Needle in a Scrap Stack

In Him Alone

2010-01-17T14:05:00.002-06:00

This song has become a favorite of mine over the past couple months:

In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This Cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand

In Christ alone, who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to save
‘Til on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again
And as He stands in victory
Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt of life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From life’s first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
‘til He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand

Co-What???

2010-01-14T22:18:00.003-06:00

I think most of us struggle with codependancy. Did that make you raise an eyebrow? It did for me too a couple years ago when a trusted lady friend of mine told me to go to the codependancy group at Recovery. My first thought, "I'm not codependant on anybody." I pictured people who were reliant on drugs and alcohol or women in an abusive relationship who were too scared to get help. I soon discovered that learning the true definition of it revealed a heart of problems. A wicked heart and one that actually has struggled with the fear of man especially in my past.

In a nutshell, the fear of man can either be a fear of what others think of us or will do to us, or a craving for approval and a fear of rejection.

Girls, think about how you felt when you didn't get to do your makeup in the morning and hated being out in public all day. Or think about something in your past that if people knew, well, it's just too agonizing to think about. Or if you said or did the wrong thing and how you just can't make yourself stop thinking about. The list goes on and what is revealed are the idols in your life you didn't even realize were there.

"My 4-year-old niece loves to play dress-up. More specifically, she loves to stage her wedding. Any boy who comes to visit is likely to be corralled as her groom. Normally, this is not a cause for concern — that is, until one little boy bolted in terror and came running to seek the protection of his mother. My niece was right behind him, in all her finery and tulle. Ripping the veil off of her head, she attempted to reassure him.

"It's OK! Look, I'm cute. You can marry me!"

For her entire life, she's been told how cute she is, so I'm sure this was her trump card. Unfortunately, it didn't work.

I wonder how this experience was labeled and filed in her young mind. The stories and movies she's consumed tend to reinforce a worldview that beauty will overwhelm and captivate The Prince. Her parents have been diligent to introduce the ideas of character and inner beauty, but there is a lot of worldly reinforcement of superficial appeal.

As my niece discovered, the problem with appeal is that it's subjective. What appeals to me may not appeal to you. In the future, I wonder how many times she will metaphorically rip off that veil and reveal a heart full of expectations.

I hope, for her sake, that she doesn't get trapped in a cycle of craving approval and fearing rejection. It's a nasty spin cycle of confusion and hurt. Seeking approval from everyone in our orbit is akin to the nauseating dizziness a dancer experiences when she does not keep her eyes on one object as she twirls. Just as dancers are taught to spot, Christians are also taught by God's Word to spot. The Bible tells us that we are to keep our eyes on the Lord and seek His approval only.

Being conscious of God's approval or His displeasure is what the Bible calls "fear of the Lord." It means to be in awe of, or to respect, more than merely to be afraid. Conversely, what we now call peer pressure, people-pleasing, or co-dependency is what the Bible calls "fear of man." In a nutshell, the fear of man can either be a fear of what others think of us or will do to us, or a craving for approval and a fear of rejection.

Biblical counselor and author Ed Welch has labeled these "shame-fear" and "rejection-fear."

What is it that shame-fear and rejection-fear have in common? To use a biblical image, they both indicate that people are our favorite idol. We exalt them and their perceived power above God. We worship them as ones who have God-like exposing gazes (shame-fear) or God-like ability to "fill" us with esteem, love, admiration, acceptance, respect, and other psychological desires (rejection-fear).... Like all idols, people are created things, not the Creator (Rom. 1:25), and they do not deserve our worship. They are worshipped because we perceive that they have power to give us something. We think they can bless us.

Proverbs 29:25 succinctly states the consequences: "The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe."

The most serious consequence of fear of man is when we want to shove God in the closet because we're ashamed of Him of fearful of what others may say: "Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God" (John 12:42-43).

One verse that is often quoted to women is in the closing commendation of Proverbs 31: "Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised" (Pr. 31:30). As it most often gets quoted in the context of messages on beauty or modesty, I think most of us can mentally emphasize the first part of the verse and neglect to ponder the second part — "yeah, yeah, outer beauty fades, Christian women are supposed to have inner beauty, blah, blah, blah." But how often are we aware of the snare of the fear of man that trips us up in cultivating the fear of the Lord?

It's not accidental that Scripture pits the lure of physical beauty and all the praise it can elicit against the fear of the Lord. Physical attraction gets a lot of attention and praise — from other human beings. But that's not what our Creator praises us for. He will not praise us for the superficial, but for the eternal — our qualities and virtues that, by His grace, reflect our growth through His redemptive efforts.

To be praiseworthy women, I think we have to be able to clearly identify the manifestations of the fear of man. Here's what that snare can look like for women:

Do you change your normal behavior when you are around men you are attracted to?
Do you cancel plans because you feel you don't look very good that day?
Do you agonize over what to wear to an event?
Are you defensive when criticized, no matter how little or great the criticism?
Are you easily embarrassed? Do you find it hard to laugh at yourself?
Are you jealous of other people, their possessions, or their relationships?
Do you have trouble saying no to people when your resources (time, finances, health) are already maxed out?
Do you avoid some people?
Do you consistently second-guess your decisions?
Are you afraid of airing your true opinion about a decision?
Do you embellish certain stories or exaggerate the truth to make you look a little better than reality? Conversely, do you issue lots of little white lies?
Will you compromise standards of modesty or purity because you want to seem relevant or stylish?
Do you decline dates because you think others will not like or be impressed with the man who has asked you out?
These behaviors are guaranteed to make us dizzy and nauseated. We are looking into the eyes of everyone around us for approval, rather than steadfastly seeking the eyes of our Lord in the twists, turns, and spins of our lives.

But we don't have to be slaves to the opinions of other, fallen creatures. We can be set free by seeking the approval and praise of God. This is what defines a godly woman: "Do not let your adorning be external — the braiding of hair, the wearing of gold, or the putting on of clothing — but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious" (1 Peter 3:3-4).

That gentle, quiet spirit is not limited to a certain personality type. It's not like the God who made an enormous variety of people suddenly wants us to act like clones of each other — every woman wearing flowered skirts, sipping tea, and never speaking up.

This passage echoes the wisdom of that Proverbs 29:25 verse: "The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe." Some translations say whomever trusts in the LORD will be protected or exalted. The literal translation is "raised high" — either to a protective place or to an exalted place.

The point is, a gentle and quiet spirit is one who trusts in the Lord. That trust can be expressed through a wide range of temperaments, from quiet to boisterous. Like a dancer, it is not so much how the moves are made but where we are looking that expresses true fear of the Lord. The benefit is that we are released from being slaves to the opinions of others so that we can love them without strings attached. As Ed Welch writes:

The most radical treatment for the fear of man is the fear of the Lord. God must be bigger to you than people are.... Regarding other people, our problem is that we need them (for ourselves) more than we love them (for the glory of God). The task God sets for us is to need them less and love them more.

A woman who loves for the glory of a very big God is truly worthy of praise."

Whom Do You Fear?
by Carolyn McCulley

Christmas Fun

2009-12-26T09:00:00.034-06:00

Looking for a Christmas tree
Christmas shopping with Mommy and Daddy

Kenadi's attempt to open a present ;)

mmmmm . . .

Two days before Christmas - it was 75 outside - beautiful!

Delivering treats to some neighborhood friends

It started snowing Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve at Roni's house

A white Christmas!!!

Oma and Papa got Cole a new bike!

Ready to open presents with the whole family

So sweet!

Hats and gloves for everybody!

so serious

Chase was very excited about his Star Wars sheets :)

Cole made me an ornament and a bell. Love them!

Burning cold hands!

Our Frosty

Experimenting with the robot bugs that Grandpa gave the boys

Snuggling up to Gams

Happy Birthday Jesus!

And a couple videos . . .

Two Wills

2009-12-24T09:47:00.005-06:00

It's amazing how God reveals things to us. After getting more in depth on praying according to God's will I started thinking more on the two wills of God - how there's God's will for all persons to be saved yet there's His will to elect unconditionally those who will actually be saved. Not that I've never thought about it before but I've always passed it off as God knows all of our hearts and who will ultimately turn from their sins and cry out for Him. Yet He is the one who turns our hearts to Him so why some and not others. In passing it off I've missed out on going deeper in my relationship with Him and an opportunity for growth.
So the day that I started thinking about all this I was flipping through my cd's while I was waiting in the pick up line for Cole and guess what I found? A cd entitled "The Two Will's of God" that I was given to me almost a year ago when I went through the membership class at the Village. I would love to list some points right now but it'll have to wait till later. For now if you would like, go here to view John Piper's article on the Two Wills of God.

A New Resolution

2009-12-22T12:09:00.003-06:00

I read this sermon by John Piper about a week ago and it's been resounding in my heart since. I love the challenge in it to discover how prayer and His Word abiding in us work together. Basically this is my Prayer Part 2.

You can find the entire sermon at www.desiringgod.org under
Praying From the Fullness of God's Word

But what about the other problem with prayer—that we pray and the answer we long for does not come? The Bible has several possible answers.

It says we may not be praying according to God's will; 1 John 5:14, "If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us."

Or it could be we have cherished sin that we will not let go from our lives; Psalm 66:18, "If I regard wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear."

It could be that we have man-centered and not God-centered motives; James 4:3, "You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures."

Or it may be that we do not believe that God will do it; Mark 11:24, "All things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they shall be granted you."

Or it could be that God wants you to persevere, and is testing your obedience to his command in Luke 18:1, "At all times [you] ought to pray and not to lose heart."

Or it might be that God is, in fact, doing far more every time you pray than you can imagine and is daily putting in place a part of the mosaic that will in good time be the full answer to your prayer (as in Daniel 10:2,12).

"Praying for All His Purposes, Meditating on All His Word"
Or could it be that there is a dynamic to prayer that we have not yet learned? Could it be that this matter of praying is so mysterious and so wonderful that there is a deeper, fuller way of relating to God in prayer that we have not experienced? Could it be that we are like children who have been told something by our Father, but we just don't get it yet? And in his wisdom and patience he goes on loving us and teaching us. Could it be that 1997 would be the year when we get it?

Here is one of my goals for 1997 for Bethlehem. In our Mission Statement booklet, two of our values are expressed like this: We value a "growing frequency, freedom, depth and power in corporate, family and private prayer." We value "making prayer the visible engine of all our efforts in ministry and worship" (page 5). One of my goals for us in 1997 is that we as a church discover corporately how the Word of God and prayer work together in powerful, life-changing, fruit-bearing ministry.

In our Mission Statement booklet, the spiritual dynamic behind all our ministry goes like this:

We join God the Father in magnifying the supremacy of his glory
through our Lord Jesus Christ,
in the power of the Holy Spirit by
treasuring all that God is,
loving all whom he loves,
praying for all his purposes,
meditating on all his Word,
sustained by all his grace.

My prayer is that in 1997 Bethlehem will learn from study and experience how those two lines work together—praying for all his purposes, meditating on all his Word. What's the connection? How do they function together to make us a transformed, fruit-bearing people?

The reason this is so crucial for us is given in our text today, especially John 15:7, "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you." Do you see the connection between the Word of God and prayer? "If my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you." Here is a great goal for us in 1997: what does that mean? What does it mean in experience, not just in talk, but in action and life? That is what I want us to learn together.

I put it as a question because I am not at all sure I know what this text means—at least not in its fullness. I have the suspicion that there is a potential here that few, if any, are tapping into. I don't think I have arrived—perhaps I have barely begun to experience this dynamic of the Word abiding in me and releasing sure answers to prayer. Do I really know—have I really experienced—what Jesus means by the Word abiding in me? Do I experience—do you experience—day in and day out the dynamic relationship between the indwelling Word and answers to prayer? Do you know from experience what this is?

In Prayer Week of 1987 we did a survey at Bethlehem and asked, for example, How much time per week do you spend reading the Bible? 255 people took the survey. 21% said fewer than 15 minutes (a week!). Another 25% said 15-30 minutes a week. So 46% of our people in 1987 were spending fewer than five minutes a day reading God's Word. When asked about time spent in focused prayer, 62% said they spent fewer than 30 minutes in prayer each week—fewer than five minutes a day.

I doubt that the statistics are very different today. And I would venture to say that many of these people harbor some deep resentments toward God for not answering their prayers. So the question arises: is there anything in their lives—or in my life—that corresponds to John 15:7—"If the Word of God abides in you . . ." Is reading the Word of God five minutes a day what Jesus was referring to when he said, "If my words abide in you"? My own suspicion is that Jesus had something in mind vastly more extensive and more life-shaping than the quick glances that forty percent of our people give to the Word of God each day.

Is This Legalistic?
I know that at this point some people are already throwing up defenses in the name of freedom, and are ready to say that all such talk is infected with legalism and a performance mentality. Well, I plead with you to look at the words of Jesus here in John 15:7 and struggle with me over this. This is not legalism. We are not talking about doing x-number of minutes of Bible reading to earn x-number of answered prayers. We are talking about living out what we value.

For example, suppose a coach prepares a steak dinner for his football team every day and spreads it before them freely, without cost, and says to them: eat and enjoy this rich meal every day and you will have strength to win the championship. And suppose that half the team instead goes to the candy store and the bakery, and week after week eats sweets and pastries. They start to lose games and the coach finds out they are not eating his free steak dinners and rebukes them. Some of them become indignant and say, "Hey we don't want a legalistic relationship with you. We want to relate to you in freedom and do what comes more naturally for our appetites."

Now that coach would be justified in saying, "It is not legalism to accept a free gift from me and to trust me that it is better for you than candy and pie." And so it is with Jesus. It is not legalism to welcome his free gift and infinitely valuable word. It is not legalism to savor it and revel in its preciousness. It is not legalism to believe that without it we get weaker and weaker and more and more worldly.

There are some of you who have built up strong resistance to receiving the Word of God and letting it abide in you, as Psalm 1 says, day and night. And I plead with you to let 1997 be the year you trust God to change that. There is something here for us that we are not getting. And I believe that if you would just reach out and taste a fraction of it, you would take heart that there are possibilities in your life and prayer that you never dreamed.

If His Word Were Abiding in us,
How Might that Yield Answers to Prayer?

What might John 15:7 mean? Jesus says, "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you." What are the possibilities of how the Word abiding in us might yield sure answers to prayer?

1. It may be that the Word abiding in us functions to guide our prayers. In other words, 1 John 5:14 says, "If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us." Perhaps it is the abiding of the Word of Christ in our lives that directs us to what God's will is in prayer. Then we pray according to God's will and the answer comes.

2. Or it may be that the Word abiding in us functions to build our faith, which then lays hold on answers to prayer. Romans 10:17 says, "Faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ." And in Mark 11:24 Jesus says, "All things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they shall be granted you." So if faith is essential for answered prayer, and if the Word abiding within sustains faith, then maybe that is what Jesus means when he says that if his words abide in us we will have answers to our prayers.

3. Or it may be that the Word abiding in us functions to transform us morally and spiritually so that we are walking in the path of love where God answers prayer, rather than in the path of selfishness where he doesn't. We know from Psalm 66:18 and James 4:3 that intentionally cherishing or walking in sin cuts us off from answered prayer. And we know from John 8:32 that the Word of God sets us free from sin: "You will know the truth and the truth will set you free." And we know from John 17:17 that the word of God sanctifies: "Sanctify them in the truth [Jesus prays to the Father], your Word is truth." So maybe it's the transforming, sanctifying power of the Word that leads to holiness and love and then to answered prayer.

Bearing Fruit for God's Glory is the Main Aim
What's plain from the context of John 15:1-8 is that bearing fruit for God's glory is the main concern—and it probably means both the fruit of love and joy as well as the fruit of conversions. Verse 2: "Every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it, that it may bear more fruit." Verse 4: "As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me." Verse 5: "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit." Verse 8: "By this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit."

So the aim of this passage is more fruit for God's glory, and the path to that fruit-bearing is our abiding in Christ, and his word abiding in us. And prayer, according to verse 7, is an essential part of that abiding in Christ and having his Word abide in us, so that we can bear fruit for God's glory.

How this prayer and this Word abiding in us work together is what I want us to discover together this year. The very least that it means is that we make it our aim to pray from the fullness of God's word. Effective prayer is the overflow of the fullness of the Word of God abiding in us. What does that mean in experience? That is our quest in 1997.

http://www.desiringgod.org/

Prayer

2009-12-16T10:00:00.003-06:00

Loved Matt's sermon on prayer a while back. Meant to post this earlier :)

Why Pray?

1. Daily act of humility and dependence on God "I cannot, You can. I do not know, You know."

2. Fellowship with God. God speaks to us through His Word and His Holy Spirit, we speak to God through prayer. This is called "relationship".

3. In prayer, God allows us to be involved in activities that are eternally important. We are involved in something much, much bigger than ourselves.

4. Prayer changes things

5. Means of confession

6. Prayer is a means to fighting sin. Prayer is a spirit driven activity which means when we’re praying we’re disconnecting from the sinful falleness of this world and we’re connecting to what is holy, right and good.

7. We’re commanded to. God has ordained that through prayer He would accomplish His purposes and so He has commanded to the individual life of the believer to pray and therefore fulfill His purposes.

Is God sovereign over all things or can we move Him by our prayers?
Yes
The problem is that we have a hard time believing both of these to be true and we’ll want to pick one and play it against the other.

Ephesians 1 is very clear that salvation belongs to God and that no man can be converted without Christ opening his heart. That the only way you believe and that you have the ability to believe is that if God opens your heart and your mind to understand the gospel, that He gets you out of darkness and into light – that’s the only way you believe.

If that’s true, then why preach? If preaching doesn’t open the hearts and minds of people but only the Holy Spirit does, then why share your faith with your neighbor? Why share your faith with your friends, family?

Because God’s appointed means to achieving His appointed purpose is the proclamation of the Word which means God said the means by which I’m going to accomplish this is the preaching, teaching and proclamation of the Word. So, He’s going to save men through the preaching/teaching of the Bible and through interpersonal relationships where the gospel is taught and lived out. The same is true about prayer.
Prayer becomes the means by which the purposes of God are accomplished. So that in this way prayer changes things.

A Magical Christmas

2009-12-15T15:23:00.003-06:00

How did the story of Santa bringing gifts make Christmas more magical than Christ bringing the ultimate gift? If we're so good at making the story of Santa a reality by wrapping up gifts and setting them under a tree Christmas Eve how much better should we be at making the story of Christ and his gift of reconciliation a reality? Think of the magic in your childs heart toward Santa and imagine the child like faith you could give them based on reality rather than imaginary.
The words of Noel Piper sum up my thoughts exactly:

Thinking About Santa
{By: Noel Piper}
Over the years, we have chosen not to include Santa Claus in our Christmas stories and decorations. There are several reasons.

First, fairy tales are fun and we enjoy them, but we don’t ask our children to believe them.

Second, we want our children to understand God as fully as they’re able at whatever age they are. So we try to avoid anything that would delay or distort that understanding. It seems to us that celebrating with a mixture of Santa and manger will postpone a child’s clear understanding of what the real truth of God is. It’s very difficult for a young child to pick through a marble cake of part-truth and part-imagination to find the crumbs of reality.

Third, we think about how confusing it must be to a straight-thinking, uncritically-minded preschooler because Santa is so much like what we’re trying all year to teach our children about God. Look, for example, at the “attributes” of Santa.

He’s omniscient—he sees everything you do.
He rewards you if you’re good.
He’s omnipresent—at least, he can be everywhere in one night.
He gives you good gifts.
He’s the most famous “old man in the sky” figure.
But at the deeper level that young children haven’t reached yet in their understanding, he is not like God at all.

For example, does Santa really care if we’re bad or good? Think of the most awful kid you can remember. Did he or she ever not get gifts from Santa?

What about Santa’s spying and then rewarding you if you’re good enough? That’s not the way God operates. He gave us his gift—his Son—even though we weren’t good at all. “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). He gave his gift to us to make us good, not because we had proved ourselves good enough.

Helping our children understand God as much as they’re able at whatever age they are is our primary goal. But we’ve also seen some other encouraging effects of not including Santa in our celebration.

First, I think children are glad to realize that their parents, who live with them all year and know all the worst things about them, still show their love at Christmas. Isn’t that more significant than a funny, old, make-believe man who drops in just once a year?

Second, I think most children know their family’s usual giving patterns for birthday and special events. They tend to have an instinct about their family’s typical spending levels and abilities. Knowing that their Christmas gifts come from the people they love, rather than from a bottomless sack, can help diminish the “I-want-this, give-me-that” syndrome.

And finally, when children know that God’s generosity is reflected by God’s people, it tends to encourage a sense of responsibility about helping make Christmas good for others.

Karsten, for example, worked hard on one gift in 1975. On that Christmas morning, his daddy stepped around a large, loose-flapped cardboard box to get to his chair at the breakfast table. “Where’s Karsten?” he asked, expecting to see our excited three-year-old raring to leap into the day. Sitting down, I said, “He’ll be here in a minute.”

I nudged the box with my toe. From inside the carton, Karsten threw back the flaps and sprang to his full three-foot stature. “And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them . . .” He had memorized Luke 2:8-20 as a gift for his dad. Karsten knew the real story.

In fact, a few days later, he and I were walking down the hall at the church we attended then. One of the older ladies leaned down to squeeze his pink, round cheek and asked, “What did Santa bring you?” Karsten’s head jerked quickly toward me, and he whispered loudly, “Doesn’t she know?”

(Adapted from Treasuring God in Our Traditions)

Overflowing with Sweetness

2009-12-01T10:07:00.008-06:00

"But now thus says the Lord,
He who created you, O Jacob,
He who formed you, O Israel:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, YOU ARE MINE.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.
For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
I give Egypt as your ransom,
Cush and Seba in exchange for you.
Because you are precious in my eyes,
and honored, and I love you,"
Isaiah 43: 1-4

Radio Flyer

2009-11-13T19:10:00.003-06:00

Kenadi took her first ride in the wagon the other day and loved it! She was so cute - I think she really felt proud of herself ;)

Chase is 5!!!

2009-11-13T18:56:00.007-06:00

Chase turned 5 yesterday!!! We're going to be celebrating tomorrow so I plan on taking lots of pictures then. As for yesterday, Chase woke up to a pancake breakfast, got to pick out a new Bionicle from Oma and Papa, and Grandma and Auntie Kristin came over with cupcakes.

I'll be back tomorrow with some shots of our day :)

My Little Cy-Guy

2009-11-11T22:02:00.007-06:00

Can you resist this little guy?!? I love his playful ways. These pictures are from our trip to see the family this past summer. What a cutie!

Last Night

2009-11-11T20:22:00.003-06:00

I finished up my bible study with these gorgeous, beautiful-hearted ladies last night. I am so thankful for all of the time, words and prayer they all poured into it. What an awesome time of growth it was :)

Cole's Seven!!!

2009-11-04T11:15:00.010-06:00

I can't believe my baby Cole is seven years old!!! I threw a little family surprise party this year. Daddy took the boys out so I could set everything up.

We played the donut game (this video makes me laugh every time!)

Cy, after playing the donut game
. . . and we bobbed for apples

Happy Birthday Cole!!!

Pumpkin Patch

2009-11-04T11:05:00.004-06:00

Yay for everyone looking and smiling at the camera at the same time!!! It even caught me by surprise ;)

I made Kenadi's little outfit! I made a little wrap around skirt and connected one of the shabby flowers at the top. It was also my first try at a little headband - I had to have something for her hair ;)

Kenadi

2009-11-04T10:42:00.007-06:00

Kenadi's Favorites:

Thing to Say: da da da da

Thing to Eat: Wagon Wheels - aka - cookies

Thing to Crawl After: Dakota's bones and doorstops

Thing to Laugh At: Her brothers jumping up and down

Other Favs: Being pushed on her bike, singing, standing up, being outside :)

Pumpkin Carving

2009-11-02T16:39:00.006-06:00

We dug all the goop out of our pumpkins Wednesday afternoon. Cole and Chase eventually liked getting all messy. Cy wanted nothing to do with it :)

We didn't actually carve our pumpkins till Halloween morning - of course, they were already starting to rot :( at least they smelled like it. . . we still had fun. Cole carved his pumpkin all by himself and helped Chase with his too - what a little man ;)

Halloween

2009-11-02T14:01:00.009-06:00

Halloween night . . .

Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Batman and Catwoman

First stop: Mark and Sherry Bigham's

Cy loved the vampire fangs

We spent most of the night trick-or-treating in Mrs. Roni's neighborhood. Grandma, Auntie Kristin, Uncle Nick and Anthony all met up with us there.

It was a beautiful night and perfect weather (I wish I would have gotten more pictures!). I'm looking forward to next year - maybe we can do some Star Wars or The Wizard of Oz :)

Things I Need to Remember

2009-10-21T09:46:00.008-05:00

A couple weeks ago Matt talked about the art of remembrance. These are things that I know I daily need to remind myself of in order to have the right perspective and therefore make better decisions.
The art of remembering either pushes us toward Christ or it inches us away

"Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead."
Philippians 3:13

Paul's not meaning forget everything but rather forget the things behind you that Christ has already paid for and that would hinder your relationship with Christ.

So, how you go about remembering and what are you supposed to go about remembering.

1. Remember what God has done
"I will remember the deeds of the Lord;
yes, I will remember your wonders of old." Psalm 77:11

"Remember the wondrous works that he has done,
his miracles, and the judgments he uttered" Psalm 105:5

We’re going to remember how God has interacted with His people and behaved in the scriptures so that as our life plays out we can have the confidence that He delivers, that He saves that He’s in and around even the worst of circumstances.
Not only do we see it biblically but in our own lives He has shown us a thousand mercies. Some of us walk in a level of idolatry that everything that is good and right in our lives we take credit for and anything that goes wrong God gets blamed for. When everything goes right you’re the one that pulls it off and you let one thing go wrong and God’s the one that did this to you. You’re a blasphemer and you have a wicked heart and that’s why you respond that way.
No one in this room got up this morning and went, “Oh my God everything’s working!” But you let yourself get up tomorrow and have chronic pain that doesn’t go away for a year or two, maybe ever, you watch how quickly will go, “You tricked me, you betrayed me.”
We should be constantly overwhelmed that He’s given us these gifts but our flesh doesn’t allow most of us to think that way. We need the Holy Spirit to really do a work in our heart because we are not constantly aware of the wonderful gifts that God has given us.

2. Remember the resurrection of Christ
"Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel" 2 Timothy 2:8
Why this is so important: Because the scriptures say if Christ has been raised then we too will be raised.
I Cor. 15 - our physical, perishable bodies will give way to a new, PHYSICAL, touchable, moveable body that is imperishable. You, at your healthiest, are a shell of what is to come.
Don’t forget that there’s a resurrection coming. If you forget then you’re going to live as though this life is it.

3. Remember that at one time you were outside the covenant promises;
"Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world." Ephesians 2:11-12

and remember that you’re part of something much bigger and historic than you can fathom.

The metanarrative . . .
A creator God created all things. The fall occurred and breaks everything and then we’re isolated from God. But then God come to a man named Abram and He tells him, I’m going to create a people and through that line of people I’m going to raise up a Messiah and through that Messiah I’m going to reconcile all things to Myself and all nations on earth will be blessed because of it. He gives the law to Moses.
He gives the law not so that we would be perfect but to reveal to us that we cannot be perfect. He gives the law as the first blow to destroy and kill religion. It becomes evident that they can’t obey the law so He gives them a sacrificial system to show that God is righteous and sin will need to be atoned for; innocent blood will have to be shed to cover (propitiation), and then the sin will have to be taken away (exviation), and the whole sacrificial system is built around communicating to Israel that their sin costs. All the prophets and psalms testify to this. Christ shows up and says I am He. He lives the perfect, righteous life that was imparted/imputed to you and I; He dies our death on the cross. All of your sin, past, present and future, nailed to the cross of Jesus Christ, with Christ. God makes Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in Him; we become the righteousness of God, He becomes our sin, dies, is resurrected, ascends, makes intersession for us, sends the Holy Spirit, we become not only beneficiaries of the cross but agents of it, and this is the way we live our lives.

Our life has one purpose: the Name and the renown of Jesus Christ. Your money, your job, your house, your children, your hobbies - everything is about the gospel of Jesus Christ and God reconciling all things to Himself. The man who understands this lives out the epic. The man who gets the metanarrative lives life intentionally
Paul says, don’t forget what you’re caught up in. Don’t forget God’s been doing this thing a long, long time and that you have a part in pushing it forward.
Play your part well.

But above all and in all and through all,
4. Remember the cross – for without it you no longer have Christianity. Without the blood-splattered, wrath-absorbing cross of Jesus Christ you no longer have our faith.

"For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
1 Corinthians 11:23-25

What keeps us from being proud people? The cross. We’re an interesting dynamic because we are horrific, wicked sinners; so horrific and so wicked that Christ had to die for us and at the same time so loved by God that Christ was glad to die for us. So we don’t walk with a swagger but we don’t sniffle either. The cross is constantly in our hearts. When it’s not and you stumble about, you will run from Him and not to Him. If you understand that it’s His sacrifice that gives you right standing with God, when you stumble and fall, you can approach the throne of grace with confidence because you know it wasn’t your merit that got you in to begin with.

Remember.

A Parable . . .

2009-10-20T22:01:00.002-05:00

"Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.
“Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’ So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”
Matthew 18: 21-35

Restoration

2009-10-17T22:49:00.002-05:00

You bring restoration,
You bring restoration,
You bring restoration to my soul.

You've taken my pain And you call me by a new name.
You've taken my shame And in its place you give my joy.

You take my mourning and turn it into dancing
You take my weeping and turn it into laughing
You take my mourning and turn it into dancing
You take my sadness and turn it into joy.

Hallelujah, hallelujah, You make all things new.

Written by: Audra Harke, Clay Edwards

Psalm 23:3 - He restores my soul.
Psalm 30:5 - Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.
Psalm 30:11-12 - You have turned my mourning into dancing, loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. O Lord, my God, I will give thanks to you forever.

This Year?

2009-09-24T22:57:00.000-05:00

{Thoughtful Thursday}
This year? Seriously, where has it gone. I can't believe next week we'll be starting October. Then we'll be in the holiday season when things will really fly by.

Here is us at the beginning of this year (not the best background but that's what you get when fall lasts for three days here in Texas and you waited till the weekend to take pictures!!!):

How things have changed! And fast! The boys have grown up so much and Kenadi is no longer kicking the inside of my ribs! It just makes me wonder we're we'll be in a year from now, and a year from then, and so on. I love how no matter what can and will happen, God will always be reminding us that He remains the same and promises us things through who He is:

"I love you, O Lord, my strength.

The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,

my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,

my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,

and I am saved from my enemies."

Psalm 18: 1-3

"Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,

and He delivered them from their distress.

He sent out His Word and healed them,

and delivered them from their destruction.

Let them thank the Lord for His steadfast love,

for His wondrous works to the children of men!

Psalm 107: 19-21

He makes the promise to always be our Strength, our Rock, our Fortress, our Deliverer, our Refuge, our Sheild, our Salvation, our Stronghold, our Healer, our Steadfast Love.

Fabric

2009-09-22T21:58:00.007-05:00

{Transaction Tuesday}
So, I have some new fabric! So far I finished an order for another tie shirt (I love these - perfect way to feel like you dress your little man as cute as you did your little girl :) and a hooter hider.

Also, just in case you didn't know, we can make our flower hair clips into pins to attach to your shirt. I love it! I'm about to make some bigger ones with the new fabric so stay tune :)

Training?

2009-09-21T10:13:00.003-05:00

{Inspiration Monday}
I haven't been thinking about it much but I know I've missed running/cycling/swimming when something little like this makes me want to get up and go work out!

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Soon and very soon! In the past I've trained for triathlons but have never actually competed. I think it's time to go for it!

Impossible???

2009-09-19T22:17:00.010-05:00

{Family Friday}
(yes I know it's Saturday - I'm a little late)
So, whenever I tried to take pictures of the boys when it was just them, I thought I had a hard time trying to get a good picture. I eventually gave in to the fact that the pictures I got, though they may not be perfect, reflected where we were at/what things were like at that time. Well today I let it get to me AGAIN. All I want is some nice pictures for around the house of the kids all together; all LOOKING and SMILING at the camera. Of course this is a lot to ask with a six month old but I know I can get her to look at me and smile and every time I did someone else would be looking the other way or be giving me some crazy goofy smile. So again, I have to remind myself these turned out great because it shows us:us.

This is the best one of everyone together although that smile Kenadi has is not her real happy smile. It's an inbetween smile that actually turns into screaming crying in less than a second.

I'll try for some more later . . . trying to get a good pic can be exhausting :)

And yes Kenadi is getting 4 of her top teeth right now but you can really only see one in the pictures.

Sweet

2009-09-17T21:11:00.002-05:00

{Thoughful Thursday}
This will be short and sweet :)

Lately I've needed to remind myself more of the character of God. Since I was a little girl I heard the story of Moses and the bitter water at Marah . . .

"Now when they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore the name of it was called Marah. And the people complained against Moses, saying, "What shall we drink?" So he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree. When he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet." Exodus 15: 23-25

. . . naturally, I couldn't relate that story to my own life experiences back then. We can see through what happened in Marah that God is our provider and healer. In the next verse God promises "For I am the Lord who heals you." (v.26). Just as Moses threw a piece of wood into the waters to turn the bitter water sweet, the cross of Christ can turn your bitter life experiences into something sweet for Him.

Shirts

2009-09-15T21:19:00.005-05:00

{Transaction Tuesday}
A couple of new shirts . . .
B is for Bird

I had tried making a headband that I could attach one of our flowers to but I think I'll make the flower just a little bit smaller next time.

T is for Tree . . .
and an initialed tee order :)

and another order for one of Sara's diaper cakes.

Inspirers

2009-09-14T22:10:00.004-05:00

{Inspiration Monday}

Next on my list of people who have inspired/influenced/motivated/encouraged me:
John Piper

I was first introduced to him when I was a senior in high school. I read "God's Passion for His Glory" which I guess I still haven't finished because "The End for Which God Created the World" by Jonathan Edwards was the second half of the book which I only got about half way through with. I did finish John Pipers part and it was through it that I found out about Christian Hedonism. If you've never heard of it it's basically summed up in this:

“God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.”

"The chief end of man is to glorify God

enjoying Him forever."

At the age of 14, I can remember asking myself and looking for why I was living/what was the purpose of life. At 18, God revealed this to me and I was fully satisfied.
So what is the end for which God created the world? "That end, Edwards says, is, first, that the glory of God might be magnified in the universe, and , second, that Christ's ransomed people from all times and all nations would rejoice in God above all things. But the depth and wonder and power of this book (The End for which God Created the World) is the demonstration that these two ends are one. The rejoicing of all peoples in God, and the magnifying of God's glory are one end, not two."
Here are some implications of that:
#1 God's passion for His own glory and His passion for my joy in Him are not at odds.
#2 Therefore, God is as committed to my eternal and ever-increasing joy in Him as He is to His own glory.
#3 The love of God for sinners is not His making much of them, but His graciously freeing and empowering them to enjoy making much of Him. (if God would do us good, He must direct us to His worth, not ours)
and later . . .
#15 If the exhibition of God's glory and the deepest joy of human souls are one thing, then, as C.S. Lewis said, "It is a Christian duty, as you know, for everyone to be as happy as he can be.
Sometimes people ask: should we pursue obedience to God or joy in God? Edwards would answer: The question involves a category confusion. It's like asking: should I pursue fruit or apples? Obedience is doing what we are told. And we are told to delight ourselves in the Lord. Therefore pursuing joy in God is obedience."

"The steadfast love of the Lord is better than life" Psalm 63:3

Labor Day Weekend

2009-09-11T06:56:00.000-05:00

{Family Friday}

For Labor Day weekend we went and hung out with our friends Mark and Brandi. I can't resist to post all these pics of Kenadi swinging. I love how little and happy she looks :)

Cole got to try out a snorkel (he'd been wanting to for some time now :)

Growing Up . . .

2009-09-10T13:37:00.007-05:00

{Thoughtful Thursday}

I love periodically asking the boys what they want to be when they grow up and seeing how their answer changes as their little personalities form.

Mom: "What do you want to be when you grow up?"

Cole: "I want to build space shuttles and go to space."

Chase: "When I grow up, I'm going to walk to the place where there's dinosaur bones, dig them up, and put them together in the sand."

Cy: "I want to be Jaws!!!"
(Yes, Daddy has let them watch it)

Mom: "I don't think you'll get paid money to be Jaws."

Cy: "Oh." (so defeated)

Clipboards

2009-09-08T17:15:00.001-05:00

{Transaction Tuesday}

Here's what we've been up to at Needle in a Scrap Stack:

More letters for Sara's Diaper Cakes

(this was my first letter I made with fabric!)

More clipboards and a Papa size clothes pin to match.

My friend Gina ordered this for her friend Shay who is on "The Biggest Looser"
The new season premieres next week!

In the Routine

2009-09-04T11:19:00.003-05:00

{Family Friday}
So we are back in the groove of things! Cole just finished his second week of school and everything is going nice and smooth.

Kenadi is also happy in her routine of things and is growing like a weed. Somebody make it slow down!!! She's now eating 3 times a day and just gobbles everything up like a little turkey! She also has a new favorite toy:

Have a great weekend!

Infants ;)

2009-09-03T23:31:00.004-05:00

I was just reading and it made me think back to something I heard Matt Chandler say just a few months after Kenadi was born. At the time, Kenadi was still in the infant stages where I was still getting up every couple hours at night. Every time I've read these verses before, I never really connected it to a baby crying out in hope because of their need (which you'd think I would have because of the verses beforehand).

“Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them to him, saying, "Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it."” Luke 18 :15-17

Matt went on to say, "So what we tried to unpack is how does an infant receive things? I am intimately acquainted with this right now. Nora, when she’s hungry, her only hope to get food is to cry and hope. When she’s in her own filth, her only hope is to cry. When she’s uncomfortable, her only hope is to cry. When she’s cold, her only hope is to cry. When she’s hot, her only hope is to cry. When she wants to be cuddled, her only hope is to cry. Nora can do nothing except cry and hope."

If you read back in the text a little bit, it shows what the Pharisee and the tax collector prayed. The Pharisee's prayer was not bad - he's giving God credit for his spiritual growth. The problem was that he thought his spiritual growth justified him.

The tax collector pleads the blood of Christ. He cries out because he see's how unworthy he is. He see's his need. By no act of morality, by no act of religion will he be saved. It will be by His mercy; through Christ alone.

The only ones who will be justified are the ones who come to the kingdom like infants, whose only way to receive is to cry out.

New in the Shop . . .

2009-09-01T22:57:00.008-05:00

{Transaction Tuesday}

Just finished a couple of new things to put up in the shop this week!

New Initialed Burpcloths . . .

and our Gentleman Onesies.

Can't forget some more clips (which can be made as a pin, hair clip or magnet)

I've also teamed up with Sara Nichols making custom letters for her super adorable diaper cake business. You can check them out at: http://sarasdiapercakes.blogspot.com/

Inspirers :)

2009-08-31T23:20:00.007-05:00

{Inspiration Monday}

For the next few mondays I want to write about a few of the people who have inspired/influenced/motivated/encouraged me.
When I went to California this summer my brother-in-law, Derek, was just starting a new Bible study at church. It was on Randy Alcorn's book "Heaven" and first of all it's a miracle that I'm even half way through a book (and this book isn't small) and second,God has used it to change my view of heaven and in return, my daily outlook. This may be long but I'll try to sum up the beginning chapters quickly for you.
In chapter 1, Randy talks about all of our misconceptions of heaven - words like boring, even depressing. Nearly every Christian thinks about a never ending church service in the sky. "We loose heart, and we turn once more to the present to find what life we can." In contrast, when we have an accurate (biblical) view of heaven we will desire and look forward to it.
"We do not desire to eat gravel. Why? Because God did not design us to eat gravel. Trying to develop an appitite for a disembodied existence in a non-physical Heaven is like trying to develop an appitite for gravel."
He goes on to say how there are very few books about heaven, very little said in church services which raises the question: Does Scripture really have so little to say about Heaven? The bible says "NO!"
"Satan need not convince us that Heaven doesn't exist. He need only convince us that Heaven is a place of boring, unearthly existence. If we believe that lie, we'll be robbed of our joy and anticipation, we'll set our minds on this life and not the next, and we won't be motivated to share our faith. Why should we share the "good news" that people can spend an eternity in a boring, ghostly place that even we're not looking forward to?"
Another source of our misconceptions of Heaven is naturalism: "We succumb to naturalistic assumptions that what we see is real and what we don't see isn't. God can't be real because we can't see him. And Heaven can't be real because we can't see it. But we must recognize our blindness. The blind must take by faith that there are stars in the sky. If they depend on their ability to see, they will conclude there are no stars."

In chapter 2, he talks about the importance of using our imagination. How books about Heaven are notorious for saying we can't know what Heaven is like but it will be more wonderful than
we can imagine. "However the moment we say that we can't imagine Heaven, we dump cold water on all that God has revealed to us about our eternal home."
"We cannot anticipate or desire what we cannot imagine. That's why, I believe, God has given us glimpses of Heaven in the Bible - to fire up our imagination and kindle a desire for Heaven in our hearts. And that's why Satan will always discourage our imagination - or misdirect it to ethereal notions that violate Scripture."
"If God didn't want us to imagine what Heaven will be like, he wouldn't have told us as much about it as he has." He talks about fueling our imagination with Scripture and how nearly every notion of Heaven he presents in this book is reinforced by biblical texts (he also encourages you to look it up for yourself).
I love how he makes it clear that the Bible tells us that Heaven is a physical, tangible place; that God's Kingdom will come to Earth; that God's plan isn't to demolish but to redeem/resurrect the Earth; that a physical resurrecton awaits us.
"We should accept that many things about Heaven are secret and that God has countless surprises in store for us. But as for what God has revealed to us about Heaven, these things belong to us and to our children."
"Set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God" (Col. 3:1). This is direct command to set our hearts on heaven. To long for Christ is to long for Heaven.

I may have quoted the book a little much but hopefully it's inspired you to either:
a) think "she's crazy, I better find out for myself"
or
b) Diligently, actively, single mindedly pursue the things above.

Either way I'll be back next week with just a little more to say on the topic :)

New News

2009-08-28T21:51:00.016-05:00

{Family Friday}
This week was an exciting one . . .

. . . Cole started 1st grade . . .

. . . Kenadi was 6 months old Tuesday . . .

. . . I made a new shirt . . .

Chase, a long time lover of connect the dots, is just as addicted to tracing his name! He's also not getting as frustrated with his drawings :)

. . . Cole also moved up to Kids Village at church . . .

Chase was pretty excited for him and gave Cole his crown :)

Just What I Needed

2009-08-27T22:03:00.003-05:00

{Thoughtful Thursdays}

Today while me and the boys (Chase and Cy) were eating lunch I realized I hadn't said a blessing (the boys usually remind me of this but hadn't yet). Since we were already half way through I said, "Thank you Jesus for this food."
Chase chimes in immediatly, "And thank you Jesus for being in my heart."
Then in his best deep and powerful voice he says, "Your welcome, Chase" and smiles and tells me that's what God would say to him.
It was just what I needed.

Fabulous Fall

2009-08-25T22:36:00.007-05:00

{Transaction Tuesday}

A couple of shirts . . .

. . . and now I'm inspired to make some more with matching hair clips. I'll be posting them soon!

I also listed a couple items for our Fabulous Fall section. Here they are . . .

Organization

2009-08-24T16:59:00.009-05:00

{Inspiration Monday}

Inbetween the weekend busy-ness, I wanted to tackle organizing my closet and my new decision to make our unused dining room into a craft room (or somewhat of one since I need space and that room doesn't get used for anything else). See, my closet gets cleaned and reorganized about once every 2 months. It's the place that I shove a stack of papers when at the time they're just in the way or where I throw any other mess of stuff into when I'm tryingto clean up the house really fast (I know, shame on me). So, like many other times, it's organized chaos in there right now and it's time to make it all stop!!! Here's some new inspiration: (I'll spare you of my before and after pictures till I actually have the after pictures)

I could TOTALLY do something like this with the built in hutch we have in our dining room. (www.karenrussell.typepad.com)

We have a foosball table that was given to us in the dining room right now. Think I could cover it and make it into a table???
Ahhhh, organized closet space.

wow . . . Either Mrs. Organized did this or Mrs. OCD

http://www.joyshope.com/

I love the leaning bookcase - I want those in my living room :)http://www.heidiswapp.typepad.com/

Here's to keeing organized chaos gone forever!!!

Milestones

2009-08-21T07:31:00.004-05:00

{Family Fridays}

First, today is my mom's birthday!!! Happy Birthday Oma! We miss you so much and wish we could spend an incredible day playing with one of the most fun and sweetest Oma's in the world!We love you!!!

Second, Kenadi's not quite crawling yet but she seems to enjoy staying up like this :)

Last but not least Uncle Nick graduated from UNT last weekend!

Daddy & Kenadi

Congratulations Uncle Nick!!!

Time Flies!

2009-08-20T13:44:00.008-05:00

{Thoughtful Thursdays}

My big 6 six year old had his meet the teacher night tonight! Lately I've been constantly reminded of how fast time flies by. Cole's starting 1st grade this year, Chase starts Kindergarten next year, and the year after that Cy will be in school. Then it will just be me and my baby girl for a little while till they'll all be off and running.

With time flying by it brings to mind how much I want to make these years count and how we all should strive for excellence. What does God say about the kind of mom I should be and what really matters against the backdrop of eternity? Here's what I should be striving for:

{Teach them the Word}
"Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life.Make them known to your children and your children’s children— how on ithe day that you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, the Lord said to me,‘Gather the people to me, that I may let them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children so.’ "
Deuteronomy 4:9-10

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise."
Deuteronomy 6:5-9

{Teach them of God's Mighty Works}
"They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom and tell of your power, to make known to the children of man your mighty deeds,and the glorious splendor of your kingdom."
Psalm 145:11-12

{Teach Them to Obey and Honor You}
"Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.“Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), 3 “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.”"
Ephesians 6:1-3

"My son, keep your father’s commandment,and forsake not your mother’s teaching.
Bind them on your heart always; tie them around your neck. When you walk, they will lead you; when you lie down, they will watch over you; and when you awake, they will talk with you. For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life."
Proverbs 6:20-23

{Discipline Them}
"The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother."
Proverbs 29:15

"Discipline your son, and he will give you rest; he will give delight to your heart."
Proverbs 29:17

{Do Not Provoke Them to Anger}
"Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord."
Ephesians 6:4

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"Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ."
Colossians 3:23-24

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires."
Galatians 5:22-24

Update

2009-08-18T15:07:00.013-05:00

{Transaction Tuesdays}

Here's what we've been up to at Needle in a Scrap Stack

Chelsea's "C"

The Dunham's "D"

This apron was a gift that I had to include because it was the first one I made and love how it turned out (this one was for a three year old). I plan on trying some different styles and getting them in the shop.

Falling For Fall

2009-08-17T20:55:00.000-05:00

{Inspiration Mondays}

With school starting in just one week thoughts of cooler days and nights, beautiful autumn leaves, warmer clothes, pumpkin patches and time with family during the holidays fill my head. Even smells change like the smell of pupkin spice and mulled cider always gets me in the mood for fall. I can't wait for the change, a breathe of fresh air from these stubbornly hot summer days.
With fall being right around the corner my sister and I have been "going fall" with Needle in a Scrap Stack. We'll be listing a bunch of new items in fall colors very soon. Something new we've been making are these shabby chic hair clips. We played around with some different ideas but I think this style is coming in as my favorite.

Another reason I'm looking forward to fall and school starting again is because we'll be back on a definite routine. Of course with kids (especially a baby) you're always in a routine but I like the school routine and the feeling of getting more accomplished. Although I'm not an official homeschooler, I've always enjoyed teaching the boys as much as I can at home and having structure. An inspiration I've had in the past (it's kind of an old post) is a post on The Pioneer Womans Blog called "A Day in the Life of a Structured Homeschooler." http://thepioneerwoman.com/homeschooling/2008/10/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-structured-homeschooler/
Check it out for great ideas - I found it when I was looking for ideas on how to accomplish anything with multiple kids :)

Here's to getting ready for fall because it will be here before we know it!

Swing, Swing, Swing

2009-08-14T23:58:00.003-05:00

{Family Friday}

Since the huge hurricane like storm tore through about 2 months ago, the kids haven't been able to play outside on the wooden playset (still hoping that all the damage will magically disappear! :) For Kenadi this means no more swinging in her little red swing. But today we went to a park where I could keep a constant eye on the boys while swinging Kenadi and she loved it. Chase was all about pushing her too.

Explicit or Assumed?

2009-08-13T23:41:00.010-05:00

{Thoughtful Thursday}

In a post on The Village blog last week, Josh Patterson wrote on if the gospel was assumed or explicit in your relationships. Basically do people know that you've been transformed by the death and resurrection of Christ?

"Those who live life under the banner of an assumed gospel simply navigate the waters of life with an underlying foundation that is personal and meaningful. An assumed gospel often means that a person deeply values the gospel and tries to live life according to the gospel.

The issue with an assumed gospel is that it is often too personal and, therefore, becomes private. The person who lives under the assumption of the gospel often knows how it relates to their life, but nobody else does. "

I tend to lean on the assumed side. I think to myself that people will see by my example. The problem with that is that in the years and years that have gone by with me thinking this, NO ONE has ever come up to me to ask "What's different about you" not to mention I have failed time and time again on being that example.

This is something that God has put on my heart time and time again mainly because it is WRONG. When you've been in the assumed for so long with your friends, neighbors, co-workers, your passion and the very thing that your living for seem to get lost and disappear. The gospel is very personal and meaningful to me so much so that living in the assumed almost equals superficiality. Most of my friends don't know what God has done in my life when everything in me should me screaming how the wrath that God has toward my sin was poured out on Jesus Christ and I am now saved. Yes, this is my fault and I think that's why I am wrestling with this so much. But it's a good wrestle and one I need to get through.

Adventures in Food

2009-08-06T22:13:00.014-05:00

Right at 5 months, Kenadi had her first taste of real food. Since then she's tried squash, carrots, bananas and sweet potatoes.

"Mmmm . . . squash is GOOD!"

"Eeewwww, carrots!?!?"

"Okay, I like carrots"

"You've got to be kidding me . . . "

"Are you really going to keep feeding this to me?"

"I'll open up for sweet potatoes"

"No Daddy, I'll do it myself"

Catching Up!!!

2009-08-06T21:25:00.007-05:00

I have TONS to post - lots of pictures and lots of things I want to remember. Blogger.com needs to come up with something where you can make all your blogs into a book - seriously!!!

We took a nice, long, much needed trip to California. Thanks to our family we got there in time to see my Grandma, spend time with her and enjoy reminiscing before she passed away about a week after we got there.

My favorite moments while we were there were watching my Grandma light up whenever she saw Kenadi - no matter how Grandma felt. Not that Kenadi will remember but someday I will love getting to tell her about her Great-Grandma Jeanne and about those moments they shared.

Since we've been home we've been trying to beat the heat. . . uggghhhh . . . we don't do anything outside unless it's first thing in the morning or till the sun's about to go down )and we're still in a puddle of sweat).

I love this video of Chase (by the way he's saying,"That was totally wicked!")

4 months

2009-06-28T19:41:00.010-05:00

Watch out rice cereal, here I come!

Kenadi kept looking back and forth between the two boxes of cereal - Cole said she was trying to decide which one she wanted :)

I think Cole was way more excited about the whole thing than she was (so cute!)

Happy Father's Day

2009-06-21T22:46:00.002-05:00

First, Happy Father's Day to my Dad! This was the only picture I had in my computer of me and my dad when I was little and it's probably the very first one we took together (labor and delivery rooms have come a long was since then). Some of my best childhood memories are of me with my dad. I think if I had to describe our relationship in one word it would have to be of him being my comforter. We would have so much fun together, playing steamroller, him being the tickle monster; I remember him letting go of my bike the first time I rode without training wheels, I remember him running outside to save me after I rode my bike straight up a curb and flipped it backwards with the handlebars around my neck (awww, poor me :). But it was the times when I snuggled up to him that gave me the best feeling. He was always so warm and I could fall asleep on his chest listening to his calm breathing. Thanks Dad for always being such a big part of my life growing up!

Now to Brandon, I have loved watching you through the years with all of our children. You've fallen in love with each of them, taken your time to teach them, play with them, comfort them, discipline them and love them. I've loved watching them make you so happy and fill your heart with joy. I've especially loved watching our baby girl just melt your heart. I pray that God will keep you strong and that He will bless us with close relationships with all four of our munchkins as they grow up. I love you babe!

50 Things

2009-06-20T11:29:00.002-05:00

I was going to post this a couple weeks ago but it got erased before I could save it :( So I worked on it again today so I could pull it up whenever I get that "Uggggh, what can I do with you children!" feeling. So here it is my "50 Fun Things to do With Your Kids This Summer on a Budget".

1. Play at the pool (our community center has an awesome water park for super cheap)
2. Create your own water fun in the backyard with squirt guns, water balloons, slip n’ slide, running through the sprinklers, etc.
3. Check out the summer reading program at your local library
4. Go to the library for story time
5. Check out the summer reading program at Barnes & Noble:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/summerreading/index.asp
(check out their story times too!)
6. check out amc’s summer movie camp. They have $1.00 movies every wednesday
http://www.amctheatres.com/smc/
or check out Regal Cinema
http://www.regmovies.com/
7. Check out your local bowling alley. They may have free bowling for kids all summer.
8. Check out local inflatable party center like Pump It Up or Boomerangs. Many of them have open bounce times.
9. Check out local museums. Most have a certain day of the week that they have discounted/no admission.
10. Go to the zoo (check out discounted admission days)
11. Go to the park. Map out all your local parks and make it to every one this summer.
12. Go on a bug hunt – bring along bug catchers.
13. Go on a nature hike. Bring Ziploc baggies for them to collect their favorite leaves, flowers, rocks, etc.
14. Check out your nearest nature center
15. Go to the beach or lake
16. Play in the sand
17. Play with sidewalk chalk
18. Blow bubbles
19. Fly a kite
20. Pack a picnic lunch
21. Go kayaking together
22. Find some new trails and go on a bike ride
23. Pick up some terra cotta pots to paint
24. Plant some flowers together. Planting seeds are best so they can water it every day and watch it grow 
25. Put on puppet shows (even make your own sock puppets)
http://jas.familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts?page=CraftDisplay&craftid=10674
26. Build a fort using cardboard boxes or blankets
27. Build Lego’s together
28. Play board games/card games
29. Play hide & seek, tag, freeze tag
30. Teach your child a new sport: soccer, football, basketball, hockey, etc.
31. Rollerblade together
32. Paint or draw together
33. Pick up some $1.00 coloring books
34. Write stories together (if your child is too young to write then ask them to make up a story for you to write – it will be fun to keep and read a few years from now )
35. Play games on the computer. Some good sites for kids:
http://pbskids.org/
http://www.thomasandfriends.com/usa/index.asp?origref=
http://www.nickjr.com/
http://www.scholastic.com/kids/stacks/index.asp
Also check out:
http://krisabel.ctv.ca/blog/_archives/2008/3/10/3571527.html
36. Play with Play-Doh together or make your own.
37. Pick up a new workbook
38. Kids love to take pictures. Pick up a kids digital camera at Target or I’ve seen them at TJ Max for as little as $10.
39. Build paper airplanes
40. Fingerpaint
41. Bake cookies together
42. Make home-made popsicles
43. Let your kids cook with you (pick up a kids cook book)
44. Write letters (draw pictures) to family (Cole likes to make books about what he wants to do the next time he visits Oma and Papa)
45. Turn on some music and dance or play freeze dance
46. Rent a DVD together, get out the sleeping bags and pop popcorn for a movie night
47. Camp out in your backyard. Study some constellations beforehand then look for them.
48. Visit a Planetarium, Aquarium or Arboretum (most have a lot of kid activities)
49. Let them have a bubblebath
50. One word: Flashlights

Houston & Surfside City

2009-06-19T18:10:00.018-05:00

We took another little trip with Brandon this week. This time we traveled down to Houston for three days/two nights. Here's a few pics from our stay:

The boys' main attraction wherever we go: the pool!

Look at how well Cy is swimming!!!

Chase started swimming all by himself about a month ago

Hanging out by the pool in the shade

Caught a big smile but she blinked!

Playing with Daddy in the pool

The boys were crawling through this bike rack at a shopping center we went walking around at.
Kenadi had three firsts while on our trip: 1. We bobbed her under the water at the pool - she did great! 2. She took a little ride on daddy's shoulders :) 3. She took her first trip to the beach! Since we were already so close to the beach we decided to make the drive down to the coast before we were on our way home. This time, instead of going to Galveston, we went to Surfside City. The boys were so excited to be at the beach and to try to ride some waves although I wouldn't recommend trying to surf them :)The boys had a blast using these little blow up boards that Brandon's mom gave us right before we left (they use to be Brandon's when he was little :) They all rode a couple waves in whether they wanted to or not (a couple times all we saw were hands and feet flying :), but they LOVED it.

Can't wait for California!

Is it already June??!

2009-06-11T21:28:00.015-05:00

This is a little random but did you know it's only 195 days till Christmas?!! I saw that posted on someones blog today and thought it was kind of funny. It actually made me think of how fast the year has already flown by. Here it is June and we're already enjoying our summer vacation.

To catch up on the last week and a half I have a couple pictures to post. First my friend Brandi had her precious little miracle baby Myer, June 3rd and we went up to the hospital for a visit that evening. Brandi had some complications after delivery and had to have a blood transfusion but is recovering well. Her family of four is beautiful! Congratulations Brandi!!!

June 3rd was also Kate's 3rd birthday (my cousin Heidi's little girl). HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATE! I can't wait to see her and her little brother Everett (whom I haven't even been able to meet yet) when we go to CA this summer.

Cole had his last day of Kindergarten last Friday. He's our big first grader now!

This week I've been watching Savannah - here's a couple of cute pictures I got when we were out and about.

At the Flower Mound community center.

AMF has "Bowl one free game every day this summer" for kids. We're in! Chase was such a good big brother to Cy.He'd cheer him on and put his hand on his shoulder every time waiting to see how many pins he'd knock down.

Kenadi is just full of smiles; whenever you talk to her you can get her to make the cutest smile ever. But you point a camera at her and she just won't do it - not even a little.

She's very active right now and likes to be on her tummy. In fact if you put her on her back she'll roll right over.
Lastly, we had a huge storm last night. Since we have two lakes on either side of us we usually don't have to worry about tornados but last night we did. There was cloud rotation but no touchdown. There were 80 mph winds though and half of Flower Mounds (the town right next door to us) trees got knocked over and so did our play set :(

We had to hide out in the bathroom while the sirens went off which apparently scared Cy because he didn't want to go anyplace that was dark because he said, "There's a tornado in there." I love some of the things he says :)

Can someone please pass the sunscreen. . .

2009-05-30T19:39:00.005-05:00

What do you get when you mix 1:00 in the afternoon with yard work and no sunscreen???

PAIN!!!
And what do you get two days later?
Still a lot of PAIN!
How old am I? I was in the sun for an hour and a half and got fried! I've been miserable!!! My new motto for this summer: NO MORE SUN!

As far as working out and loosing weight goes (as you can see in the picture I still need to!) I lost 4 pounds last week but haven't worked out once this week (and won't be until I'm a little more comfortable in my skin) so of course, won't be loosing anything this week. Hope to start back up Monday if I can be comfortable in a shirt by then :(
Go ahead and comment on what an idiot I am . . .

3 months!!!

2009-05-26T20:07:00.006-05:00

Yesterday was Kenadi's 3 month birthday. I tried to get some cute pics of her but she was more interested in looking at her quilt than at the crazy lady making weird noises trying to get her to look up :)

Chase just loves his little sister :)

Memorial Day Weekend

2009-05-25T08:04:00.021-05:00

For Memorial Day weekend we were invited up to Brandon's boss's ranch in Oklahoma. It was amazing! It was 7,800 acres of rolling hills and lakes with TONS of wildlife. Of course we didn't go hunting but the boys got to go fishing for their first time and they had a blast!

After we got there we broke out the boys' new fishing poles.

The boys got to take turns driving down to the lake in one of the camouflage cars.

The boys learned how to bait their own hook (we used minnows)and were spoiled rotton catching one fish after another.

Tradition is to kiss your first fish for good luck :)

After we went fishing the first day, Shane (Brandon's boss) took us around part of the ranch to see some of the animals.

There were two other kids there that the boys had fun playing with.

The next day we went fishing and swimming. Chase, our little dare devil Driving home with very, very tired boys.

Crawfish

2009-05-20T20:07:00.005-05:00

This weekend we went to the Koon's Crawfish Boil. As you can imagine the boys wanted to play with the crawfish before they were cooked (especially Chase) and Cole actually tried the crawfish and liked them!

Thanks to all the Koon's for a great time!

As for Kenadi's 11th week, she rolled over from her back to her tummy! She also likes being on her tummy for longer periods of time now. She's growing up so fast! We also have her nightime routine set now. She goes to bed at 8:00 and sleeps till around 4:00 (she'll go right back to sleep after I feed her). I'm loving that as long as I go to bed early.

On Working Out

2009-05-17T22:19:00.003-05:00

So. . . today I started my work out plan. I've been worried about getting myself too dehydrated from working out every day and trying to keep up with all the water I need to drink for nursing Kenadi also. So I've stayed away from it. But now I've decided to focus less on cardio and more on weight training. What I want to do is get toned and though more cardio would help all this baby weight come off faster, what I plan on doing will still work. And not that I really want to tell the world how much I weigh, hopefully it will keep me accountable and motivated. I gained about 45 lb while I was pregnant, lost 20 lb 2 weeks after I had Kenadi and now I've just stayed at 142 since. So here I go, 20 more pounds to go!

Mother's Day

2009-05-12T21:52:00.001-05:00

This Mother's Day we met up with Brandon's family at Mimi's for breakfast. Since we've moved to Texas, it has rained every Mother's Day (even just for a little bit) and this one was no exception. Nonetheless, it was a nice, relaxing day :)

At Mimi's

Grandma with her boys

and girl!

I didn't look through Cole's backpack from Friday till the weekend and I had a nice little surprise. They took their end of the year pictures at school and I actually like how they turned out. I can't believe how old he looks!

As for Kenadi's 10th week (can you believe it!) she sat in her bumbo for the first time and also laughed for the first time! It was just a little laugh but it was soooo cute. She was sitting on my lap facing me, some music came on the TV, I started dancing her around a little and she cracked up (for about two seconds). I havn't gotten another laugh out of her since but I know they're coming :)

Kenadi in her bumbo

Kenadi talking with daddy. I love how she moves her lips.

Austin

2009-05-08T13:14:00.017-05:00

Our trip to Austin was great! The boys had a blast (they love just getting to stay at a hotel - as long as it has a pool) and Kenadi was so good the whole time :)
The drive down was smooth sailing and the boys ate lunch while we waited for daddy to check into the hotel.

First things first, we had to go down to the pool. This was Kenadi's first time to go swimming and the boys' first time to swim this summer.

The boys did great and didn't want to stop. Kenadi was okay with it most of the time - it was more like a big bath tub for her to relax in.

Relaxing after a nice warm shower.

While Brandon took care of work stuff we had the evening to ourselves. Of course we had to swim some more and then later ordered icecream in bed! The next day, after swimming of course, we went down to the Austin Nature Center and the Texas State Capitol.

After the Capitol we were on our way home. Our stay was short and sweet - not bad for a business trip :)

Week 9

2009-05-05T14:13:00.009-05:00

The best part of this week has been that Kenadi has slept through almost every night! Even if she doesn't actually go down till midnight she'll still sleep for 7 or 8 hours. I'm going to try to get her into a better schedule of naps and going to bed earlier this week.
She's also really paying attention to the books we read her. I'm so excited that she likes being read to. Some babies just don't like to sit there for very long (example: Chase and Cy), but she does :)
This weekend we got a lot of rain (almost 3 inches in one night) and it actually cooled down outside on Sunday. We took the boys to the driving range and Kenadi sat on the sidelines to watch.
I love this dress she borrowed from her friend Isabelle

Although I'm pretty sure Chase will play a contact sport he already has a pretty good golf swing (that is when he takes the time to set up right).

I love this video of Chase back in March. It was so cute watching him try to stack all the balls in the hole - he was pretty excited :)

Tomorrow Brandon leaves on another business trip to Austin but this time we're all going with him. Should be fun!! I'm sure I'll be back with a ton of pictures :)

2 months

2009-05-01T16:12:00.003-05:00

Yesterday Kenadi had her 2 month check-up. Everything's great - she's 12 lbs 9 oz and 23 3/4 in. She did get her 2 month shots so she hasn't been the happiest camper but is still full of smiles.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

2009-04-29T06:32:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was Brandon's birthday and the boys were all for making the day special. They made his breakfast and dessert practically by themselves and that night Grandma treated us all to Snuffers (it usually takes about 10 tries to get a picture of Brandon with his eyes open - or half open:)

As far as Kenadi's 8th week she's started to do a couple of new things. She loves it when we help her sit up - she'll smile great big and look around then cry when we lay her back down. I'll wait just a few more weeks till we get out the Bumbo so she can sit without our help.

She also took her first ride in the swing outside - she seemed to love it till I gave her a push - she held her breath, turned bright red then let out a big scream. She still likes it though; it was just that one push :)

Kenadi also discovered how to scoot on her back. The other night I layed her down in the middle of her crib. A few minutes later she started crying so I check on her and I found this (her tears instantly turned to a huge smile).

We also tried really hard to get her to laugh out loud. We can tell she is very ticklish but no laugh yet. She also discovered sucking on her hand; no thumb yet (or fingers), but I've been trying to get her to take the pacifier whenever she does it - PLEASE no more thumb-sucking. I'd rather be the mean parent that "looses" the pacifier than wanting to cut off a thumb because you can't understand a single word coming out of your childs mouth :)

Week 7

2009-04-21T22:36:00.016-05:00

Kenadi was just full of smiles this week. She's growing so fast - there were some days that she looked like she grew overnight!

The little game we play where she blares her eyes :)

As for the boys, we had a couple of rainy days this week including Saturday so they made a little fort/hideout that morning and were so proud of it.

Also, last Monday Cole lost another tooth!
Here in Texas, it looks like our two weeks of Spring are over :( This whole week is supposed to be sunny and hot - we already had to turn the air on tonight to cool the house off. I'm looking forward to summer weather but when it get's really hot here is when we usually take our trip to California. California didn't work out last year and though I'm determined to go this summer we still kind of have to see. I really want to be there for the 4th of July - my family has a tradition of cooking breakfast on the beach every year thanks to Aunt Jeanine and Uncle Marc - then mid-July Brandon's family has their traditional Lobster Bake thanks to Aunt Marie and Uncle Rick. It's been 2 years since I've been back - look at how little the boys look!

The other babies of the family.

Chase still had his baby elephant!

Can't wait to make some new memories!!!

Week 6

2009-04-14T22:05:00.002-05:00

Week 6 has definitely been one of my favorites. Kenadi has been very responsive - making eye contact when you talk to her, cooing and smiling a ton - real smiles, not just from gas :) She also likes to track every move Brandon makes.We can keep her attention for long periods of time without any crying - she loves all the attention. We can get some funny reactions out of her too - making her blare her eyes by making funny noises. I love it! As far as sleep goes the car seat has suddenly become magical. At the beginning of the week she was only staying asleep in her crib between 5 to 10 minutes at a time (that got very old at night) but she falls asleep and stays asleep easily in her car seat. Now for the last couple nights she'll sleep half the night in her crib and then fall back asleep in her car seat for the remainder of the night. Hopefully sleeping through the whole night will be coming soon!

Easter Sunday

2009-04-13T06:42:00.004-05:00

We had a nice relaxing day going to church and Grandma's house. The sun did come out that evening so we went outside for some bubble blowing. Chase literally hid the bag of Easter eggs so that we couldn't find them till that night - so much for our easter egg hunt!
Hope you had a day full of wonder and reflection :)

"But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8

"But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ- by grace you have been saved" Ephesians 2:4-5

Easter Pics

2009-04-11T23:53:00.002-05:00

Since it's supposed to be rainy tomorrow for Easter I decided to take the boys out for some Easter pictures today. First we went to the park that we always take our bluebonnet pictures at to check and see if they were in bloom (or if they were still there). To my surprise they were! The boys were pretty good - I refuse to get frustrated when I can't get them all to look at the camera or to smile normal - I just have to think the picture catches more of their personality :)

Next we drove back over to Heritage Park where all the tulips were. Of course they were all gone because of all the cold weather we had. There were so many other beautiful flowers in bloom but the boys were pretty much out of picture taking mode, so we took the little walk around the park and I tried to get some pics of Kenadi laying down in the shade. I made 2 of the regular flower clips this morning - one of them was a white gerbera daisy that was so big we're going to have to wait till her head is a little bigger :) and this was the other one. Again one of the things I enjoy getting to do that obviously I couldn't do with the boys :)

Oh, by the way, Brandon said we have to go back and take pictures in the bluebonnets because we left Dakota out - he took her on the annual camping trip with him this weekend (I stayed home with the kids - don't worry they already came home so he'd be back for Easter) so I may be back with some more bluebonnet pics :)

Sleep Tight

2009-04-07T22:20:00.002-05:00

Kenadi is growing non-stop but the best part about week 5 is that she pretty much slept through 2 nights this week! One night was from 12 to 7 and the other was 10 to 4. It was fabulous!!!

Kenadi in one of her cute little dresses.

This week we also went to the Highland Village Easter Egg hunt. I parked in the wrong area though so as we were heading over we could hear them starting the egg hunt without us (I think I was more disappointed that I didn't get them over there in time than they were). We missed it but it was still fun to walk around and play at the park.

This week my good friends Misty and Dan were in town from New York (we all use to live in California). It was so good to see them and spend some time together - they're considering moving to Texas!!!

The boys loved playing with Dan and Kenadi was so content with Misty.

We'll miss you guys but hope we'll get to see you again in a few months!!!

Week 4

2009-03-31T21:42:00.010-05:00

4 Week Highlights

*At the beginning of the week Kenadi started losing all of the hair on top of her head. We're excited to see exactly what color is going to grow in it's place.

*On Friday her little belly button stub finally fell off!!! 4 weeks was a long time!

*Sunday night she took her first bath in the bath tub.

*Monday night while we were having some tummy time she rolled over from her tummy to her back (pure accident, I know)

*There was one night this week she slept from 11:00 to 4:30 - that's the longest stretch of sleep she's had so far :) We're getting closer to sanity!

*I've given up marinara sauce completely since eating it really doesn't make for the best night of sleep.

*Today her left eye was really watery and crusty - I'm trying the old wives tale of squirting breast milk in it to make it better (why are you giving me that funny look:) - if it's still the same in the morning it'll be off to the dr. we go.

Kenadi's couch potato look :)

Finished!

2009-03-31T01:50:00.007-05:00

I am now officially done with Kenadi's room. This weekend I finished the bedding for her crib. I love how it turned out. Thanks April for bringing all the fabric!

I also took down the curtains and changed them a little bit. I think they look better around the window now. I don't think I ever posted pictures of the rest of Kenadi's room finished. We got great deals on the nightstand and the glider and ottoman (we just put new fabric on the cushions) - yeah craigslist!

I also wanted to show off this awesome diaper cake my friend Sara made for me. She does such an incredible job of incorporating room themes and colors to match the nursery with every diaper cake she makes and I LOVE mine! Not only is the diaper cake itself a great gift but she even stuffs little gifts inside the bottom tiers. Thank you for such a great gift Sara!

Happy Birthday April!

2009-03-26T23:18:00.000-05:00

Today is Auntie April's birthday and I thought I'd share these little video clips with everyone. I know these will make you smile April! We love the new CD you got for us. Chase's favorite song is Little Liza Jane - he just sings his little heart out :) Thank you!

Celebrating Auntie April's birthday when she was in Texas earlier this month.
We LOVE you Auntie April!!!

Adorable New Flower Clips

2009-03-25T13:48:00.000-05:00

I just finished adding a new item to our shop! They're our new shabby chic hair clips. When April was visiting we talked about making them and now we both tackled the project, coming up with two different styles.

Elizabeth Hair Clip

Kenadi Hair Clip

This is the first one I made so it looks a little bit different since I was experimenting.

I love the vintage look they have to them. Each flower measures approximately 2 1/2 inches in diameter and is connected to a no slip grip alligator clip. We're planning on making a couple more and then seeing how they do in the Etsy shop. I'll keep posting pics as they come along :)

Week 3

2009-03-24T18:54:00.000-05:00

As we near the end of Kenadi's 3rd week, today I looked in her crib and realized how big she's getting. She normally loves to be swaddled at night but this morning when I went to check on her she looked two sizes too big for her blanket!

This week we also said goodbye to all of her newborn size clothing . . . my last time getting to use those teeny-tiny clothes that are oh-so cute. Kenadi also discovered that daddy's chest isn't just nice to sleep on but fun to play on too.

For my little photo shoot this week (I know I won't be able to keep this up every week but I have so many ideas!), it didn't exactly work out. Everything is starting to bloom, including the beautiful tulips over at Heritage Park. Since Kenadi can't exactly sit up yet I thought I'd use a cute little pair of butterfly wings I found, stick them on Kenadi's back and have the tulips in the background for a cute spring picture (kind of like the Anne Geddes fairy pictures she does with the woodsy backgrounds). Well I didn't have any such luck - I was able to take 2 pictures total - with three boys running around and Kenadi being awake (not sleeping like I wanted her to be) and a little fussy, neither turned out very good.

This one would have been okay if I would have placed her better in the light and if she would have kept her face turned to the side so you could see her little ear (I love how they go up in a point). I WILL get a good picture in the tulips - just not for this week.

As far as sleeping during the night it's been a hit and miss deal. Some nights she'll wake up at 2 and then 6 - which after that I'll start my day; but then some nights I'll have trouble getting her back to sleep and be up for about 2 hours - I never had that problem with the boys. They always went right back to sleep.

This is my view when I feed Kenadi while Cole's at school. Chase and Cy like to come in Kenadi's room and read :)

I do have some new Needle in a Scrap-Stack updates that I can't wait to share with everyone. We just need to do a little bit more work before we show it off. Can't wait!

Sunshine

2009-03-17T10:50:00.000-05:00

Like I've said before, I LOVE all the hats and headbands with the big flowers attached to them for little baby girls. Near the end of my pregnancy, I bought a cute little crocheted beanie with a cute crocheted flower on it off of Etsy. I couldn't wait to take pictures of Kenadi wearing it and had to do it soon because I don't think it will fit her very much longer. Here's Kenadi, 2 weeks old.

When my mom and sister were here helping out one of the things April did was make Kenadi's quilt for her. I love it!!!

Kenadi had her 2 week check-up and everything looks great. She's now 20 1/2 in. and 8lb 11oz. She's been a very content, easy going baby which is such a relief! Nights are still a little rough especially if I eat something for dinner that's spicy or had marinara sauce (she'll wake up a lot more or won't go back to sleep till she poops!). Lately, for the most-part, the last feeding for the evening is between 10:30/11:00, she'll wake up again at 2:00, won't really want to go back to sleep right away, be back asleep by 3:00 and then up again between 5:30 and 6:30. This next week I'm going to work on keeping her awake a lot longer before she goes down for the night and see if we get closer to sleeping through the night.

I'm really looking forward to getting outside this week - Cole's on spring break and it's supposed to be warm and sunny everyday (unlike all the rain and cold we had last week). With all the sunshine, we took Kenadi on her first trip to the park yesterday (the boys had been wanting to go to Kids Kastle) and it was beautiful.

I'll leave you with a picture of Cole playing with a shaving kit that Oma and Auntie April got for the boys while they were here. It was so cute watching him trying to be just like daddy.

Such Sweetness

2009-03-09T00:54:00.000-05:00

This weekend I was surrounded in sweetness - not only from Kenadi but from my whole family. Cy turned three Saturday and we had a firetruck party for him. Right after our guests arrived he was surprised with a visit from the fire department with one of their firetrucks pulled right up in front of our house. You should have seen the look on his face and heard the excitement in his voice. It was so sweet.

I wouldn't have been able to do it all without the help of my mom and sister. Just having you here made his day that much more special!

1st Week of Life

2009-03-05T08:02:00.000-06:00

No matter how grueling the first week is after giving birth, getting to finally love, hold, kiss and watch your baby grow puts everything back into perspective.

Here are a couple highlights/thoughts from her first week of life:

We got to go home from the hospital after just one night - every other time they've made us stay two.

Although Kenadi's jaundice was okay when we left the hospital, at her dr.'s appointment the next day she was up to an 11. This meant lot's of sitting in front of a window and feeding every 2 hours. By the end of her first week she got up to a 16 before it finally started coming down.

Kenadi is growing and changing every day. It's already going too fast!

I love all the lines in her little newborn feet. She inherited Auntie April's feet - the second toe is just as long as her big toe - she's still perfect :)

I love watching Brandon with her; how gentle, loving and protective he is.

Oma and Auntie April got here that Saturday and are staying till the following Saturday. I'm loving all the help: playing with the boys, fixing dinner and keeping the house clean! The boys are loving all the attention too :) Thanks for all your amazing help!

I already love dressing her up - especially for my little photo shoots. All of the hats, flowers, and ruffles - I love it all!

So far Kenadi doesn't cry unless you give her something to cry about. She loves to be snuggled and seems to be the most comfortable right on Daddy's chest - she falls asleep almost immediately every time.

She likes her sponge baths - no crying at all. I can't wait for her little belly button stub falls off!

On Wednesday, my sister and I did a little 1 week photo shoot. I love the little hat (thanks Brandi and Christen!). I'll leave you with my favorites :)

Happy Birthday Kenadi!

2009-03-01T08:53:00.000-06:00

One of my last preggo pics @ 35 weeks

Kenadi Nicole arrived at 2:52 pm February 25th. We are all head-over-heals over our sweet little girl. She had a bit of a rough delivery but nothing too bad and is now doing great.

I know I haven't blogged for the whole month of February (been so busy getting things ready) so I will bring you up to date. I was walking around for weeks 50% effaced and dilated to a 2. Nothing changed until I hit 38 weeks when I changed from a 2 to a 3 1/2. Since I was already dilated, have had group B strep with past pregnancies and very fast labor and deliveries we set a date to break my water.

We went to the hospital the morning of February 25th at 9:00. Brandon's cousin Anthony and his wonderful girlfriend Kristen (who is a labor and delivery nurse) were in town from California and watched the boys that morning until Grandma came over.

At about 10:00 Dr. Van Dell broke my water. I was already having contractions when we arrived at the hospital and of course they were now getting stronger. I remember with the boys being in immediate pain after my water broke and exactly 3 hours or less I was giving birth. This time I was progressing a lot slower because her head was still at a minus 2 station (it was not coming down). At about 12:00 I got the epidural and was dilated to a 5, 75% effaced and her head was still at a minus 2 station. So I started lying on my side trying to get her to come down a little. I laid on one side for a while then at about 2:00 switched sides and immediately felt sick and got the shakes. Hello transition period!
It had been about an hour since the last time I was checked and I had gone from a 5 to a 10 since then. It was time to push (thank God for the epidural during this time)! When I was pushing the cord was wrapped around her neck and for some reason this was causing her to get a little stuck - it's always a little scary when the nurses jump on top of your belly to help push the baby out and an instant replay of what happened when Chase was born. She breathed right away (unlike Chase) but had a lot of bruising from coming down the birth canal so fast. The dr.'s said this would put her at high risk for jaundice because of all the dead blood cells her liver would have to process.

Kenadi already has Daddy wrapped around her little finger and the boys were so excited that she was out of my tummy and that they finally got to hold her - with the exception of Cy (he doesn't want much to do with her).

Overall, Kenadi came out healthy and I couldn't ask for more. The moment when they lay your baby on your tummy is an indescribable, amazing moment that I will never forget. She is absolutely perfect.

Birthday Ice

2009-01-28T20:52:00.000-06:00

As many of you know today is my birthday and the first thing I woke up to was seeing everything outside covered in ice which was followed by the news that Cole's school was closed for the second day in a row.

This of course led to the boys being overly excited just to go outside to break off any ice or icicles they could find.

Yes that's right - Last week Cole lost another tooth!
As for my to-do list I'm so happy that I've been able to find the time to get something done each day - I finished Gina's quilt;

this picture probably looks pretty much the same as the last picture I posted of it but even if you can't tell it is quilted! I can now say I've machine quilted and let me tell you it IS NOT FUN! But it's done!!!
I got the boys signed up for the sibling class (at my dr.'s appointment on Monday everything was still the same and my dr. now thinks that I'll go to my due date) and I got most of the house cleaned/organized. I also got some things done that weren't on the list. I didn't get the boppy cover I wanted and when I went to pick up the one I wanted they were out. So I made my own (zipper and all :) with a matching nursing cover (aka hooter hider) and even discovered what is used at the top to make it stiff so you can peak down there and situate everything.

Lastly I made a couple of hairclips - now hopefully Kenadi will have some hair her first year of life so I can actually use them!!

To-Do List

2009-01-22T08:14:00.000-06:00

This is the first time I've really felt overwhelmed with things to get done before the baby arrives not to mention the whole family's been sick this week so it's been harder to get things done (I've been so tired at night it's hard to stay up). So I posted my to do list to help motivate me to get it all done (cause right now it feels like a lot) plus I can post a bunch of pictures as I finish them.

1. Thoroughly clean the house
2. Make bibs and burp cloths
3. Finish Gina's Quilt
4. Finish Bassinett
5. Finish Kenadi's Letters
6. Finish Kenadi's Room
7. Finish Scrapbook
8. Sign boys up for sibling class
9. Get Cy's Birthday party ready

So far I can check off Kenadi's bib and burp cloth (I do have more I want to make but this is good for now).

I also worked a lot on getting the top of a t-shirt quilt I'm making for my friend Gina. I really , really, REALLY want to get this done before Kenadi's here (I started on it back in October). Today, I'm going to work on quilting it together then I can sew on the binding.
I'll keep y'all updated :)

33 Weeks Today

2009-01-13T10:51:00.001-06:00

Only 7 more weeks to go till Kenadi's due date! I can't believe it's almost here :) I had a dr.'s appointment yesterday and I'm dialated to a 2 (I stayed at a 2 forever with Cylas) and already 50% effaced. They've been doing the FFN test at every appointment which tells you if you'll go into labor in the next two weeks and it came back negative (thank goodness!). I didn't get any good ultrasound pictures but she'd weighing in around 4 lb 11 oz right now.

While Oma and Papa were in town, I tried to get some more maternity shots in. These are my favorite:

The weekend before Christmas we started working on Kenadi's room. Grandma was watching the kids overnight while Brandon and I had a night out. To sum it up we ended up picking out paint at 11:00 at night (good old 24 hr WalMart) and Brandon started painting around midnight! When I picked out the paint I wanted a warm pink - something that would make the room glow - I didn't want it to be too light. The color I picked was called Capri Rose (hmmm. . .Capri; I thought that was funny). Well it definetly made the room glow!!! I would have liked something a little bit lighter than bubble gum pink but we decided to keep it until we get the rest of the room put together. If we still don't like it then we'll change it but up to this point it looks like it's staying.

Making the change from blue to pink!!!

The PINK room with it's first piece of furniture.

Our 2nd piece of furniture from Oma and Papa!

The next addition was a canopy I made to go over the crib. . .
. . . and the curtains (which look REALLY bright in this picture).
Next I'm going to work on the bedding for the crib and we also need to get that T.V. and entertainment center out of there.
I also had my baby shower the first weekend of January given by Brandi and Christen - thanks for all you two did - I loved it! I loved opening all the pink, little girl gifts and hearing all the oo's and ah's from how cute everything was - you don't really get that with little boy stuff :)

Thanks everyone!!!

Updates, Updates, Updates

2009-01-13T01:49:00.000-06:00

I'm back!!! Yes, the blogging world seems to get neglected over the holidays but of course now I have so much to write about :)

1. Needle in a Scrap-Stack Update

April has done all the custom shirt orders, which are so stinkin' cute . . .

and I've taken all of the custom letter orders . . .

This one was gift to my friend Sara's little girl Gracie :)

2. Christmas Update

Try as we did, we just couldn't get a good family picture . . . that is until after Christmas when my mom and dad were here.

A few days before Christmas I tried to get a cute picture of the boys with my tummy; this is what I got (lighting wasn't great). I like how Cy has his lips puckered up ready to kiss my tummy :)

I also tried to get a picture of the boys with Dakota (she didn't want to hold still for the family one). She has grown A LOT since the last time I posted a picture of her here on the blog.

Christmas morning was so much fun - Cy came into our room first and got us up. This way we were able to wake the other two up and video tape the surprise of them finding their new bikes in the living room. Brandon's family came over to our house this year where we opened presents and mom made her trsditional egg and bacon casserole.

Here's Cy Christmas morning on his bike without a cast on!!! He got it off two days before Christmas and still did great for his first time on a big boy bike.

3. Oma and Papa's Trip to Texas

Here's a few pics of their trip . . .

I'll be back tomorrow with a Kenadi update :)

My Little Monster

2008-12-10T11:03:00.000-06:00

I haven't posted a video in a long time and these make me laugh (it could just be me :) I took these the day before Cy broke his leg - daddy was on a business trip and the boys wanted to be dinosaurs/monsters. Chase is the funniest when it comes to being a dinosaur - I love his little walk he does! I thought I needed to record this at some point so we can look back at how funny they were - and of course mommy laughing while they're doing it only encourages them more :)
Here are my 2 favorites:

Have a great day!!!

New Traditions

2008-12-10T08:16:00.000-06:00

One of the few books I've read this year is Noel Piper's "Treasuring God in our Traditions". In it she talks about ordinary, everyday habits and also creavite ways to reflect Christ in those "especially" occasions. She devotes a whole chapter to Christmas where I've taken some of her ideas and added them to our own family traditions.

One of the biggest reasons I was looking for some more holiday traditions was because earlier this year I told Cole about Santa Clause and although it's been hard (on me! not him) I really think it's been the right decision. Santa Clause adds a lot of the "magic" to Christmas but I think if we try just a little, Christmas can hold the same anticipation and be even more special just by celebrating Jesus' birthday.

Some of you may be thinking right now that it sounds a little cruel to take Santa out of Christmas for a child. But Cole (like many other children) is such a literal thinker (ex. While explaining to Cole that some parents still tell their kids that Santa brings them presents because it's a fun thing to do, his first response was "But they're lying to them") and he is also very sensitive. I want my kids to always be able to believe everything that I tell them and never have to question if what I'm saying is make believe or not. I haven't pushed Santa out of the picture completely; they still get to watch all the fun shows on TV like the classic "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer" - they just know that it's a fairy tale. A few more reasons is that it saves any later heartbreak, it focuses their attention on the real reason for Christmas and they also know that those presents are from the people who love them most whether they're good or bad.

Like I said, I'm trying to make Christmas just as much fun/special (if not more) without Santa. A new tradition we started was an advent calendar. I made ours with 25 pockets and put a little note in each one that has something different for the boys to make and give to someone each day. They are all very inexpensive, simple things like "Draw a picture for Oma and Papa and mail it to them" or "Make cookies for Grandma and deliver them to her work" or "Write a note/draw a picture for daddy and hide it under his pillow for him to find tonight". The boys have loved it and look forward to seeing what they're going to do next as soon as Cole gets home from school everyday. Not every single note is something for them to give - like yesterday was a present from Oma and Papa that they got to open early. It was a Little People nativity scene which is another new tradition that they'll get to get out every year. I think having a nativity scene will help them have a clearer picture of the Christmas story and it's something fun for them to play with.

Another new tradition we'll start is instead of setting out cookies for Santa we'll make cupcakes or cookies to celebrate Jesus' birthday. They'll get to sing , blow out candles and have dessert - what kid wouldn't like that better than setting out a cookie for someone else to eat? :)

Baby Update

2008-12-07T09:01:00.001-06:00

I'm not sure how well these ultrasound pictures will look on here but we'll see! I had an ultrasound earlier this week and everything looks great. My doctor wanted to see how big she's measuring and she's right inbetween average and extremely large - Cole and Chase were both 8lbs 11oz; Cy was 8lbs 6oz but they were all average size and then grew a lot at the end. Maybe she's just bigger in the beginning and then won't grown as fast as the others at the end - we'll see if she's bigger than her brothers (hopefully not by much!). On Tuesday I'll be 28 weeks - I'll be starting my last trimester!!!

Here's a quick pic of Brandon and I. We went to a gala Friday night (it was work related) at the Gaylord. Thanks Whitney for letting me borrow your dress!!!

Quick Update

2008-12-04T19:21:00.000-06:00

I posted some new pictures for a quick business update. Our decorative letters are still the most popular item right now!

I loved making this pillow sham since it's the same type of theme I'm using for Kenadi's room.

I'm finally going to start making stuff for Kenadi's room pretty soon (after the holidays are over). I'll keep you guys posted! :)

Thanksgiving Weekend

2008-11-30T19:49:00.000-06:00

Hope everyone had a relaxing Thanksgiving weekend!
This year instead of going to Grandma's house for Thanksgiving we all went to the Apfel's (Nick's fiance's parents house). Thanksgiving dinner was delicous and we had a great time spending the holiday with more family.

The kids also made Indian vests and head dresses with paper bags but after Cy made his he decided he didn't want to put it on, so daddy did :)

Some really good news is that Cy started to walk on his leg again the day before Thanksgiving. Of course it's still hard for him to get around but he's doing a great job. He even thinks it's funny to put his pirate eye patch on and walk around like he has a peg leg.

The day after Thanksgiving was spent switching the boys' rooms around. Yay! That's something I've been waiting to do and Cole and Chase were so excited to have bunk beds again. Next on the list of things to do is paint Kenadi's room pink! Brandon and I also went and registered at Babies r' Us that night (I think that got him that much more excited - getting to pick out all the cute pink stuff for his baby girl :)

Saturday, we took the boys over to the Flower Mound Christmas Trees. I remember my parents taking us to pick out a tree when we were little and we had so much fun (probably being those obnoxious kids playing and running behind all the trees trying to hide).

Cole was trying to be sneaky

Cy had to be in the stroller the whole time but he didn't seem to mind.

We ended up coming home from Lowes with our first Frasier Fir. We think we like it better than the Douglas Fir that we usually get.

We always let the kids decorate the tree first (it's so much fun to watch) and then we spread out all the ornaments later when they're not looking :)
Christmas is my favorite time of year and I really can't believe it's already here. I have some more things I want to share about some new traditions we're going to start that hopefully I'll have time to do tomorrow - December 1st!!!

Chase's Birthday, A Broken Leg and Pulled Teeth

2008-11-19T00:33:00.000-06:00

We had quite an eventful couple days this past week at our house. Starting last Wednesday we celebrated Chase's actual birthday. We started the day with a special breakfast then after we took Cole to school Chase opened up a new k'nex car. He LOVES spending time building things right now.

We had a special lunch that day, then we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa's that night for Chase's turn to drive the mower, eat some pizza and have dessert.

Friday night I was sent running to Cole's room because of painful screams I heard coming from Cy. I had put the boys to bed and in less than 5 minutes Chase and Cy had snuck into Cole's room, turned on Hook and started messing around. Apparently Cy was laying on his back pushing up on the bed mattress with his legs. Cole had jumped and landed right where Cy's leg was at just the right moment fracturing Cy's tibia.

They put a splint on his leg that night in th ER then today he got his cast on. Poor guy did not like getting something else put on his leg. The whole time he was covering his face with his pooh-bear.

Cole came with us to help comfort Cy.

He get's his cast off December 23, just in time for Christmas.

All three boys also got to go to the dentist today. About a month ago, we noticed that Cole had an adult tooth pushing through the back of his bottom gums (this was after he had hit his mouth againt his bed really hard). So at the the dentist today they pulled not one but both front bottom teeth out to make room (that tooth looks huge!). We'll just have to wait and see if his permanent tooth will move up.

If there's anyone reading this that watched ER last Thursday then you could probably guess I spent the hour bawling my eyes out. It was about how the new chief of the ER had lost her son and it was so so so sad. I'm sure it's my pregnancy hormones going crazy too but it was just one of those moments that made you want to wake up all of your kids, hold them so tight and let them know how much you love them. I'm so grateful for what I have and after Cy broke his leg it made all of that compassion and gratefullness come bursting out (even through times of feeling so tired and frustrated). Though breaking his leg is a bit of a set back it has made me slow down. It's also been a wake up reminding me of how it's going to be with the new baby - the first night Cy woke up at 3 and 5 crying (after I didn't get to bed till 2) and also how he's totally depending on us to get him around for the next week or two. After that I'm sure he'll be up and running again!

Here's to being grateful :)

More and More Letters

2008-11-17T10:42:00.001-06:00

Finally, a Needle in a Scrap Stack update. With Christmas coming around I've been busy with a few more orders and they've mostly been for our decorative letters. Here's a couple of my favorite:

Right Here, Right Now

2008-11-11T10:17:00.000-06:00

I'm a little late for the actual challenge but I've been wanting to do this for a while and I wanted to share it with all of you. I saw it on Heidi Swapp's blog a little while ago and thought what better time to do this than now when everything is going to change with the baby in just a few short months. It was called "Give Yourself a Present" by Stacy Julian (you can visit her blog at:http://stacysbigpicture.typepad.com/

"You have everything you need right now to be vibrant and fully engaged in the creative process. Join me and dozens of other scrapbookers in a challenge to ‘Give yourself a Present’.

1. snap ten photos of your life right now
2. compile these photos in a really small mini-album
3. keep or carry this album with you (in your desk/bedside drawer or purse) for one year.
4. Promise to glance through the album every time you stumble upon it or pull it from your purse.
5. On Oct. 1st 2009, create a scrapbook page about your experience. (and Stacy promises to remind all of us)
6. Share it on your blog Oct.1st 2009"

"I think you'll find that regardless of what you choose to photograph, be it nature, your children, your pets, your home, your current projects --- anything and everything, that life is in flux. We and our surroundings are constantly changing (even when you don't see it or believe it) and this little challenge/project is designed to STOP you, in the throws of your busyness and show you in an instant ALL that you have and can choose to be grateful for -- ALL that is here NOW and very likely fleeting ..."

"Can you imagine if every woman in the world had a little "present" in her purse, a little something to pull out and look at on the bus, in the school parking lot, in line at the grocery store ... I think there would be a greater degree of gratitude, of patience, of satisfaction and of happiness."

Inbetween everything else going I will try to take time to do this. Sounds like fun - I'll post it when I'm done!

The Name Game

2008-11-10T00:37:00.000-06:00

Originally I thought picking out a girl name was going to be a piece of cake. Well finding one that both Brandon and I agreed on was of course, difficult. I think we have finally made Kenadi the official name but I'm worried that I'll start putting Kenadi on everything and then change my mind!! :) Brandon is definitely set on it though so I don't see him liking anything other.

Now the decision is for the middle name. We both like Nicole - it's my middle name and also could be after Brandon's brother Nicholas. I also like how our first boy and our first girl would have our middle names (Cole and Brandon have the same middle name after his Grandpa Tom).
The other name I like is Capri. The only times I've heard this name is from our friends Christen and Clay, on a song by Colby what's her name, and I also spotted it on this scrapbook page by Heidi Swapp.
So which is it . . .
Kenadi Nicole
or
Kenadi Capri . . .

We'll let you know!