New Friends

I was hesitant about signing Eden up for preschool with all the change she's had in the past few months. She seemed a little lonely without her Birmingham friends so I decided to go ahead and do it. Turns out it was a great thing for her. Her teacher said, "She is making friends so quickly!" That's my little social butterfly. "School is the BEST!" she announced after her 1st day. Here's Eden with some new friends. Aren't friends the best?

Fall Festival at School

Kleenex Warning!!!

This song is so beautiful, and proof that God is real. Many of you may have heard it, but just in case, here it is. I found it on a friend's facebook and started bawling after the first line. Steven Curtis Chapman wrote it about his daughter, adopted from China, who died last year. The new album, Beauty Will Rise, comes out November 3rd. Get the kleenex, enjoy the song, and have 4 minutes of worship as you reflect on Jehovah Rapha, the God who heals. Don't forget to scroll to the bottom and pause my playlist before you play the video.

Eden Loves Candy Corn

This is going to be really short because I have a ton to do today. Eden started preschool 3 days a week and her Fall Festival is today. I decided to try and sew her a cute fall outfit, inspired by my friend Aimee's outfit featuring candy corn that she made for sweet Lily. Eden LOVES candy corn so we set off for Hobby Lobby to see what we could find. Here's how it turned out. Love yall!


And you know the best part? I only threw one fit this time while sewing :0)

Fall Pictures...and Pumpkins!

Hello all my friends in the blog world! Hope you are enjoying cooler weather where you are. We finally are in Georgia, but it's been really, really wet. We're hoping the sun comes out soon. Just thought I'd share some pictures from this fall. Eden and I went to Burt's Pumpkin Farm at the foothills of the North Georgia mountains with our good friend Jeanie yesterday. She is our Executive Pastor's wife and someone we love dearly. We are so glad to have the Herndon's in our lives. Jeanie is also my nephew Camp's Nana (my sister Kelly is married to her son, Matt). We LOVED the pumpkin farm! We had plans to go pick apples in this same area in Elliejay today, but the weather didn't cooperate...guess we'll have to make homemade apple sauce another day :0(

I love this time of year with fall colors, apple cider, Pumpkin Spice lattes at Starbuck's, and of course, college football! Hope you are finding lots to be thankful for this season. Hope you enjoy the pictures!

Eden and daddy in NC...she is getting so tall!

Burt's Pumpkin Farm in Dawsonville, GA

Eden at the pumpkin farm - look how big those pumpkins are!

Mommy and Eden

Searching for the perfect little pumpkin...decisions, decisions...

Found it!

Eden on the old John Deere

Mommy, Eden and Jeanie on the hayride

The pumpkins we picked out

All my lil' pumpkins

Princess for A Day

While we were on vacation at Disney World we paid a visit to the Bibbidy Boppidy Boutique located in Cinderella's Castle in Magic Kingdom. As we were escorted in, "Princess Eden" was first asked to select her dress, shoes and accessories. She chose the new Disney Princess, Princess Tiana, who is the first African American princess. The movie comes out in November and the dress is so pretty! She chose "glass" slippers from the Cinderella costume, and the floral ring headpiece from Tinkerbell...so we had 3 different costumes in one. That's okay, it was Princess Eden's night.

Then, she was escorted to her "royal" dressing room by a fairy godmother. We walked up to a closed curtain and the godmother said, "Bibbidy, Boppidy, Boo!" as she swept open the curtain...and there hung Eden's princess clothes she had chosen.

After getting dressed, her fairy godmother led her to the salon where she received a makeover complete with nails, makeup, and pixie dust in her hair (we opted out of the hairstyle, which involved hairpieces that would have looked ridiculous on our preschool Asian child). The entire makeover was done with Princess Eden's back to the mirror.

Finally, the fairy godmother counted "one, two, three..." and spun the chair around for the unveiling. And there she was, Princess Eden grinning from ear to ear, all dressed up and girly. It was so precious. She left the Boutique with a pink bag filled with makeup and hair accessories.

Next we proceeded over to the Emporium for a photo shoot (which was included with our photo pass we bought). There were lots of cheesy princess poses that somehow Eden managed to make look precious.

To top off the night, we ate dinner in Cinderella's Castle, where we got to meet and have our picture taken with Cinderella on the way in.

It was definitely an expensive night, but so worth it. Thanks to Disney for making it possible with the free dining plan special they had that we took full advantage of. Eden was the perfect age to enjoy the make-believe. Here are some photos of the night. Hope you enjoy!

Getting her nails done

And her eye makeup

Here comes the pixie dust, complete with a face guard

The big reveal

Photo shoot

Meeting Cinderella

Eden and her prince...daddy

I love Eden's relationship with Gene. He is such a wonderful father to her. I know the time he spends with her now will make such a difference in her life forever...oh how little girls need their daddy!

Disney World was great, but more than anything, I cherish the memories we made that I know will last a lifetime. Several times I would just watch Eden taking it all in, having the time of her life, and I would think...this child used to have no family...look what God has done. Not because she was at Disney World, but because of the moments of pure joy the three of us had. Deep in my heart and soul I long for every child on this planet to have moments of pure joy with a family. Lord, please use me to help make that happen! Let us never become so focused on how you've blessed our own families that we forget millions who have no family. Break our hearts for them, Lord!