Hi <3

Hi!  I’ve missed you guys.  I took some time away from here and my email inbox over Christmas.  It just felt nice, but it feels good to plop down on the couch after we just got everyone in bed and start typing this post.  We just finished watching Dolphin Tale 2…for the second time.  It’s out on Redbox and I cried like a big baby.  So good.  Hudson sat by me and we are the perfect movie pair.  He gets emotionally involved asap and wants to know exactly what happens.  This is me.  IMDB is my best movie friend.  I can find out the entire plot…spoilers and all.  Give me all the spoilers…I want to be fully prepared.  So Huddy and I are the perfect movie match.

Last night Josh Kelley and I watched Maleficent.  I totally loved this movie.  So so good.  Like I want to watch it again which doesn’t happen too much with me.  We own very few movies and I don’t watch many movies multiple times.  It was really great.

Josh and Laura Kelley Fun Fact:  A few movies we do watch over and over again…Life Aquatic, Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, Big Fish, O Brother Where Art Thou, A River Runs Through It, Count of Monte Cristo.  And a most recent About Time.  If I had to pick a most favorite movie of all time it would be Big Fish.  It reminds me straight up of my Cousin Mike.  It’s pretty dang great.

Let’s see.  So many things I want to share.  Oh, how was your Christmas?  I hope it was grand and just what your heart needed.  Ours was good and different.  Different in a really fantastic way.  I’ve decided our Christmas this year might be my most favorite so far.  Simple, intentional and open to what God laid before us.  Traditions sometimes need to be set aside when people are placed in our path to grasp and to love and share life with.

Hello Christmas morning crockpot monkey bread and scrambled eggs and sausage balls.  Be still my food loving heart.  I might have had some extra homemade cream cheese frosting left over and I may have added it to the top of the monkey bread…a most excellent decision.

Harper got a rainbow loom from her Aunt Jen and let’s just say she has been a busy girl.  This was an excellent gift for her.  We have been youtubing videos and this girl has gone after it.

Me and this guy have been having lots of good, hard conversations lately about the brokenness around us and the why’s and how’s and how do we help stand in the gap and hold hands with our brothers and sisters.  When you look at poverty and see people…their hearts, their lives, their reflection of God…you realize we were created to do this life together.  This messy, hard, completely unfair life linked arm and arm.  We were made to come along side one another.  I’m praying big things for 2015.

We’ve been on a pretty strict “no eating out says our bank account” for a while now.  We kind of splurged over the Christmas break though.  We did take-n-bake pizza Christmas Eve because A) It’s our fave and B) We’re all kinds of fancy around here on the holidays.  And we hit up our favorite Mexican restaurant.  Chips, salsa and black beans were devoured by all.

Tomorrow I’ve got a big date with some serious Oreo cheesecake making.  When thinking about what dessert I would like to ring in the New Year with I couldn’t shake the thought of it.  There were a few options in the mix and Josh Kelley pushed me over the edge on the Oreo cheesecake.  I think it says Happy New Year pretty well.  And why yes that is 16 bars of cream cheese.

Harper:  Are we really buying 16 bars of cream cheese????

Me:  Yep.

And today Amon rocked his last therapy session of 2014.  You guys, I can’t even.  He still has a few more months to go, but when I think about what God has done with this little non-verbal kiddo, well, it’s just joy and thankfulness.  When we started he had no words and no sign language.  And now the words are just flowing.  He works hard.  Today I was completely overwhelmed with gratefulness for his speech therapists…all their hard work and love.  And for God and His mighty works…the way He transforms.  It makes me all kinds of weepy and it makes me all sorts of thrilled to see what this child does in 2015.

I’ll be back tomorrow.  I’m sure it will be back to my random thoughts.  Christmas kind of messed with me heart big time.  It’s hard to work those feelings out sometimes.  And I’m getting down to emails tonight too.

Thank you for stopping by and reading and Happy Monday night!