I'm Back!

Well hello blogger world! It has once again been a while since I have sat down to write. Let me just update you on the recent happenings in the life of the Chandlers.

We now have a 1 year old and a 2 year old in the household! On November 22, 2012, Brayden Samuel Chandler turned 1!! That year absolutely flew by, and the months following have already gone by soooo fast! He turned 14 months just this week! It really is true that time does fly by, but I am so thankful that I am home cherishing every little moment with both of my boys!

We celebrated his birthday the weekend before Thanksgiving since his big day was actually on Thanksgiving. We had such a good time with friends and family, and I was pleased with the turnout since it was close to the Holidays. My sweet sister-in-law agreed to use her picture taking talents to capture some sweet moments for me! Here are a few pics-

Here is the sweet birthday boy with his birthday shirt made by one of my close friends.

Instead of regular cake and ice cream, I decided to do a cupcake bar. It was a huge hit, and very yummy (if I do say so myself :).

This was something salty to add to the cupcakes! Sooo good and easy! Thanks Pinterest!

Brayden enjoyed his smash cake!

My cute niece enjoying her cupcake!

The kids enjoyed playing in the back yard the whole time! I was so happy that the weather was nice!

The big kids enjoyed playing too!

Mommy and Brayden had fun opening presents!

It was such a great day that was spent celebrating my sweet baby's first year! The Lord is so good!

I will continue my update in the next blog! I think that is enough for now! 

Wordless Wednesday

I cannot believe that it's already been a week since my last post....which was wordless Wednesday :) They are just too easy not to post! I promise I will post something with more words before next Wednesday!

Wordless Wednesday

Try and figure this out.... :)

Amazed

Often times, I sit back and just think of the Lord's goodness and grace upon my life, and I am simply "amazed". Truly, I am! His faithfulness sustains me through the good times and bad times. And this is what spurred that though on. This morning I was reading about a mother who slipped into a coma after delivering her baby, who she had prayed for for seven years. Many thoughts ran through my mind as I was reading this. I was first so very thankful to look over at Noah playing in his playroom, and Brayden sitting in his high chair laughing at his brother. I then asked, "Why Lord?" And at that moment, I was reminded that the Lord IS faithful. ALL things will work together for good and most importantly, for His glory. That is so hard to fathom when you are in the valleys, but over the ages, that one truth has remained.

So let me share with you how the Lord has been faithful in my life.

* I was born into a home with parents who love the Lord and who have loved me unconditionally. They may not be perfect, but they have shown me and taught me that trusting in the Lord is the only sure thing in this world.

*I became a believer in Christ at an early age of 7, and at that moment, the Lord bestowed his grace upon a wicked sinful heart. I was then a daughter of the King, and the Holy Spirit began a work in me that is yet to be completed.

*Through the years, the Lord has placed believers in my path who have challenged me in my walk with the Lord.

*I was able to attend a college where I was taught to incorporate the truth of the Word within the world where I worked.

*I was privileged to teach at a school with hurting children surrounded by a faculty who loved them, prayed for them, and educated them.

* The Lord brought my Godly, caring, servant-hearted husband to me all the way from North Carolina, and he is so much more than I had ever dreamed for in a husband.

* Only 3 months after I married that man, the Lord began creating a little life inside of me. He is now a smart, funny, and energetic little two year old named Noah Lee Chandler.

* Only 18 months after that, our second little bundle of joy was born, who is currently pulling up and looking at me over my chair. He is a true picture of sweetness and contentment, and his name is Brayden Samuel Chandler.

* I chose to be a stay at home mommy, and this has been the hardest and most rewarding thing I have ever done. The Lord's faithfulness is written all over this with His ability to provide patience and financial stability.

* Our family is a part of a community of believers at Gospel Community Church who want to live in true community with one another, by practicing the "one anothers" of the Bible. This is incredible!

I could go on and on and on. Wow...

But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. Psalm 86:15

Doin' Work!

If you know me, you understand that if there were a time period I could live in, it would be the pioneer days. :) I could think of nothing more satisfying than living off of the land and being completely self-sufficient! That idea is becoming more and more appealing these days... Well, Cory and I decided that we needed to plant a garden. We decided this about a year ago, but just now got around to doing it! So, on Labor Day the first Chandler garden began! It is September, therefore we had to plant a fall garden. But seriously, are there really, technically seasons in Louisiana?? I think not, so we planted some fall veggies and threw in some other non-fall veggies as well. We are calling this our trial run garden. I am not afraid of failure, so if it fails, well I'll be sad, but I will hopefully learn how to do it better next time! Here is what we planted: mustard greens, turnip greens, spinach, lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, corn, squash, and zucchini. I LOVE my garden. Noah and I walk out to check on it several times a day! It has been so fun to watch it grow! I am ready to hopefully put some yummy veggies in a pot, skillet, or on a grill soon!!! Here are a few pics of our labor. :)

Here is Cory tilling the area we had designated for our garden. Gotta love a hard workin man!

Good soil!

This was not the fun part...making the rows. Cory did most of them, I just had to get in there for picture purposes. :) I did get one done though! It was HOT that day!!

And two weeks later....WA-LA! We are beginning to see the fruits of our labor!

Here is a close-up of our squash! I am hoping to see some yellow soon!

Needless to say, planting a garden has been very gratifying so far. We plan to have a garden for every season! What a fun way to help provide for your family! Thank you Lord for the rain, sunshine, and nutrients you have given us!

Happy 130th Labor Day!

I am very thankful for Labor Day Weekend every year because I know that a few things will be involved- family, friends, games, and FOOD! So before I wrote this post, I got to thinking about the what, where, and when of Labor Day. So I did a little bit of research. The first Labor Day was on September 5, 1882. So this is our 130th labor day in this country. We celebrate this holiday to honor workers in this great country. "It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country." I found this quote from the United States Department of Labor website. I am so thankful for those who have come before us who made this great country what it is. I am pretty sure that those hard working men and women would be appalled to see what work ethic has become today for some (maybe most) people in our nation. I hope that as a parent, I will instill good work ethic in my children. I also hope that the majority of America can wake up and see that sitting and doing nothing all day long will get you nowhere quick! ( I think I have been watching a little too much of the RPN) :) Anywho...Happy Labor Day all you hard workers of America! I appreciate what you do, and how you contribute to taking care of my family's everyday needs.

On Chandler household notes... I hope the sickness has fled from our household from sheer terror of me! I am not a fan of being sick, but I am REALLY not a fan of my boys being sick. The only one who did not get sick was Cory. Thank goodness! So we are on the mend and business as usual can resume...whatever that is :)

Brayden still cannot grasp the concept of moving forward with his body. He IS a little crawfish. It is quite funny to watch him.

Noah is getting in the stage of doing and saying things that make me chuckle. He isn't meaning to be funny, but it is! I think that's the best kind of funny.

And I, mommy, am ready for a date night with my hubby. I love that man and am ready for some QT with him! We will have to make that happen soon.

OH! And we just had a hurricane pass through. It was the slowest hurricane I have ever experienced. We waited and waited, and I think it might have hit this morning. Or that could have been a thunderstorm....I don't know. The point is that we were not affected by it, but that is not the case in other parts of the state. My heart goes out to the families who will have to once again try to re-coop and re-build. This is a time for thanksgiving in my heart that we were not affected.

What a crazy and random blog post! Guess that is what happens when you go a week without blogging, but I am happy to keep you updated on life! Hope everyone enjoys each other this weekend and stay safe!

LOTS of change going on!

As I mentioned in my last post, I am now a stay at home mommy. I am so happy that I am getting to do this. I really am enjoying the quality time spent with my boys, and just being able to get things done around the house on a daily basis. This is a HUGE change for my family and mostly for me. I have been working since I was 16, and this is the first time I don't have a job to go to. So it has been very difficult for me to understand that my family is my number one, full time job. What a huge calling this is for women, and a tough one at that! I am learning so many different faults about myself, but I am tankful that these are being revealed to me and that the Holy Spirit is teaching me about the process of sanctification that we as Christians go through on a daily basis. I cannot thank the Lord enough for my husband and my two little boys, and now my opportunity to serve them on a full-time schedule.

Now, let me explain another change I am going through. During the pregnancy of my first born, Noah, I gained 80 pounds. Obviously this was not a good thing, but it happened. While in the process of trying to lose this weight, I became pregnant with our next child, Brayden. I did not lose all of my previous baby weight from Noah, and then gained some with Brayden. So the result was me gaining 2 precious boys and whole lot of unwanted pounds! I have begun to take nutritional supplements from Advocare due to our involvement as distributors, and this has given me a BOOST for my weight loss. Today I started a 6 week boot camp at CrossFit in Alexandria. The class is an hour long on every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I am hoping to live until the end of it :) It is INTENSE, and a huge change for this out of shape body! I am excited though about the results I WILL get at the end of the 6 weeks. Pray for me!!!! :)

If you know me, you know that I don't do well with change. I'm kind of "set in my ways" as some would say, but I know that change is inevitable, and I do believe that these two changes are quite good ones! Reminds me of this verse: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Phillipians 4:13.

I will leave you with a few pics of some cuties :)