Blog Make-over

Some things never change

AG-1 week old

and today...

She loves her daddy.

Sunday Pics

It's no secret that I love taking pics of my precious sweeties. So, there is no explanation needed...

My precious firstborn

I love Edy looking up at her big si.

And AG is looking up at me in this one. So sweet.

Desktop Background

A new desktop background  for the fam...

Giggles and Grins

Edy has the cutest laugh! Check out the video to see what I mean. She really gets going near the end.


Grins and Giggles from Leslie Hale on Vimeo.

Moving

That's right, our little family is moving to Texas. Graham has taken a position as the pastor of Fellowship Bible Church in Eastern Texas. We are saddened to leave our church family and friends here in Fort Smith, but we are looking forward to what God has in store next. Plus, I am going to be a stay-at-home-mommy for a while!

More on all of this later...

Now, someone buy our house!

All by myselp!

Not a typo...that's how AG says it. And believe me, we hear that phrase ALL of the time. She is Miss Independent!

This morning, she told me that she made her bed all by "herselp."

Am I a bad mother for fixing it? Seriously.

Edy Grows-5 months

Normally, it is so easy for me to get Edy to smile. For the life of me, I could not get her to smile for these pictures.

Edy, you continue to be our happy, content, laid-back little girl!

Okay, I know that I'm CONSTANTLY mentioning that Edy is laid-back. But, it is SO true! Don't get me wrong, she has her moments--like all babies. But for the most part, she is so chill. I'm anxious to see if her temperament changes as she gets older or if she will always be laid-back.

At five months you:

• roll over both ways
• sit supported
• bear some weight on your legs
• grasp toys and move them to your free hand
• eat 6 times a day (one of those feedings is rice cereal)
• sleep from 8:15p.m.-7:00a.m. (Since you were six weeks old, you have only woken up once in the middle of the night. *knock on wood*)
• love jumping in the Jumperoo
• LOVE your momma (thrills my soul!)

Happy Father's Day, Graham

Happy Father's Day, Graham. I love you. The girls are so fortunate to have you as their dad. I am so lucky to have you as my husband.

AG and Daddy

AG and Daddy

RoRo and Daddy

Staying cool by the pool

It's HOT! We are enjoying playing in the cool pool.

Until it rains. Then we have to come inside.

AG said, "Go away rain. I wanna play in my pool."

Like Mother Like Daughter

AG was playing with some buttons this afternoon and she organized them by color. Hmmm...wonder where she gets that?

Hangin' at Na's

Last week, while Graham was in Nicaragua, we went to Conway to hang out for a few days.

Na has a little play room set up for the kids. AG loves it. Tuesday, while everyone was at work and AG was playing, I put Edy in the baby doll high chair. It was cute, but some things truly AREN'T for kids! HA! I had to pry her out of this thing.

You are one a crazy Momma! Haven't you seen the size of my legs!?!

My dear friend, Yvonne, took some pics of the girls on Wednesday. AG LOVED her pretty dress.

Furniture Transformations

When my maternity leave ended, Aunt K.K. came and kept Edy for the remainder of the school year. I was so thankful that Edy did not need to go to a daycare and that she was in wonderful care in the comfort of our own home.
In a few short weeks, Casey is moving into her own apartment and has a ton of great furniture. She asked me if I would help her refinish some pieces to better fit her taste. After all she has done for us, I wanted to help her in any way I could.

While Graham was in Nicaragua, the girls and I headed down to Conway so Casey and I could spend our evenings sanding, staining, and painting furniture.

{before}

The first piece that we refinished was so much fun. I sanded, stained, and polyurethane-d this cart for a whole new look. What do you think?
We did the same thing to this little baker's rack for the same look.
The second night, we did a lot of spray painting. I forgot to take pictures of these items before we started, but believe me--they look completely different.
This mirror looks fabulous in person. We sprayed it black and I sanded up the corners for a great transformation.
We put down plastic drop cloths while painting. This is what our feet looked like at the end of the night! HA!

Above: A picture of what one of the side tables looked like before we stained it.

Above: I wish I had taken a picture of this nightstand before we started staining it. Casey power-sanded it, we added a couple of coats of a dark mahogany stain, and added new hardware. It looks great!
Above: This was an unfinished wood table. A couple of coats of a Cranberry Red paint and Wah-lah! This is going to look great on your patio, Casey.
Above: This is a picture of the queen size bed that will be in Casey's master bedroom. Please excuse the sand particles in the air. I think I took this picture when Casey was power sanding one of the nightstands.
Above: The bed after a couple of coats of stain.
This little wicker shelf ended up being so cute after the many coats of spray paint finally covered all of the brown.
When Graham and I married, his parents gave us this cabinet. When AG moved into her "big girl room" we no longer had the space for it.

On the final night, Casey and I painted it black and I sanded the corners. I LOVE how it turned out.

Casey, I had a great time working on all of the furniture with you. I can't wait to see it all in your new place.

Sew Much Fun!

Some of the ladies at church get together once a month to work on certain craft projects. I don't get to attend because I am working when they meet. Today, I got to go and I am so glad that I did.

I have always wanted to learn to sew. I've sewn a couple of things in my lifetime, but always with assistance. I want to be able to sit in my home and sew on my own. Thanks to the help of some of our ladies, I not only made a dress for Edy, but I came home and started making some things all on my own!

I look like a natural! The key word in that last sentence--LOOK! Looks are SO deceiving!

This is a simple pillowcase dress I made for Rosie. What do you think?

Like I said, when I made it home, I decided to work on some things all on my own. I've said before that I am a ribbon junkie--I put some of my stash to good use today. For a baby shower I was given some plain burp cloths. I added a little ribbon to them. Wah-lah!

I added some iron-on letters to this one.

And some iron-on flowers to this one. I don't know how well that will work with all the spit-up! Probably should have thought that one through a little better.

My stitch on the first cloth I made! Ha!

I got a lot better by the last one!

Our Church

Eight years ago our church was formed. In the earlier years, the location of the church moved several times which was difficult.

In April of 2006, Chris became the pastor. I think I should mention that Chris is one of Graham's best friends. They grew up together in Conway. In August of 2006, Graham came on as the Youth and Kids minister. At the time, this position was bi-vocational. Graham had just finished his Masters degree at Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary. Chris contacted Graham about the position and after a lot of prayer and visiting the church, we knew the Lord was leading us to Fort Smith. I didn't know what the Lord was doing. I mean, Graham had never really shown a strong interest in Youth and Kids ministry--his degree is in Missions and he thought he would be in an outreach, small groups, assimilation, and mobilization type role. God had other plans.

So, we moved to Fort Smith and started our life here. At the time, the church was meeting in a rented facility that was about 4,000 square feet. It was little bitty! In November of 2006, a church building across town went on the market and our church bought it. God really provided an awesome place for us--two buildings, a large parking lot, and a big open field. The front building consisted of an older sanctuary (where we had baptisms), office, and kids area. The back building contains our worship center with our kitchen, nursery, and some classroom space.

In January of 2008, Graham came on full-time at the church as the Discipleship Pastor. We were thrilled. His job description changed a bit to included small group ministry, mobilization, etc.

A few months ago, some pipes busted and completely flooded the office area of the front building. Graham, Chris, and the church secretary temporarily set up their offices in different areas of the building.

The offices were completely gutted, remodeled, and almost finished.

A few nights ago, were were informed that the front building caught on fire. We still don't know the cause of the fire.








It is devastating that all of Chris and Graham's books, seminary papers, computers,and guitars were lost in the fire--not to mention all of the other things that were lost.
This is the worship center--completely untouched by the fire! Praise God!
I've always admired this oak tree. It stands firm between the two buildings.

This fire has been a horrible event, but I know that God is in control and He has mapped out a plan for our church. In my little story, I didn't include all of the wonderful things that God has done for us throughout our four years here. With that said, I look forward in great anticipation of what He has planned next.