when I was little...

When I was little...



I didn't care as much to what people thought or felt about me.
I was oblivious and naive, and that protected me from getting hurt.

When I was little...



The smallest things in life mattered. Everything was big and beautiful; I longed to discover new things and how it tied together.

When I was little...



I begged my parents to let me stay up longer, to let me stay outside longer, and I'm sure I tested their patience one or twice with the whole sleepover topic. The more the better was always my outlook with my friends.

When I was little...




My favorite smell was the rain puddles I jumped in and then would lay my whole body in like it was a pool. In those moments nothing felt more perfect. Cold, smelly, street water gave me sheer happiness.




When I was little...


McDonald's was my favorite land. My brother, Jeremy, and I would never want to leave. It's an escape for a child. Chicken nuggets, soda, french fies, a toy, and a playplace? What could possibly be better than that?



I'm not so little anymore, but I love so much to see littles exploring with big, bright eyes and a fascinated mind. I love children because they see the positive in anything and everything. Children are optimists without even trying. I have to make a choice everyday to get up and be happy, and sometimes I fail.

Take away something from an adult and they have a hard time forgiving, but children can go in time-out for 15 minutes, take a nap, have their toys taken away and still wake up the next day cheery and forgetful of what happened the day before. Their minds are like a dry erase board sometimes.

I have so many great memories of when I was little because I was raised in a family that devoted their time, attention, and love to me. So many families don't have that, and it saddens me. Children are gifts from God. They are meant to be loved, adored and cherished. The way you treat them when they are little will mirror who they are when they are older (though there are exceptions).



These pictures are of Brandy. She's 3, and is one of the kids I watch regularly. She laughed all day, and the only time she got upset was when her juice box fell and red ants attacked it. . .

I miss being little, don't you?

P.S. I think I know what Brandy is going to be when she's older. It starts with P and ends with a R. Just look at a picture she took on her first time handing her my camera:



I was amazed.
Never underestimate a child. :-)

Time flies.

Hey all,
it's been awhile (or so it seems) since I last posted. It's been awhile for me, anyway.

Yesterday was my official first day as a part-time nanny. I loved it and had a blast getting to know the family. I feel I've been placed in this family for various reasons, and it feels great to know that this is where I belong. After months and months of searching for families, I finally found one that I can be a part of and they respect me and accept me... which is very hard to find! Anyway, I've been wondering how I'm going to manage three jobs at once. It may get very rough (and I'm sure you'll be hearing some of that) but I know I can do it and am fully capable.

So, anyway, the last days in North Carolina were packed with adventure and fun. We went tubing, horseback riding, and hiking. David and I enjoyed the hiking the best. It was a trail that led to a glorious waterfall, and I just happened to take pictures right when the sun was hitting the top of the rock.

The hike was tough. I felt how out of shape I am. And what's funny is that just 10 months ago I could have hiked that thing, no problem. I lived in Colorado, after all.
But living in a flat and humid state has made me realize two things:
1. I have a hard time exercising as it is, so add heat to that and I definitely won't do it. In fact, my greatest memory of exercising was when we climbed a 14,000 ft mountain in Colorado July 2009 as we were in the middle of a blizzard. I love, love, love cold weather.
2. There are no hills. No mountains. No shift in terrain. And the city is very low altitude - meaning when I DO exercise I have a harder time feeling it.

Being in North Carolina for a week made me realize how I need to start exercising more. All those hills & stairs wore me out! So, today I started back on Pilates. I use to do Pilates all the time, but haven't in awhile. It feels good to stretch and engage muscles I haven't really engaged in awhile.

The last day in North Carolina rained. It was a melancholy day. It's always rough to say goodbye, and I have the hardest time. But goodbyes can be seen as hopeful for the chance to reunite soon, and we will see them very soon. By then Salvatore will be walking and saying more words, and Rachael will be a few months away from being 4 years old. Time flies by so quickly.




The cutest kids you'll ever meet:
(Yes, I did Sal's hair that day... hehe)
































(I love the way he smirks when I aim the camera at him. Water is dripping from his nose, I love this picture. It shows his childlike spirit.)



Poncho was his name. I fell in love:




The rain on our last day:



Thank you for following my blog. Your comments have been really encouraging to me and have built me up. Thank you also for the constructive criticism. It means the world to me!

P.S. If you're wondering about the song, yes it's true: David converted me to Dawson's Creek now! It was way before my generation so I never watched it growing up, but we now have a few seasons on DVD so it's our new show. Love the song. Old school. :-)

Beautiful Family.

Right now I am watching my 3 year old niece Rachael dance around our large rental lake house to reggae music. My brother in law Peter and my sister in law Joscelynn love their reggae. They have a heart for Jamaica.

And as I glance out the window, all I can see is dark green foilage covering the Smoky Mountains and the sun peeping out of the sky, reflecting on top of the lake. Every time a boat speeds by, it creates little ripples that hit our bottom deck.

My father in law is boss at creating great family vacations. Jos and Pete loaded up their kids from New York and met us Floridians here is the gorgeous state of North Carolina. The beauty is overwhelming; we've been here 2 full days now and all I want to do is lay on our bed and soak in the views and praise God for creating something so spectacular.



It reminds me of home, but it's different. The Mountains are more round, more green, more lush. Plus, I don't feel the cool mountain breezes here that I love because of the humidity but life is still oh, so good. It's always good, but this week especially. I don't want to go back to Florida... is that a bad thing to say?

And don't even get me started at the place we are staying. Three stories of interior-decorated rooms and beautiful paint jobs. It is a dream house.
Yesterday we enjoyed a full day at the lake. And remember in my last post when I said I was so ready to take a jump into a lake? Well, I wasn't being literal but it happened...literally. Our second story has a deck you can jump off of and we did exactly that. My brother in law Tyson said it's about 16 feet but it feels so much higher when you are falling and you are mid-air looking down and thinking, "Why the heck did I just jump? Now I'm going to hit this water and it is going to H-U-R-T."
The first time was fine.
The second time it hurt. Bad. I ended up swallowing a bunch of water, and water went into my left ear. I wasn't able to hear until a few hours ago. Ha ha ha... oh, the joys of taking risks. :-)





Today we went to this AMAZING 8,000-acre estate called the Biltmore. Mr. Vanderbilt created the Biltmore as an escape from everyday life and it is exactly that. Even the servants of the house were waited on... shows you how well they treated the people who worked for them.






I've really enjoyed talks with Joscelynn about my future with kids. For those of you that don't know, David and I are planning on waiting about 4 more years until we have children. But just months ago I had a "baby splurge" where I really wanted a baby and I didn't know why but my heart was aching to get pregnant. I really gave it to God and said, "If I'm not meant to have children right now, please keep my desire but lessen the passion right now so I can focus on what's better for my marriage, my life, and my relationship with you (God)." See, one thing I know about God is if you ask for Him to take something out of your life if it's not meant to be, He will. He delights in you trusting and giving control to Him.
Since then, I have really felt at peace for not having kids right now.

I've always wanted to be a young mother but I still have YEARS before I'm not young anymore... I want to soak up every moment with David before we have a precious life enter the world. I'm giving it to God. One day we will have our own blessings, but for now we enjoy our niece and nephew! :-) They have been such a joy for me these past few days. I actually think I will be very sad when we have to part ways and they go back to New York. But it gives me something to look forward to when we reunite on New Years.









And for our Southern family photo:

Loving life here in North Carolina. -Shaylee