Here I am again blogging a whole months worth into one mega blog. I do apologize and am going to try harder to sit down and post more frequently. God has been doing some amazing things in my life! I have been enjoying this summer and seeking God"s plan and will for me and my family. In my career I am blessed with ample opportunity to show God's love and grace and I have really enjoyed reaching out to my patients. However, it is my desire to step out of my comfort zone and seek Him in every opportunity. He continues to pour down His blessings and I am ever so grateful! I experienced some really difficult times last month when I discovered a 5.7cm x 3.2cm complex cyst on my left thyroid. After having a complete ultrasound, thanks to a girlfriend of mine from college, Dr. Zeb sent me to an ENT in Rockwall who did some blood work and discovered I have hypothyroidism. Which means I have an under active thyroid. Dr. west is hopeful that is what caused the cyst and he started me on synthroid. He then scheduled me to have a fine needle aspiration(FNA) done at Lake Point Medical Center. There a pathologist collected some of the cells and tested them. They drained 20cc of fluid out of the cyst at that time. Thank God 72 hours later the pathology report came back benign. Unfortunately the cyst has came back and is currently 4 cm x 3.2 cm. I am scheduled to see an Endocrinologist in Tyler on July 12th to get my medicine regulated and hopefully then the cyst can be drained and will stay that way. According to Dr. West that is a long shot but is worth a try being that I am not crazy about the alternative of having my left thyroid removed. I have learnt a lot during this process and God reminded me how precious life and the everyday small stuff really is. Often in life we get caught up in the day to day routine and take our health for granted. I am guilty of that and am trying to be more appreciative of all the blessings in my life. On another note, Mom and I recently took Aubree in for her 3 year check up. I still take her to MDPA in Coppell due to my dislike of change. I am comfortable there and they have seen her since the day she was born. She hit a big growth spurt this past year. She has always been in the low percentiles for her age but not anymore. She weighed 32 lbs and that put her in the 50%. She was in the 5% at her 2 yr check up and in the 3% for height and now she is in the 75% for height. The doll grew 6 inches in one year. I remain amazed at that. We had a great visit with Dr. LeYoung and then enjoyed a fabulous lunch. Following lunch we headed over to Fire Wheel Shopping Center and shopped a bit. Aubree enjoyed using her birthday gift card at Build- A-Bear. She picked out and designed a white unicorn in pink princess attire on roller skates. It is adorable! And her new bff for the moment. Also in the past month we welcomed a dear, sweet, new addition to the Phillips family. Justin Rex Phillips was born on May 18. He is so precious and to me favors his big sister Finlee Rae. I know Audra and Justin are proud parents and probably very tired too. Audra said its a hard transition going from one child to two. I hope I know the feeling in the next couple of years. Lol! We have been enjoying our season passes to the Splash Kingdom Water park in Canton. This year Bree is tall enough to ride the big tube slides with me. She absolutely loves the big blue one! I love it too....mostly because I enjoy hearing her deep, belly laugh all the way down it. What memories we are making!! I have been loving every minute of summer and all the fun it brings. We have an all American camping/boating trip planned for this weekend to celebrate July 4th. Its us and the Phillips family and we can all hardly wait. Happy Summer 2 u all!!!

So Much To Do, So Little Time To Post!

Sorry to all who have been wondering why it has been so long. The only excuse I have is...LIFE. We have been going from day to day and everyday I have the intention of blogging and then look back and remember, oops I forgot! So where do I start? In the month of April I helped host a baby shower for one of my besties, Audra Phillips. It was a fun shower that my girlfriends threw for her. Man did she rack up on the lil boy things. Baby Rex is already so blessed with overwhelming love. We also enjoyed our first camping trip in the new RV. We went to Whispering Pines along with Pa and Mema, Uncle Bobby and Aunt Nadine, and Kerry and Darla Phillips. It was the first voyage for Pa and Mema's, Kerry and Darla's and our trailer. We had a great time and enjoyed the new roomy camper so much. It is like double the room we had in our other camper. The trip was so fun and Aubree and Finlee were great entertainment. Lol! Aubree Malena Kindle hit another milestone in April. It was three wonderful years ago April 26th that God blessed us with a beautiful baby girl. She had a wonderful Mickey Mouse Clubhouse party. It was in our back yard just as she requested. All her friends came and enjoyed her playhouse, swing set and trampoline. She loved it!! They also enjoyed driving around her new green gator(Aubree refers to it as her tractor). I had the patio decorated in all MMCH decor with huge balloons and streamers. Salt City Sweats made this amazing two layered MMCH cake that was breath taking. It turned out just as I had requested. I threw in a few snacks and drinks and as Aubree put it, we had the best party ever! It was a huge success and I so enjoyed watching all the kids play and enjoy themselves. The girls didn't even give the boys a chance at the pinata. It only took about four beauties to have that thing busted. Watch out guys, we got some tough girls around here. He-he! Happy 3rd Birthday to the apple of my eye! You have blessed us more than you will ever know. With this beautiful spring weather we have been enjoying our beautiful patio and back yard. We have enjoyed many BBQ's and cookouts with our friends and family and look forward to hosting many more. I love this time of year. The beautiful weather and late evening sunsets are my favorite. Plus it allows for Aubree to do what she loves most, play outside. Kerry completed his 2nd semester with all A's again. He made the President's and Dean's list again. I am so very proud and excited for him! And for us, cuz we got the whole summer to enjoy him home in the evening with us. Yippie!! Another reason I love this time of the year! I had a fabulous Mother's day and enjoyed spending the day with my Mom and Grandparents for lunch and a nap and then that evening enjoyed a shrimp boil with Kerry's Mom and family. We are surrounded by loving, caring, Godly, amazing Moms that are such a great example of how a Mom should be. It was truly a blessed day. Last Friday, May 14th was me and my honey's 5th wedding anniversary. As much as I would have loved to run away with my groom, due to our schedule at this time we were unable to take a trip but have a couple in the making for later. We did enjoy a fabulous, romantic dinner at Four Winds Steakhouse and of course ice cream to follow. We spent the night talking and laughing and well, I will spare ya the juicy details. Needless to say it was a great evening and we both enjoyed our anniversary to the fullest. I could not imagine my life any other way and had no idea how someone could complete me the way he does. He knows EVERYTHING about me, even my darkest secrets and feelings and still he loves me unconditionally. He is the only person who I can completely be myself around and know no matter what he has my back. He makes me feel so safe and secure and loves me like I never imagined. We have had our ups and downs, but in the end of the day we always know where our heart belongs. He is my soul mate and my one TRUE love. I look forward to the rest of our lives together. I knew I had chosen a great man to be my husband, but never imagined how wonderful of a father he would be and how every day together gets better and better. I am such a lucky girl to call him my man! The rest of the last few weeks have been filled with what to some may seem like boring everyday life but to me it is a treasure. I have enjoyed some rays by the pool watching Aubree splash around with her Daddy(the water is still a lil too cold for me). We have also enjoyed a craw fish eating with some dear friends and neighbors and Aubree's first recital, if u will, at church. It was so cute! Her class sang three songs and she did an amazing job. I was a proud Momma once again. Like I said, that may all seem mundane to some but to us it is precious, just as everyday is. ~Come grow old with me, the best is yet to be.

LITTLE MISS VAN ZANDT COUNTY

There is a queen among us!! As if she ever lets us forget. She is already treated like royalty by all of her grandparents and great grandparents but just to make it official Aubree had to get herself a crown. A couple of weeks ago Aubree was in the Miss Van Zandt County Pageant and did such a good job. She was so big on stage and hit every X all by herself. She is a ham and ate up all the attention and being center stage. It was so cute how she waved and blew kisses and pranced around. We have it on video if anyone ever needs a good laugh. Its hilarious how much personality this chic has. I love it...could be because I am her mother but I will proudly say she is a beautiful doll any day of the week. I curled her hair on hot stix for the first time before the pageant and that was so "cool" to her. I think those are the same hot stix Malena used to curl my hair sophomore year of high school for the Favorite's dance and those babies still worked like a charm. The curl held all day. Her hair was so pretty, too. During the crowning she was so sweet and so proud. She clapped for all the girls and even for herself when they crowned her Little Miss Van Zandt County. She loved her trophies, flowers and crown so much! She wanted to carry the trophies everywhere, even to church the next morning. She was so happy and that made me so happy too.

What a beautiful time of year!

We are loving this beautiful spring weather! Thanks to day light savings I now can almost cram everything I need to get done into the day. Almost! Aubree is loving playing outside lots, too. It's just beautiful! We had a delightful Easter weekend. Friday afternoon Aubree and I met a friend at First Monday Trade Center and enjoyed shopping out in the sunshine. It was a perfect day and we enjoyed the leisure time together. Saturday we did some good ole fishing at Tuttle ranch and then went to the community egg hunt and play day at the ranch. Bree loved it all. She is such a lil fisherman. She is not scared to grab the bait or fish either one. She also enjoyed the egg hunt. This year she is not bashful. She found a bucket full of candy. The highlight for her though I do believe was the horse back riding. She loved it!! She also enjoyed participating in the egg races, obstacle courses, bounce houses and other games they had set up. It was a perfect day to spend out at the ranch. That evening we went out for delicious Mexican food and then called it a day. A wonderful day indeed.
Resurrection Sunday was a wonderful day as well. We rushed out of the house in our Easter best and enjoyed worshipping with all our family in Christ. I had organized a breakfast for our Sunday school class and it turned out flawless.(If I do say so myself.) Thanks everyone for chipping in and making it a success. After a very heartfelt worship we went to Kerry's parents to spend time with some of his family. It was a delicious meal and a great time spent with my other family. We arrived at my great Uncle Bobby and Aunt Nadine's at 4pm just in time for the traditional egg hunt. It is always so much fun cuz the "young" adults hunt along with the 2 little girls. This year it was all about Aubree and Finlee, my cousin and bff's lil doll. The girls are great friends and cared more about being next to each other than actually hunting. Although they both managed to snag a basket full of goodies. Bree is a fast learner, she would shake the eggs and if they didn't jingle she threw them down. It was hilarious!! The girl is a toot I am telling ya. Funny thing is she would rather have change than dollar bills. Oh well, her loss was Finlee's gain. We ate supper with my family and then visited for a while before we made another round by Kerry's parents. It was a busy day!! But such a blast and Bree got to have another egg hunt at Gramp's and Bebe's before the sun went down. It was such a blessed and beautiful day to celebrate the rising of our Savior. Oh and I almost forgot to mention the 4 new members of our family that were Bree's early Easter present from us. Last week Kerry and I took Aubree to get 4 baby ducks. They are so cute and messy all at the same time. The idea is to raise them inside until they are big enough to live out on our pond. We will see if I can stand them that long. LOL! Actually they aren't so bad, but they are noisy and messy. However, Bree is crazy about them. She holds them and sings to them and reads to them. It's adorable!! She wakes up and the first thing she says is "Can I hold my ducks?" She has named them all by herself. Cinderella(that's her favorite duck), Belle, Daisy and Donald Duck. It is really fun having them around....most of the time.

Feeling So Blessed

In the past few weeks we have enjoyed lots of wonderful blessings. Some with our family and some with friends. One of my favorites was spent with a group of 10 of our dearest friends enjoying a night at Shoguns, our favorite Japanese Hibachi grill. We had such a wonderful time. The food was fabulous and the night was filled with good times. A short week later I was star stuck as we were sitting at Chili's in Lindale and realized we were sitting next to the entire crew from Extreme Makeover Home Edition. They were all there and even came over to our table to talk to us. Such kind, down to earth people who do an amazing job in helping those in need. What a cool experience that was. We also survived our 2nd annual garage sale. These sales are not something I enjoy, however I am amazed at how well baby/kids clothes sale. We had our sale with 4 other families in a great location and I am still in awe at how well it did. I got rid of a lot of unneeded stuff and put some extra cash in my pocket. Gotta love that! Sunday I indulged in Red Lobster's Lobster Fest and it was oh so good. Lobster tail, crab legs and shrimp...MMMM...makes my mouth water just remembering how good it was. Following our delicious lunch we spent the day shopping. Kerry looking for a new tv for our bedroom and me mainly enjoying all the cute lil girls clothes that are out for spring and summer. Aubree loves to shop with me and is so cute picking out the things she likes. She is set for spring and I can't wait to see her in all the darling outfits we got her.
Just when I thought life couldn't get any better, it did. We went on Tuesday to Medical City Dallas for Aubree's yearly follow up on her renal reflux. She had to have a sedated VCUG and renal ultrasound. This was very stressful for Kerry and I as we hated to see Bree put to sleep and we were prayerful that God would take care of her and make her reflux better. It had previously been graded as a 2-3 out of 1-5. As the VCUG was underway the doctors were amazing and were talking us through the procedure again. But as they neared 8oz of fluid being injected this time there was no reflux seen. YEAH!! It was officially gone. Only 20% of kids outgrow renal reflux and thankfully Aubree is in that 20%. It never crossed my mind that it would be completely gone. All this time we were praying for it to have improved, just for it to not be worse. Last year they had told us that some outgrow it by the time they are 5 yrs old and if this didn't happen or if it got worse she may need surgery to correct it. All I could think was please don't let it be worse and don't let there be any kidney damage. But God is so good!! He cured her and took the reflux away. For us that was such a peace of mind and meant no more prophylactic antibiotic daily for Bree. What an AWESOME day!! As a treat for Bree's day we had promised when it was over to take her to Chuck E Cheese. However, she asked to go to McDonald's and play on the playground instead. And since it was her treat we let her decide. We compromised and stopped at Chic-fil-a to play since it was on our way home. Aubree had a great time and played like such a big girl. It was a great day and again, I could not ask for more. I feel so very blessed to have the life I have. God is so GOOD!! To top off my great week my raise at work went into effect this week and I got back payed what I was owed. Yippee!! I truly feel on top of the world and owe it all to our amazing God. Thanks to everyone who prayed for Aubree and for all of our family and friends for their amazing love and support. XOXOX to all!!

We were so blessed this past week with a beautiful snow. In east Texas snow like that is rare and it was such a delight to see it falling and sticking, if only for a day or so. On Thursday I was sitting with Jennifer Stewart having lunch at La Waffalatta in downtown Mineola and it felt as if we were sitting in Manhattan. Through the huge glass windows we could see large snow flakes steadily falling. It was amazing. Through out the day it continued to snow and by the afternoon the ground was covered. I was able to attend Aubree's Valentines Day party at parents day out and then we went home to enjoy the snow some more. Bree was confused a little. She kept asking me"Where is the grass?" Her mind just couldn't figure out where it had went. That afternoon Jennifer brought the girls over to play and we enjoyed watching the snow from the warmth of our living room. Kerry made homemade chili for us all to enjoy and we took lots of fun pictures in the snow. It was a great night with great friends. The snow fell all through the night and by Friday there were probably 10 inches on the ground. It was the prettiest thing ever. Due to the snow my office was closed and I got to spend another day at home with my wonderful family. We had snow ball fights and made snow angels and had such a blast playing in the beautiful snow. Just as we were almost frozen we loaded up and went to Kitchens for breakfast by the fire place. We were too late for breakfast so we had an early lunch instead. It was a great time, however the snow had caused our electricity to go out so we spent the day in town at Gramps and Bebe's house. There we made snow ice cream and enjoyed the cold winter day. It was so fun sharing this experience with Aubree. Our electricity was out until Saturday afternoon so we enjoyed a day of shopping and leisure with Bebe. Then we had a great italian dinner at the lake with Gramps, Bebe, Nona and the three of us. The snow was all almost melted by Sunday and although I was sad to see it go, it was nice to see the grass again. Sunday was a very special day. Not only was it a day of love, but our oldest nephew, Parker was baptised at church. My heart is always moved when a child accepts Jesus but it was even more precious since it was our dear Parker. After church we enjoyed a great lunch and then my two loves(Kerry & Aubree) and I and Bebe and Gramps enjoyed seeing Valentine's Day at the theater. It was a great day filled with lots of chocolates, kisses and love. I could NOT ask for more. XOXO to all!

Too cute not to archive....

I use this blog as a way to keep a lot of our events archived and there were a couple of cute comments made by our darling Aubree that I want to make sure never get lost or forgotten. First off, Kerry and I love to watch sports. From football to basketball to hockey to baseball to UfC and Nascar. We enjoy all sports and most of the time don't miss an event. The same goes for my Mom and Grandparents. They are usually watching basketball or whatever sport is in season. My mom especially loves to watch the Maverick's basketball. She doesn't miss a televised game. Well Miss Bree has joined my mom in her passion for the Mav's and will cheer them on every time they are on the big screen. It is really cute to hear Bree say "Go Mav's!" or "Go Dirk!" Yes, she has learnt who most of the players are from my mom. She is very interested in this particular sport. Which I think she gets naturally cuz it is a sport that both my grandparents loved to play and from what I hear were very good at playing. The love of basketball was passed from them down to my mom and her brother Curtis and even to myself. I loved that game and still today enjoy playing and watching basketball. Well to get to the point, Pa and Mema and Bree were watching the Mavs and Bree ask, "Where is Dirk?" and teasing her, as Pa always does, Pa replied, "He's probably off with his girlfriend." And as serious and innocent as can be Bree replied back, " I am Dirk's girlfriend!" It was the cutest thing ever and she was so serious its not even funny.
On another note, this is a story that just melted my heart. I put this on face book so some may have already heard this, but for my Dad who I know isn't on fb I wanted to share this. Our cat Blue has a sore place on his back leg that we have no idea what has happened. We think it is a bite of some sort but aren't sure. Well the place started to get bigger and is bleeding more and has us all concerned. So we have been doctoring it and Bree has been pretty worried about it. Well out of no where the other morning she said to Kerry, "We need to talk to Jesus and ask Him to make Blue better." What a brilliant idea! I was so proud that at such a young age she already knows to go to God with her worries and ask him for help. This was a priceless moment for me as a mother. What a blessing that Bree is to our lives and to know she does understand the concept we are trying to teach her about having a relationship with God and talking through prayer to Him. It was just the sweetest thing and I wanted to share this joy with everyone, but my dad especially who always conveys the importance of having a relationship with God to me. And who always reminds me to turn it over to God, and although it may not be the answer I am wanting, it will be what God wants. And after all that is what we are here to do, seek God's word and live the life God wants for us. Hope these stories will warm your heart as much as they did mine and be a blessing for you all. XOXO