It's been a while ...

WOW! I can't believe it's been a month since I last blogged! I haven't been spending much time on the computer lately. Life has just been too busy to spend time doing something that won't matter in a few years. :)

Keegan is 8 weeks old. Next week she will be 2 months old. It seems like she should be older than she is. She has definitely been a different baby than the other three. Love her dearly, but she is a handful at night - Or has been. Thankfully, the last 2 nights she has slept through the night and that has been wonderful. Though I still wake, waiting on her to wake up :) I think we are finally turning a corner and the reflux medication seems to be working. It's nice to have a happy baby. It's also nice to not have her in pain!

Ryan, Pace, and Kennedy all 3 swoon over her. Especially, Kennedy. I'm not exactly sure what Keegan thinks of her though. Kennedy is learning to dial it down a notch or three so I think that will help as well. Both of the boys are such big helpers and they just love her to pieces. I cannot wait to see her as she begins to interact with them more.

It is still hard for me to believe that I am old enough to have 4 kids. I was talking to my grandfather on the phone yesterday and he told me that he was turning 90 this year ... that just doesn't seem possible. I still feel like he should be in his 60's allowing me to stand beside him as he drove his red mustang convertible around the neighborhood. My grandmother has alzheimers and is going downhill. I hate that disease as much as I hate cancer. My grandmother has always been so busy and vibrant. These days she is not so much anymore. Yesterday, I saw a different side of my grandfather as I believe he is realizing his wife of 68 years is no longer really there. I have so many memories of my grandparents, it's so hard to see them sick and hurting.

Memories ... I hope we are creating the kinds of memories that our 4 kids will look back on and know that they were loved, cherished, and cared for and a home that they will want to return to. A home that is full of love and fun moments. A home that is a safe haven for them and a place that is a retreat for them in hard times. SO please excuse the blog if it is quiet .... we are busy making memories. I'll get on here and blog about it from time to time ... but the last thing I want my kids to think about when they think of me is a mom who valued her computer time more than she valued time with them!

Have a great day!

Number 3!

Right after dinner last night Ryan lost one of his top front teeth. This makes tooth #3 and I might add that he was more excited about this tooth than the other 2. Maybe because he has been waiting over a month and a half for it to come out. It has been loose but just not loose enough to pull without causing a lot of pain. So, I never did pull it, we tried but I didn't want to hurt him so we always stopped.

Well, last night I had just tried to pull it with no success. It was too connected in the front but loose in the back. The kids went upstairs to clean up and a few minutes later Ryan comes running downstairs laughing that he lost his tooth. Kennedy comes down the stairs balling her eyes out. Ryan was running circles around the kitchen yelling and so excited all the while his sister is balling. I asked Kennedy what was wrong and she just balled harder. Ryan then tells us how it came out ... Some how as they were cleaning Kennedy brushed her hand against his mouth and his tooth came out. She was terrified. Poor girl! We had to tell her it was OK several times before she finally started laughing and understood that she didn't do anything wrong. I guess all the blood and the gaping hole in her brothers mouth scared her enough that she didn't know what to do.

Thankful to a neighbor who saved the day .... I know of a tooth fairy who needs to learn to keep cash on hand when there is a loose tooth in a mouth!

1st Day of School 2011

Today, I have a Kindergartner, a first grader and a 3 year old! Two of my 3 began school today. I thought today was going to be a hard day. Pace came in to tell me good night last night and with tears in his big brown eyes he said he wanted to stay home and do school with me. He then left to brush his teeth and came back for another hug and told me the same thing again. We prayed over him before he went to bed. He had been VERY excited about kindergarten ... until the moment to go to bed. His nerves hit him. He woke up excited and any nerves from the night before were gone ... Thank you Jesus!. We made a big deal out of new shoes, new clothes and even new socks! They picked out their first day of school breakfast and off we went.

As we were pulling into school two of the boys good friends pulled in behind us and parked beside us. So, our 2 got to walk in with their 2 and all was right with the world.

The only tears all morning came from KK. She DID NOT want "her boys" to go to school. When I went into her room this morning to get her up she was balling saying "I don't want MY boys to go to school." She's not quite sure what to do without them. In a few months she will have a sister to help me take care of. However, today, she misses those boys like crazy. We tried to make today special for her. I took her to get her hair cut and Jeremy and I took her out to lunch.

I'm looking forward today to hearing the stories of both first days. I plan on taking them to the same place we went to last year to get cupcakes and learn all about day 1! It will be a bit different this year as both boys will be together as they tell me about their day instead of one on one like last year, but it will be so much fun!

Today, Pace looked really small to me and Ryan looked a lot older than 1st grade. My boys are growing up too fast, and KK as well! I'm going to blink and we are going to be at the last day of High School ..... I'm not going to blink :)

Cultivating Giving Hearts

This year at Birthdays we have done something different. We wanted to do something out of the box, to teach our three to give always. In November last year Jeremy and I talked about how Ryan just didn't need a thing for his birthday in the way of presents. We started talking to Ryan about ways he could give and between the 3 of us we decided to take up toiletries for his birthday that we would take to a homeless shelter in our area. So he did ... He turned 6 and instead of gifts for him, his friends brought toiletry items to be given away.

It was incredible as a parent to see my son get excited about this. He is still very much a kid and he still very much desires to get presents for himself. However, he attached on to this idea and he ran with it ... at lightening speed, I might add. After his party, on his actual birthday, we delivered the items - TWO boxes full - to a local shelter. It was an amazing experience for us all. I blogged about it here if you would like to go back and read about it.

That day Pace declared that he wanted to do it for his birthday as well. So once again we took up toiletry items for his birthday and he donated one box to a guy at our church who runs a weekly night to feed the homeless downtown and one box was given to his school who sent items to tornado victims in Alabama. Pace was so excited to give away as well.

This past weekend was Kennedy's birthday and she decided that she wanted to follow the boys and do the same. So she took up school supplies which were combined with some others from people in our church and were delivered to area schools. This week they were able to help so many families get back to school supplies for their students.

Jeremy and I talked about how we really want to cultivate giving hearts in our children. And I think this year they all got a glimpse of how much they have in relation to others who may just be in a hard season of life. I think we will continue to do this on birthdays in the years to come. We will also do it at other times but the best thing is that my kids want to do it. We didn't have to twist arms or beg, plead or bribe them to do it. We put the idea out there and they got excited about it. I truly hope that this is only the beginning of their journey to think of others ahead of themselves. I pray that Jeremy and I will set an example of givers to them and that they will see this as a way of life for them and not just something they do to get a tax write off at the end of a year :)

"For whatever you have done for the least of these ...."

Weekend Re-cap

This past weekend we celebrated KK's third birthday. It was so much fun. This year she was SOOOOO very excited about her birthday. It has been all she talked about since May - seriously! As it got closer and we had it planned she was inviting people we didn't know to her party - our cashiers, anyone who walked by us at the store, you get the picture? It was fun to see her joy and excitement as she approached her 3rd birthday. It looked like it might rain Friday afternoon but thank the Lord it did not. Very thankful that God kept the rain away and allowed my girl her night to celebrate!

Saturday we took her out to eat and the restaurant staff sang to her when they brought out her dessert. The smiles just could not be contained. I loved watching her take it all in!

We started a new tradition this year on her birthday. I've read about friends and others that do this and so I wanted to incorporate it into our family. So Sunday morning as we were eating breakfast we all went around the table and told KK how thankful we were for her and one quality she had that stood out to us. It was so much fun hearing the boys lift up their sister - and to watch her face as they did it! AND the best part is they are looking forward to the next birthday when we can do this again!

One other moment to cherish from this weekend happened at her party Friday night. One of our friends little girl fell and got hurt at the beginning of the party. I was with my friend as she tended to her daughter and tried to figure out what steps to take next. Another friend came up to me and said that one of my boys went to Jeremy and asked him if they could pray for her. My heart melted. I love that all 3 of my children believe in prayer and aren't afraid to ask for prayer or to pray for something or someone. I pray that they will carry this with them throughout their lives.

And by the way .... God answered his prayer and their little friend is doing just fine!

8 Years

8 Years ago we said "I do" to each other. It's crazy to think that it's been 8 years. In some ways it seems like a blink of an eye and in other ways it seems so much more than 8 years.

In 8 years we have .... lived in 5 different houses in 3 different states. We had 3 children, experienced 2 miscarriages, and now have one on the way. We have experienced some high highs and low lows. We have traveled together and learned to make our marriage a priority. We have fought through some hard times in our marriage and we have come out on the other side and look forward to how God will use this story for His good. We have learned a lot and have a lot to be thankful for. 8 Years! I look forward to all that lies ahead of us.

Jeremy, I love you and I'm thankful for you in our lives. I'm proud of you and all that you have accomplished and the man you are today. I look forward to how God will continue to work in our lives and use our life together to further His kingdom. Thank you for being you and for loving us the way you do! Thank you for being the husband you are, the father you are and the friend to all of us that you are!

I love you!

Dear Mr. Anonymous

A couple weeks ago we got our water bill in the mail. It literally floored Jeremy and I. We called the water department and they sent someone out to audit ... the result was we owed the bill ... $437.40. We had recently put in new sod and had been watering more than normal. We knew it would be higher but in no way expected it to be that high! This bill was 10 times our normal bill of around $40. We joked around that we needed 437 of our friends to send us $1. Jeremy called and they said they could work out a payment plan with us but he would have to come down in person and see them. So Friday, he went down and when he got to talk to the lady she started reading the notes on our account. She informed him that a Mr. Anonymous had paid $100 on our account.

Jeremy got home and started telling me this story ... I had tears in my eyes as he shared this with me. This was a huge blessing in our lives. It blew us away. We are beyond grateful and thankful for this act of kindness in our lives.

Mr. Anonymous ... THANK YOU! We pray that you are blessed 100 times over. Your act of kindness has blessed our family and we are truly speechless!!! So if you happen to read this, please know that you are a blessing and that we are very grateful and thankful for your act of kindness toward us!

A Beautiful Sunday

This past Sunday Pace was Baptized. It was such a special day. He had been excited for over a week about this. In fact, he is still excited about it :) He could hardly go to sleep on Saturday night because he was so excited. When he woke up Sunday morning it had been raining and was really dark outside still. He cried. We told him that the weather is always changing and prayed with him. He continued to pray and talk about the weather ALL DAY LONG. It was a beautiful afternoon and he was baptized. And he did not stop smiling for hours after .... he still smiles when he talks about it. I love his joy!

There just aren't words to describe how my heart feels. Seeing your children make a profession of faith and seeing them excited and telling everyone ... just melts my heart to mush. They have a lot of days ahead of them and I pray that they always have the excitement and zeal that they have now. I pray that when it is not celebrated to make a stand that they still will. I pray that when it is not cool or popular to stand that they still will. I also pray that Jeremy and I continue to lead and guide them to make good choices and to allow God to lead them down the paths he would have them take. I pray that they always make much of Jesus and that the lives they lead will draw others to Christ.

Such a beautiful afternoon!

Another Amazing Day!!!

Yesterday was a special day in our home. (Besides being Easter - which in and of itself is very special as we celebrated our RISEN Lord!) Pace decided that he wanted to take a huge step and allow Jesus to be the Lord of his life. He has been asking questions for a while and we answer them but he hasn't ever wanted to go further. We had two services at church yesterday and during the volunteer service Pace told us he wanted Jesus to be in his heart.

Our childrens pastor talked with him between the services and Pace asked Jesus to live in his heart. It was an Extra special day. I wish you all could have seen the joy and excitement on his face as he told everyone he came in contact with. It was truly an incredible day!

Two of my children have invited Christ into their hearts - something I have prayed for since they were in my womb. A very exciting day as mom when I get to hug my son who is now my brother in Christ. Words just do not do justice to the emotions going on in my heart right now - such a special day! I look forward to the day that Kennedy does the same!

1st Lost Tooth

The tooth fairy came and paid our oldest a visit last night. He lost his first tooth at dinner time last night. It had been loose for a while but last night was hurting him as he ate a burrito so I got the honor of pulling it out. It was very ready to be out. His new tooth is even coming in behind it already. Hope it works its way forward or his teeth are going to look funny.

For his first tooth the tooth fairy left him $5 .... I explained to him that first teeth are a bit more important than the rest and to not expect that much for the rest of his teeth. You see, when he realized what was left for him, his other teeth were automatically loose :) Oh the power of deflation ....

Oh the first milestones ... so glad that I get to be a stay at home mom and that I don't have to miss these firsts!

3 Little Valentines

These guys make me smile each day! They are an absolute joy to parent and I am so blessed to have them as mine!!

For Valentines this year I got to go on two dates. One with my Big V Valentine, and one with my 2 little v valentines. Jeremy took me out first and then he helped the boys ask me out on a date the day after Valentines day. My two little men brought me a balloon and a few flowers. It was so cute as they asked me to go out on a date with them. Jeremy put money in Ryan's pocket and told both boys how to treat me on a date. We had such good conversation.

While we were out on our date, Jeremy asked a little 2 1/2 year old princess out on a date. He showed up after work with an orange rose and off they went. She was so excited to go out with her daddy. By the time this girl gets to the age of 20 or 30 and she is allowed to go on her first date, she will know how to be treated by a male because her daddy will have set the bar so high! Jeremy said she talked the entire time they were out, I don't doubt it at all because she has so much to say. She doesn't like a quiet moment, she talks ALL.THE.TIME!

I love that my children know my first love is with Jesus, my second love is for my husband and that they fall in line right after him. I love that they get to see their father date me and love me and that they get to go out on special dates with us! I love the look in their eyes when we are together ... they know they are special, they know they are loved and they know that will never change!

I love my family!

A life WELL lived

Last week a very beautiful friend of mine lost her courageous battle with pancreatic cancer. In 2001 I met a woman who has touched my life in ways she will never know. My life will not be the same because of the influence she has had on it. There are a couple of women in my life who I consider a mentor and Norma was one of them.

Norma never met a stranger. She had an infectious way of making everyone around her feel completely comfortable in her presence. I have so many fond memories of Norma and her husband Bill that will forever be etched in my memory. They took me under their wing and poured into me. When I got married they loved Jeremy just as much.

There are so many memories that I have but the ones I miss the most, are the times that we spent with them around a table sharing a meal - whether it was in my home, theirs or out, I never walked away from our times together dumber :) I always walked away having gleaned something.

Yesterday, at her memorial service, one of the people who spoke talked about how you didn't go to a meal or event with Norma ... You DID a meal or event with her. It was such an accurate portrayal of time with Norma. She turned every event into a celebration and even something as simple as breakfast was a major event with her. She was a co-founder and vice president of her company and they labeled her the CPO - Chief Party Officer. She loved throwing a party and she loved investing in the people around her relationally.

Norma was a wonderful friend who was very loyal to all around her. She loved the Lord with all her heart, soul, mind and strength. She made much of Jesus with her life. She made much of Jesus with her diagnosis. Her strength and her courage as she faced a very devastating disease is amazing to me. She leaves a legacy behind. She has taught me so much and I'm a better person because of the impact that she made on my life! I have so many memories that are forever etched in my heart and mind with her and I'm thankful for them all.

I'm blessed and grateful to have known her and have her in my life! I pray that I will never forget the things that she taught me and I hope that at the end of my time here that I can be half the woman that she was! I pray that my life will make much of Jesus!

Lessons from a 6 year old

Today at 4:08 am my baby turned 6! The last 6 years have absolutely FLOWN by! In 6 years Ryan has lived in 3 different states, in 5 different houses, he has gone to 4 different schools, and 4 different churches (not counting all the ones we visited trying to find the one) He has the biggest heart and is ALWAYS striving to do his very best at everything he does.

This year in April Ryan decided to give his life to follow Jesus. His heart has been transformed so much over the last year .... I have seen such tremendous growth. We have had our periods of trial and error but he is learning and his heart is being softened. The best thing is that I see his mind working and I see his heart bending towards the things that matter to the heart of God.

Each year at Christmas, our children get 3 gifts, to represent the 3 gifts that the wise men brought to Jesus when they visited him. Its our way to teach them many lessons at Christmas. They also give away 3 of their toys at Christmas ... it makes room for what they will get but it also teaches them to give to others who do not have as much as us - they get to pick what 3 toys are given away. (we also buy new gifts to give away, so don't think we are scrooges)

This year as Christmas has gotten closer and closer we have talked about the various ways as a family we can help those around us who are in need. One of the things that we talked about was Ryan's birthday. We talked to Ryan about how much he has and how blessed he is compared to so many. (God had already been working on his heart) We asked him if he would mind asking others to bring a gift not for him, but a donation for others. He was more than excited about this idea.

Saturday, was his birthday and everyone who attended brought a donation for a local rescue shelter in our area. We had toiletries galore! Soap, razors, deodorant, toothpaste, tooth brushes, etc ... all for a 6 year olds birthday! He was so excited when we got home and looked at everything that had been brought. His brother even commented how he wanted to do the same thing for his birthday!!

Fast forward to today ... his birthday ... we picked him up from school and took him to deliver his donation to the rescue shelter. We had so much stuff that Ryan couldn't carry it in. We walk in and the staff greeted him with such a grateful heart .... the woman who runs the shelter came out and told us that the Lord told her to pray over Ryan and our family. She prayed the sweetest prayer over him. I cried. I was blown away with how she prayed for my son. I have prayed some of the same words but he is MY son, I should pray those prayers. This lady had no clue, zero, who this child was, she didn't know him before he walked in the door and she has no connection to him. But the prayer she prayed ... WOW! She spoke a word over my son and I cannot wait to see how God brings it to fruition! I've known God was doing something special in his life, but to hear a stranger also testify to that ... WOW is all I can say, WOW!

Today we were blessed so much more than we were a blessing! I love how God encouraged us today as parents through this womans prayer over my son! I loved seeing the JOY on my childs face as he received nothing but gave away instead. I loved seeing how it trickles down to the other two. I love how his heart is changing and growing!

Amazed!

This boy of mine blows my mind! God is really working on his heart and the coolest thing is ... he's listening to him! On Sunday, Ryan came up to me as I picked him up from his class and instantly started asking me if we could go to Game stop and use the money he has been saving ... I stopped him before he could go too far. I told him we would talk later but it wasn't the time to talk about that. He said "no mom, I don't want to buy something for me anymore, I want to buy something for the kids in Africa with my money." Taught me to not interrupt my son any more!

Then last night as Jeremy was putting him to bed Ryan was talking about the game for the kid in Africa again. Jeremy explained to him that a Wii game might not be the best thing for a kid in Africa because they might not have a Wii or electricity for that matter. Ryan thought for a moment and said ... "then I will work as hard as I can to earn as much money as I can to buy electricity and Wiis for the kids in Africa."

I love it! I love how his heart is working. This weekend is his 6th birthday party. I cannot believe that my baby, the one who by his birth made me a mom, will be 6! Instead of gifts for himself he will be taking a collection of tolitries and other items to take to a local rescue shelter!

I guess maybe we are doing something right with our kids :)

Father & Daughter

It's such a unique bond! I love the bond these two are forming!
I hope she always wants to hug her daddy like this and tell him secrets!

Sibling Love

Does it get any sweeter than this?

A kiss ... on the foot

Tonight, we were watching "Auto B Good" before bed and Pace was sitting on the ottoman. He bent down and kissed my foot and then said ... "mom, I kissed your foot because your lips were too far away." And went back to watching his movie.

I love the way their mind works and I love how affectionate my little man is! I even love kisses on my feet when my lips are too far away :)

Growing up too fast

My baby girl is growing up way too fast! There are days I shake my head and say "she's only two" and then there are days where I say "She's really two". I miss the days where she needed me more than she does now. Her independence seems to be coming a lot faster than the boys. I love that she does things on her own ... "I do it mommy". I miss her needing my help but I love watching her "do it" herself. They just grow up too fast ... but this stage we are in right now ... I love it!

My favorite phrase that she has right now is ... "I hold you mommy." I hope that never ends!

Now if someone would just offer to potty train this little stubborn princess my day would be made :) Any takers?!? Anyone?

A better place?

Is there a better place in the world to dance than on your grandfathers toes?

And they ...

had an AWESOME first day ... both of them. We started a new tradition yesterday. I took them to a local bakery and we each had a cupcake. They shared with me anything and everything they could remember about their day. Just a little one on one time with each of them.

I picked Pace up and off we went. I didn't tell him where we were going so when we passed our subdivision he was quite curious about where we were going. Though once he figured it out he was so very excited.

He told me how much he loved his teachers and that he had stayed on "green" all day. He didn't get to eat all his lunch because time ran out before he was done. He LOVED playing on the playground and he didn't meet any new friends. It was so much fun hearing him tell me about his day ... HIS day not his brothers day but his day. He was excited to have his own stories to tell as well.

Ryan, too, had a wonderful first day. It was fun to find out that our neighbor across the street as well as one a few houses down were both in his class. He rides bikes with Tyler often and they are also sitting right next to each other. Ryan's favorite part of the day was going to the "cafeterium" to have lunch. He didn't finish his lunch either ... guess I sent too much :) He enjoyed going outside to play and also having PE. He likes his teacher and told me all about the rules and how she gets them quiet and to look at her. He soaked it all in and had a ball his first day.

The funniest thing was his realization of how long he was in school. He couldn't believe how close to dinnertime it was when he arrived home. He said ... "I am going to live at school more than I live at home" ... He was talking a mile a minute and I couldn't keep him from talking about it before we got to our spot. So by the time we got there he had already told me everything. We still had a great time together.

Now it's time to get ready for their second day .... I want my summertime back!