St. Barts

My Tan is fading, but not all my wonderous memories of St. Barts. What a beautiful place. A quiet french island- yachts all around and more wonderful food than you can imagine. Peaceful. Beautiful.

Yes those are my tan lines :)

You can only get to St. Barts by boat or by small aircraft. No jets can land b/c the runway is so short. Here is Wayne riding shot gun in the cock pit of our 7 seater prop plane! Wow THAT was an adventure! I tried to hold the girls hand next to me on take off-- but she didn't speak english and thought I was crazy haha.

View on the ten minute flight!

Back

Wayne and I took a week on a small island in the west indies last week. Someone asked me if we did tons of stuff- and I said no, mostly we did a lot of nothing- which was wonderful. I feel so much more rested and refreshed. Ready to be mommy. Realized I hadn't left them since Sophia was born! The time with no school, no work, no kids, and just Wayne and I- ahhhhh. Just what I needed, it had been a long year. And we really enjoyed being together, going to read at the beach, going to dinner. It was wonderful.

Spring Shoe Extravaganza!

I bought my first pair of Sanuk sandals in Hawaii on my honeymoon-- and got my mom and sisters and who knows who else to buy a pair! Their flops are the BEST. But look at this gem they are making for boys!It's a flip flop with a shoe on top! And oh so stylish and rugged. Watch this video to see them close up and check out the features. Must have for the Luke.

Also like the new crocs with the band on the bottom- for pool going and beach going these are the best. And they come sized for 2 sizes so we kept Luke's last ones for 2 years, bonus.

For sweet sis... I had to go no further than See Kai Run! Their spring sandals are soooo cute. Look at the lime greens with the circles- love :)

And the silver with bow for everything else!

She has worn her winter pair to death and I can't say enough about the soles and the comfort of these shoes.

So there you have it! I usually find the shoes I like and then internet shop to find them for a great deal.

Can you tell I'm ready for summer!!!!

Trunk Show

Matilda Jane has a local trunk keeper in virginia beach... who is coming with me Friday to preview the spring collection??!!!
This is so Sophia!

Nail Biting

Friday we had step 3 of Luke's application process for kindergarten! I think they all have gone pretty well. He tested "average" on the Missouri KIDS developmental test, which I was happy that he was able to sit still the whole time and take it! (30 minutes long 1 on 1)

He really loves the school and asks me if he is going there EVERY day. So I am praying that he gets in! (please join) I've never seen him so eager about anything. They send acceptance/rejection letters Feb. 15th. I am biting my nails. I just think it would be the perfect place for him. And I don't know what I will tell him if he doesn't get in, b/c he doesn't really understand that :(

Pick Luke!

Christmas Pictures! (better late than never!)

We had a great family time in the bahamas!! I didn't get as many pictures as I wanted to (ahh), but wanted to share our fun times. I think we'll have to make this a tradition! We had a fabulous time...
Beach Goin
Pool Goin
Party goin!
We took our beloved sitter Katie so Wayne and I could have some together time without the "wild indians" as he calls them :) She is so wonderful and really loves our kids. Although once sister figured out that we left her with Katie every night to go to dinner... she would say "no Katie" haha
Love my beach babies!


Here is sissy with painted toes- everyone loved it!!

Poppy's Girl :)
Luke played in the different pools and showed off his new swimming skills thanks to his swim coach Ms. Alyssa! Several parents commented about how comfortable he was in the water= wild! He also got to hang in the cool Kids Club and play and do arts and crafts.

The last two days we stayed off paradise/atlantis at the Compass Point. We had little huts right on the ocean. Loved it here.







Tata for now! The title of my blog is so true... Fast Days, Relaxing Holidays!

Circumstances for a purpose

Today at church a couple shared their testimony- the husband about being diagnosed 6 months ago with stage 4 brain tumor/cancer, and the wife about her grief and loss of hope in the situation.

He shared an article by John Piper about not wasting your cancer. At first I was thinking, waste cancer? How on earth could cancer and possible death be something to not waste. But as he shared he pointed out in an article by John Piper that "What God permits, he permits for a reason. And that reason is his design."

"You will waste your cancer if you believe it is a curse and not a gift."

"The aim of God in your cancer (among a thousand other good things) is to knock props out from under our hearts so that we rely utterly on him."

Wow. I've spent a lot of time today thinking about these points... and thinking of applying them to just my circumstances in general. Too often I am not content in areas of my life that I want to go differently, and had never recently considered that those very circumstances were designed for me to go through by God himself. And that they are for a purpose, a purpose that God designed for me to go through to produce faith, or perserverance, or whatever he wanted in me.

Thankful for that testimony... and eager to start not wasting my trials