April and Easter Photos

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April pictures and Easter too!

Frantic Faith

I'm no good at chaos. One of my biggest pet peeves is being late, so I feel like I'm constantly rushing to get myself and the girls out the door on time. The kids hear the words "hurry," "quick," and "COME ON" so much that they have started saying the words to each other. Currently I feel like we have a lot going on. My to-do list continues to grow as daily I cross off a few items but add ten more. Today, I was putting out fires, pushing swings, standing up for our family, cutting up fruit, demanding results, changing diapers, and making silly faces, all the while tucking in my cape so my superhero status would not be revealed. After being "frantic" all morning, I sat down and sighed. In my devotions yesterday was the verse "Be still and know that I am God." It's that darn "Be Still" that I am not so good at yet. Isn't it just that way in our faith though? There's so much to learn; so much unknown; so many things we 'should' be doing, or wish we could be doing for others. People to serve. Songs to sing. Things to teach our children. Sharing our faith. Yet, all He wants from us is to Be Still.

Today, I chose to quiet the monkeys in my head that keep shouting about what I "should" be doing, and just sit (albeit for only 5 minutes), and breathe. I stared out the window while my children played and quietly thanked the Lord for them. And breathed.
Then the dog barked, the phone rang, the baby woke up, and my stomach growled. But I was 'still'....even if just for a moment.

AMAZING!

Indubitably Blessed! That's me! First, I have these AMAZING girls that challenge, inspire, and motivate me to be the best mom and person that I can be. THEN, I have this AMAZING friend that offered to take photos of my three precious blessings. Um, can you just say "AMAZING PHOTOS?"!!

Here's my shameless plug for her if you would like her to photograph your blessings too! (Love ya Jaimie!)



These are their Easter dresses, by the way.









Blessed beyond measure! Thank you Jaimie for sharing your "gift" with us! These are a TREASURE!!

Toys and Tympanograms

A few years back (no one is quite sure how many), B purchased a camera for my birthday. It has served us well, but lately it seems to be "acting up." I tried putting it in time out, but that didn't work. :) So, rather than buy a new one, B brought his "work" camera home. I'm in LOVE! I'm still trying to figure out the whole "focus" thing. But I am looking forward to learning more about it.

Whatchyathink? It helps to have such cute subjects to photograph!






In other news, the last few days have been especially frustrating with Reagan as she seemed to be blatantly ignoring us. Today, she turned the television WAY up and said she still couldn't hear it. That was a clue for me to take her in to the dr. They used a "tympanogram" meter and found out that her eardrums were registering at zero. ZERO! No wonder she hasn't been "listening" to us lately. She couldn't hear us!! Now I feel like a heel. She has a double ear infection so she is now on antibiotics to clear it up and we are just praying that as the fluid behind her eardrums clears, her hearing will return. In the meantime, I am off to buy her some ice cream before she starts calling me Mommy Dearest. :D

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!