A "DAY" with Blessings....

Well, it's official...my little sister will be a Red Raider come Fall of '08! Yes, she is the big SENIOR and will be going away to Lubbock to attend Texas Tech. I knew it must have been official when I picked her and my mom up at the airport yesterday and she was all clothed out in Tech Gear from the local campus Spirit Shop as well as surprising me with a t-shirt myself (shown here)!

I'm thrilled beyond words of what she is becoming! The Lord has such great, awesome, and mighty things planned for her and will only grow her into an even more amazing young woman as she heads off for college in the fall. Of course, I'm sure there's more to come in the saga of Hillary leaving for college but we'll savor the moment for now!






Okay...so, yesterday my socks were completely blown off by Angie and Tracey surprising me that I'm going to be an Aunt again...well, actually it would be shocking me! Number 7 is on its way! OH MY....my pocketbooks will be mighty thin! I just love my kids....so much so another one is a total BEYOND blessing! Attached you will see some recent pix of the kids and then on the top of my blog they are in the very middle. For those of you who don't know they are not my "blood" nieces and nephews but they don't know the difference and I love them like they are. I've been in the delivery room and held them ALL when they were just a few minutes into this world! Garrison is the oldest and will be 12 this year....he is just an amazing young boy and a fabulous big brother! We'll see...boy or girl...hmmmm????

20 years ago....

So, last night at the gym while I was walking on the treadmill I was listening to a Podcast of Leonard Sweet's and he said something I have not been able to get out of my mind today....I believe it's beneficial for all of us so I'm sharing.


Saying….“I am thine, Lord, other than
'here I am' is a position of the heart

Think about it. It's almost as if saying the first puts you in a completely humbled position and is giving the Lord COMPLETE control over your heart where as the latter can almost be a have to with a reluctancy of really wanting to. Anyway....ponder on it!

Tonight I was completely beyond blessed by getting to go cheer Scarlett on at her Kickball game. Beth and Peyton were at Lincoln's Championship Basketball game so Scarlett needed someone to cheer her on. It was cool for her to have her "Sister" (that's what she calls me) cheering her on in the stands. She wanted to introduce me to everyone. WOW! The memories flooded me of when I was 7 and played Kickball. I absolutely LOVED watching her play. We went to dinner afterwards and I could tell something was bothering her but she wasn't wanting to talk about it. I just love how the Lord always puts me in positions with children to teach them a truth about His love and especially a truth out of His Word. After a little bit of questions about her day she began to tell me about a friend at school that was making fun of her today and that it really hurt her feelings. It made my heart sad that her little heart had been hurt. She sat at the table and these big tears began to fall off of her face with her saying "I just don't understand because I didn't do anything to her to make her say that to me." It was such a great opportunity for me to first tell her that I was sorry that someone hurt her heart and that I knew exactly what that felt like. Secondly, I was able to praise her for not falling into the trap of getting angry and saying something back to her friend that was unkind but her simply walking away and not saying anything was exactly what made Jesus proud of her. Third, we memorized a Bible Verse together. When I taught Kindergarten, our class scripture was out of Ephesians, "Do not let any hurtful words come out of your mouth, only those which are good and pleasing to Jesus." Of course, that has the 'Miss Holly' twist on it but you get the jest! So tonight was my opportunity to share that with Scarlett. I've come to never underestimate the power of God's love and care that can be so evident to even the youngest of hearts. Scarlett took the verse and it enabled us to have a lengthy discussion about kind and unkind words, showing Jesus to our friends, and remembering what Jesus thinks about us is what counts the most. He continues to amaze me and teach me through HIS littlest. Attached is a picture of Scarlett on the Kickball field....where 20 years ago I played! WOOHOO!

Late on a Monday Night.....

Okay, so here I go again....I committed a year ago to do a blog and wanted to SOOO bad but have clearly failed since I only made a total of two posts. I have now been inspired again as I read some of my friends blogs (JOSHY!)....so, I, Holly Hilderbrand, on March 24th, 2008 am re-committing myself to entering blog entries. I desire for this to be a place where I can "share the moments" whether it's with pictures, stories, or my latest craft project! It's probably more of a place for me to talk to me and record memories but hey, I believe I'll enjoy it!

For my first post in 2008, I'm going to have to say that I'm totally in LOVE with Jon & Kate Plus 8 on TLC. If you have not seen that; you MUST watch! It's in a new season right now and I have watched it since the kids were little. They are nearing 4 and are just the cutest kids! I could not ever imagine raising sixtuplets and a set of twins! They are my heroes! They are very grace-filled parents and I'm always encouraged when I see the Bible Verses on their kitchen cabinets!

I posted several of my friends blogs on my site....check them out!

ONE of my projects....

Okay....so here's my project for today. Yes, I am a scrapaholic. Lately I've started doing lots of "little" scrapbook projects. It's been fun trying out new ways to be creative other than the regular 12 by 12 albums that I'm used to. This current project I'm working on is a canvas book. I used two small pieces of canvas and painted the outside, tied it together with ribbon. This book will be about "ME!" How many times I scrapbook and it's never about me! This way this can be passed on with my take on my life in my own handwriting! This is just the beginning. I'll post some pages once I'm completely done with the inside.

Here in Austin it's definitely still a messy, messy day. I can't believe the weather we've had here the past week. The ice and snow rarely ever happens around here as does missing 3 1/2 days of work because of it. I haven't downloaded pictures yet. When I do, I'll post some. Well, off to scrapbook and hang out with a friend. Ya'll stay dry out there today!

Parent's Night Out

Well, I'm sitting at the Check-In Station at church.....a place you often find me. It's Parents Night Out. I absolutely love being up here around the families of our church. It gives me great joy to see smiles on the children's faces as they enter our building. What a safe place to be able to come and know that your kiddos are being completely loved and cared for by people who serve the Lord.

Okay....so I'm playing around with this blogging thing. Trying to see if I can figure out how it works. I think it's the neatest thing. All the teenagers today are into myspace and facebook but I think this is a cool thing for adults to be able to share life with friends, family, and others. Jennifer Stewart, a good friend of mine, has a blogspot and I read her's often. She doesn't even know that she's inspired me to try this thing out! Hopefully as I play around with it and try new things it will soon turn into being as good as hers is!

Well, there ya have it! For everyone in Austin....feels like it's getting colder again. Stay warm this weekend!