Perspective - Childlike Faith!

Tonight we were picking up the kids at Dallas's parents. They so graciously watch them so we can enjoy a wonderful time of fellowship, growth, and accountability with our small group nearly every week. How great is that (for us all!)!!

Anyhow, tonight we were visiting about the sadness of cancer, cancer returning, the reality of it all, you know...the stinky stuff!! Out of nowhere Layla says, "With God, all things are possible."

On the way home, Dallas and I were talking about how God uses children and their simple faith. She had no clue what she was saying was so timely. Heck, why did she even say that then?

But what if we all said that? What if instead of, "oh how sad...what's the plan...etc." we said as Layla said, "With God, all things are possible," with an a-ok kind of attitude.

Just another good little reminder, from the mouth of a babe, of how to have childlike faith.

Photos Finally

Photos from last post....

I love this photo.
The girls are like huh?
But Eli has a ginormous smile, like "Yeah, I've got my ladies."
Thing is, he is always smiling so huge! What a gift he is!

Charlie's Valentine's date, Blakely (we've got big plans for their future):

The kids' table on Valentine's Day:

When we were in the Bahamas we spent a descent amount of time finding shells for the kids. They have loved, and I mean loved, sorting through them, listening for the ocean in the big conk shells, and talking about the beach. It's been very fun:

fast days!

The days have been going so quick lately! Here is why:

Last weekend we had our friend, Eli, here. His mommy and daddy were preparing for their house to go up on the market, in hopes of moving to Cedar Falls. One showing later and voila! God paved the entire way! We had a great time with Eli; making Valentine's treats, watching a movie with popcorn, going to McDonald's, and playing, playing, and playing. We were tired by Sunday night, as this sweet boy comes with a lot of energy!

Kinermusik has started back up on Mondays. With bath time in the morning, and recouping from the weekend, before I know it it's late afternoon and Daddy time! Dallas brings the kids to the library every Monday, and "Casey makes them a pizza." (This is what Maleah says. Get it? Casey's pizza). The kids look forward to this time, and I am still loving teaching.

This Tuesday was Valentine's Day, so celebrate we did (kinda)! I made Dallas's favorite meal, we got out the tablecloth, special jewels, fancy glasses with pink (strawberry) milk, and we made a pink cake! We had the Sowers' crew over, because Nicole just had her tonsils out and we were more than happy to provide the celebration!

Wednesday, this cutie patootie got his locks cut off. He now looks like a big boy. (sniff, sniff). I think he looks very handsome.

It's been busy, but exceptionally great lately. Sometimes days are hard (like a couple months ago...man, I couldn't win for losing). And sometimes days are extra fulfilling and I feel like overflowing with gratitude and joy. It's been those kind of days, and I am all kinds of thankful.

well pooey. no photos. i'll post them later. :)

Charlie's "tricks!"

The last two weeks, Charlie has exploded with new and exciting things! He hardly talked at all, just gave his infamous grunt. All of a sudden, we see things ticking in his head. It is so fun to watch him grow and develop.

I ran into a piece of paper with Maleah's words at 16 months the other day. It was so fun to read through and brought back many memories. If you have no interest in how awesome my kids are (totally kidding!!), feel free to sign off. But I want to remember these sweet, sweet times and look back at how they grow and mature. This age is *so* fun!


Charlie's words: all done, thank you, bath, Mama, Dada, Papa, Nana, hi, no no no, more, potty, "ma" for kiss, amen, bye-bye (accompanied with the cutest wave).

::When Dallas comes in after work, he goes straight to the clothes chute to take off his dirty clothes. Charlie starts saying, "bath! bath! bath!"::

::He will show you where his belly, eyes, mouth, and hair is::

::A cow says "Booooo" and a lion says "Rrrraarrrr"::

::When we take his diaper off he runs to the toilet. He says "potty (not clearly by any means)!" and grunts while lifting up the toilet lid. He sits on the toilet for about 2 seconds, grunts again, then down he goes and runs to a diaper::

::He sleeps like crazy! I woke him up the other morning at 11:15 so he didn't miss the entire day of fun! He goes to sleep between 6-7:30 at night, and typically sleeps until 9ish. I have to wake him if ever we have to be somewhere in the morning. On our mornings at home he snoozes well into late morning::

::When I tell him it's time for bye-bye, he runs to the closet, grabs his shoes and coat, and sits on the step swinging his feet, waiting for me to put his shoes on. He then gets up and drags our coats to every single one of us::

::He is tougher than nails. He can fall off something or run into furniture, bounce right off of it, and keep going. However, he is super sensitive! When he gets in trouble he melts. Heck, if we even look at him wrong he crumbles into tears and wants to hug and kiss us::

::He loves to give kisses. Especially if he sees Dallas give me a kiss; you better believe he is right next in line. He actually gets very jealous of Dallas and I hugging or being affectionate. He tries to push us apart or hold my hand instead::

::He reminds us every night at the dinner table to pray. Before we start eating he's grunting away with his hands out (for holding hands) to pray. If we start eating he grunts even louder! One of us says, "pray?" and he gets a monster smile. He sits so quietly, holding hands with me and Layla, and when the word "Amen" is spoken, he cheers and gets right to the grub::

::My favorite thing about him: He is our happiest kid! He absolutely does get crabby, clingy, needy. But majority of the time he is all smiles. The boy has brought so much joy to our family::

in lieu of Valentine's Day...

... (written for the MOPS blog, so directed to mommas)

To all you lovely mommies,

We are all so different. Some of us are raising old kids, other young. Some of us grew a baby in our bellies, others grew your babies in your heart. Some of us work outside the home while others stay home. We are all different. But we are all mommies. And we all love.

Valentine's Day can be a little overrated, yes. Hallmark loves it while the singles hate it. But I encourage you to take the special day designed for love to celebrate with your littles and adore your man. Also, take time to know that you are loved more than you can imagine by the very One who created you.

Practically speaking, we are celebrator of the home! It is our job to make certain days set apart from the other ones. Special heart napkins, pink milk, and construction paper heart décor can go a long way! You can make everything pink! You can use the heart cookie cutter to cut out their peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Make dessert; heart sugar cookies, a pink cake with pink frosting, or strawberry ice cream! Get out the special glasses and have pink punch! These all seem minor to us, but in the eyes of a little one this is a big deal. More than any food or napkin, give an extra amount of hugs and kisses. Love, love, love.

Give some extra attention to your husband. If you aren't able to go out on a date, no problem! Put the kids to bed early and focus on your love. It's easy to think, and know, that our children need our attention, help, and adoration. But our husbands need it too! I know (oh, do I know!) how it feels at the end of the night. You know, when you have been touched all day long and feel that if anyone or anything else touches you, you might just scream. But how do you think our husbands feel watching us kiss and hold our babies all day, with no kisses leftover at the end of the night for him? He wants, more than anything, to be desired. Please, stay connected with your husband, even in the busyness of life. Life will always be busy. If your children aren't young and demanding, they will be older and in sporting and musical events. It would be a shame for the children to leave the house at age 18, only to look at your husband and wonder, “who are you?” because we've been so wrapped up in our kids' lives, we've forgotten how those loves even came to be; because of the first love you felt with him. Love, love, love.

Lastly, relish in the love of our Father. Husbands are great; children are great; but even they don't compare to the love of your Maker. He loved you so much that He sent his one and only son to die for you. Can you even imagine; giving your very own child?

This is true love: John 15:13, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”

I pray you know the love of Jesus Christ today. His love offers us peace in the chaos, grace when we daily make mistakes, patience when we are at the end of our rope, and the ability to love others beyond what we feel capable of. His sacrifice and willingness to die on the cross for our sins allows us not only this life full of love, but eternal life with the all loving One. It's love, love, love.

Hallmark doesn't get the benefit this Valentine's Day!

You do!

Your families do!

Celebrate with your precious cherubs, love your hunks of burning love, and know that you are a treasured daughter of the King.

That, my friends, is love.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Science Center, Cousins, & Sisters.

We had a delightful day yesterday with the cousins! Erica made the trip this way, and Alisa and I mozied that way, meeting up in Des Moines. We met at Jordan Creek (but hardly shopped...it was painful!) to play and eat Chick-Fil-A.

Everytime the kids see each other they run and hug and love each other. Oh, the sweetness.

After some time at the mall we ventured to the Science Center. It was so fun to watch the kids explore. We were there all afternoon, and the kids had a blast! They never fought or complained; just played and experimented. Charlie only tried to run away a couple times. Madeline, Noah, Asher, and Anna got zapped by electricity. Us girls got to sit on a bench and talk. Perfecto, eh?

The triplets:

This "ball wall" entertained for a loooong time. So neat:

The troops, youngest to oldest (with one in belly yet):

We finished the day at Spaghetti Works. It was so cute to see all the kids packed into a big booth. They did a wonderful job of being quiet and obedient. But towards the very end of the night my sister said, "Are you under the table? Just stay under there." We laughed and realized our time had come to an end. What a great day!

I love, love, love being the baby sister of these two. I for sure get the advantage of watching them be wives, mommies, friends. I learn so much from them and can not even express how much I admire and respect them.

We are all three very different, but it does not matter. We are sisters and best friends. Friends come and go, but family does not. I am so thankful for my relationship with my sisters. They are some of my very favorite people and greatest gifts the Lord gave me. I love being with them, and my heart swells watching our children grow together.

I sure feel thankful today. We have so much to be grateful for, don't we?

Saw a quote: When we choose to not focus on what's missing from our lives but are grateful for the abundance that's present...we experience heaven on earth.
-------------------------------------------------------
Side note: My mother in law's PET scan came back clear!
NO more nasty cancer!!
Like I said: THANKFUL.

Bahamas 2012

Dallas and I have returned from a week in paradise! It was the most splendid week! I thought I would be miserable without the kids. Thankfully, I had an e-mail to read every morning about their day and their excitement for the trip made me able to relax and enjoy every minute.

We went to the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island. It was absolutely perfect! The resort is so extravagant and the weather was 80's every day (minus one cloudy morning).

Part of the resort was waterpark. There were body slides, tube slides, a lazy river, and a raging river. We would go from laying on the beach, down a couple slides, back to relaxing, walking on the beach, look for shells, down a few slides, lay on the beach, repeat. We never left the resort. It was pure bliss.

So nice to reconnect and spend time, giving our undivided attention, to each other:

The marina. The yachts here were just incredible. One yacht was 60 million dollars! And by the end of the week an even bigger one had come in.
This night we met Jimmy John. Yes, as in Jimmy John's sandwiches! We had breakfast with him the next morning, met his family, had good conversation, and received an invite to come visit him! It was really neat.
He was renting a yacht for $250,000 a week. Plus the $17,000 it costs to rent the slip to park the yacht. That gives you an idea of these boats/people. I can't even fathom it!

The boys body surfing. One of the highlights of the trip for Dallas:

We met up with our great friends, Jon and Dana, there. We had so much fun together!
We jived really well, enjoyed a lot of the same things, yet were able to ask for time apart too.
We hope to do more traveling together in the future!

There are aquariums, lagoons, fish, etc. everywhere. This photo is of us in "the Dig." This is the lost city of Atlantis. It is under ground. Reading the history and seeing the incredible underwater life was very cool:

View of the resort and ocean from Jon and Dana's room.
Absolutely beautiful:

Enjoying lunch in the marina:

Supper family style at a restaurant called Carmine's. It was delicious! We spent almost every evening sitting by the water playing cards together. It was a blast:

The gorgeous beach and water:

Gotta have the sand in the toes photo:

Dallas and I did the dolphin interaction. We touched, hugged, kissed a dolphin. Jon has more photos of this. We learned a lot and it was a fun experience:

On a breakfast date with my stud:

This photo is taken on our balcony. See the palm trees and ocean behind?
Yes, it was heavenly!

It was a fabulous week. Different from our honeymoon in that we now have kids and responsibilities. Our honeymoon week we didn't carry a worry in the world! However, all the more reason we enjoyed this getaway.

The kids did wonderful. They seemed to have no problems, and told us this morning we can go on a vacation again (gee thanks). They must have had a grand time themselves!

We surprised them Sunday morning, and we were all happy to be together again!