Ironic Monkeys

I don't know why, but all three of my girls have been nicknamed "monkey" at some point. No, I take that back. I do know why. It's because they INSIST on climbing on anything and everything from the minute they learn to pull themselves to a standing position. I was hoping (seriously praying) that Baby Bay would be our calm, docile, mellow, baby. No such luck. At 12 months old, she can climb onto the sofa, over the ottoman (that used to keep her safely in the family room), and last week tried to climb OUT of her crib! She has one of those cute little "push" toys that help babies learn to walk. Does she push it? NOPE. She climbs ONTO it and uses it like a scooter. In the same fashion, she kneels in the baby doll stroller and uses her other foot to push herself around the room. You would think that by the third child I would be used to all the daredevil ways. Somehow they still manage to freak me out with their stunts, but in my defense, I am much calmer when they hurt themselves. :D

With irony at it's best, I was in the midst of writing the above paragraph when Baby climbed onto the couch and then promptly fell off. All the while, Skylar was running through the house with the dogs and attempting to "hurdle" them when she tripped and fell face first onto the hardwood floors. Chipped tooth, fat lip, and a black eye later, she seems to be ok. Oy vey!

Who needs boys when you have monkeys for kids?

An Answered Prayer! And a happy dance!

One of our MAJOR prayers in the last couple weeks has been the offer that we made on the house in Murrieta. After the initial offer was rejected and countered, we felt defeated, to say the least. But we didn't feel like we were supposed to walk away just yet. We re-countered and just found out yesterday that our offer was accepted! After all the jumping up and down and screeching, I still don't think it has set in that we are going to have a home of our own again. We still have a few hurdles to jump over, but the hardest part is over (so we're told).
We will post tons of pictures after we close, but for now, here's one of the outside!



Aint it cute!?
Praise God for answered prayers! Now excuse me while I go do more happy dancing!!

Off my butt, on my knees

Lately I have found my prayer life challenged.  I have always prayed, but with the chaos of daily life, I have slowly become stagnant in my focused prayer time.  Sure, I still mutter, "Please God, give me patience" but it's usually when the noise decibals are breaking the sound barrier, the baby is crying, the older girls are fighting, the doorbell is ringing, the dogs are barking, and the phone starts ringing.  Needless to say, not so "focused." :D 

My grandfather, a man I respect more than I could describe, has always been the prayer "warrior" for our family.  He is getting older, and we all know that he won't be around much longer.  I know he sits twice a day and mentions each person in our family by name during his prayer time.  Wow! What a commitment.  He has always told me, "There's a band of Angels waiting for you.  All you have to do is ask." I used to say "well it's easy for him because he doesn't have much else to do," but that's a copout.  You know it. I know it.  I ran across a quote from Martin Luther that said, "Some days I have so much to do that I have to spend two hours in prayer instead of one, in order to get everything done."  If only I could adopt that philosophy. Give my day to God before I go about screwing it all up.  

Additionally, I was listening to a sermon about the "Legacy" of Christ.  He challenged listeners to think of what kind of "legacy" they want to leave for their children.  Needless to say, conviction set in.  I have tried to teach my children by example of how to manage their money, how to care for others, how to make good choices, how to be a good friend, etc.  But have I shown them how to pray? Sadly, no. 

SO, this past week, I have been making it a POINT to show my children how to pray. Not just for meals.  Not just at night.  But following the example of my grandfather, and in Philippians "Do not be anxious for anything, but ask for everything through prayer!" 

Skylar came to me with an "owie" so we prayed for it.  Reagan told me that a girl in her class had made fun of her, so we prayed that the little girl would be nicer.  

And, as I have started to pray, the needs have started to pile up.  There was a sweet girl I went to church with when I was growing up named Ruthie (fitting name).  She had a "prayer list" that she would write down each need on, and pray daily for that need. As the need was answered, she would cross it off her list.  I remember that her "list" was pages and pages long.  She had them taped to the wall next to her bed.  But, for a visual gal like myself, that's exactly what I need.  So I started writing down "needs." As I have started to pray (and see them ANSWERED!!), the list grows.  This little boy is one I have been praying for this past week:

His mom keeps a blog at www.mycharmingkids.net 

I know there's a lot of hurt, and pain in the world; but as I have prayed for others, I have found that my own "needs" are not so desperate. 

I challenge you to do the same.  Step outside of your routine, spend some time hanging out with God, and ask Him for your own band of Angels.  

Sweet Jesus, come soon!   

Facebook photos

I've realized that anyone can see the photos that we post to facebook, so rather than posting EVERYTHING twice, I am just going to post a link now and then to see photos of the girls that we post on facebook.  Easy enough, right?  Let me know if it works (or doesn't work if that's the case)

Photos from March: Ambrose Girls 

A picture for now

Bandwagon

Alright, so I am the LAST person to jump on the Blog-bandwagon (or at least it feels that way).  But I'm ok with that. :) I have had our family information on another website for almost two years and only recently discovered that folks were having trouble accessing the pictures.  Whoops! Also, I'm far too witty to not be writing my thoughts on the world wide web for all to see (if you were sitting next to me, you would hear me chuckling right now).  But my kids are witty and hopefully their humor will make you chuckle too. 

Enjoy the Ambrose Family Website!