Little B…

And his continued obsession!

Yes, anything and everything DIGGIN’!!!

Even his sweatshirt reveals this little boy’s love!

Be blessed.

What a Difference Two Years Makes!!

My cousin and her husband have two daughters, A & L. We are thrilled to now be living closer and hope the “cousins” (I’m not sure what their technical relation is) become good friends!

This photo was taken in 2009 when their daughter A, and B were about 4-5 months old…

Now there are four little ones between us, as she had a daughter just before little A was born. We snapped this photo a few weeks ago…

Hopefully the four will enjoy many fun “cousin” moments together in the future!

Happy Wednesday.

Be blessed.

Convicted!

I came across this on www.desiringgod.org (Please don’t give me too much credit…I only wish I enjoyed and actually read this blog as much as I do “home improvementy” blogs).

I was convicted when I read it the first time, and then convicted a second time when I received it from a friend in my email box. 

The Gospel for Moms

Rachel Jankovic, author of Loving the Little Years, writes:

Live the gospel in the things that no one sees. Sacrifice for your children in places that only they will know about. Put their value ahead of yours. Grow them up in the clean air of gospel living. Your testimony to the gospel in the little details of your life is more valuable to them than you can imagine. If you tell them the gospel, but live to yourself, they will never believe it. Give your life for theirs every day, joyfully. Lay down pettiness. Lay down fussiness. Lay down resentment about the dishes, about the laundry, about how no one knows how hard you work.

Stop clinging to yourself and cling to the cross. There is more joy and more life and more laughter on the other side of death than you can possibly carry alone.

Read the whole thing here.

So I pose this question to myself, “Do I work daily to provide our kiddos with “clean air of Gospel living”?   Do I live the Gospel in the things that no one sees?

Some days are better than others and I know I need to give myself grace, but really (especially in my own thought life) I humbly admit that I don’t consistently do this.  I value myself, my time, my needs and my desires much higher than I ought. I find myself thinking… “C is so lucky that he gets to have peace and quite at work.” or “Really, I have to change yet another diaper?!? Or “How am I going to fit potty training into all the things on my to-do list?”

I am convicted to work on “laying  down the pettiness…fussiness…resentment”.…and other hindrances that keep me clinging to myself and not clinging to the cross!

I so wish there was an easy, straight forward, objective way to do this, a check list that I could wake up, take care of and move on from…but know deep down that the only way I can truly do this is to be in the Word…learning it…loving it…and living it!

I hope this provides good food for thought!

Be blessed!

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On a house note…

Thank you so much for the continued prayers…as of last night, the negotiation phase (left over from the inspection) came to a close! 

We are scheduled to close next week…and then will officially have a home in our new neck of the wood!  We are cautiously optimistic…understanding we don’t yet have keys to the front door…but, filled with anticipation as we think about our little family residing within the house’s four walls!

Latest Happenings…

I am trying to get in the habit of snapping more photos of life in our new neck of the wood.  I hope to get better now that life seems to be calming down…well, at least for now.

We have been trying to get out and enjoy the cooler weather that Minnesota has to offer…B seems to like riding next to his little sister and I am enjoying the workout that pushing two provides!

Little A continues to grab hold of our hearts with her beautiful blue eyes, bright smile and bubbly personality…

B seems to be just as fascinated by the boat this summer as last…

And A doesn’t seem to mind tagging along.

Some of B’s toys have surfaced from storage…he continues to love his trucks and diggin's.

Little A has taken to enjoying nice long afternoon naps...I have learned that two napping little ones at the same time is PRICELESS!!!

B is starting to take to potty training (heavy emphasis on STARTING). We have a long ways to go, but are making progress and learning about patience all at the same time!

(Yes, he is watching television in the living room while sitting on the potty…I just couldn’t handle sitting and having a staring contest in the bathroom…it didn’t seem fair to B or myself ).

B is taking swim lessons at a local swimming pool. He seems to be taking to the water pretty well…C joins him for each lesson while Little A and I watch afar.

All in all, life is good…despite the pitiful number of photos I have recently taken.

We are grateful to be falling into a slight resemblance of a rhythm and praying that the house details might all fall into place as we continue to acclimate to our new neck of the wood.

Thank you for your prayers!

Happy Weekend!

Be blessed.

A Glimpse of Our Whirl-Wind!

The time between C’s job offer and our actual move was quite short…just a few weeks. Initially C and I were daunted by the idea of  trying to close such a huge chapter of  our lives in such a short period of time…but God, in His awesome providence provided us with ample opportunity to spend time with family, friends and pack. 

I don’t know that I will ever be able to adequately articulate the myriad of emotions that we felt during our last few weeks living in Fort Worth…but here are some photos that we were able to capture (though, I wish we could have captured more) of  some of our goodbyes.

We were able to host Auntie B for a night and special day in Cowtown…we ate at one of our favorite Fort Worth breakfast establishments (Yogi’s) and then enjoyed a train ride and a trip to the museum…

B, Little A and I drove to Dallas to meet Gigi for lunch at one of my favorite lunch establishments for a delicious chicken salad sandwich and legendary Nieman Marcas Cookie.

We also met our dear friend Ms. J for lunch at yet another favorite restaurant…Oh, how I will miss McKinley’s and their DELICIOUS chicken salad!

We were blessed to have friends stop by throughout the packing process…S kept me company on my birthday…it made a rather overwhelming day of packing much brighter! (She got to experience us at our finest…notice B’s lack of pants!!!)

B loved playing with his buddy,L,…she even brought a special Texas treat for B to play with!

This is how we spent several nights…and wee hours of the morning! I still am amazed that we got it all done!

I was able to convince another dear friend, L, to meet B, A and I at McKinley’s…I think I got my fill of chicken salad…at least till this fall!

Some friends graciously hosted a come-and-go going away party at a local pizzeria…we had the entire patio to ourselves that was filled with friends from church, college, school and other avenues of our Fort Worth life. I wish that I had been more deliberate to snap photos…I was able to snap one with K (a college roommate) and her beautiful daughter S…

And Mrs. T who I taught with for several years!

Some friends from church hosted a sip n’ see for little A…this shower had been planned prior to our decision to move…I truly believe this was God’s gracious gift to place several sweet friends all in the same place to spend a little extra time together. I wish that I had more photos from the shower downloaded on my computer…it was GORGEOUS!!!! The theme was vintage-sweet…these little birds adorned the tables as decoration. I left the shower in tears…feeling so honored and loved!

J acted as a baby whisperer while I visited with friends at the shower…A loved it!

Some friends invited us over for dinner to provide a reprieve from packing…B loved playing with their daughter, J, and seemed to think that it was novel to not be playing around stacks of boxes!

I was grateful to be able to spend some good time with these three girls despite the chaos of packing.  The four of us have been in a prayer group together for several years. We started meeting on Mondays to pray as newly married wives and have grown together as moms…there are now six kiddos between the four of us.

We were blessed with the chance to spend some good time with C’s family…

C had to head to Minnesota to start his new job the week the moving van came…this meant the last bit of packing was left to B, A and I…amazingly…(truly by the grace of God!) we got it all done!

This photo makes me laugh…look at little A’s facial expression…as if to say… “Yay! The boxes are finally all packed!”

Gigi and Papa were gracious to come over and keep us company as our things were packed onto the van…B loved having a “big truwwk” in his front yard!

We were honored to stay with some friends from church as our personal belongings started the trek north.  B loved having LOTS of time to play with H…

The two were adorable together!

Little A even got some good play time in with baby N.

We felt it only appropriate to spend the night before we moved eating one of C’s all time favorite meals,Grandma’s Enchiladas… around one of our favorite tables with Gigi and Papa.  We played in the swimming pool and got B nice and tired in preparation for the start of our long drive.

As tradition would have, we very appropriately closed our chapter living in Fort Worth with breakfast at the bakery.  The three of us ordered what we always do, sat in the table we always sat in…got hugs from our bakery friends and then headed north up Interstate 35.

I wish that I had done a better job of capturing photos of our precious community in Fort Worth, these don’t hardly scratch the surface in regard to everyone who graciously took time to hug our necks and come say goodbye…I hope to be surprised as I continue to come across photos that have yet to be downloaded.

Fort Worth will ALWAYS hold a special place in out hearts as we remember (and miss) family, our church community, friends, TCU…! 

As we reflect on the ten plus years of Cowtown living and almost five years of marriage, we are humbled by God’s goodness.  Choosing to start a new chapter continues to be one of the hardest…yet one of the most exciting things we have ever done. We are confident that God’s hand is present in this new chapter and are anxious to see what He has in store.

Be blessed.

Radio Silent...

We apologize for the radio silence as we are still trying to get settled into life in our new neck of the wood.

As soon as the computer box surfaces...I will be sure to download photos from the past month and a half of our little family's life...photos of a beautiful sip n' see for baby A, photos with dear friends from cowtown, B with the moving van, time at the cabin, etc. etc.

Until then, a little update...

Our little ones made the trek up I-35 like champs...it was a long drive that we are thankful to have behind us. I can't quite describe the emotions we felt as we headed north, we started the drive off with breakfast from our favorite bakery and then hit the road. Our car's DVD player became a dear friend as B watched "Thomas" while I listened to a book on tape (side note: The Blessing by, Dr. Trent is FANTASTIC!!!).

My family has been gracious to open up their home us to us in this time of transition. We are grateful for place to stay, but so excited to have a place of our own. In that regard, we have hit the ground running in search of our new home.

We have a realtor and have honed in on the area that we hope to make our new neck of the wood. The neighborhood seems to be filled with young families, a great park and local elementary school just a few short blocks away. We have actually found a house that seems to have fantastic potential...it needs some face lifts but has the "bones" that we are looking for. We are in the negotiation process with the sellers and hope that they are equally as motivated to sell as we are to buy...prayers are coveted as we continue the process and hope that we are following God's will for our little family.

We are grateful to be able to be enjoying good family time up at my parent's cabin. Little A seems to love just hanging out in her cradle with the breeze coming off the lake. B proves to be a little fish as he LOVES the water and helping C throw Ella's ball to retrieve off the end of the dock.

We continue to be greatly humbled by God's provision throughout this time of change and transition. We are humbled to have families who have provided their blessing, a land lord in Fort Worth who allowed us to leave (no strings attached), C's new employer who helped defray our relocating expenses, safe travel, healthy little ones, a temporary roof over our heads, a knowledgeable realtor and potentially a new home!

All in all, life is good in our new neck of the wood...thank you for all the prayers (especially for community and a new church home)!!!!

Happy Weekend!

Be blessed.