Monday, July 14, 2014

Weeks 27 & 28/52

2014 Weekly Portrait Challenge

Week 27 & 28

This week were at the lake 

after celebrating Daddy's birthday

&

 a day at the park 


week27






 We celebrated Daddy's birthday at his favorite restaurant, Pickle Bill's, and then headed down to the lake to watch the sunset. Emilee & Olivia searched the sand for sea glass and shells, while Owen chased Evan as he ran as far as he could down the shoreline. Ava rested on my chest in the baby carrier and Joe and I decided that we should make a list of things that our kids should do with their spouses before they have children some day...like watching a sunset together. I think that we should write one for things that they should do with their children too...including watching the sunset together.


week28





We took a walk to the park this week with my aunt and cousin. With Starbucks in hand we crossed the street into the park in Chagrin Falls. The kids played and adventured all throughout the park. Emilee looked so grown up leaning against the pole holding up the swings that I had to capture the moment. I knew that, not to far from now, I would look back on this picture and she would look so little again. Olivia found all of the flowers waiting to be picked and explored all of the trails in the park. Owen coursed cousin Tyler into pushing him on the swing. He called him Cory-Tyler most of the day because he kept forgetting which cousin he was but he now calls him simply Tyler. Evan thoroughly enjoyed the playground and the ducks as well as the falls and throwing rocks into them. Ava enjoyed the view from the stroller and the carrier for the day. She turned two months old this week!

Thursday, July 3, 2014

The Trust Pact

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge Him,
and He will make your paths straight."
Proverbs 3:5-6

Right there. Right there on page 686 of my Women's Devotional Bible were those words in black and white.


"Trust in the Lord."

So I did.

This verse ran through my head and my heart my whole pregnancy with our sweet boy.
Usually when someone says, "Trust me." it usually translates to DO NOT TRUST THIS PERSON!
If someone has to convince you to trust them it is usually a sign that they are not a trustworthy person, right?
But this.
This was GOD telling me to trust Him. Who could be more trustworthy than the giver of life Himself?
Since God was resonating this Scripture within me to tell me to trust Him, I did. I knew that He had it all handled and that, in the end, He would make everything right. 
So I trusted.

Then came that day. The day when all of the trust that He had instilled in me would be tested.
 I trusted Him with my baby boy. In a moments time it all slipped through my fingers...
and he was gone.

"But I trusted!? I TRUSTED YOU JUST LIKE YOU TOLD ME TO DO!
I don't understand. I trusted"...


Time went on. I grew to accept God's choice but I still didn't understand it.

And then, one day, thanks to a Bible study that I was following, I read deeper.

The Scripture verse for that day was Proverbs 3: 5-6. I have read this verse many, many times. 
In fact, I have it saved to memory. But, I didn't truly understand what it says until that day.

5"Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding."

        It doesn't say, trust Him to give you what you want or what He has always provided in the past...


                        It says, trust Him with all of your heart, all of you, that what He decides is right beyond our understanding, even if it doesn't make sense to me.


6"...in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight."

       It doesn't say, acknowledge Him when trouble comes. Not, when you want or need something. Not, when you acknowledge Him, He will make everything the way that you think is right.


                         Always. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make things right in His sight and in His time.

When I read...really read and studied what God says through this verse I began to really see what God was promising. He wasn't promising to save my son. He wasn't promising to give me what I wanted, when I wanted it. But, what He was promising, was that He is there, always, to provide for us what we need in His sight.
He teaches us that, while we don't understand it all, He does. He sees the bigger picture for our lives and our salvation. He gives us what we need, not what we want, which can be two very different things.
He knows the number of our days and our children's and will use those days for His greater good.
And so I trust.
Not so that I get what I want, but so that I can be what God has for me, which is to walk with Him and see all that He has provided for me and to watch His beautiful story unfold.
Trust...
and abundant blessings will flow from the depths of the darkness and fear of our brokenness.
Trust..
and joy and hope will rise from the ashes, even when you are in despair. 
Trust...
He is waiting...

Monday, June 30, 2014

Weeks 24, 25, & 26/52

2014 Weekly Portrait Challenge

Week 24, 25, and 26

These weeks we are catching up...

We celebrated Father's day,

went to Vacation Bible School,
and
celebrated Owen's 6th birthday!
(we have been pretty busy around here, 
hence the lack of blog posts)

Week 24

We celebrated Father's day...





What a blessing this man is. The kids adore him and I couldn't imagine life without the abundant love we share.


Week 25

                       We went to Vacation Bible School...







All week our home was filled with the sound of the kids singing, 
"I want to be like, Jesus!"
It was a welcomed brake from the Frozen soundtrack.


Week 26

                       We celebrated Owen's 6th birthday!






Owen is 6!
The kids ate 90% of a huge watermelon at his party.


Be sure to check out my nieces beautiful weekly portrait challenges as well!


Thursday, June 12, 2014

One month

1

"On the night you were born, the moon smiled with such wonder 
that the stars peeked in to see you and the night wind whispered, 
"Life will never be the same."

"Because there had never been anyone like you...
ever in the world."

"On the Night You Were Born"
-Nancy Tillman



One month has gone by since we first saw your sweet face and we breathed our first breaths together.
 Yours a breath of life and mine a breath of relief.
You were here, alive, and well, and life would never be the same...


Ava

*you are amazing

*you  love ceiling fans and, well, basically any fixture hanging from the ceiling

*you love the windows and the curtains, opened or closed, and the shadows that they make

*you love to smile, great big smiles at us, and you have since birth

*if we stick our tongue out at you you will stick yours back out at us, repeatedly.
 you especially love to play this game with your siblings.

*you are starting to coo and "talk" to us when you make eye contact with us and get very excited when we talk back to you. you wave your arms and legs to show us your excitement.

*you love to nurse and have been a pro since day one. Mommy thinks that you must have been sucking your thumb the whole nine months to be born that well established.

*you just started wearing cloth diapers this week.

*you look like your mommy did when she was a baby. you have "stork bite on your eye lids and you even make the monkey face that she did, making an "o" with your mouth a good part of the day.

*you discovered just yesterday that you love the swing.

*you have lost most of the hair on the top of your head making you resemble an old man with little hair on top and a ring of hair around the sides. however, from the back. your hair is long so you have a bit of a mullet going on. the hair that you do have left on the top looks like a thinning mohawk. it is a one of a kind hair style for sure.

* you often have what we call "doggie dreams" because you go through a whole plethora of emotions in your sleep. you smile, you frown, you make all sorts of faces and show many emotions. we watch you and wonder just what you are dreaming about.

* you have adorable dimples

*you have hiccups at least once a day

* you have blessed us beyond measure and healed a place in us that we didn't know could ever be healed.
you are an abundant blessing little girl. 


"We love you more than you ever will know, so we sent love to follow wherever you go."

-Nancy Tillman










Monday, June 9, 2014

Week 23/52

2014 Weekly Portrait Challenge

Week 23

This week are...



Emilee, enjoying some strawberry cake on the front porch

 Olivia, snuggling with her "older" sister
(by 4 minutes)


 Owen is such a good big brother. 
He loves to smother her with love.


This little boy fell asleep during a movie last night and had to be carried to bed. 
Then he came back out a couple of hours later, fell asleep in my lap,
 and had to be carried back to bed again. 
My little boy is getting to heavy to carry!


Ava, sporting her first cloth diaper!
She is 4 weeks old today!


Be sure to check out my nieces beautiful weekly portrait challenges as well!


Monday, June 2, 2014

Week 22/52

2014 Weekly Portrait Challenge

Week 22

This week are enjoying the sunshine 

before all of the rain comes 


these two sing the Frozen soundtrack from the time they wake up in the morning until they go to bed

this young man is only going to be 5 for 26 more days!


what a good big brother he has become

this babe is three weeks old today and weighs a whopping 9 lbs!


Be sure to check out my nieces beautiful weekly portrait challenges as well!