You know those mornings when you wake and think: this is going to be a hard morning getting the kids out the door. Lunches must be made, clothes and hair must be presentable ( theirs not mine), and the hubby is out of town. You know, THIS kind of morning. Well, this morning was panning out to be one of those mornings UNTIL I was mid-braid of the girl #2 and Judd came in the bathroom.

Judd-“Hey mom, can I quote 1 Corthinians 13 to you before school? I think I have it all memorized” and I responded, “yes sir, you sure can!”

He proceeds to quote the entire chapter while we all calming listened. It was at the moment that the trajectory of our morning changed. It was the perfect way to end a stressful morning.

Thank you sweet boy, for speaking scripture over us this morning. 

Today marks the end of one season and beginning of a new season for the Perdue Crew! A bittersweet day, however, we are all anxious and ready to begin this new season.

For the past 11 years, I have been at home with my children: birthing, feeding, loving, kissing, and TEACHING them. This year marks a new year for all of us. Jake will walk out the door tomorrow and into a school for the very first time. We didn’t make this decision quickly or without much prayer. Many months ago, I started feeling restless in our schooling decisions. I started feeling that it was time to send Jake to school. I was gripped with FEAR, however, I started to realize that I couldn’t determine decisions for Jake’s life based on my fears. I needed to truly determine what God wanted and to live by faith not fear. I came across this amazing article and it helped me see launching him in a different way. https://10kreasons.wordpress.com/2015/08/11/shooting-your-arrow-by-faith/
So, to steal a tad from the article: he is an arrow, an arrow we have spent the last 11 years sharpening, an arrow that would go out and fulfill His purpose. I believe that the Holy Spirit will guide him and lead him when choosing friends. I believe that he will be a light and a leader. I believe he will have favor with his teachers. I believed God will protect him physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually and that no evil could befall him or come near him. I believe that God would use him mightily! As we gear up for SIXTH grade, I am believing these things.

He won’t have me by his side, but I know that GOD is with him. I know this because HE has been so faithful through out the past 11 years. I am thankful for each year I had Jake home. We have grown together. BUT now it’s time for me to I trust Him with HIS child, Jake!

Bonaire Middle is a new mission field for our family, and a new chance for Jake to learn to shine his light brightly and share Christ with our community!

Several weeks ago, God led me to this verse and I knew it so perfectly fit Jake and the foundation that we have prepared in him as we launch him out.

ITS GONNA BE A GREAT YEAR-BRING IT ON!l

We love our sweet C girl and all the feistiness and love that she adds to our family!

At three, you are SUCH a girlie girl. You pick out your own clothes to wear each day, and it always consists of something pink and a skirt or dress. You will tolerate pants or leggings but only if it is cold outside. You love to wear headbands, pig-tails and sleep in curlers.

You are slowly no longer wanting to nap. This can be exhausting, because you are pretty high maintenance at this age. You say “Mommy?” approximately 536 times a day. You are becoming more independent, but still need a lot (like getting a glass of milk, help going potty, wanting to play a game, or read a book). However, Sadie does spend a good bit of time entertaining you.

You are completely potty trained even at night! EXCITING!

You love playing with your siblings, and most often want to do what they are doing. Some days you say you are a big girl and say you don’t want to be a TODDLER anymore, but other days you tell me you aren’t a big girl. Such are the whims of a three- year old.

You are a pretty good eater. You absolutely LOVE cheese. You also love milk. You don’t seem into sandwiches or bread, but love macaroni and cheese, lunch meat, and crackers. You will eat any fruit we have.

You are for sure feisty. You are VERY strong willed, demand your own way, and still insist on screaming at the top of your lungs when things aren’t going your way (not one of my favorite traits). You have come a long way, however, we all hope that you quickly learn that is inappropriate. The problem we encounter the most is that you often get your way because no one likes to hear you scream (not necessarily because we are all so compassionate for “the baby”, but because it grates on all of our nerves) so whatever toy or book or item you are screaming about will usually get handed over to you. You express frustration easily with a growl or sticking out your tongue, and on the occasion, you bite.

But you are so, so sweet. You love to snuggle and give hugs and kisses and climb in laps. You love to say “ Mommy, I love you.” Your Daddy puts you to bed every night, and you snuggle and it’s just so sweet.

Three is the big year for the Perdue children to move out of their cribs and into a big bed. So, just as in years past, we took the crib down and Caroline started sleeping upstairs with the girls. No more diapers and No more crib! The Perdue Crew is growing up.   

This Memorial Day weekend was full of firsts and loads lot fun! Friday night Jim took Jake, Judd, and Anna Kate to a Braves game. This was Anna Kate’s FIRST Braves game. She had a blast and the Braves WON! She asked Jim several questions through out the night.; questions and statements we don’t want to forget.
1. They had seats in Left field. She wanted to know how she could zoom in and make the players bigger.
2. She asked, “When is Halftime?”
3. AK: what happened? Daddy: we got a double AK: we got two homers?!? Daddy: no, he got to second base. AK: What’s second base?

Saturday morning we woke up excited and ready to spend the day on the lake. We packed the boat full of wakeboard, skis, and the knee board. On Jake’s first turn out on the knee board he tried for a 360 and busted. As he came up out of the water, so did the knee board, right into the side of his eye. We waited several hours but we finally set off to the urgent care for 2 stitches. Boo.

The rest of the weekend we enjoyed time with out “second family” and hours on the lake with friends.

This weekend I am thankful that I can call this town home once again. I’m thankful for the friends we have near and far. I’m beyond thankful that we live in a FREE nation. I”m thankful for those who gave their lives so that I can enjoy this freedom.

This sweet girl is a First 5k Finisher!!

We had a rough start, followed by potty break in the woods at the 1.5 mile marker. However, we finished the race and we finished in about 45 min. She learned what it felt like to finish a hard thing and run through the finish line. She says that it was the “second” worst day of her life, but I think she will do another one with me.

This Christmas feels different. No one was sick. We were all well. We spent some time doing gingerbread houses and trains that crumbled immediately, just as they do every year. Is it just me or am I an epic failure at those things? Next year, I’m doing something different, we can decorate a full gingerbread man. Do you think he will run run as fast as he can?-I kid:)

We even did a Christmas light scavenger hunt with some friends. We celebrated with several family groups and we were blessed at each gathering to be with family and even receive gifts.

So, what was different this year? I can’t quite put my finger on it. As I lay here getting ready for bed my heart is sad. Maybe it’s my focus. Maybe it’s because for the first year I didn’t “feel” Christmasy and it was reflected in a few ways. Maybe it’s that I didn’t really see that Christmas “magic” in my kids this year. Maybe it’s that we’ve been to busy to sit and be still to enjoy and savor this time of year. Maybe it’s that we have an intolerable toddler who can make the easiest of times difficult.

I don’t know what it is but I do know that I don’t like this feeling. So starting tomorrow, I preparing for next year. Preparing my heart and my home! This will be the year of
F-O-C-U-S! Focus on those in front of me, beside me, and all around me. Focus on the needs of others. Focus on Christ in me. Focus and what He needs/wants from me to make this a happy home! What does that look like or mean? I don’t have the answers but I know that He is faithful to guide me.
Please don’t think that we didn’t get or have more than we deserve. It was 80 degrees on Christmas and we played in mud puddles on Christmas Eve. We are blessed! Blessed beyond measure! Judd said it was the best Christmas ever because he got a basketball goal, but also the worst because I gave him deodorant in his sticking-haha!

2015 has been a great year! As I close, I just wanted to jot down these thoughts that are so fresh in my kind.

Gracious and Pure. Your joy is radiant. Anna Kate, YOU are great. YOU are eight. You are our first girl. Our flittering flower. You have a song in your heart and in your mind at.all.times. Thank you for showing us all of the colors of the rainbow. You see them all. You love so beautifully. At this point in your life you want to be a fashion designer, a mom, a world traveler who knows languages and can tell others about Jesus, and an artist. Who knows where God will lead you, we just pray that you will keep your eyes on Him.

Dear Judd,

Happy Birthday Precious Boy! It is hard to believe you are turning none years old today!

I thank God for you and I will be forever grateful that God chose me to be your mom. My second boy. My baby boy. What a blessing! You are all boy! Active, dirty, smelly, but so loving and king-hearted. You still think girls are gross. At nine years old, your love for sports is really developing. I love watching you play football, basketball and baseball. It seems that you love all sports.

It melts my heart when you hold the door open for me or offer t help me when I am in the middle of something. Some young woman will be lucky to have you someday (but until then you are all mine)!

Judd, I am so proud of the young man you are becoming. I am excited to see what the future homes for you. I pray that you always stay true to yourself, are willing to catch your dreams (even when it requires a lot of hard work), always act like a gentleman, keep your sense of humor and never forget how much you are loved. God has a special plan for you. Stay close to Him and have a clean heart. Pursue HIs plans and ways. You are truly a special, unique and amazing person. We are praying for you always!

I looked up the word manic because I wasn’t exactly sure of it’s meaning, and it turns out that’s not really the kind of Monday we had. Perhaps that would have been a better title? Just another nostalgic Monday. Although that wouldn’t really sum up our Monday either.

Today was just one of those days, if I’m being honest, where I thought “perhaps 5 is too many.” Do you ever have those days? Well, I guess this only applies if you have 5 (or more!) children. And I know it’s not true, I know that God’s grace is sufficient, and I can handle this season, but today that knowledge didn’t seem to stop the thoughts: TOO MUCH.  It doesn’t matter how many children you have, being a Mama is HARD and challenging and we all have those days.

Let’s just say the eldest child has been wanting things his way.

Of course, I’m no different. I’m just not 10.

I just want kids that don’t fight, babies that don’t cry but do nap, children that play quietly, dinners that make themselves and while I’m at it, no wrinkles. I WANT WHAT I WANT. But, every one of these things is unrealistic. My kids argue, my baby cries and screams through naps, children run through the house screaming, I must make dinner if we don’t want to starve and wrinkles are inevitable. Oh, the unfairness of it all.

I think that the main thing I have learned since having five is that I’m lazy and just want an EASY LIFE. I don’t want to stop what I’m doing  to correct my children and break up an argument. I don’t want to take twenty minutes out of my day to rock my baby, I want her to fall asleep without screaming just like she does for her daddy. I want to talk on the phone with my Mom or a friend without hearing “MOM!” a dozen times. I don’t want to have to flush the toilet EVERY TIME I walk into a bathroom in this house.

And I’ll get all these things, in a different season. Not now. So for now, I press on. I fight the good fight. Sometimes parenting is a fight, isn’t it? It’s a fight against laziness and ease and selfishness and ME ME ME. I’m learning. I’m pressing.

At the end of the day, with the ones I love most gathered smiling around the dinner table, I am thankful. I am thankful for small victories: a load of laundry, a homemade dinner, books read to my kids as the afternoon fades. I am thankful that I am allowed to live this life, and get a glimpse of His glory and love in these sweet little faces that call me Mama. I am thankful for the work that it does on my heart, and for the countless ways that being a Mom makes me cling more to Him. How else could I learn these things?

And perhaps most of all, I am thankful that tomorrow is another day.

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:34

This girl is the true definition of the days are long and the years are short. Sadie and I have had some long years, but I can honestly say we are having the best time now. We have a lot of fun together. She loves to wear gym clothes, take a little run, and take care of all people. She is fabulous! She has never been far from my side and that surely hasn’t changed. I trip over her multiple times a day.

I am so proud of my sweet girl and there are some things I would like her to know on her 5th birthday……..

1. You maturing into a beautiful little lady, inside and out.
2. You are a wonderful big sister. You walk your little sister, Caroline to her preschool class each Tuesday and Thursday.
3. Your favorite color is red and pink.
4. Your favorite food is momma’s mac n cheese and watermelon.
5. You had an Ariel Birthday Party for your birthday.
6. You asked for make-up and a “fart” cushion for your birthday presents.
7. You tell me all the time how you are going to live close to me always.
8. You are smart and you love to teach school or play Dr. Sadie.
9.. You like to skin the cat on the monkey bars.
10. You are loving and loud, sweet and sassy. Your smile and facial expressions crack me up because i can see glimpses of the fifteen year old you.

I can’t wait to see how the Lord works in your heart and life for 5!!  I love you.

This year for your birthday you wanted to have Areil come to our house and put make-up on you and your friends. We had a lovely time celebrating YOU sweet girl.