swamp rabbit trail | hike it baby.

It's always a good day to take a favorite path to a favorite place with a favorite group, and we had one of those good days just this week.

Greenville, you are so, so beautiful.

Especially when your blooms are bright, your sky is blue, and your trees are full and green.

x-family camping | our boys.

On Mother's Day 2014, I hugged my sweet friend, Stephanie, at church and chatted with her for a few seconds about life. The majority of our conversation centered around her pregnancy, as she and her husband were expecting their first baby boy in just a couple of months. As she was giving me lots of details, in true Stephanie fashion, she touched her bump, made a face, and exclaimed, "He's such a wiggle worm today!" I remember my eyes lighting up as if to say, "May I?" to which she immediately nodded and smiled.

That was the first time I really met Maddox. The first moment I ever experienced the fullness of his life, even as a growing baby in his mama's womb.

I will never forget that moment, because it was just three short days later that I found out I had a little life growing inside of me, too. I didn't know it at the time, but Maddox and Braxton had just met without anyone else in the whole world knowing.

They may be wild, crazy toddlers now, two years later, but they will always be babies to us. Yes, even when, Lord willing, they have gray hair and babies of their own. We will tell them stories about weekends like this and show them pictures of all the fun we all had, and encourage them to be intentional about making fun memories for themselves.

And, most of all, we will teach them that being a good, kind, compassionate friend, is one of the most important roles they will ever fulfill.

I think they're off to a pretty good start, don't you?

x-family camping | you had me at canoe.

On Saturday of our camping extravaganza, we spent the afternoon playing on the playground, exploring Oconee State Park, eating ice cream and all the other junk food we brought to binge on (nope, I'm not even a little ashamed), feeding geese, and going canoeing on the small lake that was within walking distance from our campsite. Our big, strong men rowed against the wind to make sure we saw the whole lake while us mamas wrangled our little, strong-willed boys, trying to keep them from going head-first in the water.

Maddox was happy as could be the whole time, but it took Braxton a little while to warm up to the idea of floating on water with daddy in sight but too far away to get to. He bumped his head several times while frantically trying to escape my grasp and get to Teesh, and I'm pretty sure that everyone around heard him screaming. Yep, he was all about his daddy that afternoon. Mama was chopped liver!

He calmed down as soon as he got where he wanted to go, and TJ became responsible for rowing and wrangling while I went back and forth between taking pictures and pouting (yes, this is a public confession). The good news is that I was able to snag some precious photos of my two handsome fellas.

Maddox and Braxton were so sweet with each other, giving high fives from their own canoes and feeding off of each other's excitement while we enjoyed the sunshine. Stephanie and I would look at each other as they splashed and played and learned to share (whew), and we both know what the other was thinking: So. Much. Thankfulness. And not just thankfulness for our little loves, but for our first loves, too.

The sun above us wasn't the only thing giving off light this day. I wouldn't even trade the screams, cries, and temper tantrums, because then I would be trading away what life often looks like.

I want to remember the good, the bad, and the ugly, because all of it is part of our story.

And, all in all, this was one of the best days in this new chapter of parenthood.

x-family camping | waking up slowly.

It's amazing how much changes in such a short time when you have a little one, and this past weekend was a testament to just how fast time flies. We went on our second camping trip with our more-precious-than-gold Haltiwangers, and instead of having one baby beginning to walk and another baby content with sitting wherever you put him, we had two full-out runners. Whew! It made for lots of extra chasing and cardio, but the memories we made were worth every headache we got.

We ventured to Oconee State Park for this trip in the woods, and it didn't disappoint. It was slightly chillier than expected at night and first thing in the morning, but our trusty fire expert, Russell, made sure that the fire blazed for as long as we needed it to. We woke up slowly, ate like royalty (with the extra pounds to prove it), lounged in our hammocks, hummed along to toddler cries while encouraging each other to remain patient, stayed up late both nights after the boys went to bed and had great, honest conversation, and were already ready to plan our next trip before we even left.

Setting up and cleaning up all of our gear was a tad bit more difficult this time than the last, because we had to take frequent breaks to rein in the x-men, but we all kind of effortlessly fell into our respective roles. It takes a village, and our village is full of much to be grateful for.

I'm tellin' ya, those are the best friendships. The ones that require little maintenance and provide abundant blessings. The ones that just come natural.

That's what we have in our Haltis.

Camping with toddlers is not for the faint of heart, but we all agreed that having fun is all about perspective. Our toddlers won't be toddlers forever, and we want to be as intentional as we can be in embracing the chaos and having lot of fun!

September 2015

two mamas.

This year for Mother's Day, we treated our two mamas to a girls' night of painting!

We had the best time (even in the midst of stressing out over our canvases) and we all were impressed with how well they turned out. The best part, of course, was simply hanging out for a few hours with no interruptions or distractions. It was so refreshing for all of us, so much so that we immediately decided to schedule more girls-only nights in the future.

It might seem crazy to be smiling alongside of our two mamas, and I would be foolish if I didn't acknowledge the mercy of God over all four of these women pictured here.

Moms and step-moms often don't get along, much less smile for a snap of the camera next to each other, and these two mamas can certainly relate to those dark days in the beginning.

But because of sovereign mercy at work in their lives, they have learned to love what must be done, even when it goes against how they feel and what society says makes sense. Because of the love they have for their children, they chose to forgive and keep moving forward.

That's mercy, y'all.

And it's so, so beautiful.

Even when darkness was all we saw, all we knew, God had already written this particular day. And as I painted that evening, wedged in between my mom and my step-mom, He whispered, "See, I told you I work all things together for good."

miles and miles.

Not even the clouds can mask how beautiful the view at Ceasar's Head State Park is.

Those rolling hills, highlighted in white, were almost as dreamy as the little one who smooshed his face right up to the fence in order to get a the best view possible.

Whether it be landscapes that go on forever or faces behind the portraits that make your heart beat right out of your chest, the uniqueness of them both is a gift straight from the paint brush in God's hand.