lots of learning to do

We had an eventful last week and a half. Other than Caleb getting his little tooth knocked out, we sold my Explorer, bought a new car, and closed on another little investment house. But I feel like the biggest changes have been going on inside me. I'm learning a lot lately, or at least it feels like I am. The learning process of life seems to be very discouraging to me in most cases... probably because I am too prideful to ever want to admit that I have learning to do! I have felt like a failure in a lot of ways lately. I had been praying for God to show me my sin, and isn't it funny how quickly He does if we ever ask Him to! I have been really overwhelmed with all the things I'm doing wrong..... and these are just the things I happen to KNOW I'm doing wrong.....imagine how many other things I am either oblivious to or in denial about. For one, I have allowed myself to become so busy that I've really neglected my children in a lot of ways. At the end of the day, I often feel like I just "got through" the day... constantly running to the next thing on my agenda (whether it was important or necessary or not), and dragging Maggie and Caleb along with me, without taking time to really spend good time with them. I am becoming increasingly aware of how quickly the time is passing and how little time I have before they're all grown up. Last night was Maggie's first night in a "big" bed. I went in her room before she went to sleep and laid down with her and we prayed and sang together. I realized while we were lying there how rarely I have been doing those things with her! She was loving every second of it, too. So I am resolving to spend less time stressing over things that are fleeting, and more time enjoying my sweet children! The wonderful part about mistakes and sin and all of this is that God's grace truly does cover us when we admit that we can't do it ourselves! How awesome to have such hope. I know I would have despaired by now if it weren't for the truth of the Gospel... but as it is, I can have complete confidence and hope in Something other than myself, Who has never failed me and never will!

tooth fairy.

On Sunday night, we had a sad occurence at the Ledford house. Caleb was playing in the guest room as Casey got dressed for church, and somehow managed to pull a small dresser drawer all the way out and onto himself as he fell backwards. Casey turned around and picked him up and he was screaming, with a dark purplish-looking blood coming out of his mouth. We tried for a minute to figure out where he was bleeding from. After he calmed down, I was able to look in his mouth and see that he was missing one of his two teeth! Casey looked on the ground where he had fallen and immediately found his sweet little baby tooth... about three times its length becuase the entire root had fallen out with it. We called a pediatrician friend and she directed us to some pediatric dentists, who each said that there was nothing to be done but wait until he gets his permanent tooth there! I feel sad for the little guy, but he is as adorable as ever and will have a special little trademark. Several people have joked that no one will notice, considering we live in Marietta, SC! :) Ironically, one of his first upper teeth appeared today. As bad as I feel about what happened, the part I felt worst about today is that I somehow managed to lose that precious little baby tooth. I wanted to save it in his baby book.... losing it made me feel like even more of an irresponsible mother than ever!

the very end of january

caleb and cousin cori lee got some quality hangout time together today while maggie stayed at casey's mom's house. neely (cori lee's mom) and i went biking, and neely pulled the babies behind her bike. they had a great time, except that caleb kept falling asleep and leaning all over cori lee, who wasn't quite sure what to do with him :)





maggie and caleb hanging out with our dear friend cheryl. we love caleb's expression in this one.

maggie trying on a new-to-us hand me down jacket from cousin gracen! caleb was, of course, taking this opportunity to get into the dishwasher.

sleepy daddy and caleb snuggling together on the couch before bed

We had a fun last week of January, except that we went through some sort of virus (it was mild, though). For Casey's birthday, we bought a new dining set that we were (finally!) allowed to pick up this weekend. We celebrated our first meal using our new table with a fancy steak dinner, which I forgot to take pictures of, but here are some pictures of our week overall.


caleb REALLY wanted to help daddy put the table and chairs together. he loves tools, especially ones that make loud noises.


maggie was a big helper, too.




our new table! this is how it looks in its smaller, everyday form. it has a leaf that stays underneath it, that automatically comes up when we change its setting. the table is a 54" by 54" square when the leaf is out, and seats up to 8 people, although we only bought 6 chairs for now.