Happy 5th Birthday my sweet little Abby Kate!

Well, I'm late posting about my little Abby's 5th Birthday! Unfortunately it seems like this is becoming a pattern! : ( Yesterday, January 21st, my sweet little Abby girlie turned FIVE years old! My girlies & I were out all day for Abby's birthday & then we went straight to care group. After a long but wonderful day, care group, putting our other girlies to bed, spending some special Birthday Girl time with my Abby in her bed singing & giggling together, doing lots of regular "home" stuff, like, you know, ironing for my Hubby, changing over laundry, loading & running the dishwasher, making sippy cups & bottles for the morning & pre-setting the coffee pot (VERY important!) ~ that kind of normal Mommy stuff, I was a wee bit EXHAUSTED! Thank goodness my Hubby took care of Auggie (poor thing mighta had to sleep out in the cold! Just kidding I would never do that to our "Bo Bo"!) Everything in me wanted to stay up & do my sweet Abby's Birthday post with lots of cute pictures of her but I HAD to crawl into bed! SOOOO, I am hoping to do it very soon! I love you Abby, my Birthday Baby!

Our Girlies & Uncle Reed

Randal's little brother & our little girlies' Uncle Reed came

to visit us for a few days right after the New Year. Our girls

absolutely ADORE their Uncle Reed! Just to give you an idea

of how much they love him I'll tell what our little Abby did

one day a few weeks before he came. Abby got dressed in her

little pink Princess Aurora dress-up dress. She laid down on

the couch very lady like, she folded her little hands on her

tummy & said in a very dramatic voice, "I'm waiting for my

2nd Prince Charming to come & rescue me!" Then she looked

over, peeked one eye open & said, "cause, you know....Daddy's

ALWAYS 1st". When we asked Abby who her "2nd Prince

Charming" was she said, "Mommy, you know who, it's Uncle

Reed"! It was so adorable! We were all cracking up at how

dramatic & oh so serious Abby was about it all! : ) Coming in

2nd to Daddy is quite the accomplishment! All of our girlies

feel the same way about Reed! Even though the last time Ava

saw him she was only 4 months old, she went right to him,

let him hold her, cuddled with him on the couch & even gave

kisses! Amy, Ashley, Abby & Ava love to hang out with him

down in the basement, his "room"! They adore him & they

get so excited when he comes to visit! Reed is an awesome

Uncle! He is fun, sweet with our girls, caring, gentle, kind

& very generous! He loves to dote on our girls, take them fun

places & do lots of special things for them! Uncle Reed took

our girls to Chuck E Cheese for the afternoon one day ~ it

was so much fun! We also had a lot of fun just hanging out

at home with him. Thanks for spending your time & money

to come see us Reed. Your 4 little niecies LOVE you & so do

we!

Happy 7th Birthday my sweet little Ashley Noelle!

My sweet little Ashley Noelle just turned 7 years old!

Seven years ago, on December 28th, 2001, Ashley Noelle Palmer my 2nd baby girl, my 3-days-after-Christmas-present was born! I became a Mommy of SISTERS! I had 2 little girls, my dream come true! Our little Ashley was born at 4:33 in the afternoon & she weighed 7 pounds 10 ounces & oh my, was she adorable. She had bright, beautiful, blue eyes, soft, fuzzy, light brown hair, which turned blond, cute little dimples on her cheeks AND an adorable dimple on her little button nose (that sweet little Palmer nose again!)! Even as a newborn Ashley had a sweetness & joy about her. She was a very giggly, happy & content baby & she still keeps us laughing seven years later. She brought so much joy & happiness to her Daddy, Mommy & big sissy, Amy's hearts! Amy was only 2 when her new baby sissy was born & she absolutely loved her baby! Amy loved to kiss Ashley's soft little fuzzy-haired head, gently touch her baby skin & she would sweetly say, "my baby Ashy"! One of the most precious things to my Mommy-heart was to watch my two little girls together, my sweet little sissies! I have always thought that one of the greatest gifts that we could ever give to our children (besides loving God & each other ~ their Daddy & Mommy) is their siblings ~ lifelong, sweet & the most precious friends! Our Ashy made our Amy a big sister! From the very first moment I held her & looked into her sweet little blue eyes I was absolutely in love with her & I was overwhelmed with affection for my new baby girl! I was just amazed that, once again, God would so sweetly bless me with another baby girl, my little Ashley! When I looked down at my baby I started to cry, our family was growing, my heart was so full of joy! I remember Daddy scooping Ashley up into his arms, snuggling her little nose to his & all the "Daddy needs to protect his little girl" emotions came flooding in, once again! My Ashley is growing so quickly, my sweet 7 year old! I am so grateful to God for my sweet Ashley & the happiness, laughter & joy she brings to our family & my heart! Ashley is very compassionate, tender & has a natural gift for nurturing! God has given her a special way with babies, mostly her 2 baby sisters! She has always known how to hold them, comfort them & take care of them. She is an amazing servant & loves to help her Daddy, Mommy & her 3 sissies! We are so grateful that her little heart is sensitive to God! Ashley loves to play with her sisters who are her 3 best little girlfriends, go on special dates with Daddy & Mommy, pretend, do art of any kind, imagine & she absolutely loves to cook! Ashley has great fashion sense (she didn't get that from Mommy, that's for sure!) & picks out great outfits! My Ash is very girly but loves to run, play & go on all sorts of imaginary adventures! Mommy was very sick with strep throat on Ashley's birthday but, true to her sweet, compassionate heart, my little buddy girl sat beside me rubbing my back, singing to me & saying how sad she was that I was sick! We actually celebrated her birthday two days before (I was so grateful that we had done it early!) with an awesome candy-making party that was SO much fun! At Ashley's request, Daddy made his "famous" homemade pumpkin spice cake with cream cheese frosting ~ YUM! On her actual birthday she got to have some coffee with french vanilla cream (this time she didn't have to sneak sips of Mommy's ~ she got her OWN & got to drink out of one of Mommy's special morning coffee cups!) She felt SO special & like such a big girl! Daddy came to the rescue as Mommy was laying on the couch by letting Ashley (our little chef!) help make homemade chocolate chip pancakes for dinner. We put her 7 little candles in her pancakes & we sang "Happy Birthday" to her! Ashley's colors of choice for her birthday party were sky blue & lilac......I know, I know, you are shocked that I didn't say PINK! Our little Ashy is always so grateful for the things we do for her, what a precious sweetie! Ashley Noelle, I am so amazingly grateful to God for you, our little Christmas present, our 7 year old Birthday Girl! You are such a treasure to Daddy, Mommy & your 3 sissies! We love you with all of our hearts! Happy Birthday Ashley!

My sweet Ashley is SEVEN! : ) HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY GIRL!

My precious little Ashley Noelle turned 7 years old on Sunday, December 28th! I was planning on writing a special post for my little sweetie with pictures on her special day BUT......Mommy has been very sick with strep throat! I spent my Ashley's whole birthday on the couch with a high fever & a near excruciating sore throat! The best I could manage was whisper-singing "Happy Birthday" that morning & whisper-singing her special "Birthday Girl" song that Mommy made up & sings to all of our girls on their birthdays that night. I already had the entire dining room decorated the day before & Daddy came to the rescue by letting Ashley help him make Belgian waffles with whipped cream (one of Ashy's favorites!) for dinner with candles on top & we all sang to her! She was SO amazingly sweet & compassionate to Mommy! I felt SO sad that I couldn't make her birthday more special like I wanted to & I kept apologizing to her all day! She never complained & she just kept saying how sad she was that I was sick. She just wanted to sit with me & love on me ~ so typical of my Ashley's nurturing & compassionate heart! : ) (& my other girlies too : )!) After a visit to the doctor, a positive strep test, lots of sleeping, (thank you Daddy, Amy, Ashley & Abby for taking care of our little Ava for Mommy!) & 4 Amoxicillin's later, I'm feeling a smidge better today. I am going to have a "re-Birthday" for my sweet Ashley later this week as a surprise to her! SHHHH : ) ! I am still going to write Ashley's 7th birthday post with pictures as soon as I can. I just didn't want too much time to pass before I acknowledge what a precious gift my little Ashley is to Mommy, Daddy & her 3 sissies! God was so kind & good to give me my little compassionate, nurturing, servant-hearted, fashion forward, funny baby girl! Happy 7th Birthday my little Ashley Noellie, I love you with ALL my heart! You are so precious to us & we thank Jesus every day for you baby! : )

Christmas letter & picture......LATE!

I had so much fun taking our girls' Christmas picture & they turned out absolutely adorable! I was excited to hand them out at church on the Sunday BEFORE Christmas & to get them in the mail for everyone else to have but......the picture place messed them up, TWICE! The first time I went to pick them up the green background looked black & my girls faces looked stark white in comparison with dark eyes & lips! I knew it wasn't good when the girl at the counter who looked at them with me said, "your girls are beautiful, are they wearing makeup?" MAKEUP!? Oh brother! So, she made a note for them to be reprocessed lighter. Well, I went to pick them up yesterday & now they are WAY too light! The background looks light green & my girls faces are blotchy & shiny! UGH! She said they have been having problems like this when pictures are sent online. I thought I was saving myself time by sending them directly to them online but, obviously not! I got to keep them for free so now I have 60 copies of it......better than seeing them throw pictures of my babies away! : ) Another test of this Mommy's very sinful heart! God has a plan & knows what I need! Soooooo, our Christmas letter & picture will now be a New Year's letter & picture! I am hoping God is giving me grace to grow in areas like this. If you know me, pictures are VERY important to me! Even though I love pictures because they capture my sweet family in that moment for all time, if I'm being honest with myself (& assessing my sinful heart for what it really is......) there is too much selfish ambition & pride involved in how I am perceived! : ( So, I shouldn't be "struggling", I will still have my beautiful picture of my sweet little girls, I just need to humbly realize (once again) that I don't have it all together like I like to think I do sometimes! SO sad that I even ever have thoughts like that, huh? I'm so happy that God is gracious & kind & wonderful, even when I'm not!

Hopefully, you will be receiving our letter & picture soon.

We love all of our family & friends! We pray that you are well & enjoying Christmas as you ponder the great & amazing gift that was given to us that day, Jesus, the Savior of the world & the Savior of my heart!

Love,
Erin

Our sweet little Christmas Girlies!

Here are some pictures of our 4 precious little girls in their adorable Christmas nightgowns (a gift from Uncle Tom & Aunt Missy Chambliss ~ they SO know me : ) ! )! I LOVE MY 4 LITTLE GIRLS SO VERY MUCH! : )

December~ The month our Mom's died...... this is a very long post, but for a very good reason!

December has always been one of my favorite months of the year but it is also very sad for us both. Two of the most precious people in our lives, our Mom's, both died in the month of December. Randal's Mom, Amy Curtis Randal Palmer (My Randal was named after his Mom's maiden name) died on December 22, 1982 & my Mom, Rosemary Faulkner Gober died on December 11, 1993. Randal's Mom died when he was only 8 years old in a horribly tragic car accident after a night of family Christmas caroling & my Mom died when I was 18 years old at home after a very long & painful 5 year struggle with breast cancer. We lost them in very different ways but the sadness & grief were very much the same. Randal's Mom had the amazing honor of being a Mommy for only a very short while & my Mom missed seeing me get married to the love of my life by only 4 months. Our hearts are still very sad for them both. "Grandma Amy" & "Grandma Rose" as we affectionately call them would have adored their 4 little Granddaughters & oh how we wish our Mom's were still in our lives for our girlies to know & love! One of the things that bonded us as a young couple was knowing that we had both gone through the loss of our Mom's. I can remember many nights of sitting on the couch together talking about our Mom's, reminiscing about how special they were to us & crying together. Our Mom's were amazing Mother's, Randal's Mom was a wonderful wife (my Mom was a single Mom from the time I was 9 months old) & they both loved God with all their hearts! Both of them lived to honor & glorify God, to serve & love their families & others & were amazing examples until the end of their lives! I missed having both of them at our wedding & wished they could have been with us at the births of our 4 girls! What a fun thing that would have been & how I longed for that! I especially miss them when my girlies do something sweet or cute that I know their Grandmas would love! Randal & I both feel absolutely honored & privileged to have been given such gifts, our Mom's, even if for only a short time. God has been so good & so kind. Even though it has been hard not having our Mom's, we know they are with Jesus enjoying Him forever! In His kindness, God has given us Randal's (stepMom....although she is VERY much his real Mom in every sense of the word!) Mom, Dee & my Grandma, Polly who have been precious to us both! They have filled every longing for a Mom & Grandma (Great Grandma too!) & we are so incredibly grateful for them! I wish you could have known Amy & Rose (our firstborn baby girl is named in honor of her two Grandma's, she is Amy Rose!), you would have completely loved & adored them as much as we do! We thank God for sweet memories with our amazing Mom's & we treasure them in our hearts every day! I don't know how it works, but I pray that they can see us from heaven & can enjoy their sweet little Granddaughters from there! We are very comforted that the 6 little babies we have lost are in heaven being held & loved by their Grandma's ~ a thought that makes my heart smile! We have 4 baby girls to enjoy here & they have 6 to enjoy there! Even though we don't understand why sad things happen, we know that God's enduring faithfulness & sweet love remains. We love & miss our Mom's & we are grateful to God for them!

When I first heard this song, "It Is Not Death To Die" from the Sovereign Grace "Come Weary Saints" CD I did NOT like it! I would skip it immediately & I didn't even want to hear the words. One day I couldn't get to the CD player to skip so I heard the entire thing. I was in tears by the end of the first verse. I thought hearing or singing the song would bring back sad memories of our Mom's deaths & I didn't want to go there. Instead, it was sweet & comforting & made me cry happy tears to realize that when our Mom's died, they went on to be with Jesus where they no longer suffered or ever felt sadness of any kind! When they closed their eyes, they weren't sad, they found amazing happiness & comfort with God....they GET to enjoy God/Jesus FOREVER! They get to dwell with our kind, good, amazing, gracious God who loves & cares for them more than we ever could! Two of my most favorite lines from the song are, "It is not death to close the eyes long dimmed by tears...." and "It is not death to hear the key unlock the door....". I love the first line because my Mom suffered a very painful five years with cancer that went from breast cancer to lung, bone & brain cancer. My Mom DID have eyes dimmed by tears. She had the most beautiful blue eyes & it broke my heart looking into her eyes as she cried in pain as a young teenager trying to make everything better for my sweet mom, my best friend! How sad those days were.... Randal's Mom also suffered greatly in her last few hours of life. She was crushed in a car accident. Everything from the front end of the car ended up against her, pinning her & breaking her body. She was bleeding & broken but her only concern was for her boys. Randal was 8 & Ryan was 5 & although she was in severe pain, she kept asking about her little boys ~ so precious! Randal was sitting in the back across from his Mom so he could see her sweet face covered with blood, the pain & sadness in her soft brown eyes but couldn't get to her! Both of our Mom's came to Jesus having suffered & were made new, never to know suffering or pain again! Such a happy thought! The other line makes me cry because I can imagine Jesus standing on the other side of the "door" unlocking it. I can imagine our Mom's waiting in anticipation, hearing the key, seeing the door open & running into the arms of Jesus......amazing!

If you want to hear this song, click on my Play List to the right of this post.

It is not death to die
To leave this weary world
And join the saints who dwell on high
Who've found their home with God
It is not death to close
The eyes long dimmed by tears
And wake in joy before your throne
Delivered from our fears

O Jesus, conquering the grave
Your precious blood has power to save
Those who trust in You
Will in Your mercy find
That it is not death to die

It is not death to fling
Aside this earthly dust
And rise with strong and noble wing
To live among the just
It is not death to hear
The key unlock the door
That sets us free from from mortal years
To praise You evermore

O Jesus, conquering to grave
Your precious blood has power to save
Those who trust in You
Will in Your mercy find
That it is not death to die


We love & miss you with all our hearts Mom's & Grandma's, Amy & Rose! We thank God for every moment we had with you! You are precious to us!