Happy FIRST birthday Asher!

Man, this day seems like it shouldn't be here yet!

*this post contains never before seen pictures, enjoy!*


Just minutes old. Man I can't believe how amazing that was.

Asher, on your first birthday, I want you to know you are LOVED.

This past year has been a whirlwind, but has been absolutely amazing having you in it with us.

You are 20.1 lbs now. 


Meeting Kyley for the first time. She held you even before Daddy really got to because she insisted she was first haha

 You wear 12-18 month clothes, a size 3 diaper, and some size 4, Moving up when we finish this last pack of 3's


Meeting Elijah for the first time.

You love to dance, and music makes you happy.

You are walking everywhere now. You can stand up on your own in the middle of the room.  You crawl a lot still but are choosing to walk more and more as days go by. I'd say as of today you walk about 50 % of the places you want to go, sometimes more. 
 
  You love to 'blow kisses' which actually means you click your tongue and then you say awww.  SO CUTE!

Mama and Dada are still your favorite words.

Just this week you got a 3rd tooth! Your top right tooth came in on Tuesday.
 
Also new this week: sleeping through the night! yay!


You still love to play with the box of blocks. You usually get two of them and carry them around banging them together. This makes you giggle.


Of course Kyley and Elijah still make you giggle more than anything else.

Another new thing this week, you are learning to get OFF of things by yourself by scooting off backwards!


Asher, you have such a fun, cute personality. You love people, and you will grin huge for almost anyone who pays you attention. And you certainly know how to melt your mommy's heart with that smile.  You also love to snuggle.

You LOVE to eat. Food has to be one of your favorites right now. Boy do I have my hands full when you and your brother are teenagers.  Thankfully you aren't very picky. You'll eat pretty much anything I offer you.


Asher, we are so blessed to have you as our son. I love you more than words can say. Happy 1st Birthday little man.  


And with that... I leave you all with this:

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Beware the Ides of March.

I apparently broke his little heart today.



Poor kid, I just gave him a cupcake.

Finding our place

Ever feel like you have no idea where you fit in?  Boy do I feel that way often. 

I want to share a few experiences with you all and encourage you today.

Kyley attends dance class at a local church, it's a praise dance class, and as far as I am aware every child in the class is homeschooled.

We absolutely love it there, it's our 4th year with this teacher and we love her so much.

The first year, it was a small group of girls, and the mom's were all pretty close, also keeping in mind most of our kids hadn't started school yet, or had just started and were in private schools mostly.  

Move on to second year, A lot more homeschool kids joined, and me, at the time wanting to send Kyley to school, I felt very out of place most weeks.  I know they weren't excluding me, it just seemed like WHOA this is a whole new playing field to me.

Last year was a blur.  Started homeschooling, Had a baby. you know, typical my life is crazy stuff.

So what I really want to share with you is my experience this year with the other mom's in the group.

I tend to like to talk to all of them, but I'm very intimidated.   You see... (and you guys know you've known these people so don't look at me like I'm crazy)  there are several "super mom" s in the group and many for many different reasons.

You've got:

a.  the mama who is so softspoken with her kids and gentle, and I adore her. She is always encouraging her kids to think about what they should do as a child who is Christ-like and steers them in the right direction.   Ya'll I'm jealous. Why can't parenting and disciplining be that easy for me?   I struggle. But more on that later...

b.  the crafty mama, every week there's a new project or something of the sort, and she has such fun ideas. love her too, (annnnd you can follow her blog if you'd like, hope you don't mind me sharing Jen). Eek I only WISH I had a tenth of an ounce of creativity and fun as she has. <---- jealous here too.

c. the party mom. this mom is always on top of things and throws a great party. Seriously, for every party we've ever had she is on it. Decorations, cute little bags for the kids, whatever.  Under achiever over here does good to remember to pick up whatever it is I have to bring on the way to the class. Once again, Jealous.

d. well prepared mom.   this mama always has fun toys for her kids to play with while they wait, and is always in the floor playing with them and teaching them something.  I always fail to make sure Elijah has something to play with. It never fails. (thankfully he loves Isaiah enough, that just having him around makes his day fun) Jealous of this one too.


And it was said of another mom this week, that oh she looks so well rested all the time and is so patient.

That's where this blog post was inspired.  Because I wanted to scream, what do you guys have that I don't?

I walk into dance exhausted and excited the Elijah will have a playmate for an hour. I welcome the few minutes to spend with ADULTS, and chat about things, that may pertain to our kids sometimes, but it's adult conversation.

And then I started to get discouraged. I started thinking about all of these mamas and how I envy some of their skills.

I'm going... Ok, here I am a children's pastor's wife (why am I even stereotyping myself here? stupid mistake of all mistakes?) and I can't keep myself together and well presented.  I'm NOT patient when I deal with my kids, I certainly am not the fun mom who makes things for her kids, and I am NOT a party planner. I don't look well rested when I go ANYWHERE, because well. I'm NOT well rested. Go figure.

And then, God whispered to me... Hey, nobody's perfect. (yeah, you know you wanna sing it... go on and let a little Hannah Montana out...)

For real though.  No one is perfect.   I see the things in these women that I would love.  But I'm almost certain they feel JUST. LIKE. ME. in other areas.   I'm almost certain that they struggle somewhere. I may not see it, but we're human and we ALL long to be better at something, and we all fail sometimes.

Whoa.

So today... I stop comparing myself to others. I stop thinking about what I would like to be. And I just be.  I do the best I can, to live up to the standards God has called me to.  I do the best I can to train my children up in a Godly way.  And yes, I learn a few pointers from all of these mothers (and while I speak specifically, we all know people like them).I take what I can and implement it into my own life. I let the rest roll off my back or store it away for future use. Hey, we're all in this together and we're all learning.

Thank you Lord for your sweet whispers to remind me that I don't have to be perfect because YOU are and in YOU I find my rest.

Party themes

So in a week and a half... my baby will be ONE. I can't believe how quickly it's gone by.

I've been working on the 'theme' for his party and trying to figure out what it was I wanted to do.   So... this is what we've come up with so far.



I think it turned out adorable. I can't wait to get all the other stuff together and see how it turns out!

Look what I can do!!!

Check out this big boy and his new found love of walking. :)

I am blessed, Indeed.

I can remember it like it was yesterday.  I remember sitting at the dinner table watching the guys be goofy.  I can remember giggling and rolling our eyes as the 3 guys took turns pushing each other in the buggy at Bed, Bath, & Beyond.  The lizard bought from the quarter machine that used to sit at the back of the store in Old Navy.  The movie. In a space that no longer shows movies. 

(this picture was actually on Derek's 21st birthday, we'd been married about 9 months then)

Little did I know that this night would change the rest of my life forever. 

Little did I know that one of the OTHER guys would become my best friend over time. 

Little did I know, that he would one day be my husband.

God orchestrated a beautiful plan that evening, though we could've had no idea at the time.

It's been 12 years today. And I still look back and smile at the fun memories made. And I thank God for His plan for my life. I thank God for allowing me to fall in love with the one He designed just for me. 

(a most recent pic of us, and he's still just as silly :) )

Two years ago, I wrote THIS post.  On the significance of a decade.  I can't believe it's been 12 years. God is so good. 

And the year before that I wrote THIS post. On the many things this day represents for us. 

(there's a bonus picture of Derek from high school on that post. You know you wanna click it!)

Derek, I love you dear. Happy day I met you.  I'm so glad it was you. 

I am blessed, Indeed.

So I finally got around to them...

I finally got around to snapping a few pictures of my "11 month old" who is ACTUALLY  going to be ONE in 17 days :(  well pretty much 16 at this point.  And that also reminds me I NEED to send out his invites. Thanks blogger for that reminder.

I snapped these this morning while he was playing with his toys.  Unfortunately MOST of the pictures ended up blurry because he was moving so fast and crawling toward me haha  I Just love them though. especially the last one of his teefies. He's the only one of my kids to not get his two middle teeth first. He got one middle and one side skipping the other middle in between the two haha but I Think it's not far behind.


   

Sicklings.

It started with one.

The oldest boy. He got up one morning and was extra clingy, not a big deal, and then, he took a nap before lunch. That's practically unheard of these days. He woke up from his nap and I knew just why he was being that way.  FEVER.

Thee next day he was fine. I'm thinking great, this was just a one day thing, and we're done. We went to church that night and were around some sick kids, so... who knows...


Thursday morning, the baby wakes up with a snotty nose and a lowgrade fever.

And then the other two wake up... Coughs and snotty noses. More fever.  Oh boy, here we go.


Fast forward a week, and  we are STILL dealing with this cough and sinus mess. BLAH.  But my kids have been troopers... so... no new pics from me this week, and certainly not anything fun to share.  Tomorrow though, we're trying out a few things I've seen on pinterest, so hopefully I'll blog those soon!

11 months

Ok, so I'm a week late, I kept putting it off because I haven't been able to do any 11 month pictures yet, but I cannot put it off any longer. I need to make sure I get it in before he's a year old in THREE WEEKS!  These pictures were a week or so before he turned 11 months, but they will have to do. :)

Sooo....

At 11 months old.   Asher is taking up to 4-5 steps at a time (when he wants to). He will walk holding onto just about anything, and he stands constantly. He pulls up on everything and loves being up on the other kids 'level' 

He has two teeth now, and his eating has picked up considerably. It's like he realized HEY I have teeth, I can chew this!

That boy LOVES some food.

He sometimes will say "bububub" when he is yelling at Elijah.  And the other day he yelled KY at kyley to get her attention.  He's starting to recognize sounds and try to mimic them instead of just babbling.  So much fun!

He loves to give kisses now. So sweet. The best is when he's on the phone with Derek and he can see Derek's picture on the phone and kisses it over and over. 

He's also learned to squeal.  All of my kids have gone through this, and it's not fun, thankfully it's usually just a stage!

He eats mostly table food, but at home he loves to eat his bananas.  It's the only baby food he really cares for. He will eat apples sometimes (babyfood) but usually he wants bananas and if it isn't that, he will scream until you get bananas.   He is getting better and better at the sippy cup thing. He prefers the ones with a straw, which I'm perfectly ok with. He really doesn't like tipping the cup up to drink haha

He drinks juice and milk in his cup (cow's milk).   

I really cannot believe that in less than a month my sweet boy will be a year old.  He was JUST born!!!   We are planning his party already and I just know he's going to love it.  

52. Also known as my Valentine's Day gift to Derek.

This was so much fun for me. 

A sweet friend linked me to an idea similar to this on pinterest.  I searched and searched and found many ideas that I loved, and I put together my favorite aspects from each one and made it my own.

As most of you know, my husband enjoys card magic so this was just a natural fit for him. 

I started with a deck of cards

I chose this deck because of it's already vintage, rustic look. I really wanted this project to look 'aged' and fun at the same time.

You can buy your own deck just like it here   

Next I took a hole punch and made two holes in the cards.  I did the first card and used each new card as a guide for the next one because I didn't want my holes to be much off, but didn't want them to line up perfectly either.  If you want them to line up absolutely perfect, just use your first card as a guide for each other card. 

After the holes were punched, we took a square of sand paper and sanded the cards down to scratch them up and make them look even more vintage than they already were (and the glue sticks better I found)

Kyley helped me some with this, she thought it was a lot of fun.

Next I took a roll of brown shipping paper, I'd bought earlier and thought would look great with the teal and brown cards and I ripped it into small squarish looking pieces with rough edges that would fit onto the cards but without covering the holes. 

 

On each piece of paper I wrote one of 52 reasons I love him.  (there are many more yall, I just narrowed it down to my favorite 52 at the moment).

I used school glue to glue the paper to the cards because the wetness of the glue then mishaped the card a bit, which I wanted to add even more to the vintage look of this.

I did this one by one, and laid them out to dry 

This took me several days, mostly because of having 3 kids at home and other things to take care of, and also, having room to lay them out to dry. 

When they were dry, I put them all together with simple 1 inch binder rings, which you can buy here. 

I really love how it turned out!

I put it all together with some white tissue paper in this cute little bag to give to him on Valentine's day. 

If you want to read about HIS reaction to the gift, you can read it here  Also, he intends on writing a post a day with all 52 reasons in it, if you are interested in knowing what I wrote on them and the reasons behind it. 

.

I had so much fun putting all of this together, and I enjoyed even more the smile on his face watching him read them all.  Now, someone help me fast because to top this I'm going to have to work HARD for next year haha. 

In Real Life.

This is seriously so cool!

(in)courage is doing this cool 'conference' but from the comfort of your own home!

In Real Life

It'll focus on mini "meetups" that are networked together through the internet, via video and such!

What a great way for women to reach out to one another even though they can't travel to some of the far away places they are!

There will be live webcasts and it looks like tons of fun!

Here's an excerpt from their website.

A local meetup on a global scale; friends will gather to watch live webcasts of (in)courage contributors and community, connect with one another, and discover new friendships they didn't know were right around the corner!

It all kicks off April 27th!   You can go HERE to register!

On children. And church. and other things.

This is gonna get long. I'm sorry.

This post started out because I read this:

Nursing-in-Public

After reading it, I sent my husband a message and explained to him how angry it made me.  I've had similar experiences in churches and I hurt for this sweet woman's heart that was broken over this.

When did we stop holding ourselves accountable for our own sin?  At what point did we decide to blame a woman FEEDING her baby on our impure thoughts?   And at what point did we decide that it was OK to feed our kid in the BATHROOM?   Hello??? Anyone hearing me?   Would you eat your breakfast in the bathroom??? I sure wouldn't!

I don't want to stop there though. I want to talk a little about WHY people feel that this ok. 

I followed a few rabbit holes and stumbled upon this little gem. (please note the sarcasm in calling it a gem)

Shut that kid up

Ok, now I'm all for children's ministry. Y'all lets be real. My husband and I are children's PASTORS.  But this made me MAD.   Not necessarily the incident itself. But the comments. The responses this got. HOLY COW!

It appears by reading this, that most people believe that children have no place in an adult service. PERIOD.

How can we expect our kids to model our behavior if we aren't showing them?   If we are wanting to teach kids to worship God, then why NOT let them watch us do it.  (Disregarding the fact that we SHOULD be teaching our children these things at home.)

Why is everyone so quick to point out that kids don't belong in church?

Funny, my babies when they were young ALWAYS went to service with me.  I loved our nursery staff, still do, but I just won't leave my babies. And to this day, I get comments on how well my children behave in big church.  DO YOU KNOW WHY???? Because they experienced it and we trained them to be respectful and to participate in a non-distracting way.

It is NOT the children's pastors responsibility to teach your children to worship. It's YOURS.  Don't get me wrong, we love what we do, and I love watching children grow in Christ. But it starts at home. It starts in watching YOU.   It starts by being a part of church and learning how to belong in a church. 

It's sad to me when I see older kids and teenagers who have no idea how to act in church once they graduate from the children's church age because they've never been exposed!

In our ministry, when we took over, we made it a point to let our pastor know that we wanted our kids to be involved in big church ever so often, and thankfully we serve with a great man of God who understands that desire and supports it and even encourages it while still encouraging our ministry.

Kids mimic what adults do.  Let's tie this all together here.   If you don't want kids in big church, do you think they're going to want to be there when they are no longer kids?   I doubt it. I highly doubt it.

Oh and if we make a big deal about someone feeding their baby in church... guess what, our kids will too. I think it's about time we step up and teach our kids about sin and being accountable.  We are each accountable for our own sin.

If we are teaching our kids that sin lies in our own heart and no one else can MAKE us sin. We're giving them tools to walk with Christ and SUCCEED for the rest of their lives.

My babies

Snuggle time with sissy. 
Asher LOVES to give kisses now, so cute!



Elijah being all silly. Right after this, he said :All done.

One more of Asher.


Kyley last night caught Derek kissing me in the kitchen, she said "You know, if daddy was a frog, then this would be ok."   Boy that kid is silly.

I'm spending my days playing with these cuties, and keeping up with housework, and today, working on Derek's valentine gift. I can't wait to blog about it after he sees it!

Teefies!

Look at these!

Abigail

Ok, so Kelly over at Kelly's Korner is doing Show Us Your Life Singles this week.

She's done it several times before and I've thought of doing this for Abi, but never acted on it. One day I mentioned it to her, and she said something to the effect of, well why haven't you already?  So. Here I am.  Here she is.

Meet Abigail.  Also known as Abi.

 


Abi is 29 (30 in October), lives in central Alabama, and is way taller than me (ok she's right at 6 ft)

Abi has a passion for youth and college age ministry. She has a beautiful heart to see these kids (and young adults) see Jesus in a real and passionate way.  I think this is one of my favorite things about her.

Beyond that, Abi loves to read, and she loves to write.  I don't think a day has gone by in the MANY years I've known her that she doesn't have a journal in hand with a pen, or a book. ALWAYS.


Abi has been a part of our family for many years, and she loves my kids like her own. She is loyal, trustworthy, and an amazing friend. 

(this is me and Abi and another friend of ours.)

Other things you should know about Abi:

She also enjoys music and going to the movies.
She makes a MEAN shrimp alfredo (YUM!)
She owns her own home
She loves kids
She works hard at whatever she does

I'm so very blessed to have Abi in my life, she is the bestest best friend I could ever ask for.

I can't do this all on my own... no, I'm no superman!

*kudos if you get the title reference*



Look at my sweet family (minus me behind the camera obviously)

I just love this crew. They make life so much fun!

A few new things.  Yesterday Asher woke up in a great mood, and guess what mommy found... ANOTHER tooth.  I wasn't even expecting this one. The other tooth, his gums were really swollen and you could feel the bump, but this one showed no signs until it showed up!  So now he has his left center tooth, and then the tooth to the right of his right center. Somehow he skipped the one in between.  The kid has been different than my others in so many ways though that is for sure!

And in other related news. Asher took two steps in a row yesterday as well. We were outside playing at dance and he tried to walk toward Elijah who was playing ball with his friends.  YIKES! He's going to be walking before I know it!

We had dinner with sweet friends last night. We are so grateful for all of the wonderful friends God has given us. I just love it. Thank you God!

I'm in the middle of planning not one, but TWO birthday parties.   Asher turns 1 in March and Elijah 4 in April (2 weeks apart to be exact) so I'm working hard trying to get my act together and not be a last minute planner. I'll let ya know how that works out when the parties roll around.  So far, I've ordered cake (Kim is AMAZING and I have to book with her a few months early lol) and picked themes, and I've already gotten all of Elijah's gift, and part of Asher's.   Now I just need to make invites, and start picking up party supplies here and there. yay!

So there you have it. What's new around here. :) 

MIlestones I don't want to forget!

So, this post won't be eloquently composed, and there will be no pictures, but I know if I don't write this down, I won't remember it in a few weeks and I want to.

Wednesday ( Jan 25)  Asher got his first tooth! We've been watching his gums for a few weeks now and wondering when it would finally pop through. They were so swollen for the last week or so I knew it had to be soon, and boy am I glad it finally did. That kid was GRUMPY the few days leading up to it! I hope this is no indication to how the rest of teething will be for us!

Also, since Wed. the little booger has been standing holding on to something and tried to take a step toward me.  He's no where near ready to walk, but these are the beginning stages! He will be running around before I know it!

And his newest trick this week is, nodding his head yes.  He's so stinkin cute when he does it because his whole body moves with him haha. I love it!

As for the other kids, this week Kyley had a milestone of her own,  she finally decided to stop writing I love you on every drawing she makes, and yesterday drew a cat and labeled it with it's name "cat" .  For those of you who've followed my journey with trying to get her to read and spell, this is HUGE.  She has sat down many days this week even during 'non' school hours and written words she can remember on her dry erase board, and practiced reading them to me.  What a refreshing excitement in her, I love it!

AND Elijah, has learned not only to spell his name, but can write it!  I will post a few pictures later on this weekend hopefully. He is so cute, when I ask him "Ok Elijah, what letter does your name start with?" He always tells me "Straight line down and three lines over"   Hilarious.   Then I'll ask him, well what letter is that?   And he screams E!!!!!   lol  He can also spell his name we did it something like this as we were teaching Kyley to spell it, and so I taught Elijah the same way "eli    jah"  so he learned it in sets of 3, and that made it so easy for him.  He can't recognize all of those letters yet, but he knows what makes them up. He'll talk about the hook in the J, and the dots on top of the i and the j. and the circle in the a (not like in this font apparently!), and then the straight lines and humps, etc.  He can't draw them from memory yet, but he's doing great!

Elijah has also been counting really well, and practicing singing his ABC's correctly. I'm so excited that he's finally interested in doing a little school with us!

Anyhow, sorry for the bland post, but I didn't want to miss out on documenting our week!

Be blessed!

A bride and groom.

I posted this quote on Facebook earlier today.

A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person.

Mignon McLaughlin

In 30 minutes time I got more responses via likes and comments and shares, than almost everything I post put together. (ok so that's not ALWAYS true, but sometimes I feel like stuff I post doesn't get seen, or people just don't care)

Marriage is so beautiful. Marriage is sacred. 

But I don't want to talk about that bride and groom.  I want to talk about the church as Christ's bride. Waiting eagerly to spend eternity with each other.

Anticipation is a beautiful thing.  I remember the day I married my best friend, and the anticipation of walking down the aisle and seeing his face, as he awaited his bride. The joy on his face, and the tear in his eye.    I can only imagine what it was like for him.

We must wait with eager anticipation for our Christ. For the time that He will step out on the clouds in the eastern sky, and we will walk down the aisle to be with Him forever.


Now back to that quote I mentioned.

A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person.

Mignon McLaughlin

Do we really grasp what it means to fall in love with Christ over and over, and over again?    Are we waiting with anticipation, and falling in love more and more with each passing day?   Are we fighting for our 'marriage' and spending time with Him, even when we feel like we don't have the time. Are we doing  the things that please Him even if we feel like we are not good enough?

What are some ways you fall in love with Jesus all over again?

10 months old!

My oh my, where is the time going?

This little man is TEN months old! 

He is just such a joy to have around, we are so blessed!

He just recently learned to say "ball" , and he loves to talk and giggle at Kyley and Elijah.

He is pulling up and cruising all over EVERYTHING!

He walks with his walking toy all over the livingroom.

Some of his favorite things are the scale in the bathroom (who would've thought!), a little yellow ball that rattles, and a foam sword. He plays with them all the time!

He loves  his daddy, and gets so excited when daddy comes home!

 He's wearing mostly 12 months clothes now, gosh HE WILL BE 12 months in 2 months!

Don't you just love this?

We are so blessed to have this little man in our lives. Asher, you are so dearly loved.

Silence.

Well hello there my dear blog.

Forgive me for abandoning you for so long.

As the new year has began I've chosen to take the time to refrain from blogging and be silent.  I wish to use this blog to record our family life, but I also want to post what God lays on my heart, and I've spent these first few days praying for just that.

Often we get busy with life and forget to be silent.  

One of my favorite verses is this :

Psalm 46:10   Be still and know that I am God.

There is so much wisdom in this.   Be still.

Oh my, is life busy sometimes, we want to go, go, go, and do, do, do.  But all God asks us to do is BE STILL. 

In my life this means a lot of things, it's a time to quiet my mind and my voice and just listen.

Have you ever laid outside and just listened to nature. One night, I went outside and laid on the front porch and just enjoyed the cool breeze on my face and listening to the sounds around me. Now I live in the city, but late at night when the city life settles down you can still hear the beautiful sounds of crickets and frogs, and the stillness that comes with night.  

I kinda feel like that is what God is asking us to do. He speaks with a still small voice, and sometimes we just need to get alone, somewhere where the "city life" is still and asleep.  Where His cool refreshing wind can fall upon us and we can hear His voice.

I didn't really set any resolutions this year. But this is one goal I hope to achieve with His help.   To be still. To walk in His presence and feel His cool breeze on my cheek. To hear His voice.

2011 in review.

So a quick recap of the year... there were many highs and a few lows, but either way we are blessed indeed.

This year:

Kyley lost a few teeth

We had a beautiful homebirth and welcomed an amazing new member to our family.

We had a DHR case filed against us for said homebirth (no I haven't blogged about this before now)

Elijah turned 3

Elijah also finally decided he wanted to be completely potty trained! .

We made the hard decision to leave our church home.

We found a new church home.

And with that brought new opportunities, and a new ministry.

Kyley started first grade!

Derek and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary. (I love you baby!)

A pirate slayed a monster.

Kyley turned 7!

Kyley also sang her very first solo (and Derek preached his first "sermon" at our new church!)

And here were are, at the end, and we know that God is good.

Happy New Year yall!  May your 2012 be blessed beyond measure.

SMURFS!

Have you seen the Smurf movie yet?

The kids just giggled and giggled over this clip.



I think they'd watch it many times a day if I'd let them haha



I had the opportunity to check out some sneak peeks before the movie was released thanks to Crowdtap, and the kids loved getting to play the games online!

We really enjoyed the smurf movie, and hope you guys did as well!

Here I am to Worship

My sweet girl sang her very first solo last weekend at church, and I couldn't be more proud.  So without further ado, here are the Lakewood Kids (and myself).

This year.

Well, I figured since I shared last years Christmas Card recently, I would share this years as well, now that I'm finished handing them out and Christmas is over.

I am once again so pleased with the job Shutterfly did to make them the best cards they could be!

For Unto Us Religious Christmas Card

Find unique and Personalized Christmas cards at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.

I hope each and every one of you had a blessed Christmas!

Just some sentences?

I've had many titles for this post flowing through my head tonight, but I felt it was better to just leave it at that, and write.  Forgive me for this will be mostly rambling stream of consciousness.

My heart hurts.

And you know what, I'm angry. 

I'm angry at Satan for thinking that he has control over this world. I'm angry at people because they let him. Shoot, I'll be the first to admit, I'm one of them. Sin is fun, right?  But that doesn't make it right.

Is nothing sacred anymore? Where do we draw the line on what we will allow Satan to control in our lives?

When do we say enough is enough and stand up and fight for what God has called sacred.

I'm watching marriages crumble. And it hurts.

People close to me are hurting because of footholds satan has wormed his way in and destroyed what was once called GOOD.

I see it everyday. Not just in those close to me, but all over the world.

Divorce is rampart. Just down the street from my house, you can drive down the interstate, and the billboards are like an auction on who can sell you a divorce the cheapest.

But why?

When did we decide that our spouses aren't worth fighting for?

God and Derek know best, that I'm not a perfect wife. I fail. And often I fail miserably.   Do I often wonder if all of my stupid mistakes will make him love me any less?  Sure. I'm human.  But I know better.  You know why?  Because we talk about it. We talk about what our friends are going through, and we talk about how to avoid it. We pray for each other. We vow to fight for each other.

Marriage is hard, y'all. Life is hard. We are far from having it all together.

A few months ago, Derek and I had a conversation that revolved around this issue. We expressed our fears regarding watching so many marriages around us crumble. "This is happening to people we would've never expected... what says that it won't happen to us one day?"  These are VALID concerns. It is scary to think that people we know who we SAW completely in love with one another, living in one accord, can suddenly be on the brink of disaster.  It can happen to anyone. But why?   WHY are we letting satan gain control over our families?

Why aren't we talking about this stuff with our spouse?  Why aren't we fervently praying together for the protection of our marriage?  For the SANCTITY of our marriage? I don't know about you, but I'm going to pray harder than ever for protection because satan wants to kill, steal, and destroy, and that means my marriage, my family, my friendships.

I'm going to continue to talk about the hard stuff with my husband.  And sometimes that's hard.  I'm going to admit my mistakes. I'm going to ask for forgiveness. Most of all I'm going to trust God. I'm going to pray and pray HARD. And I'm going to FIGHT.

And it doesn't end there. Talk to friends. Talk to your kids. Pray for their marriages. Pray for their families.

Satan wants us to think that we are alone in this fight, but we're NOT.   I often wonder how many of the situations I've seen unfold in the lives around me could've been avoided by some accountability.   I'll be the first to tell you, that part is HARD.  Who wants to run to someone else and talk about how they've failed?  I sure don't. But I make myself. My husband guides me to as well when I'm being stubborn and need some reminder.  And I try to be the same for him.

We need each other. We need our friends, we need our families to bind together and pray. We need accountability, and we need support.

We aren't fighting this battle alone.

9 months old

With all of the craziness that surrounds the holidays I forgot to post this, so even though I am over a week late I want to remember!

You are growing up right before my eyes, my sweet Asher!

You are a fast crawler now and you know just how to find mommy when you can't see her.

You love to play with your toys and with Kyley and Elijah.

The one thing I think you enjoy most is playing in the box of blocks or with the basket of weebles, though that may change now that Christmas has come and gone.

You still love to eat. I can't eat even a bite without you trying to steal it. You are still eating baby food but will pretty much eat anything we eat as well, even with no teeth yet!

You love your paci, and are picky still and it has to be a certain shape and size.

You are pulling up on everything and you love to stand. You got a push walker toy for Christmas (thanks Nana & Paw!) and you've even tried to walk with it and push it across the floor.  I have a feeling in a few weeks my hands are going to be REAL full!

You can wave bye bye, and clap, and say mama and dada, you are learning to say 'uh oh'. You also say bye bye on occassion. 

You are such a little joy and I cannot believe how fast you are growing up. In just a few short months you'll be celebrating your first birthday, and that seems impossible to me!  

I love you my sweet man!

My princess

   

This sweet little girl turns 7 today!

Where did all the time go?

Kyley is learning to read (FINALLY!) and working hard in school and I'm so proud of her. 

She loves art. She loves to draw and color, and make 'books'. She loves to make things for others.

Right now some of her favorite things are Hello Kitty, Barbies, and drawing pictures that say I love you mom or I love you dad. (I wish I had a picture of some of these to show you, I'll have to work on that)

Her favorite subject in school is penmanship.

This kid LOVES her brothers. She is such a big helper (and has even learned to balance that out some and when her help is too much) She likes to help me with Asher the most, but I think that's because Elijah is Mr. Independant and doesn't need a lot of help. She still loves to spend time with him and play with him though!

Kyley also loves to cook. She said several years ago in her K4 graduation that she wanted to be a famous chef when she grows up and if she continues on with her love of cooking and baking, I think she just might be!

She is growing up so fast, and I cannot believe how quickly these last 7 years have gone by.

Kyley Grace, I love you to the moon and back. I can't wait to see what this next year holds for you.

Happy 7th Birthday Princess!

Christmas Presents

I wrote this years ago on my myspace blog, but wanted to revisit it here.

Christmas Presents!!!

Why is it that we give presents at Christmas? 
We all know, that Christmas is a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus, and that we give "gifts" to symbolize the gifts the wise men brought to Jesus, and the gift Jesus gave to us through his birth, death and resurrection, however what is it, that we consider a gift?
James 1:17  "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning."
Our holiday season is busy- there is no doubt.  Parties, Christmas plays, family gatherings, you name it, it happens in December! But do we get so busy that we forget that our earthly gifts could never compare to the gifts that God has given us?
God has given us so many blessings in our lives.... and so many of us (myself included) tend to take them for granted! But God's Word says that EVERY good gift and EVERY perfect gift comes from above-  not just some, but EVERY!
For me in my personal life- God has given me a wonderful husband and  beautiful children to come home to, a warm Godly home that is filled with happiness and laughter, and His Spirit dwells here among us! How awesome is that gift in itself? 
You see, Christmas isn't about how much money you can spend on your loved ones, or even those you don't love so much... But it's about HOW MUCH LOVE you can show! God has given us all the ability to LOVE and that is His greatest gift to us-
John 15:13 "Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends"
His Word says that greater love has NO MAN than this... that he lay down his life for his friends... NO MAN...NO WOMAN... NO CHILD.... NO FATHER... NO MOTHER.... NO SISTER.... NO BROTHER.... NO AUNT.... NO UNCLE.....NO MAN!!!!
The greatest gift of love is that of laying your life down for your friend- and Jesus laid down His life, for not just me, but for every single being on this earth! How much more then should we love our brothers and sisters, friends, neighbors AND even our enemies!
So this CHRISTMAS season lavish your love upon those you are close to, and on those you are not! Don't worry about how much money you spend, how nice the gift is, and don't worry about the things you are given by others.
Instead, rejoice in the fact that we have life, and life more abundantly through Jesus Christ, first and foremost, but also that EVERY good and perfect gift comes from Him... He has given us health, family, friends, even worldly things He allows us to possess... but no matter what...they come from him- and it all boils down to one thing...

LOVE
Merry Christmas!

Christmas Cards

Ok so we went out this weekend to try to get some family pictures for our Christmas cards.

This is what our cards looked like last year, and I LOVED them!

Christ Wishes Religious Christmas Card

Shop Shutterfly for unique,Christmas card designs.

View the entire collection of cards.

Shutterfly does such a great job, and I will be using them again this year as soon as I pick out pictures to put on our cards!

Here's hoping to finding JUST the right picture!