Wonderful Wednesday!

Today was such a great day!  I'll call it Wonderful Wednesday!  Why was today so great?

Well, today means I only have ONE more day of work for the week...and today means that my maid of honor, one of my very very best friends, Ardra, is getting married in THREE days!  I'm so excited! I know that she will be a gorgeous bride, and I'm so thankful that I get to serve as her matron of honor.  What a real honor!!  (Pics to follow! Hopefully I'll put them up on Sunday when we get home!) I did break down & tell her my bridesmaid dress drama...since I got it all taken care of.  hahaha. No really...REAL BRIDESMAID DRESS D.R.A.M.A... Ardra is such a great person, a great friend, and she is going to be a really great life partner for Brett (with 2 t's). 

I have to say, I already have my speech prepared!  And I will not spill the beans about how awesome it is!! ;) 

Ardra told me today to make sure I bring my running shoes this weekend. I had to insure her that MY shoes were strictly jogging shoes...not running shoes...and that I'm not fast...AT...A.L.L.  All in all, I super pumped about our "pre-wedding jog!!" 

Monday night Donny & I went to hear our precious friends kiddo, Levi, play in his very first piano recital. He was so sweet & innocent!  That sweet child literally..and I mean literally brought tears to my eyes when I listened to him play...and SING..."Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star."  Oh my gosh, it seriously made my heart smile! 

No more Awanas on Wednesday, which really makes me sad!  It will start back up in the fall....but that gives me something to look forward to. I did have lunch with Emily & Ty Ty on Tuesday... super fun girl & baby Ty time!!


Megan pretty much kicked my boo-tay today with our little jog!  I'm soooo over having shin splints...Its driving me crazy!  One day I will so pumped when I can write on here that I COMPLETED MY FIRST HALF MARATHON!  But until then...its just single digit miles for Kayla!!

Oh, and I forgot to tell you about our trip to San Antonio!  We attend the TDA meeting every year in order to get CE's. This year was way awesome cause Ashley stayed at the same hotel, took classes with me, and went to dinner with us!  It was a great time!  This is Ashley & Me after dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe! We are rockin' the windblown look!

Thank you, Lord, for blessing me with TRUE friends!!

Whoa!

Whoa peeps...I've been one crazy, busy ole' girl!  I haven't blogged in For.EV.er!!

Since my last post, we were ABLE to celebrate Easter!  What an awesome holiday!  I love Easter!! Can you imagine the excitement when everyone realized that the tomb was empty?  How cool!  I get so excited when I think about that!   Danny & Jessica, Zach & Grasyon, and Megan & Dusty, Rylie & Easton came to Elysian Fields on Saturday.  It was so much fun!!  The kids played with bubbles & had an Easter egg hunt, while us "grown ups" watched with envy!   This is Zach & Rylie chasing bubbles..aren't they cute!

 The Golden Girls...Megan, Jessica & Me...

 

Donny & I were ABLE to go to Church with his parents...

and then ABLE played a pretty fun round of golf!

I didn't get to see my Momma or Daddy...but I had a good Easter.  Mom & Aunt Karen came up the weekend before to watch The Sacrifice, IBC's program.  It was amazing..as usual!!

This last weekend was a great time with girls.  My best friend is getting married in 12 days, so we took her out for a night on the town.  Great times....I don't have a pic to share for this one...lol...;)
oh wait...i do....

This is Nikki, Me & Ardra

Oh, and I was ABLE to run 7 miles in 2 days last week!! 4 miles one day...then 3 the next...That is A HUGE ACCOMPLISHMENT for Me!!  If it hadn't been for my bff, Megan & our power socks....I would not have been able to do it!

Have I  told you all lately how BLESSED I am?!!!?

Thank you, Lord, for changing my "to-do's" into my "able" to do's!  Thank you for such great friends & family to celebrate holidays with!  Thank you for friends that push me to the max, and for sharing encouraging words from the Truth that help me realize I'm worth something! 

Little Girl's Dream

There is dream that most little girls share.  They pretend to be the princess bride. The bride that has all of her favorite stuffed animals lined up to be the best bridal party ever! The bride that has the most beautiful sheet from her mommas linen closet as her veil.

No matter how much money my daddy tried to pay me to just..."go get married at the Courthouse"...I couldn't do it!  I still had this little girl dream of a wedding in my mind!!  Two years later I think...man that $$$$ sure sounds nice now..  just kidding!!  I wouldn't trade our wedding day for anything! It makes Valentines Day just that much more special.

Today, I had the most precious 9 year old girl in my chair at work.  I gave her the remote to change the channel on the tv in my operatory, thinking it would soon be on Nickelodeon, or the Disney Channel.  I was quite surprised when I looked up to see TLC's Say Yes to the Dress.  She was so excited to see the beautiful women in wedding dresses, parading in front of their entourages.  She was smiling & so into the show, that she didn't hear me at first when I asked if she watched it at home.  Her response was, "Oh yes, I love it.  Do you like dresses? Are you married?  Did you have a beautiful wedding dress like these girls? How long ago did you get married? Did you have wedding? I can't wait to get married one day."

I love the innocence of a little girl's dream....

These are a few of my favorite things!

Family Time...One of my favorite things!!

Wow!  Donny & I had a great weekend!  It all started with my Mom's 57th bday on friday!  We cooked shrimp, homemade french fries, & Kim busted out the 3rd homemade cheesecake.  Let me elaborate...Kim is my brother Stebo's girlfriend.  The first time we met her she brought a "fresh from her kitchen" pumpkin roll.  The second time I saw her, she brought "fresh from her kitchen" toffee, peanut brittle, & all kinds of cookies.  The truth is...the chick can bake!  Per Mom's request, she made a cheesecake.  Thursday night, she was driving home from a friends house and her precious cheesecake fell on the floor of her car while rounding a curve.  The kitchen saw her again, at 5:00 am on Friday, to make another one.  That one didn't turn out exactly like she wanted, soooooo, we made another one when she got to my mom's house on friday evening.  Poor thing!  She practically had the recipe memorized by that time!!  But, I must say...It was GREAT! This is Mom, Kim, & Me!

My very first nephew...Ty...One of my favorite things!!

Ty, was my other brother..Rick's first born.  I can still remember that rainy day in September we were blessed with him.  I couldn't get from Tyler, to Nacogdoches to Baytown fast enough to see him!!  Tammi hadn't had him yet, so I was trying to keep her company by talking about my new friends I had met at college.  I kept saying, "Tammi, I have a new friend.  Her name is Sarah.  She is from this town called Hughes Springs"....and I kept rambling and rambling.....Ty is growing up for sure...but he is such a tender hearted little guy.  He cares about other peoples feelings...He is sooo smart....& most of all....He LOVES HIS KK!! 

My 2nd niece...Brie....One of my favorite things!!

Sweet baby Brie...Rick's second born.  What a special little angel!  Every time I go to Dayton, we always go pick up baby Brie!  She is a cutie, and spoiled to the core!  My dad is in love that baby!!  She finally took over my daddy's princess throne that I occupied for 28 years.  I was glad to pass that on to her!!  ;)  Brie is loved by  SO many people, and I know that she will also grow up to be an amazing young lady...that also  LOVES HER KK!! 

Mom & Dad had the most beautiful flowers in bloom...and I couldn't help but snap a few pics of my little loves.  It was a tad bit windy on Saturday, so we had her hat on.

I wish you could have seen her face when she first saw Ty!  It was the cutest little expression! 

Donny....One of my favorite things!!

Golden, D, Babe...just a few things that I call him!!  I can't imagine my life without him!  He makes me laugh,  he wipes my tears when I cry about my bad days & is my biggest supporter in life.  Donny is a thyroid cancer survivor!  What a strong & amazing man! He proposed just days after he finished his first radiation treatment...such an exciting time!  When he was asked about our future before we got married he said, "I'm excited...It's going to be like having a slumber party everyday with my best friend!"

Certainly I have more...but these are just a few of my favorite things!!


Thank you, Lord, for all of these things!

Spring Break = Spring Cleaning

Why is it, that every Spring, we purge out the old, crummy clutter, just to make room for new, crummy clutter?  This happens to me every spring.  I get so proud of myself for the hard work that I put into cleaning...and man, I mean...I devote an entire WEEK out of the year to "spring cleaning."

The other 51 weeks of the year are spent cluttering up the area I treasured the week before.  Why is this?  I get so irritated when I recogize this is happening...

But mark my word...this year is going to be different!  I refuse to clutter up my precious space!! 

This year, I began my cleaning spree in my closet.  It is so much fun to get rid of clothes...especially those are too BIG! Yay! I feel like a new woman when I clean out my closet.  I hate to admit, that this area has been neglected for a few years! It is finished now...Whew, what a relief!

I have this room....I think we all have a similar room...that collects all the big junk.  Technically, this isn't junk in my lovely room.  It's wedding gifts that haven't been used yet...like, new dishes, crockpots, small kitchen appliances, towels, shower curtains, that sort of thing.  We are saving all the "goods" for our new house...that way, we will have new things to fill it!! How fun is that!! ;)  Well, there were some things in there that had to go...Donny's grandparents lived in  our home before us, so there was still some of their things in there.  That sounded bad.....Not good things, or anything with emotional attachment, but just stuff we hadn't distributed to other family members or just things that needed to be thrown away that they hadn't done yet.  We found 2 karoake machines, 2 or 3 radios...lots of face masks, all kinds of stuff!  Thanks to Mrs. Beth for her awesome help!! 

I think that was the room that I got the most satisfaction from.  I am still in my cleaning journey this week, so Donny better lock up the things he wants to keep!  Things seems to "disappear"...and its mostly his stuff!!  haha..poor Donny! I told him that if he helped, that wouldn't happen!!

I challenge you to purge your clutter...in all aspects of life...faith, life, and your home!

Funday Sunday!

I know that the title of this blog makes you think I will talk about Sunday, but that is a tad bit misleading!  My bff already took the title "Team Molly," so I had to think of something else...haha...

What is "Team Molly?"  Well, if you read Megan's blog, you already know.  But for those of you who don't, it goes a little something like this:

A few friends & myself have decided it would be a good idea to begin training for a few 5k's, then possibly a 10k, and then we shall see where else this leads.  Team Molly is what we called ourselves yesterday.  It was a wonderful chick, Molly Calvert's 30th birthday!!  How exciting is that! A new milestone!  A new adventure! So, on her birthday, we conquered a 5k.  How cool is that...to run 3.2 miles on your 30th birthday!  We had shirts made & everything for this monumental occasion.  Here we are below...after the run I may add...thats why my face is soooo red!

It's me, Molly ( the birthday girl), and Megan.

It was a great time!  And...not only did Mr. Kilgore prove what a SUPERSTAR  he is...finishing 3rd in his age group, but Stefanie W. also proved how awesome she is, too!  She completed a half marathon!  Wowzer!  How unbelievable is that?!!

This whole running experience has been quite the emotional roller-coaster.  I didn't think that I would be so consumed by it.

I'm learning... from a very passionate person, that there are life lessons in "running the race." She says on one of her latest blogs, "You are stronger than you think. You can push and dig deeper than you think. You may slow down, but don't you ever stop."  She says, "I dare you to believe. To move past the voice of impossible."  

This is my biggest weakness. The voice of impossible....But with Meg's encouraging words, His guidance & strength & a whole lot of FAITH...I WILL obtain victory! The taste of victory is...Oh..So...Sweet!!  The sense of accomplishment makes me crave more! 

What's New

What's new...Well, honestly, this past month has been a whirl wind!

For starters...my niece, Brie, had her very, very 1st birthday!  I can't believe that she's already 1! Isn't she just so cute & tiny!! This is Brie checking out her cake...

Big brother, Ty!  He's so proud of his sister! 

 She wasn't diggin' the icing on her fingers.  Ugh...get it off!!
This..was.... by far.. Brie's favorite present!  Uncle Stebo & Kim did AWESOME!!

The same weekend of Brie's party was Feminar.  Feminar is a ministry of Macedonia Baptist Church dedicated strictly to women.  How fun is that!  And I'll tell ya, there was alot of estrogen flowin' in The Belcher Center.

Here's a little recap of this years Feminar that I sent in to Branches, IBC womens publication:


One word to describe this years Feminar - AMAZING!! I sincerly enjoy studying the Word of God with my all time favorite, genuine, speaker/blogger, Lysa TerKeurst. BUT, in this season of my life, Lori Salierno spoke directly to my heart! I haven't felt tugs LIKE THAT on my little heart strings in quite sometime. She reminded me that when we "run the race of faith" we are armed with freedom, confidence, & power. I felt like she was speaking directly to me, saying "Kayla, be confident! Be confident! Be confident!" It doesn't matter what SIZE my favorite jeans are, or how BIG my new, super cute shirt is..I am His! We are running the race for an audience of ONE. In difficult times, when we think that our world is closing in around us, we are to be reminded that Christ will not let us get destroyed. We may feel the pressure, but with our focus on Christ, we WILL NOT crack! That truth is so exciting! Like Lysa says, some days just a one verse day...and this is the truth that caught my attention during Feminar... "So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 2 Corinthians 4:18

It was a great time!!

So, with that in mind...I'm going to focus on running the RACE...ALL THE RACES THAT WE RUN...The race of FAITH, the race of LIFE, and literally the 5K race this coming weekend!!