I have been a mother for eight and a half years, yet today I felt it stronger than ever:  I still don't have this thing down. The hard thing about parenting is it is more dynamic than the moon. Yes, I do have QUITE SOME experience as a mother...BUT, I have never parented an eight and a half year old before.  I find myself in totally new territory every single morning.  I HAVE parented a six year old before, but never one who was a second child, one who was both a little sister and big sister. Read More

Born:  September 5th, 2012 at somewhere around 10:45 PM Weight:  7 lbs. 14 ounces Height:  19 inches Read More

The one and only Christine Hoover asked me to write a guest post on her blog for ministry wives, Grace Covers Me.  This is  what I came up with: I had only been married and in ministry for a total of 4 weeks when our senior pastor told us we were going to our first ministry conference. I remember feeling like I was faking it or something;  I had barely started at this new role…was I really in need of a conference to “revive my weary spirit?” The conference ended up being a great way for us to Read More

I have had the opportunity recently to write some guest posts on an amazing blog for ministry wives, Grace Covers Me. I thought I'd share the post: I am a pastor’s wife.  When asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, there were a lot of things on my list.  There was one thing, however, that I did NOT want to be and that was….(I’ll give you one guess)… a pastor’s wife. I’m not sure how it happened exactly, which (I know what you’re thinking) is completely naïve and foolish, but one minute I Read More

To our family who have become friends and our friends who have become family, Happy New Year!  We, at the Garman home, had quite the exciting year.  It all began on January 6th when I (Annie) locked myself in a men’s bathroom at Rite-Aid pharmacy so that I could take a quick pregnancy test on the way to Urgent Care (someone had just vomited in the women’s bathroom).  The nasty virus I thought I had turned out to be a zygote and we soon found out another female would be added to our repertoire Read More

OH yes...I believe it was sometime last summer.  We had just moved and I was in my last trimester, getting ready to have a new baby. Enough said. I haven't blogged for over six months, which has been the longest blogging break I've ever taken (since starting in 2008).  The last half year has been pretty wild, and I really have had little desire for anything other than sleep.  I can feel myself slowly coming out of the baby haze as we start to sleep through the night more consistently and the Read More

I'm sitting in an empty, quiet house while my husband is in Pennsylvania with our three girls. I hesitate to tell you this, lest you succumb to unhealthy, ungodly jealousy, but I guess I'll take the risk for the sake of setting up the scene. We bought a house two and a half months ago and almost every waking moment since then has been spent unpacking, shopping, organizing, re-organizing, and painting.  My husband has been working so tirelessly that I have started juicing vegetables and making Read More

Honestly. It's as though everyone has the same, universal cue card they read from upon finding out we're expecting our fourth girl. It doesn't matter if it's someone in an elevator, at the doctor's office, at the library, or in line at Wal-Mart.  The responses are all versions of one of the following: 1.  "Your poor husband..." 2.  "Good luck with four weddings." 3.  {Head shaking back and forth, apologetically} "Wow..." 4.  "Get a shot gun now."  (I'm hoping this one is referencing a Read More