Big girl

My sweet Halle Anne turned 4 this past weekend! Everyone says how fast time flies and it really does. Let me tell you a little bit about Halle.

Halle is 100% girl! She got some lip gloss for her birthday and has applied it pretty much every 5 minutes since then. She loves to play dress up, and play with jewelry, and things most things are "so beautiful!" She is into princesses and princes, and of course, marrying her daddy. Halle is totally organized, and anal. She likes things in their place, where they belong. You can imagine how this plays out with a little sister whose nickname is "the destroyer." Halle asks for a snack at least 6 times a day, along with watching a movie. She is a very smart little girl, who knows all of her letters and numbers. She can write most of them, and knows how to spell mom, dad, Halle, and Lily. She really enjoys coloring and being creative. Halle is her daddy's girl! She has a very sweet demeanor and is my cuddler. I can always count on her to say "I love you Mommy," accompanied with a sweet hug and kiss. She also likes to run the show. She interprets Lily's babbles and lets me know what Lily wants. She also loves to tell Lily what to do. I think I could pretty much leave running the house up to her! :) Brian and I are constantly amazed at what a polite little girl she is. She loves to say prayers and talk about heaven. She's a curious little one who hardly ever stops talking! We had a great time celebrating her birthday at the beach with her friends! We love you sweet Halle Anne!

Dr. Brian Bradford

This weekend, Reverend Brian Bradford became Dr. Brian Bradford! We made the 14 hour road trip (in 2 days) to Wilmore, Kentucky for Brian's graduation. It was a wonderful reunion with Brian's classmates. Our time in Wilmore was very special. 10 families moved from all over the country for one year for our husbands to study. We lived like we did in college- our townhomes were all next to each other, we were all poor, our kids played with each other every day. We shared so much together. It was very fun to be reunited with all of the husbands, wives, and kiddos. Since we moved away, there are 3 more kiddos in the mix. It was fun to have them all together again. The women I met there are very special to me. As a pastor's wife, you have a unique role that many do not fully grasp, so it's great that we all have that in common. We are friends for life. I'm so proud of my husband for having ambition, having follow-through, and the ability to better himself for our family and for those he ministers to.

Four score and 3 years ago...

3 years ago, Brian and I were getting ready to embark on a new phase in our lives. 3 years ago, we said goodbye to our friends, our church, our ministry, and our teeny tiny house in Marion, Indiana for Brian to pursue his doctorate ministry. We loved our lives in Marion and often refer back to the easy days in our lives. We had a great, growing ministry. We both loved investing in college students. Our Halle girl was born there and it was the only home she had known. We had a great church, and what I miss most, was our wonderful friends. (You know who you are! :)) We really were not in a place where we wanted to move. But Brian was invited into a program we just could not refuse. He was honored to receive a full scholarship for his doctorate work in an accelerated 3 year program. In 3 years, Brian has traveled all over the world, studied countless hours, written many papers, read many books, taken leadership of an entire church, welcomed a new little girl into his life, moved twice, and managed to remain the most amazing husband! Sounds exhausting doesn't it?!

Well, I'm happy to announce that yesterday Brian passed his dissertation defense hearing with flying colors! This means that in just a few weeks, he will graduate with his Doctorate in Ministry. I could not be more proud of him! The past 3 years have been amazing and hard at the same time. We've tried to be faithful to God's leading and will continue to do so. We are so blessed to have been on this journey that God has clearly marked out for us. We are thankful for our time in KY, and for our church now in TX. We still miss our lives in Marion, and are thankful for our fond memories of our time there. And a huge part of me feels that maybe God will lead us back there someday.

But for now, we will celebrate Brian's accomplishment, and now I can call him DR! Congratulations Hunny!

Bluebonnets

So, I guess we are officially Texans. The bluebonnets bloom at this time of year for a few short weeks and many people get their kids out there for some beautiful wildflower pictures. Well I'm cheap and took the pictures myself- Halle has the biggest fake smile, and Lily wouldn't smile for the life of me. So we went, we did, we saw, and here's what we got!














I do love my sweet girls!!

Going Deeper

In this picture are 41 women from my church. Our church is pretty tiny considering churches we've been a part of in the past- and 41 women on a retreat is pretty amazing! I'm a part of the leadership team for our women's ministry and helped plan this year's retreat. Our church is super diverse- the youngest woman that came was 18 and the oldest was 78, I believe. I've never been a part of a church like Horizons. Horizons is made up of so many different people, that truly work together, and fellowship with one another despite age, race, past, and stage of life. I could not be more proud to be a part of the team that leads them. Our theme was Going Deeper. Our speaker did a great job teaching us about the next steps that we need to take in our relationship with God. It was a time where I was just able to take in the teaching and mull over it. I still need to go back through my notes and really think about what things I need to change in my life.
Retreats are so needed, and are a great time to get away! Us young mom's really appreciate this time! But most of all, this retreat was fun! Other than being their "Pastor's Wife," I'm also known as the one that makes them play crazy games! Oh my- I've never laughed so hard. My favorite game this year was when they were all blindfolded into 2 long lines, and they had to pass a raw biscuit from the front of the line to the back. Talk about hilarious! We had so much fun- they are such good sports!
Our time in Texas has had it's ups and downs. I could not have come back from this weekend more proud of our women. I'm so grateful to be a part of a church where I've been stretched to be friends with those I normally wouldn't have approached. I'm grateful to see racial barriers being broken. I'm grateful for women older than me who have loved on me and taken me under their wing. I'm grateful for goofy friends that I can laugh with. I'm grateful for the spirit of worship that is crafted when 41 women seek God in one accord. I'm thankful for God meeting us where we're at, and always waiting for us to come to him. I'm thankful for a husband who encourages times like this in my life. I'm excited for the future- for the plans God has for our little church, and for the plans he has for me and the woman he's shaping me to become.

Dallas Blooms

I absolutely LOVE living by a big city. It has so much to offer and we don't have to go far to do some really cool things. This week is spring break and even though we are not in school, I think we still deserve to do some fun stuff! Yesterday I took the girls to the Dallas Arboretum with some friends and their kiddos. It was so beautiful to see all the flowers in bloom. They had fairy tale houses all over the place that we searched for to find. Halle was so excited to see Bell's castle and the Little Mermaids house and so on. It was a little chilly in the morning but warmed up as the day went on. Halle got her face painted for the first time and thought it was so cool. Lily was a trooper on the long day. As you can see, she fell on the sidewalk and has a battle wound to show for it! Here's some pics of our day...

Party time!

Valentine's Day has come and gone, and we celebrated in style one week after the big day. I wasn't feeling well on V-day so we postponed our little party until this week. I tried to get a few pictures of the girls in their attire, unfortunately couldn't get them both looking and smiling!






We had a fun lunch of heart-shaped PB & J, fruit salad, and a few other things for the grown ups. Of course there were games- you can see them on their heart hunt and playing pass the heart balloon. And of course, we frosted our own sugar cookies!







And here are a few other pictures from around the house lately- as you can see the girls love their daddy!

Iced in!

I have been so bad about updating our blog lately. I don't know if it's been that we've been busy or that nothing really exciting has been happening. As most of you have heard, Dallas has been under ice for the past 4 days- and today we are under snow! I'd take snow any day over ice! We have not left the house in 4 days and literally can't! They have no way of removing the ice here- there are hardly such thing as plows. Thankfully we've had enough food and entertainment to get us through. We did run out of milk today so one of us will have to brave the elements!

Here's a few pictures of our big girl lately- she has started her first dance class and loves it! She has also been working on writing her letters, and you can see she's teaching her teddy how to write as well!






And here's little girl, always into something!






Check out this homemade birthday gift I made for Halle's friend, Violet. Just hot glue , scissors, and some felt!