All grown up with somewhere to go....

Well tomorrow we will be the proud parents of a six year old. Its hard to believe really! I still remember that day like it just happened. Hannah was our very own Thanksgiving turkey born early, 5:44 a.m. to be exact, and she was perfect! I still remember thinking she was soooooo tiny as I held her against my chest, and now when she slows down long enough to hold its hard to tell who is holding who. I am so proud of who she had become....this loving, sweet, genuine, girl who loves Jesus! Along with that has come all the growing up too.....like the picking out her own clothes, wanting to brush her own hair, and tonite a first- A SLEEPOVER somewhere other than home or her cousins house! A real dream for a little girl and a reason for me to check my cell phone every 30 min- in secret hopes she will miss me and call :)! She grabbed her new boots, touched up her play make-up, and grabbed her purse stuffed with randomness and out the door she went.....All grown up with somewhere to go! And no call as of yet! Happy Birthday Hannah!

Sour Cream and Banannas

We have been working as a family with the Shawnee Rescue Mission for a while now, and since the day we first volunteered my little boy has been praying daily (and I do mean daily) for the homeless people we have served there. Ethan really has been the only one of the five of us to pray daily. In fact, my husband and I have shared many times how humbled we are by his diligence and faith in his praying for these people. It has really reminded me of the power of faithful prayer. So during these prayers he always prays they receive a home, which over the summer God did provide funding for a shelter-YAY, and then he prays that they could have bananas and sour cream. These are his two favorite foods so that's why the odd combo! Over the summer we had the amazing privilege of telling our two oldest about the shelter, and explaining how God answered this amazing prayer. They were both excited and not at all as surprised as we were, which again challenged my faith. Us big people need to quit acting surprised when God actually answers prayer- Hello He is faithful lol! Well, this morning we went down to our home church and picked up some donations (as we often do) for SRM. Then we headed downtown to drop them off. I got out to meet my helper in unloading and we traded some kind words and caught up a bit and I rattled off what was all in the sacks without much thought and got back in the car. As we are driving away Ethan says "Mom God likes sour cream too". I said, "what buddy"? "Mom, God gave our church a big bowl of sour cream and they gave it to Shawnee Rescue Mission". He had the biggest smile on his face and now I did too! I honestly didn't even think about it until he had said something. I really thought well this is random a whole bunch of sour cream, but it wasn't random at all! It was our amazing Father answering the prayer of His beloved three year old child! I not a betting woman but if I was...I would say bananas are next!

Hot Date

Tonite I have a date with my husband. Oh how I love date nights. In the hustle and bustle of this thing called life its nice just to slow down and take some time. We never do anything "extravagant" and that is fine by me. I really just love to sit next to him in the booth, take longer than 10 minutes to eat, to have conversation without stopping to take someone to the potty, and him seeing me in something other than sweatpants and a t-shirt stained with cheeots. You see before there was this family of five....there was just two people. These two people who kinda fell hard and quick for each other. One quiet and one not so quiet, one practical one impulsive, one disciplined and one free spirit....basically two people created to balance each other out. And when the balance doesn't work we still do cause underneath it all we just like each other. Too easy to forget where things began, but its that place that makes all the other stops on the journey possible. So today, 10 years later, I will wonder what to wear, pray for a good hair day, not feed the kids cheetos ;), and get a little giddy when he puts his hand on my leg. Thanks Sammy for still dating me after all these years! Loving You always!

Nap is a Must

This is so not serious! Sorry for those wanting something more theological or thought provoking, but today right now in this moment it is ever clear to me why I shouldn't let me 3 year old skip nap. We have had an injured toe, he says "my ears going to fall off" after I changed his shirt, then he cried when I asked him if he needs to go to the bathroom. I knew better and still I said yes.....moral to this story weakness breads weakness :)! Just kidding! Moral is go with your gut even when big brown eyes look into your soul and plead "no mama I will be super good". My punishment for this momentary lack of mommy judgement is a cranky boy on an afternoon when leaving this house is a must. We must go to dance, we must run by the store, and we must have a nap next time! Oh well still nice to know he is big and grown in so many ways, and yet little and needy in others. Makes my heart smile a bit.