The Math of Gratitude

I have never been a math genius, but here is what I take away from being tired:

Job Tiredness=I have a job and it is a wonderful blessing
Loads of Laundry=We have clothes to wear, lots of them
Messy House=We have a place to live and keep us comfortable
Children up at Night=Children I never thought I'd get to have (and aren't they pretty?)
Irritation with Kevin (only sometimes)=A husband I couldn't do without (He's pretty,too!)
Missing Family Far Away=A family I couldn't do without
Christian Music=Only a teeny part of what Heaven will be like! Wow!
Ephesians 1=I have every spiritual blessing in Christ....What an unmerited gift!
Life is so good! God is better!

Family Legacy

When I think about the people who make up my world and those who have had the most influence I think about my grandparents....we celebrated Dadada's 90th birthday this weekend and there were more than 100 people there to share in our joy. I write this from Houston and can hear my mom upstairs with my girls. I haven't had time to upload pictures yet but just couldn't not post how very honored I am to have come from the family God gave me. My grandparents taught me about God's love and Jesus' sacrifice and have given their lives to bless others in order that they may know Jesus. And I want to honor that legacy by living the same way. I'll upload pictures when I am able.....hope you have a blessed week!

I got this cute pool yesterday at Target thinking that the girls would LOVE it! Well, Laura loved it but Lindy wasn't so sure about the cold water, as you can see. She's a water girl but not cold water. Girl after my own heart. I'm grateful for the warmer weather and the changing of the calendar. May has seemed like a long month to me this year. Hope you are having a beautiful late spring/early summer! Oh, and Lindy is trying more and more to walk. I think by the end of this week she'll be walking more than she is crawling. Very cute. If I can catch it on video I'll post it! Happy Sunday!

Recovering....Slowly!

Here are some of Lindy's one year portraits as promised.....I love the one with the pouty face. Is that not so cute???? She's busy and getting into everything, but not quite walking yet. That will come soon enough, I know!

Just a quick update.....I'm a week post surgery and feeling MUCH better, as expected. But still laying around a lot! Everything went fine and is healing nicely, as far as I know. :) Thanks for the prayers and love. My mom is here until tomorrow afternoon so I'm going to continue to take advantage of being able to lay around and read books. We went to our Small Group Bible study yesterday, which was wonderful, but that was about all I could do for the day! Now we need prayers because Lindy is not wanting to sleep, like at all. Makes life really difficult at times! Laura wasn't a good sleeper either but I don't remember it being quite this hard with her......

Otherwise all is well in Nashville.

Today is the first day.......

Of the rest of my life! I suppose we could all say that anyway, since God makes all things new every morning, couldn't we? But since I am a bit of a drama queen, yes try not to be too shocked (that I'm admitting it!), I really am looking at today as a happy new start! I'm having surgery today.....a hysterectomy, to be specific. I'm very excited about it. It is something I've needed to have done for many years now, but really preferred to keep those particular parts in so I could have babies. As that part of life is done, there isn't any reason to keep them in anymore. So....OUT THEY COME!



As I type this it is 6:53am Central Time. Lord willing the surgery will start at 12:30pm. We're to be at the hospital at 10:30. My mom flew in to be a help and to celebrate Lindy's first birthday with us. (I'll post pictures of that when I get home and am moving around a little better.) This counts as major surgery and requires a one to two night stay in the hospital. I'm having it done with the brilliant doctor who cared for us during my difficult pregnancy with Lindy and then delivered her safely and soundly. And it will be at Centennial Hospital in Nashville. Actually, it is the Women's Hospital at Centennial. Man, I hope the food is good. I am SOOOO hungry, as I've not been able to eat since midnight. And with nerves haven't slept all night. Why is it that when I'm not allowed to eat I could just eat an elephant but when I need to eat I can't find anything I want? Yet I digress.



Anyway, I wanted to let you know what is going on with us today. Kevin is taking the day off and will bus the girls around town today as needed. Laura will spend two nights with Grandma and Grandpa and Lindy will spend two nights with our sweet friends from church, the Daltons. Mother will stay with me in the hospital so Kevin can get to work early in the morning. Then a few weeks of discomfort and recovery and Voila'! A whole new me! :) (I told you I'm a drama queen. You get what you get when you check my blog. At least I'm posting again~)



Please pray for me and our family as we go through this surgery and recovery time. The hardest thing for me is going to be the lifting restriction. Like nothing over ten pounds for six weeks. Yeah, Lindy's going to love that one. Kevin will have to shoulder some of my responsibilities, so pray for his endurance as he is always so busy with his work.



Hope you have a beautiful Monday and week. If you want to call my cell phone and know the number (obviously I'm not posting it on random cyberspace) please feel free to call. My mom or Kevin will have it if I'm not able to talk. Like that ever happens. Anyway, thanks for your prayers and stay tuned for birthday celebration pics later in the week!

Happy Valentine's Day

Yes, I realize I've been a bit out of touch lately, and I do realize that it is the end of April....

Kevin and I celebrated Valentine's Day last night by attending "The United Tour" concert with Michael W. Smith and Steven Curtis Chapman. My sweet husband, back in February, offered for me to have a spa day for Valentine's Day. It was Februrary 13 and as I looked at the offerings at different spas in the area I remembered that tickets went on sale that day for what I considered the concert of a lifetime. So I asked him if he would mind spending the same amount of money on tickets to a concert we could attend together. And, of course, he agreed. So we've had those tickets hanging on our fridge for two and a half months now. And let me just say that it was WELL worth the wait. PHENOMENAL doesn't begin to describe how wonderful the concert/worship experience was. Those of you who know me know that just about all I listen to is Christian music, and have since I was about 12, when I first saw Michael W. Smith performing with Amy Grant when they were fledgling Christian artists. I started listening to Steven Curtis Chapman in 1989 and he and Twila Paris are my two favorite singers ever. Anyway, all that to say that it was a dream come true to get to be there and hear these men, whose music helped shape my faith and keep my eyes heavenward when they would have looked elsewhere. The first Steven Curtis Chapman record I ever heard had the song, "I will be here" on it. I was a junior at Texas A&M then and I remember longing for a love so faithful. He sang that last night and I got to sit there and hold Kevin's hand through the song. How blessed I am among women! I chose to follow the request of the artists and not take digital pictures of the performance (unlike the man in front of me who just about recorded the entire concert!) to post on the blog, so all you get is a "prom" picture of Kevin and me before we left. Steven talked a lot about how his life and the life of his family has changed since their little girl, Maria Sue, went to be with Jesus last May due to a horrible accident. He talked about how he has questioned God and wondered how in the world he could ever sing his songs with sincerity and integrity again. But that he realized that God is faithful and mighty to save and that they will see Maria again on the other side. And that our Father absolutely is carrying them on this difficult journey. Hearing the songs I have loved for so long filtered through the lens of someone who has lost a child challenges me to really trust in God's grace and providence. If God can carry them through that He can take care of me and my family through anything because He is mighty and eternal.

God is God and I am not. To Him, and through Him, and from Him are all things, and I am grateful. Happy Valentine's Day!

Do Not Adjust Your Computer.....

Yes, this really is a post on Kara's blog! We've been running at the speed of life since January, just like everyone else. While I'm not going to bore you by chronicling three months' Capps life, I am posting lots of pictures. Since the last post Laura turned five, Lindy is almost one, and we've gotten to travel back to Texas. I'm typing from Houston right now, actually. We got to come down as a result of Southwest's bargain prices. Since Laura starts kindergarten in the fall I figured this was about our last opportunity to just take off at a random time. Lindy is just on the cusp of walking, and she babbles all the time. She said her first real word Sunday at church. My grandfather, whom many of you know I call "Dadada", teaches a Bible class. Lindy looked up at the beginning of class Sunday and saw him and called his name! Her first word was Dadada. What fun that is! These pictures span from Laura's birthday in March to this week.
Laura's birthday weekend it was really cold! We were all bundled up, except the birthday girl, who is hot natured.

Easter Sunday in their finest. Lindy's hair was quite the rage that day.

At the zoo with Daddy.

Showing off two of her birthday presents. The Jasmine outfit was one of her favorites! (Not so much mine with the bare tummy but she is only five right now....)

We did a Tinkerbell party and Kroger made this beautiful cake. It tasted as good as it looked!

Happy Lindy.....she is always smiling. Today she has two more teeth on the bottom.

In the Texas bluebonnets this week. They are still beautiful and I'm so very thankful we got to be here to take pictures!

Lindy enjoyed playing with the bluebonnets. More specifically, she really liked picking them and eating them. She got one down before I could get to her!

Sweet sisters.....

Our beautiful five year old girl.

Being from Texas I just couldn't resist putting this one in! We did our pictures at Washington on the Brazos, where Texas declared independence from Mexico and we became our own country before being annexed into the US in 1845.

These were taken in the Harding swing in the front yard. Laura and Lindy absolutely love my grandparents, and you can see the feeling is mutual!

Beautiful Mamama. I hope at 88 I'll be this pretty!

Mimi and her girls waiting for services to begin.

At the Bammel Road Church, where I grew up and my family still attends, they have a play room with playground equipment. It is right next door to Dadada's Bible class. Didn't take Laura long to discover it!

Lindy Crawling

Howdy from Texas! I'm uploading a sweet video of Lindy propelling herself on the floor in the closest thing we've seen to a crawl. She sort of pulls herself with her arms like an army crawl and then kicks off with her feet as she goes. It is very cute. She can also pull herself up to standing. I am not ready for that yet! Laura was at least a month older before she did that.

With the next post I'll put up some of our cute pictures. I just couldn't resist sharing this one first!

Hope everyone not in Texas is keeping warm! :)