Accountability

Lord please let me be someone who is accountable not only for my own actions but for those who look up to me for guidance! Help me to be reliable, to be trustworthy, to be loving and compassionate... all the things I look for in someone who holds ME accountable Lord. Help me to set a good example daily for those who look to me for Your TRUTH and to guide them solely to YOU. May Your will be done in my life and may Your name be glorified forever... Amen

Praise the Lord!!!!

I was believing in faith that Laura and Maddy would be perfectly fine and last night they sent her home from the hospital!!!! She ended up having a tiny tear in her sac which caused her to leak but it healed itself! Praise the Lord for watching out for them!!!!!  God is so good!

and we'll be a dancing generation... dancing because of your great glory Lord....

SO yay!  Kyley's grandma and I have been throwing around the idea of putting her in dance for a few weeks now... and we've talked to a few different people and decided on a great class for her... it's a ballet and tap class with 2 other girls in it for now, the lady who teaches it goes to church with grandma and her helper is a girl I know through some of our celebrate recovery kids... and the best part... it's a praise dance class! They only use christian music, and pray before class! I'm so excited for Kyley!

Pray for Laura and Maddy!

For those of you who don't already know...

One of my best friends Laura, she's 21 weeks pregnant today and yesterday was admitted to the hospital because she thought she was leaking amniotic fluid and 2 tests at the dr office came back positive that she was.  So she's been in the hospital all night and all day today. Please pray for her and little Maddy.

Last I heard they were talking of doing an amnio and injecting some blue dye into her uterus to dye the amniotic fluid so they could tell how much she was losing.  But tonight there is some talk of her going home, so who knows...

anyhow, just pray that God's will be done and that He'll be with Laura and their family through this time!

thanks guys!!

yay! it arrived!!!

ok so I"m a dork :) there will be better pics later, but this is all you get for now :)

Rain rain go away... come again some other day!

I feel horrible for not updating all weekend. It has been an extremely long weekend and VERY rainy!

Friday night we had Celebrate Recovery- it was great :) I love our kids so much and they always teach me something new every week!  After that we hung out with Will and Angie at their house... annnddddd Isaac pulled up on the carseat! It was his first time to pull up on something to standing! yay for lil Isaac!!!!!

Saturday morning, we went bowling with our childrens ministry. Fergie and Daisy were there and the kids had a blast . For those that don't know, Fergie and Daisy are characters from our childrens church that occassionally visit the kids. Everyone looked at us like we were crazy when they walked by, but they had fun!!!

Meet Fergie :

And now Meet Daisy! :



And a few of Kyley bowling... :



After bowling, Derek, the kids and I went to the mall- we had lunch and just walked around for a while to kill some time before the KFC meeting that afternoon... and while we were there we ran into Jan, Marlon, and Jalon! I can't believe how big Jalon has gotten!!!! It won't be long and all of our boys are going to be running around playing together and it's going to be so awesome!!!

As we were leaving the mall, on our way to the bookstore, Abi calls me and says she's at the mall with the youth group LOL so we just missed her, but when she was done, she met us at the bookstore to hang out! Or course before she got there, I sat down in the chair to nurse E and fell asleep while Derek read and Kyley played with the Thomas the Train stuff.  \

Keep in mind, through all of this, we are lugging kids in and out of pouring cold rain from Tropical Storm Faye!

Anyhow, on to the childrens church meeting and had dinner at my moms- overall a tiring day!

Sunday was church, lunch at Derek's moms, play auditions for the Christmas play and home for the evening before Derek brought over the new couch so lots of cleaning.

anddddd It's still raining...

Monday was fun- I woke up early and took the kids down to mom's because we don't have cable and I wanted to keep an eye on the weather... that morning a total of 7 tornado warnings were counted here and it continued to rain... it finally slacked off in the evening and thank goodness no real tornados were spotted!

I'm thankful for the rain- as I love rainy weather but I also dislike it when it gets bad and is unpredictable, especially not having cable to be able to keep up with the storms.

Which leads me to today- overall a good day! I enjoyed relaxing with the kids and all and not worrying about the weather and hopefully tomorrow will be just as good!

And in case you were wondering... my package STILL isn't here- but it should be tomorrow, I finally got a tracking number on it and it is on its way! I'm guessing since it shipped from Gainsville, FL it was delayed from the hurricane, which I can live with :)  So yay for getting it tomorrow!!!!

I guess that's enough updates for now... hope everyone is having a great week! God bless!

Elijah's first Cereal!

Monday night I gave Elijah his first cereal! He loved it and then he was mad when I stopped feeding him! We're still not feeding him a lot of solids because he's tiny and breast milk has way more calories than any baby cereal/food can compare with so for now we're taking it slow and just letting him experiment with the new texture of cereal for a while at a very slow pace until we feel he's ready to move on.  Anyhow, here are some pics!

Great food & Great fellowship!

Last night we hung out with some of our bestest friends and we had a great time! The group consisted of Me, Derk, Ky, Elijah, Will, Angie, Isaac , Abigail, and Greg and Renee.  We had a great time at dinner, and the food was wonderful as always! We love san marcos and anytime we have friends from out of town here we like to go there.  Everyone had a great time and then we went to Will and Angie's to hang out with Greg and Renee for a few minutes before they went to bed as they were leaving at 600 am this morning!

It was so great to hang out with friends over a good meal and just enjoy the company! God has blessed us with some incredible people in our lives and we love them dearly!  Pics to come later- I'm uploading them from my camera to the computer now!

UPDATE WITH PICS :)

I feel like a kid waiting for christmas....

I'm patiently awaiting the arrival of my new mei tai- and I'm stoked to get it. But I feel like such a kid at christmas... the mailman came and went today with nothing but a medical bill *sigh* and I'm so dissappointed!  It should be here tomorrow then but I was hoping to get to use it tonight ...

Ok enough of my pity party LOL

Tonight we have plans to go to San Marcos with friends- Greg and Renee are in town and they've never met Elijah and I haven't seen Greg in over a year nor ever met his wife Renee (the rest of the crew went down for the wedding but I was just 2 weeks after having a baby decided not to make that trip)   Anyhow we're extremely excited to hang out w/ them tonight and have a good dinner with friends! yay!

Whiney and Clingy

Both of my kids are under the weather- Elijah still has a cough, and isn't sleeping great, doubled with what I think is teething and Kyley just today presented a horrible cough , hoarse voice, sore throat and is just all around crabby. Needless to say, I've gotten almost nothing done today- whats new right?

How often are we like this with God though?  How often do we whine and complain to Him about the horrible things life has dealt us?   God is so faithful in remembering His love for us though even in those moments.  But also, how often do we just express our "need" for Him... just Him nothing but Him... not what He can do for us, but His presence?   Kyley this afternoon has only wanted to lay in my lap... How often do we just climb up in His lap and say Lord, I need you to hold me and that's all.

Thank you Lord for allowing us to "need" You and for being there for us no matter what our attitudes are like! We are helpless babes in a world full of sickness and sin and You are the one true Healer!

What a fun day!!!

Sooo... Elijah has hit the 4 month sleep regression- OH JOY! Last night he was up every hour and a half to two hours wanting to nurse. Needless to say, by the time I got up I was tired... and I did NOT want to go about my day yesterday, but I'm so glad I did!

First it was off to church- which was great! Pastor Chad taught on "core values" and what it  means to do the right thing for the right reason. This included not "flaunting" the things you do, but doing them in secret : i.e. praying, fasting, giving etc.  Good Word!  and the fellowship and worship was great! I just love to worship in the Spirit with my church family- God is amazing!

After church, we headed to the inlaws for lunch- and we watched the first half of "Nim's Island" . I have to say, that I will definately be finishing that movie next week. I was sucked in that is for sure LOL Of course, having to leave right at the major climax didn't help!

After lunch and half a movie it was off to our pastor's son's birthday party! Happy First Birthday Casen Bryce!!!! The kids had  a blast :) Casen loved his Elmo cake- and the older kids went swimming and complained when it was time to go! Kyley got in the truck exclaiming "MOMMY I swam to the stairs all by myself with no body helping me!!!"  She had arm floaties on, but she was so proud!  I'm so proud of my big girl because before our trip to Huntsville a few weeks ago, she wouldn't get off the steps, even with anone holding her and now she's swimming on her own with her floaties!



After the party, it was back to the church for our husband's small group, so I got some good fellowship time in with Angelica :) I love getting quality time to spend with my friends- life is so busy that sometimes it's hard to find time to catch up so I had a blast, and I thank God for that precious time!

As a special treat, we then took Kyley to SNO BIZ!!!! We had a great time of fellowship there as well... it was our family, with Will, Angie, Isaac, Tina, Elizabeth and Brandon (Dyno) and we had a great time!  Best laugh of the day was Derek and William were tasting each others snow cones, then Kyley tasted Dereks, then when William wasn't looking, Kyley reached over and got her a spoon ful of his and tried to hide it from him while she ate it :) TOO CUTE!  Isaac loved his sno biz! I'm sure he'll have many more in the years to come LOL

And as if that wasn't enough of a day :  Back to the church for hispanic service! Yay! This is the second week we've attended, and I'm proud to say that I understood more this week than last, and I have a feeling it can only get better from here! I love the culture, the language and just these people overall, and the best way to find myself understanding the language better is to submurge myself in it in situations like this.  Sometimes I feel like a big goof, but that is just the enemy telling me that this isn't important. But this is... it is a passion of mine to be fluent in spanish and be able to minister to the people of this culture whether it be in our country or a hispanic country- we'll see where God leads me!  And my wonderful husband, who has a hard time with languages is learning! I'm so proud of him, he is picking up on things quick and figuring them out on his own!

After a trip to the grocery store- a trip by Amy and Mikeys and nana and pa's to drop off some milk and we finally made it home after a long day!

God is amazing- my day started off with me being grumpy and not in the mood to do ANYTHING and then He gave me the strength to make it through it all without complaining! I even stayed awake all day with little to no effort to do so which is a feat seeing as how tired I was... Thank you Lord for allowing me to have a great day despite everything that could have got me down!  Gloria a Dios!

Workin Hard :)

Today is the first Saturday we've had off for a while- soooo we're working hard!  Elijah and I just finished cutting the front yard and now we're taking a much needed break, that wore mommy out! I wore Elijah in his front carrier while I cut and he loved being outside!  Now we're resting so we can do some cleaning in a few minutes!  Daddy is trimming weeds and Kyley was pulling the weeds from our steps and watching mommy and daddy do other things.  Later we've told Kyley she can play in the water hose- FUN ! I'll try to add pictures later!

On other notes- Elijah is now reaching for EVERYTHING and Kyley has the nasty chest cold that the rest of us have had all week! Oh JOY!

EDITED TO ADD PICS FINALLY!

Updates :)

So everyone is finally feeling better! Elijah still has a small cough but hey, it's on the mend, so I'm happy!!!

On other news- Elijah can now grab his feet! and he opens his mouth when you tell him to give you kisses :) it's just the sweetest thing!

Kyley is growing up way too fast and she loves Elijah so much! she loves being a big sister and I can't wait to watch the two grow up together!

Derek is doing well- He got a raise this week! Praise the Lord!

God has been so good to our family and I just cannot praise Him enough for His goodness!

Suffering...

Oh how much it sucks to know the suffering of your child.  Elijah has a chest cold and he is miserable.  His poor little lungs are full of mucous that is finally breaking up, but he's having a hard time sleeping from coughing so much and he's hoarse from his throat hurting from coughing. My poor little boy.

This can only give me a small glimpse into what God must have felt when Jesus was on the cross-  He watched His Son endure so much pain and suffering and there was nothing He could do about it, for it must be done.

Lord, may we never take for granted the Gift that You have given us in Your Son Jesus! May we always look to His life, death and ressurrection with awe and thanksgiving for the amazing thing He did.

If it's not one thing...

it's another!

Last week, all of us had the stomach bug... this week... head and chest colds *sigh*  Elijah woke up the past two mornings snorting as he nursed because his nose was getting stuffy- and today he woke up coughing with congestion in his chest. Derek and I both have the sinus thing going... so far so good with Kyley though.

But God is faithful anyhow, and I know that good will come!

What is your but?

Last night at Celebrate Recovery, we talked about worship... what does it mean to worship God?

a few answers we recieved were :

You loving on Jesus and letting Jesus love on you (a personal favorite of mine) , and praising Him...

Is that all it is though? Praising Him?

We should worship God not only through song, but through actions and attitude as well-  I like to think of worship as a lifestyle, not just one thing you do for God.

So while we were talking, we came to the conclusion that true worship would include giving ALL of your life to God.  But we all know how hard that can be!

So my question to you and what we posed to the kids last night, is what is your but?

Lord, I'll give you all of my life but.... (insert something hard to give up here)

For me, my biggest "but" is God I'm giving you all of my life but I can't get past the things in my past that have hurt me or made me doubt who You are in my life...

Emotionally, I've been through a heck of a lot in the past few months-and God has blessed me greatly but I still harbor hard feelings for some of the moments I missed out on. Most importantly I have a hard time understanding why as a mother  I missed one of the most important moments in my life... When my little boy was born I couldn't see him because I was almost blind.  What should have been one of the happiest moments of my life, turned into one of despair for me... I cannot understand why that moment was taken away from me. I developed severe cataracts pretty rapidly at the end of my pregnancy, and because of that I wasn't able to see my little boy and my sweet Kyley again until Elijah was 7 weeks old.

Thing is, I know that God is faithful, I just have a hard time surrendering that doubt and despair in my life to Him...

Lord, help me to be more like You- to know that Your will is perfect and that You will put nothing more on me than I can bear! Lord, help me to surrender my feelings to You and become at peace with the things life brings my way because YOU are always on my side!

Getting better-

*whew* will I be glad when all this sickness passes over us!  So far, Kyley, Derek and I have all been sick- and Praise the Lord Elijah hasn't because I don't know how I would've dealt with that! Kyley and Daddy are feeling better, but mommy's tummy isn't great just yet. I do feel better than I have- but still a "soreness" in my tummy feeling kinda weird still.  I have ate some today and been taking in lots of liquid to keep my milk supply up. Hopefully it's all on the mend though and we'll all be back to normal soon!

4 month pedi appt!

So yesterday (8-5) Elijah had his 4 month pedi appt! Everything looks great, he's hitting all his milestones and his stats are as follows...

Weight :  11 lb 2 oz

Height :  23 1/2 inches

Head Circumference:  16 1/2 inches

Dr Trumbull suggested some sleep training (not happening) and to start solids (we'll see if he's ready in a few weeks but taking it slow for now as he doesn't seem too interested.)

Anyhow so everything looks great..... and......

today Elijah rolled over from his back to his tummy all the way by himself! No getting stuck on his arm and just staying on his side! I'm in for it now!

Why we need a bigger house...

So the past 24 hours have been trying to say the least... During some point of the past 24 hours Derek, Kyley and I have all had some sort of stomach bug... and we only have one bathroom LOL

Luckily Kyley was feeling better before Derek or I got sick- so that helped, but we awoke this morning to Daddy sleeping in the bathroom floor and Kyley and I both had to peeeeeeeee LOL (sorry for the TMI)

Anyhow, as the evening fades away, we're all feeling a bit better- not great, but better :)  Hopefully tomorrow brings an even better day!

4 months and counting...

So yesterday, Elijah officially turned 4 months old! Where has time gone? Tomorrow is his well visit and I can't wait to see how much he weighs...

I have to say though that I'm a bit nervous- I love our pedi but in the past because Elijah is on the small side, he's pushed me to supplement with formula.  I have prayed about it and feel at peace with the decision to not supplement and continue nursing him exclusively for now.  Funny thing is, I'm not worried about Elijah, I know he's healthy- it's the confrontation with the pedi about why I didn't follow his advice that I'm concerned about. I really like our pedi and I respect him as a doctor. In every other thing we've had to see him for I've been 100% behind him- but this one thing I just cannot get over.  Why do we let dr's make us feel so inferior to them? I mean sure they've been to school to do what they do- but I've fully researched to make my decision on whether to supplement or not.  *sigh* I wish having kids and life in general wasn't so complicated LOL  anyhow- on to Elijah :) He's growing so fast and I cannot wait to see him grow even more over there next few months!  Here is a pic I took of him last night- Happy 4 months little man!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="360" caption="Elijah 4 months!!"][/caption]

5 years...

5 years ago yesterday, I married the man that I call my husband, my soul mate, the father of my children, my love. I remember that day like it was yesterday- I was so calm until it got time to walk down the isle... I didn't even get in the doors of the sanctuary before I was bawling because I was so blessed to be able to enter into a marriage with Christ as our ROCK with my one true love.  I'll never forget how nervous Derek was, holding my hand so tightly that I couldn't feel it anymore. But what an amazing experience... to become one with your Creator, and your soul mate all at once- to be joined together for life to work as a team, minister as a team and love each other as you are one. 5 years later, and we have 2 beautiful kids- that I adore- and I couldn't be happier with my little family! Derek- I love you and I hope that these have been the best five years of your life!!!!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="324" caption="My wonderful husband! Happy Anniversary!"][/caption]

What a great end to the day!

After a long night with not much sleep, and a long day of kids kids and more kids... I had a great time at Celebrate Recovery tonight with our teens!  Will taught tonight on the importance of discipleship and in small group we talked about self discipline and even correction from others... it was a great change of pace from the chaoticness of my day LOL and afterwards Derek, the kids and I, and Will, Angie, Isaac, Abigail, Serennah, and Hannah went out for milkshakes!!! Thank you Jesus for letting at least part of my day not being chaotic! YES!

So much for the end in sight...

My poor babies... neither of them slept well last night- so much to the end of a long day :( But today, I am awake with renewed energy and am excited about what God is going to do at Celebrate Recovery tonight!   And amazed at how God allowed me to be there for someone when I typically wouldn't have been able to. Thank you Jesus!