Starfish

I was reading in my Today's Christian Woman's magazine this afternoon about a woman who has a beach ministry. Her theme is a starfish. If a starfish is broken, it can be healed or put back together when thrown into the ocean. She equates her own life to the starfish. When she was broken and needed healing in her life, she was "fixed" when she threw herself into God's Word. He made her whole again, just as the starfish is made whole when put back into the ocean.

I loved how she made this analogy as I know in my own life I have been broken many times and have needed God when noone else was around, when noone else could come close to knowing how to help me or what to say. I have been the starfish on too many occasions in my life to even begin to count. I just can't tell you how thankful that I am that God loves me that much. I'm not perfect...far from it as a matter of fact, but I know that each day I am loved by God.

I truly have learned over my life to rest in His grace and in His love. I have learned to look in the mirror and say that "I am fearfully and wonderfully made." I know that I am special to Him. I pray that I can only but influence every woman I meet to be able to say the same thing about themself in the mirror. We are loved far more than we could ever imagine.

My goal in life? That the "Lord direct my heart into God's love and Christ's perseverance." II Thess 3:5

In Jesus Name we Pray....

Just a cute little Reid story that I had to share with you all.

Last night while I was preparing dinner, Reid and Cole were at each other's throats. They were constantly fighting, arguing, whining, etc. Not a normal day for sure. At any rate, once we all sat down to eat, Bry began to pray. He thanked God for the food, etc. Then he said, "Please help the boys not to be so...." He then paused searching for the right word. Before he could finish, Reid with his eyes closed and head bowed said softly: "obnoxious!" We both started laughing so hard. That is exactly what Bry wanted to say, but paused as he knew that wasn't the right thing to say.

Out of the mouths of babes....

We love you Adeline....

My boys just wanted to let everyone know that they love Adeline and are sad she is so far away. They can't wait to see her next month though. They both said that they will still pray for her every night even if they don't see her every week.

Seriously, love these kiddos.

Though it's hard to let you go....

in the Father's Hands we know...That a lifetime's not too long, to live as Friends!

Yes, that is from the ancient old Michael W Smith song "Friends." Why the title? Well, me and some girlfriends were at dinner on Friday night sending one of our dear friends off before she moved today. And on the way home...of ALL songs, this was the one playing on the radio. Goodness, I don't think I have teared up at this song since I was in like Junior High when it first came out! But yes, between the laughing at the irony of this song coming on at that very moment, there were tears in my eyes.

I just had to write a little bit about Stephanie, who is moving as I type this Blog. As I mentioned in my post on "Heaven's Embrace," I have been blessed with a wonderful group of friends. The ladies at this table are rare finds. Each friendship is God ordained and I am so grateful. As Stephanie looked at the table that night, her eyes filled up with tears as she began to tell us how much we all meant to her. She made the comment that her leaving does not mean that this is over, that the friendship ends, that the closeness is any less close. She also commented that she will not settle for any type of less friendship in her new town, than what she found at that table.

As I thought about that, I thought about how God is truly going to bless some ladies in San Marcus with the gift of her. What we have learned together about friendships is something that we can all take away with us in our daily lives and give to others. Friendship is truly one of the greatest blessings of life. Little did I know when praying through a theme for our Women's Retreat this year: Heaven's Embrace--Celebrating the Essence of Friendship...how much that would empact me this year. And then our theme verse is Ruth 1:16-17.

I have been challenged by Steph in so many ways. The biggest way being to always remember my purpose in life. It's easy to get caught up in the rat race of this life and forget why we were put her in the first place. My purpose? To be the best wife and mom I can be. To be the Proverbs 31 Woman. To seek after God every day of my life. And Steph has taught me in so many ways to remember that and focus on that.

Steph, I will miss our families getting together every other week and having dinner and then brownies and ice cream. I am going to miss our times at the Wiggles Center. I will miss snuggling with sweet Adam and Adeline. I will so miss my boys playing with Adeline and fighting for her attention. I will simply miss seeing your face, seeing your smile and feeling your heart from week to week. But I know that God has a GREAT plan for you my friend.

So, as we send her off to the next adventure for her and her family, we are left with her deeply engrained in our hearts forever. I am so excited to see the ministry that God is going to give them. In some weird way, I feel like we sent them off to the mission field! BTW...you can see what God has been doing in her life by clicking on her blog page on the right (Shane/Steph).

So, thanks to all my friends who have taught me so much. I don't take any of you for granted.

We love you guys. We'll see you soon.

Can I walk?

Well, my sweet Ella has been able to stand on her own now for a couple of months actually, but just doesn't really show the desire to walk. Well, that was until last week, we were at the Wiggles Center with her friend Adam. Little Adam is 2 weeks younger than her (to the date) and he has started to walk. You know, that cute little walk where they are so wabbly?? Anyway, little Ella saw Adam walking and decided that she was going to do the same. She literally got up and started walking. Stephanie and I were freaking out! We couldn't believe how she just got up and started walking. Well, as you can imagine, I was very excited!!!! I couldn't wait to show her off to Daddy later that night.

After Daddy got home, I immediately put Ella down to walk and she did. We all cheered (her brothers cheering the loudest). She was pretty proud of her achievement.

Well now friends...don't get too excited. The very next day, she QUIT! Yelp, that's right! She quit. Adam was gone...noone to show off for or compete with. So, we are back to square one! Silly little girl. But then again, why walk? Her big brothers bring her everything she needs and pampers her. No need to exert the extra energy!

The Joy of Laundry

Oh yes, the joys of doing laundry. And with a family of 5, I am sure to be doing at least 1-2 loads a day. Such a dull, boring job. But my dull world of laundry has been painted full of color this week!!! Let me just tell you that I am LOVING doing laundry this week. Why you ask? Well....we purchased front loaders this week! If you don't have them, you may not want to read the rest of this blog, because it's going to make you want them. I can't tell you how much joy my LG Wild Cherry Red washer/dryer in my sunshine yellow room has brought me this week. When they tell you that you can get more done in fewer loads, they weren't kidding.

We ordered them last week and they didn't come till this week. So from Thursday of last week up till yesterday, I boycotted doing laundry. Poor Bry had to do a couple of loads on Sunday so he would have something to wear. I felt really bad about that. But I was determined to wait until I got my new machines to do laundry. I was going to put them to the test! And let's just say, they have passed with flying colors!!! It's truly unbelievable how much stuff you can cram in them and then I really think they come out cleaner than ever! Not to mention how quiet they are. They are so quiet when running. I LOVE them! I just had to tell you all. Now, I am way caught up on laundry and am sad that I don't have any to do. Man, I never thought I would say that! Seriously, who asks for more laundry to do???

I will say this...as I was starring at them yesterday watching them wash and dry my clothes (I know, I'm a nerd), I started thinking. I felt a little selfish and spoiled as I know there are so many that don't have all that we have been blessed with. I began thinking about the victums of the tornado 2 months ago and those that lost everything (including loved ones) and it honestly humbled me and I just began praying thanksgiving to God for how He has blessed me far more than I could ever have imagined or far more than I deserve. I will be forever grateful to Him. I pray that I will always remain humble and grateful for all that I have and never take advantage of the blessings in my life.

Learning to stand on own

Well....since Ella has turned 1, she is learning to stand on her own and trying so hard to walk. She can be sitting in the middle of the floor and then stand up on her own. When she does, she will do a little dance, clap her hands, and have the biggest smile on her face. She is definitely proud of herself. Of course, if we cheer, she will do over and over again. Last week, she took her very first 4 steps. She really is trying hard to walk, but we aren't there yet. When she stands up, her brothers are sooooo excited. They will yell...."Mommy, Ella is standing up!" I know that they can't wait till she's walking so that she can play with them even more. They simply adore their sister. She is the only person that they allow to steal their sippy cups, blankets, bears, and snacks. We'll keep you posted on her walking.

Bunny Rabbit and Sno Cone

So, my friends are telling me that I am supposed to share funny stories about my kiddos on the blog. Obviously with 3 kids, there are plenty of those to go around. But here are 2 that are my current favorites.

Cole is definitely my snuggly child. When he wakes in the morning, he is ready to snuggle with Mommy or Daddy for a bit before getting his day started. He will even crawl into bed with us and just lay there for quite some time. Man, don't we wish all of our kids would do that?? Anyway, I was snuggling with Cole the other day and I looked at him and said: "Cole, you are Mommy's Snuggle Bunny!" He looked at me and said: "Mommy, I not a bunny rabbit!" It's always amazing how their little minds think. I just smiled and said, no you aren't a bunny rabbit, but you are still my snuggle bunny because you like to snuggle with Mommy. So now, he will crawl into my lap and say: "Mommy, I your bunny rabbit!" Snuggle bunny or bunny rabbit...I'll take either one from this sweet boy.

Reid and Cole got to enjoy their first sno cone ever tonight after Bry's softball game. After the game in which they lost pretty bad, Bry told the boys that we were going to sno cones. They cheered and then looked at him and said: "Daddy, what's a sno cone??" We tried to explain, but just couldn't put it into words. Reid of course wanted the colorful one in which he didn't like. Cole just took whatever we gave him and he enjoyed it. And Ella? Oh yes, she was eating every bite we would give her. Overall, not Reid's favorite. Cole and Ella could take it or leave it. Mom and Dad?? Well, we liked our's!

4th of July

I just thought I would share a few pictures of the kiddos from 4th of July weekend. The boys think that 4th of July is a time to go to friends house and eat yummy treats, play with friends and see the fireworks. I'm sure that one day soon, Daddy will make sure they know the reason we celebrate our freedom.

Last year, Reid was deathly afraid of the fireworks, this year, whether or not he was afraid, his friends weren't, so he wasn't. Everytime (and I mean EVERYTIME) a firework went off, the kids laughed out LOUD and yelled with sheer delight. That makes the late night so worth it.