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

Well...I don't really know where to start but LETS BEGIN! Ha. A few days ago a great friend of mine from my summer project sent me a link on my facebook profile of her blog. She had posted a story...an amazing story.. that I had not sat down and thought about in years. It was of her and I and one day on our summer project in Panama City Beach, Florida with Campus Crusade for Christ. I was soooo humbled and reminded of my purpose. MY PURPOSE! I know...I am a wife and mother of three and soon to be four. It is daunting and busy and sometimes I think...I AM FAILING! Then I read that story and thought a few different things. I wondered if I should be stirring the pot of evangelism in my heart more?? ABSOLUTELY! And then the Lord reminded me..."YOU ARE"....I know that there will always be room for more people to hear God's Word in my life...and many times I miss it...but He has no desire for me to feel as if I am missing out on MY PURPOSE! I love telling people about Hi...

On September 7th our little girl turned 4!! It was a great day. Pretty relaxed. She started the day with many phone calls and opening her few special presents from family. And of course...she had syrup with pancakes...yes....syrup first. It is a treat for the kids to have syrup so that's what she wanted first! HA! And then because of the rain and daddy working, we went with Auntie Rachel and the girls to Chuckee Cheese. It was a blast. Madison totally loved every ride. It was cute. Then some yummy Chick Fil A and daddy met us for lunch. Then he got off early and just our family went to Jim's Wings for dinner as a sweet gift from Auntie Ky and Uncle Tony! Then on Sunday the 11th we did Rachel's party. It was super fun. I think I overdid myself with her cake but it was fun for me. I made homemade fondant and 280 flowers!! Then created a sweet castle cake that of course was strawberry! It was a princess and knights party that I asked my sister, Rachel, to be the designer and c...

Hey everyone...if you are still there? We are back on here. It has been months and months but...a lot has happened. I am now over 17 weeks pregnant with our fourth kiddo and super duper busy with Malachi in Kindergarten and just plain tired from pregnancy. But it's been a great summer and now I want to bring myself back on here to share our lives. So...I am not going to post pictures from the whole summer but we were blessed to have off and on ten weeks with Aaron's folks while they were in the country. We also traveled to Taylor Park with my folks and brother and his family and we traveled to Florida too! It was busy. It all started when we had our best friends, Uncle Tony and Auntie Ky and Annelise from Montana come stay for an awesome week right before summer hit. It has been busy but wonderful. SO.....here we go! ENJOY!

Uggh...I have wanted to write this all week but haven't mustered up the courage to sit and gather my thoughts. I had wanted to get these thoughts out before my emotions were too crazy but this morning all has happened. My pawpaw(grandpa) is gone. It has been a long hard road for him and I am rejoicing that he is no longer in pain and is probably teeing up on the third hole in heaven!! Much deserved. I have spent a few nights this week thinking about him. I think about how as a little girl I would hide behind the corner(instead of playing with my sis and other cousin), trying to hear his stories. That's way more interesting to me. I wanted to take it all in. He saw amazing things. He fought. He flew planes....named after my Mawmaw. Man...who wouldn't want to hear his stories. I respected him. A lot! I never liked being far from him and Mawmaw so I cherished every single trip to see them or time we spent fishing. I remember him at Curecante creek.We'd sit and fish...or sh...

Yep...little Isaiah Aaron is 11 months and soooo fun!!! Here are a few pic's pre-first hair cut! He did so good. He's such a mellow baby who loves to fake laugh, growl like a dinosaur, make hillarious faces at his siblings to get them to laugh and is more adventurous and fearless than his sister was and that freaks me OUT!! Crazy kiddo! He's super close to walking and is determined to climb the stairs even if he falls down them. He's a great eater!!! Man he loves food and so wishes he could eat everything the other kiddos are eating! Loves his big boy sippy cups...yeh NO BOTTLES! And has six teeth(working on two more). So enjoy the fun pictures!!! Yeppers...our one and only thumb sucker who tugs his ears too! Cutie Fun picture while Rachel was twirling balloons around! So this is after haircut...just a real quick buzz to get rid of the mullet...still a line but he looks so much older now! Never cried at all...

How would this be impactful if I didn't have a before picture...but the newest one is of her on the POT! Ha ha ha. She may not like me when she's in high school for this but it's still cute. So her hair has sweet curls and has been fun for her daddy and I to see but when it gets super long it is so fine that it just goes flat and crazy. So in looking for ideas to keep her still a little girl and sweet as of course she is...we went short. SO FUN! She stayed still pretty well....but we did have to resort in the laptop playing a short movie so I could add layers. So FUN! Enjoy. Here is the right after pic where it is super curls! And today she wanted it curled with my curling iron so now you can see the cut.

So...we are awaiting the start to the Super Bowl and I had to share a great story! Last night before bed Malachi's book of choice was "Go Dog Go" a Dr. Suess book and he wanted to read it to me!!! So as I pointed to each word he read...35 pages...HE READ!! CRAZY...he had a few words he struggled with such as "over" and "again" but once he sounded them out he kept reading!! So awesome. I was just amazed that he was reading words. I am of course so proud of this but mostly proud that he spends car trips teaching Rachel how to spell. Cutest ever...sitting in the front listening to him say a word and say each letter as she repeats! So fun.