Carson's First Tee-ball Game

Carson's first Tee-ball game was tonight and it was pretty fun and amusing. He played center field the first inning and third base the second inning...he had so much fun! On his first time up to bat he hit a home run!! (See the video below) Andrew was his biggest fan and did a fairly good job amusing himself during the game. It was pretty fun to see Dad and Carsy out in the field together! Carson loved chasing down the ball and running to get the runner on his base. We went to Mazzios to celebrate after the game and when I asked him what his favorite part was he told me....the snacks. :) Of course....pretty funny! And so Tee-ball begins....too fun!

Carson's 1st Tee-Ball Game- His First Hit on Video

Click on the Play Button to see Carson at bat for the first time and of course it was a home run! :)

Snow Fun!

Just a little fun in the snow....on the 28th of March! Crazy!

Church Baby Shower

Today a few wonderful friends hosted a shower for Abigail Ruth at the church. When we woke up this morning it was still raining and then shortly after the rain turned into huge flakes of snow and started accumulating quickly. By the time we left for the shower there was probobly already 4" of snow on the ground! The last weekend in March! Crazy! It was a really fun time with those that braved the storm...girl stuff is soo fun! I just loved the little dresses and she got her own little princess set of books and her first princess plate set to dine on...so fancy! I was sorry that the weather did not permit more friends and family to travel to be with us, but we had a wonderful time and cake...there was cake! Yum!

Nesting....lots of nesting

Well I think the nesting has officially started. I have been reorganizing and cleaning most rooms in the house.....clutter is driving me batty. I am running loads of laundry every night just to make sure that we are "caught up". (which is crazy because I have never been caught up everyday with laundry until this last week. I even cleaned the garage today....yes, the garage...and it needed it...why does it feel so wonderful to get things all organized and taken care of? I sold all of my display stuff last night that I used to do all of our Affair of the heart shows...what a relief...it has been driving me crazy sitting in the garage..why? I guess cause I have officially retired from shows and hate to see money just wasting away sitting in the garage when someone else could be using it. I did inventory on all the pieces that I had and listed it on Craigslist on Tuesday....and sold the next day to a lady that owns a children's resale shop in Claremore and was wanting to expand her store ...it worked out perfect! Retired...I like that feeling of knowing that I am no longer going to be doing the shows. The rental...we still have not sold the rental house...doubt is trying to sneak in as I try to hold onto that peace that we have that God has the right buyers for this house. I was really wanting it to be sold before Abigail came...another little closure thing....but maybe it won't be? I keep thinking about how faithful God is and has been to us time and time again....even with selling the gridwall display stuff yesterday...I wondered if I would even be able to get rid of it and recoop some of my cost....and he took care of it in one day. I love that....I guess it is just the expectant waiting that is getting to me today...with the impending arrival of our little girl and the sale of the rental home. Joy. Right now as I am writing this I am enjoying sitting on the front porch watching the boys play with the girls two houses down and enjoying the semi-nice weather....it is cloudy but not too cold..what joy I find as I look at these little boys that God has blessed us with...my how they continue to grow so quickly....bad weather is coming this weekend, they say...snow in March...crazy! Some friends at church are throwing a shower for Abigail on Saturday...I hope and pray that the weather will be nice enough...Carson was sapossed to have his first Tee-ball games this Fri, Sat and Mon but I am afraid that probobly will not happen. He is so excited about Tee-ball. Dust took him to get his baseball pants and cleats yesterday....pure joy....that is all I could see on his face when he tried on his pants and cleats to show me....he is ready to play! One more crazy nesting thing....our vacuum stopped working last week and our new one should be in today....I am so very excited...seriously...to vaccuum today...that seems crazy, huh? Who gets excited about vaccuuming? :) Why is it so satifying to have everything spick and span and completely organized these days?...I guess it is just nesting.

Officially Ready For Abigail...

This week I have been finsihing up the final touches in Abigail's room. We made pillows for her bed and one for her crib. The boys and I went to JoAnn's so that we could all pick out a special button to go on each pillow. As you probobly already guessed, Andrew picked an orange one, Carson picked a green one and I picked a pinkish purple one. They turned out very cute! The boys really thought that was fun stuffing them and putting them on her bed. The crib quilt is finally finished....I did attempt to quilt it together (the front, backing and binding) by myself but quickly found out that it was much too large and difficult a project for me right now so after I ripped out quite a bit of my attempt to quilt it myself, I found a lady here in Tulsa that machine quilted it for me. I took it to her on Tuesday and she told me that it would be about two weeks....she called today (2 days later) and told me that she had it completed...for some reason she felt like it needed to be completed asap....hmmmm, I just laughed!....we are traveling to Enid in a couple of hours and I have Abigail's seat in the car just in case (not really counting on it at all, but it is always good to be prepared)....gotta go pack the boys stuff...that's all for now....well we are officially ready for her to come whenever that may be...exciting!!

Lazy Days..

I love these pics of Andrew...they totally capture this last weekend, lazy days. It was so wonderful to get to just relax and spend time doing really nothing special this past weekend. I seem to be getting more and more uncomfortable as the days go by and feeling alot of pressure. Last night I was actually awoken by a very strong set of contractions that lasted about thirty minutes or so before finally subsiding enough where I could go back and lay down. My official due date is not for another 5 weeks but I wonder really if we will be waiting that long for Abigail's arrival. We went and saw Dr.Ross this morning and he told us that he would be out of town for the week starting tomarrow and then out of town the following weekend as well...this really does not bother me, because I know that wherever we are Dustin can actually deliver her if he needs to. It makes me a little weary of this weekend, however. On thursday, we are traveling to Enid and visiting with Bass Baptist Hospital pretty much all day Friday. Then Friday late afternoon we are driving to OKC for an OKC Thunder Basketball game and back to Tulsa again on Saturday. Visiting with Bass...I am really having to pray that God will help to give me a peace about Enid. The thing that I am not crazy about is the size, it is still 50,000 people or so. I really feel like it would be so easy to get lost in the mix and not really be able to make the impact for Christ in relationships and community medicine like we feel called to do. Schools. I do not have a peace about Enid schools for the boys and the other option would be Chisolm which is super tiny and not really a community school, but at outlying rural school I would say, if that makes sense. The great positive is family close by, Granny lives in Enid and Grandmommie would only be 30 minutes away and Aunt Becky about 45 minutes. In the past couple of months I have just really loved the prospect of the town of Cushing. When we took our little day of adventure and traveled to Cushing....I really can't explain it other than it just felt right. The town is about 10,000 or so and is definately a strong and close community. I would feel very confident sending the boys to the schools there and can see the many opportunities of ministry and medicine working hand in hand together to truly make a difference for Christ in this small town.

Dustin actually talked to the CEO of the Cushing Hospital today and we are very excited about getting to meet with them and talk with them maybe early April....which brings it all back to God's timing with Abigail. When will she come? I am kind of a planner and as I look at our calendar for the next couple of weeks...I wonder of course, when God's perfect timing will be. This weekend we plan on being in OKC and Enid, next weekend (28th) some good friends are throwing us a shower at the church, and the following weekend (4th) our friends at Image are throwing a shower for us. Dustin is planning on possibly meeting with the CEO from Cushing Monday, April 6th.... I wonder how it will all pan out....will she come before that? Maybe? Maybe Not? I kind of like the suspense of not knowing....and then again I think it sure would be nice to know. Oh well, until then I am going to enjoy some lazy days with my boys. Here was my scripture this morning that God used to reassure me yet again with our need to sale the rental house, " For I the Lord your God hold your right hand; I am the Lord, who says to you, Fear Not; I will help you! Isaiah 41:13

Slowing Down...

Well life is officially slowing down again....and slow is good! We have relinquished alot of responsibilities in the past month as we are preparing for Abigail's arrival. We are no longer teaching the sophmores boys and girls Sunday School class on Sunday mornings. We have been doing this for two years now and although it has been a huge commitment it has also been such a huge blessing being able to pour our lives into thiers week after week and see them grow in the Lord. We know that God has definately given us a peace about stepping down but at the same time we feel like we were just getting to connect with our new class and were beginning to see God really working. We are once again in our own age group Sunday School class, which seems a little odd after being with the youth for so long. I have also relinquished alot of the responsibilities for the Girls of Grace Ministry for teen girls at our church that we started in September. I always knew that this was not something that God was going to have me in charge of long term....in fact I knew that He mainly just had called me to get it going...and so I did. It makes me a little sad to see it transition into this new phase...I feel like a mommy watching her little baby grow wings and fly without my direction and supervision. I am so thankful for what God has taught me through this ministry and the relationships that I have been able to build with these precious girls. I have been so blessed to see so much fruit blossom from them in the past few months....to see them truly grasp the love that the Lord has for them and to see them boldly live for Christ has been so incredible! I am so proud of these girls. I am excited to see what the Lord has in store for this ministry as I step back and let the Lord transition them with a new leader. Business transition. This past weekend Dustin, the boys, and I went to Dallas to change showrooms. Since January I have been really praying the Lord's will for this business and what He would have us to do. It has been a pretty demanding year working markets in Dallas and shows in Tulsa and OKC. I knew that I had no desire to continue this work away from my family especially when Abigail was getting closer to arriving. God began to really give me a sense of peace about slowing down with the business and just letting Him provide. We decided to close our showroom in the Kids Studio at the Dallas Market Center and have signed a contract with a rep showroom. The awesome part is that they are going to do all of our orders and representation in OK, LA, TX, and AR. We no longer will have to travel to Dallas to work markets.....which is a huge blessing! Dustin and I both had a wonderful visit with the new showroom owner that will be repping our product now, Kids at Home Showroom, and were very confident that this is what the Lord really wanted us to do in regards to the business. I left Dallas feeling like a huge weight had been lifted off of my shoulders.....God has worked so many things out in his perfect timing over the past couple of weeks. He is so faithful! The only thing left we have to take care of is selling the rental house. It has been almost 6 weeks now since it has been on the market and our realtor called the other day to see if we thought we needed to lower the price or change the listing information to make it more appealing, (It has 20 piers and that has been scarring off most buyers that are seriously interested in making an offer) but we both feel like God has just been confirming to us over and over that He has the right people to buy this home....we just need to wait on Him and his perfect timing. Here is the verse he gave me the next morning in my quiet time"Wait and hope for and expect the Lord, be brave and of good courage and let your heart be stout and eduring." Psalm 27:14...We will wait and hope in Him and expect him to make good what Satan inteded for evil with the purchase of this home because He is so faithful! I am truly enjoying the slowing down period of transition that we are in...Dustin's schedule has been so easy this month also which is truly wonderful....slow is good. We have approximately 5 weeks or so until Abigail comes....so exciting. One of my favorite things these days is going into her closet and looking at her clothes. It is still a little unreal for me to really imagine her here, I don't think that will soak in until she is born and home. I love it when people ask these days how much longer I have because I love to say really only the Lord knows....Carson was 2 weeks early and Andrew was a day late so.....?? I had an ultrasound done around 29 weeks and they predicted April 10th according to all of her measurements....I am holding onto that. It sounds good to me! I did go ahead and order he a coordinating Easter outfit to match her brothers if she is here by Easter (it is orange and I keep thinking...if she has red hair like in my dream she probobly won't like the orange so much :) ) ....but I realize that her official due date is not until April 21...whatever day she comes I am content and know that He is in control and that it will truly be His perfect timing...I am really going to enjoy the slow days ahead until then.... Praising Him!

A Day at the Zoo..

Monday the boys and I ventured out to the zoo. We heard that the weather was going to get cold again later this week and decided to enjoy a nice 70 degree day with the animals. The boys has a great time. Our most favorite thing was seeing a mommy monkey play with her baby monkey. She would sling him over her back and chase him down and tickle him....the boys really thought it was cool! The turtles were also a favorite this time....they are sooo huge! What wonderful and amazing creatures that God has created and what a beautiful day to enjoy it all. The most dissapointing thing was the Choo Choo was still closed for winter and the boys were soooo sad not to get to ride it....they are absolutely enthralled with trains. I wonder if that will ever pass. Andrew walked the whole time and by the end of our 2 hour trip he was really getting tired (so was I :) and glad to head home. I love being able to see thier excitement about every new animal...they are growing up so quickly.

Just a few Circus Pics

We went to the Circus after Andrew's birthday and it was a fun time. Andrew and Carson were adamant that Mimi ride in the very back seat of Mr. Mervyn with them on the way. Too cute! Andrew ended up falling asleep and so did Daddy. It was a super long day for all of us. Carson said that he liked everything but especially the motorcycles and Andrew said that his favorite part was the elephants...they pretended to sleep and then woke up...he thought that was pretty cool!

Carson's First Tee-Ball Practice

It is first of all so hard for me to believe that Carson is old enough to play Tee-Ball! He had his first tee-ball practice last night and what a fun time he had. We were so proud of him...he did a wonderful job of listening and doing what his coaches told him to do...and he loved it! Daddy bought him a new green bat which he loves! He is so proud to show it to anyone who comes to visit. Andrew...I was a little worried about how Andrew would do..knowing that he wants to do everything that Carson does...he wanted to know where his glove was? where his bat was? where his team was?....he threw a little fit at first wanting to be on the field with Daddy and Carsy but after that he did okay as I tried to entertain him...finally we found a pile of dirt that made him happy. I loved watching Carson, every once in a while he would turn around and find me and wave...he was having a super grand time! At the end of the practice Carson got into the car and told me, "Mommy I did really good, he said I could come back on Saturday." (meaning his coach wanted him to come back and play again...really practice on Saturday) Yeah! And so tee-ball begins......

Happy Orange Power Birthday Party

On Saturday, February 28, we celebrated Andrew Maddox Cupp's 3rd Birthday bash in Orange Power Style. He was so very excited! We had orange balloons, orange choo-choo cake, orange peeps, orange doritos chips, orange cheetos chips, orange m&ms, orange lollipops, orange clappers, orange playdoh, orange Hi-C, orange sunkist pop, orange carrots, oranges and clementines too. Wow! That is alot of orange!! Andrew had a wonderful time eating all the snacks, cake, opening his presents and playing with his friends! At the end of the night when I put him to bed he told me "Mom, thanks for my orange party. It was really fun.".....so sweet. We are so thankful for this little monkey...what would the Cupp Crew be with out our little Andrew "Maggots" (as Carson renamed him) :)