Brody's 1st Soccer Game

 We get a kick out of soccer!

This morning was Brody's first soccer game, and he had so much fun.  It was such a confidence booster for him.  "I can play soccer," he said.  He has an awesome coach who made out a schedule for all the players to be constantly rotating in the game and learning to play different positions.  The parents were all great encouraging and cheering on the team.  We are proud of our Stars Team!  It was a good experience, and I'm already looking forward to next Saturday.  I found myself over and over thanking God this morning for how far He has brought Brody.  Praise Jesus Brody is able to play and be a part of a team!  I know there are some "Brody fans" who would have loved to see him play so here is a short video and a few pictures. 

Warming up

Families praying before the game

Game about to start and he was a little nervous.

Brody's awesome coach

Go Brody!

Being the goalie 

"Come here ball!"

First Tastes of Fall

Delicious autumn!  My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.  ~George Eliot

Fall started in the stores weeks ago with candy corn, candy apples, and candies of all sort filling the shelves (Bottle Caps are my favorite this time of year).  But the past week I've noticed several of the trees are beginning to change color.   The Red Maple trees are so beautiful in our town.  North Carolina is a great place to be during Autumn.  After seeing some of the leaves fall, I was ready to taste fall.

Brody has been wanting to taste some of the fall goodness he has been seeing in the stores.  So today I got him his first candy apple.   I know he is six years old and has never eaten one before.  I would just rather give him an apple instead of candy, but today was a special occasion.  And of course, he asked so sweetly for one!

I enjoyed watching Brody process how he was going to eat it.

He got a little mad at it because it was too hard.

I sliced it up for him, and he loved it!

"It's good!"

On Sunday, he ate pumpkin muffins...another Fall favorite.

I cannot wait to make my Gingerbread Pumpkin Trifle.  Here's the recipe if you want to try it.

Gingerbread Pumpkin Trifle

1 box gingerbread cake mix or spice cake mix

2 cups cold milk

1 pkg. (3.4 oz.) instant vanilla pudding mix

1 can(15 oz.) solid-pack pumpkin

½ cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Cool Whip

Follow cake instructions and bake as directed.  Set cake to the side.  In a large bowl, whisk milk and pudding mix for 2 minutes.  Let stand for 2 minutes or until soft-set.  Combine pumpkin, brown sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon; stir into pudding.  

Set aside ¼ cup gingerbread cubes.  In a 4 qt. trifle bowl or glass serving bowl, layer a third or the remaining gingerbread cubes; top with a third of the pumpkin mixture and cool whip.  Repeat layers twice.  Crumble reserved gingerbread; sprinkle over top.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving. 

Abundant Life

I'm so thankful for Brody and Maggie!  My kids are such blessings to me.

They have such cute faces!!!

Yep, I'm one proud mama!

Part of living an abundant life is being thankful for what God has given you.  I just want to shout it out to the world how glad I am to have Brody and Maggie.  I hear too many parents now days complaining about their children.  What's even worse is when they complain right in front of their children.  Children desperately want to hear good stuff about them!  So today, I told Brody how wonderful he is, and I gave Maggie an extra dog treat (food is her love language).  They hear how I love them all the time, but can you ever say "I love you" too much?  There are not even enough minutes in a day to express my love.  What is really awesome is how God loves Brody even more than me!  Jesus came so that Brody could have life and live it more abundantly!  You know what?  He also came to this world so that you could have life and have it more abundantly too! That's something to be glad about!