Where has the time gone?!

Where do I begin? ONE post last year? Wow... well, I guess I'll start with this past week and hope to go back and fill in some blanks.

My newest nephew was born on March 12th, Judah Nathaniel. We were thrilled to be able to go up and meet him when he was only a day old! He was so tiny and precious! We are truly praising the Lord after a very complicated pregnancy. We are very thankful for him to be here safe and sound! Here's a picture of Logan with his new baby brother.

We were also glad to spend a little time with my brother, Josh and his wife Laura before they move even further north. This will be the first time a sibling besides myself will be moving away from Iowa. A little sad for me because I’m used to going back and seeing everyone when we visit. Hopefully, we’ll be able to plan our trips so that will still work out!

It was just the kids and I who went up. Seth was directing his first Teen Retreat back at a camp the same weekend. Thankfully everything went well. It was an encouraging time for all, a challenging time as they looked into God's word and were reminded the importance of loving the Lord Jesus and each other.

We sadly got sick with a stomach bug a couple days into our trip so, it put a little bit of a damper on things. We made the best of it and had a fun time at my parents. My mom was helping Heidi at her place and my dad left to go work, so we had the place to ourselves. I figured we'd have been alone at home anyway, so it didn't really matter where we were! Sarah started to pull up. Can't believe how big she's getting so quickly. She is crawling all over, I have to figure out a solution to the whole Lego situation, if anyone has any ideas, let me know! They end up all over and she will find them...

The weather was nice after we were better, so I was able to meet up at a park with some friends. I'm so excited for spring to pretty much be here! Landon was thrilled to find a tree that he could climb, he's been wanting to for so long. It was sweet of little Roman to share the pinecones he found with Sarah :)

 And we had fun getting free DQ afterwards! I think it was James' first ice cream cone, he loved it and finished the whole thing! So thankful for so many friends and family that stay close even though we are miles away!

Family Trip

We had a great time with Seth's side of the family for a long weekend away. The drive went pretty well. Landon just loves his baby brother and is always asking to hold him :)

 We had a nice stop where the kids and daddy threw stones into a puddle

Here's Brooklyn holding Madison and Olivia - sweet times with cousins.

I just couldn't get over how much James was into this movie. He would lean his head as far forward as he could with his eyes locked on the screen! It was really cute :) 

 Here's James with his sweet cousin, Evy. She's two months older than him even, it was so fun to see them together.

 Here's sweet Madison again with her daddy - such a sweet smile!

And darling Haven - she has the sweetest smile too!

Lots of fun times enjoying the nice weather. 

And whenever we're all together, we like to take nice long walks. Olivia likes to ride ;)

The last night I got to spend time with the older nieces braiding hair. It was so much fun. I just can't believe how grown up they are getting! 

Meri-Kate is already almost fourteen! She's turning into such a sweet beautiful young lady. Love this picture of her with Evy.

Sweet brothers... James loves having Landon beside him in the car, Landon really helps comfort him when he's sad.

We really did have a great time reconnecting with family. The kids loved spending quality time with their cousins and it was really nice to have a break from the busy everyday schedule and spend time talking and laughing together. They even threw a little birthday party for me while we were there. I got breakfast in bed consisting of: bacon, a brownie, a banana, and a go-gurt :) The best breakfast in bed ever! I'm so thankful to have married into such a wonderful family!

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving in Kansas this year with Seth's family. We have so much to be thankful for and it was good to be reminded of all of the blessings in our lives. The cousins had a great time together. I got to take my nieces Black Friday shopping. I can't believe they're already at the age that gets excited about shopping! I had so much fun with them and got some great deals too.

All of Rachelle's family joined us as well, it was a lot of fun! Here's a shot of the table during our Thanksgiving feast. My was it a feast!

Landon was so excited about his special blueberry pie. He was telling everyone about how he was going to have blueberry pie on Thanksgiving. This started by reading the Olivia the pig Christmas book that had blueberry pie in it and he asked me in a sincere voice, "mommy, is blueberry pie good??" I told him it was, and since I have him on a gluten free diet right now, I asked him if he would like me to make him a special one for Thanksgiving. Of course he did, and apparently it was pretty good, thankfully he's not very picky ;)

 Camryn holding James for the first time

Landon and Miles holding James - sweet boys!

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!

Encouraging Thoughts from Camp and my weekly Menu

Last week, I had the privilege of being the camp nurse for a week at Sooner Bible Camp. It was so nice not having to cook for a whole week! It was a very encouraging time and Landon was a great assistant and trooper.

One of the speakers spoke on 5 of the 7 churches in Revelation. The example of the church of Ephesus was most convicting to me. The Lord praises them for all the things they are doing: for their hard work and toil, their perseverance in hardships, their intolerance for wicked men, etc...
But, the Lord rebukes them saying, "You have forsaken your first love."
Sometimes, it's so easy to get caught up in serving and being busy with things in the body of believers, that we totally miss the point. The Lord wants our hearts.

Psalm 51:17
"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise."



A HUGE praise from the week at camp. A girl named, Val, has been staying with the Erb family for almost a year and one afternoon at camp, she realized that she was a sinner and that the Lord Jesus paid the complete price for her sin, and she was brought into the Lord's family. What an exciting week!



Val had to leave yesterday to go back to her home in Mexico, we will miss her dearly (sorry, I can't figure out why this picture is so small!)

A Little late on this, but better late than never...

Breakfasts
Strawberry Oatmeal Smoothie
Baked Oatmeal
Yogurt Parfaits with homemade granola
Purple Monstrosity Smoothie
Cereal with Fruit

SuppersT:Easy Mexican Casserole with chips and salsa
W: French Dip Sandwiches with homemade bread with a salad
R: Honey Baked Chicken with rice and a salad
F: Homemade Pizza with Broccoli Salad
S: Angel Hair Pasta with Shrimp and Basil (minus the shrimp because of Seth’s allergy ☺) with salad
S: Beef Stew with a fruit salad