no greater joy

There is no greater joy than to be the mama to these 3 sweet kiddos.

I am far from the perfect mom.

Most days I mess up.  Ok, every day.

Some days and moments are completely and utterly embarrassing.

But they love me the same every day.

They forgive quickly.

They laugh a lot.

They love unconditionally.

They find joy in the smallest of things.

They keep me humble.

They say the sweetest prayers,

and their faith comes so easy.

I'm thankful for the lessons these 3 teach me every day.

There is no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.

3 John 1:4

This is my prayer.

And this is my motivation to train them up in the ways of the Lord now.

One day they will be gone.

To kindergarten, and then to college.

I will mess up a ton more along the way.  I'll fail at many things.

But by God's grace only, we will all come out on other side,

more like Him.

Happy Mother's Day to all of you moms!



gavin {five months}

I'm quite late this month with Gavin's pictures.

It sure has been busy around here. I know everyone says that May is busy, and even with just a preschooler, I'm experiencing that already.

But even in all the busyness, this little guy just keeps growing and changing.

 It was much harder to keep him on his back this time, with his feet out of his mouth.

He pretty much spends most of the day with his feet in his mouth.

 I got all set up, thinking we had some great light, and then the clouds broke, and the sun kept going back and forth behind the clouds.

I'd get everything set just right and then all of a sudden it would get super brighter.

We spent some time just playing and waiting for the sun to go back behind the cloud.

Then I'd hop back up and try again.  Man, between 2 kids wanting to help, a dog getting in the way, a baby who tries to roll over, and the sun playing peek-a-boo, there sure was a lot to think about.

 And then he was done.

 Bubba G,
(one of the many nicknames you've been given around here)

This month you've been quite a bit more entertaining.  Now that you can roll over to your tummy, that's the only way you want to sleep and play.

At the beginning of the month you took your first airplane ride to Cincinnati to meet your cousin Alice.  You were such a delight to travel with.  I hope you'll be the same way in the car this summer!

We started you on some baby cereal this month, but have been super slow in getting you moving to the next stuff.  It seemed to be taking you awhile to get very good.  And I keep forgetting I'm supposed to buy baby food now.

You have officially moved to a solid nap schedule, one long morning nap,  one long afternoon nap, and sometimes a short cat nap around dinner time.

I think your best skill is sleeping. Thank you sweet baby.

You had a nasty nasty rash all under your neck and chest that took a week or more to get rid of.

We're afraid you may have inherited the allergy problems that your brother and mom and dad have.

Somehow Taylor lucked out!  Your poor eyes have had gunk in them since you were 2 months old.  The Dr. says it's congestion and you should grow out of it (in your eyes at least).

You grab for everything and love to chew on things. You're my first baby who grabs my jewelry and hair.  I'm not sure how I got by with that not happening before, but my oh my, how you love to grab ahold and not let go.  This past week, your first teeth are popping through. So much earlier than your brother and sister.  Daddy just said yesterday "I don't want him to have teeth yet". Which was kind of funny coming from your dad.  I think he realizes too how fast you are growing up.  Teeth always change that sweet baby smile.  Teeth are just another sign that you are getting bigger and bigger.

I've said this before I'm sure, and I know I'll say it again.  But you are seriously SOOOOO easy!  We never had a really tough baby, but your brother and sister definitely had their moments.  Tough evenings, tough naptimes.  Just times when they needed a lot of attention from mom or dad in trying to calm them. So far you have only had these moments for you are so few and far between that we can't even remember them.

Everyday you get comments about how you look JUST like our family.  I hardly ever hear that my kiddos look like me.  I guess you all mostly got your daddy's traits. Except your eyes. Daddy's blue eyes and Mama's blue eyes are distinctively different, and your eyes are like mine and Taylor's. It's so neat to see the way God gives us all some of the same traits.  

 Most people say you look JUST like Mason.  And some people say you look JUST like Taylor.  I think you're a good mix of both of them.

This weekend marks my first Mother's Day as your mama.  As a mama to 3.  You make my heart so full. You complete our family and bring so much joy to all of us.  I really can't believe you're 5 months already.  I will say that every month.  It's obviously what God intended.  And as much as we get excited about new stages and the joy we know that will come with each new age...there's a small part of us that would like to keep you this little forever.

Happy 5 months sweet babe.

something must have been funny

I'm a little late on Gavin's 5 month pictures this month.

I took them a few days late and haven't gotten around to doing anything with them until last night.

I couldn't help but laugh at this series of pictures that I took at the end of Gavin's photo shoot.

They aren't good pictures at all.

They wouldn't put their heads or bodies where I really wanted them.

Taylor couldn't open her eyes because she said it was too bright.

Something was hilarious and they couldn't stop laughing.  But I have no clue what.

I couldn't concentrate on my camera because of all the commotion.

Overall, the idea I had in my head of this little posed sibling shot, did not turn out at all.

 

But maybe what I got was way better. :-)

believe, and then I'll show you

If I was being really honest, I would have to say there have not been too many things in my life, or Dave's, that have required huge leaps of faith.  But in reality, that may very well be because we just hold too tightly to the reigns and assume that the issues are ones in which we know the answers to and faith is not necessary.

 Because faith isn’t a comfortable place.  Faith forces us out of our comfort zone, into an expression of obedience to God.

And I've come to the conclusion that a person cannot fully experience God’s blessing without understanding and accepting this reality.

Right now there are a few big things on our plate in which we are desperately seeking God's direction.  Because ultimately, we know that if we aren't in God's will - we are outside of his protection.  Not a place we want to be.

Weeks ago, the sermon at church was on the way that God opens and closes doors.  The exact lesson, at the exact time, that Dave and I needed.

I think it was back in February when some friends said that they would be planning a trip to Ethiopia to build a house for other friends that we have there who are in the mission field.  This sparked some major interest in both of us.  But, I also know that in this season of my life, with such a little baby at home - it's not possible for me right now.  But that didn't stop Dave from being interested.  Obviously, building is his thing.  And to do this in Ethiopia.  As part of God's work.  He was totally interested.  Except for the fact that it was possibly going to be a 3-4 week long trip.  Being away from home and his job for that long just didn't seem possible.  So to the FAR back burner this opportunity went.

But even though he put this on the back burner, it didn't keep God from bringing it back in front of him many times. He was asked to pray about the opportunity several times.  It came up here and there, but the length of the trip and the expenses really kept him from wanting to commit.

Then the trip changed to just a 2 week trip.  But there was still a lot of money to come up with - with only a few months to find it.  He was asked to make his final decision - in which he reluctantly said no.  He definitely didn't feel at peace with his answer.  I think in one night he made a decision back and forth about 5 times. The money scared him.  But he wasn't sure that 'no' was the right answer.  The Lord kept stirring his heart about this trip.

We sat and talked one night and decided together that many times in life the Lord just wants us to step out in faith and let him show his mighty powers and work out all the details for us.  It's natural for us to want to SEE the end result, or the means to get there. We feel the need to know how it's all going to work out.  It's hard to make a decision and not have a clue how it's going to come together.  It was so hard for Dave to say YES to Ethiopia without a clear picture of how he'd actually come up with money to get there.  He hated to say yes, and then weeks later have to pull out because the money just wasn't there.  He wanted to make the decision with confidence.  But we realized that he was wanting it to be confidence found through himself, and not the confidence we find through God. 

The Lord never said, 'l'll show you . . . then you'll believe.'  

He said, 'Believe.  Then I'll show you.

So on this night, we decided together that we needed to just let God show us.  Dave realized he just needed to say yes, and then wait to see if God continued to open the doors for him to go or not. 

One open door would be coming up with $2000 for a plane ticket quickly. We knew if this was God's will for Dave, he would open this door. 

All of a sudden we felt a little overwhelmed.  Neither of us has been on any sort of mission's trip since high school.  Here we are, needing $2000 quickly and we didn't really even know where to start.  So we started with prayer ourselves.  And then decided to let our family and friends know what's going on and ask them to pray too.  We had NO idea how God was going to provide $2000, and we really needed the prayer support of others. 

We sent an email to friends and family at 11pm one night.  No time to write up an official letter, this was quick and just basic - we didn't even know many of the details of this trip.  We asked that they help us pray that if God wants Dave in Ethiopia, it will be made clear to us.  And if he wants him there, that $2000 would be raised quickly.

Less than 24 hours later.  The Lord swung the door to Ethiopia wide open.

We had exactly $2000 to the dollar.  Exactly enough to be able to tell our friends it was a GO, and the plane tickets could be purchased.

How reassuring to know that you are in God's will!!  How exciting to know that he has plans to use Dave in Ethiopia.

He leaves in 2 weeks.  He's definitely nervous.  But so excited.  The kids don't really know the reality of this yet.  And I haven't really taken time to think about him being gone either.  I'm sure it will hit. 

But more than anything, even through all the nervousness - we are both so excited that the Lord is choosing to use him in this way.  If you would, would you pray for him as he goes - and for the 4 of us back here at home without him.

Hopefully I'll have pictures to show in June!

“A man’s heart plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps”.

Proverbs 16:9

33

Last Friday Dave turned 33.

I'd say he had a pretty good birthday celebration.  Tom Petty on Thursday night, out for steak Friday night, Lauren Alaina Saturday night.  And finally a birthday cake on Sunday night.

You would think at this age things don't really change all that much, nor get all that too exciting.

But he had a BIG year.

At 32 1/2 he got  his very first email address.

Haven't you all had an email address for like 10 years?

Well, some how this non-techy, anti-social media, anti-Apple guy had a mid-life turn around.

He's wanted an Iphone badly since I got mine.

And I've been all for it - so I don't have to beg for mine back all the time just to be able to make a call or text.

So we hid his old phone from him one night before going to bed (since I had to bring the old phone into the store in order to activate the new one).

The next morning he searched and searched.  And tried to wake me up to tell me he couldn't find his phone.  He was quite agitated.  Trying not to act to obvious, I told him I'd look for it and bring it to him if I could find it. 

I guess that gave it away, he said I would NEVER, in my half-asleep state, offer to look for it and get the 3 kids out to bring it to him.

So he knew something was up and went on to work without a phone that day.

The kids and I got up and headed to the phone store when it opened.

Then we had to drive all around North Newton to find where he was working, since I really had no clue. 

Luckily there's only new houses going up in a few places.

"Daddy, we found your phone!"  (as they handed him the white Apple box)

He said he knew it was coming.  But I could tell he was still so excited.

Next on the list would be the most heavy duty case we could possibly find, in order for his phone to not be destroyed at work.

So now, my hubby has an email address, is on Facebook (NEVER thought this day would come!), is on Instagram, and even has the Pinterest app on his phone too (he's not ashamed).

The benefits to me:

He doesn't have to give people my email address anymore and depend on me to tell him when he needs to respond to someone. And he doesn't have to be semi-embarrassed to give his wife's email address to someone when it's business related.

All of his high school friends can now be HIS friends on FB instead of friending me.  Which means, maybe I could clean out some friends. (yikes, maybe that seems kinda harsh).

He can read his own newsfeed instead of reading mine in all of his boredom.  He tried to get me to just let him login under my name and have my account open on his phone, and although it probably wouldn't have made any difference, I told him to get his own.

He's already said that my newsfeed was always much more entertaining.  His is kind of boring so far.

I DID let him login to my Pinterest account though, so he can browse.  He's actually found quite a few ideas for around the house and outside.  And even the occasional recipe he requests that I make. I'm not sure what I'll do when he figures out how to actually "pin" things though.

So at 33, he is a changed man.

And in 3 weeks, this guy will be heading to Africa for 12 days.

I think his Iphone, Facebook, Email and Instagram will all come in very handy.

(unless it costs a fortune).

a night with an american idol star

About a month ago, someone told us that Easton Corbin and Lauren Alaina were coming to Koch Arena for KFDI's Listener Appreciation Concert.

The tickets were free, but we kept forgetting to get some.

And typical me, 2 days before, I was finally on the search.

And of course, all locations were out of them.

But according to the website, we found out they'd be giving away last chance tickets at an Ace Hardware in Wichita.  Only 200.

We just so happened to be in Wichita Friday night for Dave's birthday dinner, so we decided to check it out.  MANY things almost stopped us from going.  The traffic, the time, the fact that we weren't sure we wanted to spend another evening in Wichita since we were there all evening Friday night.

But we got there, and they had tickets left still.

The kids were pumped to see Lauren Alaina!

If you don't watch American Idol, you probably don't know who she is.

But we watched last season as a family and the kids loved Lauren and Scotty.

Lauren was runner-up to Scotty.  But 2nd place in Idol is usually just as good! She has her own record and has opened for SugarLand, Jason Aldean and tonight for Easton Corbin.

We had no expectations for the night.  We didn't even plan to get there too terribly early to stand in line for seats, we figured seats in the back were better than standing for hours with the kids (the seating was all general admission).

We still had to stand for a little while.

 Dave's good friend from high school is Easton Corbin's manager. So he had told us to text him when we got there and he'd probably be able to set us up for a meet and greet with Lauren.  (this is why Taylor made her a picture).

Little did we know what this would really turn into.

We got our seats, all the way down on the first row, to the side of the stage, and we waited to go see Lauren.

I seriously thought that we'd be in a room with lots of other people who were there to see Lauren, and we'd get to stand in line to get a picture and say a quick hi.

But it was WAY better than that.

We followed Chris through the tunnel toward Lauren's room.

Lauren came out and it was JUST us. Taylor handed her the picture and Lauren made a HUGE deal of it and said she was going to put it on the fridge in her bus.

I totally expected to be the tag-alongs, feeling kind of awkward, like we were in the way. But Chris left us with Lauren's incredible staff who were super super nice to us!

Lauren loved Taylor and acted so excited to have her there.

It made us feel so good and I could tell that Taylor was loving every. single. second.

We still didn't have a clue what was going on.  But the staff just told us we were going to walk with her to her "meet and greet". 

We walked into a big private room, our kids side by side her.

The people here were all waiting to meet her.  And they were the ones that got in line to get her autograph and a picture.

We on the other hand felt like we were WITH her.

Dave and I, and the boys, stood back with Lauren's staff girls, and Lauren let Taylor sit right beside her as she met with all her fans.

And Mason chowed down on all the complimentary food and drinks.

Abuelos Restaurant and Pepsi - seriously, could this night get any better???

When it was time for Lauren to go back to her room, we got to walk all the way back with her and stop for one more picture before we told her goodbye.
What a sweet, fun and welcoming girl Lauren was.  I am so thankful for that.
Because it seriously made our time with her amazing.

Wow.  Dave and I seriously just looked at each other with that "is this really happening" look, many times.

We know that not everyone knows her name and that she's not a huge music star YET.

But after cheering her on through her season of American Idol - she is definitely a star to all of us!

And this night was SO special and fun for our kids!

The concert started, and our little guy fell asleep with Daddy's hands over his ears.

We had awesome seats, first row, with the floor in front of us for the kids to dance like crazy!

We were all the way on the side of the stage, right by where the performers got on stage.

So we even got to see Lauren and wave to her one more time as she stood there waiting to go on stage.
Taylor was just bummed we couldn't find her at the end to tell her goodbye.

For being a very last-minute evening, with no real expectations, other than to see Lauren Alaina sing, we were blown away.

Pretty sure this night will go down into our "all time favorite family memories".

a pro

Well, she did it.

She moved from the little bike to the big bike after just a few days.

It was like she has been riding the big one all along.

 It seriously is crazy to see her riding down the street when we go on walks or rides, like such a big kid.

She's just seeming so grown up lately.  It's so weird.

Kind of a mix of emotions - I love it and hate it at the same time.

And riding on a big bike with 2 wheels doesn't help.

first cereal

I'm pretty sure this little guy is going to have quite the audience for every single one of his firsts.

His brother and sister are just so excited to see him grow and learn to do new things.

And because we have lots of other baby friends, they have been asking WHEN in the world is Gavin going to start cereal.  When mommy, WHEN?

We started the other kids right at 4 months with cereal. #1 because I was just excited for new things.

#2, neither of them were sleeping through the night, so I thought it may help. #3, they both seemed like they needed more to fill them up and be content.

I wasn't in as big of a hurry with Gavin.  It's just one more meal to prepare and mess to clean up. 

 But it definitely makes for some great evening entertainment for all.

Especially when he starts to play with his feet at the same time.

Oh sweet baby, you are TOO cute!

But the audience got bored after a few minutes.

I actually love this picture and the story it tells. 

Taylor has been very much into doing her own pony tails lately (as you can see). And she's also been very much into song writing.  On this day, she had help in writing a long song about spring and Jesus. She can read all the words, and she just sat there rehearsing her new song over and over again.

While her baby brother ate his rice cereal for the first time.