HE IS RISEN

"Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen." Luke 24:5-6 

There is absolutely no greater love. 

Thank you Lord, for the promise of eternal life because you paid the ultimate price for our sins. We are not worthy but you love us anyway. 

I pray you all have a wonderful Easter.

Listen to this song - it brought me to tears and chills the other day out of no where. I've only heard it a million times but for some reason yesterday when I was listening to it I just cried. "You can have all this world, but give me Jesus." 

I've been studying deep in my bible lately and it makes me just think how awesome it would've been to walk this earth with Him. Just to be one of his followers, to be Mary Magdalene, just to be one of His friends as he walked this earth. How awesome would that have been? 

Jordan

Maybe I should've started with him... 

But last but not least, I'm going to introduce you to Jordan.

My rock. 

The one who can always make me laugh, even if it's when I don't want to laugh or feel like I have a laugh in me. 

The one who has stood beside me through A LOT! 

You ever heard the saying couples that are meant to be are the ones who go through everything that is meant to tear them apart and come out even stronger than before. Well, that would be us! You wouldn't believe the things we have been through in 8 and a half years together (minus one). 

My brother introduced us 8 summers ago. He kept telling me I had to meet this guy he was always going to listen to sing at bars around Cookeville - where we went to high school and college. I was living in Oxford, MS at the time. I came to spend the weekend with my brother one weekend just to meet Jordan. 

We had text each other and talked on the phone some but hadn't met yet. 

I love this story - and to hear him tell it is one of my favorites, but you'll have to take my story for today. He was kinda seeing someone else when I had sent him a friend request (after my brother talked him up) on MySpace (yes, we are back in the MySpace days - I had a Facebook but it was still only for college students). He looked at my picture (I wish I had the picture still - we're talking years ago) and he told that girl at her house on her computer that if he was going to be serious and marry someone it would be me. He didn't even know me yet. 

Well, we met and the rest is kinda history. But not really... 

We had lots of ups and downs. We were happy, but we struggled. We were young. I was 22-23 and he was 21-22. We got married young... had Makenzi young. And it was just a rough start for a young couple. 

We lived with my parents right after our wedding, which is not the best thing for a married couple, but we thought we would do better doing that because we rushed into everything!!! 

We were pregnant with Makenzi & I was scared, hormonal, and crazy (ha). 

We ended up splitting up. 

But our love story doesn't stop - you know... we even went through with the silly divorce. And I'm pretty sure the day the silly thing was finalized, we were back together. I don't even really tell a lot of people this story... because I just say (and we celebrate our anniversary on October 6) we have been together since October 6, 2007. 

We got back together when Makenzi wasn't even 2 years old. She doesn't even remember anything else. She will eventually find out but right now all she knows is Mama and Daddy have always been together. 

Jordan started playing music about 6 years ago. He moved on to Nashville then and I stayed back in Georgia. We had to see really if the music business could really make money for us. 

Luckily, it worked out. But in the meantime I got pregnant with Addison. I kept working in Georgia to keep my insurance and right before I was about to start back work there, I decided to quit and move to Nashville. We were done with the commuter family. 

I quit my job and have been staying home with the girls ever since. I am working on my Masters now to get my certification to teach, so when Addison is ready to start school I will have my teaching certification and can go to work. 

But staying home with my girls has been such a blessing. I love every minute of being there for all their needs - every one of them - Jordan and the girls. 

I wanted another baby... even when I was pregnant with Addison, I kept telling Jordan I wanted one more. He will tell you he never even wanted kids - but he's glad he has them. He would've been done after Makenzi & then after Addison he was for sure ready to call it quits. I was not. 

Finally last year around April, we decided we would try for our last one. We got pregnant in August with Emery. Most know that story - but let me tell you, Jordan held me strong through it. 

It was a rough pregnancy and he never left my side. I was in and out of the hospital and the ER. I was for sure I was going to lose her before I could even make it to a delivery point. At one point in all of this, I even thought I was going to die trying to carry her and keep her inside me. 

She eventually came out at 24 weeks. He stayed right beside us. He took me to the hospital on scary days, he stayed with me, and let me stay with her as long as I wanted. He would pray over her with me. 

He held me the night they told us she probably wasn't going to make it and just let me cry myself to sleep. He let me hold her for as long as I wanted and let me hold her while she died and he just held my hand.

He held me as we planned her funeral, and held me up at her funeral. 

You see - we've been through a lot. But we are stronger than we've probably ever been - even if we drive each other a little crazy every now and then. 

We have a wonderful family - the five of us - four of us here on this Earth and we have the best guardian angel of all, our precious Daughter in Heaven. 

He keeps me strong and makes me want to keep being the best for him and the girls. He will tell you I make him want to be a better person, but I strive to be the best for him and the girls. Sometimes I don't think I stand up to that test. 

He loves me like no other. He loves our girls like no other. He can play music all day long and rush home to dye Easter eggs with the girls or do something with us like go out to eat and pick out decorations for our baby girl's grave sight. 

There is never a moment in anything that I doubt his love for me or the girls. 

We are complete opposites in a lot of ways. I think that's what makes us work so well. Others would say it would tear them apart as different as the two of us are, but it works well for us. I am the calm to his storm. :-)

I love our weeks or weekends when it's just the two of us. We had Makenzi so early in our relationship, we never really had time to just be us. We love our time together. We are never apart. And luckily he has a job where I can just tag along when he can't take off. 

We are inseparable. 

I thank God daily for him and all he does for our family. 

Jordan, I don't tell you nearly enough but you are the love of my life. I don't know what I would do without you. You have been there for me through my darkest days and probably seen me at my downright worst when we lost Emery. You have never forsaken me and stood beside me always even in the hardest times. You fought for us even when I didn't think there was anything really to fight for. You showed me you loved me, when I didn't know how you could. But you never really gave up - I am forever thankful to God for that. He just had to push me back to you. I love you with all my heart! ~Skye 

My Sweet Makenzi Grace

Let me introduce you to my sweet, precious Makenzi Grace.

The sweet girl who made me a Mama. 

She is the sweetest soul. 

She loves hard. 

She has a huge heart. 

She is slightly overly dramatic.

She takes things very serious even when we are joking. But she can joke and put on a show, too. You have to just take her moods as they come.

She's her Mama's girl. She made me a Mama and I maybe spoiled her a little much. We have a certain way of doing things and it works for us. She's my sidekick.

She is the messiest little girl I know. She hates to clean. If you ask her to clean up her mess, expect a huge meltdown. We cleaned her room today and it was crazy. (See our faces to know the mess that we I tackled)

She loves her sisters fiercely. She prayed for both of them. When I was pregnant with Addison, she wouldn't dream of saying I had a boy in my belly - of course, I didn't - but from the time we found out we were pregnant with Addison all she spoke of was a sister. Before we even began thinking of having Emery, she was praying for God to please put a baby in Mama's tummy. When we found out we were pregnant with Emery, we told her immediately. She squealed and asked if we were serious.

When we lost Emery, she cried as hard as I did. She loved her so much. She was only able to hold her and meet her the day she died. She had seen pictures and videos and even was able to FaceTime with her once, but never able to love her. Makenzi loved Emery with every fiber of her being. (just like she does Addison)

She is the best big sister. Addison is her very best friend. They play together nonstop. (They, also, have some pretty crazy cat fights - but that's sisters).

She has an alter ego we learned about last weekend - Cledus. Watch the video. It is hilarious. She changes her voice and goes crazy. We laugh until we cry.

She has a daredevil side. When she rode Go-Carts with her Daddy, she went nuts. She loves waterslides, and will try put much anything water related (except the Storm Chaser in Gatlinburg).

She loves all things girl, but you can find her getting down and dirty, too. To the point it makes her girly girl Mama go crazy, but she's having fun so I have to just let it go. :-)

Getting her very first pedicure - in a butterfly chair no less 

She loves to write and draw. She is constantly writing notes, or drawing pictures. I find pictures and notes all over the house. She drew many pictures of Emery, butterflies for Emery (that's where we got the butterfly symbol for Emery mainly), she draws family pictures and always adds an angel to them. She will write love notes for everyone. I have a lot of them saved because they are so sweet. She recently wrote a book about Emery. I'm going to save it forever. I have it put away with Emery's things.

She's one amazing little girl. She wears her heart on her sleeve. She gets her feelings hurt easily but that's because she's got her heart on her sleeve.

She loves to cuddle but sleeps better when she can stretch out in her bed.

Makenzi Grace, You are one amazing little girl. I am so glad God blessed me with you. You always ask what my best surprise I ever got was - and it's definitely YOU baby girl. You made me a Mama & it was all I ever wanted to be. You made all my dreams come true. You make your Daddy and me so happy. Your sweet spirit and laughter can light up a room. You are the best big sister there is and I couldn't imagine your sisters have anyone else to be there big sister. I love you to the moon and back, sweet girl! I pray you never change and you are always the sweetest girl and love deeply.
Love, Mama
 
  

Just Because... It Must Be Noted

I know I've posted twice in a night but I want to note every time I see Emery Hope - and pink sunsets I always see her. Tonight was a gorgeous one. 

Today was a downpour of a day... I'm talking it rained and stormed all day long. 

I left to go get Easter goodies (if you are on the search for Shopkins like I was, you're out of luck they're sold out everywhere) and a spray tan (priorities here)... and the sun started shining. It made me smile just seeing the sun after the rainy day. 

By the time I made it home, we looked outside and there was the most beautiful PINK sunset. The sky was a baby pink, blue, and orange... and then it got hot pink. I'm talking gorgeous. I took pictures but it doesn't do it justice. 

Makenzi and Addison both smiled. Makenzi said "Goodness Gracious, that's gorgeous!" and Addison hugged me so big and said "thank you for showing us that sunset, Mama! There's Baby Emery!" 

My baby girl shows up when I least expect it. When I need her, but not expecting to see her. God knows. Every single time, God knows! It amazes me. His love is everlasting. He holds me when I'm weak and He walks with me when I'm strong. Thank you, Lord for showing me my sweet girl today - in that beautiful pink sunset!