In Case They Ever Wonder

Sophie decided she wanted to interview mama. She asked all the questions, and Daddy wrote down the answers in Sophie's journal. Sophie: What do you want more than anything? Mama: A happy, healthy family Sophie: How many children do you want to have? Mama: At least 3 Sophie: How many children did you think you would have? Mama: Three girls Sophie: What do you like about me? Mama: You are smart, passionate, beautiful, funny and kind. You are very interesting. Sophie: Why do you smile? Mama: Because I like the people I am with. Sophie: What is your favorite color? Mama: White Sophie: What is your favorite food? Mama: Probably steak Sophie: How old are you? Mama: 32 years old - almost 33 Sophie: How do you spell your name? Mama: C-A-R-R-I-E  W-H-I-T-E  R-O-D-E-N Sophie: Why do you have a grateful heart?  Mama: Because God has given me so many things to be grateful for. Sophie: Do you like jets? Mama: Yes, I like jets. Sophie: What is your favorite season? Mama: Fall, but I also love su...

After one of the busiest months of our lives, we are finally home and beginning to enjoy the rhythms of summer. We've been taking lots of walks, playing ball at the neighborhood "Imagination Station," going to the playground, and of course swimming at the neighborhood water park! Sophie has gotten so much braver this year, including "standing under the bucket" and "going down the kiddie water slides by herself. Will goes half way down the water slides and loves to play in the fountains. He also tries to push the stroller into the water! A movie night, several games of Memory, and a trip to Jim 'N Nicks (one of favorite places to eat with kids) rounded out our first official week of summer fun! Sophie starts swim lessons tomorrow, and we are hoping to take in a free movie at the local theatre. We're hoping to fire up the grill this week, and we are so excited about having Ashley, Jack and Baby Cole come for a pool weekend! Our schedule will pick up a...

I am not good. I have had enough.  My dad's comment, "If there is anything else in life you can do other than ministry, and still be fulfilled, go do it," keeps ringing in my ears. My dad is a senior pastor; my husband is a student pastor; my brother-in-law is a children's pastor; my sister is over communications on a church staff. The people I love the most in life all wear targets on their backs.  Truly, there are days when I realize that we are beyond blessed to have the privilege of serving as we do. Truly, there are days when I feel humbled that my family gets to be a part of the wins that involve life change. Today just isn't one of those days. Today, I want to sit Sophie and Will down and tell them that people are bitter and stupid and so self-centered that they just aren't worth the pain. That people are so shallow that they will be happy when they find opportunities to be mean, and that they are so inexperienced and inept when it comes to leadership t...

Sandwiched in between Tori's wedding weekend and Hope's graduation weekend, was Sophie's end-of-the-year program and dance recital. Sophie was over-the-moon excited about her dramatic debut! Sophie was cast as Mrs. Noah, and the big news was that Mrs. Noah had lines that had to be memorized and spoken into the microphone! We practiced for weeks (Matt and I almost never got the Arky Arky song out of our heads), and the teachers at Sophie's amazing school, Master's Academy of Fine Arts, had the students more than prepared for the performance. The play Sophie was in included only four, five and six year olds , and I was amazed that children that young were able to perform that well. The play highlighted the major historical events the students learned about this year while they studied the Ancient Period. I really couldn't believe what a good job Sophie did. I knew that we had practiced and that she knew her part backward and forward, but I thought shyness might...

Well, we took our first trip to the ER yesterday. Sophie will be five in July, and though she has fallen 9 bazillion times, miraculously none of the falls have required an ER visit. Will, being the thug-baby that he is, at 15 months, has had two black eyes, more bleeding wounds that I can remember, and now has made his first Emergency Room visit.  So, to set the scene... I am visiting in Franklin at my parent's house. My mom had been watching the kids for me while I was out with Hope, and I had just come home in time for Mom and Hope to make it to a doctor's appointment. Mom had been gone around 10 minutes, when Will climbed three stairs from the bonus room to Hope's bedroom suite. Knowing Will would wreak havoc in his teenage aunt's space, and knowing he was probably headed straight for the toilet in her bathroom, I followed Will in a hurry and reached out to scoop him up. Sensing I was hot on his trail, Will snickered and lunged away from me just as I grabbed him. Bec...

Things I am loving about my 15-month, 31-pound wonder boy... Correction: 15 months, 32 pounds ...learned yesterday during our first trip to the ER... I love that his favorite new trick is to "carry" me on his shoulders. He bends down under  my legs, gets one of my legs over each of his shoulders and walks as I walk "carrying" me all over the house. He giggles the whole time, and rarely does a day go by that I don't get three or four "rides" on Will's shoulders. He beams when I tell him how big and strong he is!  Will is crazy-passionate about books. While Will's love of books developed a little later than Sophie's did, his seems to be more intense. From a young age, Sophie loved to be read to, and was ready and willing whenever we were. We spent lots  of time reading to her, and when we weren't reading to her, she was happy to sit and  "read" to herself. Will drags books around and fusses, yells, and if need be, cries until we...

Our family has celebrated several major life events this month. Watching Tori get married and Hope graduate from high school, plus spending lots of time with family has caused me to reflect on the relationships that have shaped me the most. As I watch my children interact with my grandparents and my parents, I've been thinking how much my Granny and Papa White would have loved Sophie and Will. I've written about Mee -Maw and Big Dad and how amazing they are as great-grandparents. When I was growing up, they were so young and vibrant, they almost didn't seem like grandparents except for the fact that they loved and spoiled us as only grandparents can. I really can't overstate how influential they were in my life, and I am so thankful that they have the opportunity to influence my own children. And though I completely trust God's plan and timing, I am a little sad that my children won't know my other set of grandparents, Granny and Papa. I've been thinking abo...

We just experienced one of three worst car trips our family has ever experienced, well maybe, five worst... we make a lot of trips and we have had some doozies . We left our house at 6 p.m., and brilliantly decided to drive a little and then go in to eat to give everyone a break. This might not have been a terrible plan, except for the fact that our kids eat dinner every night by around 6:30 p.m. Needless to say, the hour to the restaurant was a long one.  We pulled into an IHOP at 7 p.m., and though very few people were there, we were seated right in between two groups, neither of whom had kids, or for that matter, seemed to have ever met a kid. Now, it is not as though we pulled up to the Palm, it was IHOP for goodness' sake, but I still felt like I had had a screaming baby on a plane full of executives.  Our children weren't exactly horrible, but they did seem to have voice modulation problems. (Matt says they get this from me...) Will immediately bit a hole in his Styrof...

This year on Mother's Day, I was able to be with both my mother and my children, so I was able to celebrate as both a mother and a child. I also enjoyed the day with my sister, Hope, and the only one of the "White girls" that was missing was my sister, Tori, and she was never far from our minds. (She was on her honeymoon, so if we had to miss her, what better reason could there be?). And though she left late Saturday night, Aunt Pam, a woman who has been like another mother to me, spent most of the weekend with us too. I was also able to spend the day with my best friend Ashley, another mother I greatly admire, and her two precious children, Jack and Cole. The weekend was a sea of mother-child relationships and dynamics.  Each of the women in my home this weekend has influenced me and my own mothering style. And I wanted to remember out loud just a few of the things I've learned from them. From my mom, I've learned to love my children unconditionally. I've le...

OK, we have enjoyed two big weekends in May, with two more to go. So much has happened, and I have so many posts I've written in my head as I collapse in the bed, but I'm not sure when they will actually get typed out!  So far our family has enjoyed: Tori and Derek's Wedding Week - I am so ready to write about this one, but I very uncharacteristically didn't take pictures (so many other people were that I knew I could take a break...), and I must have pictures to convey how beautifully perfect their wedding was! Sophie's School Play/Dance Recital/Dad's Birthday/Mother's Day - We had so much fun with family and friends. Aunt Pammie came, driving in from Birmingham only to miss Sophie's speaking part through a crazy, "I Love Lucy" chain of events that only I could cause...) My best friend Ashley along with her son and Sophie's best friend, Jack and the newest adorable McClanahan , Baby Cole, came from Nashville for Sophie's debut! (Sophie...