The Eyes

When I look into her eyes I see a very smart, loving, caring and curious kid. I see me and of course I see Chad. I see the baby that I held in my arms six years ago. I see my first born baby growing up into an incredible little girl. I see a girl who is on fire to learn EVERYTHING and ANYTHING...I see the future and pray that she follows God all of her life. I see the girl who will eventually graduate High School and college and get married and have a family of own. I see my life in her eyes ONLY BETTER... But most of all I see in her eyes is LOVE...She loves me for me. No matter what I wear or how I look or how mad I make her she loves me unconditional. And guess what? I love her unconditional as well. I hope that I can always guide her in the right direction and allow her to live the life of Gods child.Sometimes its just good to look into the eyes of your child. No matter how old she is in pictures when I look into her eyes I see the same little girl staring back at me. I AM TRULY BLESSED

Newborn pics by Laurie Keen

Thanks soooo much to Laurie Keen for taking these WONDERFUL pics of my precious little girls...God is so good to me and my family...

Understanding.... the world!

At what point will we as "human beings" start helping people all the time and not only when there is a crisis? Don't get me wrong I am all about helping the people of Haiti but why do we need to send them so much money when we don't have it to send? And we have known for MANY MANY years that they have been living well below the poverty level and have we bothered to send them money to help them? NO!!! So now because we are seeing such sad photos and we see the devastation that has been cause we want to help...Why didn't we think about helping this poverty sticken area before a major catastrophy happened? I am not quite sure I understand that. Not only that but we have SOOOO much poverty right here in our own area why are we not putting that much money towards helping out all of them? When Katrina hit it was the same scenerio, that area was soooo poverty stricken from the beginning most of the people didn't have the ability to get out wether it be because they didn't have the money or because they didn't have transportation. If we had put forth billions of dollars to these people years ago maybe it would have changed the way they lived..Now don't get me wrong I know that not everybody is honest and good and some people will not take the help offered to them and use it in a way that needs to be used. But on the flip side to that there are a lot of people who WOULD... I pray for peace and help and comfort for the people of Haiti...I could not imagine the devastation that they are facing. I have a hard time watching the news because it breaks my heart. That earth quake could have soooo easily happened right here at home...

PRAYERS HAVE BEEN ANSWERED!

He is never to late, He is never to early, He is ALWAYS right on time....I have heard this so many times before but never really put much thought to it....until now. We got a call on Christmas eve morning from our good friend Lorie Bates saying she wanted to talk to Chad and I and wanted to meet with us, so we met up at farmboy that morning for some breakfast. When we all set down together I knew that Lorie was excited about telling us good news because of her smile that would not go off her face...lol... She told Chad that Doug Odle was retiring from Ressurrection Bound and that they were possibly interested in Chad stepping in!! Chad's mouth dropped..that was the last thing he was expecting her to tell him. He thought that maybe Lorie had got a few leads on places for him and her to start singing at. He really didn't even know what to say. After the week that we were having then it was WONDERFUL to hear some good news. Chad and Lorie were already scheduled to go with Ressurrection Bound on New Year's eve and sing a few of the songs they sang together. After a few conversations with the other people in the group and then New Years went by great, we really enjoyed our night with Ressurrection Bound. Chad had his "try out" with them on Sunday after church and after that we are now very very pleased to be able to announce that he is now part of Ressurrection Bound! THANK YOU GOD!!

For some people this may not seem like a lot...But to us is a LONG AWAITED prayer being answered. It's not about the fame or fortune of singing in a group...IT'S ABOUT SINGING FOR GOD!! Chad has said soooo many times "If I could just get the opportunity to sing for God in a group that would be the only payment I would want" There is no money involved in this venture which really makes it that much better. God has given to us time and time again and without his love over the years Chad and I could very easily be in some bad situations..But because he NEVER gave up on us...He knew there was something in us and he basically polished us until we shined. It's funny how when everything around you seems to be falling apart something soooo wonderful pulls you through to the light at the end of the tunnel.. I am VERY excited about being apart of this journey with Chad, God really knew what he was doing 10 years ago when he brought Chad out of the army and home to me...Even when I wanted to give up and stop pushing on I continued to love him and we grew as Christians together and there is no other marriage to be in then the one where you are both believer's in God's work...

Please continue to pray for us and this new adventure we will be starting together...

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Every year at this time I love remembering back to the days when I still lived at home and me and my brother Robbie would get ready to camp out in his bedroom and wait on Santa. We would lay there at night and talk about what Santa was going to bring us (well I would and he would tell me to hush so he could sleep) LOL...I loved the feeling I got at the pit of my stomach when I just knew I was hearing Santa's sleigh land on the roof. To this day I really think that maybe mom and Dale would go out side and throw stuff on the roof just so we would hear him that is how vividly I remember hearing the sleigh and bells..THIS IS WHY I STILL BELIEVE!! I love remembering that every year I would always have to go to the bathroom at about 2 or 3 in the morning. Despite the fact that Robbie threatened my life each year that if I went out side the bedroom and peeked in the living room he would KILL ME!! So every year I would have to wake him up and he would walk me to the bathroom with his hands over my eyes and then he would push me in the bathroom and wait outside the door for me to come out. Looking back at this now I know Robbie was probably scoping out the living room and looking at everything Santa brought us...When I would come out of the bathroom he would again cover my eyes and we would head back to the room and go to sleep (well he would I never did I was to excited)...I love remembering back to those days. I can not wait for Peyton and Tarryn to get to the age where they can do the same things and they will be able to have traditions they do every year. I love the thought of my girls snuggling up together and anxiously awaiting Santa's arrival.
This being Tarryn's first Christmas I know she will not remember it but I am SOOO excited for the morning to get here so we can celebrate as a family...

I hope that each of you have WONDERFUL childhood Christmas memories that you too will cherish forever...HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! REMEMBER THE REAL REASON WE ARE CELEBRATING!!

Family conversations !

Well Tarryn has been blessing our lives now for 18 days. She is such a GREAT baby. She eats about 4oz every 4 hours. Actually the last day or two she has been needing more so she has ate about 6oz a few times a day. She is a little piggy. She is growing like crazy. When I took her for her two week check up Monday she weighed 9lbs 2oz and was already 23 inches long. She is a growing girl. Not very many know this but Chad went for vasectomy today. I have ALWAYS known that he was going to be doing this after our second baby but I guess I am just a little saddened by it. The thought every never seeing or feeling the way I feel the moment that my baby is laid on my chest makes me sad. I know that I really do not want any more kids and after being so miserable during this pregnancy and then after the postpartum I feel I know that it is not a good idea for me to bring that upon myself time and time again. My hats off to the parents that can have more and more but that is just not for me. I will cherish the two that God gave me. I was lucky to get two out of Chad he always feared that he would never be able to love another one as much as he loves Peyton but I knew that would not be the case.
Peyton has asked a ton of question about "daddy's surgery" lol...so finally Chad was like ok Peyton Daddy had surgery so that we can not have anymore babies!! She said OHHHHH!!! and then got real quiet and said "but mommy has the babies"????? LOL...I quickly looked at Chad and said ok enough explaining....Then she started asking about breast feeding.....ONLY PEYTON...She asked me why I didnt breast feed Tarryn I said mommy just didn't want to. She said "did you breast feed me?" I said "I tried", she said "I didn't like it did I?" I said "No I don't guess so." then about ten minutes later after she had pondered our conversation she says "gross why would anybody want a boob in their mouth" OMG!!!! I nearly laughed out loud...I just shook my head and left it at that. I can not say anything else to her cause the conversation would just keep going and by the time we were done I would be in tears...lol..she never ceases to amaze me with her thoughts..

But then again after all that funny stuff Chad asked her what she liked most about christmas and she said "Celebrating Jesus' birthday" AMEN SISTER....THANK YOU GOD FOR YOU EVER LASTING LOVE!!!

Until Next time I hope you all have a WONDERFUL CHIRSTMAS!

Tarryn Rae Bridges.....

Well I am a little late on posting but I have just been trying to get back into a routine..It has been hard to do that. I have a long way to go before I am back to normal again.

Tarryn Rae Bridges was born on Decemeber 1, 2009 she weighed 8lbs 10oz and was 21.5 inches long. She came out screaming her little head off. I do not believe she was ready to make her debut yet



Peyton was sooooo excited and she is such a loving big sister. It was a very different week for her, she has never stayed all night with people not even her grandparents but maybe one night in her 6 years of life but she had to stay with her mammaw Fazel for like 3 days in a row and that was just a big change for her then she didnt want to leave her sister at the hospital so she would cry when she had to leave. Bless her heart it was just a lot to take in all at once..

I can not praise God enough for giving us yet another wonderful gift of life..Tarryn is perfect in every way. I just sit and stare at her, it's so hard to believe that I could grow something so absolutly amazing in my belly in just 9 months. I am blessed beyeond belief. It has been a lot to take in and I have been a bit overwhelmed at times I never realized how much of difference having two kids would be. I do not know how people can have a lot of kids and stay sane. lol... Dont' get me wrong I love my Peyton and Tarryn more than anything in this world but it is just different with two. Post partum is always the worse. I am not one of these superwomans who can give birth and never miss a beat. I go through ALL the emotions and night time seems to be worse. I am going to try to sleep in my bed tonight with Tarryn in the bassinet beside me she has not liked it to much but I have her asleep in it now so I am hoping being in my own bed will help me out. I know the hormones will be over soon and I will not always feel so blah but I just pray to God that I get back to normal soon...I will post again soon..