November: A Month of Milestones

Wow! I can't believe November is almost over. I'm still trying to catch up with October. This month has been monumental in many ways. There is so much to blog about.... i would love to do a separate blog entry for each of these....but here goes the mammoth montage....

First, there was THE RACE! Tracy and I did the "couch to 5K" training program for 9 weeks. We picked a 5k in Brenham, TX on November 6th. It was a race to raise funds for Lung cancer, which is near and dear to our hearts since that is how we lost our Pawpaw over 11 years ago. When we first started, I couldn't jog a block without gasping for air and getting a side cramp. Now, I actually enjoy jogging. It is incredible "God time" for me. We had trained to run a 5K, or 3.1 miles. But thanks to the ding dong who marked out this race, we actually ran over 4.6 miles! Who knew we could run so far? And not just run, but run over crazy HUGE hills! It was an incredible, life-changing experience! Tracy and I are now preparing to run a 10K in the Spring! Wow.

Tracy proudly displaying our team shirt and her 1st racing number!

Before the race....ready to run!

Almost there....so tired!

We had the BEST cheering squad for us when we crossed the finish line!

After the race.....exhausted, but so happy!

Then, the day after the big race, my sweet, baby girl turned 4!! We had a family celebration on her 'real' birthday, complete with some quality time at Chuck-E-Cheese. God bless that crazy place! And then, we celebrated with our extended family and a few special friends the next weekend! Ellie had requested ANOTHER princess party!! She had so much fun! Her sweet aunts decorated another "Princess Dress-Up room" that all the little girls loved. And then we decorated princess cookies...crowns and princess wands! It really was a lot of fun, therefore, it was a huge success! :)

Our crew....played and pizza-ed out!

So excited about her "Princess room"! I love this kid so much it hurts.

Everyone was excited to play dress-up!

Princesses on Parade!!

Then it was time to decorate cookies....so much sugar!!

Addie loved hers! :)

Ellie couldn't have been happier!

Then, the presents!

We are so blessed that our family comes to celebrate with us!

Another significant event this month was our Uniquely Beautiful event at church. But I already blogged about that one....thanks to Rachel Driskell's readily available pics!

Then there was Thanksgiving in Hutto! We had a fun time with our family, including my sweet aunt from New Mexico and a few others from the Lively crew. But the Turkey festivities were not the highlight of the holiday break. The day after Thanksgiving, we went WEDDING DRESS SHOPPING for my BABY SISTER! Wow. Even typing that sounds weird!?! Lisa is so beautiful and thin, which created a problem because she looked awesome in every dress! Of course, I won't reveal the absolutely gorgeous, and perfect dress that she decided on....but here are a couple of the "no's"

She really did look amazing in every dress! It was a day we will never forget.....so much fun!!

With the proud, emotional Mama looking on. Needless to say, we all cried quite a bit.....I don't have any idea how we are going to make it through the actual wedding?!?

And somewhere in there, Caleb finished up his flag football season and had a little Thanksgiving shin-dig at school. He looked so cute! He memorized his lines perfectly and loved "performing" for all the parents and grandparents. He is such a cool kid!

Whew!! And that was just the highlights...... What an awesome, God-praising month! Thank you Lord for all of the incredible goodness you poured on us in November. I am so thankful. Now, we are looking forward to December!

Halloween 2010

Soooo behind....but oh well! Better late than never!!

A couple of cuties at the pumpkin patch

We found THE ONE! ( i love Caleb's flair for drama... :)

So begins the carving....very serious stuff! :)

Digging in the goop--fun!

Pretending to eat the goop.....Adelyn thought this was fascinating!! So freakin' cute!

My three Halloween Cuties! And it looks like we color-coordinated our costumes this year!?

The prettiest Bat Girl EVER~

The sweetest BumbleBee EVER~

Getting treats from Aunt Tracy

Our first time to do a pair of pumpkins....mine is the girl with the big lips! :)

Uniquely Beautiful Event

I LOVE ministering to women. It is not just a passion of mine, but a calling that God has put on my life. So, it was an honor and privilege to be able to help in planning and organizing our church's first ever "women's event." It was like a 'mini-conference' for women of our community. Our theme was Uniquely Beautiful. Our team wanted to remind women how beautiful and valuable we all are in Christ. We started planning in May and it all culminated last Friday night. It was a labor of love! And I must admit: it was a HUGE success. God blessed our efforts and then showed up in a BIG way that night to touch many hearts. We had over 250+ women there! And everything was perfect...the music, the message, the decorations, the food....everything! (well, except one letter "A" that I glued on crooked on one of the banners :)

I hope that God chooses to bless me with more opportunities to involve myself in these kinds of events for the rest of my life. So fun and so meaningful! Here are just a few pictures from the night:

Fun colors and goodie bags for everyone.....and can you see the crooked A in the background?! Grrr

Amazing worship...and yes, look at that Hottie on the stage... :) Love that musical man.

Fun door prizes....all presented in cute 31 bags! Joy did an awesome job with all the fun stuff!

God blessed us through Leslie, our fearless leader for the event (and pastor's wife) and my sweet friend, Dawn, who had some incredible things to share about her 'larger than life' life!

This is my dear friend, Kristen and I doing our 'comedy routine'/announcements at the end! Man, I love it when someone gives me a microphone! :)

Crazymaker!

This week is a crazymaker! It feels like a lot of the energies and efforts of the last six months of my life have culminated into a 2 week period! Craziness! But I'm trying to enjoy the ride and not let the stress steal all of the joy from these blessed weeks. Our church, Brazos Fellowship, is hosting our FIRST EVER women's event this Friday! We are calling it "Uniquely Beautiful" and I can't wait to see what God does with it. We are planning on anywhere from 100 to 300 women attending. And then, on Saturday, Ellie is having her 4th birthday party!! Another princess party! I tried to scale down a bit this year, so I could manage it after the big event the night before. We'll see! (somehow an exclamation point ! is the only punctuation that seems appropriate for this entry! :)

God is so good to me. And I don't deserve one bit of it. Praise Him for giving me the most awesome husband and partner in the world. I could not handle my life without Dawson Wayne Skow. And He continues to bless me with peace, hope, excitement and abundant joy in the midst of the insanity.

Pictures coming soon of my big 4 year old.....and of my baby sister's engagement story.....and of flag football season......etc., etc., etc.

p.s. Just have to say--running and music are both awesome, cheap therapies! Last night, I cleaned my bathroom (for maybe the first time in the 4 months we've lived in this house?!?) until 12:45am, and loved every minute of it! Mostly thanks to my good friends, Kanye, Justin, Snoop, Salt N' Peppa, and few other goodies. :)

(a late) Thankful Thursday

I've decided I want to do Thankful Thursdays too on my blog this month.....and maybe continue it beyond that. But I'm a little late with this first one. Oh well!

God continues to bless my socks off. But "blog time" is short today with a full to-do list left, so I'm going to start with a quick list:

1- Without God, I am nothing. He is the ONLY reason I have any good thing. I am so....there honestly are not words to describe how grateful I am to God.

2- I'm so grateful for my incredible husband. He is my rock. I could not be the mother, the minister, the friend, the sister that I am without him. He loves me like no one else can or ever could. He is the best person I have ever known.

3- My three beautiful children are the sunshine of my life. I am so thankful to be their mommy.

4- I love my two sisters. They are my ultimate accountability. They help me to be a better person. I am so thankful for Tracy and Lisa.

5- I am so thankful to God for getting me to this day. Thank you God, for blessing me and help me to pour out these blessings on others.

Alright....now Mr. 5K, I will see you in the morning! :)