Basically Brooks

Wow! It still feels insane to say that our little girl is two years old now! We just can't believe how fast the past two years have flown by! We have cherished every moment with her and truly enjoy parenthood. It is a beautiful gift from God. I've been terrible about updating things lately, and have literally been meaning to do a birthday post for about 3 weeks now. Better late than never though! Ava's birthday was on a beautiful Saturday and we had her party at our house in the back yard. Lots of family and friends came out to celebrate. I'll just let the pictures do the rest of the story telling! The spread. Mmmmm.... Tastefully Simple Beer Bread (made with Sprite), veggie tray, apples with caramel dip, chips, cheese, olives, crackers, meatballs four types of dips.....I could eat like this every day! (And then I'd be on the Biggest Loser). The gift table. Enough said. The beautiful birthday girl. Let's get this party started. It's time to get...

We have had a new addition to our little home. His name is Whitman Nash Brooks and he is the sweetest dog I have ever been around. Let me tell you the story about this sweet little dog and how he became a part of the Brooks family. For Fall Break, and to celebrate my sister's birthday, we went on a little trip to Nashville. Our main purpose was to 1) eat at Chipotle and 2) take Ava to the Nashville Science Center. For some reason, I woke up way early on Saturday and went ahead and got ready, got everyone else to get up and get ready, and we headed to breakfast and then the Science Center. It opened at ten and we got there at nine. A few minutes after we parked, a huge truck and trailer pulled in, and the trailer had a dog on it and said Nashville Humane Society, Mobile Unit. I got out and asked if there were really dogs in there and if I could take a look around. I went in and there were three wild puppies and one little white dog, named Whitman, that looked at me pleadingl...

The lyrics to this song are simply beautiful. We are sitting on the couch, playing with Ava, and spending some quality time together and Kyle has this song playing and it just makes me want to cry....so beautiful. I promise my posts aren't just going to be song lyrics from now on, but I wanted to share this sweet song! Its always been a mystery to me, How two hearts can come together, And love can last forever. But now that I have found you I believe, That a miracle has come when God sends the perfect one. So gone are all my questions about why, And I've never been so sure of anything in my life Oh I wonder what God was thinking,when he created you. I wonder if He knew everything I would need, Because he made all my dreams come true. When God made you, He must have been thinking about me. I promise that wherever you may go, wherever life may lead you, With all my heart I'll be there too. And from this moment on I want you to know, I'll let nothing come between us, and ...

I have always loved this song. It is just simply beautiful. I was listening to this song, by Ginny Owens, this morning and I really listened to the words, and the song became so meaningful to me. We have gone through a lot in the past few months, and I know that the Lord has a lot more in store for us. Things are always changing and always will, but the one thing that will remain the same is God's love for us. We have to trust that He has a perfect plan for us, and that everything we are enduring, or everything we will endure is for His perfect plan. While it seems bad now, in the end, it works out for the best. I never in my life thought that the mess we were in a few months ago would turn out so perfect. We are so happy, and to God be the glory! Take a moment to read these beautiful lyrics and listen to the song on YouTube. I hope that it touches your heart as much as it has touched mine! The pathway is broken And The signs are unclear And I don't know the reason why Y...

Hey everyone! I've been anxiously waiting the day that I could let everyone know that I found a job! I'm going to be a third grade teacher at an awesome school! I'm so very excited and I have lots to learn in the next three weeks! I feel like the last three months have been such a roller coaster for Kyle and I. Yes, I say Kyle and I because a job loss does not just affect the person who loses their job, it affects the whole family. We have learned so much during the past three months. We've learned how to be strong when the other is weak, we've learned that we have a lot of prayer warriors/friends, we've learned so much about patience and prayer, but MOST importantly we have learned how the Lord can take a not so fun situation like job loss, and make that a blessing. Kyle and I have grown so close to the Lord throughout this time, and closer to one another as well. The Lord has richly blessed our marriage in the last few months and has provided in every way. We...

As most of you know, Ava's been using the potty for many months now. We wanted to take things slowly so we could get her acquainted with the potty and she's been going on it every day for a while. This week, however, was the big week! This was the week that we say bye-bye to diapers and hello to big girl panties! This was such a big step, but we were down for the challenge. We used Lora Jensen's 3 Day Potty Training Method. This lady is known as the Queen of Potty Training, and I must say, the title fits! She had five boys and she used this method with all of them and it worked like a charm! Let me tell you a little about the past few days.... Day One Ava woke up when she was ready to, at about 7:00 (I think). We ate breakfast together and kept telling her that she was gonna have a great day and that she is such a big girl. After breakfast we got a trash bag (Kroger bag) and went on a hunt to find any kind of diaper in this house. We found them in her room and diaper bag an...

Ava started sitting on the potty when she turned 1, thanks to my sister. She thought it'd be a good idea to just introduce her to it slowly, so when Mandy would babysit her, she'd put her on the potty right before bath time. She went potty in December, for the first time....I think. Anyway, this past month we've gotten a little more serious about it. She will tell us when she needs to go, and we rush her to the potty. I'm one proud mommy! Take a look at her potty chart at the beginning and now! (She likes to pile them up in the same place, there's a ton of stickers on there!) Once things settle down (my WKU class is over) we plan on using the 3 day potty training method to get all this diaper stuff over with!