A Life of Gratitude

 Last August, Allison began her first dance class at Vision Dance in Thomasville, NC. She loved it from the very first class! It was such a joy for me to get her dressed in her leotard each week and take her to dance class because I began taking dance at her age too. I took dance until I graduated from high school so it was always a big part of my life. Having a daughter to enjoy dance with was always something I hoped for.  Vision Dance is the perfect dance studio for our family because its really more of a ministry. Mrs. Jenny is teaching the young ladies a beautiful way to worship our Heavenly Father. They pray together and dance to praise music. The dance moves are age appropriate and the costumes are modest. I never have to worry about Allison hearing inappropriate songs or learning dance moves that I wouldn't approve of. This year of dance ended up being very different because of COVID-19. In March, Mrs. Jenny began having dance classes via Zoom. I'm not sure w

Last Monday, Bryan and I decided to take the kids on a spontaneous trip to the beach. We're not typically spontaneous people, so this was a big deal! We decided to leave on Tuesday after I served on the sidewalk outside of Planned Parenthood in Winston Salem. As I was driving to the Not Forgotten Ministries' office, I passed by the exit that leads to the former abortion clinic where I had my abortion in 1999. As soon as I saw the exit, my heart sank. I realized I had planned our spontaneous beach trip over the twenty first anniversary of my abortion. I had being hoping to go back to the former abortion clinic to check on the memorial I made last year, on the twentieth anniversary. Now that we wouldn't be in town, I felt terrible. It may seem odd to some but since it took me seventeen years to speak of the child I aborted and twenty years to truly do something in her honor, the thought of not doing something this year, just tore me up.  I shared my disappointment wi

Tyson loves to spend "one-on-one" time with Bryan and I. It's definitely his favorite thing to do. This evening he watched Bryan and I play Scrabble while his siblings watched a movie. Once our game was over, Tyson got everything set up again and said, "It's T against T!" I looked at him and asked, "We're playing now?" He responded with, "DUH!" I thought he would just be playing with the tiles. I mean, Scrabble isn't an easy game! I couldn't have been more wrong. He passed out the tiles, created words, counted up the points, and kept score. It was so much fun to watch him learning and working hard to play correctly.  And guess what??? Tyson won!!! He was so proud of himself! I was proud of him too! Today I am grateful for a fun evening with my sweet five year old, Tyson. He is a joy to be around. He is kind and generous and well-behaved. He loves to snuggle and take care of others. He also loves to spe

The weekend was super busy and I didn't have time to write but I couldn't let another day pass by. Bryan and I celebrated sixteen years of marriage last Friday! It honestly sounds like I'm making that up! How can it possibly be SIXTEEN years??  . We were able to celebrate by spending the entire day together, just the two of us. That hasn't happened in months because of COVID-19. It really was the perfect way to celebrate. We had a wonderful day together. We visited the Botanical Gardens in Kernersville, ran a few errands, visited a few stores that we haven't been inside of for months, and then ate dinner inside a restaurant! Can you believe it??  We decided to try something new while at dinner. Sushi.  Neither of us were fans! But hey, at least we tried! We ended the day by relaxing in our new hot tub. This was our anniversary gift to one another. Today, and everyday, I am grateful for my marriage. Bryan and I have been toge