Christmas Photo Shoot

Here's a look at our Christmas pictures this year. It worked out great because the kids and I were in Louisville last week while Stephen visited a friend and his church in NYC. (Freddy T and the Gallery Church, for those of you who know him.) That means I was able to take the kids to my FAVORITE picture place (Portrait Innovations) while we were there. This first one I love...I couldn't believe they got them both to smile so big at the same time!!



I think I love this next one even more! Again, amazed the the photographer caught such precious looks...even in the same direction! The funny thing about this is that we don't even "do" Santa at our house. The kids (at least Charlie) obviously know about Santa, but we just say he's pretend like Mickey Mouse or Elmo and that's about how far it goes. (We don't have a problem with people who go along with it with their kids or anything, it's just something we decided not to make a big deal of around here.) Anyway, this picture was just so fun and precious that I couldn't pass it up!!



This last one is one I got made to give to Stephen. I had a picture made 2 Christmases ago of me and Charlie (and Piper in my belly). Stephen has it on his desk. This Christmas, I decided I needed to give him a "complete" picture of all 3 of us for his desk. He loved it and I love knowing he looks at it during the day and loves us all so much!! :)



Have a merry Christmas everybody!!

Hey Pastor's Wife...

You've got it all together, right? No way! I'll tell you what, nothing could feel farther from the truth right now. Don't get me wrong, I love the holidays. Thanksgiving, Christmas...both beautiful reminders of my Savior and all He has given me. It's not the holidays that go wrong, it's me that goes wrong in the midst of the holidays.

I've been busy. We've got tons of stuff going on at church with no signs of slowing down, we've been traveling, I've been decorating, there are parties coming up, more traveling, friends are having babies, the house is a mess, oh yeah, and there are those two little people running around my house "re"-decorating and making a mess, needing to be fed, clothed, bathed, entertained, loved on, etc. Y'all, I'm overwhelmed! This doesn't come naturally to me.

I always assumed I would be a wife and a mom and as I have matured (and am still maturing) in my faith in Jesus and have learned more about God's plan for His creation, being a Godly wife and mom is what I've wanted to be more than anything else in life. But, like I said, the stuff in the job description doesn't come naturally. I'm not an organizer, not a cleaner, not a great multi-tasker, or money-handler, or meal-planner, I'm not super creative...the list could go on.

To the praise and glory of God, I'm getting better at some of these things, but it's still hard. And when I get busy, I seem to lose the things that matter most and just function. For example, my Bible intake has declined big time over the last few weeks. I've read books about God and how to better live for Him. I've attended church and been fed through the preaching of the Word. But, when I'm not spending time in the Bible and in prayer regularly, I loosen my hold on Jesus...and I feel it! I NEED HIM!

He is life for me and not only life everlasting. As my husband and pastor so committed to the Gospel and God's word, so lovingly reminded us this last Sunday, Our living Savior gives us life NOW, not just for eternity. As a follower of Christ, I have the power of the Living God at work in my life. When I dwell in Him, He will dwell in me and help me be the wife and mom I need and want to be for Him. He doesn't , "poof", make me perfect at all those things I listed before, but He gives me the strength to grow in them and thrive in spite of them. Praise God that I am not on my own!

I love you, O LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. (Psalm 18:1-2)

So...today, first thing during nap time is the Bible! The bathrooms can wait, the floors can wait, the dishes can wait. I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope (Psalm 130:5)!

More Videos

Since we're home, I thought I'd go ahead and add a few more videos. Hope everybody had safe travel and a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

This first one is of Piper. I caught her really into Sesame Street one day and she was dancing and waving. I didn't catch the best of it, but at least you'll get to see a little bit of my cutie!!



This next one is Piper also...the other side of her personality, though! I was trying to capture her awesome bed-head after her nap one day. She obviously wasn't feeling up to being on camera!



The last video I have for you today is of both of my little ones. They were playing with some extra keys they found. I thought you might enjoy one of the peaceful moments between the bouts of sibling rivalry that tend to erupt sometimes when they play together! (Notice Charlie's attire - it's his favorite. And, nevermind the fact that Piper keeps putting the keys in her mouth!)

The Next Video Installment of The Cavni Kids

Here's a couple more videos for your viewing enjoyment! This first one is funny. It's of Piper running "laps" around our living room. She does this ALL THE TIME...especially at night time. It's like this is how she winds herself down for the day! And, this usually lasts a while! Hilarious!



This next one is of Charlie. I went to his room one day and this is what I found. It's just, well, it's Charlie! :)



More to come!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving week, everybody!

Giving videos a try

Okay, so I finally decided to take the time to figure out how to get videos from our relatively new Flick camera onto the computer. We've got some videos dating back from this summer so I thought I'd post a couple every day or two so that you all can catch up but I don't overload you with videos to watch! So anyway, here's a couple of videos of Charlie and Piper from late summer that I thought were cute. Enjoy!

This one is just me and my sweet little girl gabbing and playing. (Please disregard the mess in the background!)



Now a video of Charlie - Piper was with us too, but she was in the stroller. This one is from our trip to Dinosaur World on a "dollar day". (Otherwise it's crazy expensive to walk around on a sidewalk and look at a bunch of surely-less-than-accurate dinosaur statues!) Note: Charlie had just recently received an "accidental" buzz...thanks to his daddy!

Great Deal for Bloggers!!

Hey everybody! My cousin let me in on a great deal for bloggers: Snapfish is offering 50 free holiday cards if you'll make a post (such as this one) endorsing their holiday products. I don't mind doing this at all because I LOVE Snapfish. They offer great deals all the time and I love having a place to upload our photos and being able to share or print them and have them sent right to our home.
Snapfish has some super cute products for the holidays this year. I love their holiday card designs. They have so many collage designs and also some with cute holiday decor like poinsettias, Christmas trees, etc! We've got to get a picture taken so that I can start picking out our cards! We like to send cards so that, since we've moved, we can still show how we're doing and how our kids are growing to those friends and family we don't get to see much anymore. (And, 50 free cards is going to be a HUGE help!!)
You can check out Snapfish holiday products like:
Holiday photo cards to http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery
holiday invitations to http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-invitations
Christmas ornaments to http://www.shutterfly.com/photo-gifts/pewter-ornament
So go see what they've got and get your holidays underway!!

Bloggers get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly. Sign up: http://bit.ly/sfly2010: http://bit.ly/sfly2010

Do-Over

Ok, so I lost my momentum on that last post. I had somewhere I was going, but I just can't find it anymore! Sometimes my mind works (or doesn't work depending on how you look at it) that way! I also finally remembered some pictures I have on my phone that I could put on here while our camera is still out of commission. So for those of you that have missed these 2 little faces...


Mom and I took the kids to Costco one of the times we were in Louisville, and Piper liked the stuffed animals!

Just a sweet picture of my precious girl!

Charlie likes to get comfy while watching TV!

I realized that it was really quiet one day so I went to check on Charlie and Piper. I found them in Piper's room and they had pulled everything out of her drawers (including tons of tiny little hair rubber bands that you can't see in this picture)!

Again with the TV watching...I promise we do other things!

I'm lovin' the pigtails! It's one of the reasons I always wanted a little girl!

Showin' off a new outfit at church.

I think Charlie was a little freaked out by the pumpkin man we found "downtown".

My little duo at Red Robin one day with Mom-O and Pawpaw (my parents).

Here's my kiddos outside beside their pumpkins that someone at church made for them last year. Charlie and Stephen put them outside one day and I told Charlie that they did a good job. He said, "Yeah, I couldn't have done it without daddy!"

Happy Halloween everyone! (Or, happy Reformation Day!) :)

Growing in Love

Sorry, no pictures again! My camera is totally dead for some reason. I just tried plugging it in and...nothing! So, you'll just have to read my ramblings again. I realize the lack of pictures may result in less people reading this, but that's a chance I'll just have to take! (Most times, what I have to say probably isn't worth reading anyway but this time, I think it might be!)

Life is crazy! I don't agree with using busyness as a badge of honor or a boast of how hard we've been working or anything like that. There's just been a lot going on in the Cavness household lately. And, true to His character, God has packed this craziness with instruction and wisdom for me to pick up on and treasure. Instead of starting at the beginning, I think I'll go ahead and give you what I think the culmination of these lessons is from His word in Philippians 1:20-21 - "as is is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain."

Like I said, there's been a lot going on here lately, probably the most prominent being that the church decided to replace all the carpet in the parsonage (our house) with wood laminate flooring and to re-tile both bathrooms. In other words, every floor in the house! This was, of course, very exciting for us and unfortunately was also a little inconvenient. The kids and I went to Louisville for almost 2 weeks and then for another 2 weeks after our return, there were men working on various areas of our house at different times throughout the day. (Most often, it was nap time!) During this time, I really had to work on keeping my attitude in check. I have a problem with letting my frustration show on my face and in my attitude too often. Thankfully, Stephen was there to gently remind me of my Savior. Jesus was not about personal justice or insistence on fair treatment for Himself. So...I'm learning to grow in love for others.

I've added something to my schedule lately that I've been struggling with and trying to do for some time now. Adding anything to my schedule is a potential for nervous breakdown on my part, but this actually helps work against that I think. I've begun to work-out faithfully either early in the morning - which is my preferred time, although I'm so NOT a morning person that this hasn't become habit yet - or during the kids' nap time. I know that exercise is good for my mind and my body, and I've come to the conclusion, through some good reading and study, that it is good for my spirit as well. I read in Jerry Bridges' The Pursuit of Holiness,
"Modern Christians, especially those in the Western world, have generally been found wanting in the area of holiness of body. Gluttony and laziness, for example, were regarded by earlier Christians as sin. Today we may look on these as weakness of will but certainly not sin. We even joke about our overeating and other indulgences instead of crying out to God in confession and repentance."
Thinking on this made me realize that I was caught in that trap myself. I am far too often guilty of failing to treat my body as a temple of the Holy Spirit. Instead, I find myself a slave to my cravings for food, sleep, and inactivity. I decided that needed to change. So...I am learning to grow in love for holiness.

More to come...

Random thoughts

Ugh...it's been a month since I posted on here! It seems like it's so hard to find the time to write sometimes. And lately, I've had so many things going through my head that every time I decide I'm going to write, I just can't get out anything coherent enough to let others read! And as far as pictures go, it takes so stinkin' long to get them on here that I honestly just don't feel like going through the trouble sometimes. Then I think about how much I enjoy the blogs of my friends and family and being able to see into their lives a little bit more that I begin to feel guilty for neglecting my own blog!

So, this is what you get tonight...random thoughts from my crazy brain! Piper's had a little cold/allergies for the last couple of days, so she's in bed a little early. Charlie's been at my parents' house since Saturday, so he's just entertaining himself being back in his own house with his own stuff. Stephen's at church (we didn't do church tonight because I didn't want to make anyone else sick). All that said, I had a few minutes so I thought I'd write. Obviously I still can't come up with a clear topic to write about, but hopefully this will get things flowing for some more posts this week!

All in all, we are definitely feeling God's sweet blessing and are slowly, but surely seeing His work here in Cave City. We are witnessing some (small, but still) growth in our church and BIG time in some individual lives which is AWESOME!! We're seeing the younger adults (meaning under 60 :) become more and more active. People are reading good books...and you know me and my husband, we're thrilled about that! Stephen is faithfully preaching the Gospel each week and staying true to God's word in a way that is effecting people (me included). It's just good!

Anyway, we love and miss all of our family and friends and hope that anytime you want to visit, you feel free to call and come on!!

As Promised...a must see!

Here is the video I promised of Charlie during our commencement program for VBS. Don't worry, Charlie was fine and there were no tears, but I wasn't sure that his father would ever recover (from laughing) and be able to address the congregation again that night! Priceless!

Long time, no see!

Hey! Finally I'm gonna let ya'll in on what's been going on in the lives of the Cavni this summer! I just haven't felt like taking the time to post all of these pictures lately, but someday I'll learn that it's easier to do a few at a time than to wait until I have an epic post to make! Anyway, here's a few from Charlie's 3rd birthday (in May) to get us started:

As you can see, he was a happy boy!

He loaded up on plenty of new toys and clothes - thank goodness, because this boy is growing fast!!

This year was fun, because he had lots of little friends to come to his party and not just adults!
So cute!!
But we had plenty of adults that love Charlie there too!!

Momma's big boy!!

How sweet is this? I love it when I can capture a moment of love between these two because sometimes it seems that they spend more time picking at each other than they do loving on each other!

Here's another one. Piper just came up and plopped her little self in Charlie's lap all on her own!

We love to read around here! We discovered the public library this summer and we love it! Charlie and Piper have so much fun and we always bring MANY fun books home!! (And read them MANY times!)

Even Piper loves to read on her own
!

Also, check out the pig-tails Piper's been rockin'! I've just been waiting and waiting for this...I love it!!

Charlie and Piper loved vacation Bible school this summer! Here's a shot of Charlie and his class leaving refreshment time. I've got an absolutely hilarious video on my phone that I'll try to find some way to post later, but I'll just let you wait and see that to find out what happened (for those of you who don't already know)!

At the end of VBS, Charlie's teacher sent them home with a bag of goodies - the theme was Sonquest rainforest!

I love this picture of Charlie taking a flying leap onto our couch cushions! (This is a favorite activity of my kids - to stack up pillows and jump on them.)

My smiling kiddos!


We're never lacking in wrestling matches in the Cavness household...and to tell you the truth, it's usually Piper who starts them! She's a tough little cookie!


Charlie has been getting into some arts and crafts lately, we've painted, glued cereal and noodles, all kinds of stuff! Including...

a surprise craft for me...my cutting boards ended up being "decorated" one day when I wasn't looking! Oh well, just makes meal prep more colorful!

Charlie got a workbench and tools for his birthday and now he "fixes" everything! This day, he was fixing my closet door. (The picture is blurry because I was trying to catch him in action without him seeing me!)

This is just a cute shot of my sweet girl in the adorable outfit she got from her Aunt Kimmie!


Some nights, Charlie and his daddy go do "boy stuff", which usually includes going to "W&X" (Charlie's interpretation of "A&W") to get root beer!

Charlie got invited to his first birthday party this summer! It was for his friend, Kennedy, from church who is just a few days older than Charlie. She had a princess-themed party and Charlie got to dress up like a prince!

This was just a ride in the car, but I had to post that cute face!

Whew! That was a long one! Thanks for all of you who stuck it out for the whole post :) There's more, but I'll leave it for now and post more later! Hope everyone is having a great summer and living the blessing like we are!!

Piper's 1 year pictures

These are the 1 year pictures we had made of Piper.
Sorry they are so little, but I'm not savvy enough with this blogger thing to make them bigger! At least you can see how cute she is!

Piper's a little spit-fire of a one-year-old and keeps me on my toes! She is walking/running/climbing everywhere like she's been doing it all of her life. She loves attention (lots of it) and if you don't give it to her freely, she definitely demands it! We sometimes shorten her name to "Pipes" and it fits her perfectly! The girl could shatter glass!

Piper says a few words - Momma, Dadda, baby, hi, bye-bye, and uh-oh, and she signs "more", "please", "all done" and "up". It's not many words, but she understands everything and can communicate very clearly what she wants and needs.

What a joy she is to us and the perfect little girl in our eyes!!

PS - I haven't forgotten about Charlie! I know I've been posting a lot of Piper lately, but in a couple of weeks it will be Charlie's birthday and you'll see much more of him too!

Piper is one...and what a year it's been!

Here's a look at our little girl's 1st birthday party and a few pics since she's been one year old.

This is the cake I bought for us to eat at Piper's party...yummy! (You can tell I bought it because it's solid chocolate!)

This is the cake I made for Piper to destroy. I wasn't too concerned about perfection because I had a pretty good idea of what was about to happen to it!

We had the party in the "Sonshine House" at our church - it's the little building where the children and youth meet and have activities. Perfect for a party!

Here's me and my sweet girl...she was hammin' it up all day long!

Don't worry, even though this was Piper's day, Charlie definitely wasn't left out and he got plenty of attention (and presents) too!

She was loaded down with presents and her Aunts Katie and Kimmy made the cute sign behind her!

Piper got plenty of new toys and LOTS of new clothes that she really needed for summer! Yay!

We had to sing happy birthday, but she was ready to dig in!

This is not even the end result...it actually got much worse! She required a bath immediately afterwards!

And now, a little fashion show in some of Piper's precious new clothes...





Some QT with big brother...nothing like a snack (Cheerios from the floor) while watching TV!


All smiles!


This one's after a bath...check out those curls!