A proud mom

Mikail just sang a little solo at the school assembley this morning........I'm soooo proud!! He sounded great. He was nervous and sang quietly but was right on the melody, I think he suprised himself. I'm glad he has a teacher who pushes him to try. I knew he could do it. He also received an award for his excellent reading skills. I have great kids :)

(everyone's gotta brag about their kids now and again, right?)

It's going to snow!!!!!

I'm decorating, listening to Christmas music and feeling down right Christmas-y. Gracie is being very (umm).........helpful. She loves the lights. The boys have cleaned and decorated their rooms already. Caleb wanted his own nativity set because (in his words) "Christmas is about Jesus mom, it's all about that little baby". I'm so thankful they can see what it's really about even at a young age.

Well, the cordless drill is charged.......time to climb the ladder and hang the lights.

I LOVE Christmas.

The note on my kitchen table tonight read.....

Dear Mom & Dad,

Don't forget to take my tooth and replace money with it. The tooth is on my night table.

From,

Mikail

King

Today I finally found a melody that fits
A melody that fits
Today I finally found a song that I can sing
A song that I can sing

You are my King, You are my King
I bow down before You and crown you the King of all Kings
Forever I'll sing, forever I'll sing
I'll sing of Your mercy and how I have been set free

The rulers of the earth will bow down before Your throne
They'll bow before Your throne
The nations You have made will worship You alone
They'll worship You alone

They'll sing for You
I'm set free
I'm set free
If the King has set you free
You are free indeed.

~audio adrenaline~

"You prepare a feast for me

in the presence of my enemies.

You welcome me as a guest

anointing my head with oil.

My cup overflows with blessings

Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me

all the days of my life

and I will live in the house of the Lord forever."

Psalm 23:5&6

the first piece of cake

The most wonderful thing about turning 1 is finally being allowed to eat cake. Grace's first cake was none other than chocolate......yummy! Gary put a lovely piece in front of her and she literally inhaled the thing...........seems the girl already knows how important chocolate is to well balanced diet!!

Check out the picture here.

Happy Birthday Grace!

Happy first birthday to my precious little girl.

23rd post 5th line

"So forward, march! Pick up those feet and get the people going!"

I think everyone else has been tagged already! If you havent here are the rules.....

1. Go into your archive.
2. Find your 23rd post.
3. Find the fifth sentence (or closest to).
4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions.
5. Tag five other people to do the same.

a sign of the times

Apparently I need to have a username with a minimum of 4 characters to get into my son's room.

mondays.....

It's quiet in the house, the kids are at school and Grace has just gone down for her nap. Silence is a rarity in this place. It's one of those moments where I feel like I can breathe deep and relax. This weekend I enjoyed my birthday celebrations. My birthday was on Saturday and I was blessed to have three days of parties! Unexpected and thoroughly enjoyed! Actually, the previous week was filled with many visits from some wonderful (wonderful!) friends. I am incredibly blessed by all of you!!

The other night I read a blog about the meaning of home. The author had spent time reflecting on what home meant to her and compiled a list. You can read her list here. It got me thinking about what makes my house my home. I thought maybe I'd share mine too. Thanks for the inspiration Julene.

My home is.......

* a safe place
* somewhere a song is always being sung (or whistled by my 6yr old son)
* filled with lots (and lots) of laughter
* a place where mistakes are made and forgiveness is freely given
* always open for a cup of coffee, chocolate and a good visit!
* LOVE
* where learning and growing apply to the adults as well as the kids
* cozy and warm on a cold night......a hot bubble bath and warm blanket are easily found
* surrounded by the beauty of God's creation, majestic mountains and a gorgeous view.
* filled with many dreams and aspirations
* a family planted firmly on God's grace

Upon reflecting on these things, I am thankful. What does home mean to you?

catch up

Well, I finally have some time to sit at the computer and catch up on blogging. The past four weeks have been like a whirlwind! The boys started grade one and three (both in school all day.....Yippee!!) This has left me hanging out with my daughter during the day, our favorite things to do have been going out for coffee and hitting the mall (mostly window shopping but just as fun). I have been battling being sick and worn out, Gracie is still up at night, I don't think she is feeling 100% either. I've been up 5 times each night for the past week or so............I'm tired. I finally went and got some antibiotics for myself yesterday so hopefully soon I will begin to feel normal again. Grace started crawling recently so I spent last weekend baby-proofing the house. She now has a safe play zone. Have I mentioned how incredibly beautiful she is? Cause she is.

Been thinking alot lately about how God really intended for us as His church & His children to live. I still have way more questions than answers. My conversations with Him have been full of questions lately.........there is so much I do not understand. I'm pretty sure it's not my job to figure it all out, just to continue seeking Him. The following scriptures has been on my heart lately as I have been so focused on my kids.

"Let the children come to me. Don't stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these" Matthew 19:14

"Therefore, anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven and anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf is welcoming me." Matthew 18:4&5

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Most of the time I feel as though I'm totally overwhelmed with the job of parenting. God has been reminding me to relax (which can be hard for me!!) and enjoy my kids..........enjoy them!

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Below is a picture of my hilarious son (speaking of enjoying them) Caleb makes me laugh everyday, what a wonderful gift......

i'm so on the ball

bought my first christmas present today.......now to find a place to hide it where i wont forget it's there........

BLUE You give your love and friendship unconditionaly. You enjoy long, thoughtful conversations rich in philosophy and spirituality. You are very loyal and intuitive. Find out your color at Quiz Me!

What Classic Movie Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

ok....this is funny

find your inner PIE @ stvlive.com


those who know me well will know why........

the concert

Yes, I survived!........and I can actually say that I had a blast! I love going to concerts......and I love all kinds of music! I also have not been out in..... oh gosh, probably about a year. Thank you Liz for attempting to take Grace for night (she has a very hard time being away from her mommy!!)

I was very curious to see who would be attending a Def Leppard concert and suprisingly (at least to me) there were alot of young people. We had a very interesting crew sitting behind us, I swear they were the rowdiest row in the whole place. Lots of drinking & smoking (more than just cigarettes) I was trying so hard to be careful not to breathe in too much "smoke" Haha, just ask Gary about that! Anyhow the music itself was awesome, it brought me right back to the 80's, the guys put on a great show. It was great to sing along to all the songs which I still remembered all the words (who knew!) I pointed out to Gary that the guys had their song order sheets taped to the stage beside their microphone stands, He laughed and said that only I would notice something like that.

Funny thing, I ran into a couple while leaving GM Place (friends of Carolyns) who I was totally shocked to see there. She said to me while we walked out "Well, it really was not my genre of music but I think I recognized a couple of the songs from the second band" Really........she didn't even know who she was seeing! She only came to support her hubby. Carolyn, can you guess who it was?

On my way out the door to see Def Leppard. This will be my first "rock" concert. Haha....... should be an experience!

Just got back from camping with a couple of girlfriends and all the kids. The kids were great and Gracie did quite well for her first camping trip. I'm feeling pretty proud of myself considering I pulled it off without the help of my hubby. I did have help from some awesome friends, thanks girls!

I'll post pics later

something to celebrate

Well, 11 years ago Gary and I were on our honeymoon in Maui. Two weeks hanging out on the beach and with each other. August 6, 1994 we were married. I was so young then and I'm not sure that I really understood the importance of the vows I was about to take in front of family, friends and God. Now, 11 years later I look back and realize that I really (really) had no idea of the kinds of choices that would confront us (me) in the coming years. Through the different seasons of our relationship we have both made some poor choices, some more severe than others. We have been through financial devastation, health problems, severe depression/anxiety and unfaithfulness to name of few. We have been through the fire and by all accounts never should have made it.......but we did.

Today I just want to express the joy that I have found in my repentance and obedience to God and in the blessing of an amazing, patient and very loving man.

Today I am thankful.