1st beach trip

Lillie loves water and so we took a spontaneous little drive to Galveston yesterday. It was raining on and off so we couldn't do much, but the little bit that she experienced, she loved! I can't wait to play with you more there little Lilster! And to share my first plate of hummus with you (we ate at Olympia Grill.) I hope you love ethnic food as much as your momma does...esp. sushi! :) You were a joy to watch in God's creation but yesterday sure did tire you out.

I promise not every post now will be about Lillie! But since I am not on any social network (kinda loathe them), you will see lots of pictures on here! :)

Lillie Joy

Well, as my last post stated, it has been awhile and would take too much time to go back, so I am just gonna keep moving forward! What life calls for sometimes anyways though, right? So here is an update on my bundle of pure JOY! Lillie is 4 months old now and is beginning to develop her own little personality! She seems to resemble herself alone right now. She weighs 13lbs and still wears 0-3 months clothes so perhaps she will take after my size...ha! Lillie takes great naps and sleeps through the night (averages about 12 hours a night...so blessed!) She looks great in pink and has the prettiest, largest and most alert blue eyes that I have ever seen!

She loves...being sung and read too; watching mickey mouse clubhouse and doing the hotdog dance with mommy; looking at pictures of herself on my phone; being outside; sitting up; her crib (will only sleep there); sitting in her sling on me and me walking everywhere; her bouncer; her daddy; full attention from people; playing with her toys; minnie mouse; sucking her thumb; making raspberries; and esp. bath time and her massages with lotion after! :) She is also hillarious and makes the funniest faces!

I have a feeling this little munchkin will be totally unlike her mommy and very divalicious! I can't wait to see all that she will be like! But for now, I am completely in love with this gift from God! She is such a blessing and a joy...named appropriately! Lillie, I pray that you live as your name, which means, purity, beauty, innocence, jewel, rejoicing and delight! And I hope you sense Zephaniah 3:17 all around you! My little girl/my monkey...You are so loved! :)

Catching Up...

I have thought about posting a dozen times but then something in life always creeps up and steals my time! :) In brief...since I last wrote, I got married to Steven Buchanan on March 19, 2011; honeymooned in Anguilla with my new husband; moved into our first house; got pregnant; had a baby girl named, Lillie Joy Buchanan, on March 20, 2012; watched my husband become a firefighter; and through it all have continued working for YL. Here is it all chronicled briefly through pictures. I am going to start blogging again now! :) If the pictures are not in order, I am sorry. Blogger confuses me! :)

The Nativity

I just finished watching the movie, The Nativity with Steven. I love that movie. What a great thing to stop and pause and watch this time of year. On KSBJ today someone said, "You wouldn't go to someone's Birthday party and bring everyone there a birthday present but them. However, that is what we do at Christmas. We buy everyone a present and neglect presenting our very selves (His greatest gift) to Jesus, the man of honor." A good and true word. I reflected on that, amongst many other things, while watching The Nativity. It really hit me (as I watched the story I have heard and read so many times played out on the big screen), the theme of humility and opposition. Jesus chose a humble girl, a righteous man, a humble manger, and a bunch of humble shepherds all to be a part of this beautiful story. For it is through the unlikely that He shows Himself strong! And not only that, but then I got to thinking about all the opposition that they faced. I grew up thinking that if things didn't work out "perfectly," then you must not be in God's will. But that is so far from the truth. In reality, if you are facing opposition, then most of the time you know that you are in God's will. That is Jesus Himself's story! Now don't get me wrong, sometimes we face opposition due to our own sin. And also, there is a peace that comes with being in God's will. However, His peace usually comes with a sword. Take Mary & Joseph for example...they were considered humble, righteous, highly favored, yet if you really think about it, I'm sure they faced much ridicule, gossip, slander, judgement, etc. They couldn't even find a place in which to birth Jesus in! And they had to flee from their own home town. And all b/c Jesus chose them to carry Him. But that is true of us. We live in a world that doesn't even understand morality, much less the choices we make for the "much more" of God, to live like a George Bailey. But as I previously blogged, if we endure the opposition, we will gain Jesus. And that truly is the greatest gift that we have. I pray and hope that you un-wrap that gift this year my friends. It will require humility, sacrifice, righteousness, and probably some opposition, but it also comes with the "much more" of our Savior. Trust me, it's worth it! :) Nothing good ever comes easy! Merry Christmas!!!

It's a Wonderful Life

I love watching Christmas movies this time of year. And now Steven is forced to be a part of it. :) One of the ones that we watched (and he had never seen) was, It's a Wonderful Life. A classic. I've seen it before but this time it really hit home to me and made me cry. What I noticed was that the constant theme of George's life was sacrifice. He was always sacrificing in order to help someone else out. And at times, he would get bitter for it and lose perspective...like he did at the end of the movie when he was ready to take his own life. I love it when the angel comes down and shows George what life would be like without him in it. People are worse off and it grieves George. And then the angel explains that it's amazing how one man can affect so many peoples lives. Thats so true. We are here for a purpose. And sometimes I don't think that we realize what we do really matters. Our sins don't just affect us, they affect everyone around us. Just as our obedience. There is fruit all around us. Since my fast, I have grieved for the body of Christ to take their stands in the Kingdom of God. I think that it is sadly safe to say that most of us aren't. I felt Jesus grieving over me about that during my fast and I have decided to step up to the plate. Although far from perfect, since that decision I have seen a change and now I grieve for the rest of the body to do the same. So many un-touched lives b/c we are choosing not to be "displays of the Glory of God." I pray that the Church rises up in 2011! I pray we see our wonderful inheritance in Christ, and live for it here on earth so that others may see and want it themselves. Otherwise, eventually we will find ourselves like George Bailey and that's a sad place that too many are in. We'll either be at the end of ourselves, or realize we had no impact. Let's sacrifice instead. Lose ourselves for the sake of the Kingdom, and therefore gain the Kingdom. That is why Jesus came this time of year after all, right?! As one of my favorite Shane & Shane Christmas songs states, "He was born to die!" May we follow suit and die to ourselves, that we may truly live and shine His life to those around us to catch onto!

In conclusion, I wanted to post some pictures of the rest of my fun December thus far since my last post... :)

A true Christmas evening with our friend's, the Park's, over egg nog and chestnuts roasting on an open fire (people really do that what the song states...ha!)


Another Christmas evening out with our friend's, Jarrad & Crystal. What started out as a sushi dinner out and looking at Christmas lights in River Oaks, turned into crashing a Christmas party at a random person's house in River Oask...hillarious! :)


But here's lights really here! :)

Letters to Santa! :)

Steven and I watching Christmas movies as earlier stated (see here the enthusiasm that Steven and Linus have for doing this...ha!)


many days at my friend, Aimee's house as we chat and are entertained by her new puppy, Piper!

YL's last events of 2010...Our All area Red Neck Christmas tradition...



And our annual YL all area Christmas party (Steven was practicing & marking his territory) :)


And the rest of Red Neck Christmas (see if you can find my man's normal background poses in pictures...lovely!) :)