the, "It's getting late" speech. He talks too. I just want to talk way way too long about way way random things.
3. kiss and hug my baby girl about 100 times a day and I only tell her I love her about 99! :)
4. talk to my family on the phone at least several times a week
5. I LIKE BATHS!

My Spouse and Friends:
1. I really try to encourage Chris and my friends, even in the little things. I like to let others know how much I love and appreciate them.
2. I try to be honest, even when it isn't the easiest thing to do.
3. I make time for them. I get the biggest blessing.
4. I pray for them and ask the Lord to lead them on a path that brings Him glory and them joy.
5. I make them laugh sometimes.

Strangers:
1. I am really shy around people I don't know. (Don't laugh. I know I am obnoxious once you really get to know me.) Anyways, I try to be friendly to strangers.
2. I like to let people in when they are waiting to get out in traffic. How much do you appreciate that when someone does the same for you?
3. Many times I pray for people I don't know. It is so evident that there are many people hurting around us.
4. HMMM this one is hard for me. I know we are around strangers on an everyday basis, but nothing else stands out to me that I do on a consistent basis. I guess that is my mission for the next few days. I will try to do random acts of kindness for strangers. Maybe I will get back to you later! :)


Second tag. Thanks Blair my darling!

Maybe I should... go to bed because I pray at the 2:00 am-3:00am time slot for the Watchmen's Prayer Ministry at church.

I love the smell of... Michaela's hair! (Lavender)

People would say I... can be a little too gullible at times.

I don't understand why... I do the things I don't want to do, and don't do the things I want to do so many times!!!! AHHH.

When I wake up in the morning... I say, "Ten more minutes please!!!" I am not the best morning person.

I lost my will power to... avoid buying lip gloss. I am totally addicted to trying new lip stick/lip glosses. I am not even a big makeup wearer, but something about a pretty, sparkly lip just makes me happy. (I am a total Bare Escentuals fanatic.)

Life is wonderful with... the security of knowing that, He who has begun a good work in me will be faithful to complete it. I also have the most wonderful husband and daughter and rest of the fam. Don't even try to argue with me. I always win on that one. :)

My past made me... realize the things I want to keep in my life and the things that are better to just say, "Hit the road Jack."

I get annoyed when... Chris tells me a party starts at 6 when it really starts at 6:30. He likes to be early to events and I like to be there right on time.

Dogs are... so cute and cuddly, I just don't want one to take care of right now.

Cats are... not my thing. They make my throat itch, my eyes water, and they are just a little too fast for my liking.

Tomorrow I am going to... probably be propped up on the couch hoping Michaela doesn't make me get up too much. I had a small foot procedure done, and lets just say walking it not my favorite thing to do right now.

I have a low tolerance for... weird smells. My mom always told me that I had an animalistic sense of smell. I smell things that aren't even there. (I will share a story about that later.)

I am totally terrified of... loosing my teeth. ( I have dreams all the time that my teeth are loose and falling out.)

Never in my life... did I think that I would be married to the most wonderful person I have ever known. I also could have never imagined having such a perfect daughter. She is still amazing to me. I am so thankful that the Lord allowed me to have a child.

High School was... the hardest time of my life. I went to an all girl school in New Orleans my first two years. The education was great. The rest was not. I moved my Junior year of high school to Foley and did not adjust well. I learned a lot about myself though, so it was worth it.

When I am nervous... I giggle. It is so embarassing.

One time at a family gathering... I was loud and obnoxious along with the rest of them having a dandy ole time. Oh wait, that is at every fam gathering.

Take my advice... be a good communicator. Your husband and others will appreciate it in the long run.

Making my bed... is something I do when we are selling our house and have a prospective buyer coming to look. Well, I am not that bad, but it is not at the top of my priority list.

I'm almost always... silly.

I am addicted to... being around other people. I love my peeps.

I want someone to... come clean my house. It is kind of hard to keep things clean when you can't hardly walk.

Wow, that was kind of fun. I think I will go to bed now. I hope you all have a fantabulous weekend.

The Flying Queen.

Michaela went on her second flight when we were in Foley. We flew over to Dauphin Island to watch the birds and enjoy the beautiful weather. Here is a pic of Michaela with Dutch and BeBe.
This is the landing strip on Dauphin Island. It almost felt like we were landing on an air craft carrier.
Michaela and Dutch
I love lots of kisses from my sweetie.

So much to be thankful for.

The new thrill: "hawsie, hawsie"
Michaela was bouncing on my suitcase as I was attempting to pack for our trip to Foley.
Here is another dress we made for Michaela a few months back. She thought she was looking good.
We went to a Japanese steak house in Foley. It was a lot of fun, and Michaela was entertained the entire time. It was pretty interesting though that I don't recall seeing even one Oriental person working in the entire place.

Well, we spent this past week in Foley visiting family. It was a great time. We installed wood floors in my parent's house among several other renovation projects. I was really surprised at how much I enjoyed installing the floor. I couldn't hardly move the next few days, but it was still a lot of fun. I would much rather do that than paint!!! Anyways, Michaela got to spend a lot of time with her great grandparents, great aunt, and BeBe and Dutch. She calls my mom BeBe. She doesn't want to refer to her as anything else. It is really precious to see her interact with family. She is showered with so much love and it really makes your heart go out for kids who don't get the love and affection that they deserve. They thrive on it! Anyways, I have to tell a BOB story for all of you who may or may not know my dad. Calling him crazy is such an understatement. Here is one of the funnies that happened this past week though:

Chris is a CiCi's pizza lover, so since he had been working his tail off in Foley, we decided to go to lunch there. Well, dad had some crusty, paint spotted clothes on, so I highly encouraged him to go change before we went to lunch. He thought that the notion of him having to have clean clothes on at a place like CiCi's was ridiculous. Anyways, we are getting stuff together to head out the door for lunch and dad comes out of his room yelling, "I'm ready to go!" I look up only to see his crack-head self in a full suit and tie. The only time he ever puts on that attire is for an evening wedding, and even then, that is iffy. Anyways, we laughed our tails off, even though he was being a smarty pants. That is just one story among several others I could share with you. I am so blessed to have such a fun dad. He always has us in stitches. Mom needs to get an award for putting up with all of his outlandish actions. If you know my dad, you know that there is noone else in the world quite like him.

Random Pics.

Michaela trying to share "paci" with her bunny.

I am a fan of the MC Hammer Pants. TOO cute.
Silly Girl.
This is Michaela and BunBun, her "attachment."
She loves to make muscles.