A Gami Kind of Day

I woke up this morning with a very strange need to make french toast. Need. I have no idea what prompted it, I just knew I had to make french toast. No one else at my breakfast table will eat french toast, so I made it just for myself. At the first delicious bite, I was suddenly back in Gami's kitchen. Cinnamon, sugar, and as many slices as we wanted (and everyone loves it just as much as me).
Fast forward to lunch and I found myself enjoying a juicy peach. And just as quickly, I'm next to Gami as I watch her turn overflowing baskets of Aunt Nancy's peaches into amazing "frozen peaches". Oh how divine! I could eat these forever, just have to be careful of the brain freeze from eating too quickly!
And then very unexpectedly, for dinner I have just received so many amazing fresh vegetables from a friends garden and as I stand there snapping green beans and slicing homegrown tomatoes, I am overcome with Gami! It is incredible how one person can be wrapped up in so many delicious memories. I am so thankful for these memories! How she comes alive for me with each taste, every snap of a bean. What a gift that was today to travel back to her love, poured out onto a plate. Can't wait to savor the leftovers tomorrow!

And I laugh as I look down just now and realize that I have been wearing her pants all day long...

Echoes of Thanks

A while ago I read a wonderful book by Margaret Feinberg called "The Sacred Echo". The book is about hearing God's voice and it states "When God really wants to get your attention, he doesn't just whisper something once. He echoes." This book had a big impact on me and I find myself thinking about it often and truly trying to listen to the echoes God is whispering to me in my daily life. I know that he is always there, whispering, urging, reminding, waiting. And sadly, I also know that the majority of it is missed, lost in the shuffle of this loud world I live in. But occasionally in the midst of it all I catch a whisper here and there. Recently I find myself with a deep desire to go deeper, closer with my Lord but there's more to it. I don't want this closeness with God to be a place I have to go to. I want it to be right where I am. That it be a place I never leave. So I find myself asking how? How do I walk with God at all times, feel him close to me, guiding me and in constant communion and conversation with him, even as I do the everyday things of my life where this can be so hard? So I began to hear many, many echoes:
"Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5:18
"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever." Psalm 136:2
"Always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." Ephesians 5:20
"I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds." Psalm 9:1
"Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name." Psalm 100:4
"He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me, and he prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God". Psalm 50:23

I could go on and on and on and thankfully, that is just what the Lord has done with me. I slowly started to see that each and everyday in so many different circumstances God has been reminding me to give thanks. I've read these verses so many times that I'd become numb to them. Yea, yea, give thanks. I know. I do. I am. But I'm not and I haven't been. The current book that God is using to speak to me is Ann Voskamp's "One Thousand Gifts". Her beautiful writing has opened my eyes to see my "sin of ingratitude". I see now that in order to be in that constant closeness with God, to truly be in His presence, is to be in a state of thanksgiving. Because when I am thankful, specifically thankful for all He has given, all that He is, all that He does, I am praising Him and I am truly seeing Him. Maybe for the first time. In thanksgiving there is no room for fear. There is no room for disappointment. There is no room for regret. There is no room for anger. In thanksgiving there is only love, and goodness, and glory.

Mortifying Mom Moment

The other day while in the waiting room of my doctor's office, Nolan was playing with blocks on the floor when a 9 month old baby came crawling up to him with his mother standing behind him. Nolan looked at the baby and then looked up at me with the sweetest face.




"Mommy, I going to kill the baby."
"WHAT?!?!"
"I going to kill the baby."
All of the blood drained out of my head as the baby's mom stared at me clearly hearing what my child just said. How in the world does my sweet boy know that word?! Surely he doesn't know that word! And even if he did learn this word from his big brother or somewhere else, there is no way that he would want to say this about a sweet baby!
All I could think to say was "What did you say??!!" over and over again, causing Nolan to repeat "I going to kill the baby" about 4 times, each time getting louder.
The entire waiting room is watching by now, horrified by this child and his obviously horrific mother.
The sweet baby's mother tries to make the situation better, bless her heart, and guesses "He wants to tickle the baby"??
Yes! Yes! That could be what he's saying...

Suddenly Nicholas looks up from the game he was engrossed in on my phone and swoops in to save the day.
"He said, he's gonna take care of the baby" Nolan confirmed that this was exactly what he had already said 5 times before!
We all breathed one giant sigh of relief--myself, the baby's mom, the entire waiting room!
Thank goodness my sweet boy is still my sweet boy! Nothing like a mortifying mom moment like this keep me humble in my parenting!

Nicholas: The 5 year mark

We've all heard it a million times, "they grow up so fast". I know it's true, but I'm still shocked when I experience it. Wasn't it just the other day that this picture was taken? But somehow a half a decade has come and gone and my sweet baby has gotten so big! He no longer fits in my arms but thankfully he still loves to cuddle and gives great hugs! We celebrated Nick's 5th birthday last week with a small party with some good friends at Glow in the dark putt putt. They had a blast with full access to the whole place and as much mini golf as they wanted! Afterwards, a few friends stuck around and we had fun exploring Discover Mills by riding the train through the mall and playing at the Lego store. Of course this wasn't our only celebration. We got the birthday festivities started early with a pool party and birthday celebration with cousin Mady and family a few weekends ago. For his birthday dinner he chose Moe's and Aunt Ashley joined us. And the celebrations still aren't over as tomorrow we'll celebrate with Mimi because they were on a fabulous trip to California the week of his birthday. It's more fun when it lasts all month right? So here's to our precious Nicholas on your 5th birthday! What an incredible boy you have become! You are the most loving, kind hearted friend and big brother. You always take such excellent care of Nolan and any other young children you are with. You make friends wherever you go and always make those friends feel special. And oh man are you a smart one with an incredible memory! Not a day goes by that you don't wow me with something you say or remember or have learned. I'm so glad I have you around everyday to remind me where I'm going and of our great memories! What in the world will I do without you all day when you go off to kindergarten in less than 2 months?! How can this be?? I had to stop the tears from flowing the other day as we went for your kindergarten screening and registering. You did an incredible job and the teacher was blown away by how well you did in all of the areas. You are going to be a kindergarten superstar!! I pray that these next five years go a little bit slower than these first 5 did and that we (I) focus more on savoring the present moments we are given and not rushing to the next milestone. I am overcome with gratitude for all of God's blessings that I so do not deserve yet He bestows anyway. And Nicholas, baby, you are one of those top blessings! How in the world I got the honor of being your Mom, I will never know but hope to never take for granted. It is an honor that God has entrusted your Daddy and I with and we hope to shape and impact your life for Christ's good works that He has prepared in advance for you--just you! Oh the places you'll go!! Happy Birthday, Nicholas Scott Garrison! What a joy you are!

6 months in a glance

6 months. A lot has happened in 6 months. I didn't intend to disappear for 6 months, it just kind of happened. We have experienced so much change in these 6 months, it's incredible to look back on it. We've had many highs and many lows as well. We've experienced milestones, birthdays, vacations, graduations, and unfortunately the loss of loved ones. We've grown physically, emotionally, and most importantly spiritually. There's no way to catch up all that I've missed sharing in this time so I will just post some recent updates and photos. Nolan turned 2! We had a wonderful family Christmas I live with some really cute SuperHeroes! Papa turned 93! We had an AMAZING trip to Disney World!! Nick loved playing Weeball again this year. Love this great picture Nicholas took of us at the Chattahoochee Nature Center Happy Easter! Jesus is Risen! Mother-son Date Knight at Chick-fil-a Had a blast in Hilton Head! Mother's Day Nicholas Graduates from Preschool!!! Graham's book signing for Legacy Road! And those were just some of the highlights! I hope to do a better job of staying up to date with the blog from here on out and share what God is doing in and for and through our family. God is so good! His love never fails and I am forever humbled by the work He continues to do in our lives! I'll be back soon, I promise!

Birthdays and Turkeys

November is a fun month for birthdays on my side of the family! We've had fun celebrating Mimi's 60th (!!) and PopPop's birthdays in between their travels. Nicholas was really sweet about making them birthday cards and picking out a very pretty bracelet for Mimi for her birthday. Cousin Kristin's birthday is later in the month and now we just added another birthday to November as we got the exciting news that Cousin Ryan and Natalie's baby was born last night! Welcome to the family Violet Jean Hensley! Can't wait to meet you precious one! Other than all the birthday fun, we also got to spend last weekend at Grandad and Kaki's house which was very fun and relaxing as always! We are all looking forward to heading back for Thanksgiving next week. And today was Nick's preschool Thanksgiving feast which is always so much fun to go see and eat! They sang some great songs for the parents and then we got to eat some delicious food and meet his friends and their families. I am looking forward to this holiday season and am being very purposeful to make it special but not stressful. I am really simplifying and focusing on the important things and trying to make things heartfelt and not commercial. We are so blessed and I hope to just spend this time being thankful with my amazing family--each and every one of you. Here are some cute pictures. The one of the boys is from the other day. I was making lunch for them and came to tell them it was ready and I found them cuddled up in a chair together just like this. They are truly the sweetest brothers ever! How did I get so lucky? ;)

More fall pictures

Well I have too many photos to share so here are some more ;)