Milestones.

Maleah can successfully write her name from front beginning to end.

Layla slept in her big girl bed without getting out even once!! Here they are enjoying a fruit roll-up in celebration of her obedience and bravery as a big girl!

Check him out, folks. He can sit up! He's so laid back (lazy), so really has to be in the mood to use all his gusto, but can do it. And look at his biggest fans right beside him. He gets a lot of practice sitting up because the little cutie in the yellow sweatshirt knocks him over all the time. That oughta be the next thing we work on, eh?

It's been a big day in the Wessels home! Time's a zippin' by with them growing up all too quickly. I'm so thankful to be here for every minute of it.

Thankful.

I have felt so convicted lately about my thought life. Days get long and sometimes hard. We are in the midst of dealing with preparing for a loss, and seeing my husband sad is so much worse than the sadness I feel myself. Layla is two. And two is difficult.

But this week, in the middle of all that is hard, I have constantly been reminded of God's goodness. He is so faithful and so good. We have far more than we deserve. I am so thankful.

Tuesday mornings. The Bible. Women to dive in with. I have just begun the study "Anointed, Transformed, and Redeemed." With only one week under my belt, I'm already feeling rejuvenated. The thought of me being handpicked by God is so overwhelming. I have so much more power with the Holy Spirit in me than I even realize. While I love the reassurance that I am His, I have also been reminded of Ephesians 4:1. "walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called." If that doesn't pull at the hearts string a little, what will. I can't wait to dig into the study more and see what God has in store for me.

MOPS. Hello. A delicious breakfast. Fabulous mom friends going through the exact same struggles and experiences the same joy as me. A stellar mentor mom with an incredible amount of wisdom. So thankful.

Grandparents. While we are dealing with seeing a dear, dear, grandfather on his way to his heavenly home, Dallas and I have realized how incredibly fortunate we are. We are only without one grandpa between the two of us. Our children know their great-grandparents, and see them often. They are so blessed. We are so blessed.

Nieces and Nephews. At Layla's party, we had all of our nieces and nephews together. Oh the joy that comes over me to see my children *love* being with their cousins. I feel such a special bond with each and every one of them. And the little boy we will be adding to the mix this summer. Oh how we have prayed and prayed for him. We can not wait to meet him. The joy he has already brought to our family is incredible. All twelve of our favorite little people are so loved.

Our children. They are each so unique. I brought Maleah out to Panera for a mommy-Maleah date. She was beside herself in gratitude. She prayed, "Thank you for my mommy letting me get hot chocolate." Maleah, you are the very sweetest little girl. Always so thankful and usually very obedient, respectful, and loving. Layla brings so much life to our house. When you run circles around us at supper, we try to be stern. But really we love it because it's so you. And Charlie boy. I can not even begin to tell you what you have done for me. To think of the sadness that overcame me when I was pregnant with you. My sister was supposed to be having babies, not me. I thought you would be a constant reminder of her sadness. But your daddy spoke truth to me. He told me that the devil was stealing my joy. And our prayer for you changed. I can not imagine my life without you now. And right around the time of your birth, the Lord was knitting a perfect little play mate for you in your aunt's womb. You will be exactly nine months older than their source of hope and joy. And that's exactly what you were for us too.

My husband. Seriously, what would I do without my companion. I praise God daily for you. You are so much more than I deserve. I am absolutely crazy about you.

I am so thankful. Thank you Lord.

(seriously, what's up with the funky font sizes. i swear i've been trying to fix it for far too long now. sorry!!!)

Party On!

Oh dear husband of mine. That tractor. I am so proud of you for working so hard on it. You are so diligent, hard working, and so eager to learn. That is why you took on such a huge project! When you came in looking far worse than this picture portrays, I had to remind myself to be thankful things like this don't happen more often than not. But why oh why did it have to happen 3 hours before we were expecting 20+ people over for supper to celebrate Layla's birthday! We went back and forth while you were getting a CATscan (we praise God you got hit at the perfect spot! Not a centimeter up or over - eye socket or sinuses). Party on. Party off. But the final decision was: party on! That meant this momma moving like crazy with three little babies under foot. No biggie. Charlie had a blowout which equaled change of clothes, and everything fell off my bathroom wall and broke. Like I said, no biggie. Not only did the party happen. It was wonderfully successful! Our little 2-year-old was happy as a clam.

Layla sang right along with everyone else. It was one of the cutest things I've ever seen. She absolutely loved her cake, as did all the cousins. We had to make sure Elmo was evenly distributed.

We are so blessed! 11 nieces and nephews (with one more on the way)! And every single one of them was there to celebrate with us. Makes for quite the *noisy* crew!

And, the birthday girl with her sparkly birthday shirt saying "Cheese!" I loved celebrating you, sweet girl. Your spunk and zest for life is contagious. You made your party fun.

Charlie's Dedication.

All the family who came to celebrate Charlie with us.

Psalm 46:10-11
"Be still, and know that I am God:
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.
The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress."

Our sweet surprise, Charlie, was dedicated on Saturday. It was wonderful. Mostly because of the conversation it sparked between Dallas and I. Reading through the "promises" makes you re-evaluate your parenting! Of course we would all say we pray for our children, and do our best to bring them up in a "christian" home. But do we really?

We want our children to not just know it's important to know about Jesus. We want them to see faith, love, sacrifice, being 100% sold out to Jesus! I want them to see me on my knees in prayer, at the table with my Bible open, taking care of family and friends. We promised to teach and pray for Charlie. There's no doubt in my mind Charlie was given to us for a very specific purpose. We want to do our very best with him. We want to honor God with the gift he has given us in our son.

Crazy Busy. Crazy Fun.

I'm afraid I have the glazed over look. This week has been so incredibly busy, but oh how much fun it has been!!

Tuesday morning was Bible Study (hallelujah Christmas break is over!). Noah and Asher came home with us while their mommy and daddy went to see their perfectly healthy, perfectly beautiful, baby on the ultrasound screen. That evening we went to their home and they opened up thee envelope, announcing that sweet baby is a BOY! How awesome is that! I can just imagine the line-up of groomsmen at each other's wedding. And in the meantime, look out for the John brothers. We celebrated, had fun, and went to bed much too late.

Wednesday came, and we got more little guests! Our other cousins Wesley and Linde got to come stay for a couple days because their grandma (where they were originally going to go) broke her hip. How unfortunate is that! But we were happy for ourselves, because we had so much fun! The kids all got along perfectly! We had popcorn and movie night, they played and played and played, we colored, went to MOPS (putting 5 kids age 4 on down in a mini-van took me 30 minutes!! we decided to not leave the house again!), and enjoyed the warmth of our home altogether. It was wonderful. They stayed with us until Friday evening. We all woke up way too early and went to bed, again, much too late.

After dropping Wes and Linde off, we ventured to celebrate again with this cutie patootie, Eli Solomon! We felt so special to spend his first American birthday with him. He is just so happy to be with people who love him, he probably could care less about his birthday. He was thrilled just to have birthday napkins! We watched the video of his home (where he was until 3 years old), an interview with his mother, and his orphanage. I promise you - you can NOT watch that movie and not be moved or changed. Would you believe that his poor mother and brother ate *kernels* of probably half an ear of corn for an entire meal, while sitting on a dirt floor with no shoes on. His birth mom did her very best to care for Eli, his brother, and sister, but could not make ends meet. So, here Eli is in Iowa now. We thank God for him and are so blessed to know him as one of our favorite little friends! Maleah and Eli love each other. It is so sweet. By the time we left Jesup and had the long jaunt home, we all went to bed much too late.

Oofta - busy week for a mommy and kiddos who usually plant most days at home. We are all tired and today is no day for resting as we have another birthday party and Charlie's dedication. In the meantime, Layla and Charlie have developed killer colds (check out Charlie's red nose in the picture above). So, we'll leave the catching up and resting until next week. Until then, we're having too much fun partying!!

*once again, sorry about the photo thing. they are in wrong order, and oh how i wish i can put them throughout the post. i need to speak with my consultant about how to fix this problem.* :)

Rhythms.

A couple weeks ago at church, we were encouraged to re-evaluate our "rhythms." What better time than the beginning of the year.

Bible reading. Something I am ashamed to say I am horrible at. I will read a good book (The Hole in our Gospel, Radical, Crazy Love, etc.), but the Word of God in its rawest form is something I rarely dive into. I feel like I am in constant communion with the Lord throughout the day. I love prayer and conversation with my Father. But, Pastor Fuller said something along the lines of how we all claim to be these christians who have been followers for so long, but how then do we hardly know anything about the Bible. Very true of me. So, every evening I will spend time with my Heavenly Father, reading His word. How awesome is it that the God of the entire universe will be waiting for me. Every single night. No more excuses from me. If I were to meet a friend for coffee at 7:00, I would be there and give it a good chunk of my time. I will do the same for Jesus.

Exercise. Something I am ashamed to say I am horrible at, too. I go in spurts. Instead of either going hard or not going at all, I will pick up this new rhythm and exercise three times a week first thing in the morning. Unfortunately, exercise is something I don't enjoy, especially in the winter. Come summer, I can't wait to get out and run. But for these winter months, three days a week is what I'm willing to give it. Me and Jillian Michaels. In the basement.

Reading books to the children. We used to read so many books, but since Charlie has been born, that rhythm has gone out the window. We even forego book reading at bedtime. So, back on the wagon I am going to get. Lots and lots of reading books. I love it and they love it.

These are the few "rhythms" I am going to pick up everyday. They are daily activities that will just be a part of our life. They will go right in tune with the day. I have many more "resolutions" to share soon.

Until then, help keep me accountable with my new rhythms, will you?

Layla's Fun Day

We had so much fun celebrating Layla yesterday!

Dallas, Maleah, and I greeted her first thing with a happy birthday song. In true Layla fashion, she started head banging while we sang to her in her crib. Then we went downstairs where Daddy had the birthday doughnut ready.

Next we got ready for the "mimming cool" at AmericInn in Grundy Center! This is Layla's latest obsession. While she was so super excited to go, she was also the first kiddo finished. Go figure! We ordered pizza to the hotel, had cupcakes, and opened presents from Papa & Nana and Aunt Sisa and boys. We ventured home to take naps, just in time to wake up and enjoy her favorite meal for supper.

It was a great day filled with all sorts of Layla's favorite people, fun, and food. I didn't say nutritious food, I said favorite food. It would be safe to say Maleah enjoyed Layla's birthday probably about as much as she did! In fact, I think I did too!

*sorry about the photos out of order and all up top. i have yet to learn about adding photos where i want them.*

Happy Birthday Layla!!

Two years ago today, I was 10 days overdue with baby number two. It wasn't so bad. It was cold so the extra warmth was nice, Maleah was young so every extra day she could have to grow up a bit was okay, and I knew that although I was uncomfortable, the sweet baby was comfortable and quiet.

She may have waited ten extra days to make her appearance, but once she decided to come, she came quickly (1.5 hours at the hospital, hello!)! We always joke that Layla flew out of the chute and hasn't slowed down since.

All about Layla...
- Layla LOVES bags and dolls! She also loves boots, the swimming pool (mimming cool), her little kitchen, and her family.
- Layla has quite the language. Two years of bad ears has taken its toll her her speech, but it's something that has become special to Layla. Some of her words are: oppia (potty), Mamena (Maleah), Bop (Mark), bilp (milk), ahua (water).
- Layla mimics every.single.thing big sister Maleah does.
- Layla wears 24 months or 2T clothing. And she changes her clothes numerous times a day.
- Layla was potty trained 100%. Much to my dismay, success rate definately dropped over Christmas!
- Layla will many times choose discipline over the right choice. Being naughty is just worth it to her sometimes.
- Layla is also known as Laylers.
- Layla's personality and spunk is one of a kind. If you know her, you know this.
- And my all-time favorite: every morning when I walk into Layla's room she asks me, "bye-bye?" I answer back, "Nope, not today." She gets a huge grin across her face and says, "HOME!!!" And that does a mommy's heart a whole lot of good.

I'm so thankful that the Lord chose me to be her momma.
My life is so much greater with her in it.
Happy 2nd birthday, Layla Grace!

Test First Post

Here is some content....