Time for a new doo

So because I'm getting old and I have no desire to change my family or my job, the only thing I have left to change is my hair. So the great Lauren went to work. Three hours later I was a curly headed blond! Of course that meant it was picture time. Daddy met me and the boys to try and get some good pictures for BJ for fathers day. I've been wanting to replace the candle thingie over the mantle with a huge picture of my sweet boys for some time. I guess I was waiting until Drew was big enough to cooperate...and boy did we get some beautiful pictures. Of course, I was so excited that I just HAD to tell BJ, so I ruined the suprise, but he got to pick his favorite!
Devlan is now officially on summer break and I am on baby watch. I've got one friend at work 4 days from her due date (and yes I'm praying she will go into labor AT work so I get to be there), 2 of my very close friends are due in August, then add Devlan's 1st grade teacher and our friend who is due in July. I don't know if there is something in the water or if people just got really bored this past fall....
We are trying to decide what activities the boys will do over the next couple of months. Devlan wants to play basketball in the winter, but could play baseball or football in the fall. I am totally against football because Devlan would be the one constantly getting hurt (after all this is the kid that I had to wrap an ace bandage around his leg when he skinned his leg on Sunday and it wasn't even bleeding). Drew would probably love football but isn't old enough and I doubt the other kids would be tough enough for Captain Destructo. I am thinking of sending Drew to gymnastics classes after he had ball at Emma's birthday party at the Little Gym (where they have all sorts of gymnastic equipment). And then we have to decide a short term camp or longer term classes....so many decisions and so little brain power

Drewdie's on summer break

So due to some extenuating circumstances Drew is done with school for this year. BJ is taking on the very difficult task of home-schooling over the summer months. BJ is going to take time to teach Drew through school work on paper but also by teach him to be a servant of the Lord Jesus. Today they are painting the house of a sister-in-Christ who is preparing for a new baby soon. I can't imagine my Drewdie in any better hands. I'm still not sure how I nabbed a man that is sooo handsome and strong and wise and tender....God is too good to me!

Mother's Day Menu

I'm very excited that Mimi, G-Daddy, KK, Scott, and all the kiddos will be coming to the Brantley house for lunch on Sunday. Cooking for people is my absolute most favorite thing to do. Here's what we're having:

• Parmesan chicken with homemade honey mustard (Mimi' request)
• Green bean bundles
• Parmesan carrots (yes we like Parmesan ALOT)
• homemade yeast rolls
• roast potatoes (South African style)
• Strawberry pie for dessert

I can't wait!

G-Daddy Masterpiece

I know he's mine and I'm totally partial...but this is a beautiful picture of a beautiful child!

See Gdaddyproductions.com for more!

The Great Wolfe Lodge, Baseball, D-Now, and a Legacy

The Great Wolfe Lodge ROCKS! We had a ball in Concord at the indoor water park. The family water slides were amazing and we had many laughs with Mimi and G-Daddy. Devlan loved playing Magic Quest, where you get a wand that activates all sorts of things throughout the resort. The game is essentially an electronic scavenger hunt that both the adults and kids had a great time figuring out. Drew and BJ spent alot of time in the arcade and I caught BJ on more than one occasion playing Guitar Hero :)

Devlan is now in the full swing of baseball season. He is having a great time and I know I'm partial, but he's actually pretty good. He play 1st base and consistently gets good hits. On Wednesday night he got his 1st ever Grand Slam....before too long his head won't fit through the door jam.

BJ and I got to go with a group of friends to participate in a D-Now weekend in Clayton. This is an overnight youth event that focused on sharing the gospel and God showed up big time! This church was amazing, welcoming us with open arms and very sweet hearts. It was so awesome for BJ and I to get back to our roots...youth ministry. I have so missed being with teenagers and having the opportunity to speak into their lives. As usual I showed up hoping to be used by God to bless the life of a teenager and I was the one who left changed. Over this weekend I was reminded of God's goodness and of evils very real hold on much of our world. My heart, for the 1st time in a long time, was broken for lost and hurting students. So often I live happily in my Jesus bubble, content in my own salvation and forgetting that there are broken and scarred people all around me. With open eyes I am seeing the unexplainable pain of a child and also being reminded of God's grace that makes beauty from ashes. Please pray for the teenagers of Clayton, NC as they seek to find out who God really is.

Finally, I've had another profound parenting moment this week. As my heart was already tender from D-now and sensitive to hearing the Spirit of Jesus whisper to me this is what I realized: My children have an awesome and rare gift....a full legacy of people that truly long to love and serve Jesus. I see Grandma serving babies each week in the nursery, showing them the love of Christ by rocking and changing diapers. I watch G-Daddy use his God-given talents to share the love of Christ to complete strangers. I see Mimi constantly sacrificing to join with us in prayer for our ministries. And then there's Papa, playing the drums for Jesus each and every Sunday. Devlan and Drew have something worth far more than a large trust fund or society pages could ever offer....a WHOLE family who loves and is actively serving Jesus. What a legacy to leave with them!

Lord Jesus, thank you for the family you have blessed us with and I pray that you will in turn bless those that have so selflessly loved us and those that are teaching, with their lives, the importance of loving you. You're goodness is almost too much for me and my cup is full.

A few Easter pics

You've got to love Drewdie's precious green smile and Devlans huge cheese!

Today 2000 years ago

So today is a crazy day for me. Being a tax accountant, we are pushing everything that is due on April 15th out the door today so that everyone can enjoy their Easter weekend (instead of working all weekend.) But, this morning, on my way to work I spent some time talking outloud to the Lord as I often do. (In this age of hands-free I get less crazy looks than I used to.) I couldn't get over the magnitude of what was happening this day over 2000 years ago. Instead of my normal listing of please give me and provide for me and forgive me fors, I just asked Jesus over and over was he thinking of me when he was scourged, beaten, spit upon, mocked, nailed to the cross, crowned with thorns and as he felt the weight of my sin as His Father turned his back. His resounding response to me was YES! He loved ME that much. That sounds very diferent that "For God so loved the world", what God was saying through John was "For God so loved Nicole". WOW! He would have done it just for me or you had we been the only ones on the planet. This is a love I hope I never get over and I'm sure I will never understand. Jesus suffered all of this WILLINGLY. Yes, he was nailed to the cross, but he laid down on that cross of his own will. He could have called a legion of angels to free him, but instead he hung there, in agony, thinking of me. Loving me so much, even in my wickedness, and knowing I would never be able to earn forgiveness, so He paid my debt for me. So today I am going to spend the day just thinking of Him and thanking Him for this amazing thing that He's done for me.


Isaiah 53:3b-6, "We turned our backs on Him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care. Yet it was our weaknesses He carried; it was our sorrows that weighed Him down...But He was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins! He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. All of us, like sheep have strayed away. We have left God's paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on Him the sins of us all." (NLT)