George Elliot

I don’t want to say too much because I think it would only take away from this awesome quote by George Elliott. I came across it in Charlotte Gambill’s amazing book: Identity. I’m so thankful for the wisdom of others…

“Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person: having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but to pour them out. Just as they are – chaff and grain together, knowing that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then with the breath of kindness, blow the rest away.”

Wow. I want to be a friend like that.

Happy…um…New Year :)

So its 2010…

I recently looked over my goals from 2009 and while I’d only met about 1/2 of them,

I felt amazingly full reflecting on the year.

Some of the Dup highlights:

Our precious girls turned 1 and 3

Brad and I celebrated10 years of marriage – we went to NYC

Both our girls had their first surgeries

We had our 2nd miscarriage

Sage started walking…and running

I turned 30

Brie started preschool and dancing

Brad completed 11 years on staff at HPC

I led a bible study with my good friend, Sarah

Brie went to the beach for the first time. She built a huge sandcastle with her Uncle Buck

Brad and I spent a night in New Orleans at the Ritz Carlton – a gift from some great friends

Brad helped pioneer the 1st annual Dirt Conference

We all spent a week in Washington, DC with the 19 members of the Becnel family

Brie was the flower girl in my cousin’s wedding

Brad traveled to Raleigh, Little Rock, and San Diego for work

Brie and I went to Florida on a special girls’ trip

It was a fantastic year. God is so good. Looking forward to 2010

She’s 1: part 1

Look how cute she looks coloring…

Notice the wall behind her…

And this is her giving me her dad’s you-see-what-had-happened-was face:

Clearly, it’s the crayon’s fault.

Concept adopted from Heather Whittaker’s blog

Christmas Cards

I love, love, love Christmas cards.

Apparently so does Sage.

That would be the Tullos family that she’s standing on tiptoe to kiss.

They just so happen to have 2 adorable sons…

Ok, so maybe its not just the cards that she loves.

It’s the actual people in the cards.

I agree Sage

Decorating the Tree…

Our Christmas tree has more than its share of our ornaments near its bottom branches…

Several branches have more than one ornament on them.

Brad and I were gonna “fix” it.

But then we decided it was fixed

Wisdom vs. Bubble Gum

Last night at bedtime we read the Bible story about when Solomon asked God for wisdom…

Which led to a discussion that went something like this:

me: “Brie, if God asked you what you wanted most out of everything in the world, what would you ask Him for? Solomon asked that God would make him really smart.”

Without a moment’s hesitation, Brie replied:

“I’d ask Him for bubble gum.”

Of course she would.

The current bubble gum rule in the Dup house states:

“No bubble gum til age 4.”

Brie is 3 1/2.

I guess what you want/need most all depends on your current situation

Friends

I don’t have enough time or space to write how wonderful my friends…and family (who are also my friends) have been to me, Brad and the girls over the past week.

If you don’t know, Brad and I miscarried last week.

While our hearts are sad, we are hopeful and thankful for all that we have been blessed with. (Plus I believe we now have 2 angels in heaven that we’ll see one day)

And after the 20+ phone call, email, text, hug, prayer, meal, card, facebook comment, tweet,  etc. -

I cannot help but say how completely amazing our friends are. They held us up this week and it absolutely made all the difference in the world.

Thank you.

The future is bright

Favorites

Sage has a new favorite person lately…

His name is Daddy

Trice

“I will pour out my spirit on your descendents. They will spring up like grass in a meadow, like poplar trees by flowing streams. One will say, ‘I belong to the Lord’; another will call himself by the name of Jacob; still another will write on his hand, ‘The Lord’s,” and will take the name Israel.

Isaiah 44

Happy to announce we look forward to welcoming our 3rd blessing in May, 2010.

Rockstar

If you know my girls, you know that I dress them very girly. Fluff, frill, glitter, jewels, animal print…all totally my thing. Daily (gigantic) bows are a dup-girl core value.

However…

the rockstar-ish look is sooo cute on little girls – I’m just not real confident in how to do it.

Brad and I saw the cutest little girl in NYC. She had on black and white striped knee-high socks with a short yellow skirt and yellow chucks. She was super-cute.

So here is my attempt to bring a little rockstar into our pretty princess world:

I couldn’t forgo the bow