Grateful

Grateful for a RESTFUL weekend at home with the fam...and for these 2 bakers in the kitchen!

Christmas!!!

We had a great time at MOPS today packing shoe boxes for kids for Christmas...It is so overwhelming and humbling to think about the kids who will receive the boxes and that for many of them this box will be their only gift this Christmas...Our speaker was amazing and showed us slides of her time in Africa...children she met in an orphanage there...these kids with nothing, but so grateful for anything they are given...We are so blessed in America...sometimes with all our blessings comes blindness...The boxes we packed might not go to Africa where our speaker was a missionary at an orphanage, but they will go somewhere in the world to show a child that God loves them...

It was heartbreaking to think of the child as I packed a box for a boy and a girl my kids ages and to think about the struggles and things these kids are going through....but to pray with hope for that child and to think about them playing and using the things in the box...I hope our kids grow up knowing how blessed we are to live in America and all that we have...and that they have a family...many of the kids who will receive the boxes do not...Click here to read one girls story who received a shoebox...

If you want to make a box go here and see how to do it and where to drop it off...they are many churches everywhere across the country collecting boxes....

And another way to help children in need is through Compassion...click here to find ways to help...Mike and I have 2 kids we sponsor through Compassion and they are always so good at writing to us...so humbling...we need to be better about writing to them...

We have so much here in America...We can learn so much from people who have nothing...Such gratefulness for the smallest of things...

Can You Read This?

This was my Suggie's and I unearthed it yesterday on our cleaning spree! I love having it out again...I tricked the B&As this morning with it...Can you read it? They thought it was Chinese! Once you see it...you always see it... :)`

Life is not an iPOD

We have had a nice PJ day around the house...cleaning, laundry, playing games, etc...A nice change of pace from our "go go go" the last month...Really loved this devo and what it had to say...I was thinking while we were at the park yesterday...it is so nice to live in the digital age...I can take 30 pics and delete half of the bad ones...if I didn't live in this age I would have to budget my film $ and really think about each pic...but there are pitfalls to living in the iPOD age...We can't pick and choose all we go through in life...And God doesn't waste anything we go through...We often learn the most through the hard things....

So today when I was reading all my sleep books wondering why my daughter who has always been an awesome sleeper keeps going through times of having problems going to bed at night I remember that this is for my good and that God is working...I am learning how to pray harder for my little girl and God is teaching her that He is the one who is always with her...and when my son cleans his plate and is the only one to receive a piece of Halloween candy for dessert and then he chooses to walk out of the kitchen with his candy bar after I told him, "if you leave the kitchen, you lose the candy..." And he chose to leave and lose the candy anyway and have a meltdown...God is at work and God is teaching all of us through "the good songs" on our life soundtrack and the songs we would rather not listen to...Life is not an iPOD...

How often I want my faith the way I want my iPod—
instant gratification without having to wade through the unknowns.
I want what I want when I want it.
Point click and play.
I don't want God to require me to buy the whole album—to deal with the parts I don't know or like, to take the time to listen to things I might not want to hear.

Fantasy Park!

We traveled up to visit some of our Beach Buds yesterday since everyone had the day off of school...(well except Mike!)...You would never guess how shy M and Z were at the beginning to see them playing 30 mins later!

We hung out at Becky and Bobs and had lunch and then headed to a fun park near their house afterwards...The kids had a blast and prob would've stayed more than 2 hrs if we had let them! Glad we had both MiMis with us to watch as they ran from one end to the other!

Going down the slide together...

And hiding from each other...


Mr. Man found this bridge and camped out there making lots of noise for most of out time there! He loves how it shakes!!! It was cracking him up!

The older 2 would join in with him sometimes too!

Can't believe I crawled through that tunnel 3xs! Carter went through and said, "Come peas!"

Such a cool park to really get the kids imaginations going! Wish we had one near us! We will just have to come visit again soon!!! :)!!!!

Halloween 2010

MiMi, PaPa, and Aunt Susan headed over after naptime today...We carved Carter's pumpkin and put some potato head pieces in his to give it the Carter touch... :)

Ate some yummy subs (Thanks MiMi and PaPa!) and left them to man the door!

Some one was a little excited! We had to trick or treat inside last yr so it was so nice to be healthy and go! (Although she did love it last yr and wanted to do that again at first this yr!)

Chhhhhheeeeeeseeeee!

Love this one...see why we call him the "Hulk"....

Cheesing it with Aunt Susan...

One more...and we are off!

Happy little gremlin was so excited to get candy at the first house...he would've been happy right then to go on home and eat his Skittles...

It was so fun to see all the neighbors...it was so packed...seemed like more out than 2 yrs ago!

One the 2nd street we broke down and let him have a sucker...at the end of the second street the dragon was toast and went home to do bedtime with MiMi...

We kept going with the bunny! Mike gave her a pep talk about her "Trick or Treats" (she is so shy...) and not growing up too quick on us...

After the 4th street she was ready to head home...All worn out...

Happiness...

Hugs!

Checking out the loot and choosing a piece! What a fun holiday!