A Special Night!

First of all I am alive and I am not sick but my computer is very sick and on the edge of death so that is the reason for the long break in blogging. I have done lots of different things to try and do this post but I could never get my pics uploaded but I am finally getting it done.

Months ago Elleigh came to us and told us that she wanted a purity ring. We knew her desires to remain pure until marriage and we have been discussing these issues for years with her. We have taught her that is the way God designed it and that is what He desires. We are very open with her. We recently had a MOPS speaker who spoke to us concerning talking to our kids about sex and he told us do it early and often and I think that is the approach we have taken. I pray we are doing it the right way and that most importantly it is effective and in a healthy God pleasing manner. She told us she wanted the ring as a symbol of her commitment and we felt that she understood the seriousness of that commitment but we wanted to make sure that she understood it was so much more than a ring. So, for the next few months we talked more with her and we came to the conclusion that she did fully understand this decision and how difficult it would be but all worth it. We got her a James Avery silver band that is engraved with True Love Waits and has a cross on it. We decided we would surprise her when we gave it to her but knew that would not be easy. We wanted to both take her out to dinner and give it to her but we knew she would suspect something if we told her we were doing that. She really wanted to go to the premier of New Moon at midnight. She has never been to a midnight showing and she wanted to do that. I agreed to take her but her daddy really wanted to go with us so I thought that would be the perfect night to give her the ring. I just told her we were going to eat a late dinner before the movie and she suspected nothing! It was a wonderful sweet night. We each wrote her letters that we gave to her with her ring and we cried (her daddy actually cried more than me!) Those of you who read our blog and pray with us and for us, please pray for Elleigh in this decision. It in not an easy one. We pray for her to be able to fight the temptation, we pray for her future husband to be pure, we pray for the time that she may have to wait for the man God has planned for her.

Opening her ring
Ell with her proud mama

Ell with her proud daddy outside of Macaroni Grill. This is where she chose. The first time A and I ate at MG I was pregnant with Elleigh. We had gone to a Dr's appt and it was Valentine's Day and we waited 2 1/2 hrs to eat! I still remember what I was wearing that night. Hard to believe that baby I was carrying is making these kinds of decisions!
New Moon was good and the midnight experience was fun. The line was unreal but it moved pretty fast and of course we already had our tickets. We got out around 2:30 am and it was storming outside and we were parked a long way from the exit. There is no where to go and there are about 4,000 people trying to get out of there. It was crazy. We finally made it to the car and did not get struck by lightening! The evidence of how wet we were!
Not a dry spot on us...

It was such a special night in so many ways!

Our First Born PRINCESS!

What happened to our first born princess's smocked dresses and big hair bows??? Apparently they have been replaced by these items... Just the sight of this on her bed frazzled me a little (OK a lot!!!)
Friday night Elleigh attended the Princess Ball which is an event hosted by Dr. Richard Ross (founder of True Love Waits) and his wife. The girls dress up and the emphasis is on being God's princess, how they should be treated, purity, etc. It is a wonderful opportunity that I am thankful Elleigh was able to be a part of. Dr. Ross is a phenomonal speaker, youth leader, and educator. This year Aaron has taken the time to disciple Elleigh one on one at church on Wed nts and they have training sessions with Dr. Ross each week before discipling. His wife, Lajuana teaches 7th grade girls Sunday School at Wedgwood which Elleigh is not there for but she has been able to attend some things that Mrs. Ross has led. Ell and I had "a BALL" getting her stuff all together to wear and getting her all dressed, despite the fact that we bought 3 dresses before she was satisfied! What can I say? She is mine!!!

Ell getting ready! It has been a long time since we curled her hair this much. I love it!

She's ready and BEAUTIFUL!!! I might be a little partial! Notice her pic hanging behind her that was taken on her 1st birthday. Enough said about that!

Full length shot
Our 1st of 4 princesses. I really am having a hard time with her growing up so fast. It is neat to watch her become a young woman but it is scary. Being announced by Dr. Ross (all decked out in his Southwestern regalia). The boy is only an escort!!!

She had a great time! She loved being all dressed up and most importantly she learned a lot about her relationship with God as a young woman. I pray that she is all God would have her to be and that she always remembers these truths that are being taught to her. We love you PRINCESS but HE loves you even more!

Just another Fabulous Fashion Friday!

The girls went all out today! What is it about Fridays??? There is Millie with her shades that she told me she was going to wear all day (and she has!), then there is Sallie with a dress under her hoodie and pants, then Ell sporting the really curly hair (we had just taken her hair out of rollers for the Princess Ball tonight) with pj pants and t shirt, and then Lizzie modeling her 3rd swimsuit of the day!

Wednesday Wisdom

Millie: "Mommy hold me!" (loudly)

Millie: "Mommy hooollllddddd ME! (louder)

Me: "Millie, mommy can't hold you right now. I am ironing."

Lizzie: "Yes you can! You have another hand!" (in a very sassy tone!)

Leave it to Lizzie to tell me how I can iron and hold Millie at the same time! What was I thinking? I mean, I have 2 hands!!!

Sweet Sallie is 8!!!

It really is hard for me to believe that it has been 8 years our sweet Sallie came into our lives. Each year her birthday is a strange time for me. I reflect a lot. I am flooded by lots of emotions. I feel blessed. I feel thankful. I remember that I had no idea if she would live to be 1 much less 8. I long for more and more progress. I remember where we have been. I remember the times when life seemed so hard that I just couldn't take it anymore. I remember the strain on our marriage. I remember God using that to strengthen our marriage in an incredible way. I remember that HE used our trials to change us, to humble us, to draw us closer to Him, to touch lives in a special way. However, each year I can look back at it all and have something else to be thankful for and so I have to say that each year although I still lose it at least once I am thankful that I have that time each year to not only celebrate Sallie but to celebrate our trials. That was the title of our Sunday School lesson yesterday, "Celebrating our Trials" Really, how awesome is our GOD?! I try to never let all of that overshadow celebrating her birthday but God has used our little Sallie in such an incredible way just in our lives and I can't help but to reflect and to celebrate (with tears and laughter)!

It really has been a great year for Sallie. Not a lot of surgeries and procedures. Her aids have been in a lot more. Just over the past few weeks she has become much more verbal. It is still mostly sounds but they are resembling words. She really has matured in a lot of ways.

Sallie eating her favorite for b'fast-egg sandwhich (with LOTS of mayo) and cranberry juice!!!
Her Sun School teacher gave her this play set that had this tiara in it and she did not take it off until bedtime. These two together bring tears to my eyes. They have an amazing bond! To this day if Sallie gets sick or has to have a procedure she wants her daddy or Grandy if he is around. They have an incredible bond also. No matter how long it has been since they have seen each other last she goes right back to Grandy!
Millie and Lizzie singing Happy bday to Sallie!She loves all the attention!
Thank you God for entrusting such a sweet gift to us!
Best attempt at a shot of the 4 Hall girls!

Too SWEET for words...

Present time!!!

Every girl needs some Vera Bradley!!!

Loving the ICarly dolls

All about a tank top!

The birthday girl and her look a like! Millie looks more like her every day!

My other 2 look alikes!

She had a great day! We had planned to take her shopping on Saturday but since A got the race tickets we will do that in the next couple of weeks. She LOVES to shop and we just don't all go shopping so she will love to be able to go and buy things just for her!

I will tack this on to this post since it did happen yesterday. We were coming home from Red Springs yesterday and Elleigh was saying something about A and I making "googly eyes" at each other and she said "yall make me sick!" Millie starts screaming "NO, don't make me sick, don't make me sick!" It was hilarious!!! We had to calm her down and assure her no one was going to "make her sick!"

I actually did 2 posts today so there is another post below this one.

Hall Girls and Nascar???

Yes, the 2 oldest Hall girls went to the races! A has been to Talledega but never to Texas Motor Speedway and has always wanted to go. He was a huge Nascar fan when we first married but since he is just not as big of a fan. I guess he just doesn't have the time to be. One of the companies he buys from for work gave him 4 tickets to the Saturday race so he took Elleigh and Sallie and Elleigh's friend Taylor who is a major Nascar fan. She was going to the Sun. race with her dad but since we had an extra ticket Ell invited her to join them for the Sat. race. I think they had fun. It was an experience and that is what Elleigh was going for. I am not sure she would ever really want to go back. Sallie enjoyed all the action and watching the people! That is Sallie!

One of my favorite things about TX is how you can see for such a long distance and this picture shows that. Love this! Taylor shared her gear with Ell and Sallie. Think Taylor is a Jeff Gordon fan???

The little girls and I stayed home. I had a great time getting to spend time with just them and they loved it too! It was unbelievably quiet around here with only 2 girls! Not to say that Elleigh and Sallie are trouble but I was really amazed at how quiet it was! I think I had forgotten what it felt like with only 2 and the difference it makes when you double that number!!! I wouldn't have it any different. It is just nice to divide them occasionally!!!

Fabulous Fashion Friday!

Note: All outfits and accessories are chosen by the models!

Just life

It seems like lately I have not blogged a lot about our every day life. Well, it is just that, LIFE! The days seem to get busier and busier. The girls are of course getting older so they are becoming more independent yet life surely doesn't seem to be settling down any. If there is one thing I know it is that the more children you have the more they get into. They really work together and feed off each other's energy. I think the other thing is that they fight a lot more than they did. They fight over toys, they fight over who helps the most, they fight over who did something, they fight over who gets laid down first, they fight over whose turn it is, and the list goes on! Did I mention they FIGHT?! I am diligently trying to have patience (I fail OFTEN!) and to soak this all up and just enjoy them (fighting and all!). I do love them SO and I do love being home with them and I don't want it any other way but somedays it about gets the best of me!

Knowing that we are going to Red Springs has made the weekend travels seem more difficult. I am anxious to get this move behind us and not be traveling every weekend. It is hard to believe we have been doing that for over a year. Six more months and maybe our weekends will be somewhat normal. Of course, I know we will never be "normal"! They are busy on renovations to the house. They have been wonderful to ask us about every little detail. It is a challenge to do all that back and forth with us only being there on the weekend but it is well worth it to be able to pick out what we like. I am enjoying picking everything out and have lots more to pick out. I asked to hold off on painting the interior until first of the year. We are so busy between now and then and I just would rather wait until then to do that. It feels like 6 months is a long time but I know it will sneak up on us and we have lots of packing and throwing away to do!

Sallie saw the speech therapist on Monday for an evaluation. We are waiting on placement. We will begin with 2 days a week and then go from there. Funny story-she gave us some tongue exercises to do at home (to strengthen her tongue in order to improve speech) so it involves sticking her tongue out. She knows this is a no no! So, when the therapist told her to do this she cut her eyes over at Aaron like, "can I do this daddy?" She is very in to showing us her tongue exercises! Her little sisters also think now that they should be doing "tongue exercises"!!!

On Tuesday she saw the orthodontist. We had lots of prayers for her to be calm (at least more calm than normal) and she was. She still cried but nothing like her getting in the floor and me having to drag her up (like the week before at the dentist!). She actually let them do an x-ray which is the first time ever! The first step is going to be to correct her cross bite which will involve placing a device in the roof of her mouth that we will turn each day to expand the roof of her mouth. However, the Dr wants her to get more comfortable before doing this. First step will be getting a mold of the inside of her mouth. They gave us the tools they use to do that for her to play with home to hopefully help with the fear. We go back in a month and hopefully she will allow them to do the molds and we will go from there.

One night this week I overheard Lizzie telling Millie while they were in the bathtub, "pour water on the floor Millie, pour water on the floor". I am telling you it is always entertaining around here! She knew she would get in trouble for doing it herself but she thinks it is funny so get little sis to do it!

Same night I told Millie if she did not clean up I was going to spank her. Her response, "spank me!" Guess she would rather be spanked than clean!!! Honestly, I feel that way too sometimes!

Last but not least, our SWEET and THOUGHTFUL friend, wonderful package sender and faithful blog reader Mrs. Abbey has a birthday tomorrow! HAPPY B-DAY MRS. ABBEY!!! WE LOVE YOU!

Halloween 2009

Choosing which pics to post is not my strong point so instead of doing dishes or laundry or cleaning house I uploaded lots of pics! This really is much more fun! So, here we go...

On Thursday the little girls had Storybook Character dress up day. Lizzie was Cinderella and Millie was Snow White. They dressed up and then took the books for their class to read. I know they don't look thrilled but they were!

Thursday night we had our annual fall family fun night. We made fun treats and carved our pumpkin!

Ell loves this as you can imagine!Saturday night we were in Red Springs and went into town to their carnival and then did some trick or treating. A tried to convince Ell to be Belle so he could have 4 princesses but for some reason she said NO!!!
Sallie and Lizzie riding the train at the carnival. Millie would not ride and as you can see Lizzie was wishing she had not! Sallie on the other hand was loving it!The prissiest of the princesses was not happy about the train!In the jumphouseGetting candy from Mrs. Sarah (from our church) and her little girl Emma KateEmma Kate again. Her pig costume was so cute! She doesn't have the head on here but it was all really cute. and lastly trick or treating with Mrs. Sybil (one of the ladies in our church)

It was a fun few days of playing and lots of candy and sweets and we all loved every minute of it!