Happy Go Stuckey Has Moved!!!!

We have moved to www.HappyGoStuckey.com


Please update your links! **There is a place over there where you can have the posts delivered by email if you like, or you can follow with your chosen method!


I will leave this link up for a couple of weeks just in case, but if you are looking for me--- I'm over HERE! 

Blocked Vision

     Every morning I leave my house early. My faithful walking partner meets me at the edge of my driveway and the words are usually few for the first moments until we both wake up. During our 45 minute walk, we go up and down hills. The talk is always sparse on the way up a hill, as the need for oxygen prevails, and plentiful on the way down. We sweat together, laugh together, persevere together. I am so very thankful for her. I'm amazed at how God knew what I needed in an exercise partner 

(and great friend!) and placed her in my very own neighborhood. 

    At the end of our walk, we pause at the top of a hill (near where she lives) and say goodbye. Then I go on the last 10-15 minutes on my own. I come down the hill and walk home. As I walk toward my responsibilities, my family, toward my day-- I have a few minutes of quiet. A few minutes of peace in which I try to commit the day to the One who made it. 

    Nearly every morning, the sun is just rising. But because I'm going down hill and the neighborhood is wooded, I can never see the sun. I see the effects of the sunrise. I see the light filling the clouds, barely filtering through the trees, turning the sky from a beautiful Navy blue into pink, purple and periwinkle. It's beautiful. But every morning I look hard to try to see more. I wish I were a little bit higher up, or that those particular trees were a bit lower, but I can never see it all. 

Only a glimpse of the beautiful light which will fill our day. 

    Today it struck me. I struggle so much with limited vision. There are a lot of questions in our current state of life. Most of them will have answers.  But, answers that are for God alone to know at this point. It's hard to be "in the dark" about life decisions. Often we feel that we pray and pray and He is silent. We know He hears. We know He is acting on our behalf and for His glory. We know that when the time is right (His time. Not mine.) He will act. The waiting can be so hard when we just want to *see* that "it" will happen or when or how. But, my friends? That is not trust. That is not faith. That is wanting to peel back the corner of the painting before the artist is finished. 

    I have always loved the illustration that our lives (and our circumstances) appear to be the wrong side of a tapestry. A jumbled mess of strings that seem to be senseless and ugly. But if we could see what God sees, we would be amazed. If we could put into practice in our hearts what we say we believe to be true, we would know that the "Other Side" of what we do not see is far more beautiful than we could imagine. Not to mention, far more capable of bringing glory to God than the plans we have for ourselves. 

   When we allow ourselves to be honest, we may realize that we are so small. We are exceedingly small in our understanding and that our frustration over the waiting is basically whining. When we complain we say two things, 1. We do not trust Him. 2. He doesn't deserve the care of the large and small details of our lives.  Yikes. What ungratefulness we are capable of. 

When God asked Job, "Will the faultfinder contend with the Almighty? Let him who reproves God answer it." (Job 40:2) 

In other words, Who are you who questions what God does?

Perhaps Job said it best, 

"Behold, I am insignificant; what can I reply to Thee?

 I lay my hand on my mouth." (Job 40:4)

In other words, 

"Um, I'll be quiet now."

As we go through moments, days and years of questions we cannot answer,

 heartaches we cannot explain, 

tunnels with no foreseeable light at the end, 

and Light eclipsed and covered by obstacles, 

let us remember--

that even a little bit of light is a blessing and...

He does ALL THINGS well. 

When God is dealing with me on something, it always comes in various ways-- this is one that hit me right between the eyes:

When Your Spirit Hungers: How to be Done with Worry

Simply Beautiful! He is a Master Painter, is He not??

An Interview with Lucy and Birthday Fun!!!

I took this video a couple months ago on Lucy's fourth birthday and I completely forgot to post it. Enjoy!

Speaking of Birthdays, I just had one. **31** years! I was completely spoiled this past weekend by Lance, the girls and My mom, who made a last minute trip to visit us. We all had so much fun together and I felt very loved on.

 One of my favorites in Augusta. New-ish Restaurant with Fresh, local yet imaginative food. Yum.

 Birthday Dessert!!!

 Date Night!

 Birthday Afternoon Water Fight!!! 

 Sweet Abby with Her Grammy!

The weekend was very nice and I really enjoyed all the time we spent together. Lance was especially thoughtful and came up with a very sweet gift, which I'm keeping a secret for now. 

I know, how very coy of me. 

In true "getting older" fashion, I woke up to a broken refrigerator the morning after my birthday. So that's what I've been dealing with for the past few days. It's NO fun to be an adult sometimes. Oh well! 

California Flash Back

(AKA- Nearly the Best Day of My Life)

Last year I turned thirty. Last year I also gave birth to our 2nd daughter. Last year Lance and I celebrated our 5th Anniversary.

All of these are reasons why when he received the opportunity to go to San Diego, CA for a week last summer and asked me to go along with him, I said, "UM YES THANKYOUVERYMUCH!" It just so happened that my actual birthday would be on the last full day of the trip. Perfect.

So we did what any loving, alone-time deprived parents would do, bought me a plane ticket and called my mama! She graciously agreed to come watch the girls (L was then 3 and A was 5 months old.) (I know, I know many moms would "never" leave their baby that early and for that long. Well, it just so happened that because of her AR, the breastfeeding ship had long since sailed and since my mom is 100% a better, more experienced version of me when it comes to mothering, I thought it a safe bet.) Besides, once in a lifetime opportunity HERE!!!

So we loaded up our gear and headed to Sunny California. Most of the week, Lance was in meetings and I was forced to get up early (yes early not late, time difference you see.) sit in starbucks for an hour or two, watch the sun come up, go for a walk, and lay by the pool for the better part of the day. After a few months of adjusting to becoming a mom again and feeling very spent and exhausted emotionally, physically and spiritually, the Lord provided big time in the rest department on this trip.


On the day of my actual birthday, Lance's conference was over and so we decided to rent a car and drive to La Jolla for breakfast. He showed up with this:

Um, yeah. If you EVER find yourself in California renting a car, pay the little extra for the convertible. So worth it. My husband totally knew how much this would make. my. day.

Here I am with my birthday Latte and my odd, not quite dry yet hair. 

We visited the Cottage Restaurant and it is a definite "can't miss" spot. 

We then went down to the cove to see the Sea Lions.

 It was so cute to see how the mamas took care of their babies.

 Plenty of Time for taking pictures! And look! My hair dried.

And putting our feet in the Pacific Ocean!

 More beautiful Sights!

One of my favorite "Sights" ever right there in the blue shirt

After spending a good bit of time in La Jolla, we drove to Encinitas. There we found a Whole Foods (we had to!) and picked up a picnic for our lunch later on the beach.

 The beach at Encinitas, CA

 I'm so glad I took this picture. We sat on this giant rock and shared a Prosciutto and Mozzarella Baguette Sandwich, Raspberries, a Peach and some Wine-- (yes in a plastic cup. We. are. classy.) Seeing this picture I can literally feel how relaxing our trip and how perfect our day was. Lance had done all this research ahead of time based on places we heard about and planned the entire day out. He was so very thoughtful and it all blessed me so much!

California Rocks.
No really, it does.

Then we drove to a bakery I really wanted to try, Elizabethan Desserts. It did not disappoint! The little place shared a parking lot with a Florist and garden center and was so cute!

We shared 1/2 dozen mini-cupcakes at a little table outside...
(and yes, we ate our way through the coast of California. I am not ashamed!)

 We honestly probably could have eaten more, but then it was back in the car for more driving.. this time we drove back to San Diego all along the coast. All in all, we were able to see Pacific Beach, Point Loma, La Jolla, Encinitas, Del Mar, Coronado (we spent a lot of time there!) and probably a few more I cannot remember. It was a year ago!

After a nice long rest in our hotel room, we headed over to Coronado Island for my Birthday Dinner (because more food was exactly what we needed!!) 

 *The view from our room*

 *Driving over the bridge at Sunset*

Lance and His 30-year old wife.

We ate dinner at a delicious Italian restaurant right on the bay which enabled us to watch the Fireworks over the water right from our table. A-MAZ-ING.

From start to finish, it was quite possibly the best birthday of my life. It almost topped my "7th Birthday-- Gala Fashion Show" (That was a good one, Mom.) In which I celebrated turning Seven by raiding my  dress-up stash with 9 of my closest friends and then making a hilariously embarrassing video in which we all display our hidden "talents." Classic. Add in some pizzas and a slumber party in which no one slumbered and everyone partied, and you have my 7th birthday in a nutshell.
That was really fun.

This was definitely right up with that one. Being able to scour the California coastline for the best food and baked goods, driving 20 minutes out of the way for a particular grocery store we loved, seeing parts of America I'd never seen-- and doing it all with my handsome husband. Oh yeah, and a convertible. 

It was a pretty awesome day. And, since I realized it had been almost a year and I never blogged about it-- I thought I better get on it!

Hope you enjoyed our Travel Journal!!!

Goodbye, Our Little Life!

When I started this blog almost SEVEN years ago, it was merely to serve as a centralized location for wedding info. 
Though the name (and the blog itself!) has changed several times, I have been "itching" to permanently change the name for a long time. 
One day I searched, "Our Little Life." and umpteen blogs came up. Every since then, my husband has patiently listened to me brainstorm name after name after name. He's been so supportive of my indecisiveness, bless his heart. 

I'm happy to report that this past weekend, while sitting in the Walmart parking lot in Eastman, Georgia (I kid not. My big breakthrough happened at Walmart. What are the odds?) on Friday night, this name just popped into my head and we knew it was the one. And honestly, it seems so obvious after the fact! I'm pretty sure I've even used the phrase, Happy Go Stuckey to refer to us more than once. But, oh well. There it is. We will henceforth be known as: 

Happy Go Stuckey

(yes for all 6 of you faithful readers, I know you are relieved.)

There will be definitely be a few more changes, some blog re-design and possibly even a permanent "move." Either way, I'm excited. 

Thank you to all of you who do read somewhat regularly. (Lance and Courtney and Mom.) Haha. Just Kidding. Sort of. 

Here we are, Excited.