June Happenings

This week we've been able to be a part of having a CEF (Child Evangelism Fellowship) club at our house. We haven't done a Bible club since we've moved to this house nearly four years ago. It used to be something we did almost every holiday and usually for a week during the summer. It was so neat to have this opportunity brought to us without even seeking it out. I realized how much I miss doing this and hope to make it part of our life regularly once again! Please pray for the rest of the week as the club goes on and for continued opportunities with the kids in our neighborhood.

Sarah started handing us things. I know, it's one of those small developmental things, but it is so much fun to watch her grow and learn new things (and those sweet eyes when she does it!). She also started blowing kisses which simply melts my heart. I can't believe she'll be one in only ten days! Where has the time gone?

Olivia and I were able to go out on a date for some $.49 and $.99 ice cream :) I love having that one-on-one time with the kids. It's so neat to be able to connect a little deeper with each one. I'm working on being more intentional in this area.

I've been working through the Money Saving Mom's "Makeover Your Mornings" Course this month and it has been really good to start cultivating some habits that I've been wanting to implement for a while. When I complete it, I will probably share some goals and routines I'm starting to try to put into place in my life. 

We've also really enjoyed starting to get back into the habit of going to the library and getting lots of good books. It's become a new addiction of sorts to look for good books at garage sales and thrift stores to build my library with quality books for my kiddos. I absolutely love reading aloud to them and have been enjoying many books that I never took the time to read as a kid. 

Some recent books I've been enjoying with the kids over the past school year: 

Missionary Stories with the Millers

Wisdom with the Millers

On the Alaskan Trail

Mrs. Piggle Wiggle books

21 Balloons

Farmer Boy currently in the Little House series

Pilgrim's Progress

Oliver Twist 

The Story of Dr. Doolittle

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Charlotte's Web

Abraham Lincoln (Du'Laire)

Paddington Bear (audio)

Miss Rumphius (picture book)

And some books I've been enjoying: 

Seasons of a Mother's Heart

Evidence Not Seen (Amazing true story, missionary biography)

Green Leaf in Drought (another missionary story)

Lord, Change my Attitude Before it's too Late

It's been a good summer so far and we look forward to seeing what else the Lord has in store as we seek Him.

Landon is FIVE!

I can't believe it, Landon is five! He had been talking about having a pirate party since early April, so that's what we had. He actually got two pirate parties, one in Iowa and one here! We had a nice surprise and his cousins, Logan and Halle got to stay with us for a couple of nights and be here for the party. Halle actually drew the picture of the ship on his cake! I think she's going to be quite the artist.

We had a sort of Bible kids club schedule. I shared the story of Achan and about how he disobeyed God and stole the treasures in Jericho for himself. We talked about how he loved money more than God. We discussed how sin has consequences and how Jesus died to save us from our sin. I pray that each one that came will know the Lord and grow strong in Him! We learned the verse, "where your treasure is there your heart will be also" (Matt. 6:21), then we went on a treasure hunt. The kids were really excited when they found the big heart on top of the sand box and the treasure chest inside. 

The kids had a blast on this slide/pool thing. They also shot water balloons with a water balloon launcher. They all got so muddy and wet - and loved it! 

Here is a picture of most of the attendees. This is one of those pictures that ten years from now will be fun to look back on :)

This picture of Landon at two months demonstrates very well how I feel about our little boy growing up so fast..

This face just melts my heart!

The night before his birthday, Landon said, "Tomorrow I'm going to be five! Then, when will I be six?"
I told him, "Next year."
Then he said,"What if I turned five tomorrow, then the next day I turned six, then the next seven, etc..."
I squeezed him knowing it already feels like this to me... Trying to hang on to these quickly passing little years, to cherish his sweet heart and to enjoy each moment being his mama.

My prayer for Landon is that he would love the Lord with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength. I pray that he would not treasure the things on this earth, but that he would look towards eternity and trust the One who gave everything that we might have eternal life.

"He himself bore our sins" in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; "by his wounds you have been healed." 1 Peter 2:24

Catching up

I can't believe it's been two months since my last post! December was quite a busy month, then I spent January trying to catch up and now it's February! Every time I have sat down to try to blog I usually have ended up doing something else because it felt too daunting. I will do my best to recap all that has happened these past couple of months...

1. We had a Christmas Party for the neighborhood kids and Sunday School kids. It was a lot of fun. We had 11 kids from the neighborhood and 11 from church. I pray that the Lord would be working in each of these little hearts.

2. Olivia turned 4 Months old



3. We got new windows



4. We went to a local Christmas tree farm to pick out a tree.





5. We had a nice Christmas in Iowa. I actually got to stay for an extra week with Landon and Olivia unexpectedly. We had a really nice time. Landon got a battery-powered Thomas train which he was very excited about and Olivia got a teddy bear "from Samuel."




6. Landon is out-growing his nap... and I am not. One day I was so tired I let him play while I slept (obviously I was not thinking). He finished off the cornbread muffins (I think there were five) and ate a little of the wrappers too.



...then he emptied the wet wipe box and made this artistic design on his train track.


7. Olivia turned 5 months old



8. Celebrated Christmas (in January) with Seth's side of the family



9. Kids got RSV, I got strep throat - were cooped up for a little over a week

10. We celebrated Seth's 28th Birthday



11. Got the biggest snow storm Tulsa has ever seen- cooped up for almost another week so far...


Here is "Snowy Olivia" as Landon calls her in this outfit...



10. We celebrated my 27th Birthday



11. Landon's prayer the other night, "Pray for Carlos, and for Gregory, and for Daniel, and for Potipher's wife, A-men"
Carlos, Gregory and Daniel are from Joshua Club and he has a movie about Joseph, so that's how he thought of Potipher's wife. I have no idea, however, why he associated them together - silly boy!


(Kids from Joshua Club. From left: Gregory, Carlos, Meme)

Anyway, we have had quite the busy last couple of months, but hopefully things will start to slow down and I will be back to posting more regularly. Hope you all are staying warm and enjoying your families!

Busy Summer

Well, I realized it has been just about a month since my last post, that is pretty bad! I do have a few reasons for the lack of posting though. Right after I last posted, I went to run some errands. I was gone for only about two hours. When Landon and I got home, the back door was opened. I knew that we had been broken into and waited for Seth to get home to assess the losses. The biggest things they took were our laptop and camera. I always appreciate Seth in situations like this though, he said, "oh well, they're just things." Thankfully, my dad had backed up our pictures and everything back in November, so we only lost about 6 months of pictures. A verse that my sister reminded me of really encouraged me:

Matthew 6:19,20
"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal."

Anyway, it's kind of hard to post without a computer... We got a replacement though and a camera is in the mail (hoping to get it before baby gets here!).

We had a nice Fourth of July up in Iowa. It was so fun to be with friends and family. So many of my friends had pregnancy announcements - I can't wait for all these babies! Here is a little clip that my sister, Bekah, took of Landon hearing fireworks... He calls them "Fire engine cracker pops."



Speaking of babies, I will be 36 weeks pregnant tomorrow and things are going really well. I have an ultrasound on Tuesday so we'll see how big she is getting. She was estimated at 5lbs when I was 32 weeks! So, I think we have another big one cooking. I feel so blessed and can't wait to meet this little one. Here's a pic I took with photo booth, not the best, but give you an idea of my growing belly.



We have been working on potty training and Landon is doing quite well. He's been waking up dry 75% of the time and usually has one or two accidents a day, hopefully we'll get to no accidents soon (he hasn't had any today, so we'll see...). I hope he doesn't regress when the baby comes, but we'll just have to deal with it if it comes to that.
Here's a little movie we took a while back of Landon trying to be a potty trainer himself...



Tomorrow thru Saturday we will be having another Neighborhood Bible Club. We are very excited that it worked out to do one this year. I just wasn't sure with the baby coming and all, but I've been feeling well and we're just going to go for it. Seth will be teaching the lessons. The theme is on choices. His lessons will be Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, and the two thieves on the cross. Each kid will earn several tickets and have to choose which jar to put them in as each jar will have different candy and prizes associated with them.

We went and handed invitations in the neighborhood and we made several good contacts so we are hoping for a good turn out. I was just reading a passage that encouraged me as I think of God's word going out to these little children:

Jeremiah 23:28-29
"Let the prophet who has a dream tell his dream, but let the one who has my word speak it faithfully. For what has straw to do with grain?” declares the LORD. "Is not my word like fire,” declares the LORD, “and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?"
Pray that Seth will speak God's word faithfully, that God's word would pierce these little hearts, and these children would receive the Lord Jesus as their Savior.