Memorial Day Weekend 2012

This past weekend my hubby was hanging out with this group of guys

And looking at scenery like this....

 And eating things like this...

and walking on hills like this...

and crossing creeks like this...

and running into bear tracks like this....(eek scary!)

And moose tracks too

 And seeing snow like this....

And sleeping in contraptions like this...

And warming up at night by fires like this...

while he did that, I hung out with these three cute boys

 And this lovely lady

And this little girl

 And these sweet babies 

Pitbull Bite Update

Well after a week of wearing this bandage around

 redressing the wound twice a day

 learning to bathe standing up with a plastic bag on

The the three bite marks are healing nicely and he can play dress up with nana, grandpa and Martin bandage free!  

The bad news is, the dog next door is still living....

In other news, she's still a cutie!

Red Like Blood

I'm reading this book, Red Like Blood by Joe Coffey and Bob Bevington.  It's a book with fascinating stories about these two mens lives and the journey God has taken them on, as well as other stories of people they've met along the way.  I love how real & honest it is (more so than other Christian books I'v read). These men have had real struggles in their life and have known people who have dealt with tragedies and although I'm only half way through the book, it's helped changed my perspective a bit on life.

This has been a rough year for me, losing two babies, being sick with pregnancies, and I'v had close friends go through tragic events in the past few months that have caused me to ask, "why do you allow such hard things to happen God?" I have questioned aspects of God's goodness and questioning things about God I'v always thought I had answers to yet I kept coming up empty handed and depressed.  God is faithful and He has been answering some of my questions and giving me peace about things that are completely out of my control, for instance I can not control if the baby growing inside me will live or die, her life is in God's hands.  I can honestly say God has been gracious to me and given me peace to rest in the fact that He is the sustainer of ALL life.

There is a section in this book I loved. I'll share it:

"God's math is always profound and paradoxical.  Whenever you realize things are not what they seem to be, you're probably learning God's math.  Here are some mind-boggling examples of single-sentence paradoxical equations straight from the Bible.

It is more blessed to give than to receive.


The greatest among you shall be your servant.


For whoever would save his life will lose it.


You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.


When I am weak, then I am strong.

The Bible is a veritable God-math textbook. You'll find it's full of stuff like this.  Brokenness is a constant in God's formulas.  Our brokenness forms the cracks through which grace flows in and joy pours out.  Learning the math of God involves embracing brokenness the way he does.  It involves a collision between his grace and our brokenness.  The resultant sum of all of God's calculations is the same: We get more of Him.  Getting more of God equals finding satisfaction, significance, and fulfillment in him. When we do, it is axiomatic: we get more Joy and God gets more glory.  And that results in living a life that transcends circumstances"

Let's Go Fly a Kite

this week

We're here just enjoying Grandpa and Nana's presence around this week! 

Why Skype Is so Cool

One morning Josiah had the brilliant idea that he wanted to skype his cousin Tristan. So Uncle Shawn got it all set up for them and they skyped.  They showed each other various toys via skype, they made funny noises to each other, Josiah showed off his sticker book and about 1.5 hrs. later I had cleaned my kitchen, swept the floors, gotten dressed, did my hair and make-up.  It was glorious!  Then Aunt Kelli came home and said, why aren't you kids fed and napped i'ts 2pm (note: we are 3 hours earlier than our cousins)  HAHA!

Thinking Pink

A little baby girl is going to join these two peas in a pod.

 My gut of us having a boy was way off. I'v never felt so sure that I was right about something and be so wrong! :)  We are of course thrilled at whatever child the Lord wants to give us and will simply continue to pray that this baby girl stays healthy and gets strong.  She was pretty cute during the ultrasound today and was clearly showing off her lady parts to us, I think partly because she was getting tired of hearing me refer to her as a boy and so she wanted to make it very clear to me she was a girl! :)  Josiah was very interested in her as well and liked seeing her on the screen and is excited about another sister.  He wants to name her "sister" at this point.  Gracie pretty much cried most of the time since I couldn't actually hold her during the ultrasound - hah! so glad Brian was there.