A Look Back at 2012:

It's time for a look back at this past year. What a great year it has been! This is one of my favorite posts to write because I take extra time to re-read just about every post from the past year. It's so neat to see what we have accomplished (or NOT accomplished), where we have been and how our family has grown.

Here are some of the highlights: 

• fostering JoJo for several months and finally seeing him find a forever home.
• going to Mexico with some of our dear friends. 
• welcoming one niece and one nephew into the world this year: Carson & Hannah

• attending our best friend's wedding: Alicia & Brian
• enjoying our brand new fire pit & patio 
• having a girls weekend in Canton - a definite must do again for 2013! We had a blast!
• spending another entire year with the greatest husband I could have asked for. Seriously. 

• going to Nicaragua again with my mom
• getting to meet my sponsored child, Alex, in Nicaragua

• deciding to move back to Louisiana! 

We are definitely looking forward to a great New Years and a year full of changes, moving, travels, and new surprises! 

Christmas Highlights: Part 2

After the snow cleared in Arkansas we loaded up the doggies and headed down to Louisiana to celebrate Christmas with my side of the family. It is definitely a little more...um..what's the word... LIVELY at the Walker Christmas with four kiddos 2 years old and under. 99% of our time is spent watching the kids. We definitely aren't short on entertainment, that's for sure. 

Highlights of our Christmas in Minden: 

• being entertained by our 2 nieces and 2 nephews - It is an absolute joy to watch these children grow up, interact and explore the world around them! I also love watching my two big brothers be awesome dads! They definitely have their hands full! :)

• attempting to get a decent picture of all four kids. This is the best we got. 

 This one might be my favorite of the day. :) This is better than crying Santa pics, am I right?

Carson (8 months) and Landon (2 1/2 years)

Hannah (6 months) and Makaylan (20 months)

• eating gumbo with my family! In Louisiana, gumbo is always an appropriate dish to serve but especially on a cold rainy holiday that you are sharing with family. :)

my mom with her two oldest grandkids

Landon playing Peek-a-Boo with MeMe.

• seeing our (probable) future home again. We met with the inspection guy today and he gave us a full report on the house (35 pages to be exact). It needs some TLC but we are super excited that this might be our new home. Nothing is official yet but we are praying that God's will be done on this house. So far things have gone smoothly with the offer, acceptance and structural inspection... but of course I'll keep y'all posted! 

We are heading back to Arkansas tomorrow and it's a good thing because we are really missing our kitties, Hazel & Charlie. We are thankful for our pet sitter/house sitter with Rockin' Paws who makes leaving our cats a little easier. If you live in Central Arkansas I HIGHLY recommend giving them a call.

Christmas Highlights: Part 1

B and I are blessed to come from two pretty amazing families and luckily our parents only live about 2 1/2 hours away from each other. We spent the first part of this week in South Arkansas and the later part of the week will be spent in Northwest Louisiana. We had such a great time with Buie's mom, dad and brother the past few days. I didn't take that many pics but here's a glimpse of our Christmas with the Buies. 

Highlights of our time in Rison: 

• spending more than 24 hours with B's parents - Because of B's FORMER job, he only got Christmas Day off. Now that he is no longer working in retail we enjoyed three full days at his parents home, something B hasn't done in over 6 years! 

• wearing our matching pajamas - Yes, we have become one of THOSE couples! ha! 
• watching old Mr. Bean movies and laughing so hard I do the uncontrollable breathing and I literally sound like I dying walrus. It's rather embarrassing when I really get going. 

•  being entertained by our fur babies. On B's side of the family, the only grandbabies are the dogs so they get the royal treatment which really is no different than the way they are treated in their own home to be honest. :) But they do LOVE going to see their Granny & Pappy because they usually sneak them a little meat. Yum!

• the food is always a highlight as well. I swear I could eat a whole plate of Mrs. Carole's dressing & gravy and over the course of the three days, I'm pretty sure I did! 

• Another favorite thing to do when we go to Rison....absolutely nothing. There is no pressure to be anywhere or go see anyone. We put on our (matching) pajamas and lay around. We might even drift off to sleep once or twice throughout the course of the evening before getting up and going to get in bed. Ahhh... so nice.

• SNOW! This year we had a white Christmas all over Arkansas! In most parts of Central Arkansas, where we live, they had as much as 12 inches! Rison only got about an inch or two. But that was still plenty for Conner & Scooter to play in.

which brings me to my last highlight of our time in Rison...

• watching Conner & Scooter play in the snow - I swear if we moved to Colorado tomorrow they would be the happiest dogs ever. They LOVE the snow! Scooter eats it and Conner, well, he just makes it a goal to get as dirty as possible. 

This was taken about 2 minutes before we threw him into the bath tub. But I think it was well worth it...at least I think Conner would say it was. ;) 

You might be a crazy dog mom if...

you buy matching pajamas for you, your husband and your two dogs for Christmas. 

That's right, Pajama Gram offers pjs for you & your partner as well as for your fur babies. You can even get your name monogrammed on them. :)  Call me cheesy but I was *really* excited when these came in. I immediately put the dogs in theirs and snapped a few pics. Conner's fit him really well while Scooter's was a little big on him. But both look pretty darn cute! :) 

We'll all be wearing our pajamas from Pajama Gram this holiday season. 

* Pajama Gram didn't pay me for this post. I just like them! :) 

Update on Life!

One week til Christmas! How's everyone doing? I keep thinking, "Oh, I need to blog about that!" But who has the time? Am I right? So much has been going on here this last week. I'll do a quick run down to get you all caught up!

• I still have not gone through all of my Nicaragua pictures. I kind of over did it this year with pictures. If you would like to see any of my images, head on over to my Facebook page. 
• There is a huge PODS storage unit sitting in our driveway and we have slowly been filling it up. This moving thing is actually happening! 
• We made an offer on a house in Louisiana! Yup. You read that right. We made an offer! Woo hoo! 
• Oh, and it was accepted! All we need now is to go through the inspection period. Fingers crossed that everything with our future home is structurally in tact and everything look okay. I keep praying that if God doesn't want us to live here then He would close a door. So far everything has been super easy with this move. In fact, this is the first house we saw online that we loved and the only house we went and looked at in person. 
• One week til Christmas! B & I are actually headed to do some last minute shopping. I do all of my shopping early but then there's always last minute items that need to be done. And once again, I am reminded why I ALWAYS do my running around early - I HATE holiday traffic! Be nice out there on the streets! 

Hope y'all are having a great week! 

So much to share!

I'm back from Nicaragua! I've actually been back for several days but it always takes me a couple of days to get back into the swing of things...notice how I didn't say to get back into a routine. I really don't have a normal routine. But as wonderful as it is to be back, I am definitely missing all of my friends in Nicaragua. I have so many stories and pictures to share with you. I always struggle with the best way to do just that. I literally took thousands of images last week. I couldn't possibly share each one of them on my blog but I do want to share with you a few of my favorites. If you would like to see more images, just head over to my Facebook page to see lots more. Each day this week I will be adding a new album, one for each day we were there. I just added Day 1 today. Check it out here. I will also be doing a blog post about my day with my Compassion Int. child, Alex. It was such an amazing experience to meet him and his family. It definitely deserves its own post. :)

I will post more on Nicaragua this week but for now just know that I'm back and busy going through all of these hundreds of images. And to my Nicaraguan friends reading this, I miss you already!

Nicaragua Bound!

Next week I will be traveling to Nicaragua again. Last year I had the amazing opportunity to travel with my mom and absolutely fell in love with the people there. I couldn't wait to go back. 

 Each year we bring hundreds of toys, clothes, rice, and beans for the people in the town of Diriamba and the surrounding communities. Hundreds of people line up waiting for food and toys. In a way we joked that we kind of felt like Santa Clause but on a serious note, it reminded me how the people flocked to Jesus wherever he went. I am in no way comparing us to Jesus but we are bringing the love of Jesus in what we do.

 We pass out candy, trinkets, games and friendship bracelets. For some children, this is the first toy they've received all year or ever!

 Last year my mom and I had such a great time. It is an exhausting yet fulfilling week. I'm so blessed to have this opportunity to take this trip with my mom. She has always encouraged me to be aware of the world around us, to give to those who are in need and to love with an open heart. Diriamba, Nicaragua is just one of the few places that God has asked me to do these very things.

 I would like to ask you, my friends, for prayer for this trip. I am a firm believer in the power of prayer. If we pray over this trip I know amazing things will happen.

Please pray for the people of Diriamba. I have been specifically praying that God would place people in our lives who need who see and hear of His love.

There is one day that we will go to the local dump and pass out food, clothing and really anything we can to the people who live there. Yes, I said LIVE there. The dump is their home. Oh, how fortunate we are, America. I just ordered a huge storage unit to store all of my earthly belongings and these people literally live off of other people's trash.

Perspective.

 Please pray for safe traveling. Our traveling days by plane will be Monday, December 3rd and Saturday, December 8th. We will also be traveling by van to a different destination each day. They don't exactly abide by the same (or any) road laws. We laughed about how crazy the drivers are there but it's a little scary when you're in a van with all the other crazy drivers on the road.

 Please pray for the health of our group. If you follow my blog, then you know I have an auto immune disease. Last year, God provided me strength to do literally everything our group had scheduled to do. This shocked me considering my normal low energy levels. And when I wear myself down, I always get sick. I pray that I maintain my health so that I may serve God to the best of my abilities. And I pray this for each of our group members as well as the family we will be staying with. We will be working long days and need a renewed strength each day. Only the Lord can provide that... and a good strong cup of Nicaraguan coffee. :)

 One last prayer request is for our sponsored children. We sponsor children through the Nicaraguan Christian Outreach as well as through Compassion International. I will actually get to meet BOTH of our sponsored kids! I am just thrilled! I can't wait to meet them and their families, give them the gifts I bought them, take pictures with them, and most of all share Christ with them.

Thank you for your support and prayers.  If you are on Instagram, follow me at cbbuie. I'll try to post at least one photo a day to keep y'all up to date on our trip.

The Buie's Are Moving!

Yup. You read that right. We're moving. If you follow me on twitter then you saw my announcement last week that the Buie's are moving to Louisiana. I have been going back and forth about when and how to tell my you, my friends, the news. Of course, we had to tell our family first and then I've just been telling my close friends as I see them over the past week or two. We are in the crazy stages right now. There are boxes everywhere in our house. P.O.D.S. has been ordered and should be delivered in the next week or two. We are kind of freaking out about how much has to be done. I'll let y'all know more details later especially when we put our house on the market.

So what does this mean? Well, if you follow me on the blog, then nothing will change! I'll be blogging about our move, our house hunting process and our sanity as we try to maintain it along the way. If you live in the Central Arkansas area and are our friend and/or client, I honestly don't want this move to affect our friendship or our clients. We will only be moving 3 hours away and plan to come back all the time! (yay!) I actually am already planning Spring mini sessions for Central Arkansas. Just as I did mini sessions in Louisiana while I lived in Arkansas, I plan to do mini sessions in Arkansas while living in Louisiana. So yes, we can still be friends! :) And yes, I can still take your pictures. yay! So not much will change. Unless, of course you want to drop by for a chat and a cup of coffee... it might take you a little longer to "drop by."

So when will this move take place? Oh, how I wish I knew exactly. The simplest answer I can come up with is 6 months or less. Like I said, our house isn't even on the market yet.

We are super excited yet a little saddened by the fact we will be leaving this home behind. We have so many great memories in this home. I hope the family who lives here next will make so many more wonderful memories.

Please keep us in your prayers as we listen to God's guidance over the next few weeks and months. This has been a strenuous process and definitely one that requires a lot of faith. But honestly we just feel this is where God is leading our family for many reasons. As our plans unfold, I'll be sure to keep y'all updated. Thanks for the support and excitement that y'all have already shown us.

One Packed Week

I have spent the last week in my home town in Louisiana. Last weekend was my dear friend, Melissa's, baby shower. I also booked a few photo shoots last weekend and I just decided to stay the entire week through Thanksgiving. I always miss my husband and our animals but I get in so much family time, I love doing it every now and then. 

It would be a terribly long post if I described in detail everything I did over the last week. There was plenty of eating, lots of picture taking and even had some time for some football watching. I love spending weekdays in Minden because I get to do and see things that I normally wouldn't be able to during a weekend. Mom and I got our hair done together one day. Dad and I and my oldest brother, Chris went to a LA Tech game together. It was such a great game! I'm so glad I went! Dad and I had lunch with my grandmother at The Arbor (the assisted living place where she lives). I had three photo shoots while I was in town. I'm trying to edit and return them to the clients before I leave the country next Monday. Thursday was, of course, Thanksgiving and I saw lots of family I hadn't seen in a while.

Unfortunately the stomach bug plagued my oldest brother's family, so my two nieces did not make it for Thanksgiving. Buie drove in for the day with the dogs and I was so happy to them. We had plenty to eat and so much to be thankful for. Thanksgiving afternoon, we watched the Cowboys and were entertained by these two turkeys, Landon and Carson. Aren't they adorable?

I love watching them growing up, even if it is too fast.

I truly hope everyone had a blessed Thanksgiving! Now, back to editing. I only had a week until I leave for Nicaragua! AH! So much to do!

Thankful.

After spending a week a part from my husband Brent Buie, I have grown to love him even more. He drove down for Thanksgiving today (his only day off of work) and I realized more today than I ever had just how lucky I am to have him in my life. He is my rock. He is my chef who prepares all of our meals. He takes care of me when I'm sick. He makes out our grocery lists and looks up healthy recipes. He takes the time to play with the dogs in the backyard. He gets down on the floor and wrestles with them. He even lets them lick him all over (yuck!) ;)

 He is my best friend who makes me laugh constantly. He impresses me with his knowledge of history, sports and well, basically all things. (He really needs to go on Jeopardy.) He writes me sweet notes all the time and texts me throughout the day. He brings me home surprises from work just because he knows I needed a smile that particular day. He encourages me spiritually and challenges me to actually USE my Christian Studies degrees. He seriously knows more about the Bible than I ever could have learned in those four years of school. He's constantly teaching me new words and phrases and of course the origin of where they came from. :) He encourages me to pursue my dream.

Brent Buie, you are my rock and I am so thankful that you are in my life.