Eden's second birthday bash

Well, It’s about time I get my little fingers typing again before I forget those special memories that I cherish so much. For instance Eden’s second birthday party was last month and I’m just now getting to it.

Her actual birthday was on a Tuesday, March 23 and it was pretty low key. She woke up bright faced and ready to celebrate. She ran into the living room excited to see some of her birthday gifts.

She was definitely surprised by the big pink and white polka dotted chair for her room.


Next she opened two gifts from one of Andrew’s trooper buddies. Him and his wife got her an awesome set of princess coloring pages complete with crayons and sidewalk chalk.

Next up was a large princess Lego set, which she spent about 30 minutes playing with while we fixed her birthday chocolate-chip pancakes.


I’m pretty sure the highlight of her day though was our singing. We do a lovely happy birthday.

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Later that afternoon we took her to Chick-Fila for lunch where she got to play on the playground and eat ice-cream.

That night was her pick as well, and we ended up eating Mexican food, complete with chips and salsa.

I would say she had a pretty eventful birthday, but it doesn’t stop there. The rest of the week we prepared for family and friends as we got ready for Eden’s big birthday party.

This was her first birthday party that included both family and her little friends. Let me just say we all had a blast.

We hosted her birthday party at a gymnastics center because we knew she loved to jump and climb. What a perfect way to go. This place had blow up games on top of having all the fun equipment a gymnastic place has.


We enjoyed pizza, slushies, and cake. It was just so fun to see everyone having a good time.

I would definitely do this kind of birthday party again. Thanks to all who helped us celebrate! Ya’ll are what made it so special.

Better Than a Hallelujah

Hi, I’m Whitney, and I’m a beautiful mess!

Whoo! Glad I got that off my chest.

Honestly though. You know what is so great about being a beautiful mess…God loving us no matter what our imperfections are.

I want to share a new favorite song with y’all. It’s sung by Amy Grant and it’s called “Better Than a Hallelujah.”

The lyrics in this song are so touching.

You want to know what specific words touched my heart? “God loves a lullaby, in a mother’s tears in the dead of night, better then a hallelujah sometimes.”

I think about these words and I’m shaking my head (YES!) and thinking wow this has happened to me, especially when Eden was little. I would hold her close during an early morning feeding. I would sing to her, but sometimes my words came at slowly because I would be crying tears of joy, knowing that my daughter is healthy. I’m not going to lie to you, sometimes those tears were tears of exhaustion, but my heart was glad that I was holding a sweet baby girl in my arms, because I know she is a precious blessing.
It’s just so touching to me to know that God hears those faint cries even if we don’t say what we are thinking directly.

You know…

No one is perfect. If you say you are, well, you probably have insecurity issues. Not to be ugly.

I for one know that I do not “have it all together" and I know for a fact that I’m a beautiful mess, but I seek pride in knowing that God sees my beautiful mess and is loving me every step of the way.

I may not be making much since right now, but what I can make since of is the fact that God constantly loves us through the good times and the bad. He hears our cries and sometimes those cries are better than a hallelujah, because those cries are our hearts opening up, showing God that we can’t make it on our own. We need God every step of the way and that’s a melody to God’s heart.

Easter Sunday

Today was a wonderful day! We started off the day running a little late... ok, a lot late for worship service. We really do our best! Once we made it to services we had to sit in the very front... of course these would be the only seats left. Once we sat down to join in on the singing Eden wanted to draw, so we let her. Then it was time for communion, which means snack time for Eden. She sat still as the first plate was passed, but then became quickly distracted by the men carrying the communion plates and wanted to wave and say hi to everyone that went by. I thought for sure she was going to make it through communion, but my bubble was quickly busted when during the last prayer she didn’t want to sit still or do anything for that matter that Andrew and I were telling her to do, so daddy quietly escaped with her in hand to the foyer. Few... My morning did not look like that at all in my head. I definitely saw us at least making it to services on time. Finding a good seat, where if Eden were to act up, we wouldn't be distracting anyone and we could quickly take her out. Are my expectations to high? Oh dear! Well, I'm getting a little laugh out of the situation as I'm typing this. I realize that this type of situation happens more often then not for other people... I hope we aren’t the only ones? So we just do our best and go with the flow.
We did however sit through services without any interruptions which was a blessing. Now that Eden is two, she can participate in discovery hour. YaY!

Our afternoon went a little smoother. We ate at Texas Roadhouse with some good friends. The Easter Bunny made an appearance, which Eden was ecstatic about! She really thought the Easter Bunny was going to eat with us… sweet thing.

After dinner we made our way back home so Eden could hunt some Easter Eggs. Daddy did a really good job of hiding them and Eden did very well at finding them. Those two make a good team.

We couldn't forget a quick family picture which was taken by our outside windowsill. Thank goodness for self-timers.
We really did have a wonderful day! We hope everyone else did too.

Thank you Lord for giving your life in order to forgive our sins.

Our Sins Are Forgiven!

I have been in a total blog slump and I have nobody to blame but myself. There has been quite a bit going on in the Venable household. I have several memories I need to write down before I forget the details. So, I thought I would crawl out of my blog slump by talking about the meaning of Easter.

A lot of times we can get all caught up in the Easter candy, picking out the right things for our kids' Easter baskets, dying eggs, purchasing our Easter attire, Eating! All of these things are fine, but none of these things are what the real meaning of Easter is about.

This verse from John 11:25-26 says:
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die." Do you believe this?

I truly believe this. You see, the meaning of Easter is to celebrate Jesus resurrection (New Life!) Christ’s resurrection also guarantees the believer’s forgiveness and justification. Romans 4:22-25 says: This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness-for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.

It saddens me to know that he was persecuted, suffered and died just so we could have everlasting life. At the same time I have such a peace knowing that Christ died for our sins, so that we may have the opportunity to be born again in him. His resurrection is such a wonderful message to others. His message shouts second chance! So let us set our eyes on things above and remember what the true meaning of Easter really is.

These Times They Are Changing

Our Princess is Turning Two

Our princess is turning two in less then 5 days. I’m looking at her and I see this beautiful little girl with personality, thoughtfulness, silliness, lovingness all rolled into one and I keep saying to myself, “God made this little girl especially for me.” I am so humbled to know that I have a healthy little girl who I love more then anything. I just can’t believe she’s turning another year older.

Eden has definitely grown into mommy and daddy’s little helper. She is minding more. (I’m crossing my fingers hoping she continues to keep listening) She is becoming more of a cuddlier, which I don’t mind, at all! She still keeps us on our toes and is on the go constantly. (Her nickname at church is the energizer bunny.) Very fitting! She loves to read and we love reading to her. Eden’s vocabulary is definitely increasing and we are starting to carry on conversations with her more plainly. One of her most favorite things to do is dance and she’s not afraid to do it in public. She also loves to sing and constantly repeats twinkle twinkle little start and baa baa black sheep. She is obsessed with farm animals and she feels like she can never have enough to play with. She loves jewelry and is always asking to wear her heart locket. Her most favorite snack is a pa-sicle (aka popsicle)

We are in the process of moving her into a toddler bed and trying to be an encouragement to her as she gains more confidence to pee pee in the potty.

Our princess is growing way too fast for our eyes, so I keep reminding myself to cherish each moment, even the tough ones.

Internship This Summer

I am finally doing my internship this summer. I will be interning at the Child Safety Center in our area and I can’t wait. My internship if y'all don’t already know, is to help me complete my degree in Social Work. Lets just say it’s been a long time coming but I’m really glad it’s almost here. Once my internship is up this July, I will graduate from Harding. Can I get an amen!

Surprise!


You got it! I’m pregnant (officially 8 weeks) and we will be welcoming our sweet little blessing sometime October 26, or whenever he or she decides to get here. We are so excited and giddy. It’s been so hard to keep those feelings back, but now they are in the open and we are jumping for joy! We know for a fact that Eden is going to be a wonderful big sister and a great helper to Andrew and I.

We can’t wait to share with you our newest journey as we prepare to make our family four.

Not to busy to pray

Things are getting a little busy this month. The big news is our sweet little princess is turning two! Can ya’ll believe it? Me neither!

I have truly enjoyed watching her grow from her speech to her personality and everything in between. She reminds me everyday how precious life really is and I feel very blessed to have her in my life.

In other news, I have some trunk shows coming up, which I am very excited about! A little nervous, I would be lying if I said I wasn’t. You know those butterflies you get when you do something for the first time. But, I’ve been praying about it and I know everything will go great! I am very passionate about this and know that once I start something I’m going to finish strong. I also want to say that I adore my husband for supporting me, as well as my mom. They have been a great encouragement to me.

With the month of March slipping through my fingers April is fast approaching, which means that my internship for this summer starts soon. I’m really looking forward to putting my time into working with the Child Advocacy Center. My days are going to be long and I’m going to miss my time with Eden during the day, but at least I will have successfully completed my long awaited degree.

We are also in contemplation about selling our house and moving into what I guess you would call the city. We keep going back and forth. This is a big decision and we will be in great thought and prayer about it as I know God has a plan for us.

Tonight I’m childless…what to do…what to do? Oh, I know rest, because we will see our little ball of energy in Springdale tomorrow and then I will have wished I had got some shuteye.

I hope everyone enjoys their weekend, just like I’m fixing to enjoy some Hershey Chocolate Eggs. YUMMY!

A breath of fresh air

What a beautiful day it was yesterday! God sure knows how to turn a cloudy sky to pure sunshine!

It was such a beautiful day in fact; we went to the park to play. Andrew was off yesterday morning and Papa Lowe was coming through town and stopped by to play and eat lunch.

Our time outside was a good breath of fresh air. I just love watching Eden’s carefree spirit run around climbing and sliding down the slides. She has so much energy. I wish I had half as much as she did.

You know I think this is a great time to add that family is also a breath of fresh air too.

Andrew and Eden are my rock, my best friends. I feel so blessed to have them in my life. When I’m having a not so good day, I know I have at least two people who can cheer me up in no time.

I mean I can’t think of a reason not to smile.

With that said. I hope everyone enjoys their family this weekend. I know I will