Trying it again!

Well, the last two years have been rather hectic for the Hopkins Crew. A good hectic though! God has poured out SO many blessings on our family and the days seem to be flying off the calendar. So I felt the LORD leading me to take up this blogging thing again. Not only so I can remember what happens with our family ten years from now, but also so I can share with our family and friends how He is working in our lives. He reveals Himself to us so many ways and I truly felt like He wanted to use this blog to bring glory to Himself. We'll see where He takes it... I guess the best place to pick up is with the beginning of school. Gracie left her sweet days at 1st Methodist behind and started public school. She had been at FUMC since she was 2 so this was a big deal. Here she is on her first day of 1st grade:

I love the way they look with their huge backpacks on so I always take one picture from behind. Lindsay started 3rd grade so she had to move up schools (which means two car lines for Mommy & Colby!). She has never met a challenge and was totally ready to move up. Warning: she looks way too grown up in these pictures:

Colby and I had a fun day playing, but he was happy to go get our girls at the end of the school day!

I'm Back!!!

Ok, I know it has been well over two years since my last blog post, but I am determined to get back to the blogging world. I guess the biggest news since my last post is that we are now a family of five! Our sweet little Colby was born in March. He has brought even more joy to our little family. We are all crazy about him! Lindsay is six now, and Gracie is four. They have changed and grown so much. Tanner and I are definitely blessed beyond measure.

Precious Times

We had Gracie's baby dedication this past Sunday. Since we've moved and changed churches twice since she was born, it took a little while to have the dedication, but are so happy that we were able to do it at our new church since we love it so much. Gracie was such a sweet little thing during the ceremony. Our pastor, Bro. Bert, gave us a bouquet of tulips, and she smelled them the entire time. She is such a precious little girl, and we are so blessed to have her as our baby. We pray that God will use her in mighty ways.




The church gave Gracie a Bible during the dedication ceremony. It is just like the one Lindsay got at her dedicatio when she was a baby. Lindsay was beside herself that Gracie would have one just like hers! They were both so excited when Gracie opened hers.



Yesterday, I was able to go to a Mother's Day Tea at Lindsay's school. It was such a sweet time. All the kids in her class were so proud to be doing something special for their mommies. They met us at the door with tissue paper corsages to wear, and then led us to their room. They had made us gifts, and even helped bake Monkey Bread for us. This was the first time I had gone to something like this where Lindsay had done something just to honor her mommy. I can't believe what a big girl she is! I will always cherish the sweet memories from this day!
The two of us - notice my pink corsage!

Lindsay singing to me - "Happy Mother's Day to You" and "I Love Mommy"

The gifts she gave me

Lindsay with her sweet teachers, Mrs. Becky and Mrs. Leigh

Princess Tea Party

I hope nobody is passing out from shock since I've actually posted something new. Sorry I've been away from the blogging world for so long.
Lindsay and I had a fun day last weekend so I wanted to share. We went to a Princess Tea Party and then to the Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs ballet with a few of our friends. It was such a special day for us to get to spend it together just the two of us.
Here's my little Cinderella


With Snow White

Dancing with her friends Lily and Charlotte (when Tanner asked her what they were doing Lindsay just sang the conga line song)

Ready for the ballet (please notice the Barbie shoes that she borrowed from Charlotte...she had to wear them!)

A Little Follow-Up

Ok, I'm still praying hard for our country. I just think we need it now more than ever. I believe many Christians are feeling the same thing too. Almost not a day goes by, that I don't receive an email or talk to someone that is saying the same thing. I think that most Christians would agree that tough times are ahead for us with the new administration that is in office. Most people reading this will probably already know that I did not vote for our new president. I feel like the first month that he's been in office he has already started trying to push Christians out of our culture completely even if he says he is one. Again, I am not judging whether or not he is a Christian because only God knows that, but I do know that some of the policies that he supports are evil in God's eyes. Some of these policies are abortion (I could do a whole separate post on that and probably will soon), the Fairness Doctrine that will most likely be coming up soon, and the Hate Crimes bill which probably isn't too far away either. I'm really not planning on changing our blog into a diary type of thing or journal, but this is the best way for me to share my thoughts.
I'm participating in the new Beth Moore Bible study about Esther. I love this type of Bible study where we really look at the text in-depth, compare these Scriptures with other Scriptures, and look at the Hebrew words and what they actually mean. Sometimes our English words just don't do them justice. For anyone who isn't familiar with the story of Esther, it's an amazing story of how she became queen. It takes place after the Jewish people were captive in Babylon and then Cyrus tells them they can go back to Jerusalem. Some of the Jews stayed. By Esther's time it was Persia but it was still a very pagan society. The Jewish people were so assimilated that they really didn't stand out in the culture anymore. Sound familiar to Christians today?? I mean the King Xerxes that she was married to didn't even know that she was Jewish. Anyway, an evil man named Haman devises a plan to annihilate the Jews throughout the world. The day the edict goes out is the first day of Passover when all the Jewish people would be reading about Moses and how God delivered his people to the Promised Land. God's pretty cool in His timing, huh? The day they find out they're going to all be destroyed they read about how God is always with His people and protects them and delivers them. God takes the evil edict to bring his people back to Him. They turn back to him with prayer and fasting and God uses Esther to stop Haman. I feel like God's timing is perfect with this particular study too. Thousands of women are doing this study across the country at this exact time that we need it.
The last two weeks, the study has really focused on Haman and how evil he was and then on how the Jews and Esther react to the edict saying they will be killed. What made the edict even worse was that it went out in the first month and the Jews weren't sentenced to be killed until the 12th month. They had eleven months to sit and ponder over their death. One thing that struck me happened on the first day of our study last week was how the Jewish people reacted to the edict. The Bible says that throughout the kingdom the Jews were fasting, weeping, and wailing (fasting always implies prayer). Now here's a quote from Beth Moore, and it's really the whole reason I'm even writing this post.
"The reaction showed the Jews of Persia understood their peril to be associated with their wanderings from God. They had become so worldly and so thoroughly assimilated into Persian culture that they'd lost their protective shield. God had told His people from the time of Moses that He'd protect them and fight their battles for them as long as they worshiped Him only. If they forgot Him, He would still love them but He would not shield them. Instead, He'd use their enemies to turn His people back to Him...When word of the edict announcing their upcoming demise hit the streets, they suddenly realized they had sinned against God and took on the actions of repentant people wishing to return."
Right now, I feel like we as Christians are very much assimilated into our culture. I wonder how many times people have wondered whether or not I was a Christian. We just kind of keep our mouths shut and don't really stand up for what we believe. Or, even worse, we take part in things that aren't Godly at all. I think right now God is giving us a chance to repent and be bold and brave for Him. In Esther, God used an evil man named Haman to turn His people back to Him, and at times it seems like we have our own modern-day Haman right now. It's not just one person that I'm talking about. It's a several people scattered throughout our country that are trying to drive God out of our culture. But here's the really cool part, and what I'm praying will happen in our country. First of all, I do not pray that our president will fail. I pray that what is evil in God's eyes will fail, and what is good in God's eyes will succeed. What is good or evil in His eyes can only be found in His Word. Ok, this is the exciting part that I've been building up to. This week in Bible study I read a verse that was totally new to me, and it is amazing. It's Joel 2:13 & 14 - "Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and He relents from sending calamity. Who knows? He may even turn and have pity and leave behind a blessing..." That's my prayer. That we will return to the Lord as a nation. We must pray that God will forgive us for straying and not taking a stand, then repent, and take a stand for Christ. There are so many problems going on here now, and I know that we will have problems until we die or until Jesus comes again. But isn't it comforting to know that God will forgive us and reap blessings on us. It is to me. His grace and mercy are endless, we just have to trust Him and follow in His ways.

Please pray!

Ok, so I have never used this blog for anything but updating our family and friends on our lives, but lately I have had an overwhelming conviction to pray for our country. I pretty much only see my small circle of friends and don't have a lot of ways to reach people so I thought maybe sharing something on our blog might be a good idea. I have always believed in the power of prayer, and I've prayed for our girls since I knew I was pregnant with them. But lately, I have just felt an overwhelming need to pray for the United States. The more I watch the news the more it seems to me that our country is getting farther and farther away from God. I am specifically praying that we as Christians stand up for our beliefs. The entire reason that the United States even exists today is because our founders were searching for religious freedom. Our Constitution is based on God's Word. God is the author of a democracy where all men are created equal. He loves us all the same. But I feel that the reason that our country has been particularly blessed and is the greatest nation in the world is because we were a Christian nation. Other people can worship freely here too, but America was a Christian nation. I just really believe that it is time for Christians to take a stand and speak up on what God's Word says. I think a lot of times in an effort to be polite we sit back and don't speak up when something does not line up with what the Bible says. Right now, abortion is a big issue. The Bible clearly states that all life is precious. Psalm 139:13-16 says that God knows us before we are even formed. He has all of our days planned for us before we are even created. It just makes me sick to think that these precious babies are killed because they can't speak up for themselves. I think that rather than funding abortions in other countries, maybe that money would be better used in our own country teaching these moms with an unexpected pregnancy parenting skills or teach them what a blessing adoption can be. We can't just say, "Abortion is wrong," but then do nothing to help these moms. We as Christians need to adopt a Christlike attitude and help them cope. I'm praying that we as Christians will take a stand on this issue and any other issue that comes up that is not in line with the Bible. A verse that I've been clinging to lately is "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land" (2 Chronicles 7:14).
I'm talking to myself here too before anyone thinks I'm getting up on my soapbox. I've also been convicted that I need to have more of Christ's attitude in my life, especially helping others. I'm also not assuming whether anyone else is saved or unsaved. That is totally between God and each individual person, but a Christian walking with Christ will show the fruits of the spirit which are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). Finally, if anyone is reading this, and has not come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, it's not too late. Jesus is always willing to come into your heart. All you have to do is realize that He is the only way for salvation and that you need a Savior. The Bible says, "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:23). It also says that "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). So every single one of us is a sinner, but God gives us a free gift of eternal life through Jesus. All we have to do is accept it. Just tell Jesus you are a sinner and ask him to come into your heart and save you. It's totally a free gift. No work that you ever do can earn it and no sin that you've ever done is too big for God to forgive; God just gives it to us, which is utterly amazing to me! A verse that tells us this is "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith -- and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God -- not of works, so that no one can boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9). He loves us so much! And the best verse for that is "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). Hallelujah, what a Savior!

Going Private

I've decided to go private with my blog. If you want to still be able to read about our family, please post a comment with your name and email address. If you read our blog frequently and don't know us personally, please tell me how you found us or what connection you might have to us. Thanks!

Lunch with Friends

For about the last 12 years (I actually gasped when I typed that!), my best friends from high school and I have gotten together for a Christmas party. At first we went to someone's house to have the party and exchange gifts. It was just the five of us, but we always had a huge spread of food and had a fabulous time together. The last few years, we haven't all been able to get together because we all have husbands, some have children (all girls), and some live too far away. This year we just met for lunch at Pizza Grocery, and it was the first year we included husbands and babies. We missed Emily, but Anna Hayes and Blaire, Katie and Ellie Kate, and Carmen, and I along with Lindsay and Gracie had such a fun time. Tanner and Ryan were there too (wouldn't want to leave them out!). I wanted to put up a picture from one of our first Christmas parties, but I couldn't put my hands on one quickly. Maybe I'll add it on one day.

Right before Christmas, we took the girls to the mall to see Santa. Lindsay had already visited him once, but we wanted Gracie to sit on his lap too. Neither one of my girls is a big fan of Santa, the actual person. They'll talk about him all day long with much fondness, but when it comes to actually touching him they change their tune pretty quickly. Gracie has even started saying, "No, ho, ho," everytime she sees him. Anyway, I built up our big trip to see Santa all day. Gracie was excited and Lindsay was going to be brave when we got there to set a good example for Gracie. I think the pictures tell the whole story. We came home with the photo of the three of us with Santa. I was proud that Lindsay sat and talked with him for a little while though.

Something to Brighten Your Day!

Gracie had pigtails for the first time. This sweet face just makes me smile!