Living Character

Since Emma-Caroline and Sophie have been in elementary school, I have been very impressed with the pillars of character that the school teaches to it's students through the Character Counts program. It has always been important to me that the girls not only be taught about values and good character qualities at home, but also that they learn to practice those traits in the real world. Bearden Elementary allows its students to put the pillars of "Trustworthiness," "Respect," "Responsibility," "Fairness," "Caring," and "Citizenship" into practice each day in real life situations.

This semester, Emma-Caroline was awarded a Charter Counts certificate for exhibiting all six pillars of character. Ms. Murphy gave us a chuckle when she said that Emma-Caroline could run her classroom for her. Ms. Murphy's class also won a Character Counts award for exemplifying the pillars of character in art class.

We feel very blessed that both of our girls are able to learn about and practice values that we also teach in our home as well as learn about and practice at church. I feel it truly does take a village to raise a child in this world. We are blessed that the elementary school is a part of our "village"

Treble Choral Performance

This past Sunday, Emma-Caroline participated in a children's choral performance with four other Knoxville churches children's choirs. I am always awe-stricken when I am blessed with being in the audience of a children's choral performance. The beauty of the children's voices singing is angelic and instantly brings tears to my eyes. That sense was heightened in this performance with the increased number of children singing in such a lovely church setting at Church Street United Methodist Church. It was a performance that was sent straight from heaven!

Lucy+Love=18!

Eighteen years ago on this very day a puppy began her life in East Tennessee. I am sure she loved her mother and brothers and sisters as most puppies do, playing and enjoying long naps huddled together near their mother.

 Six weeks later, that same happy puppy would find herself alone in a kennel at the Adopt-a-Pet on Kingston Pike in Knoxville. All of her brothers and sisters had been adopted and she was the very last one needing a home. This is where that puppy and our lives would converge. It was a warm spring-like day and I entered the Adopt-A-Pet in search of the perfect dog that would become my birthday present. When I saw that sweet little puppy in the kennel all by herself crying for attention, I knew she had to be mine. They brought "Laura" as they had named her out and it was love at first sight.

 Soon thereafter, "Laura" and I were on our way to my dorm room at the University of Tennessee. I renamed her Lucy and she has been by my side ever since, going to classes with me at UT inside my backpack, moving with me into my first real apartment, running away and being chased down by Howie the day of my college graduation, moving with Howie and me across the country to Phoenix, Arizona, Salem, Oregon, Austin, Texas and finally back to the city of her birth here in Knoxville. Lucy is a wonderful dog with lots of spirit and spunk. She has been a big sister to three canine, three bird, and two human siblings.

We are constantly amazed at her get-up-and-go spirit and her insatiable appetite even at this old age. We love our Lucy and we are so happy to have had her with us to enjoy our life together. Happy 18th birthday Lucy Avery! We wish you may more days and birthdays with us here.

Do You Wanna Build a Snowman?

Knoxville was the happy recipient of a significant amount of fluffy white snow during the evening  hours. We awoke to a blanket of white that looked as if it had been taken from Disney's latest movie hit Frozen. The girls immediately cranked up the soundtrack from their new all time favorite flick and belted out the lyrics to "Do you want to build a snowman?" as they pulled on their snow gear. I quickly bundled myself up too and headed out to help build our very own snow man. As in true keeping with our very girly household, we built a snow girl and gave her all the proper pink and purple attire including a pink cookie heart! Sadie the Snow Girl stands proudly in front of our house just waiting for some winter fun with Olaf from Frozen. We hope that you too are enjoying some winter fun!

Insta-January 2014

I have been trying to find a way to incorporate my Instagram shots on the blog. There are so many shots I may capture on my camera phone that just don't get to the blog somehow. I really want to be more intentional of getting those shots recorded here as one of the things I use this blog for is an online scrapbook of our life as a family. If you have any suggestions, I am all ears! I found this site to make collages; however, I am not sure I really like the outcome. I'd rather have all of my Instagram photos for the month in a collage in which the photos are all the same size. And I really don't want the company logo on my collage as is seen in the one below. This version was free, and since I am exploring options, I didn't want to pay any $ for a service if I don't really like it, or if I can get another service for free. So . . . it's a work in process. I will find something that will meet all of the criteria I am looking for soon. Until then, the collage below is a start :-)!