We are in Nashville with our bestest buds....Jen, Greg, Tori and Gabe!!!! Lyza and her boyfriend Gabe hit it off right away....a few tiffs over toys...but they swam well, played well and LOVED chasing each other and stuffing tissue paper under the crib for a very long time.....listening to their little laughs was music to our ears.

Tori and Madisyn hit it off wonderfully too......tori slept in our room last night and had a great time in the pool and out to dinner! We love hearing their preteen/teen lauguage and conversations! FUNNY! They are going to have a blast at the Opry Hotel today!!!

Jen, Greg, Chris, and I hit it off pretty darn well too! Did you imagine we wouldn't?? We had a great time at dinner last night, hanging in the pool, kiddie pool with the babies....even in the big pool with all the kids (Greg and Chris included :-)......then fun in the hot tub!!

We are heading out to the Gaylord Opry Hotel for family photo shoots and for me to take pic's of Jen and her family! Should be fun! We are looking forward to it....We'd better go!!!!

xoxooxoo
Check later for pic's! This vacation meeting our best friends finally is SUCH a blessing!!!!

FFF - Silly and New WEBSITE!!!

I do have very silly......but sweet girls!!! :-) READ on for MORE info!!

FFF this week thanks to http://www.kissthefrog4me.blogspot.com/ is "Silly"...bet I can find some pic's of my girls being silly! :-)

Well all....as you can see to the upper right, I have my new blinkie, thanks to Jen. Please feel free to copy and paste the link onto your website. Clicking on it will take you directly to my photo website. I am so excited to have it almost completed. I have had so many bookings that I knew I just HAD to have it done soon so customers could see samples of my work. So far the only ones I need to work on (this is much more time consuming that I imagined) are teens, children, more holidays, and nature photos. Hopefully that will be done on Monday when we return home from vacation. Please take a look, click on the side tabs to see each category and I apologize for not having them all done yet, like I said...it is much more time consuming than I had thought!

http://www.walkbyfaithphotgraphy.blogspot.com/ is the domain name now....which will change to http://www.walkbyfaithphoto.com/ real soon. My email address is misty@walkbyfaithphoto.com if you have any questions. I have a whole line up for Easter photos with live bunnies and ducks in March...if you are in this area and would like to participate, I will be adding that information under "special events" soon! Thank you for your loyalty and support thus far....and in advance for the future! I really appreciate it. I am saving up so I can buy lighting and props for better indoor photography!!

Again, please take a blinkie and add it to your site! I would LOVE that!!! Thanks for helping me spread the word!

Thankful Thursday and Let us Have COMPASSION for those less fortunate!

http://heart4children.blogspot.com/

Please check out my friend Vanessa's Blog!

She is raising money, taking donations and collecting goods to take to orphanages in Guatemala!

I am so thankful for HER and for the help she is providing to the children and families of Guatemala. No one can understand the need and the poverty of this country as you have seen it first hand. (See the OTHER need below with photos!)

She is also offering a raffle of a $100.00 Visa Giftcard in lieu of donations. Check out her sidebar to donate and get your ticket numbers....it would be greatly appreciated as it costs about $400.00/box to ship these to Guatemala. I know it is A LOT of hard work, time and effort on her part. I don't know how she does it. Below is a list of items/things she sent to me that they are in need of or taking donations for:

Would you like to be a child's Santa this year??? Here's your chance!! You can simply donate a new or gently used toy to a child in Guatemala this holiday season!! It's simple just gather the toy and ship it to me at P.O. Box 276 Des Allemands, LA 70030 if you're using regular postal service or to 146 Norman Ln. Des Allemands, LA 70030. Due to the high cost of shipping these items to Guatemala I'm asking that with each toy you also include a donation to help with the shipping expense. This is not meant to hinder those who would like to donate, but this is a vital part of Project Santa!!Want to save on shipping the item twice?? Simply click on the donate button and contribute to the Guatemala missions. This money wil go towards shipping and party expenses as well as helping ot make sure we gather enough toys for the children!! For more info on Project Santa, becoming a mission team volunteer, or to coordinate a shipping site from your home simply email me at vbayouangel@aol.com Thanks for all of your continued support!!

Her personal blog!

http://mommyslilblessings.blogspot.com/

So...if this touches your heart in any way and you have the means to give or donate, please do so! It is greatly appreciated and going to a great cause!

Blessings!!!

Another NEED:

Please let us be thankful for what WE have, that we take for granted each and every day, and pray for those who are much less fortunate. Please go to the blog below for photos and more information on this family.

http://guatemama-leslie.blogspot.com/

"A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling." Psalm 68:5

The Xurek family, has 7 children in the family.

We (Mayan Families) sponsor three of these children to go to school. There are 5 boys and 2 girls. They are all young. no. 6 child is malnourished and we have that child receving milk from the feeding program.
~ As many of my blog readers know we sponsor a little boy from Guatemala named Daniel through a AMAZING organization Called Mayan Families here is the site

http://www.mayanfamilies.org/

They sent this URGENT request out for this dear family who's father was gunned down in Guatemala on Friday Morning...7 children are now left without their father and no income...
They live in a wooden shack with a dirt floor.

They pay $33 a month to live here....

~They have no tables or chairs.

~They have one bed for all of them

The coffin is $293 and the burial plot is $160.

They had to take out a VERY high loan to pay for the fathers funeral.

Outdoor bathroom

drinking water

If you can help with any donation, no matter how small, or if you can please post this message to any of the sites that you use.

Wordless Wednesday

New Photography Credential - Lyza is at it again!!!

Lyza is at it again with her cuteness! Please check out Miss Priss TuTus at

http://www.missprisstutus.com/pages/PhotographersCorner.php .

I was excited to get the email yesterday saying they wanted to use her photograph in her TuTu for her birthday on their photographers corner for advertisement....mainly because I love getting the credit for taking the photos, which is important in starting a new business. The link under her photo will take you directly to my website, which is still a work in progress! She is cute...and funny....so that does help....you can't help but love her with the personality she has!! So....congrats to Lyza for making it in another advertisement. I'm thinking I need to move to the East or West Coast soon to get some modeling contracts???? Ha! For this advertisement I got the credits, plus I get a discount on any TuTus that I would need for her in the future! They are really cute TuTus and she makes them for some of the "Stars" children too...she has a wonderful set of credentials herself!!!

Last night Madisyn slept with me. Somehow we were woken up in the middle of the night, thining it was time to get up and go to school. We were both in pretty deep sleeps. I asked her what time Chris' clock said and she replied "There must be something wrong with it, it only says 12:30". So I asked her what time her cell phone said (she uses that as an alarm clock) and said, well, it says 12:30 too! So we were both happy that we had only been asleep 3 hrs ( we konked out EARLY) and still had the rest of the night to rest!! I love it when that happens.

It really seems the all natural medicines are working for me! Sleeping is going great (and that's what I was worried about most!!! But my mood has gotten better, my patience, etc. So far, So good and I am very thankful! Hope they continue to keep on working. It just feels better not to be putting so much "medicine" in my body!!!

Got Madisyn off to school at 6:50 am this morning. Tonight is her last game...it is an away game, so a friends mom is bringing her home. Wrestling Lyza at those games is just WAY to hard on me and my back!!! I braided her hair in french braids and she was good to go. She did call at 9:30 am, just as I was getting out of bed and asked if I could bring her gym uniform to her......she gets points deducdted if she doen't have her uniform, so I took it down there with money stuffed in it for snacks at tonights game! Chris is on an odd shift again today...got home around 8:30 am, and has to be back at 5:00 pm......then goes back at 9 pm tomorrow night and then he is done for a full three days!!!! NASHVILLE, HERE WE COME........JEN AND GREG, HOPE YOU ARE UP FOR THIS....LOL!!! WHAT A GREAT TIME WE ARE GOING TO HAVE!

BLESSINGS!

Terrific Tuesday???!!!

Today was a very lazy day!!! I got up at 6 am after sleeping like a BABY! Woo Hoo....got Madisyn ready and off to school, then went back to bed until 9:45 when Lyza woke up. I got her ready, breakfast, cartoons, lunch then when I put her back down for her nap at 1:00 I fell asleep until 3 pm!!! She was still asleep but Maddy get home at 3:15 so perfect timing! I nodded off again from 6:00-6:30 and then Madisyn andI tried to watch the Bachelor and I kept nodding off then too!!! Medicines are really working. Madisyn said she can tell I'm being lot nicer and not so moody! (Sad for your 12 year old to tell you that)...she said I seemed happier.....and that did make me happy...and I have more energy (despite the naps!!! boy that felt good though, usually I can't do that!) Lyza is tucked into bed and Maddy is sleeping with me tonight since Chris is on nights. Should be interesting...she's a wiggle sleeper!!! As you can see from the photos Lyza wanted to play dress up all day...it was very cute. Madisyn even let me get some pic's of her in one of her new outfits after we ran to the post office this afternoon!

Hope this finds everyone well!

** Super Sunday **

The "Princesses"....Madisyn was trying on some of her new clothing to wear to church this morning.....Lyza playing dress up!

And yes....we have a "Princess" Cowgirl also!!! She put on this very large Tu-Tu to ride the horse also! How funny is that??

She loved that her big Sissy gave her one of her "Cowgirl" hats to wear....and it fit :-) Yee - Haw Bucka-wooo, were the most famous words of the day yesterday!

Rose Madisyn got from Chris for Valentines Day!

My little "Bucka-roo" never ceases to amaze me. The little one has picked up SO much over the past several weeks. She talks non-stop and is even telling us what she wants and needs now...while it is over the top cute......it is kinda sad, my baby is growing. There is a Wonder Pets episode "Wonder Pets Save the Armadillo"....and on the same show is "Wonder Pets Save the Itsy Bitsy Spider"........yes, she has watched it WAAAYYY to many times, she knows the entire shows WORD FOR WORD and even acts out the motions and gives the southern accent and all. It is so cute.....Chris, Madisyn and I were laughing our butts off watching her last night. Although it is too long for me to tape on my camera.....I am going to tape it on our recorder.....it is just something else!! It was actually an episode "On Demand" but was going off the air over the weekend so I had Chris tape it on a VCR tape (shhhh, don't tell!).

Yesterday we got a beautiful snow most of the morning. This just gave all of us an excuse to stay in our jammies most of the day and be a bit lazy!!! It was nice....... Chris and I did get out and go to Target in the afternoon. Lyza needed water wings for our upcoming trip to Nashville with Jennifer and family. She can swim alone with them...she's a little fish! Our hotel is super nice and has a little kiddie pool along with an adult pool also....and hot tub of course!!! I simply cannot wait!

Madisyn has been reading the last book in the Twilight series and I can hardly get her out of her room and stop reading it. Hope she is done with it soon, as she wants to do nothing else but hide out and read! Which isn't a bad thing....I'd just like to see more of her! :-) She did babysit Lyza while we ran to Target yesterday which was much appreciated!

I have been "All Natural" on the meds for two days now. So far, so good I think. The first night I slept ok.....yesterday I had a lot more energy than normal, which was great.....I did sleep ok last night, but I got up at 4 am and did dishes and put together two photo albums :-) Then went back to bed at 5:30. I am getting ready to take a hot bath now, as I still ache in the back some from tht massage. I did find a holistic Dr....all natural that I am contemplating making an appt. with. I think my mother may too. We'll see. I am going to go back to bed for a bit after my hot bath....then we are headed off to church 2nd service!

Hope everyone has a wonderful Sunday!

New info to be comging about my Photography Website soon.

I am in the process of getting it finished....I have just had a ton of bookings for the year and so I really need to get that done!

Blessings!

What a Night......

I was pleasantly surprised to find a package at my door this morning from Vitamin World. I called yesterday to check on my order for my "All Natural" new medicine regime and was told it would ship out today....so I figured I would get it on Monday. They were wrong.....it was already shipped and arrived this morning! So....as of this morning, I am "All Natural"! I will keep you posted on how this goes. I can say that I took the nightly medicines about 1 hr ago and I do feel pretty drowsy....we'll see if I am able to fall asleep or not!

Tonight Madisyn and I had a mother/daughter evening! Chris took Lyza to G.G. and Grandpa Mark's for the evening so Maddy and I could have some alone time. The first great thing was I went to pick up photos from Walgreen's and the lady told me that she would not be able to give me the photos until I had a release signed from the photographer because they looked to be professional photos. I kinda smiled and said, "I AM the photographer"....and she didn't really believe me. She asked what kind of camera I used, etc. I had to show her a business card and she STILL made me sign a release "just in case"! Ok...kinda annoying, but a great compliment I believe. They were actually enlargements of winter photos I took of Maddy and Lyza....and some of Amanda and Jonathan's wedding that I am putting in my portfolio! Too funny.

Then I surprised Madisyn and took her to get a pedicure and her nails done (yes, I got mine done too). I got mine done in black with silver tips and silver flower....(yes, got this idea from Trish...her's looked good so thought I would try it)....Madisyn got hers done in bright blue with yellow dots to match her school colors!! She had a little bit of her own money and I had a little leftover for what we had set aside for summer clothing so we went to the mall and she got a few more outfits for this summer. I treated myself to a massage...and it felt OH SO GOOD! My sister in law is a massage therapist and she is GOOD, but she is 1.5 hrs away! They really worked on my joints and trigger points and it felt so good! We then had a bite to eat at the mall.....then went to pick up Lyza! What a great way to start the weekend! We had a good time.

This time next week we will be in Nashville with Greg, Jennifer, Tori and Gabe! UNREAL, finally....we are going to meet and stay the entire weekend. I am so excited! She has a countdown ticker on her blog....which I think is very funny and very cute. Who would think one would get so excited about a weekend vacation??? Well, us....we got rooms with sleep number beds, it has a kiddie pool, adult pool, hot tub.........and US! We are going to visit the Gaylord Opry Hotel one day also....our hotel is just across the street! Fun, Fun!!!

Below are photos of Lyza yesterday. She got up at 6 am, which is unheard of in my house. She normally sleeps until about 9:30 am (yes, I know I am lucky...and she even slept until 10 am this morning!). She fell asleep about 9 am on this day.....completely covered up...she always does this and no matter how many times I move the covers off her head, she always puts them back. She does not like the light at all!!! So...this is how I found her, tried to uncover her, then as you can see, she covered back up. I thought I would sneak in a little nap also and as soon as I laid down, she was up 15 min later....so it was a very short nap, but she fell asleep in the afternoon for another couple of hours....so it all worked out! Thank goodness for Coffee!!!

Lyza....she is in there, under that pile of blankets!

I tried to uncover her!!!

But...she covered right back up! She is such a funny kid!!!

Favorite Foto Friday - "Fake It"

Here are some of my most treasured people...."FAKING IT"...of all things!!! Enjoy and have a blessed weekend!

To check out more "Fake It" please hop on over to www.kissthfrog4me.blogspot.com/ Sorry if my spelling is off, but tonight I am EXTREMELY tired and ready to hit the sack. Here are a few of my favorite "blooper/fake smiles"!!!!

~~ This and That ~~

First of all, it is not often that I get accolades such as touching as the one Amanda left for me on her blog: http://thegidcumbs.blogspot.com/

Thank you Amanda.....that was SO very sweet and it is so nice to hear something nice about yourself once in awhile! You brought tears to my eyes.......thanks again, you are a jewel!!!

I think things are getting back to normal at my house.......whatever "normal" is I guess!

Week before last my regular dr. told me to start taking the hormones that my OBGYN told me to start taking nearly a year ago. The side effects were crazy, so I just did not bother. The night sweats have gotten out of control...with a few other things....so, I decided I would go ahead on them. ESTRATEST for anyone interested. They have estrogen and Testosterone in them. I had a hysterectomy when I was 24, but they left my ovaries. A year ago they determined one ovary was completely ate up with endometriosis and the other about 50%. So that is why the hormone replacement therapy. LONG story short.......my feet, knees, hands, face started to swell about 4-5 days after taking my first pill......to the tune of 15 whopping lbs! JUST what I needed, more weight! So....I called urgent care and they told me to go off them immediatly. The next morning I had a splitting headache, so while Christopher had me propped up in bed with ice packs on my feet and knees....cold wash cloth on my forehead I asked for an excederin for the headache. I couldn't swallow it...it was stuck and nothing was going down, and nothing up. It was trapped. Very scary....my throat was swollen too....so he finally just shoved his finger down my throat and pulled it out. He called my dr. immediatly and they put me on water pills and benedryl for the throat swelling. I"m happy to say as of yesterday I fit back into my jeans and other clothing and the 15 lbs DID come off. I was worried......all I needed was another lb to worry about!!!

After hitting 30, it really did seem like things in my body started going downhill. The weight issues, joint issues, flexibility issues, etc......it has been one thing after another! All dr.'s want to do is prescribe Pain Killers, Epidural Injections, Ambien, Xanax....you name it. So I am finally going drug free ( once my vitamins from Vitamin World arrive) and am going to try and detox myself and go all natural. I ordered a pretty good list and did a lot of research as to what I thought I might need. After all, it is MY body......I think I know what I need more than they do sometimes. So....I'll keep you posted on how it goes. If I'm a babe in a bikini by summer, you'll know it worked :-)) DO NOT hold your breath though! HA!

Lyza had her sleepover at Becky's this weekend and I told you about the "Horsey" and I just had to have one for her. Well....we went to a playdate with Anna and Miss Amy yesterday and LOW and BEHOLD she had one that she wanted to get rid of! for FREE!!! Just my luck. Funny thing is, we put it in my SUV and when I got home, the new one was already on my porch fed ex'd overnight. I bought it new off ebay, so there is no returning. Oh well......we were going to give it to Jen for Gabe....but I don't think it would be worth the hassle of taking apart the old one and taking it all the way to Nashville.....so Chris wants to keep it so we can pull it out of the barn when we have bonfires, campouts, etc!! Great Idea. She sure does like it though. The first picture is the new, soft plush one that sings, gallops, eats and other things. The second picture is the one from Amy who also gallops, eats and says "OHHHH, that feels good) when you hit his scensory button on his mane! (Sounds very FRISKY if ya know what I mean)!

I think Maddy Moo is glad to be home. As soon as I picked her up we went shopping, then out to eat, then shopping again at a few of her favorite stores and she got a few summer things. I think the best part was she got the last Twilight Book she wanted, the soundtrack and bookmark as a Valentines gift from me! She got a rose from Chris!! Homemade cookies from Lyza!!!

We had a good night.....laughed a lot and it was good to have her home. Chris is on odd shifts and got home at 4 am and put the NEW horse together while he waited to put Maddy on the bus at 6:45 am and then he came to bed. He even took Maddy to dance class tonight for me....and took Lyza so I could have an hour of peace! I needed to clean some, shower, do some bible study.....and ahhhhh, lit every candle in the house and just enjoyed the quiet. That is unheard of for me.

Thanks Baby....I LOVE you for doing that for me!!!

xooxxoxoxoox

Lyza OLD Horsey

Lyza NEW Horsey

Valentine Weekend!

We had a pretty fun (interesting) Valentines Weekend!

As you can see from the direct photos below....Lyza went to her first "real" sleepover! Looks like she had a lot of fun!!! She stayed with "Juli and Mya" (as she calls them) and you can view more pic's on Becky's blog at

http://becky-julianaamaya.blogspot.com/ . Looks like they had a ton of fun and I was super happy she came home with homeade cookies and a cute craft project of her hands that I laminated and hung up!! Too cute....what fun! Becky sent me pic's that I was able to see at the hotel and well....I cried, a lot! :-)) I'm not used to leaving her!

So....Chris and I....along with my brother Brandon, his wife Trish.....Trish's brother Cody and his wife-to-be Kim stayed at the Marriott. It was a bit interesting....ha! I won't go into the horror stories of the meal tabs, etc! We had fun though....and I think most of us probably went home and slept the day away on Sunday!

Chris

Brandon

Cody

and their women.....

Trish, Kim, Misty

Hope everyone had a wonderful Valentines Day!!

Get Well Soon Shelby!!

Get Well Soon Shelby!!!

My cousin Shelby is in ICU in Robinson, IL with pneumonia in one of her lungs. She has been in since last Friday and is on a ventilator and not doing so great! Please keep her and her family in your prayers!

xoxooxxo -Shelby!

Get home soon!

Favorite Foto Friday - Love

Lyza this year at Valentines Day!!!

I will post pic's of Madisyn tonight before her dance!

Happy Valentines Day!

Lyza on Valentines Day Last Year!!!