~Random Thoughts by Jewels~
A little about being a wife and mom, a little about adoption, a little about cooking, a little about Jesus, a little about this city girl going country and a lot of random thoughts!
This past weekend we went to Port A with my parents. We have been to Port A with my parents before but this time seemed to be a little more special now that we live six hours from them. It was truly a weekend full of laughter (as always) and joy of being able to enjoy each others' company.
I would list out what all we did but honestly we did what we always do when we go to Port A...we go to the beach and RELAX!!! It was heavenly!
Garrett grilled steaks the first night. Due to a lack of steak knives Mama decided to use a butcher knife. Only this woman could still look proper and graceful holding a butcher knife. Ha!
Ethan "playing chess" with Papa. He has his own rules.
Okay, normally all of my goofy pictures are of Daddy but this was too good not to share. She CRACKS me up!
Have y'all seen Notting Hill? Remember the guy with the goggles?
Mama and I thought of him every time we saw Ethan in these goggles.
So glad my mom got all of these adorable close ups of E playing in the sand. I mean...bestill my heart!!!
And this guy...sheesh! No wonder he already has about 7 girls at school that like him. He is starting to get annoyed with this by the way. I told him I am more than happy to buy him a shirt that says "I'm unavailable, ladies. School comes first. If you have a problem with it take it up with my Mama."...or something to that effect.
My guys in the waves...I know they look like little dots but this was just such a great view!
I love how they love each other!
Sigh... <3
This boy has a huge chunk of my heart....HUGE!!!
My man!
So, this brave boy tried oysters and he actually liked them (despite the fourth picture). He even ate two! GROSS!
Port A sunset...no filter. No words for this beauty!
This mama is missing the beach already...until next time, Port A!
Marriage has been heavy on my heart lately and I honestly do not know why. But I know this. When something tugs on my heart I write about it. I don't know if someone needs to hear this or it is just something I want documented in my blog to be able to read back and reflect on some day but either way, here it goes...
I often wonder what my life would be like if I would have left my husband when it felt like the best, right, easiest thing to do. I had one foot out the door several times in the first 8 years of our almost 14 year marriage but God always brought me back (more on that later). And I don't just wonder about my life. I wonder what his life would be like. And I wonder what our boys' lives would be like.
If I would have left him...
I would not have grown into the woman I am.
I would not have had the joy of watching him grow into the father he is.
I would most certainly not be the mother I am today.
I would have missed many years of someone to laugh with, share my sorrows with and share my dreams with.
I would not be as brave as I am today. I certainly would not have been able to move 6 hours away from all of my family.
I would have missed out on watching God transform his heart and grow him into a better man.
I would not have Ethan. I would not have experienced the beautiful gift of adoption.
And I would not have been able to experience God's redeeming grace or watch how he can turn brokenness and grief into beauty and life. He literally can transform our hearts and minds to love like He loves.
About six years ago I gave God complete control of my marriage, my feelings, my happiness and my future. I remember it vividly - sitting on my closet floor, sobbing, and telling him I give up. Over the next couple of days, through prayer, scripture and song, God told me to stay. He asked me to trust Him. He asked me to give Him time to change Garrett, to change me, to change our relationship with Him.
I love looking back at parts of my life and seeing how God was at work. Sometimes it is so hard to understand why things are happening in our life but I have finally learned to TRUST and PRAISE Him in all circumstances. He has a plan that is SO much bigger than one I could ever imagine. See, God had been planting seeds of desire for adoption in both mine and Garrett's hearts all throughout our marriage. Had I given into my own selfish desires to leave my husband and not been obedient to God's calling we would not have Ethan, our little Christmas day miracle who has literally changed all of our lives.
Maybe your marriage is strong and built on a solid foundation of Christ. Maybe not. If you find yourself in a place of doubt, hopelessness or just a want for more in your marriage, listen to me - THERE IS HOPE! God is so much bigger than you. God is so much bigger than your spouse. God is so much bigger than your daily problems and struggles. He sees you. He loves you. He wants more for you. Today I encourage you to give up control - control of your marriage, your parenting, your future to the One who created you. He's SO got this! TRUST Him!
I wanted to leave y'all with some pictures of me and my love. Looking back at these stages of our marriage I see constant growth. We are certainly not perfect and God is continuing to grow us both daily. And I am grateful.
We have really been trying to squeeze in a lot of fun this last month before school starts. From Dallas to Houston to Port Aransas we have been some traveling fools. And I have LOVED it!
I have taken a long break from social media. I just realized one day I didn't want my face in the phone all the time so I made an intentional effort to take a break. It has been really nice but the downside is that without my phone on me all the time I have not had immediate access to a camera. I did capture quite a few fun memories though and I definitely want to share them here on the blog. Hope y'all enjoy!
Random
The kids have been learning a lot of new things. For instance, Ethan learned how to play dead in the bath tub. I joke. But really, he asked me to take this picture and send it to Ki Ki (my sister). I try not to judge because I was quite the weird kid myself.
Dallas Trip
We took a week long trip to Dallas for Garrison to participate in the World Series. That part of the trip didn't really go as planned but we had so much fun spending lots of quality time with family. Kicking myself for not getting pictures of the boys with all of their grandparents. Next time!
This looks like PaPa is teaching the boys how to play chess. And you might think he let Garrison win a time or two, right?! Wrong! PaPa taught Garrison how to play chess a few years ago and he taught him well...I am pretty sure they ended up tied by the time we left.
Ethan must have partied too hard the night before. This is how I found him in the morning. Very Wizard of Ozish, right?
Sweet Cousins! So glad we got to spend some time with these sweet kids (and Kyler)!
Addison and Ethan
Garrison and Keaton
Garrison had his best friend spend the night and they had a blast playing in my parents' pool! And we had a blast with his parents (our best friends) the night before. Miss them so much!
We went to Jump Street the next day and these boys had a blast!
Back in Bandera...
As much fun as we had in Dallas, NOTHING beats this view! This was my Monday morning view driving out of my neighborhood taking Ethan to daycare. I mean, c'mon! How can you have any regrets moving to a place this beautiful?!
We have been wanting to turn Ethan's room into a Cowboy Room. So after we closed on our house (Woooohooooo!!! Hallelujia!!!) Garrett and I hit the antique store in town and picked up some really cool things for his room. He was one happy boy!!!
Cowhide Rug
Love this sign!
Cowboys Only...except Mama of course!
Authentic horse shoes
H-Town
After Dallas my mom took Garrison to Houston for a sports camp with his cousins.
Ethan and me heading to H-Town!
These dogs cracked me up. One (don't ask me which) is Charlie, my sister's dog, and the other is one they were dog sitting. They look like twins!
These kiddos had so much fun at sports camp! And the E's (Ethan and Ellie) loved seeing each other, even though it was only for a day.
You know we squeezed a girls' dinner in. We closed that Italian restaurant down...what, what?! Seriously though, haven't laughed that hard in a LONG time! Love these girls and definitely feel so blessed to have them both in my life!
Port Aransas
The Thomas family loves us some Port A! We decided to take a quick weekend trip and had such a great time!
So, Ethan asked me to do a "Kings and Queens" video of him. Not sure if y'all have seen Audio Adrenaline's Kings and Queens video but you really only need to watch the first 10 seconds to know what he's talking about. Feel free to keep watching though for a great song/video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAlE2EnUP5A
And here is E's version. This is his absolute favorite song by the way.
Love that kid!
Some skim boarding action from Garrison. He LOVES this skim board Nana and PawPaw bought him a while back!
We went out to eat Saturday night and Garrison decided to put some "muscles" aka rolled up paper in his shirt. Oy vey.
Of course little bro couldn't be left out!
So when we went to Dallas we boarded the dogs at a place in Kerrville. I was not happy with the setup and of course Sox ended up getting bit by one of the dogs. It was a terrible, awful, horrible experience and so I was SO grateful to find another place in Pipe Creek (closer to home) for our Port A trip. The dogs LOVED it! And they even printed me out this sweet evaluation after their stay.
We loved Port A so much we decided to plan another trip with my parents over Labor Day weekend. They were supposed to come see us that weekend anyways so we figured why not?! Can't wait for more beach time!
Back to Normal...
My cousin posted something about her health journey on Facebook the other day and it really inspired me to get moving again. I feel SO good when I exercise and how can I not exercise in this beautiful scenery? So, Garrison and I have been taking breaks in the afternoon and I trudge drag climb walk while he rides his scooter. I am not a complete lazy butt. I say that because our hills out here are CrAzY so it's a killer workout!
And then there was today...
Let me just tell ya about my day. I left the house at 7 to take Ethan to daycare. I'm about 3 miles from my house (where I get NO cell reception) and my tire literally pops and starts spewing out air faster than a man who just ate three bean burritos. Truth. I had about three seconds to decide what to do. An image of me carrying Ethan 3 miles back to the house (up those crazy hills) flashed into my mind so I floored it back to the house, cruising on almost the rim by the time I got into the driveway. I'm pretty sure it was a nail because I found one in the driveway later this afternoon. I come home to get Garrett's truck keys and they are nowhere to be found. I call him and he tells me he has them. <Insert Juliana's "what the hell?" face>. So I worked from home today with my 10 year old and 4 year old home with me. About halfway through the day Ethan asked me to make him a puppet. When I didn't do it right he told me he wanted to go to Ki Ki's (my sister) house. Really?!
About an hour later I call to check on the status of our AT&T rewards card (close to $900 to pay off our T-Mobile bill from when we switched providers) and was told we were not eligible because we did not have a trade in. The salesman clearly told us we just had to purchase new devices, not have a trade in, to get the reward card. After calling the store, speaking with the salesman and giving him some not so nice feedback I hung up and called the store back. I spoke with the manager who assured me he will take this to his manager and see what they can do for me. Dang right!
THEN I find out Garrison very likely has ringworm on not only his foot but his belly button and scalp. Awe.Some!
At least Ethan had fun playing doctor. #scarydoctor
I saw this picture later in the day and it made me laugh out loud.
The only thing that got me through today was knowing that I leave tomorrow ALL BY MYSELF for H-town for our Adult Girls' Cousin Camp. Did you hear me? I said ALL.BY.MYSELF!
Stay tuned for more summer fun from the Thomas family...
