My Surprise Pumpkin Patch!

I don't know how, but we had pumpkin plants spring up in our backyard this growing season.

And we love it. They have taken over the yard and are loaded with pumpkins big and small.

Here's Clark watering our little pumpkin patch.

Our one and only apple!

Our little crazy garden!

What Is Success?? And a few cute photos

I love finding good quotes.  Here's one that I found a long time ago.  Warning: It is a little radical which I love.

Taken from Ministry of Motherhood by Sally Clarkson page 105

" If we teach our children through our actions or instruction, even subtly that being successful in this world is somehow a measure of their importance and success, then we will miss the point of all the Lord's teachings.  We are given one chance to live on earth, and the one true measure of our success will be our faith, our faithfulness, and our obedience.  If they live with eternity in their eyes, they can live with hope no matter what happens in this life."

I hope that I am able to teach this truth to my boys and build them up in the strength of the Lord. 
Pray for me. 

My boys and their affinity to things with wheels!

13 Years of Blessed Ups and Downs and Counting

We recently celebrated our 13th anniversary.  I have to say it has only gotten better and better as the years roll by.   I love looking back at my life and seeing how much we have grown closer and deeper in love.  Yes we still have conflict and times that I think, "how in the world are we going to get through this."  But I am so glad that we have stood together and created this beautiful life together.

This is right before we started the journey of parenthood over five years ago!

Starting the Tennessee Adventure!

What adventure will today hold??

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Father's Day 2012

I saw the idea to take pictures with letters on Pinterest, so I went to Hobby Lobby and borrowed their letters for some cute shots.  I bought a cute frame, and I put the pictures in the frame.

 With the extra photos, I made a super simple card for dad!

Again this is another idea from Pinterest, but I modified.

This is so meaningful to me as it captures our little family's hands touching each others.

I might be a little overkilling it, but I do have my children's dad and my extra babysitting buddy's dad plus granddads to love on this Father's Day. So for extra fun, we made lion cards that says,

 "I am full of pride that you are my Daddy.  You are my "mane" man."

I cut the card so the mouth pops out when open. 

 The boys finger painted their cards and put on the googly eyes. 

I have plans for some serious cooking and eating this weekend per Michael's request. 

I hope he feels very loved and appreciated. 

He is such a great father, leader, and husband.

Happy Father's Day to all you dads!!

8 Little Things I Love: One Gardener's Show and Tell

 

1. The beautiful flowers blooming in my front yard and the extraordinary smell of spring flowers in the air.

2. Delicious ripe strawberries growing in my garden and watching my boys devour them each time they go out the front door.

3. A beautiful pot of pansies

(I've had the hardest time growing these flowers, but I figured it out this year. 

 You have to plant a lot of them!)

4. Tiny tiny tomatoes growing and all the hope they hold for tons of salsa, pizza sauce, and BLTs!!

5. The bright yellow pumpkin petals growing out of my compost pile! 

6. Broccoli!! 

I have never grown this gorgeous veggie before.  But Clark and I love it.  I have seen a love of botany and gardening develop as Clark has watched his broccoli grow.

7. Baby bell peppers

8. Blueberries finally turning blue!

Bright eyes gladden the heart

A very wise woman reminded me lately of this Proverb.  Proverbs 15:30 says that "bright eyes gladden the heart".  And I have to agree.  When I see my boys' bright eyes, I am filled with joy and gladdness!  I love eyes.  It's my favorite part of the face.  I love looking into Clark's earthy brown/green eyes just like his dad and mom,  Joel's sweet milk chocolate eyes, and Levi's stormy blue eyes. Today I tried to take pictures to capture their eyes.  I failed, but I had fun trying. 

                        Bright eyes gladden the heart; Good news puts fat on the bones.

That explains everything....I must have had a lot of good news lately.  Hee hee!!!

34 Never Felt Better!

Today is my 34th birthday. It's a great day.

 And I have never felt more loved by my family and friends!

I just don't feel worthy and deserving.  I just have to breath in and let it sink in.

The truth is I am not worthy, but God is a gracious, kind God. 

I have received such beautiful cards from dear family and my favorite dessert from dear friends.

This morning I was surprised by a beautiful tribute!  My MOPS friends showered me with their kind words and a gardener's dream gift: herbs, tools, pot, gloves, and apron.

And this beautiful bouquet was at my door this afternoon from a neighbor.

With all the love and attention, today I almost forgot that life is short and fleeting,  and I am only one in billions that walk on the Earth each day. But the truth is one day I will be long gone and long forgotten.  The hope that I cling to is that these few years and my life will add up to one thing: a legacy of God's grace.   My purpose I strive for is to share the real, true power of God's Amazing Grace through Jesus Christ.  Only by His grace, I live.

I would love to hear your purpose for living.  What's yours?

Staycation April 2012

Life has been a little busy lately, and we were in need of  a good relaxing vacation that was free.  So we had a staycation this past weekend.  The rules were NO WORK, just FUN and FAMILY TIME.  We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows and hung out around the fire in the backyard.  We got up early to go garage saling on Saturday.  The boys scored some Star Wars light sabers and Star Wars pajamas for free!    Then we went hiking at our favorite place--"the Blue Hole"!  The boys threw rocks in the water for over an hour.  Even Levi got into the rock throwing fun!  After we came home to camp in the backyard.  All five of us roughed it.  :-) We wrapped up our weekend staycation with a bike ride along the Tennessee River on the River walk and picnic.  Clark and Michael rode tandem, and I pulled Joel and Levi in our bike trailer. 

Sometimes you just need to take a break from it all.  Amen???

My little Darth Vader

Baby Levi and Princess Leia

One of many dangerous Jedi battles

Easter Day at Our House

After spending the past two weeks discussing and learning about Easter, we were glad that it is finally here! 

We made several crafts and projects that revolved around the cross and the tomb.  The boys especially enjoyed acting and telling the story of redemption to anyone who would listen.  Clark has been telling everyone he meets that Jesus loved them and died for them to rescue them.  That is so sweet to my ears.

Today Michael and I taught children's church.  When we got home from church, Joel started throwing up in the yard.  So we canceled our Easter lunch plans and stayed home.  A tummy bug is going around, and we were not sure what was going on with him. 

So we ate a little lunch, and then we had our egg hunt in the backyard!

Levi loved putting the candy straight into his mouth--wrapper and all.



The best part: Eating all the chocolate!



My Littlest Buddy

My poor third child will have less pictures taken of him and less fuss made about everything. So I decided to honor him in a post all his own today.   Sorry, Levi.  Mommy is so busy now days. 

Levi turned one a few weeks ago.  Two days before his birthday, Michael had to rush him to the children's hospital ER because his oxygen levels were so low even after breathing treatments at the doctor's office.  They predict he has asthma, but they can't diagnose until later. 

Because of wheezing and low oxygen, he now has to do breathing treatments quite often.  Only time will tell if he will out grow this or grow accustomed to this new challenge of life.

Here's a list of interesting facts and accomplishments for our littlest buddy:

Walks forward and backward for months now

Running fast

Has only two teeth

Climbs stairs when no one is watching

Eats two slices of pizza (no problem)

60th percentile in weight

50th in height

says a few words like mama, dada, jaja (Jack our neighbor)

his eye color is a mix between blue and green and hazel (so we are still waiting for that to settle)

hair color: light brown

Has extreme separation anxiety now

afraid of most dogs

Loves Goldfish