It is well with my Soul

Some may run to get exercise, some run so they can eat that dessert, some run to be competitive, some run to impress others,.....I have to say, I run to be with God! I sometimes feel like it is the ONLY way I can get away from the phone, household chores, children who need me!!!, emails, errands, etc. I had a great run yesterday afternoon when David came home and I want to share it with you.
I just felt I needed time with the Lord. Have you ever felt that nudging? I've been struggling with something and I felt as if he wanted me to get away.....and run with him for a while, so I did. I had my praise music going and I began running. All of a sudden I realized David had downloaded all these great hymns for me on the shuffle! It was great! Anway, I began praying for our Mexico trip a week from today and tears started flooding down my cheeks. I have really had trouble realizing my "purpose" for going on this mission trip. I've always held down the fort and prayed for David as he goes and I've never had the desire to go. About 8 months ago, David started encouraging me to go with him in November And I thought No way and I going. I have 2 babies who need me and that is around Operation Christmas Child time at our church. So God began stepping in and nudging me for months. I knew I needed to go, but I thought I just couldn't.....Then my mother encouraged me and said she and my sister would help with the kids and things began falling into place. I decided to surrender to obedience(not out of wanting to go) and go. When your man and Your Heavenly Man says go....I thought I better go. But I still didn't have a purpose. After all, I hate blood and I don't speak Spanish!!!
Anyway, on my run, I realized God has called us all to obedience~it just looks different to each one. For me, he said,"I love your children WAY more than you do....lay them down at my feet!" So I began praying that God would make it well with my Soul and guess what.....he has! I still don't know what he is up to with me going, but I AM GOING!
PLease pray for us as we travel to a remote village in the mountains of Mexico to give medical care to the tribes and share the Good News of Jesus. Pray God would start a revival in this area and that we would all be use for HIS GLORY ALONE! PLease pray for our babies and for their health and well being, for my sister who will be here with them for the first few days by herself(Parker too).
It is well with our Soul!

Happy Birthday Suzanne

Today we surprised Suzanne (Stephen Greer's sister) at Mugshots for her birthday. We had a blast and what a fun place at lunch. She was totally surprised and her mother came up with the theme of Grey's Anatomy and we all wore scrub tops. (by the way, Mugshots had the BEST burger I had ever put in my mouth!!~actually it was voted best in Mississippi!!!)Here she is checking out the cake and the poster with McDreamy on it.
This is her favorite show and her mom and friend placed pictures of her with McDreamy in these photos. Look closely...it was really funny.

Birthday Party

Here is the run down from Mary Grace's party on Saturday. The weather was beautiful and it was a lot of fun. Thank you all who came to celebrate the day with her. (Pete & Gina ~ we love you guys and thank you Alison for all your help!)
Hope you enjoy!

Check out my Slide Show!

Grace

The Lord awakened me this morning and brought me to Ephesians. He reminded me that not too long ago we were debating about names for the upcoming arrival of our daughter (who we thought was to be a boy for the first few months) and we loved Mary, being a family name after "Rosemary" and "Mary Isom", Donald's mother. But Mary what?? After much prayer and th0ught the Lord brought me to Ephesians, two years ago, with these words: "Even when we were dead in our transgressions, He made us alive together with Christ, by GRACE you have been saved."2:5 "For by GRACE you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of GOD!" 2:8

And that was it....Mary Grace!

Thank you Father God for our beautiful precious daughter! What a true blessing she is to us and a gift from you. Thank you for her sweet (spunky) spirit, who always makes us laugh. Lord, give us wisdom to grow her in YOUR beauty and have a heart fully devoted to you!

Happy 2nd Birthday Mary Grace! We love you!

The first meeting between "Bubba" and MG. What a precious moment it was!
Mary Grace~ all cleaned up and looks to be a little cold at that moment.

Now~all cozy and warm!
Proud Daddy bringing her out to the family to be introduced. (with the cuzn's)

Tiny Toes

She is not trying to get on the bench, just being a ham.....

I just had to post this for Gina, Jeanine, and Vicki. Those friends who were there when I used to say if I ever had a little girl ~"She would come into the world in a tutu!" and when they told me I was having a boy....them, ooops!~"It's a girl." Our little HAM, Mary Grace is almost 2 (next week) and I have signed her up for "Tiny Toes", a little dance/pilates/gymnastics class offered at church. It is just a hoot and after a week or so she has really begun to love it and "show off" her moves. Here she is all dressed and ready to go on her first day: And oh, yes, this is definately not showing off for the camera, but the true child in rare form!

Pumpkin Patch

Today was Bryant's K4 field trip to the Pumpkin Patch...so fun!

Here is Bryant and Ethan ~ best buds pickn' the best pumpkins!
Just a special day for Mommy and Bryant (MG played at a friend's house while Mommy enjoyed Bryant's pumpkin patch field trip)

I just had to post this precious picture of Eugene (the DINK, double income NO kids) from the other night as we celebrated Toby's birthday. Keep in mind he has no kids, nor has he ever been around any kids til our small group.

It's that time of year again when I bite my tongue and either join 'em or stay home, so off we go to Stark-vegas to see the Bulldogs play. I even dress my children in maroon, but momma can't seem to bring herself to put anything on but something "grove" worthy. Never say Never, but I won't be wearing maroon.

Kaka, my niece, had a precious program at St. Andrew's last week. We took Anna Claire with us and the girls absolutely loved it. Mary Grace could hardly contain herself. She kept calling out for Kaka from the audience. (she wanted to make sure Kaka saw her from stage.

Funny blog

Ya'll have got to check out Mary Katherine's blog to see something really funny:
just click on "The Segrest Family" on the right.

(and by the way, those funky pants are presently being hemmed..they are way too long~imagine that!)

I've been tagged

OKay, so I've never done this "Tag" thing, but I guess I'll give it a try since my friend Renee tagged me.

10 years ago I was......Wow, David just reminded me that I was dating a guy named Simms, whom I had been dating for 5 years. I broke up with him to take David.....and the rest is history. I was teaching 1st grade in Senatobia, MS.

5 years ago I was......I was 4 months with my first born, Bryant, and teaching 3rd grade gifted and talented students in Texas. I taught with the most wonderful group of women who taught me so much. (if my sweet friends read this....I love you guys ~ Vickie Lander, Deb Kenas, Margaret Carney, Mandy Teague.....) David was in his third year of Oral Surgery Residency.

1 year ago I was......I was getting ready to celebrate Mary Grace's 1st birthday at the Pumpkin Patch.

Yesterday I .....attended church, and then desperately tried to catch up on my Precept bible study. I then went to small group at Nea Nea's house.

Snacks I enjoy.....anything sweet! I love Hot Tamale candy and recently I've been addicted to Twizzlers(thanks to GG)

What I would do with $100 million .......who knows??? I guess I would give a lot away and travel the world.

Location I would run to.....an exotic island with my man (and kiddos ~ maybe??, ha ha) We love to travel, but really there is no place like home.

Bad Habits I have.....managing my time! (and David says I'm ocd about laundry, but I don't really think that is a "bad" habit.

Things I like to do....go to church (Pinelake ROCKS), run, spend time with my man & kiddos, talk & laugh with friends, and recently I have grown a passion for the word of God (the Old Testament) thru Precepts, go to the beach, travel, ride bikes, play tennis.....the list could go on and on......

Biggest JOY of the Moment.....Being a Momma! I can't think of anything that brings more joy in my heart than being blessed enough to be called a Momma! When your son gets in the car from school and says he has a surprise for you, then he reaches deep into his pocket...pulls out 2 beautifully dusty rocks from the playground and says, "Momma, I picked them just for YOU!", there is just nothing better on this earth. Some people get flowers, but I prefer my rocks! Thank you my heavenly Rock/my Father for all the blessings children bring.



Friends to Tag~ Jeanine, Gina Jory, Vicki Banta, Tara Camp, Courtney Burlison, and Ashley Rapley, Alison

DisneyWorld 2007

We are now home after 8 days in Disney. We had a great time and we're already planning our next trip back. After taking 234 pictures, I wasn't exactly sure how to post all the pics so I just tried to pick out everyone's favorites. I hope you have a little time to take a look. The kids were so great and we had a blast with the Burchfields. My mom (Boppie) flew in from Memphis and stayed a few days with us. She was a huge help, especially the day of the triathlon. So here we go~

Max, Bryant and MG at Animal Kingdom. Check out these wild faces...
My babies outside the Magic Kingdom. Bryant got his ears on the first night at Epcot and loved them. He and David really got into the 'pin trading' thing, he is such his Daddy's child.

The whole reason we went to DisneyWorld in the first place~David and Toby's triathlon. The guys did great, especially considering the HEAT! Bryant and Mary Grace finished through the finish line with Daddy! Such a special moment. I didn't get a picture of it because I was too busy helping kids jump over the fence to get to David, but hopefully the triathlon sight has one.

Mary Grace's Special Moments

Mary Grace had a blast watching the parades and the shows. She was such a trooper and hung with the 'big kids'. She went all 8 days with only 1 nap and that was the day after she got sick. I was so excited about eating lunch at Cinderella's castle and guess what......She got sick and threw up outside the door. We proceeded inside the waiting area of the castle to get her cooled down, while the crowd waited in line to see Cinderella & take their picture with her. The workers inside the castle were so kind to us and were even going to let us reschedule our lunch(which is impossible~we reserved these reservations 6 months ago) All of a sudden we looked up and saw Cinderella coming our way....straight to Mary Grace & Bryant. I guess she felt sorry for Mary Grace, and the guards cleared the way and moved the ropes. She was so lovely and sweet to my children. She told Bryant how brave he looked and how she bet he protected Mary Grace, like a knight would. He told her that he had seen her yesterday in the parade. Cinderella then began talking to Mary Grace....and all Mom and I could do is cry! It was like I was dreaming. I felt like a child myself in a fairytale and no one deserved a special treat more than MG. She was in AWE! It was such a special moment(even if Dave thinks I 'm crazy).

Few of Bryant's Favorites

Bryant, my shy child, didn't miss a beat! He hugged every single character he could get his hands on! He loved every minute of DisneyWorld! He loved riding every ride that would allow him, even 'Tower of Terror'. His favorites were Star Wars and Buzz Lightyear. He and Max never got tired of each other. He even ran through the finish line with his Daddy during the Triathlon. He is going to be so sad on Monday when Daddy has to go back to work.

Here was the end of our week~pictures from mostly MGM: Fantasmic, Hollywood&Vine, Smores with Chip 'n Dale, Power Rangers, and traveling on the bus ( which we spent a lot of time doing). The bottom pic is of the Mickey Mouse that was meant to be for Camp's birthday, but Mary Grace just fell in love with it and wouldn't let go of it for days. Mickey even went in the stroller with us throughout the parks.

Disney or Bust

We are off to DisneyWorld tomorrow....we'll tell Mickey hello for you all!