Thanksgiving Day at the Croswell's

Can you believe it is already Thanksgiving? At the beginning of the week I thought I was not going to get to enjoy all of our family and all of the great Thanksgiving food but thank God I am better and I got to eat turkey and dressing!! We got to Valley View at about 5:30pm on Tuesday evening. Ashby was so excited to see her cousints (that's what Jude calls Boomer and Ashby) and they were excited to see her. Everyone started talking about what they were going to cook on Thursday and it all sounded so good. When we woke up Thursday morning I was so hungry. Since I had not been feeling good I hadn't gotten to eat very much so all I could think about was food! It all turned out great! Michael made the dressing and gravy, Steve cut up everything for the cranberry salad, Tracie mashed the potaoes, Mamoo made the peas, and Susan made the corn casserole (with butter :>)! Papoo was unable to sit up and eat with us so we all went back and said the blessing with him in his room. Susan and Tracie took their food back and ate with him. Ashby loved the potatoes and the peas. She ate a whole plate full so I guess that meant she thought they were awesome! We are all so thankful for our family! I am so proud to be part of the Croswell family. I don't think there could have been a better family to marry into! The one thing I missed a lot about this year was my family. I missed getting to eat Aunt Phyllis' dressing, Granny's mashed potatoes, Aunt Barbara's mac and cheese, Aunt Neda's green bean casserole, Aunt Jeanie's chocolate chip cookies, and my mom's broccoli casserole and bread, but I am thankful that they were all able to be together.
I know most of you are probably wondering...."I wonder how she is doing emotionally?" Well, Thanksgiving was hard but I was glad we could be with Papoo. I thought about Boomer all day long...his first Thanksgiving when he ate dressing, and broccoli casserole, and mashed potatoes and peas and cornbread, and how much he loved looking at tree lights (christmas lights) and how he should be running around playing with Alex and Jude! But, he's not here and he had a way better Thanksgiving than we could ever imagine! I just keep reminding myself that God knows more than me and whether I like it or not the way things are is the way he planned it to be. I know there will only be a certain number of Thanksgivings to come that he will not be here but there will be an infinite number of Thanksgivings that we will spend together in heaven.
I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Don't forget to cherish every moment you have with your family because you don't know how many moments you have left with them.
I hope this finds everyone having a wonderful day....until next time...

Josh's 30th Birthday!

For the past three years I have been hearing..."Christina, I am almost 30!!!" So I thought what a better way to bring in the BIG 30 for Josh than to have a surprise party with some of our closest friends! The planning started about 2 months before the party. I wanted to make sure everything was just right. My mom made the cake, I took care of decorations (with help from Prissy, Brandi, Tara, Larry, and Stacey...thanks for making the streamers look awesome), and my brother grilled all the hamburgers! There were a couple of times when I thought it was not going to happen. I also thought that he already knew what was going on but everything was perfect. Since we are right in the middle of hunting season in East Texas I figured that would be the best way to lure him away from the house. So I called our friend Tony and set up a hog hunting trip for Josh, my dad and my brother in law. They left at about 3 and that's when it all got crazy. We started running around trying to get everything ready. With my mom, my sister, and some friends we got it all done pretty quick. By 5:30 everyone was at the house...cars hidden and being very quiet waiting on the right moment to scream...SURPRISE!!!!! He got there at about 6 and he was totally surprised. Everything went as planned and the party was a success. We had such a great time with all of our friends and family. Thanks to everyone who spent the evening with us celebrating Josh reaching a milestone!

Bird Bath or Water Bowl???

One of our friends from church called on Tuesday and said she was going out of town and needed a dog sitter. Of course we said, "YES YES YES!!!" Most of you know we love animals, but this dog is special. She is one of Boone's puppies!! Her name is Millie. She came over yesterday at about 4 and she will be going home pretty soon so we had to cram in as much fun as we could.



I wasn't sure if I could do it or not, but I decided to take them both on a walk! We only walked about a mile but we had a great time!



Then I just let the dogs play in the back yard for a while and they had a blast. After about an hour we were all worn out...even Ashby!!



I hope this finds you having a wonderful day... Until next time...

FALL!!!

It is finally feeling like fall! Don't you just love fall? I do. It is definitely my favorite time of year. The leaves are falling, the air is getting a little cooler, the nights are beautiful, and it brings back great memories of hayrides and "brush piles" and weeny roasts!
Every year I like to decorate my front porch with hay, scarecrows, pumpkins and mums and whatever else I can think of that looks like fall. The past two years I have taken pictures of Boomer sitting on the hay and they have turned out so cute.



So of course we couldn't have pictures of him this year by the hay so I took lots of pictures of Ashby! She did such a good job sitting up there like a big girl (with some help from PopPop).



These are just a few of the pictures that I took this year and some from years past. I hope you enjoyed looking at them as much as I did.
I hope this finds you having a wonderful day... Until next time...

Grandma's 90th Birthday!!!

My Grandma turned 90 on the 13th of this month and we had a huge party at the nursing home!



All of my dad's brothers and sisters that are still here were there and a lot of their kids.



I was unable to get a lot of pictures because I ran out of space on my camera, but the ones that I did get were pretty good. I hope you enjoy them.


My Grandma has been one of the biggest Christian influences in my life. I will never forget the times we would go and see her and she always had sugar cookies in the cookie jar just waiting on us to come and eat them up. When we would go over to her house (usually every Wednesday to cook dinner for her) the first thing my brother and I would do is go straight to the kitchen and check to see if there were any cookies. Most of the time we were not disappointed. The few times that we were we knew that Grandma was just getting a little tired and didn't have the energy to make them. One memory that I will always have of my Grandma is from one time when we visited her in the nursing home...
She lived in the nursing home in Troup for a while until she moved to the one she is in now. She loved it because she was always playing bingo or getting her nails or hair done. She has lots of friends there and many who have already received the ultimate healing and are in heaven. When we went Josh would take his guitar (sometimes) because one of her fravorite things is listening to her kids and grandkids sing. That particular night we only sang a few songs and we could tell she was getting tired so we decided to go ahead and leave. We all said our goodbyes and gave her hugs and kisses and made our way out the door. As we were walking down the hall I remember that I had moved her "grabber" (her extended arm that helps her reach just about anything without getting out of her chair) so I turned around to go put it back in it's normal place. When I got to the door I realized that she had her head bowed and she was praying. As I got a little closer I realized that she was praying for our family....
I will never forget the things that she has taught me and the things that she continues to teach me.
I hope that you have someone in your life who you can look up to like I look up to my Grandma! I hope this finds you having a wonderful day... Until next time...

Girls Night "In"

Man did we have fun last night. At about 5:45pm my doorbell rang and Kali went crazy. The first of my visitors had arrived. By 6:15 there were sounds of talking and laughter ringing out that I'm pretty sure you could hear all over our neighborhood. The Junior High girls d-team's "girls night in" was underway.


We had cheese dip and chips, brownies, pizza, a movie and manicures and pedicures all lined out.
First we started with the snacks. I truly believe that if you can make a girl comfortable with food you are going to have a lot of fun.


I made queso and brownies (which turned out yummy) and we ordered pizza from a new place in town called Milano's.


Brandi, Jaime and Heather came over to do toes and fingers and Raven Simone was the entertainment.
Overall the girls had a great time. They all left full, tired and with really cute finger nails and toe nails. I can't wait until we do another girls night!!


How do you really know what it is that God wants you to do with your life? I have asked myself this questions many times in my life. That's when I think about were do I fit in the most. For me the answer is when I am hanging out with a bunch of teenage girls! I can only think of a couple of things where I would have had as much fun as I did last night. If I can make a difference in a girls life by letting her come over and hang out at my house for just a little bit, then I will do that for the rest of my life.


Thank you God for allowing me to work for you!!
I hope this finds you having a wonderful day...until next time...

What do you think...

Have you ever wondered about things that little kids can see that we can't? Or can they see things that we can't? I'm not sure, but I will explain what brings this question up...feel free to comment and let me know what you think.
Last night we had a home group bible study at our house which we do every Tuesday night with some friends from church. Everyone left by about 9 except for one guy (Jason). I was trying to get our little night owl to sleep so he just hung out for a while and talked with Josh and I. At about 10 he decided he would go, so Josh stepped outside with him while I was still rocking away in my recliner. Ashby was almost asleep when all of a sudden she looked up and started grinning. Remember it was just me and her in the house...
She looked over beside Josh's chair and started giggling. It was so cute that I couldn't help but laugh with her. She did that for about a minute and then she started looking right above my head. She never looked at me which was kind of weird because usually she laughs when someone is trying to get her to laugh. When she was looking above my head and she started giggling again I automatically started to cry. She could have just been thinking about something funny or picturing some silly face in her mind, but it hit me at that moment that maybe she was seeing Boomer and he was playing with her. Now...don't start thinking..."she has lost her mind!" I have no idea if that can even happen or if it did, but whatever it was, was really cool. And I guess if I want to believe that it was her brother playing peek-a-boo with her then that's okay too.
When Josh came back in I asked him what he thought about it and he said, "Do you really think God would let Boomer come back here to play with his sister?" I told him I didn't know, but that I did know that Ashby was smiling at something and there was nothing there!
So...what do you think...does God allow kids to see things that adults don't see or was it just gas?
I hope this finds you having a wonderful day...until next time...

What is she doing now?

Ashby is growing so much everyday! Some of her favorite things to do right now are: drool, crawl, drool, stick out her tongue, drool, talk to her daddy, and did I say drool!!

She started sitting up a week before she was 6 months old and on the day of her 6 month birthday she started crawling!! It is really hard to believe she is doing all of this stuff, because for those of you who knew Boomer at this age, he just wasn't doing much. Oh, and did I mention she weighs 20 lbs. and is 28 inches long? We're hoping for a softball player!!


She started eating green beans this week and she seems to like them a lot. When we got finished I don't know who had more on them, me or her. She is a really messy eater. Hopefully, as she gets older, she will grow out of that.


Her hair is almost long enough for a pony tail. You can barely see this one, but it is sticking up right in the front. Does she look like her Mamoo or what!!!


She loves her daddy so much. When I try to get her to talk to me she won't hardly make a sound. He can hold her up in front of him and say, "tell me all your secrets," and she will sit and talk to him forever. I am almost sure she said, "I love you," to him a few nights ago.

I was always worried that, when Ashby got older and could understand everything that happened the day that we brought her home from the hospital, she would think it was her fault in some way. But, as we are progressing through the grieving process I am realizing more and more each day that she was a true blessing from God because he already knew what was going to happen that day. It's almost like he was telling us, "I'm sorry that I have to take Boomer, so her is a little blessing to get you through the hardest time of your life." I don't know if that is actually how it works, but it helps me. If it wasn't for Ashby I know there would be days where I would just curl back up and go to sleep and stay in bed all day. She is what has pulled me through this whether I wanted her to or not. I know that God knew just what I needed and he gave it to me because he is so gracious!
I hope this finds you having a wonderful day...until next time...

Revolve Tour!!!

REVOLVE TOUR

This weekend I took a group of girls (plus 3 women) to the Revolve Tour in Dallas. For any of you that don't know what that is...it is a weekend conference just for girls that focuses on stuff just for girls.


Mrs. Susan and Mrs. Heather were two of the women that got to go with us.
I get really excited about taking girls to conferences like this one. They get to take time to hang out with just girls and get told frequently how awesome they are. I'm pretty sure some of the girls that we took with us are not told that frequently enough!!


Mrs. Kristy was our brave bus driver...she was awesome. None of the trips that I plan would be possible without people like Kristy. She is an awesome youth leader and I am very glad that she lets us use her so much.


Sarah, Katie and Emily are some of our high school students. They are so awesome. Katie and Sarah missed their homecoming and Emily missed getting to be in the band just so they could come to revolve. I am so glad that they made the sacrifice because I really think God showed them some great stuff this weekend.



Not only did we take a great group of girls from our church but we got to meet two of my favorite girls in the whole world from Oklahoma. Kirsten and Polly drove from Lawton so they could be with us at the conference. I miss them so much. I wish they could just come and stay with us for a while. Getting to see them was like icing on the cake!

This weekend was a great experience for the girls, but it was also a great experience for me. When Jenna Lucado talked about letting God have all access to your heart she was speaking directly to me. I have been blocking God from having the access that he desires from me because I have been angry with him. Yes... I said it... I have been angry with him. When I first realized I was angry with my Creator I thought there was something wrong with me... that I shouldn't feel that way. But then I realized something...if I can be angry with God, that shows that I truly believe he is real. How many relationships do you have where you never get upset or angry with that person? NONE!!
So, is it okay to be angry with God? That is up to you to decide, but for me the answer is yes. This helps me to understand that my relationship with him is real and can withstand anything.
Boomer dying was the worst thing that has ever happened to me, but God has been here through it all. It has made my relationship him more real than it has ever been before and I am thankful for that.
Remember to thank God for the things that he does that you like, and thank him for the things that he does that you don't like, because he knows what your big picture looks like and all you are getting is a glimpse at the first strokes.
Thanks God for an AWESOME weekend :)

Another beautiful day!

Well, today was just another beautiful day.
Ashby has not been feeling very good the past week so at 1 a.m. I decided it was time to call the doctor. At 9:30 I called and they had an opening at 11 so we got ready as quick as we could and headed off to Longview. We waited in the doctor's office for about 30 minutes and they finally called us back. She weighs 18 pounds and is almost 28 inches long. He checked her ears and much to my surprise...no ear infection. I guess it is a good thing I'm not a doctor because I definitely would have screwed that one up! He checked her nose...seems to look good. Then he checked her throat...not so good. She has something that sounds like laryngitis. He said that her throat was red and swollen and had ulcers on it. Fortunatly he said that it has almost run it's course and all we have to do is continue to give her tylenol.
After the doctor we took my Granny back to Overton. Then we went to Arp and back to Daingerfield.
To most people the blog for today would be pretty boring and some may be wondering why would she write about taking her daughter to the doctor...this is my world and if you want to know about me this is what I do. Even if it is not the most eventful life, it is my life and I enjoy everyday that I get to spend with my family which is exactly what I did today.
I hope this finds you having a wonderful day...until next time...

We still have "evacuees"

Well...it is Monday after the storm on Saturday and there are still some people in our area that have no power. My mom and my Granny are staying with us for the second night because they live in a place were it is not that important to have electricity. Since they live in the country they will be some of the last to have their power lines worked on.
I am very thankful that we still have power so that they could come and stay with us. We still haven't played any games but hopefully all of that fun will come tomorrow.
As for me today...I have had a wonderful day. Thoughts of Boomer fill my mind ever minute of every day, but now most of my thoughts are of great memories that we shared with him instead of the memory of "that day."
As for Ashby...she is sitting up pretty good on her own and moving (not crawling) all over the living room floor. She is rubbing everything on her gums so I really think she will be getting a tooth soon. She is also rubbing her ears a lot so I think that is the result of an ear infection. Listen to me...Dr. Croswell. Wouldn't that be nice, then I wouldn't have to go to the doctor tomorrow and pay $20 for him to tell me...it looks like she has an ear infection.
Well, it is getting late and Josh is already in bed so I guess I better go for now. I hope this finds you having a wonderful day.
Until next time...

So...how are you doing?

So...how are you doing? I am asked this question many times a day by various people. Sometimes I want to say, "How do you think I'm doing,"although I am very glad that people care. There are days when I just want to curl up in bed and never get up and then there are days when I want to get out of the house and stay busy all day. I never know what kind of day it will be when I get up in the morning, but I do know that because I believe in such a BIG GOD it will be a day that I will manage to get through and usually enjoy.
I will try in this blog to tell people how we are doing, milestones that ashby has reached, and what is going on in my small life.
If you ever catch yourself wondering, "How are the Croswell's doing today," just log on to my blog and maybe I can give you a glimpse of what it is like to have a small life but a BIG GOD.