Our Littlest Cow & 3 years of selling Chicken

We love Cow Appreciation Day around here... and in my personal {biased} opinion we have the cutest ever cow!

 She loves nuggets and fries! Good thing since we have access to quite a few of them :) 

 She had a tail... and never noticed it even once! 

 I'm a mean mom. Caroline seriously does LOVE "Moo Moo" just as long as she isn't being held by her. 

 See, we're good sitting beside Moo!

 Caroline as LOVES her Da Da... and she already knows going to Chick-fil-A means she gets to see Da Da. 

And 3 years ago today we opened our little Chick-fil-A. It seems like yesterday, and so so long ago at the same time... It has been a fun journey for sure, and I wouldn't trade it for anything because it is our story. Crazy most of the time, and unexpected, and tough too, but joyful and blessed. There is such peace knowing we are right where God has us for now.

We look so young! {And I still remember this moment - feeling overwhelmingly proud of my hubby and his hard work, and the kind of man he is!}

Happy 3 Years Chick-fil-A of Waynesboro! 

Our Little Cow's First Halloween!

We were very original for Halloween and decided Caroline would be a Cow... ha! It was an obvious choice for this Chick-fil-A Cow Loving family. Cliche or not, she was ADORABLE, and had a great first Halloween.

We were so glad Gram was here to celebrate Caroline's first Halloween! 

Our Little Cow Trick or Treated to see Baby David who was a Football {and 2 weeks old and PRECIOUS!}

 Next Halloween these two will be quite the pair running around and even more excited about Halloween.

 Little Cow also gave out lots of candy at our house with Gram. 

And Miss Cow went to visit Mrs Joyce who gave her a stuffed Tiger for Halloween. She is the greatest!

 Gavin was a Pirate and also pretty darn adorable!

 Little Miss Cow's loved playing with her two Caroline pumpkins while waiting for Trick or Treaters at the door. She got so excited to see all the other kids! 

 Cow on the Mooove! 

{ha! cheesy I know, but she is crawling and quite active these days! Baby proofing the house is in our very near future}

It was a GREAT 1st Halloween!

And this morning we quickly moved on to celebrating Thanksgiving... 

 Gram had a fun craft planned, and before she had to leave we painted Caroline's foot and hands to make a Turkey! 

 It is proudly hanging on our Fall Mantel in place of the word Boo. I painted legs on the turkey and added the words "Give Thanks". Great reminder of how thankful I am for my girl.

I am already excited for a Month of Thankfulness for my wonderful family. Thanks for a great craft-y morning Gram!

Chick-fil-A's Girls Night Out

I had the huge privilege of getting to run Chick-fil-A of Waynesboro's first Girls Night Out. It was SO much fun! I really do love, love, love getting to help create fun experiences for our community {especially the really girly kind!} through our business.

These are the kinds of events that my mom and her closest friends organized in their homes for me and my dear childhood friends as we grew up. Those events probably make up more of my kid memories than anything else. I truly feel blessed to get to do a tiny bit of that through Chick-fil-A.

I believe that there is something special about getting to have an evening out with just one parent doing anything out of the ordinary. Uninterupted Mommy-Daughter time is precious. I am learning that more and more as I watch my Caroline grow SO fast.

Here are a few photos from our evening:

My Girl! 

Girly decorations, menus, and flowers along with beads and string to make jewelry during dinner.

Princess cow with Tammy and her sweet daughter. She is a jewelry rep who brought tons of fun pieces of dress up jewels and hair pins for girls to wear.

We were also blessed to have two Mary Kay reps come and "make-over" girls with blush and lip gloss. I am a HUGE Mary Kay fan, and these girls were so great! 

Lots of fun, extra girly pictures for mommies and daughters to take home.

Yummy Chick-fil-A food delivered to tables... and a perfect girls night has to have dessert and we had the new DELICIOUS Chocolate chunk cookies and peach shakes!

Bonita's Salon braided hair and it was a big hit! 

Such a fun night, and I am already thinking of ideas for Girls Night round two!

a monday adventure

We bought a Cow Print trailer last week. Yup its a beauty and may or may not say "Honk if you love Chicken!". 

We are pretty excited about all the possibilities with this new "toy" for Jay. Lots of Chick-fil-A to be taken to people that don't normal make the trek to our restaurant because our county is pretty large. The only problem with this trailer was that is was in Gaffney, SC. Thats about 8 hours away in trailer pulling time. 

Lucky for us we were able to stay with family over the weekend {and see Gammy and Papa!} and then pick up our massive mini hotel room of a trailer on Monday.

We made the trek back to Waynesboro, VA with our Bella dog in the front seat, Jay driving of course, Caroline in her car seat {of course!), and me in the back seat entertaining her for a very, very loooong 8 hours. It usually take us about 5 1/2 to SC but pulling a cow trailer is a different story.

We made several stops to stretch and play and feed the little babe.... and to add more air to the tires and oil to the car. It was a little scary driving such a massive beast... Jay was a rock star though and did awesome!

Caroline, by the way, is the BEST 4 month old EVER. She really is such a trooper. We love our girl so much, and she truly is the PERFECT addition into our crazy life journey. {OH, and I must say, Bella is the ABSOLUTE BEST DOG EVER too. Man, she puts up with us very well!}

Caroline slept quite a bit, and we read books, and had a mini GiggleBellies youtube video marathon. And then we got about 20 miles from home and she decided to announce that she was officially DONE. The last little bit of the drive was a lot of baby screaming, and some of me singing "Rise and Shine" and "Old McDonald had a Farm" loudly over her to try and calm her down. Aside from that it was an exciting adventure!

We had close to 50 honks for others loving chicken, and lots of waves and thumbs up, and several people eating Chick-fil-A on the road holding up their cups as they drove by. We felt the love for sure!

Now to sell some chicken... and change that lettering to Chick-fil-A of Waynesboro... some how i got roped into that task....

This is a normal monday activity for other people isn't it? Nope, I didn't even think we were close to normal :)

simply trusting today.

It is so very sweet to find myself in a place of simply trusting my God.

That is what I am doing today. That is what I have had to do to make it through these last couple weeks. That is where I need to stay, always.

But for today, I am trusting because our little world is kinda hectic and confusing....

We own a Chick-fil-A. 

We are sinful people who are in relationships with other sinful people. 

We hurt one another and others hurt us. 

I have had SO many thoughts running through my mind and feelings in my heart since the "Chick-fil-A controversy". Here is what I know to be true of our family... 

We LOVE Jesus.

We really, deep down truly LOVE all people and feel most confident in our calling when we are serving others. No matter who they are, what they stand for, or what they believe. 

We feel called to, and LOVE owning a business that cares about its community. All members of its community. 

This morning, before my feet hit the floor, and while my sweet little girl was still sleeping, God led me to a devotion in "Dear Jesus" by Sarah Young. It was what I needed for the day that was ahead of me. 

"If you learn to trust Me - really trust Me - with your whole being, then nothing can separate you from My Peace. Everything you endure can be put to good use by allowing it to train you in trusting Me. This is how you foil the works of evil, growing in grace through the very adversity that was meant to harm you.

Beloved, it helps to have an eternal perspective. A large part of learning to trust Me is viewing your life through this big picture perspective. Your openness to accepting adversity as blessing shows that you are indeed learning to trust Me more. Your anticipation of good outcomes in the midst of hard times is a profound form of trust."

I am asking for the Lord's strength and Peace as I am able to only trust Him today. Strength to face adversity and remain true to Him. Strength to love like He loves. Strength to shine His light. And you know what, I have felt filled with His Peace. 

Today, we have had one of our busiest days ever at Chick-fil-A of Waynesboro. We have been blessed by the support of people who eat with us regularly, and those who came for the first time. We are thankful for the stand they are taking for what they believe in. That is what is great about living in America. You have the ability to support or not support whatever you decide. 

"The People who know their God will display Strength and take Action."

- Daniel 11:32

Jay and I have received strength from hugs and texts and calls and emails from close friends simply saying that were praying for strength for us. Thank you. 

Now, we are ready to get back to selling chicken and loving people. That is what we do best. And I can say without a doubt that I CANNOT IMAGINE what it feels like to be in politics. Whew! {Then again I guess it would require an even bigger amount of trust in the Lord, and maybe that is exactly what we need?}

This particular day is only part of a season in our lives, but trusting the Lord with our family and extended family, and our home, and our relationships is a goal for forever... as is loving others and serving them.

My prayer for Caroline today is that Jay and I are able to live out, through adversity, what a life of trust in the Lord looks like, and that she would grow to understand at an early age the Peace that comes from true trust in her heavenly Father. 

A BIG 1st for Miss Caroline!

Chick-fil-A's Cow Appreciation Day is always a BIG day at our house, but it was even bigger this year because it was Caroline's first time really meeting the Chick-fil-A Cow!!

She has "seen" him around Chick-fil-A before, but it was her first real interaction. It was great! She wasn't scared in the least and loved every minute of hanging out at Chick-fil-A. She was a real trooper and handled being passed around and photographed all day like a champ!

We met Little Boy Kid Cow & Little Girl Kid Cow

Gram found this awesome Cow onsie for Miss C before she was born... Its a newborn size, but we squeezed our chubby legs into there just fine :) 

This was the greatest Cow costume! There were about 10 people making up this huge beast... awesome!

Some of Caroline's Chick-fil-A Friends... Mrs Joyce & Miss Taylor

And Miss Bethany!

More Chick-fil-A friends... Mrs Rachel & her adorable kiddos. Rachel Made their Cow shirts! Great inspiration for future Cow Appreciation days

Family Photos! 

AND BEST OF ALL: They Cow even achieved a cute Caroline smile on camera. C smiles plenty, just usually not on camera. This was a perfect first cow moment!