the one with the best of 2012

 

If you are anything like myself, this is the time of year you reflect back over the past year; a time to ponder on and be thankful for the highlights of the year, as well as a time to remember the low lights.

The valleys that we face through the year usually don't seem as deep and as wide when we are out of them; when we reflect.

How wonderful for the mountain top moments we are given to cherish each year.

  

Here are some of my highlights, my mountaintop moments...

my best of 2012...

 

the arrival of Cadence Lawan Cote

 

I was blessed with an incredibly smooth and relatively easy pregnancy with Cadence. Of course, I think that 'easy' part is the looking back that makes it seem not so bad...in the time, nothing about it is easy.

 

Cadence was born on July 3rd in the midst of a city without power trying to recover from a devastating storm called a "derecho". We were incredibly thankful the hospital received power when it did and that we had air conditioning in our room. It was quite the "adventure" and as crazy & chaotic as that time was, when I think about her birth, I forget about all the derecho drama and just remember that sweet, beautiful little newborn baby.

 

She has been a perfect addition to our family and we all love her to pieces (well, minus Norah...she still doesn't pay her much attention.)

 

 

 

 

 



 

seeing Josh come home from Afghanistan

 

If you have any family in the military, you can probably relate to the anxiousness one feels when your soldier has to deploy...especially to a dangerous area. This was my brother's third deployment but his first to Afghanistan. About halfway through his time there, things started to get pretty crazy and very dangerous. We were thankful to have such great access to him and communicate what was going on...but through that access we were all fully aware of the danger he was in 24/7. I remember a specific facebook message he sent out that I literally just sat there and cried...I was so fearful for him. Through each of his deployments his wife Jamie is always amazingly brave and strong...I don't know how military spouses do it!!!

 

 

We were all thrilled to hear that he was going to be coming home much sooner than we had all originally thought...and when he and his wife invited me out to see his return home, I didn't even think twice.

 

Standing down on the airstrip with about a hundred others awaiting their soldiers return was something I will never forget. The excitement in the air was electric. When the airplane appeared as a speck in the sky, the crowd erupted with cheers, squeals and tears. As that small speck of an airplane grew larger, the cheering got louder and the American flags and homemade welcome home signs flew stronger. Our soldiers were almost home.

 

Seeing my brother step off of that airplane...priceless.

I feel so thankful that I was there for that incredibly exciting moment, but my heart breaks for those families who don't ever get to see their soldier step off the airplane...the ones that are suffering in the valley of sadness.

Let's keep praying for our troops people!!! We need them home!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Boston, Boston, Boston

 

At the end of last year, Matt shared with me that he had a stirring in his heart that we needed to close out our time here in Virginia and move somewhere that needed to see and experience more of Christ's love...that place turned out to be Boston, well, the Boston area.

 

At first I didn't love the idea. Boston? That's North...the North is cold...I've done cold, grew up in northern Canada, remember?!

I like the South...the South is warm and sunny and comfortable...except that's the problem, we have gotten too comfortable here.

 

We took a trip up to Boston as a family in March and spent a few days in the area. It was then that we knew for sure that this is where we were supposed to go.

Its been a year of "getting ready" as we closed out our time here, but currently have no move date until Matt can line up a job there...proving to be a very difficult task...prayers appreciated!! We are so itching to get up there and start our next life chapter in Massachusetts.

 

 

 

 

one of my best friends got married

 

The story of my dear friend Erin and I is too long for this blog...quick synopsis: we began as improbable friends, went through some rough stuff and ended up being incredibly close, forever friends. We have shared many laughs, many tears and many priceless moments together.

 

I love Erin like a sister and was so honored when she asked me to be her Matron of Honor in her wedding in April...even though she knew I'd have quite the baby bump by then ;)

We spent hours addressing invitations, making her birdcage veil and the belt for her dress and decorating for the big day...and looking back, I'm so glad we had all that extra time together before she married and moved away.

 

 

 

 

 

the outerbanks

 

Our yearly trip to the OuterBanks in North Carolina with Matt's family is always a highlight of any year. It is a week of fun, relaxation, bonding and memory making. This trip is definitely the best of all our family traditions.

I love looking back at each year's pictures from the beach and thinking back to how the girls change so much from year to year. For instance, this year Ryah and Lorelai faced the ocean and its waves with bravery and adventurous spirits...which was a first.

Each year their love for the beach grows more and more.

 

 

 

 



family "adventures"

 

We like to call regular outings "adventures" because then everyone seems more excited about it. Matt does a great job of taking the older two girls out on dates, but my favorite times are when we're all together...it can get stressful at times, but I think it's worth it.

 

 

 

 

 

family firsts

 

In April, our girls got to meet their new cousin, Waverly! ...which then led to a first ever family photograph of the Vandegriff family with everyone present and not napping...

 

 

  

Norah started preschool!! Hard to believe she is old enough for it, but the preschool we have sent our kids too starts at 2.5 - they let her in ahead of the cut :)

 

 

Ryah had to switch schools for 1st Grade and even though I was concerned for the switch to a rougher school, she has excelled in every way. On awards day she was awarded the "Pride Citizen Award" (one student per class got the award) for exhibiting the "P.R.I.D.E" attitude (Participation, Respect, Integrity, Discipline and Effort).

We are so proud of her!  

 

Last year at Lorelai's preschool Christmas program, she just stood there, looking terrified and would not sing. This year however, she sang every word of the songs and did it wonderfully!! This may not seem like a big deal, but for our shy little Lorelai, this development was a huge deal and big change from last year. So proud of her growth!!

 

 

Cadence's first little friend...can we stretch it to "first boyfriend"?? Either way...

I went through Cadence's pregnancy with my sweet friend Shelby; she had Grady 3 weeks after I had Cadence. We enjoyed being pregnant together and spent many of our Saturday mornings together hitting up yard sales finding treasures. It was only natural that we'd have to have our babies be friends!! We've coined the term for the two of them together: Gradence.

Get it? Grady + Cadence?! ...

Anyway, when you combine to make Gradence, this is what you get:

 

 



 

~~~~~

Okay...I know that was long...thanks for hanging in there.

Even if you were bored out of your mind, I think this is more for me anyway than for anyone else.

 

So much more happened this year than I can encompass in a blog post.

The wonderful new friends I have made.

The friendships that continue to exist year after year & the trips/visits it takes to keep those friendships going.

The baby announcements.

The passion for certain injustices that has grown stronger in a year.  

The changes and developments my children make.

The love and patience my husband continues to show me.

The growth in acceptance and confidence in who I am.

 

All of it I am thankful for.

 

 

It was a great year...

now bring on 2013

*****

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The one where I gain perspective...

Oh hey! Its been a couple of months since I did anything useful on here, figured it was time.

For some reason people kept telling me that life with four kids wouldn't be that bad, and it was just like having three, just with a bit more chaos. Well...they lied. It's not easy. Perhaps down the line it will be, but with a 2 year old and an infant, its hard. As with any number of kids you have, from one (not "just" one, but ONE. one is work too!) to 6, I think we can all agree that parenting is hard work...often exhausting, with little appreciation, but high reward value in the good moments.

A lot of times I dwell on the hard times. I focus on what drives me crazy about my kids and tweet about that, rather than search for the good (sometimes I have to really, really search).

This past week, Matt was in Chicago for a conference and it was my first time with all four munchkins for longer than a work day. The first day was a bad day...like whoa. The next day wasn't much improved but our time together did get better overall, and then back down to the dark places, but then better again...you get it. When Matt's out of town, regardless of how many kids we have, it always gives me a better appreciation for him and the incredible dad he is. It also reminds me that I'm not super mom and I can't do everything by myself. I had some wonderful friends who offered to watch some or all of the kids, one friend who brought me a coffee, other friends who sent me encouraging texts and then some friends who I was able to just escape mom-life for a bit and just laugh. All of which helped...all of which helped me not sell my kids to the highest bidder (just joking people, relax).

This weekend I've been playing around with a camera we've been borrowing and I took some pictures of the girls, just being themselves. As I was going through them to see which ones I'd post online I had this moment of awe. I was in awe of who they each are and the amazing little blessings they are to me. I'm sure it helped that I was going through the pictures while they all slept soundly and quietly in their beds, but still... It was refreshing to look through the pictures and just appreciate them for who they are...not who I think they should be, but who they are because of how God designed them. Matt and I have some great girls...even if sometimes they drive us bonkers.

Ryah...our oldest. At 6.5, this child is too smart for her own good. One of my favorite things about Ryah is her love for art and creating things. Its quite normal to find notes and pictures all around the house that she's made for me, like this...these two I found this morning.

 

 

Lorelai...oh this girl...she appears to be the quiet one, but don't let her sweet shyness fool you. My favorite thing about Lorelai is her love & compassion; if she could fix the world's problems with a hug, she'd make it happen. 

 

 

Norah. If you know her, then just hearing her name will bring a smile to your face. She marches to the beat of her own drum. Norah makes it hard to take life too seriously, her antics and crazy behavior often just leaves us laughing & shaking our heads.

 

Cadence, sweet baby Cadence...we're still figuring her out obviously, but just love her to pieces. Probably loving her more now because she sleeps completely through the night. {Sleep is a valuable, and often rare, commodity over here.} She's kind of an attention hog and that's okay (for now.) Her sisters absolutely adore her and its makes their day when she smiles at them.



 

So there it is...my therapy session. My need for perspective after a long week.

I have another time without Matt coming up again, so I'll have to pull this back up for more perspective I'm sure.

 

 

Okay...just a few more...because this is my blog and I can.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

what's in a name?

{first off, how embarrassing that my last blog post was so long ago! i'm terrible at keeping up with this}

Matt and I are just a few short days away from welcoming our FOURTH girl into the world! With all the joys and stresses that come with parenthood, one of the fun tasks that comes with the job is picking out names. We have never had trouble picking out girl names, convenient how that worked out, but our names are just based on what our preferences are and aren't drenched in any fervent meaning...which we're okay with.

I know some people believe the name you give your child, along with its meaning, can set the tone for who they are or what they're like. I'm kind of on the fence about it b/c I believe God shapes who you are along with your circumstances, but am seeing more and more how kids with certain names just seem to fit them perfectly.

As we approached the ultrasound date to find out whether we needed a boy name or a girl name, I happen to come across a girl name that I couldn't get out of my head. With the new discovery, I wanted the baby to be a girl just so we could use this name...and Matt loved it too, so that helped. It was as if God was preparing us for the news of girl #4 with the peace this name brought. Sound strange?

Perhaps, but its a powerful symbol to me and you'll see why.

Many of you know that I had the incredible opportunity to travel to Bangkok in December to minister to girls enslaved in the sex industry. Through the partnership of Freedom 4/24, Brentwood Church and Beginnings, I had the most gut wrenching, eye opening, heart breaking, trust in God like never before, kind of ten days. Those ten days will forever impact me & stay with me, yet I still find it easy to push it out of my mind and forget about it. Forgetting then about the girls, the girls that have to entertain men each night so that their families have food and education back in their villages. I hate that its easy to forget. I don't want to forget. I don't want to forget that passion that flowed through me or the emotional and mental toll it took to just go through another night of outreach. I recently reread through some of the emails I had sent back to people while I was away and came across this line that accurately represents the reason behind our chosen name for baby #4. "God showed me that there is light here, even if its just in the eyes of these girls. It was beautiful." THEY are beautiful. Their beauty lies within who God created them to be. Underneath all their dirt, shame and regret, they are still beautifully and wonderfully made.

I want each of our daughters to know and understand the depths of Christ's love for them and who He created them to be. I want them to know and believe that true beauty comes from within...and be able to search for it in people around them. I want them to grow in knowledge, as they grow older, that the world isn't perfect and their version of normal is not everyone's normal - and I want that to bother them. I want them to ask me why I went to Thailand and left them behind for 10 days. I want them to ask what their littlest sister's name means and why we chose it. I want our little Cadence to understand her middle name and hopefully take on the fight as well when she's old enough...perhaps even have the chance to go stand up for the girls enslaved...the girls that inspired her name.

So with all that said...in just a few days, we'll be welcoming our little Cadence Lawan Cote into the world.

'Lawan' is a Thai name that means, beautiful.