{Christmas 2017} Polar Express

We had another great year at Polar Express! 

Grady was a bit grumpy at the beginning and refused a picture with the conductor... so Unc D took his place! Haha! 





Both boys were actually quiet, still and listening! I was surprised Grady was ;-) Our reader this year did an excellent job. He had fun voice changes for the people. 

And the biggest surprise of all?! Grady didn’t cry when he saw Santa! He actually smiled for a picture! Wow! 

Thirty, Flirty and Thriving... or 35 that is!

Today I turned 35 (shocking for several of you to hear that I actually know my correct age for once, haha!). 

I am not a huge birthday person. I don’t dislike them, but I am not also the type who announces my birthday for a month to every person within 5 miles. Somewhere between high school and college, I determined that every time I set high expectations for how wonderful my birthday would be I ended up sad and sorely disappointed. Hyping it up just seemed to make any changes to plans dramatic and devastating, haha! So I just quit celebrating it really. 

So most years my family and close friends will do sweet and simple gestures for me, but nothing elaborate and crazy. This year was a perfect low key birthday in my opinion. 

Today we had church, and my boys and parents brought me cupcakes in ice cream cones- which is a childhood favorite of mine! My mom used to make these all the time for me and Misty, and her making them with my boys was the sweetest little flashback. 

Then we had lunch at home and my dad changed my brake pads and rotors for my bday, that’s what thirty-something adult gifts look like! Ha! I was so glad not to have to pay the shop to do it, I am so over large bills right now! My mom finished getting the boys clothes all updated in the right sizes, which is my least favorite task on the planet. Then we headed up to the Talton Gender Reveal- finding out our Redeemer Family will be getting another little girl in the nursery soon :-)

And tonight for dinner my guys and I went out to Chuys, which is pretty much our place. 

The day was filled with such normal life. And as I continue into my 30’s, I appreciate that more and more. 

On Friday, my sweet work family spoiled me with decorations (including my fav Gilmore Girls!), and delicious food! I also got the most practical but fabulous presents- coffee and breakfast bars! Ha! They get me ;-)  

Griffin’s Baptism!!!

Griffin accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior in Mr.Pate’s van after family VBS last summer. Though he was young, he truly displayed and understood the gospel. We were so excited! 

Fast forward to this Fall and we finally got our portable baptistry, so Griffin got to be the first to use it! What a sweet memory having his dad baptize him in the church we have labored for most of his life❤️. 

This was one of my favorite moments as a parent to date, and brought me so much joy. 

Congratulations Griffin! We are praying you continue to walk with our amazing Savior all the days of your life!! We love you! 

When Time Seems to Overwhelm...

Something has shifted in my life the past few years. If you were to look in my blog archives, you will see when I first began all the way until 2011 there were hundreds of posts a year. In 2011 Griffin was born, and in 2012 he became a mobile tiny human. From there the posts began to dwindle... and with it maybe a bit of "me". Over the last two years there has been a dramatic drop in posts, and the posts I do have are simply photo journals of life events we have happening so I do not lose those memories in the depths of google photos. Haha!

I think its totally normal for young moms to lose pieces of themselves for a bit, or to change as their lives and priorities shift. I do not think this is a bad thing. I think what has been hard for me is that I used my blog as a great way to "think out loud". It was a mixture of a family journal (because I am awful at keeping a real journal, and I cannot keep up with making scrapbooks or photobooks to save my life) and a mental venting ground for me. I could process through what I was thinking or how I was growing. And it created room in my brain to just be present.

Once I had two energetic boys, a church plant, a husband with two or three jobs, a full time job of my own, and family and friends to keep track of there just did not seem to be time to actually stop and type out my thoughts. I found myself beginning posts in my head about how I feel about something or why I think we need to work on something... but those posts never made it to the screen.

They always say time flies, and since having kids I preach the truth of this saying frequently. But not only does time fly, there just never seems to be enough of it! I want to create breathing room in my mind and soul. I want to be present. I want to savor the moments because I know they will be gone all to quickly.

But how do we do this? I also want to be a great wife. I want to meet my husbands needs, and be a helpmate to him. I want to love my children. I want to create a wonderful environment for them to grow and learn and develop. Part of these tasks is having a home that is clean and organized so they can find their things or have food to eat or have clean clothes to wear. These tasks also seem to fill my mind with things to wonder, research or do. Did I pay that bill? Did I make that appointment? How do I help him learn these spelling words the best? What can we do to help him potty train? What kind of dinners will the kids like that can also be healthy? When should they get the flu shot? How can we do a better job discipling our children? Should we focus more on memorizing scripture or teaching them the catechism etc etc etc? How can we best reach out to our neighbors? The thoughts go on and on and on and on and on... its exhausting.

I sent this verse (which is one of my all time favorites) to someone the other day, because they were overwhelmed and anxious...

And yet as I sit and have these thought this morning, I am struck that I have allowed myself to go years without truly following it... when I keep my mind stayed on Jesus, that's when I will have the breathing room to be present. He is the only one who can lift this mental burden of motherhood, or wifehood, of ministry, of being human.

So, hopefully you will see more actual thought-filled posts here soon. But if not, lets strive together to keep our minds Stayed on Him. Only He has lasting Peace.

Through the Grace of Christ Alone,

Sabrina

Pa-sticks DC Vacay Day Three

Day Three we headed for Air and Space Museum bright and early (well not really bright, it was raining actually). When we got off the metro Jason got to see some Food Trucks- which is one of the things he really wanted to do while here!



I apparently only snapped one picture in the Air and Space Smithsonian museum. Bummer because there were some neat rockets, a really cool visual of the size of the planets in relation to each other (for instance, I had no idea Jupiter was sooo much bigger than Earth!), and tons of Apollo mission stuff just to name a few.


It rained that day, and it was cold inside so Unc D shared his jackets with the boys... which looked too cute! Haha!


After Air and Space, we walked across National Mall to the Natural History Museum... in the rain...


And saw the Washington Monument on the way...


This one was a hit. We loved the big elephant in the lobby. Then we headed to Ocean Hall and saw a giant whale.





Then we went through the human origins area and weren't too enthralled. Luckily the mammal area was next and the boys were interested again. They had lots of fake animals that looked very realistic and were kind of like being at a zoo :-)


We headed upstairs and went to the Dino area.., where Griffin was chased by a T-rex...


Just kidding :-)





The rest of this museum was a bit of a struggle because we were getting tired and sick of walking. Ha! But we went through the gem area and saw the Hope Diamond and lots and lots of other gems, which was pretty and Griffin liked I think. Grady was good and walked through even though I don't think he really enjoyed it. We also saw a bone area and mummies. Then we visited the store and a kid room with a few activities for kids to explore. Finally we were ready to head home and cook dinner. Grady was exhausted apparently...


After dinner, Griffin and I brought out a surprise we had brought- glow sticks for a dance party!





The while we were getting ready for bed, Grady was jumping on the bed and hit his head on a metal air conditioner. It was the biggest goose egg I have ever seen! He was just fine though.




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Pa-sticks DC Vacay Day Two

So we decided to head to the Zoo on our first full day, because they were calling for rain the next few days anyhow. It looked like it was kinda far from downtown D.C. on the map and google maps said driving would be way faster than riding the Metro, so we drove.... and it was stressful. Haha! But we made it to the Zoo in one piece!

We headed to see the Panda Bears first, which did not disappoint.


We saw two outside moving around and getting themselves some Bamboo to eat. Then we saw a baby one hanging in a tree! So cute! And finally one was inside sleeping on a rock and looking so cute.

We saw some Gorillas also...


It was around feeding time, and one got a brown bag of food from a zoo keeper then came to the corner we were at. So the boys had a cute lunch date! Haha!

Then we saw some Orangutans, and one came up to the window and interacted with us a little!! It was awesome!


And the Tiger and Lions were all active- which I feel like never happens at Zoos! They are always sleeping in the day. But the Tiger decided twice to go take a dip in the water, but didn't want to get its head wet! Haha.























We saw some elephants inside, but none outside. We also got to see these cute tamarin monkeys who kept slamming their little house door on each other, it was hilarious! We saw giraffes and huge turtles and other small animals. It was definitely a pretty good zoo- and the fact it was free really was awesome.


We had planned to do a picnic lunch at a park close by, but the address Google took us too was just a historic house we couldn't go in... no tables or playground or anything. So we picnicked in our vans with the air on! Haha! Then we navigated back to the hotel. We made a food plan and Jen, Dustin and I drove to a "nearby" Walmart.... which turned out to be 45 min away through awful awful traffic and merging. Jen handled it like a champ though!!

We cooked dinner and walked to get ice cream in our Crystal City neighborhood we stayed in. Then hit the hay :-)

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