PATTON IS 10!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PATTON!!! 10 years old! Wow! That blows my mind! From the first day of your life you have been such a joy to us! You are so kind, generous, and compassionate. Here are 10 reasons I love you so much! (There are millions more but you're turning 10 so 10 is what you get!:))

1. THE WAY YOU CARE FOR OTHERS! You have the sweetest heart and it has been evident in your life from a very young age that compassion is one of your gifts! From playing with babies, holding hands or hugging an elderly person,  to loving on orphans you always have a smile and a hug!

2. YOUR AWESOMENESS AT SPORTS! You have always had a natural ability in sports and it is always such a joy for me to watch you play anything! Even when you are on a team that could possibly not have won a single game all season (;)) you give it your all and always have a great attitude. Can't wait to watch you pitch for the Rangers, be the quarterback for the Cowboys, or coach little league! You'll be great at whatever you do!

3. YOUR SPIRITUAL GIFTS! When you came to us at 5, 6, and 7 wanting to be baptized and always wanting to know Jesus more we were so thankful! We continue to love watching your relationship with Jesus grow! I believe you were given the gift of compassion and prophecy and when you use those to glorify the Lord it is awesome!

4. ALL YOUR LITTLE QUIRKS! You are always making me laugh with your habits and quirks. Like making your arms wave, your amazingly elastic skin you love to stretch, the way you make us laugh EVERY day! All your funny jokes and sayings!! (My brain bones aren't working!!)


5. THE WAY YOU LOVE ME TO SCRATCH YOUR BACK! I can always count on you to come up to me, lay in my lap, pull your shirt up and wait for a good back-scratching!

6. YOUR GENEROSITY! You are always giving away your money and things you have to make someone's day! Paying $24 of your savings to buy your Sunday school teacher a necklace, giving all your savings to our "Africa" fund, tithing, and making "goody" bags for people's birthdays! I love that!

7. YOUR SLEEP HABITS! Ok, this one is pretty selfish of me but I can always count on you to be my sleeper! From the moment we brought you home, you wanted to be in your bed and wanted a LONG night of sleep! Even now, when you stay up a little late and we can sleep in, I have to wake you up at 11:00 and ask if you want breakfast or lunch!

8. YOUR LOVE FOR MUSIC! I know sometimes I tell you that I just can't listen to a song ONE MORE TIME! But actually I am the same way! You love to hear a good beat, sing, and get the message of the songs!  I love that your favorite right now is Africa by Toto- it makes me think of our trip every time!

9. YOUR MISSION MIND! You are always coming up with great ideas on how to save or make money for missions! I am SO thankful that you "get it" at 10 years old! Look out world- Patton is going to do AMAZING things!

10. THAT YOU ARE PATTON!! We take such delight in you each and everyday that we are given the gift of being your parents. We thank the Lord for you!! MIDDLES RULE!!!:)

TEA UNDER THE BIG TOP!

Today I was "in charge" of running the mother/daughter tea at our church! I say that loosely because SO many people helped me and it was all just a big group effort. We had so much fun and loved seeing the precious girls all dressed up and and their sweet moms, grandmothers, or some special lady in their life with them, giving them a memory to last a lifetime! It is usually all princess-y and very girly, so it was  a little crazy to go with the "Circus Theme" but it totally worked and the girls loved it! It was only for girls ages 3- kindergarten and we had over 200 people!! Here are some pictures of the day!

Precious friends Kelly and Kadi! They were our speakers today and did such a great job! So thankful for this growing friendship!

How cute is she??

Our amazing children's minister, my boss, and ring master...Patty!

I knew for a circus theme we must have cotton candy! Found these in clear containers online and LauraBeth helped me make these cute labels with 1 Peter 2:3 on them!

Oh the candy bar! How I love thee!!!

Didn't think ANYONE would eat these but just had to have them because I mean, they're CIRCUS peanuts! But they were almost ALL gone at the end of the day!!

Sweet friend Shei who was a huge help to me today!! We thought we were pretty cute in our matching outfits and killer shoes:))!

The entertainment was great! They came in on unicycles, juggled, and had a great message too! I volunteered Patty to be in the middle when they juggled back and forth!:)

Such a fun day and I am so blessed by this job! I happen to have 2 jobs that I LOVE! I am so thankful! Can't wait till next year! What should the theme be??

ONE DAY WITHOUT SHOES!

Today I spent most of the day like this....

For TOM's   One Day without shoes Day!
(I KNOW my feet are hideous but that's all I got:))I did wear my shoes walking into and out of the church building, in a restaurant, and in a public bathroom. I mean, I'm all about the cause but I just couldn't break down and walk into a public restroom with bare feet! I did think of the precious children around the world without shoes today because it just hurts sometimes to have nothing between your feet and the ground- not to mention the disease and bacteria. And I hope all of the people who did this raised awarness for these kids and will buy a pair of   TOM's  to help those kids out!
I also took a short trip over to Arlington to check out all the new 147 Million Orphans gear! They have a tone of new apperal and gear and I had a blast with 2 of the sweetest friends Aimee and Heather . I ordered some shirts for the family and had a great time with these two!
Today is Jeff's birthday! I just love that man so much! He is such a wonderful husband and father and we are so blessed! I texted my sisters and mom at 5:45PM to say we were headed to MacAllister's for dinner if anyone wanted to join us at 6:15 and they ALL showed up--with a cake!:) Love my family and thankful for spontaneous birthday celebrations!
 And we are SO excited for the Sanderson family! They are officially a family of 5! Precious Dinks is just about the cutest little Ethiopian princess in the world and we are SO thankful they passed court and she is officially theirs!