Since I didn't even blog ONCE the whole month of April, I have quite a few pics and several videos to share!  Pathetic, I know!!  :)

Here's our little Luke....he's 11 months old now!!

Luke found a friend! 

Kisses!

Hey there! Check out these teeth!  Yeah, I'm pretty darn cute!

Aarrr!!!

This would be Luke's FAVORITE toy nowadays!! He pushes this shopping cart around all day long!  He's not walking on his own yet, but if he has his cart he's pretty confident and can get around really quickly.  

Here's Emma with a picture she drew in the bathtub.  On the left, that's God.  The one right next to God is Jesus, and the thing on the far right is "all of them sitting around the table eating dinner" (the last supper). 

We tried to get a good family picture on Easter morning, but it didn't go so well....

Oh well!  We tried!! :)

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Here's some videos...

Here's a video from a while back of Luke pushing his cart across the living room.  This was back when it was somewhat new.  Now, he is so fast as he pushes it!  It's so cute!

Here's Luke GROWLING (or something) at me!  It was the noise of the day!  So funny!

I have 2 more videos, but blogger is working sooooo slow right now.  I'll have to post these others later.  Bummer!

SICK! SICK!! SICK!!!

Our last 2 weeks or so, we've had a bit of sickness going around our house (hmmm....that's probably an understatement!!!)  It started with a 12 hour stomach bug that Emma had (nausea and vomiting).  Then a couple days later, Luke got the stomach bug, but his lasted for 48 hours  and he had diarrhea with his.  Then we had about a 6 day break where everyone was well.  PTL!

Then, this last Friday, Luke apparently caught the stomach bug AGAIN!!  He had been doing great all day.  Around 3 pm, the kids and I loaded up in the car to go somewhere, and he threw up in his car seat.  I thought maybe his lunch just didn't sit well or something, but oh no....within the hour, it was clear that he was sick--VERY sick!  

As I was tending to Luke and cleaning up vomit, Emma fell asleep on her bed (mid-day, not normal).  When she woke up from her nap, she too was sick--AGAIN!  This time, she had a fever, sore throat, headache, etc.  So the remainder of Friday and all day Saturday, Brett and I took care of our sick kiddos.  

Sunday morning, Mother's Day, we decided to call our doctor because we were concerned about Luke.  After telling our doctor that Luke had been unable to keep ANYTHING down for the last couple days, he said it was time to go to the ER because he was likely dehydrated.  Yes, so Luke and I hung out in the ER for over 3 hours on Mother's Day.  The remainder of Sunday was vomit-less for Luke, but he was still not himself.

Then Monday morning, 3 a.m. Brett wakes up with, you guessed it....the stomach bug! Poor Brett, he had it BAD!! Ugh!!  Then around 2 p.m. it was my turn!!  IT WAS HORRIBLE!! Brett and I were both throwing up, on the pot, nauseous, weak, and desperately needing sleep....PLUS trying to take care of the kids!  It was rough!!

By this point in time, Emma was feeling GREAT again, and now had TONS of pinned up energy.  Overall, Emma was very patient as the rest of us were sick.  She entertained herself really well and got to watch lots of movies!  My stomach bug ran it's course in about 12 hours (as Emma's bug had done a couple weeks prior).  It was terrible while I had it, but thankfully it was short-lived!  Brett & Luke, on the other hand, definitely had the worst of all of this!!

So here it is, Tuesday night and we are, for the most part, all doing better.  Luke's appetite is still low, which is concerning.  However, his diaper output and overall disposition tell us that he IS getting better...slowly, but surely!  Brett is still a bit nauseous but has been able to keep things down today, so we are grateful for that!  

So that's us lately....sick! sick! and more sick!  Definitely not the most interesting post we've ever had.....I've probably lost most of you already. But if you're still reading, I thought it'd be funny to share one more thing.  A little sympathy here now, please!! :)  

Ready?  Here goes...

In the last 2 weeks, we have:

• disassembled and washed Luke's car seat--TWICE!! (this is such a PAIN!!)
• hosed down (outside) and washed (in the washing machine) Luke's highchair cover--TWICE!  (again, this is such a hassle!!)
• changed Luke's crib sheets--5 TIMES!!
• untied his crib bumper TWICE and washed it once!
• hosed down the saucer--once
• AVERAGED 2 baths a day (for Luke)
• and done COUNTLESS loads of laundry (mainly from Luke's vomiting and explosive blowout diapers)!!

Sure glad there's a light at the end of this tunnel!!  :)   I guess I hadn't realized how much I take our health for granted sometimes.  Then when we have times like this, it makes me so very grateful that we are (for the most part) a very healthy family!      

A few random Emma stories...

1. She thinks it's funny to play the little hand-held Tetras game now whenever she's going potty.  It IS pretty funny when I walk in and find her doing that, I must say! 
2. She has started helping me fold some laundry and put things away.  The other day, she called herself "the very best washcloth folder ever!"  It was hilarious!  The funniest thing was how serious she was when she said it!
3. Sometimes in the middle of the night, I go into Em's room to check and see if she needs to go potty.  One night, I reminded her "Emma, if you need to go potty, I want you to come to mommy's side of the bed and tell me."  Half-asleep, she replied, "Okay Mommy.  And if you think I need to go potty, you can come right here to get me."
4. Emma was playing in the bathtub the other night and Brett went in to check on her.  She was pouring water over herself.  Brett said, "Emma, don't be drinking that water."  Emma replied, "I'm not, Daddy.  I was baptizing myself."

And a couple milestones for Luke:

Luke will be 10 months old already on April 9th.  Sometimes I feel so bad that I haven't kept up with Luke's milestones very well or that I don't even have a baby book for him.  Poor little guy....by this point in Emma's life, I think I had at least 2 photo albums FULL with pics of her!!  Luke, on the other hand, has ZERO photo albums, and only a handful of pics that I've actually gotten developed (they are at least framed and out around our house).  Anyway, I thought I'd use this opportunity to blog about a few milestones before my scattered little brain forgets them completely!

• Dec 29th- started crawling...6.5 months old(while we were in San Antonio visiting my parents)
• Jan 3rd-crib mattress lowered to lowest level because he started pulling up to a standing position
• sometime around Jan 23rd he got his two front, bottom teeth in...broke thru at the same time
• Started saying "Dada" sometime early February (Brett was excited....says he's "two for two"....Emma's first "word" as well.  I tell him that "the books" and our doctor say he is just saying that sound, but he doesn't really associate it with Brett yet.  On the other hand, Luke just recently started saying "Mama" and I am sure that he knows that's me!  :O)  j/k 
• got 3rd tooth sometime in late February (top, left of center teeth)
• He has been "cruising" (walking alongside furniture) for at least a month now.
• He has started letting go of furniture and standing up by himself for just a few seconds at a time before he gently sits himself back down (as of about a week ago).
• 4th tooth (on bottom, to left of center teeth) about to break thru.  The only way anyone around here is getting any sleep these days is with the help of a little Tylenol and Orajel!

Well, the kids tell me that my time is up for now!  We're finally having some nice weather around here so I think we're heading to the park soon!  Until next time.....

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)