Pinkie Paxton and The Hollands

Sunday, March 4, 2012

The Big Change

I mentioned previously that I have a lot of catching up to do, so here we go. Last year was a fantastic year, a year with a lot of changes. Not only was Preslee born, Elli potty trained, and Kailee a new Jr. Higher (I'm pretty sure that's not even a real word....), but spiritual changes came as well. As I was gearing up to return back to work from my 3 month maternity leave (Chevron graciously granted me permission to take off for 3 months instead of the standard 6 weeks-THANK YOU!), I was in the Word having a quiet time with the Lord and he spoke several things to me that I wasn't expecting. He first told me that I had this issue with money-it was an idol or a God that I had put before Him, the One True God. BAM! That was a slap in the face. He showed me exactly how I had allowed it to become a God and that I was allowing it to consume all of my time. The short version is that I was doing a LOT of online and magazine browsing (not any real shopping) for home decor and furniture. All of that exposure was causing a discontent heart and a poor attitude. None of this was a REAL shock to me, but was disappointing that I had allowed it to get to this point. The next thing He told me was the scary part-scary because it required actual faith. He specifically told me that I was to quit my job and serve my family and give our finances over to Him-to truly let Him provide. To many this probably seems like no big deal or like a dream-not really for me. Though I had had the desire in my heart to be home with my babies, I was giving up a lot of control and freedom and financial security (we're the ones who provide that, right?? wrong!), which I wasn't sure I was truly willing to sacrifice. Needless to say, after several discussions and some pushback from Joel and some wavering on my side, we made the decision to be obedient (yes, being obedient to the Lord's instructions/promptings IS a choice....remember Jonah? I didn't really wanna see what would happen if we chose not to be obedient this time!). So, we chose obedience over comfort and it has been a great joy. I'm still trying to figure this whole stay-at-home mom thing out and have real struggles when people ask where I'm employed (I'm discovering that I have a little bit of a pride issue too-imagine that). I wouldn't ask to do anything else though and am so grateful for the opportunity to get to truly watch and know my kiddos as they grow up. I feel blessed to be able to do so. Did I mention that God is growing me in the area of patience and sacrifice? :)

Monday, February 27, 2012

Hello There

Well, I think I've established the fact that blogging is NOT my thing. It clearly ranks fairly low on my list of priorities. I just don't have the ability to quickly crank out a post that's meaningful or that flows quite the way I'd like it to. I'm simply not one who finds it easy to write for the reader and I have found that I don't have the time to dedicate to writing the way I'd like to. Maybe it would happen more often if it were not such a chore? Who knows. With that said, I'd like to give a brief update since I last blogged (September 18, 2010-I know, I know. Pathetic). So, since that last post we've had 2 Christmases, too many birthdays to count, various other holidays, one birth, and many life changes. I'll skip boring you with all of the updates and jump to the more recent, more important ones spread out in a couple of posts. In this post, I want to introduce you to Preslee Jill Holland. She's the newest Holland and is a doll. She's already 10 months old and I cannot figure out where those 10 months went. She's a ton of fun, but is definitely keeping me running! Preslee is a quick crawler, cruiser, and climber and I constantly have to watch her. She loves toilet paper and flushing the toilet. And she is always trying to figure out how to get just one leg over the side of the bathtub, because she knows that if she gets one over the rest is history and she can play! Needless to say, she keeps me on my toes daily. We are tremendously blessed to have this precious child in our lives. Preslee Jill, we love you. You are growing up too quickly though. Do you think you can drag this next year out a little bit longer?

Saturday, September 18, 2010

A Bit of My Photography

Here's some of my photography work, as promised. If you've looked at my facebook pages then you've probably already seen some of these. I hope you enjoy!

Sunday, August 29, 2010

April-August 2010

Well, it's been 4 months since my last blog entry, so I decided that I better get caught up. Our lives seem to be so incredibly busy, but I like it that way. During the past 4 months a LOT has happened, some of which you will see in photos below. I'll begin with birthdays: In June, Kailee turned 11, Elli turned 2 (I have NO clue where those pictures disappeared to), and I turned 30 (the absolute best birthday that I've ever had-I'm so blessed to have the friends and family that I have). And in August, Joel turned 33 and had a nice little surprise birthday dinner himself. This summer Kailee had the privilege of being a true traveler. She began her travels with summer church camp at Bonita Park, NM and traveled on to Honolulu, Hawaii, Oregon, Possum Kingdom, San Antonio, and to spend a week with Gigi. Yes, the girl was busy, but had the best summer that she'll probably ever have. Elli has grown a ton and is SO much fun. She talks 24/7 and is hilarious. She's very assertive, bossy, and loud-I wonder where she got that from? Hmmm.... She's in the process of potty training and is doing a great job....at school :) Joel is looking forward to hunting season and is getting all of his gear ready to go. I have continued pursuing photography and actually launched my business-brookeholland photography, which can be found at www.facebook.com/brookehollandphoto. I will post some of my summer shoots in another blog post. There's a lot of pictures here, but please take a few minutes to peruse them.....even though they're out of order (I always forget to begin with the end and finish with the start.)

SAN ANTONIO TRIP 2010

Kailee riding Rosie the horse. The highlight of her San Antonio vacation.