...Everything as loss...FOR GREAT GAIN

So...where do I start??? I will post some photo's of the past month and let you see our fun trip to Vail for Thanksgiving and of course heading into December with Aaron's parents living here for three weeks...then we go straight into Christmas. But today I need to blog something on my heart. I feel as if the Lord has brought me to another breaking point in my life. I can fondly remember praying to be broken because I knew I needed it...badly...at certain points in my walk with the Lord. This time...I didn't pray for it. But deep inside the Holy Spirit has reminded me that I really want to be broken. I do love refinement, especially if it means I can be more like Him. So the things that really happened to open my eyes are somewhat sad and painful. On December 14th Dad and Mum (Aaron's parents) the kids, and I headed to church that morning...Aaron has to work so we're praying this church we love will start an early service so he can come with us, but for now he goes ...

We were so blessed to have Malachi's first real birthday party and people actually came! I know...he won't remember much but he realized soon that it was all about him and he had a blast. It was so fun and our new friends who lived a few homes down came by with their little guy, Tanner, who's so close to Malachi's age. It was great. So here's his first real birthday cake! And sad to say only Malachi and Tanner ate them but he was so stinkin excited for cars!! And of course a Mickey Mouse fruit bowl...he'd rather have fruit than cake! Here's sweet Tanner and precious Rachel puttin the moves on his food! Gorgeous Avery had a blast with Rachel trying to eat Malachi's fake food!! And his big gift from Nanny and Grampy ....a wood train track set!!! Yeh ...he loved it but we don't have a place to set it up yet...so he's been super distracted by cooking with his fake food!

Everywhere we move we've made searches for some indoor fun we can take Malachi to. We found on Wednesdays that the roller rink down the road has toddler skate time from 10-12...well they don't advertise much so we were the only ones on the rink!! There were a few young girls running around in the blow up jumping toys...but Malachi and daddy got to skate for $2.50...even better! And it worked out to be on his birthday!! Rachel just walked everywhere and when I picked her up to go she was absolutely wiped out! As far as the rest of the day....Malachi had his first visit to the dentist!! But don't worry...they didn't even get to clean his teeth. Which to say the least has us looking for a real pediatric dentist who is prepared for kiddos! But he went and watched Daddy get his teeth cleaned.

Yesterday I saw the most amazing thing ever. I have never really put thought into the process or activities that lead a child to act a certain way...but more recently these strange reactions and behaviors of my kiddos has made me curious. As Malachi and I were laying on his bed looking at some books...Rachel is usually at the side of the bed trying to climb up...and destroy his books. When he was done he scooted off the bed and just barely wipped his foot in front of her face...grazing it. Not even nudging her. I sat and stared as this face of ...."should I get angry? should I cry?" face came over my daughter. She scrunched her nose, looked over her shoulder at him and then the look at me...she screamed! HA! I'm dying. He didn't even touch her and she knew that she would try to work it for all it was worth. Man..she's only 14 months old!! Crazy kid. She is most deffinetely a younger child and a GIRL! I just laughed. She knows when to scream or cry for him to get i...

Tonight as I put Malachi down to bed we finished praying and I laid my head on his chest. I heard his hear beating so fast and hard and it brought tears to my eyes as I remembered the first time we heard that precious heart on the monitor. After a tough miscarriage it was absolutely the most exciting and stressful moment of our life. And even though we heard it that time and many times after...it was amazing to hear it getting stronger and then when he joined our lives outside of my tummy it was amazing. He looked just like his daddy. Absolutely handsome and beautiful at the same time. It's never going to be easy as a mom to think of my children growing up. But I rejoice in where he is as a young boy and pray for him to be a godly young man. He's joy, sensitivity, cautiousness and love for his sister, daddy and hopefully mommy is contagious. He's a beautiful creation from the Lord and we praise God that we get to help raise him and see this eternal being grow. Happy birthda...

So...for this Halloween the kids dressed up for the entire day. It was fun for them and me. We aren't big on this holiday as far as the creepy scarry stuff...or the candy(since the kids don't get any...and we don't need it either:))But we hope to share the love of Christ to those that come by our house...and let me say thousands of kids came by!! And next year we'll be better prepared for that many kids. So Malachi dressed as Thomas the tank engine. And of course precious Rachel wore Malachi's monkey costume from last year!! Fit great. They had a blast walking around outside with their cousin Avery who was a duck. And the first house Malachi went to for some type of treat the guy said to just grab something out of the basket on the table in his yard. Of course we looked and saw the candy...and an extra basket with individually wrapped prunes. Malachi loves prunes so I told him to grab one and thank the man. The man stoped me and said.."ah...you know those are p...

Sometimes as a mom we forget that there is fun in so many things for our kiddos as they grow. I get so used to the routine of our day I forget to find simple new things for the kids to play and learn with. So this day I had hung Malachi's hat rack within reach for him since he's old enough to hang them back up. Well...it was a fun hat day and also some great pic's for future jokes!!! This will most deffinetely be in his senior yearbook...no matter what!!!

Precious Rachel is fearless...to say the least. There is rarely a day where she's not cut or bruised from her attempts at catching up to Malachi or getting something high or out of reach. To my surprise this day she found my empty purse...put it on her arm and walked around with it ALL day! It was hillarious. Precious little Rachel loves that purse so much...I let her borrow it! She puts toys in it too!! Fun to see how they learn from us so much. And I just love these photos...they turned out great and unique!

There is one sweet precious thing the Lord has placed in Malachi and that is his desire to help. This kiddo loves to help...loves to! When he was about 2 he started taking out the garbage with Daddy and then got hooked on unloading the dishes. So much that one night when he was eating green beans..which neither of my kids like...Aaron was unloading dishes. Malachi refused to eat his beans and Aaron said you have to finish them or no bath. Well...once Aaron started unloading the dishes Malachi freaked and wanted to help. Aaron said..."If you eat your green beans you can help unload the dishes." Yeh...you got it...he shoveled those green beans down to help with dishes!!! HA HA! So here at the house there's not much fixen to do yet...but Aaron put some extra screws in the fence for stability for the last few years that fence has...and Malachi helped. While Rachel looked on and wanted to be out there so bad!! It was pretty cold...even though Aaron's wearing shorts. .

This year was a blast going to one of the local pumpkin patches with my sister, bro-in-law and niece. The kids had so much fun and of course we got a great deal on a few pumpkins to carve and eat the seeds from them. So here's our venture and our crazy carving ideas...enjoy! . So here's Uncle Brians creation! And here's Auntie Rachel's ...she copied it from the carving set...but it's fun!(sorry the pic is sideways..opps) Here's a few pictures of Aaron's...which took a few days...it's the logos of his work...Bedroom Expressions and Oak Express. He did great! And last...my favorite morning drink...decaf or caf...I DON'T CARE...I love it!