Hoppy Easter

I hope everyone had a very Happy-hoppy Easter...

.... just be careful who you hop on.

Hunting for those eggs...

chasing for plastic eggs

it's something they look so forward to it each year

and can barely sleep the night before in anticipation of how many eggs they will get.

Fall is all around us

Living up here in Maryland has been fabulous to see the seasons change. Fall is one of our most favorite times of year. You begin to eat warm food again instead of summer salads, hot teas instead of iced tea, the leaves are colorful, the air is crisp and the fireplace is cozy and life seems a little more romantic.

We have a family tradition of having a Family Fall Party here at home. This year we actually found a family that is also free on October 31st every year to join our celebration, so we picked them up off the street and invited them over. No, really, these are our dear-dear friends that have become our Maryland family and we are so blessed to have them in our lives.


All dressed up and ready for some fun.

Wrestling with Uncle Kenny.

Working hard on pumpkin carving.



Showing off their hard work.


Givin' some love.

A JOY-filled Mother's Day

Children are a heritage from the LORD, offspring a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. - Psalm 127:3-5

As a mother, all mother's days are special. No matter what happens, I'm still a mom and that's a blessing that nobody can take away. I have 4 incredible children that have been a blessing to me in so many ways.




~ Kya is smart and tender.
~ Autumn is creative and crazy.
~ Lily is spunky.
~ Aaron, my only son, is full of laughter and kisses.

I love them each so differently, so dearly, so deeply that each Mother's Day I am beyond thankful for them.

....BUT.....

Some Mother's Day are just EXTRA special.

They bring us a little EXTRA something we didn't expect.

And sometimes they bring us great JOY.

This Mother's Day was one of those Extra Special JOY filled days

because

...we got a letter from China...

....a letter that said....

I am going to be a mom AGAIN

and her name is

JOY

This our Joy, our 5th child, the one I have waited for, the one I have prayed for.


~ Ms. Joy -- you are indeed a miracle and a blessing. And you make our Joy Complete! ~


Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.
John 16:24b

4th of July 2010

We have not seen fireworks in a few years. A couple of the kids are sensitive to the sound. This year they were ready for the fun though. We did keep our distance by staying in the mall parking lot, across the street from the main event but the time together was still sweet and the display was really pretty.

Mother's Day Tea

Easter Easter Easter!

How we LOVE Easter!!!!!

This was our 2nd Easter in Maryland (the place we weren't supposed to stay - cough cough), Lily & Aaron's 3rd Easter home with us, Autumn's 5th Easter home, Kya's 6th and mine & Dale's 10th Easter together. Lots to celebrate!

We spent most of it outside enjoying God's creation on His Glorious Resurrection Celebration.




We hope your Easter was AS COOL as ours!

Not Everything is Beautiful

We all wish that every project we did turned out great,
every moment with our kids is sweet,
and nobody ever gets snippy with each other.
Right?

NOT TODAY!

This was officially the worst Easter Egg project EVER. The eggs are ugly and the attitudes were not much better.

BUT, I can say this...near the end, it was so bad, we all just started giggling and couldn't stop laughing at ourselves. We then made the best of it and dug in with both hands, getting messy. We renamed them Dino Eggs.

Happy New Year

Goodbye to 2009!

So many memories, so many test, so many trials, so many miracles, so many blessings. There will never be another year quite like 2009.



Isaiah 25:9... "Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us. This is the LORD, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation."

Psalm 30:5...For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.

It's a White Christmas

Merry Christmas

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Christmastime is here

All 4 of our children were in a Christmas concert last night. The babies were just showing the Church what the parent/toddler class is like but all the tots did well. Then Kya and Autumn's class sang and danced to 4 songs. They did so well. It was sweet and mine and Dale's hearts just swelled!

Autumn is in the front row (middle) in a silver sweater and black pants.
Kya is also in the front row (end) in a red sweater and black pants.



We took these pics afterwards and it is so hard to get a good picture of 4 kids in the same photo.

May Your Harvest Be Abundant

...in little and in plenty, i will give thanks...

the Lord has given me my portion according to His will,

Happiest of Thankgiving to You and Yours



Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise:
be thankful unto him, and bless his name.
Psalm 100:4

Early Christmas Lights

It is BEFORE Thanksgiving and I have never, ever put up Christmas lights until AFTER Thanksgiving but our girls wanted them and it sounded like a great idea. Keep in mind it's in the 50's here and that is way colder than I remember it getting at Christmastime in Florida, so it FEELS like Christmas here. Therefore, the 3 of us girls started to beg and plead and after only about 30 seconds Dale was down in the basement digging up the lights and graciously stringing them on our deck (at night in 50 degree weather and all before he grilled the burgers -- what a servants heart!!! Gotta love that man!!!)