Emma's Birthday Party

Well, better late than never, huh?  I actually have a little spare time right now and thought I'd post some pics from Emma's birthday party.  Emma turned 4 on March 2nd.  She is quite proud to be so big....telling strangers that she's 4 and still talking about her birthday party!!  It was a fun day!  :)

The birthday girl...before the chaos began.

The very excited birthday girl!! 

Friends beginning to arrive...

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The party was set up downstairs in our basement.  There were 12 girls total (and an adult at each center).  The girls simply went around to the 8 different centers.

1.) Princess hide'n'seek

2.) balloon jump station (trampoline)

3.) The game center (pin the lips on the frog & hopscotch....which I'm not sure anyone even played!) :)

4.) craft center (they made foam door hangers)

5.) fruit loop necklace making station

6.) Party favor hide'n'seek

7.) Decorate a party favor bag station

8.) the tattoo/face painting station. 

This is our babysitter, Laura.  It meant so much to us and Emma that she came to the birthday party!  The girls all loved her!

Hmmmm..... what a face!

Present opening time!

Brett was a huge help! Such a good daddy!! :)

Check out the look on Emma's face as we sang her happy birthday! I think this whole event was a bit overwhelming for her.  It was her first "real" birthday party (with friends, not just a small family gathering, like we've done in the past).

eating the yummy strawberry, princess Ariel cake (Em's choice, of course!)  No kidding, she is already talking about next year's birthday party and what cake she wants.  I remember a day when I used to look forward to birthdays that much! :O) 

Seems impossible that she could be 4 already!  It's been a great 4 years!  Emma continues to be such a JOY to us!! 

Christian Persecution

For the few of you who regularly read our blog you may notice that I have taken down the video we had here recently depicting Christian persecution in India. Apparently there are some validity questions going on about this particular video. I deeply regret posting anything misleading and it was not my intent at all to sensationalize anything so weighty. What doesn't change is that persecution of this type does exist in the world. We should be willing to become aware, pray, and advocate for victims world-wide. Here is an earlier post with more on that:

"Night" by Elie Wiesel

Happy 30th to me!!

What a WONDERFUL day!!! So, I'm pretty sure that I fell asleep last night with a big ol' smile on my face!! I have the most amazing husband ever and he played such a huge part in making my 30th birthday extra special.  I wanted to share some of the fun details of my day...

But first, I want to say thank you to everyone who sent me birthday wishes via cards, emails, texts, facebook messages, phone calls, etc.  I felt sooooo loved yesterday!!  THANK YOU!!  I wish so much that I could give each of you a big hug....you really made my birthday special, and I'm grateful!! :)

So the morning began with my family (Brett, Emma, Luke, my mom & dad) all wishing me happy birthday and Brett cooking a nice breakfast before church.  The service was great and several people at church remembered and wished me happy birthday.  When we got home, I got to open presents....which I must say, is still quite fun and exciting, even when you're 30!!  Then I got to take a nice Sunday afternoon/birthday nap....ahhhhh!!!!  

I knew days/weeks ago that our plan was to have a nice dinner and that a couple from our small group had offered to watch the kiddos for us.  But Brett told me that morning that there was a "last minute" change of plans because the couple was sick (which I totally believed b/c it seems that everyone is getting sick right now...it's just that time of year).  Instead, a different couple from our small group was going to watch the kids for us, except that Brett said they were only able to watch the kids in the afternoon so we were going to have to have an early dinner instead.  Brett faked a phone call to the restaurant and then told me that there was no problems with changing the dinner reservations....our nice dinner with my parents (& without the kids) was still going to happen! 

SIDE NOTE:  Overall, with my 30th birthday approaching, I admit that I had been a bit suspicious (and even hopeful) that some kind of fun surprise was being planned.  HOWEVER, there was some mighty-fine "stories" (ummm...I mean, lies!!) being told (by everyone and their dog!!) that I was completely convinced that I KNEW the plan for the day and that there wasn't possibly any room for anything extra.  Little did I know....I was clueless!! :O)  

So, back to the story.... we pulled up to our friends' house (the whole time I was thinking that we were in a hurry...just dropping the kids off so that we can make our early dinner reservation).  My friend, Breann, answered the door and as I stepped into the house....well, you know the rest.... people jumped up out of nowhere and yelled S-U-R-P-R-I-S-E!!!  And boy was I!!!  It was such a cool feeling.....I've never had a surprise party before.  I immediately just felt so loved and special.  Those first few minutes of the party are a bit of a blur....I was so shocked, and confused.....about our dinner plans, leaving the kids, about how this could be happening and I didn't even have a clue, etc.  My mind was going a hundred miles an hour trying to figure things out.  IT WAS GREAT!! 

The best part about it all (even now...the day after) is getting to hear how all of this came together.  All kinds of planning and organizing that went on without me knowing....phone calls, a secret facebook event, etc.  Brett was the mastermind behind it all, but he obviously had lots of help by our friends to make it all happen.  And to find out that he had been planning this and working on it for over a month just blew me away!!  He is so wonderful!!  I am married to such an amazing man...I feel so blessed!!!

So....I am 30!!  What a memorable day!! Seriously, my lips curl up into a smile EVERY time something pops into my head from yesterday!!  That truly was the best birthday yet!! :)  Thanks again to everyone who had any part in making yesterday so special!   Here's a few pics...

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The surprises actually began on Thursday, when I found out that Emma and Brett had spent their "date night" time baking me a birthday cake (Tres Leche....YUMMY!!) 

Munching & mingling after the SURPRISE!

Do you see the chocolate fountain?  YUM.....strawberries, marshmallows, & graham crackers!!  Emma is checking out goodies on the table... punch & cake!

My cake!!  Brett knows me so well...one of my favorite cakes is white, wedding cake.  It was/is delicious!! :)

Luke (on left) making GROWLING sounds.  Tessa (Breann's little girl, about 2 weeks younger) making PURRING sounds.  It was hilarious!! 

SUCH A WONDERFUL DAY!!! 

 

Why Not Me?

Why Not Me?

Recently we received in our office an email from a fellow ministry partner in Haiti. He reported what their immediate needs are and what the direct effects had been on their ministries (loss of life and property.) Along with the horrific sudden loss of life that has taken place in Haiti, in his words, their most dire request is, “Now everyone needs, everyone is thirsty, everyone is hungry.”

Maybe you’ve been asking yourself a lot of the same questions that I’ve been asking: Why am I living in these conditions, in this time, in this family, in this place? Why am I not living as others are? Why am I comfortable? Why am I repulsively wealthy (if you are reading this article it is very likely that you are repulsively wealthy compared to most of the world’s population)? Why not me? Why wasn’t I born into economic poverty?

A couple of things come into play with these questions that are helpful to us. First, in Luke 12.48, the Scriptures tell us that “…everyone to whom much was given, of them much will be required….” Meaning, if we look at our circumstances we will see that there is gross imbalance and in that gross imbalance we are expected to act responsibly. This is saying that we are responsible towards others so that the gross imbalance given to us does not continue unchanged. The answer: give of what you have.

Secondly, we should remember that when Jesus says in Matthew 5.3, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” He is reminding us that economic riches (or poverty) is not the only measure of wealth/poverty. When we get too caught up in measuring our wealth or poverty in only economic terms we, as followers of Jesus miss the point completely. The world is full of people living in complete economic poverty, who have literally nothing material. But they live with such spiritual urgency, dependency, and need that they have great wealth in their life. Spiritual wealth. Their circumstances propel them to seek God, and finding Him is the greatest wealth. On the other hand those of us who live in extreme economic wealth struggle to find urgency, dependence, and need in our lives, and therefore we find great poverty. Our circumstances distance us from seeking God.

Times like these call us to give, and to begin defining wealth/poverty in new and more holistic ways. Who of us, as we look deeply into our lives and recognize the activity of our Creator, cannot claim that we are included in the group of “everyone to whom much was given” and respond to this very real plea, “Now everyone needs, everyone is thirsty, everyone is hungry”?

Why not me?

I realize that I haven't blogged in F-O-R-E-V-E-R & that for me to try to share all of this that I have written down these past 6 weeks or so would be an absolutely ridiculously long post, so I'm just gonna hit a few highlights.  Still, this is probably going to be a doozie!!  :) 

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HaHa!! Can you tell by the way she is dressed how long this pic has been on my camera?!?  Let's see....the weather here in KS lately has been in the single digits &/or teens lately (with a negative wind chill).....so it's been quite some time since this pic was taken!  :)

Baking cookies!  (Wearing her favorite apron made by our friend, Lauren).

I know I shouldn't do this, but I really, REALLY wanted to share this pic of Luke (lame, I know... a picture of his picture!  oh well!)  This was his his 6 month picture.  He's such a handsome boy!!  :)

Riding horses with Uncle Sloan (& Aunt Carrie).

Yummy!  TOES!!

love it when babies sleep with their bottoms up in the air!!

Luke is sooooo ACTIVE!! He is loving the "jump'a'roo" (and so are we!)  Brett and I joke that sometimes trying to hold him is like engaging in a wrestling match...it can be exhausting!  He wiggles nonstop!!

I'm really proud of her....you can't tell from the picture, but some of these cards are just a large white shape that you have to figure out which combination of blocks to use to make the shape.  She is a pro at these! 

My sweet little boy! 

Can you tell she enjoys having her picture taken?  That white shirt says, "sparkle & shine"--perfect little phrase for our girly girl!! :)

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A QUICK UPDATE ON EMMA & LUKE:

* Emma will be turning 4 in March.  Yes, she's already talking about her birthday (mostly her cake, actually).  She loves being a big sister, & for the most part is very helpful with Luke.  She's really into princesses right now, enjoys watching TV a little more than I'd like for her to, and is a little social butterfly among other kids (calls ALL other children her "friends" whether she knows them or not...ie: "Mommy, can I go play with my friends at the park?")  She tends to be fairly shy (at first) around adults, but once she gets to talking it's hard to make her stop.  :) She is very articulate and has a pretty good sized vocabulary for her age.  She has been done with afternoon naps now for quite some time, but has been pretty good about staying in her room and playing during "rest time" each afternoon (while Mommy naps or gets things done).  She goes to a mom's day out once a week & cannot wait to start school like her "BIG friends, Hannah & Hudson."

*Luke is now 7 months old.  He is crawling, pulling to a standing position, and occasionally takes a few steps along his crib ("cruises").  He's not too much of a "talker" at this point...just the basic cooing and stuff (Sissy doesn't give him much of a chance to get a word in.)   :)  All you have to do to get this boy to smile is talk to him.  He is very happy!  Nobody gets his giggle-box going, though, like his big sister.  He absolutely adores her & won't take his eyes off of her when she's around.  Like I mentioned earlier, he is a mover and a shaker.  He's always busy, busy!! (especially now that he's crawling).  Based on his "I'm not going to give up" attitude at night when it comes to "crying it out," we are thinking that this is one strong-willed little child.  We're all still a bit sleep-deprived around here, but we're sure that he's gonna catch on any day now! :)  He is such a blessing to our family!!

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I can't end without sharing a few Emma quotes...

** "I have to hold my taco right here b/c if I hold it there, I might bite my finger off."

** "Mommy, when I grow up, can I use the broom all by myself and sweep the kitchen all the days?"

** (in car) "Mommy, we need to hurry home b/c I need a tissue. My boogies are slipping out."

** (after finishing her snack)  "I'm full of it!"

** "Hey Mary, look!  My tongue is a good cleaner!"

**  "Mommy, adults don't wear bibs.  I wish little kids were not messy."

** "Look!  I have a beard -- with sauce."

** "Baby Luke Andrew doesn't like [big] people food and I don't like mustard."

** "Look Mommy! There's a big cross on that building.  Maybe that's where Jesus died."

** "When I ate too much chapstick the other day, my belly hurted."

** [Brett asked her what she would like to give to Jesus for his birthday].  "Raisins.  Or maybe nuts.  Or maybe Jesus can get some candy at trick or treating."

** [in a sing-songy kind of voice, she made up the words to this song as she went...]  "I looooove myyyy bruuuuther Luuuuuke Andrew and my Tinkerbell doll.  Tinkerbell can flyyyyyy.  Blast off!! [throws doll across room].  (I was laughing too much at this point, and missed the rest of the words to the song).

** [Emma was reading a farm book to Luke.  Each page had one word like 'tractor' or 'cow'].  Emma reads, "Once upon a time there was a tractor.  Once upon a time there was a cow.  Once upon a time...."

Significant day!!

Well, there is TONS of things I'd love to blog about right now!! (Seriously, I jot things down on my "blogworthy" sheet almost daily). But since I just have a few minutes, I'm only going to share about our significant day yesterday.

2 major milestones happened in our kiddos' lives yesterday:

1.) Emma wrote her first name all by herself. She has known how to write all of the letters in her name for some time now, but she never really cared about "putting them all together" & I didn't want to "push her" too much. Anyway, yesterday she wanted to do it....and she did!! I dated it and saved it! It was pretty exciting. Now it's like no big deal to write her name....she's done it several times since then!! :O)

2.) Luke crawled yesterday!! He's been doing the "on the knees, rocking" thing for a couple of weeks now & there have been moments before that we were just sure he was going to move his knees forward, but he decided to wait 'til yesterday. There's no doubt about....he's crawling now!! And boy are we gonna be in trouble! He is going to be into everything! Time to "baby-proof" the house again! :O) YEA!!!

Like I said, I've got pictures and more to blog about, but they'll have to wait. I've decided that FOR NOW blogging is just going to have to be a thing of my past! :O) I just can't seem to find the time to update consistently. I sure am enjoying time with my kiddos though!! What a joy to get to spend each day with them and watch them grow!!

For those of you who may be wondering, no....I didn't fall off the face of the earth.  It's just that blogs seem to be a thing of my past for now.  No time!  Really, though, I WILL post some recent pics of the kiddos by Saturday (I only have Luke for the next few days because Emma is visiting grandparents in TX, so I have no excuse, right?)  :)

ANYWAY, in case you didn't get an email from me or see it on Facebook, I'm having a sale right now for my little paper business. Tomorrow (Thursday) is the last day!  All orders are 20% off.  I'm running out of stuff quick!  I know I'm a bit bias, but I think personalized paper makes a great gift for just about anyone!! :)  Check it out!!

www.NutsAboutNotes.blogspot.com

Promise...family update & pics are coming soon!! :)

We miss you lots and lots Daddy! Here's a few pictures we took for you just a few hours ago!

Your little princess!

Your little drooly bug! (notice the shirt!!)

Your 3 biggest fans!! :O)

We love you!

Alright, I just got a little video of Luke....hope it works this time! It's pretty cute. He does a little "talking," but he wasn't doing the really, loud squealing that we are having so much fun hearing....guess he's saving that for a later time! :O)

Sure do miss you Brett! Here's a little video of Emma....I'm sorry, but for some reason Luke's video didn't work. I'll have to get another one tomorrow. I love you!

You may have received an email about this, but I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm up and running again with my paper business, Nuts About Notes.  If you get a minute, go check it out!  :)

www.NutsAboutNotes.blogspot.com

JESUS IS ALIVE!!

Just wanted to share this little story...

Last night, Emma was coughing a bit as she was sleeping so I went in her room to give her some cough syrup.  Before I left, I knelt beside her bed and whispered a prayer for her...that Jesus would help her get some rest, get better quickly, etc.  As I was walking out, I heard Emma say something to me, so I knelt back down beside her and asked, "What did you say, Emma?"  With her eyes closed she repeated, "Jesus is alive!"  I smiled and thought, "Hmmm...that's really sweet--thank you, Jesus!"  Then I went back in our room and fell asleep.  

Then this morning, Brett was telling me about a dream he had last night.  He was teaching a bible study on the resurrection.  Him and some others in his dream were discussing the idea of how Jesus is alive, yet He's not physically here with us.  The last thing he remembers saying in his dream was "Jesus is alive!"  

And the coolest thing is that I didn't tell Brett about what Emma said to me until this morning.  It's been an awesome day so far!  My mind can't stop thinking about what happened and my heart feels so full as I think about why this happened and what this truly means for us as believers...Jesus is alive!  I feel overwhelmed sometimes thinking about how much God loves His people and so humbled by the fact that He is actively pursuing each one of us.  I am grateful!  Jesus is alive!!

Here's our happy, little Luke!

Hard to believe he's almost 3 months old already!!

Here's a couple older pics that I wanted to share:

These first 2 were taken by my sweet friend, Sarah.  Several times in the weeks right after I had Luke (and before I had him too), she came by and picked up Emma to hang out with her and her daughter, Mary, so that I could have some time to rest.  She emailed these pics to me after they went to the zoo one day, but I forgot about them until I was going thru old emails today.  They're pretty cute, so I had to share!  :O)

Now really!!! How cute are they?!?!  This is her friend Mary.  They look like they could be sisters or something....the "matching-look" was not intentional, but it sure makes for a cute picture! 

This was a different day at the zoo with Sarah and Mary.  They did one of those boat tours....Emma came home talking about it-she had a blast!

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We spent a couple weeks in Texas recently.  While we were in San Antonio, my parents invited some family & friends over so that we could see everyone and get to introduce Luke.  My cousin, Nick, and his wife, Holly, were there, & they brought their little girl, Sarah.  Emma and her had lots of fun playing that night!  They were really cute together!

Emma & Sarah--

Looks like they're long-lost friends or something, doesn't it?!?  :O)

  

PILLOW FIGHT!!!  She loves playing rough with Daddy!  She knows that when Daddy comes home from work, he's going to chase her, tickle her, play hide & seek, wrestle with her, pillow fight, etc.  She truly looks forward to it each day....it's cute to watch!

  

And here's our little girly-girl...she loves her jewelry, painted nails, dresses, purses, princess stuff, lipstick (when Nana & Meme are around), having tea parties, etc. etc. 

Big sister with baby brother

Yeah...so I walked in on Emma a couple weeks ago giving her baby Dora some "num-nums."  Hmmm....we hear it's normal so we're not too worried.  :)

Emma & Luke's first bath together

Here's a little conversation I overheard Emma having with her Princess dolls yesterday:

• How are you today? I'm good. Oh you have an ouchie? Yikes! How did you get an ouchie? Cinderella has an ouchie too? Oh, I'm so sorry! 
  

I'm sure she would have continued on, except she looked up and saw that I was watching, and she got all embarrassed.  I tried to convince her to keep on going, but she wouldn't.  

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On a completely different note...

Anybody else out there a fan of the show "Yard Crashers"?  I LOVE watching that show!! I have caught myself daydreaming a lot lately about how I want to change our backyard and what I would do if I ever saw that guy at Home Depot or Lowe's (can't decide if I would run up to him and BEG for him to come to our house OR if I'd whimp out and be too shy because I'd have to be on television).  Anyways, I know that the chances of him ever coming to Wichita and us being at the right place at the right time are like slim to none, so I need to just stop thinking about it...but I CAN'T!!  (If I ever found out he WAS coming to Wichita, I just might camp out in front of Home Depot!! haha....that would be funny!!)  Oh well.  I still really enjoy watching the show.  Such a cool idea!  It always makes me happy to watch it and know that somebody out there is receiving such a nice gift.  You ought to check it out if you've never seen it.

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Okay, I'm done rambling...

I hope to take some more pics soon of just Luke by himself.  The little guy sleeps all the time....it's hard to catch him with his eyes open!  :o)

  

Hey there!! So it's been 5 weeks or so since my last post...CRAZY!! I think we all know that blogging (along with email, facebook, etc.) is just not my thing! :o)
--I feel like I'm doing good if I update the blog once a month! I went over 2 weeks without checking email recently...had 258 in my inbox with over 100 unread! Ugh!! And Facebook...I've only dabbled in. It's not that I don't enjoy blogging, email, & facebook--I DO!! I truly can't seem to find enough time in the day....and before I know it, weeks go by!! Oh well! Maybe it's just this stage of my life...or not, I don't know.

Sorry to say that this post will have no pics. I have a few minutes to blog right now, but I'm not at home and the computer I'm using doesn't accept the memory card from our camera. And just a word of warning...I'm in the mood to type, so this may be a bit lengthy. I'll try not to ramble!! :o)

FIRST, I must share a joke. I read this on a kid's menu at a restaurant recently and just burst out laughing (nobody else I was with thought it was near as funny as I did, but oh well). I know at least one of our faithful blog readers will appreciate this joke...Lauren, this one is for you!! :O)

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• What do you call cheese that you do not own?
  
  --NACHO CHEESE!!! haha

Anybody have any other good jokes to share?? I could always use a good laugh!!

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We've been trying to take Emma swimming every chance we get because she really, really enjoys it....she is quite the little fish!! Anyway, one Friday afternoon in mid-July, Brett got off work a little early so we all got suited up to go to the pool. We pulled into an empty parking lot and were very confused. So we tried another local pool. They were closed too! So we got on the phone and called. Found out that the reason they were closed was because it was below 80 degrees that day.....in MID-JULY!!! Crazy! Emma was pretty disappointed. Can you believe that?!? Below 80 in mid-July!! That's unheard of for us native-Texans....but I must say, it is really nice!! (aside from not being able to swim, of course)

Emma has a folding-cell phone with princess stickers on it that she likes to play with. The other day she handed the phone to Brett and said, "Daddy, take my picture." She then smiled a big, cheesy smile, and then wanted Brett to hand the phone back to her so she could see the picture (her pretend picture). We were shocked! It's amazing to think about kids in this generation....all of the things (namely technology) that we have now that they probably won't be able to imagine what life was like without. I know that there's nothing profound about this thought....it's comparable to me not knowing life without phones in general. Still, it was just one of those moments that made us stop and think about life, technology, etc.

UPDATE ON LUKE ANDREW:
Our little Luke is the sweetest little thing!! He is 8.5 weeks now! And he's growing like a weed!!!! Such a change for us compared to Emma. He weighed 8 pounds when he was born, and he's nearly 12 pounds already!!! (Almost half the weight of his big sister!! Em is almost 3.5 years old and still only weighs 25 pounds....which is below 1 percentile -"off the charts"). Luke, on the other hand, was in the 67th percentile at his 6 week check up. At this rate, I'm pretty sure this little guy will pass up his big sister in weight sometime around his 1st birthday. Yikes! But he sure is a cutie!! And sooooooo easy going!! Seriously, he cries when he needs something (ie: hungry, needs burped, tired, etc). It usually doesn't take too long to figure out what he needs--It seems like he hardly ever cries! We're so thankful!! When he's awake and doesn't need anything, he is content to just look around at his surroundings. He's got the sweetest little toothless grin and is now smiling and interacting with us all the time. So FUN!! We're loving it!! Nights are getting better all the time. He did a 6 hour stetch last night! I had to WAKE HIM UP because I was full and needed to feed him. I'm definitely looking forward to having some more 6 hour stretches!! :o)

Well, I'll have to quit now. Thanks for reading all this! I promise to post pics soon....I've got some really cute ones! :O)