MT Macs

Oh yah - I love making dinner somedays!

2012-01-24T16:09:00.000-08:00

Pork roast, seasoned with cumin, onions, salt and pepper, olive oil, garlic and a little o.j. and in the crock pot makin my house smell mouth-watering delicious! Love it.

Fresh Pico de gallo - why would you ever eat any other salsa?! Tomatoes, onion, salt and sugar, avacado, lime and cilantro!

Pork tacos for dinner.
Oh yah.
I love me some good dinna!

Good bye 2011...

2012-01-01T18:48:00.000-08:00

and thank You, Lord, it was a good year. We were so blessed and drawn closer to You. You are the Faithful One. You have edified us, comforted us, corrected us, loved us, taught us.
Thank You.
And now... a new year, 2012. Maybe this year I will finally stop having to correct myself when I write the year starting with 200_.
May we come through it, knowing You better, loving You more, being a blessing.

AND-
Happy Anniversary to my dear husband. Today, January 1st 2012, is our 19th anniversary. Its been a trip, ups and downs and back up again. Not long compared to our parents and some others, but long compared to others. Lose the comparison as that is not God's way and we see that He is good. Caring for us and helping us to deal with each other and the things we needed to deal with. My husband is precious to me. I have much to be thankful for!

We have a baby!

2011-12-30T12:44:00.000-08:00

Baby bulldog , that is! :)

John has wanted a bulldog since he was a kid...

dream realized! :)

Her name is Penelope Winifred.

She and Daisy are getting along well so far.

She likes to cuddle and nap on her back.

She is the cutest little pup!

Check out those baby-bully-rolls.

Cuteness cannot be denied.

Yep, its puppy-love.

Merry Christmas 2011

2011-12-25T19:28:00.000-08:00

Well, Merry Christmas!

This has been one of our best Christmas'... on our own that is.

We would have preferred to be with family but it wasn't to be this year, so, that set aside, we did good!

We made cookies, butter cookies, sugar cookies, and Russian Tea cookies(YUM!). We visited friends and sang carols with the Dighans which was a very lovely evening. They are dear friends and we enjoy time with them. Luke played guitar and we all sang.

John and the kids took cookies to the Bulocks and got to have another visit with the bulldog pups, and got to find out which one would be ours in a week or two.

We skyped with McFam Christmas Eve and ended up opening presents with them all on camera! Which was quite fun, the kids kept running to the living room to get another present and then back to the Loft room, where the computer is with the skype and cam on it, to open the gift. Funny.

Christmas morning they got up and opened Stuffed Stockings. We went to church and got hear Daddy sing for offertory, which was wonderful! Home to have a delicious Christmas Day Dinner, actually it was Linner/Dunch, of Holiday Ham, Roasted Red potatoes w/onions, sweet corn, and croissants. Cookies for dessert!

After dinner we did our Advent Service, it was missing the rest of the McNamaras, but we did it nicely, and video-taped it! :)

Then we got to skype with Nana and Papa and Mimi, Nick, Madi and Mason! (and Pepper too!) It was so lovely to see their sweet faces and chat and be silly and push past those slightly awkward cam-silences -haha!

We miss our family with a deep ache, but counting our blessings we find our cups runneth over.

A delightfully relaxing day followed.

Thank You Sweet Jesus for this family, in this time, in this place. You alone are able. You alone are worthy. We praise You for where You have brought us. May we be a blessing.

Timer pic # 6 out of 8 or 10...Say BEEF AND CHEESE!

The Kids. Oo, I love them -they are SO cute, aren't they?!

Luke Dighans on guitar, Jacob to the left of him, Summer to the right and Jayna, far right.

Nate and Ellie

Phoebe and Alena

Elisha, Christmas presents abounding!

Pheebs made a good haul too!

Jam the Man

Nate and the croissants.

Phoebe and Ronnie.

PICTURES

2011-12-11T10:10:00.001-08:00

Nathan had his birthday and here is, officially at 16 years old. :)
He got a cool coffee mug, coffee and a whole bottle of Hershey's to himself for mochas.

He got a hilarious unicorn card from Uncle Mike and Aunt Amber, it sings about unicorn magic.

First attempt at a blowing out the candles pic...

and re-staged for another pic.

He went to formal last night with a friend named Lauren.

Doesn't he look just spiffy?!!

And Lauren seems like a very sweet girl, if she is as sweet as she is beautiful she'll make someone very happy someday.

We told her she looks like a Disney princess.
Ellie said where do you get dresses like that?!

They had a lot of fun and laughed much.

Here is my JAM the man. I adore him!

He went to his first school dance on Friday. I had eyes there at the dance so I didn't chaperon this one. He said it was a lot of fun.
I keep saying to them that its so hard being the mama, as good and right and healthy things happen that signify their growth into manhood, my heart at once is thankful and ...happy, but also grieved at the loss of their childhood. The mother-son thing is so inexplicable, the good and right thing is for them to grow out from under me, so to speak, but the detaching pains me. No one warns you that cutting the apron strings actually does hurt the mama, they aren't just strings tied around her waist, they are strings that are woven deeply into the mama's heart after cradling, loving, nursing, tending, singing, teaching, growing, raising up this little wild boy creature. All of this in a healthy way, I am talking about. They must grow into men, still loving me, of course, still having a tender place for me in their heart hopefully, but I musn't hold them too tightly and hinder their man-hood. Wild at Heart by John Eldredge, or Bringing Up Boys by Dobson, one of them talked about mothers who damage their boys by not letting them grow up and away. If this is all done well, the son will still adore his mama and be able to leave and cleave to his wife. Much prayer, always much, much prayer.

And there was another visit to see the bulldog pups! Aren't they SO CUTE!

Ellie said they got there and the pups were ready to play and play and then then were done and they all fell to sleep! :)
We are so looking forward to having one of these cute little things in January when they are ready to separate from their mama!

My firstborn is 16!

2011-12-08T07:55:00.001-08:00

I know its cliche, but seriously,

WHERE HAS THE TIME GONE?
I couldn't find a new current pic, the most recent are in the post before this.

My baby is a man.

My. baby. is a

man.

He is so great. I am so thankful for the sweet gift God blessed on me. Oh, my.

Father God, thank you for this child who is now entering manhood. Thank you for the things you have taught my heart through being his mother.

I pray for him. I pray he will love you, and that his heart will be pierced by Your love, that he will have a hunger and deep love for You and Your precious and powerful Word.

I know You have good works for him and I pray he seeks You and Your ways.

I pray he would have courage and strength to stand against the enemy and his snares.

I pray that he would have a powerful testimony in whatever he does in life, that others would see his love for You.

I pray that he would love You with all of his heart, soul, mind, and strength.

I pray he would love others more than himself,

as these are the two greatest commandments.

Thank You, Lord for Your faithfulness to pursue his heart and bring circumstances into his life to draw him to You. Thank You that You are faithful to continue the good work You started in him to completion. Thank You that Your plans for him are to prosper him and not harm him, plans to give him a hope and a future.

May Your word bring healing to his mind, body, and soul.

Thank You, Jesus. Amen.

What's for dinner?

2011-11-30T18:46:00.001-08:00

Shepherd's Pie(click for link to Food Network recipe)

Oh my, its Shepherd's Pie.
And it was delicious.
I had a batch of mashed potatoes in the freezer from Thanksgiving and this was the perfect use for them!
I skipped the lamb part and substituted white corn for the carrots and peas, for the kids sake... and mine. :)
Definitely a keeper.

Grandma Katie and DadDad

2011-11-26T07:33:00.001-08:00

LIFE

SO blessed by this Lady.

We went to visit the bulldog pups again.

MomMom wants one too!

Look at those faces!

Later ...Mom and Dad took us out to dinner, a delicious dinner, at Rib and Chop. I don't remember enjoying dinner there this much the other times we have dined there.... hmmm, I bet it something to do with the sweet company! :)

THEN in grand DadDad fashion, he proposed we head to the dairy section of the grocery store and EACH pick out our OWN pint of ice cream?!?! FUN!

Too Sweet and so fun! We are so blessed and thankful, thankful, thankful for the time with them. Thank you Mom and Dad, for making the trip. It is a bear, and we do appreciate it. Wonderful to see you!

We really miss the rest of the fam too.

Now, about the title to this post.

Gran told us that she had never really 'felt' like a Brenda. She grew up going by her middle name which is Wyn, but not everyone knows her by that name. She said when she grew up she thought she should have had red hair and been called Katie. Yep.

That is what she said.

So we saw a few glimpses of Gran's alter ago, Gramma Katie,

and she is as endearing as GranMomMom herself! :)

Most of us were happy to embrace Gramma Katie, but the new name and wished for red hair was news to DadDad and he had quite the quizzical look on his face when he heard.

Last night the kids were showing there flexibility skills and exerting themselves trying to put their feet to their head or behind their head, etc. And as you might expect, I know I wasn't surprised, one of them... uh, released some pressure? You know what I mean - passed a bit of gas. Well, there is a whole backstory from Gran's last visit or our visits there about practicing our Gran Manners. So, now we have committed a manner faux pas! But, not to fear, Gramma Katie is here! Chuckle, chuckle and Gran declares,

"Gran would have been offended but Gramma Katie thinks its funny!"

Wha? Whew! Hahaha, laughter ensues. Much laughter. Always laughter.

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-24T17:56:00.001-08:00

Success... ah, sweet success.
Our Big Dinner turned out great. The turkey was brined last night. This morning Phoebe and I made the pumpkin pie and put the Rhodes rolls out to rise. (Whoa, Rhodes Rolls. It has been too long since I made them and will not be that long again. Yum. These are our new old fav!)
Then we put the Bird in the oven.
Peeled 10 lbs of potatoes. 10lbs. Yep, 10. Potatoes anyone? We will be having potatoes into next week. Ah, well, could be worse! They are butter, garlic, cream cheese potatoes - yum!
Made the stuffing. White corn ready for microwave.
...A couple of hours later, turkey comes out to rest, rolls go in to bake.
Table set all purty.
Sparkling apple cider and wine with frozen cranberries dropped in for loveliness.
Turkey being carved and taste-tested - its gooooood! Yay, I am so happy that the turkey turned out!

We had a lovely dinner.
And the best part was looking around the table and among the precious, sweet faces that I love are MomMom and DadDad.

And Mom shared that she had read on the author of the Truth Project's blog, that we should be practicing thankfulness 364 days a year, and only complain one day a year. Too true.

A couple of hours later, after naps and relaxation...we dish up some perfect pumpkin pie and I bake up a Doo-dadd. Doo' -dadd: a delicious pastry snack/dessert made with pie crust spread with butter and cinnamon sugar and rolled up and baked. Yum. Advice: make two.

And then to 'wrap up' the day...

The game of Life.

8 people. Beginning to end.

The whole shebang!

Thankful for sweet family.

Love and hugs to family missed.

Oh, the Glory Days

2011-11-21T19:09:00.001-08:00

I never have struggled with wanting to go back in time...
not to childhood. not to the high school days. not to young adulthood.

I do agonize over a deep desire to re-live my children's baby-hood and 'do it better' and live in the moment. But my condition is going back with the hard-gained wisdom of now. Here's the kicker: if I knew then what I know now, I wouldn't be where I am now. So. God is precious faithful and blessed persistent to pursue our hearts. He has brought me through what we needed to go through to be where we are now and I love it here. Precious closer to Him than ever and more to go and let it come! No fear...well, significantly less fear and its grip is a fair sight lighter than it was.

I have a friend that just had her third baby. I have another friend just pregnant with her third. I have a couple of friends trying to get pregnant, one with her second and one with her first. I have another friend (or two)who may announce pregnancy any day, well, these could be grouped with the last couple quite snugly I suppose!
I am past these days. The glory days. Whew! How wondrous and delicious is news of a baby. And yet, oy, t.i.r.e.d. As in physical weariness that does not end for ...oh, say, 5-6 years until the precious little blessing goes off to school. And then you realize, you haven't been alone in years. But then a whole other kind of crazy busy-ness takes over.(And what if you home-school?!?!) And then the teen years of emotional havoc wreaked on your mother's heart! And you find yourself seeing the simplicity of the toddler days which were at least only physically draining, when your problems could be greatly diminished by blessed nap-time, for you and baby! But its ok(its MORE than 'ok', I have dear friends who haven't been able to get pregnant so easily and it has opened my eyes to the magnitude of blessings I have received), its wonderful, its precious, its sweet, its messy, its very, very difficult and challenging. Tearful. Laughter. Stains. Breaks. Drags unselfishness out of ya.
It changes you like nothing else in life. I am... beyond thankful, I am broken thankful. Enough emotion to split my heart open and pour out, like the woman, Mary, who poured out perfume on Jesus' feet, mixed with her tears, which were even more precious to Him I expect. This woman I identify with, for grace is the sweetest gift.

My babes are 9, 11, 13, 15. My glory days? Are right now. As much as I loved the baby days and even wish I could relive them, on a level that knows its not possible, still, I don't want to be anywhere but right here right now.
These are my glory days.

Thank You, Lord.

2011-11-13T17:14:00.001-08:00

Happy Birthday to John!

We had some dear friends over and celebrated the 40th! It was much fun and there was much laughter... as you can imagine if you have spent any time at all with my husband! Steve and Jaimie Goff, Justin and Jackie Dighans, Cody and Jana Cass, Jeff and Brenda Johnstone! Sweet friends who have become like family to us here in MT. In fact, that was the only downer, no family here. Love you, miss you!
Thanking God for good friends, people you can be at ease with, who love ya, and that you can call for back-up when you need it!

And so thankful for my husband! Love him!

Puppy Love

2011-11-09T19:21:00.000-08:00

I have to admit it...

I am basically a city girl. However, I do daydream about having a bit of a farm, some chickens, even in a daring moment, a cow? But on some level I worry about what all that would entail...could I handle it? My husband lets me off the hook though, b/c he is in no way up for any type of farm, except a garden, and children, and pups. So. Good.
I have a fairly weak constitution, so the thought of dogs in heat and puppies and puppy-poopy, etc., etc., makes me leery. Add to that my being less than the typical animal lover, its not that I don't love them its just that I don't LOVE them. So its all not as easy for me, it doesn't come naturally, I have to not think about being grossed out, or whatever, by what needs to be done. At least motherhood has given me some progress, self-sacrifice, unpleasant but necessary duties, acts of love.

All that to say,
in spite of my tendencies, I enjoyed puppy-sitting! It was sweet to sit on the floor, on/near the dog bed, helping mama dog lie down and get situated and helping puppies latch on and have their fill. And loving it. Admiring Mama Mya and watching, listening to, helping the pups suckle. Listening to Mya snore while her pups nursed and then watching in wonder as she bathed each of them thoroughly.
Maybe I could do this someday....
:)

Stuff of late.

2011-11-08T15:00:00.000-08:00

Posters, posters, posters!

We are having too much fun with poster-board in school.

The girls needed some reminders for school mornings.

Here is our school schedule for most days.

Here is Phoebe the Cowgirl, for Halloween.

Here are a few pics from Phoebe getting ahold of the camera...

Here is the Daddy... btw, its his 40th bd this Friday!

And,

here are the bulldog pups that we got to pup-sit today.

So cute!

We are hoping to get one!

Proud, sweet mama, Mya.

The Pheebs doing school-work.

And Ell! :)

Its Dinner Time...again!

2011-11-07T18:36:00.000-08:00

Chicken with Pampered Chef Southwestern Seasoning(shameless plug!) in the oven to bake.
Red onion in the pan to caramelize.(my eyes are still burning!)
Ground beef on top of the onion. Taco seasoning and some salsa.
Fry up some corn tortillas./Nacho ships./And flour shells.
Chopped tomato.
Chopped olive.
...Chopped pickle... yah, I said pickle! Its good, ok?! People who try it - like it!
Sour cream.
Lettuce.

In the past I have bucked the Stand-bys. You know, the Stand-bys, those meals you make often and that go over well. And that you don't have to follow a recipe card! I love trying new things and following the recipe! I totally love it! And when it works and the thing is good! Yes!
But you know, we have our Stand-bys... spaghetti, stroganoff, hamburgers (in season), french dip sandwiches,
haystacks, chicken casserole, baked chicken, buttered noodles and Parmesan, and, of course, tacos! So, for a while, I was just tired of making the same stuff. But lately, I think - Why fight it if it works?!?!
So let's hear it for the Stand-bys!
Love it!
Besides its always nice when the kids walk in the kitchen and their eyebrows go up and they say, "Are we having_____?! YES! (vs. WHAT is that? Do WE have to eat that?) ha-ha... ya.

My kids crack me up

2011-11-03T12:19:00.000-07:00

Jacob went door-to-door selling magazines for a school fundraiser and went to gal's house that I work with at the coffee shop. She told me this morning about his salesmanship... we may have found his calling, although she didn't buy so maybe not. She said she started out by telling him no thank you. Then he started making suggestions of mags that might suit her, Martha Stewart, Good Housekeeping, etc. She looked through the list of choices and said, still, no thanks, she doesn't read them and was sorry but she just shouldn't. He then resorted to guilt trip: "Ok, but someday I am going to not have a very good job because I didn't get a good education since you wouldn't buy a magazine and then you are probably going to feel bad." Ha! She thought that was great. He has such a quick sense of humor.

Then during school this morning, Daisy was sitting with Ellie and all of the sudden sat up and gave her the bug-eyed stare. Ellie was asking Daisy what she wanted and I said she wants you to read her mind, Ellie said, "Sorry, Daisy, all I hear is elevator music coming from your head!"

Cracked me up! My kids got their Daddy's sense of humor, too funny! I love it.

Hope you take a smile with you as well!

Today's Schedule

2011-11-02T15:52:00.000-07:00

4:30 a.m. Rise and Shine!
6:00 a.m. Leave for work.
9:00 a.m. Return home from work to home-school girls.
1:40 p.m. Girls and I go to 3-in-1 (after school kids program at Grace Bible Church every other week)
4:00 p.m. Girls, Jacob, and I head home from 3-in-1.
5:00 p.m. Cheat on dinner and take us out to Gallaghers
5:45 p.m. Take girls to Awana
6:00 p.m. Drop Jacob off at WCW (Wild & Crazy Wednesdays - middle school youth group at Grace Bible)
7:00 p.m. Drop Nate and high school youth group, meets at leader's home
7:30 p.m. pick up girls from Awana
8:30 p.m. pick up Jacob from WCW(see above)
9:00 p.m. pick up Nate from high school youth group
ASAP put sweet, precious children to bed so I can go to bed!

What's For Dinner?

2011-11-01T19:25:00.000-07:00

Ever the question....

Tonight:

Fresh bakery rolls.
Au Jus Dip.
Sliced Roast Beef from the deli.
And Vegetable side choice: Sweet white corn or Asparagus

Delicious.

Dessert?
Halloween candy of course.

A Sandwich

2011-10-24T18:24:00.001-07:00

Flatbread.

Lightly spread with mayo and pesto.

Crumble a good handful of bacon.

Roasted chicken.

Tomato.

Monterey Jack Cheese.

in the oven until warm.

Add Lettuce.

(and a glass of Moscato)

Nummy.

Mommy like.

2011-10-23T19:24:00.001-07:00

Another free digital slideshow by Smilebox

Yesterday's Laugh of the Day

2011-10-11T16:19:00.000-07:00

As we are running errands;
Mom: Ack, why are the banks closed? Ugh, Columbus Day.
Girls: Why do we have school on Columbus Day?
Mom: I don't know.
Ellie to Phoebe: We should celebrate Hanukkah so we can get out of school.
Phoebe to Ellie: Ellie, but we aren't Catholic.

Becoming Vegetarians

2011-10-08T17:02:00.000-07:00

Phoebe: So Mom, what's wrong with being a vegetarian and wearing leather?
Mom: Being a vegetarian means you are against eating animals and using them for clothing.
Phoebe: So what is leather made of?
Mom: Cowhide
Phoebe: Ok, that is disgusting... what part of the cow is cowhide?
Mom: The skin.
Phoebe: Oh good to know. Wonderful. I am a vegetarian from now on.

Parenting by Phoebe

2011-09-25T13:36:00.000-07:00

As a parent, you think you have a lot of responsibility. And you do. But sometimes you think you have more to offer than they need. "They" being The Children obviously.
If only it was this simple:
Phoebe comes to me for help with an issue between she, Ellie, and Jacob involving the Wii. After many years of trying to help sort and fix these types of problems, my answers have come to lean more in the discipline direction than the helping direction. This is just the way of things. So my answer to Phoebe follows along the same lines and goes something like this, " Well, if you guys can't work things out then we will just have to turn the games off, right?"
She stands there looking at me, with quite the look on her face, and then she says,
"Mom. What I need from you is an answer like a yes or a no."

Ohhhhhh , what you need from me is!? What you need from me is?! Whoa. She doesn't need my speech and preach, she doesn't need me doling out disciplinary action. All she needs is. A yes or a no.

Awesome.
Love it. Things should be a breeze from here on out.

Hi this is Ellie

2011-09-15T15:25:00.000-07:00

I got to help my mom out in the kitchen today it was really fun, we made chicken!!!!!!!!

(and here is a pic of Elisha in her new glasses - adorable)

Diary of Our Home-Schooling

2011-09-15T14:54:00.000-07:00

School has begun!

Jacob is in 7th and at the Middle School. He is adjusting well and plowing ahead. He ran for class rep and won! He is participating in Builder's Club(which is the middle school's Key Club) and he is planning to be the volleyball team manager. He also is playing FOOTBALL, #58! :) It is going to be a busy year for him and he knows his grades are first priority. (*prayer appreciated*)
Nate is a sophomore in high school. He is in drivers ed through the middle of November and while in driver's ed, we are supposed to let him drive us around to log his parent supervised 50 hours! 50 hours of a teenager driving us around. Yah. However, he is already improving from the first few when I said to myself, please let us arrive safely and please let me not throw-up from motion sickness. Not really joking with you at all there. :)(prayer appreciated...again) He is also taking piano lessons again and this year we are going to pay him to give the girls their lessons! (...yah, prayer requested there too!)

And the girls! The girls are in 5th and 3rd grade and we are home-schooling this year. It is going wonderfully, we started when school started. And today they helped me at lunch time to get a couple of roasters put in the crockpot for dinner, which I plan on making part of school. Meal planning, cooking, etc. They are already bonding more with each other as we hoped this year would help with and my relationship with them is much improved as well. Last year was a bit of a strain in some ways and my hope was that this time together would strengthen our relationship before the teen years threatened destruction. Only slightly joking there. (and again, prayer appreciated! :)

I am planning to have them post on the blog for you and for fun as well. Different things we do and things they are learning. So hang in there and stay tuned!

a new thing (Linked here in the post title)

2011-08-02T19:26:00.000-07:00

I just enjoy when God teaches me things. I am a slow learner and I wish I had known some things sooner...

like what He created me for and that His plan for me is to prosper... to prosper at what He has for me, at who He made me to be. So being a woman is what I am exploring in the new blog.

There is a link to it under My Blog List: ~fashioned into a woman~.

Check it out and let me know what you think.

I am looking forward to teaching my girls some of these truths.

pics...

2011-06-23T08:21:00.000-07:00

Jacob brought this to me... :)

My LAVENDER! :)

Our front yard landscaping...

Cute, cute, cutie!

Walkin...

walkin...

The cutest girl in coach-pitch baseball!!!

Our dinner last night. John had to take a pic. It was yummy!

Happy Father's Day!

2011-06-19T15:32:00.000-07:00

Working on the traditional breakfast in bed.

Makin bacon!

Keepin Daddy company while things progress in the kitchen...

These girls love their Daddy!

Signs of the times

2011-05-26T09:54:00.000-07:00

See this lone mini-matchbox car?

Its a sign of the times around here... the babies are growing up, and that means growing out of things.

My boys haven't played with these cars in years. We had bins full of cars and now we are down to this one last mini and a handful of regular sized matchbox cars which are gathered into a play purse of all things.

These are the boys represented.

Nate had a dinosaur collection, he WAS a dinosaur much of the time. He knew the names of them all too.

Jacob was our cars and trucks little boy. I don't know what year he got this Darth Vader on a motorcycle, but that was a big deal!

So I have these toys floating around that we do not need anymore and I have to remember that I will still have my memories even if I get rid of the toys! And I am not prolonging their childhood by keeping them around! They are growing up! And really it is wonderful to watch them continue to grow in health and maturity, they boys are growing in to young men. And I am so thankful! Its what you want them to do, but my heart grieves for their childhood at the same exact moment!

Piles of books and no baby or toddler in my lap!

A bin full of cast off toys, baby dolls, cars, baby bags and blankets. Odds and ends of years gone by!

At least the Legos persevere!

They get on a Lego kick every now and then and everyone builds. Even Daddy! (Not Mommy though, but I get to exclaim over the creations!)

I don't really know how to wrap this one up, its been floating around in my head as I eyed that last surviving mini, not knowing what to do with it and remembering fondly, its glory days!

I think I am going to start a bin of things to save for someday when I am the Gramma. And here is a kicker for ya, if Nate follows in our footsteps, we could be grandparents in less than 10 years! I was 23 when he was born and he is 15! Now, that is some weird, wild stuff, Ed!

Stay tuned...

Girls Time.

2011-05-04T13:43:00.000-07:00

Tea with the Princesses was last Saturday! We had fun, as every year, but did have a sober moment of thinking of how much fun it would be if our grandmas, aunties, and girls cousins were able to be with us! Above pic, posing with Rapunzel's hair hanging down from the tower.

Phoebe as Belle.

Ellie as Ariel.

This little 'sand dig' is one of Phoebe's favorites. They spent about ten minutes digging in this box of sand for treasures. Shells, buttons, etc. I thought we had outgrown sandboxes, but maybe not...?!

I love when my babies have not outgrown things! Ellie is often displaying attitudes and actions of adolescence (which I admit, I had to look up for exact meaning, that being; the growing up stage between puberty and adulthood) which I must say has sent me to my knees already, but still other times we get sweet glimpses of her sweet, fun nature. And this is what I got to see at the Tea with the Princesses. She was thoughtful, playful, kind, gentle and nurturing. Thank You, Lord. Things for me to treasure in my heart and gives me hope that we will not just survive her teen years, but walk through them together, I pray.

Kiddie pool... or Ocean?

2011-04-13T19:57:00.000-07:00

Believe it or not, I usually choose the kiddie pool.
I know, right?! You are thinking, What? Why? Are you crazy?

I was reviewing my Scripture cards and this one took a hold of me:

He will redeem my soul in peace from the battle which is against me.
Psalm 55:18a

The first part is self-explanatory. Love it. Thank You, Lord. You will redeem my soul... ahhh. In peace. Amen.

Now the second part, "from the battle which is against me." Yes, there is a battle. Against us.
Unfortunately I am usually caught unawares and get all distracted by the the things on the way to redemption. It's like those cheesy little tiny, barely moving 'rides' that sit out side of department stores. Cost a quarter. I get my eye on one of those and have a hissy fit over it when my God is trying to lead me past it into Disneyland! You know?! I know, I know, you don't throw hissy fits, but I do...unfortunately!
Or..., begging for a nasty grocery store doughnut on the way to Krispy Kreme! (Yes, I said "nasty"!)

One of my first experiences of this, the first time it hit me with so much clarity anyway, (because I am sure God has many more stories of times when I had a tantrum over a FreezePop when he wanted to take me to 31 Flavors -Hello!- yah, I detest FreezePops, you can make up your own comparisons!) was several years ago in our first house

(which is a whole other story of me demanding my way and God giving it to me and later I whined about that house for too long...its embarrassing!) The house had gotten one of those quick cover-up makeovers, just good enough to get a sucker to insist her husband buy it because all of the other houses we had looked at were scary dumps that needed a lot of work and we were literally about to have a baby. And at the time I thought the absolute worst thing would be to have to have it in my brother in law's house, where we were living temporarily. (Not temporarily enough for my poor brother in law who had NO idea what kind of mess he has signed up for when he let us move in with him, and when I say "with", I mean we took over his house and pushed him into one bedroom and likely made him feel uncomfortable in his own house. I am still mortified at the thought of it and hope he has blocked that time out of his mind... he seems to have b/c he doesn't visibly flinch when he sees us coming. He probably still does have to take a big breath and steel himself for it though! Ah, well, what can I say? I am sorry, Mikey!) Back to my story, so this house had those peel and stick floor tiles, the cheap ones. So after living on them for about two seconds, they began to break down and glue seeped up and grabbed every bit of dirt that went by, which was A LOT, we had a dirt backyard and two little boys. Ugh.

So, one day, I was on my hands and knees scrubbing that floor, which didn't make a whole lot of difference anyway, and hating the floor, and talking to myself about the beautiful floor I would have someday. And that voice in my heart said,
What if you never have a beautiful floor on this earth?
And I realized the dream to dream of was the city of gold and crystal and jewels in heaven and not only that but I won't have to scrub those! Maybe it sounds silly to you, but it was big moment for me and my God! He may call it something of a break-though!
Eternal perspective! It can be a life-saver!
So hopefully the next time I am splashing around in the kiddie pool and God is calling me to the Ocean, I will remember the battle against me and come running to peace for redemption of my soul.
And I pray it for you as well. :) xoxo

And this last one, well, it speaks for itself, doesn't it? How could I come across such a gem and not share it with you?! Phoebe has her own style, and she always has. She got herself ready this day(2005 or 6), and I don't know about you, but if I could put myself together as well, I'd be thrilled! I absolutely adore her!

The Snowman.

2011-03-13T15:03:00.000-07:00

Oops, I forgot about this post. Hehe.

A week or two ago, we had yet another snowfall of several inches. And in spite of our loss of joy over a fresh snowfall, and quite surprising to me, Phoebe decided to make a snowman. Our children haven't made a snowman in quite some time. I had just been wondering how long it had been and sort of grieving the loss of the 'snowman age'.

Then, low and behold, Mr Snowman appeared! Phoebe rolled the body pieces all on her own, she got Jacob to stack them for her and then Ellie helped her put his personality on! :) Too cute!

Gave me some great joy!

And Daddy got some pictures- yay!I thought some of you far away family might enjoy them.

My Outlet

2011-02-20T19:35:00.000-08:00

So, yah, this is my outlet. :) I am re-posting this Oswald Chambers devotion because I LOVE it. I love that my God brought me to this place where, because of His great love I am able to say I love Him with my whole heart. I hope and pray this for my children and for you, have you fallen head over heals in love with your Savior? Have you seen what He has saved you from? Do you realize? Have you come face to face with your sin and seen the ugliness of it and then when you feel repulsive in every way, felt the Lord's loving embrace? It is a blessed thing. This is the place I come to when I pray to the Lord for my children, 'whatever it takes'. Because this prayer is a frightful thing when you think of the possibilities of what it might take to bring someone to the point of humbling themselves before the Lord and finding freedom. Salvation. Peace. Joy.

But it is a prayer worth praying. And with a catch in my throat and tears in my eyes, this I pray for my children.

I love this story. She comes to show her great gratitude and love for what her Lord has done for her. How He abundantly loves her, forgives her, redeems her, defends her... He loves her.

Have you experienced His love for you? Its the same deep, fierce, wonderful, abundant love. His love for us is with abandon, may ours for Him be without reservation. Wild. Crazy. Willing. We will do foolish things for human love, may we that much more for our Creator, our Redeemer, our Savior.

Subject: Do You Really Love Him?

She has done a good work for Me —Mark 14:6

If what we call love doesn’t take us beyond ourselves, it is not really love. If we have the idea that love is characterized as cautious, wise, sensible, shrewd, and never taken to extremes, we have missed the true meaning. This may describe affection and it may bring us a warm feeling, but it is not a true and accurate description of love.

Have you ever been driven to do something for God not because you felt that it was useful or your duty to do so, or that there was anything in it for you, but simply because you love Him? Have you ever realized that you can give things to God that are of value to Him? Or are you just sitting around daydreaming about the greatness of His redemption, while neglecting all the things you could be doing for Him? I’m not referring to works which could be regarded as divine and miraculous, but ordinary, simple human things— things which would be evidence to God that you are totally surrendered to Him. Have you ever created what Mary of Bethany created in the heart of the Lord Jesus? “She has done a good work for Me.”

There are times when it seems as if God watches to see if we will give Him even small gifts of surrender, just to show how genuine our love is for Him. To be surrendered to God is of more value than our personal holiness. Concern over our personal holiness causes us to focus our eyes on ourselves, and we become overly concerned about the way we walk and talk and look, out of fear of offending God. “. . . but perfect love casts out fear . . .” once we are surrendered to God (1 John 4:18). We should quit asking ourselves, “Am I of any use?” and accept the truth that we really are not of much use to Him. The issue is never of being of use, but of being of value to God Himself. Once we are totally surrendered to God, He will work through us all the time.

- My Utmost For His Highest

Ahh, Valentines Day

2011-02-15T10:58:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day!

In the spirit of said day and love and mush and hearts and kisses and hugs and such,

I will wax poetic a bit.

I don't know how or where it started but John and I have started sayings things like,

"I love doing life with you"

Its a great blessing to be going through the 'day-by-day' with someone beside you.

Doing the thang, the nitty gritty, the daily grind.

Flowers, chocolate, even jewelry are all nice to receive. But they are meaningless without the

daily-I-am-in-this-with-you kind of love.

Which means, I will do what is needed with love because we are in this together.

I am in this with you and I am glad!

I will gladly rub your back even though I am tired too.

I will grocery shop and make dinner and do laundry day after day.

I will forgive when this doesn't happen.

I will stop at the store on the way home for milk so that you don't have to go out one more time.

I will not snap at you.

I will forgive you for snapping.

I will smile at you, even when I don't feel like smiling.

I will hug you even when you are sick or grumpy or aren't feeling beautiful.

I will pay the bills.

I will think the best of you and speak the best about you.

I will jump in and make dinner because you aren't feeling well.

I will get up at the crack of dawn and go to work.

I will go to work day after day and even Saturdays.

I will help with the kids because I love them and I love you.

I will stay in it with you and work with you to get through the rough times.

These are just some of ours, everyone has their own daily life things to do together

with and for each other to show love.

I love my husband.

He is so good at loving me.

Here's to another Valentine's Day, hope yours is sweet!

SIDE-NOTE:

Phoebe has some friends who are living with broken families. She asked me what would happen if her daddy and I got divorced. She said it would be really sad, she would be really sad. Thankfully, I was able to assure her that we will never get a divorce. We have been through enough to know that if we weren't going to stay in this it would have already happened. Not that there won't be more rough times ahead but we are ...in it to win it. :) So I was able to tell Phoebe without an ounce of doubt, we will not divorce. A week later she brought it up one more time and said, I know you are not going to divorce, but I am just saying, if you did, I would cry like heck forever.

I know, baby... I know.

Thank You, Lord for teaching us how to love. Thank You that we love because You loved us first.

Thank You for giving us strength.

In Jesus' name, Amen.

This -N- That

2011-02-13T15:34:00.000-08:00

Ellie is watching some football with her Daddy.

So dang cute.

The boys are trying to break up the ice and clear the way to the drain for the river of runoff.

The girls are decorating Valentine's Boxes.

Betcha they've captured a few hearts, I mean who couldn't love these cuties?

Bravo

2011-02-07T14:56:00.000-08:00

Our sweet, precious beautiful children keep making it onto the honor roll... something to make a deal out of! The thought came to me today, I don't remember ever being on the honor roll. I only recall hating school and usually not doing my best. Skating by...
I told Ellie I am proud of her for being on the Honor Roll and that I didn't remember ever being on it. She said, Oh that's sad...we're smarter than Mommy.
Ah, humility.

Travel

2011-01-28T17:18:00.000-08:00

Plans are being made for our summer trip home... travel.
We went home for Christmas... travel.
My new blog format title... Travel.
John went on a business trip recently...travel.
I finished reading the stories of Aaron, with Moses and the nation of Israel... travel.
I then read the story of Caleb... also involving travel.
I am now reading the story of Amos, a shepherd who learned about the Lord in the fields... he traveled from his home to an idol-worshiping town nearby when the Lord sent him there to prophesy. First he was 'able' to prophesy against the enemies of the Lord in their land, but then he had to prophesy against his own, because the Lord's people were worshiping as the other nations did and sinning against the Lord.
As we travel through this life on earth, we must remember we are here for a reason and God seeks for those who love Him. I get caught up and distracted by the daily things. I read about the wrath of God on those who sin against Him and remember this is the same God I sit down with in the mornings a ~~little~~ lot too casually with my coffee on my comfy couch. I read about Amos, Aaron, Caleb on their face before Almighty God and I know I do not have that kind of awe and fear of the Lord.
I loved the study we did a couple of years ago on Daniel. Grasping the tip of understanding that we are Sojourners in this land. Traveling through... on our way home. Traveling used to be easy for me. I didn't even give it a second thought as our family of 6 flies down the highway 80 miles an hour for 13 hours to get to our family. Now I work not to stress and worry about the roads and the other drivers on the road. I have never prayed so diligently as this last trip we took home at Christmas. Thanking God for clear roads when they were clear, thanking Him that He went before and behind us, that He had His hand on us, that He gave my husband wisdom and alertness while driving and guide me while I was driving. Praying for the other drivers and thanking Him over and over for His protection. This should be my frame of mind for our daily life! It is equally dangerous on both a spiritual level and physical! If I am not thinking about the Lord, then I do not think of Him, if I am thinking on the Lord, then I think of Him! Profound, I know!

In reading Sons of Encouragement, by Francine Rivers, I learned about recognizing our own failings and having humility before the Lord. These men were on their face before the Lord. And they failed and desired to follow more closely. We are so easily led astray. I pray if I recognize this about myself, I will be more diligent to keep my eyes on Him. As I travel. May my journey bring delight to my Shepherd.

Ramblings...( sorry, this one is just kind of a journal entry or something!)

2010-11-25T20:40:00.000-08:00

Well, it has happened... Ellie has asked when we are getting out the Christmas decorations. :) I am hoping and planning for next weekend. I do think Thanksgiving weekend is a perfect weekend to decorate for Christmas. ;0 Nate went out and dug up the Christmas music the other day, so we are getting in the spirit around here! :)

My lesson learned for the moment is cute don't cut it in below zero weather. I gave up on two pairs of cheap boots from last year and am wearing my Seriously- for-Snow boots, they keep my feet dry and they keep my up on my feet! Yes, last year I either had wet feet, once the snow soaked through, or I fell on my hiney..a few times or did one of those body convulsions to try to keep from falling, which get your adrenaline pumping like crazy! Not in a fun way! Funny to watch by those around me probably though! And no more colored gloves that match my coat or scarf, but now some heavy, lined, faux-leather gloves that keep my hands warm!! And a hat! Very little concern for messed up hair! Just protection from the weather. My hat doesn't match anything. My gloves don't match my scarf and are not cute. My scarf doesn't match, and nothing matches my coat. But I don't care! Lord, thank you for releasing me from my vanities! :)

So, Sunday I finally made it out to the garage to go though some boxes that John had strategically put in my parking spot so that I would have to tend to them to be able to park there. Did I take care of it in a timely fashion during the nice weather when I could have the garage door open and breathe the fresh air while I worked and long before the cold hit so that there would be no delay in parking in the garage as soon as the snow fell???? No. No. Of course, no. I procrastinated and had to survive a week of snow and hear forecasts of below zero weather to be encouraged to move this task to the top of my priority list. I had to bundle up and be practically dragged out there by my husband. But now it is done. And I got to park in the garage Sunday night. Whew.

The boxes, you ask? What was in the boxes? Well, I'll tell you...( The boxes that I mentioned were in my spot in the garage, in case you didn't follow that lovely transition:) The boxes had a bunch of home-school materials in them... I loved home schooling my kids... it wasn't always easy...in fact, I don't think it ever was easy, but I loved it. Not the schooling part, because 99% of the time they didn't want to 'do school'. But having them home with me and knowing, for the most part, what was going into their precious minds. And having them with me, I love that. So we haven't home-schooled here the last 3 years, and that is what we needed to do. God is so good to teach us what we need. And He is so good at loving us as He does. And now, it seems He is going to let me home-school again for a bit. We are planning to home-school the girls for the next couple of years. It is just a time for drawing them close and strengthening our bonds. I am so excited! I am making plans in my heart to do some fun things with my precious daughters and I can't wait for next year. Our home schooling in the past was just the basics, I would hear about moms doing extras and fun stuff and feel bad but I just didn't have it in me at the time. But now, I am daydreaming about our time together for the next year(s), I don't know how long it will be for, but it is going to be good. :) I plan to tell the girls closer to the end of this school year, when the time is right for them to receive it. When I was sorting the home school boxes, Ellie was out there, having fun going through stuff with me and getting excited about some of the things she saw. So I am praying for her response and timing in telling her. She is my social-butterfly, so we will have to stay on top of that, and some of the fun things I have in mind are for her. Phoebe, I think, will be excited and I don't really worry about telling her.
Maybe we will start a blog about it when we start. :)

Thank You, Lord, for how You teach us, grow us, Love us. You alone are able. Praise You. and worthy. Amen.

PHuzzbucket

2010-11-18T04:51:00.000-08:00

Phoebe, Oh Phoebe.
Thank you, Lord, for Phoebe. How I love her and how amazing she is to me. One of my precious, Fantastic Four. Lord, you have so abundantly blessed me.

Here are couple of Phuzzbucket stories for you. The other morning her breakfast was ready and I called out from the kitchen, PHUZZBUCKET- And she called out, Ya, Mom? I said, I love that you just answered to Phuzzbucket!

Another morning story; John was feeling...somewhat...irritated? or...less than warm fuzzies toward the afore mentioned Fantastic Four, and I was trying to endear them to him again, I called them 'the fruit of his loins'. hehe. yah. Phoebe made the funniest wrinkled up nose face and asked, What are loins!? Laughing, laughing, laughing.

Phoebe has been having nightmares, yesterday morning she ended up in our bed and I said try to have one more good dream before its time to wake up. So later, she told me she had a dream that I was having another baby. I said, Oh good, you did have a good dream! She asked, So you want to have another baby? I answered, Sure, if God gives me one. ..

.*bunnytrail* Is it just me or does anyone else look longingly at the isles of babystuff. I even sighed when I caught a glimpse of the pregnancy tests last night at the store! How silly! But, yes, I do long... However, the next instant I enjoy my Fantastic Four being the ages they are and we run here and there in no time and leave them at home at times, while we run somewhere. I am enjoying this stage of our life. But, oh to hold and snuggle a baby again.... **Anyway~

Oh, here is another one- She has a cute winter hat that says, 'Cute, but Dangerous' on it. Yesterday morning, she was wearing and pointing to the words and 'reading' it to me. Then she asked if she had pointed to the words right, because it was on her head. I told her she had actually pointed to them backwards, and she without thinking, read it the way it would have read backwards.
'Cute. Dangerous but!' Then 'dangerous butt' sunk in and her eyes got big and she covered her mouth with her hand. And Jacob says, Now that's true about her! More laughing... :) Yes, yes, we do wonder and pray for the precious man that will be her husband, he is going to be something else. Which is the Phoebe-phrase John has used several times in the last couple of days.

Thank you, Lord, I love them more and more. And only because You loved us first. How wonderful You are.

Oh, there is much more to tell, but I must go and ready for the day. *sigh*
Have a lovely day.
xo~

delicious love

2010-09-19T20:18:00.000-07:00

what do you LOVE?
I love my babies' sweet faces. I love their hugs. I love it when they make me laugh. I love it when they laugh and so much when they are having fun with each other. I still love how they smell after a bath/shower. (but that isn't really a hard one, haha) I love it when all my babies are in my house with me, and even better when their Daddy is here too. I love that Nate has found that he loves and is good at piano. Thanks in big part to some generous friends who gave him free lessons his first few years. I also love that he knows who he is and has self-confidence like I never had. I love it when they are brave, let's face it when they are more brave than me, which isn't hard at all. I love these busy days of running boys to football, and band practice, and girls to birthday parties and piano lessons. I am thriving in the very schedule I thought would drown me other years. Thank You, Lord.

I love that Nate is going to get his braces on next month and finally be on his way to a straightened out smile that he isn't self-conscious of. And I love his grandparents for helping us with that. I love that Phoebe loves to practice piano and her teacher said she is taking to it very easily and will probably be a natural, like Nate. I love, love listening to Nate play piano. I love my oven after the cleaning cycle. I love making dinner, once I have figured out what I am making. I love the music up loud. I love trusting the Lord with my children and not having to worry because He loves them abundantly and perfectly. I love when I finally find the outfit that is 'me'. I love opening up the coffee shop and giving people their coffee and a smile! I love to daydream about the future and how things will be when I am old...er. :)
I love knowing my husband and I will never divorce. I love talking to my sister, mom, sister in law, and mother in law on the phone. I love when my husband talks to his brothers on the phone. I love getting together with a friend and praying and hugging and talking and laughing. I love having people over to our house. I love getting a room made over and finished off. I love drawing house plans and daydreaming about having a house just outside of town with a little land around us to play on and plant on. I love that Nate will take driver's ed this very year! I love how God has taught us and grown us and stretched us and blessed us. I love watching my kids read. I love having women come to bible study and praying for them and hoping to encourage them and scootch them just that much closer to our sweet, great God. I love listening to our baptist preacher get all worked up over the Word and our awesome God and His love for us.

I love listening to my husband and our dear friend lead us in worship with their voice and guitar. I love when my punkins measure themselves up against me, they are growing and that is good! Praise God! I love hearing them sing in church!!! I love waking up to the aroma of coffee and getting up before anyone else to have a cup with my Jesus and His Word. I love to pray for my babies. I love making my kids or my husband laugh! I love to get a workout in. I love a corny, happy ending. I love reading my friends' blogs.

And I love going to bed early! I love lavender. I love my special blanket. I love homemade soap. I love to read. And I love ...love!

Motherhood: It's not for the weak.

2010-08-30T09:52:00.000-07:00

Don't get me wrong,

I am not claiming to be strong. But I can tell you, my God is, praise Him.

Motherhood has about done me in about... a gazillion times, yep, about exactly a gazillion times. Thankfully, over time my good and sovereign God has ground away more and more of me and begun to work me over into a shape more resembling the me He intended, a me that looks more like Him, praise Him!

Truthfully, I could not have gotten this far without Him, and almost didn't! In spite of me, He has been faithful to bring us along to the most wonderful we have been yet! He keeps growing us and removing uglies and healing yuckies (official mama terms) and growing loveliness and beauty in each of us.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I only ever wanted to be a mama. When my friends were talking about college and what they were gonna be when they 'grew up', I kinda would panic inside, I only wanted to get married and have me some babies! Well, thankfully God had the same plan b/c soon I was knee deep in my 'dream', only it isn't all snuggles and nuzzles, baby!!!

If not for grace and a merciful, faithful God, me, my kiddos, and my husband would have been a monumental mess by now! But we aren't! Yay!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So this morning, I got up out of bed, knelt down with my cup of coffee and thanked my God for these and prayed for them. Then, later, after a great morning and a prayer for them all from their Daddy, I kissed my oldest baby good-bye and he smiled, laughed, walked off to high school. My second born son, I reminded to be a warrior against evil and FOR good! He said, Mhm, and took his cute freckled face off to 6th grade with a bounce in his step. Oldest daughter had already spied her friends and run ahead to join them, her eyes twinkling and all lit up in a new first day of school outfit. And the youngest, holds my hand and off she and I walk to her school. She stays close, asks a few times if I am going to stay with her and walk in to her class with her. She hugs me and hugs me again, and I hug her right back, holding on tight to this moment that will not stay. Well I think this is the way it goes, the youngest tugs at my heart, not because you love your youngest any more than the others, may it never be! But the youngest... I don't know what it is, just the ending of times and things, the last first tooth lost, the last first day of kindergarten, the last... the Last. And as I dab the tears from the corners of my eyes, holding back tears and unable to speak for my heart in my throat, my only consolation, the only thing that lifts the heaviness from my chest and gives my breath back, is this; my God is with them. He goes with them, He has plans for these and loves them spectacularly more than I am able. Hallelujah. I can kiss my baby good-bye, after walking her into her 2nd grade class and leave her there, among all those people who don't love her as much I do, because I know her God loves her more. Whew!

The things a mother's heart has to go through! And it has just begun for me. All my heart has had to do is leave my babies at school, my friends hearts have had to watch their children go through hard stuff! How do you watch your baby have their heart wounded or experience loss or rebellion! Ugh.

He prepares me with this:

"Be patient, therefore brethren, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains. You too be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.' James 5:7-8

Patience, until my precious produce receive their early and late rains. Strengthen my heart... this is a repeated theme, something we are to do. Strengthen our hearts. So today, when I have kissed my babies and left them and I struggle to hold it together, He reminds me to strengthen me heart, for He is with them!

He. is. with. them.

And my heart grows a tiny bit stronger, thank You, Lord.

Happy Birthday, Ellie!

2010-08-23T12:18:00.000-07:00

My gorgeous, beautiful baby girl...

Elisha Chloe-Nichole

She is a magical dream. She makes you believe in the gold at the end of the rainbow.

She makes you wonder if unicorns are real.

She sparkles and fairy wings.

There is a twinkle in her eye and her cute perfect little nose crinkles when she laughs, especially when its her mischievous giggle.

Butterflies and twinkles.

Pink, Purple, and Glittery.

Thank you, Lord, for this precious gift.

10 years ago today she was born.

I trust You with her, I know You love her even more than I do and You know the plans You have for her, plans for a future and a hope. Thank you for Your perfect love. May she know and love You with all of her heart.

XOXO

My Photo Book Jul 10 2010

2010-08-21T13:42:00.001-07:00

Click here to view this photo book larger

My BABY!

2010-08-12T11:03:00.000-07:00

Dreamy, I think. I get lost in this picture...

This one stole Daddy's heart. And who could resist?!

I had no idea what my amazing God had in store for me when He knit this one together!

She is like nothing I have ever known. I adore her. And she is 8 years old! 8! Eight! How can she be eight? Where has the time gone since I had my fourth baby? Where did that little red-headed baby girl go? Who is the amazing creation of God who measures herself up against me and is almost up to my neck?! She is awesome. She loves horses and wants to live on a ranch when she grows up. She does not like dresses, or skirts, she doesn't even like a skort now and then. She is only into dress-up when the 'dressing up' is into spiderman, cowboy, ninja, etc. She wore a ski-mask yesterday into the store with me. She wants to wear her cowboy boots with everything. She has the temper to match the rumors about red-heads. She loves to snuggle at bedtime. She misses me when I am away from her. She HAS to kiss Daddy good-bye when he leaves. She misses her family. She wants to be with the boys and do what they are doing. She is trying to learn to skateboard, like Jacob. She also wants to learn piano, like Nate.

She recently said to me, she doesn't see how her face is cute. Pierced my heart! Shocking partly because people are always commenting on how cute she is. So we are trying to root that doubt out.

Thanking God for her on her birthday! Wondering what works and good plans God has for her. Can't wait to visit her ranch someday and ride horses with her!

Yesterday she asked me if ranches cost more than a house. Lord, I love her.

Misc...

2010-07-22T13:38:00.000-07:00

So, this is my strainer. Why? You ask? Because my mother used before me and she got it from her mother. You know? We don't have many things like that, I don't think most people do anymore. So, I love it. I use it often and I love to wonder of the stories it could tell of thousands of dinners passed. My mother and grandmother both grasped the handles in the same place I do. My mother ate the very meals that my grandma prepared with it, and my sister and I ate meals that my mother prepared with it. I think it is neat to think about, and, yes, I am surely becoming more and more sentimental as years go by. Ha! My grandma raised 4 children, 2 boys followed by 2 girls, like the family I am raising. I love that!

Here is a cute pic of Pheebs, ready for another summer day of play and friends!

and this is me doodling on my hand, the kind of tattoo I would get... but probably never will. :) It is just a vine with little leaves and a flower. The curling at the bottom says 'jesus' in cursive and after this pic I added the Scripture reference Is 46:19 which says, "Behold I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands." The word for Inscribed actually means something like 'cut into'. Precious words, I think.

My Jacob

2010-07-11T20:51:00.000-07:00

My Jacob.

12 years ago, on July 12, 1998, our son was born.

Here is my first journal entry in his book:

"We didn't know we could love another like we love Nathan. We weren't sure how you could be as cute without looking the same... So much love for you... such an adorable boy! What fun.

You were due July 11th- early the next morning- I was in the early stages of labor- later in the morning we took Nate to Nana and Papa's and went to the hospital - we walked around the halls, sat in the jacuzzi, hard labor came and in late afternoon, 5:29 p.m. you were born!!

Your name was decided on in the delivery room, after you were born. Nana and Mimi were there with Daddy. You have big sweet smiles they show in your eyes too which are blue as the ocean like Nate's and you have a temper to match your hair! :)

So little Cubbie... what will you be like? Will you be a clown? Or a serious one? Will you be tall? Will you like sports? Will you like books like Mommy? What will you enjoy? What will you love? Will your heart be sensitive to God? I pray that it will ...

I love my Little Red..."

I am so thankful for this boy. One journal entry says he is wild at heart and that is true. He is also tender-hearted and loving. I love that God saw fit to bless us with this amazing person. I love to talk with God about him and wonder what things He has for Jacob Anthony McNamara. How much He has done in our lives, my heart, through him. Thank you, Lord.

Phoebe's devo

2010-06-29T12:14:00.000-07:00

Phoebe brought her devotional book out on the porch this morning to read with me and as has happened many times, in the midst of teaching one of my precious children a life lesson, the Lord, ever so sweetly, taps on my very own shoulder and whispers as only He can, "Adrian, are you hearing this?"

And I answer, "Yes, Lord, this is a good one, my child needs this."

And He persists, "Adrian. Are you hearing this?"

Oh. Heh-heh. Umm, yah.

"Adrian, are you hearing this?"

"...yes." (*Speak Lord, for your servant is listening*)

Humbling to find that the lesson you are trying to teach another is actually for you. Mhm. Happens to me all the time.

So, back to this morning, the title was Satan Is A Thief. The Bible Verse: A thief comes to steal and kill and destroy. John 10:10

Yep, heard it. But I didn't hear it.

The next section is Thoughts to Grow On: ..."Jesus gives you three clues to determine if something is from the devil.

1. If it will 'steal' anything of yours, such as your honesty or your innocence, it is of the devil.

2. If it will 'kill' anything of yours, such as your hope or your desire to do good, it is of the devil.

3. If it will 'destroy' anything of yours, such as your good reputation or your faith, it is of the devil.

Satan wants to ruin your life. Jesus wants to bless your life. When you choose Jesus' way, you win a great victory over the devil.

Today: Seek a blessed life in Jesus!

I had not thought about this scripture to this extent! I had just thought of stealing goods, killing life, and destruction of things or buildings. But today, this morning, as Phoebe is reading her 'Early Reader Devotional and Prayer' book aloud to me, I learned more about the enemy's tactics. I love it when He takes a somewhat simple verse, and soaks it fully into my heart. So I will be working on my latest lesson-learned-while-trying-to-teach-my children lesson. Thank You, Lord.

On a spiritual level, beware of the enemy seeking to steal, kill, and destroy. Your honesty, your innocence, your hope, your desire to do good, your good reputation, or your faith.

Satan wants to ruin your life.

Jesus wants to bless your life.

Blessings, love and prayers! XO

A couple o' pics...

2010-06-27T13:45:00.000-07:00

funny.

cute.

Not at the table, Dad.

2010-06-20T12:49:00.000-07:00

Sitting at the table having lunch, and Phoebe says, "Mama, I don't really feel like chips, can I put these back?"
Daddy says, "You don't look like chips, Phoebe."
Ooo, corny-dad-joke.
Phoebe says, "Oh, Dad, not at the table."

Ha.

And here are some Father's Day pics! Enjoy!

Traditional breakfast in bed.

Stack o' pancakes!

Sweet, huh.

Here they are again! :)

and, bonus, a pic of L.E.

How do you choose what you're wearing for the day???

2010-06-13T08:15:00.000-07:00

I was helping Phoebe get dressed this morning and I picked up a cute little brown skort, looks like a skirt but has shorts underneath.
She groaned, is that a skort?
Me: Yes, but lets just try it on and see.
Phoebe: Usually I can't lift my leg very high with a skort, Mama, how I test the skort is if I can lift my leg up.
Me: (laughing) Why do you choose by how high you can lift your leg? What are you doing? Peeing on a tree?(sorry MomMom, hang in there it gets better!)
Phoebe: No! To see if I can lift my leg high enough to get on a horse.
Me: OOoooooh, of course. To see if you can get on a horse.

*HOW AWESOME IS THAT?! Making sure her clothing doesn't hinder getting on a horse! A horse!

Um, dear Phoebe, we...don't...HAVE...a horse. I'm sorry. I love you. Don't worry, you can change out of the skort after church and put on something more appropriate for horse-riding. Love, Mama. xo

...a title...what to title....title...hmm.....

2010-06-11T10:13:00.000-07:00

First Softball Game-
Oh my, where to start for you...
Ellie and Phoebe are on a softball team together this year. First year. 6-9 year old girls, I think was the age range I overheard a woman say tonight. 6-9 year old. girls.
Some of these girls knew what they were doing. sort of. You know, they had played before and could get a hit when it was pitched right to them. Others...(my adorable daughters) swung at almost anything, barely swung, and needless to say, struck out. They are just starting out and giving the game a try. They get 3 pitches by a player and 2 from the coach. Each of them. Which is most of them, like I said, a few of them could get a hit. And most hits were either out of bounds or right in the very, very in-field. So the first time in from the outfield, Phoebe came over and I was talking to her about keeping her mit on her hand and watching the ball game. Yes, yes, mom, I am... Did you see the horses?! I said, horses? No, I did not see the horses. Oh Boy. 2 hours later, is all I am going to say. 2 Hours. First game. Part of the time I amused myself imagining how the 4 men coaching were handling it. I didn't see any signs of impatience or anything, I just wondered if any of them were pondering knocking themselves unconscious with one of those baseball bats. Ha-ha.
It will be ~~fun~~ interesting to see how things progress over the next few weeks. :) Anyway, John had to work and I didn't know any other parents very well, or at all, so I just sat there. Did I mention it was for 2 hours? Yep, 2 hours. I texted my sister and mom a bit and told them I wished they were there! And I did! I wished someone were there with me to... enjoy the game with me... for 2 hours. And I do get the people who bring their own chairs... and bags of things to do.... for 2 hours. :)heehee Okay, I am kidding, a little. Ellie actually asked between innings at one point, Mom are you bored? Whenever I look at you you are just sitting there with your head on your hands. I told her I was just peacefully watching. Which is true. It was interesting to 'people watch' and 'people listen' and just relax. (although, again, not loving the bleachers). for 2 hours. Ha-haaa

"your patience possess your souls" Luke 21:19

2010-05-20T07:09:00.000-07:00

I love My Utmost for His Highest and today's really struck me, so I am cut-n-pasting it here:

"your patience possess your souls" Luke 21:19

When a person is born again, there is a period of time when he does not have the same vitality in his thinking or reasoning that he previously had. We must learn to express this new life within us, which comes by forming the mind of Christ (see Philippians 2:5 ). Luke 21:19 means that we take possession of our souls through patience. But many of us prefer to stay at the entrance to the Christian life, instead of going on to create and build our soul in accordance with the new life God has placed within us. We fail because we are ignorant of the way God has made us, and we blame things on the devil that are actually the result of our own undisciplined natures. Just think what we could be when we are awakened to the truth!

There are certain things in life that we need not pray about— moods, for instance. We will never get rid of moodiness by praying, but we will by kicking it out of our lives. Moods nearly always are rooted in some physical circumstance, not in our true inner self. It is a continual struggle not to listen to the moods which arise as a result of our physical condition, but we must never submit to them for a second. We have to pick ourselves up by the back of the neck and shake ourselves; then we will find that we can do what we believed we were unable to do. The problem that most of us are cursed with is simply that we won’t. The Christian life is one of spiritual courage and determination lived out in our flesh.

Rescued into Jesus' arms...

2010-05-09T16:07:00.000-07:00

...deep sigh...
One of the sweetest, most lovely of Jesus' servants has died. And though I cannot speak of her without tears, my heart is both sad and relieved. Her rescue from this world, while a relief from the pain of cancer attacking her body, is a great loss to the people living on the Earth still.
This post is like a journal entry for me, I guess, I just need to let all the thoughts out of my heart on this one.
Sandy. She owned the Bible book store in town, The Lighthouse. And at the back of the store she had another business, Hair Success. She was a beautician. So when we needed a book or cd, we went there and when we needed a haircut, we went to Sandy.
It was one of the charms of this small town. She was one of the charms of this small town. A sweet, christian woman giving encouragement, haircuts, and love. Not just sweet people that you know love, but the love of Jesus radiated out of this woman. We fell in love with her the first time we got our haircut there. She is true one. Know what I mean? T.r.u.e. Real. Authentic. Beautiful. An amazing reflection of Jesus. Have you met people like that? They are amazing. Please, Lord, make me like you. When I grow up, I want to be like Jesus.
Not long ago she found out she had cancer. She went through treatments, still working. She stopped treatments, still working. She was in pain, still working. One of the last couple of times we went in, when we were getting ready to leave she spoke some precious, heart-rending words of encouragement over me. She spoke sweet words over me?! Shouldn't I be speaking encouragement to her? She had to sit down in the middle of the haircuts to rest! A.mazing. Strength. Strength of Christ. She never complained. Always smiled.
I WANT TO BE LIKE THAT!
Sorry, I want this to be about her. But, Lord, make me like You! When you meet someone who loves and adores their Savior and His love emanates from them, your inadequacies are glaringly evident. I heard a teaching on the scripture of Jacob wrestling with the Lord, and how he had finally learned not to run away or lie his way out of difficult situations, but he held onto the Lord until he received the blessing. This is where we need to strive to be, go to the Lord and hold on until you get the thing right! Wrestle with the Lord until you get it! Hang on until He changes you and you grow closer to Him and better for it! Lord! Lord...I pray.

Thank You for blessing me with meeting your beautiful servant Sandy.

I know that You love her abundantly and when she came into your presence You spoke those beautiful words that we long to hear,

'Well done, good and faithful servant.'

Oh Lord, those words...

I thank You again for the lessons of the bible study on Daniel and the understanding of Your delivering us from the 'fires', either by keeping us from it, or bringing us through it or blessedly taking us by it. Your sweet daughter Sandy... You longed to bring her home and finally you were able to wait no longer.

You rescued her. I love You for it.

And meanwhile,we are the worse for the wear, we will have her no longer, and oh, my, what a great loss. But we had her and were loved by You through her. May we be better for knowing her, in remembering, she will continue to inspire us to shine our light in the darkness as she did while she was here. And one glorious day we hug on her again, when we finally, blessedly get our call into Your arms, out of this world.
Thank You, Jesus.

New pics

2010-05-01T19:24:00.000-07:00

Here is a beautiful close-up of Phoebe's nother lost tooth!

Scrumptious!

~Goodness, my heart is all tangled up in these four! ~

Such a young man.

So proud of him! XO Nate!

And this one... about to really grow up on me. Holy cuteness, Batman! And really a wonder to know!

I got one!

2010-04-27T13:40:00.000-07:00

(In above pic, Phoebe is holding her egg-drop project. AS YOU CAN SEE SHE ALSO JUST LOST ANOTHER TOOTH! ISN'T SHE SO DANG CUTE!?! yes, her boiled egg survived the toss off of the roof... in case you were wondering!)

I have been seriously considering closing up my blog. I actually have pretty much already decided to, but first I have to save my pennies b/c I found a site that prints the blog out for you in a book! Which I am really excited about, but it will need to broken up into 2-3 books since I have had it for a couple of years now! :)

Anyway, I just don't usually think of things to blog about and if I do, I don't have time. Or I put it in abbreviated form on FB and that takes care of it. But today I was looking through the piles of papers brought home from school by my sweets, and came across a Synonym paper of Phoebe's. I thought you would enjoy it (though you'll have to understand some spelling, though that is what makes the last one so funny!)

My Synonym Book, by P.M.
DaD-DaDDy
freezing-cold
lite-brite
mom-mommy
yell-screm
alike-same
beautiful-prity
sad-unhappy
angry-maid
I love the last one because I think, at least I have, at times felt angry about being the maid, even though she meant 'mad'. Its one of those funny mis-spellings. Thankfully, I am rarely a 'mad maid' anymore, God has sweetly taught me to be so thankful for the people making the mess that I don't mind cleaning up the mess hardly at all! And I have heard that one day my house will be empty of people and then I will long for these messy days again. So there. In Jesus' name, Amen.*
My friend, Michelle, said that her daughter always ends her prayers with 'In Jesus' name, Amen.' and she accidentally ended a message she left on someone's phone that way. I love it!

Love you! In Jesus' name, Amen!

The girls have cut another apron string (feels like a heart string to me, sniff, sniff, why is it you want them to grow up but you cry when they do? mothering is such sweet sorrow... anyway) and they are walking to and from school. Jacob walks with them a few blocks until their directions change and here is another wonder to me, Jacob came home the other day and said, "Mom, you need to tell me when the girls aren't walking home after school because I wait for them." Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle! I had picked up the girls that day and run to the grocery store and he had stood at the corner they meet at waiting for them! (*insert more motherly sniffling here*) They are all growing more responsible for each other and it is a sweet thing to watch. Ellie came home the first day that she and Phoebe walked home together and said it had felt good to her to make sure Phoebe got home all right. It made her feel more responsible.

Well, Hallelujah!

Lord, I love these sweeties.

In Jesus' name, Amen!

(tugs at your heart, don't it)

T.M.I.

2010-04-14T18:33:00.000-07:00

Just warning ya!
The other night, Nate and John were in the living room and I called John into the kitchen, requesting help opening cans. He came in, I was cooking at the stove, and he cozied up to me. Before he moved on to the task at hand, Nate came into the kitchen and said, "That doesn't look like opening cans, unless its a metaphor for something that I don't want to know about."
Yep, he went there. And as hard as I was laughing, at the same time astonished that he made a joke of that nature! To us, about us. Hm. And ha!
Oh, my. OH, MY!
Take care! (and... hope you get to ....open some cans. ;-)

Happy Birthday DadDad

2010-02-21T16:33:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to our family patriarch! (ooooo!)

He is quite the man.

Strong, gentle,

wise,

quick to smile,

great laugh,

always ready with a lap for a grandchild,

adored by those that know him!

A man of character.

Such a great example.

Always has a fun idea and smile and laugh for Jacob.

"He's a funny Grandpa" ~Phoebe

Sweet, and he always makes me laugh, and he loves us, and he's a fun grandpa. ~L.E.

Nice, fun, supportive, loving. ~Nathan

We love you, DadDad.

Have a super birthday.

We miss you so much!
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Life Lessons and Love

2010-02-20T10:22:00.000-08:00

http://www.incourage.me/2010/02/a-few-words-about-motherhood.html

Above post brought tears to my eyes, because of the truth I read there about me.
Motherhood has been so good for me. (Good for changing me!)
God is so good and has been so gracious to me.
I love my God and my children... and my journey. (and my mother in law, who said to me at one of the many times in my mothering when I cried over another failure, she said something to this effect, hm... so you're not perfect. In her ever-loving, gentle way, which cannot be expressed here, on-screen, in type, she was saying saying to me,

"yes- you will make mistakes. It is ok. God's grace is enough for you as well. You have not ruined your children. Forgiven and covered in grace."

Whoa. Wow.)

Prayers and blessings to you today!

i love these gorgeous children

and this man who made them with me!

Happy HEART Day!

2010-02-11T08:25:00.000-08:00

As Valentine's Day approaches, class lists come home from school, papers turn shades of red and pink. Hearts pop up in stores and ads, love becomes the topic of blog posts and devotionals, etc. My mind flits around ideas of how to show those that I love, that I love them.

I should make something yummy (and red?) for them on Sunday.

Should John and I plan to go out (No, but it is Valentine's Day)?

What in the world should I give him(Is he going to get me something? He should not but he probably will)?

I need to buy the kids Valentines to fill out tonight and send with them tomorrow for school parties.

I blew it on sending Valentines to our precious family (I'm sorry, we SO LOVE YOU!).

We have been giving the kids Valentines, me to the boys and John to the girls. It stems from a precious memory in my life, my Dad has, from way back, I don't when, how, or why it started, but he gives my sister and I a Valentine each year. Its a card, from him, that he signs himself and something from just him to us, chocolate, flowers, a book, one year he gave me beautiful metal hair combs, I have them in the little box he wrote on and gave them in. Even after we got married, he has continued to give us Valentines and they mean a lot to us. There is just something about a gift from your Dad.

I have read that the love from a Father to a daughter can either 'make you or break you', its true. And then you flourish or persevere and overcome and heal.

It is to be a picture of the love we receive from God our Father. It is a big responsibility.

......

I started out intending to make this our Valentine to our family.... I got side-tracked. :)

Here is what I would LIKE to send you. My sweet little cherubs and I sit down with piles of red and pink paper and scissors and glue and MAKE you some lovely, not perfect, just lovely, as in a precious, lovingly- crafted- together- by- a- child/person- that- loves- you- kind- of- lovely, Valentine. But...

...this is going to have to do this year. We do so love you, our dear family and friends!

see! We do! :)

XOXO

"If I speak in the tongues of men and angels,
but do not have LOVE,
I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
And if I have prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge;
and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains,
but do not have LOVE,
I am nothing.
And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I deliver my body to be burned,
but do not have LOVE,
it benefits me not.
LOVE is patient,
LOVE is kind,
is not jealous;
LOVE does not brag
and is not arrogant,
does not act unbecomingly;
it does not seek its own,
is not provoked,
does not take into account a wrong suffered,
does not rejoice in unrighteousness,
but rejoices with the truth;
bears all things,
believes all things,
hopes all things,
endures all things.
LOVE never fails;"
I Corinthians 13:1-8a

Happy 40th Anniversary!

2010-02-04T19:26:00.000-08:00

Brenda and Steve McNamara...

married 40 years ago today.

Congrats!
Love you so much!

A Birthday

2010-02-03T08:21:00.000-08:00

Today is my husband's mom's birthday. She is my children's Gran. She is my mother-in-law, my MomMom, my friend. And many other precious names to many other people!

My heart aches as I begin to put words together in my mind for this post... how can I describe the beauty of this woman to you??

We love her so much and we are secure in her love for us. She leaves no doubt in our hearts of her abounding love for us.

I cannot find mere words to do her justice...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lord, thank you for this woman. Thank You that You loved her first and so she loves... and loves, and loves. How beautiful she is, You well know, for You are as enraptured by her as we are, indeed even more so, I am sure.

Thank You for her life, on this day, celebrating her birth. How many people You have touched through her, only You know. We are blessed. Blessed.

B-l-e-s-s-e-d.

Happy Birthday Dear Gran-MomMom!

XOXO

Babies and such...

2010-01-23T20:00:00.000-08:00

Nate and I and 'our' babies. haha.

The dear friends that I have been babysitting for had their second child and I have been getting some baby time with little Alex for a bit while his big sister, Aliese, gets some time with Mommy to herself, which is always good. Aliese will be two in February and I started watching her a couple of days a week, two years ago, when Amber went back to work after maternity leave. Alex was born on Thanksgiving last and Amber's maternity leave will be up the end of February and I will get to have Alex and Aliese two days a week.

Nate's 'babies' are the d-o-g-s. We have to spell it because Daisy, our pug, doesn't believe she is a d-o-g and gets her feelings hurt when we call her one. Lola, the pug/beagle mix next to her, has been with us for a couple of weeks and seems to be fitting into the fam fairly well.

Jacob is an imaginative, building machine! Not only does he build the kits to 'code' as per the directions, but he can build even better creations all on his own! Almost every weekend, he comes up with some great thing he has built out of his own imagination with legos or lego bionicle. Great stuff. He is amazing. He is also full of mischief lately and pulling quite the pranks! He pickpockets Nate's phone from him. The other day, Nate thought he caught Jacob trying to GET his phone from him, but actually he caught Jacob putting it BACK! He had swiped it, TOOK OUT THE BATTERY, and was slipping it back into Nate's pocket! He is quite hilarious!

And I have to tell you this great story about Miss ELL. She is our girly-girl for lack of a better way to put it. She loves Pretty.

When she was about two years old, I thought I would go off my rocker, because all she wanted to wear every day was a pretty dress that swung out when she twirled. She would not agree to wear it until she twirled to see if it did what she wanted.

Now, when Gran was here, we thought it would be fun to give her a foot massage/soak/pedicure. Ellie was very excited about the idea....until,

it came time to rub Gran's feet.

Now, Gran has some of the purdiest feet I've seen, this is by no means an unpleasant task!

But our Ellie-girl had a bit of a struggle with it and wasn't quiet about it!

Sweet Gran, thankfully, was able to take it in stride and Ellie 'got through it'. Ha!

Maybe someday when she buys a professional pedicure she'll give the sweet thing an extra tip!

Ah, life lessons....

I love my chil'ns!

Latest...

2010-01-10T18:56:00.000-08:00

This is Lola, she is a pug/beagle mix. We are giving her a try.

AND PHOEBE LOST A TOOTH! AND she did it all by herself!

Cutie-pants huh.

Mama Says... (I loved this and cut and paste it from my sista-friend, Vicki!)

2010-01-04T16:02:00.000-08:00

You get what you get and you don't throw a fit!

Pretty is as pretty does.

Clean as you go!

Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without!

BE SWEET!

Don't say anything you wouldn't want said about yourself.

Be a peacemaker!

Pray about it.

Keep looking, it is around here somewhere.

Treat others the way you want to be treated. (the golden rule)

Get a Kleenex!

Wash your hands!

Wear socks or your feet will stink!

Maybe for Christmas or your birthday.

We give, don't take.

Time for a ten-minute tidy.

Thank you Lord!

Did you brush your teeth?

Is everyone buckled?

Did you know Jesus' first miracle was water into wine.

Let's Pray...

Goings On

2009-12-17T09:47:00.000-08:00

Here is the wondrous tree Phoebe picked out! She did a great job, didn't she!

I have been craving my mama's fudge for about 3-4 years, since we moved away! So finally, I feel inspired to cook, bake, and make since it the season for goodies! My mama's fudge is my fav and my first attempt at the recipe was a success! Nate helped! Yay! Thanks, Mom!

Not so easy to get a good pic of the magic of a decorated, lit up Christmas tree. I personally, like the fuzzy pic better. Don't you?

See below if you are a detail person. :) haha

Happy Birthday, Natey! (*updated 12/17/09)

2009-12-08T14:00:00.000-08:00

More to come...

I need to scan a few. But just look at him!

In lieu of 14 regular stick candles, I used a little creativity (certainly not b/c upon getting ready to light and sing, I dig through entire cupboard and drawer to find I have no little box of stick candles!) and used the "Its the Big 1" candle from when Nate turned One! Plus a "3" candle and one little stick candle!! What?! It was fine! Besides the cake was yummy, and we sang and he blew out some fire! OK?! :)

Touches my heart

2009-12-02T07:14:00.000-08:00

The following is an excerpt from the very beautiful end of my Esther Bible study by Beth Moore. I did this study on my own this summer and I loved it. I have been very in love with Esther's story since my dear friend, Bethany, gave me a novelized version of the story to read called Hadassah, One Night with The King, by Tommy Tenney. This ending in my workbook absolutely chokes me up every time I read it. I want to live my life so that the telling of my story is honoring to my Storyteller. Lord, help me...

One day on the hillside of the new Jerusalem, surrounded by a crowd of glad hearers, the divine Narrator will tell the story of one young woman’s life. It will not be Esther’s. It will not be your teacher’s. It will be yours.

The story will begin something like this: “Once upon a time, in the days of the great and glorious Jesus, King of the vast empire of heaven and earth, there was a little girl who thought she was forgotten. Her name was Adrian but the King called her Beloved. This is the story of how she won His favor.” And with all the drama and emotion a great storyteller can muster, the Rabbi will read the congregation your whole Megillah. The listeners will groan. Bite their nails with suspense. It will be a raucous affair. With every mention of the villain’s name, the crowd will heckle and jeer. Then at the height of the story, when hope seems lost and her life and loves most threatened, He will say these words to the crowd:

“But if only she’d known, she had come to royal position for such a time as this!” By faith alone, to her face she will fall… then to her feet she will rise, ready to do what deliverance demands. Then the Rabbi will quote her resolve: “And if I perish, I perish” and the crowds will stand and cheer! For what if she does perish? Is that the worst this world’s wicked Haman can threaten? On the day that she does, this is what will happen: She will put on her royal robes and stand in the inner court of the palace, in front of the King’s hall. The King will be sitting on his royal throne in the hall, facing the entrance. When he sees his queen standing in the court, he will be pleased with her and hold out to her the gold scepter that is in his hand (Esth 5:1-2).

And she will approach.

And cast her crown at His feet.

“God rewrote the text of my life when I opened the book of my heart to his eyes. (Ps 18:24, The Message)

P.S.

2009-11-27T13:03:00.000-08:00

P.S. AND then we had some friends over when it was time for dessert! I made Pumpkin Pie and Pecan Pie. It was a great Thanksgiving. The only way it would have been better was if we were able to be with family, but counting our blessings, it was great.

Thankful Thanksgiving Thursday

2009-11-26T14:44:00.000-08:00

Where to start....
Honestly the first few thoughts that formed in my head were;
~waking up this day, warm and comfortable after a good nights rest
~being able to go yesterday WITH my 3 younger children (plus the little punkin I babysit for part of the time) to buy our Thanksgiving Feast. While they wheeled up and down the aisles in their Heelies and grabbed things for me, we found all we 'needed' and just a couple of extras, like Sparkling Cider and cute little Pepperidge Farm GingerPeople!
~And ever so much for my beautiful, wonderful, healthy FOUR children! I am SO blessed by them and LOVE them SO MUCH!!
~And I wouldn't have them with out their Daddy! What a guy. I was telling the girl I worked with yesterday, we are coming up on 17 years this January and its just starting to get really good! Not to say it was bad but it wasn't all pretty, some of it was dang hard. I am thankful for our commitment to our God and our marriage, otherwise we might have been just one of the more common broken marriages, rather than what we are and will continue to be, 'still married'. One of the things that stuck with John in the beginning from marriage counseling or Weekend to Remember, was the goal of giving 100% in the relationship and having an expectation of 0%. Not doing things with the motivation of what you want to get out of it, just to bless the other person and honor the Lord. Ideally, if both are working this way, things go much more smoothly. It took me much longer to soak in this concept than John. Thankfully, he has had much patience and forgiveness for me over the years!
We have much, much, MUCH to be thankful for. One of the things John prays almost every time he prays, is that 'we can't thank Him enough' and its true. We can't. Even if we tried, there are so many things we don't even realize He has done!
Thank You my great God. Thank You.

The girls set the table.

(L.E. made us some place cards)

Give thanks to the Lord for He is good. His love is everlasting!

This is the Bird. I have only made one other turkey and was thus lacking full confidence, however, I am overjoyed to announce (Because I would have hated to ruin a 13# hunk of dinner meat!) it turned out moist and pretty darn tasty! YAY!

I cooked a turkey!

The Man is always ready, willing, and more than able to help in the kitchen. (secret: He is a better cook than I am. Not a secret from my children, they usually ask, did you make this or did Dad? They have to steel themselves for my cooking. :P)

Pics of the some of the people I love and thank my sweet, generous God for.

Phoebe gets the funny Thanksgiving quote. I was talking over with John the menu and he said yes to stuffing and yes, he loves StoveTop (whew!) so I made Stuffing and we had the kids take a taste test, Phoebe tried it and said, 'Mm, this filling is good!'

P.S.The Man cleaned up Thanksgiving dinner for me!!! That's what I'm saying!! :)

Dear Family, We missed you this day so much as we do often. We hope we will be able to sit at the table and feast with you one day again soon. We are so thankful for each and every one of you and pray your health, happiness, joy and peace. You are so beyond precious to us. We look forward to hugging you tightly and kissing your dear cheeks again soon! Love, Love, Love!!

XOXOXOXO

Mom and Dad, Nick, Amy, Madi, Mason

and all of the Mason, Johnson clan!!

Mom and Dad Mc, Jake, Mike, Amber, Isaac, Anna

And all of the McNamara, Barber clan!!

Getting a picture of Nate

2009-11-22T13:17:00.000-08:00

Worth it?

Yes.

However, I think I may have called him a ... something at one point. And had to threaten to have Dad hold him. But there it is.

He went to the store with John and Jacob Saturday, and found his new hat.

Put back a new Wii game to get the hat.

Interesting.

Speaking of Nate, John and I went to his junior high dance Friday night as chaperons. (This is the spelling Spell Check gave me, but it looks weird to me!? OK, I looked it up and that is right, and here is the definition just for fun: any adult present in order to maintain order or propriety at an activity of young people, as at a school dance.

Yes, we were there "to maintain order or propriety" and believe me, it was... interesting. I leaned over and yelled in John's ear at one point, "The girls are not coming to one of these. Ever."

You can hold me to that in about ...4 years, when Ellie is in junior high. Or at least, as I begin to recognize the possible naivety of laying down a law 4 years early, at the very least we will most definitely not have to be asked to chaperon, we will be there.

ANYWAY...

I watched my baby, my firstborn son, dance with a girl, slow dance. Can't really explain how I felt. Surprised, relieved, sad, happy, upset stomach, not really an upset stomach but a definite tightening in my gut.

So, yah, watching your children grow up, while wonderful, is also hard.

Caramel Apples

2009-11-09T15:26:00.000-08:00

Somehow, in our craziness, we didn't get to the pumpkin-carving this year. We were battling illness that week, but anyway... I asked Ellie how it would be if we made caramel apples to make up for not doing the pumpkin thing. She was very excited about that!!

Had to have a silly-face pic! :)

How beautiful is this pic.

Date night for Macky and I! :)

Pics FINALLY!!

2009-10-31T18:52:00.000-07:00

John is dressed in the 'costume' he wears daily... our Hero!!!

We had BEAUTIFUL weather this evening...

adorable Miss Aliese, the Butterfly, came by for some treats!

A random little trick-or-treater said to me, "Are you a Fairy Princess?" I was so overjoyed that she got my costume!!! :)

We had a Ninja with some serious skills,

an adorable dalmatian pup,

and the cutest kitty-cat I have ever seen!!!!

Jacob

got

outside

for

the first time in about a week today. John was piling up some leaves and got the kids out for some pics.

Couple random shots of Nate and Jacob.

And the football pic! Jacob is right there on the end in yellow, his number was 20.

The girls were in a play a few weeks ago. Ellie in orange hair and a yellow romper. And Phoebe was a chameleon.

WHEW!! I feel so much better to have some pics on here again!!! Enjoy!

Stolen...

2009-10-28T19:53:00.000-07:00

I’m going to wake up each morning dedicated to doing my best; and accept that on some days my best will be excellent and on other days my best will be allowing my good enough to be good enough.

I’m going to cover my children in prayer. I’m not going to ever have all the answers. Despite my desire to control my life, I was not given that responsibility. It’s not my job. But I’m on a first name basis with the One who is in charge. And I can call on Him…not just for the answers, but as the Answer.

I’m going to enlist my inner “Mama Bear” to capture, shackle, and kick out every stinking lie that invades my heart. Lies like I’m a failure as a mother; God made a mistake by thinking I could handle this (fill in the blank); and, I’m going to ruin my kids. Once those culprits are vanished, I’m going to plant truth in those empty spaces. Truth such as, I have not been given a spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind – 2 Tim., 1:7; I have been chosen and appointed to bear fruit – John, 15:16; and, I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength – Phil., 4:13.

written by Angela Nazworth, to see post in its entirety visit here: http://www.incourage.me/2009/08/the-question-mark.html

~Yep, I copied and pasted this. It struck me and I want to remember it and read it again. Maybe you will get something from it as well!

Love, Adrian

God Bless!

Nicknames

2009-10-22T09:30:00.000-07:00

Nicknames!

I just realized... I love them!

I surely didn't used to...

remember in school the meany-pants kids who figured out a way to taunt you using your NAME, OF ALL THINGS! I mean this is the lowest... come on, a person's name?! Tease me about my horrible hair, my non-name brand jeans, or the fact that I tripped over nothing! But my name?! I can't do anything about that! My parents picked it! And secretly, I like it! But, I had nothing to do with it! And it won't be forgotten tomorrow like the tripping thing!

I remember vividly 'the incident' in grade school when my name came under attack by the cute, popular (MEAN) boy in school. My middle name is Nichole and my parents nicknamed me Nicki as a baby. So this is what I went by. On the day I was the lucky one to be picked on, he called me... Icky Nicki. Noooooooo... but then I remembered! I have another name! Ha! I replied, It isn't my real name! My name is Adrian! Ha! But the Name-Taunter has a talent. He can rhyme with almost anything!!! If only my name was Orange...

Anyway, he triumphantly, retorts with... Adrian the Alien.

Oh no...

Ah, well...

I like the quote about childhood being what you spend the rest of your life getting over. True story.

And now, years later,

I love nicknames! And I am a Nick-Namer!

I shower my children with nicknames, a new one falls from my lips without warning, almost every day!

Sickening example: When Nate was born, we baby-talked to him. Frightening, isn't it? Have you heard people or yourself talk like this? It is very... laughable. But in the privacy of our own home we did baby-talk to him. There. Confessed. So, 'Nathan' became 'Naffin', which then became 'Finners.' Cute, huh?!! Ha!

Then when we named our second son, Jacob, he had an uncle already nicknamed Jake, so I started calling our baby 'Cub', 'Cubbie,' which becomes

'Cubbie Wubbie was a Bear!'

Nicknames that fly around our house:

Cookie, Jammie, JellyBean, Zoobah, Macky, Natey, Tater, Punkin head,

La-la, Pheebs.

Good stuff, huh!
And the best ones of late:

Ciabatta and Wasabi!

HA-HA!

Wanna share your nicknames???

~Butterfly~

2009-10-10T13:57:00.000-07:00

These are the things I'm thinking of today (and Google-searching)...

I love the verse in 2 Corinthians 5:17 about being a new creation: Therefore if any is in Christ, he is a new creature, the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

And butterflies are such a lovely representation. They start out as caterpillars (wormy little things), and then transform into beauty. Kind of like us, eh? From inching along on the ground to flying free through the air. Ahhh.... flying free. Our souls get to experience flight in the peace and joy we receive from His Spirit within, still, at times, or often, we are abruptly grounded by our flesh. But one day, my friends, one sweet day, we will be free of our bodily cocoons and our wings will fully unfurl to carry us forever away from the distractions and weights of this world that hold us down. Mmmm...

This day in history....

2009-09-29T15:11:00.000-07:00

Haha, its not really one of those very interesting facts about some thing that happened on this date in history. Its about my day today. ;-)

Which started last night when I took two night-time cold medicine liqui-gels, and went to bed at 9 o'clock. (With my heating pad under my guts which felt like they had gotten run over by a truck... if you get my meaning, great. If you don't, don't ask. :)

Woke up this am, after sleeping fairly well, probably due to the meds, at 6 am, which is late for me. Get ready for the day, wake up oldest son who has once again turned off his alarm, not just snoozed it, and fallen back asleep 45 minutes past his time to get up. Get children ready by helping them through the routine of every morning, like this;

"Girls, get dressed, its a school morning we need to have breakfast, get snacks, and get the hair basket. Jacob, remember your snack. Come on, girls, finish getting dressed, what do you want for breakfast? We have to leave a little early today, because we are picking up my friend's baby to babysit today. Jacob, sit down and finish your breakfast, did you get you snack? You have football practice at what time tonight? Phoebe, come with me and we will fix your hair, grab some socks, okay? Did you get you snack yet? Where is your backpack? Ellie, remember to grab a snack, you have practice for the play right after school, so come right out and I will try to remember to bring a snack for you to eat on the way there. Bye, Nate, love you, have a good day. Do you feel ok? Do you want to take some cold medicine? Do you want to take one with you to take at lunch? Remember you have piano lessons today after school. Ride safely, see you after school. Jacob, grab a snack and ride safely on the scooter to school. Love you! Bye. Ellie and Phoebe lets go, say good bye to Daddy, do you have your snack? Get your socks and shoes on and grab your backpacks, make sure your folder is in it. DO you need library books or anything today? Ellie, here is your permission slip, you need to cut the bottom off. Here, come here, we need to brush your hair. Ok, lets go! Yes, I am driving you today, so say good bye to Daddy." Meanwhile during this entire time John is repeating everything I say or saying things like, what are you supposed to be doing? What did Mom just tell you to do?!' (And on a 'good' day, I would have also been reminding them all to read their devotionals while they ate their breakfast and to take their vitamins...)

....

Drive to Kacye's house, pick up her 3 month old son, Cayden. We load up Cayden, his bags and his swing. Then off to Phoebe and Ellie's school. Kisses, have a good day, love you, see you later.

Then Cayden and I go home and shortly after, Aliese arrives, the 18 month old I babysit every Tuesday and Thursday.

...Cayden gets picked up at about 2:30 and Aliese and I get ready to load up and pick up the girls. We remember to pack a snack along because we are driving Ellie straight to practice for the play she is in on Saturday. When we get home from dropping Ellie off at practice, we pick up Nate, who just got home form school, and take him to piano lessons. We kill about a half an hour at home before it is time to go pick Nate up. When we get back from that, we take Jacob over to football practice, he doesn't have time to walk today b/c of homework. We come back home and unload for about 15 minutes, Aliese's dad picks her up and Phoebe and I head out to pick up Ellie, first swinging back by Jacob's football practice to drop off his wrist guard which he forgot. :) Now we drive 'across town' to pick up Ellie. Visiting with my sweet friend, Vicki, while there and making plans to have dinner together this weekend. How we dare to make plans away from our calendars I do not know! Maybe it our degree of desperation! HAHA!

After picking up Ellie we get home for a dinner/homework/shower scramble. And as John is working his dinner magic on some banana pancakes (OH YAH!) I run to pick Jacob up and whew!

Now the night version of the morning;

"Finish your homework. Did you finish? Remember spelling words and reading time. Sit down and eat your dinner. Phoebe did you find your Awana book? Read your verse to me, please. Ellie did you finish your spelling words? Jacob, if you don't finish your homework before its time for your shower and you have to stay after school to finish it tomorrow you are going to really regret your decision! (Ooooooooo.) Okay, girls, its time to get in the shower or bath. Take your clean jammies and underwear into the bathroom. Ellie, did you finish? Yay! Did anyone feed Daisy her dinner? Daisy: Rawr, rrr, rrr! Brush teeth, put on jammies. Nate, don't forget to wash your face and floss when you brush. Jacob, its time to go down and shower, brush and floss while you are in there. Girls, its time to get out, make sure your hair is rinsed and when you get out, brush your teeth, its time for bed."

There is more, you know, it goes on and on until all of their sweet, clean little heads are asleep on their pillow. But, alas, I am weary of typing out my life! As I am sure you are weary of reading it!

I thought it might entertain you to read of our day today. I hope!

Much love! XO

It's a sweet life.... edited 09/29/09

2009-09-25T15:54:00.000-07:00

I am so enjoying our time 'off the beaten track' here in a small town. Y'know life is a blessing and my God is a God of A Love Story. He rescued us from the race and brought us into a spacious place because He loved us. We were in a rut in Boise and even as I finally realized it and attempted to try to get us out of it, only managed to 'dig it deeper.'

Life is pretty sweet here, aside from the massive hole in our heart, longing desperately for our family and friends in Boise. Aside from that, God is sweetly wooing my spirit here, believe it or not, in the middle of nowhere.

Small town life...

Riding bikes all over town.

Walking all over town.

Running errands in 20 minutes vs. 3 days.

Seeing people you know on every errand.

Visiting with 'the regulars' at the coffee shop and hearing them greet each other and visit.

My boss saves the paper when one of our customers children is in it to give to them.

I see the people I made coffee for this morning later at the school when we all pick up our kids and smile and say hi!

My pastor is at the school picking up his child and he is visiting with one of my regular coffee customers who is picking up his grandchild.

My child's teacher comes through the coffee drive through with her daughter who is in my daughter's class.

Walking on the Wellness Path with some friends each week. (big time b/c we each only have to drive a minute or two to get there from all different parts of town!)

Running to the great little locally owned market that 1. is NOT Wal-mart and 2. is about a thousand times smaller than Wal-mart, which I LOVE! to grab a roast and some potatoes and home all in about a half and hour! There, shopping and home! Half an hour! And at this market, my children go and greet the sweet woman who owns it and she is so happy to see them and even buys fundraiser chocolate from Phoebe. (Disclaimer: I do shop at Wal-mart most of the time. ) **I know there is no room in heaven for Wal-Mart, though, only delightful little farmer's markets full of delicious and beautiful things.***

Nice people who know you and greet you and say nice things and miss you when you are gone.

Teachers who people know and can tell you how great they are.

People from your church who are the teachers and principals in the schools.

Football practice is close enough that Jacob can walk there.

Nate rides his bike to jr high and home... and I don't worry.

When John stops in to say hi to me at the coffee shop, my boss, her husband, and even a customer or two all greet him and visit with him.

Waving to everyone you pass in vehicles or otherwise. And knowing many of them!

Knowing the owner of another little coffee shop downtown.

Having a friend who owns a little shop with baby/kids clothes.

Seeing my husband's designs on windows of businesses around town.

Seeing people we know from church and Awana and VBS at the bank working.

Knowing the owner of the little Bible book store downtown, which also has a beauty chair in the back and we get our hair cut there by sweet Miss Sandy!

People figure out where you live by who used to live in your house.

My kind boss, who isn't a grandma yet, comes to Phoebe's school to be a 'step grandma' for Grandparents Day and tells me that she went to that Elementary school when she was a child!

One day we hope God will grow us up enough to be able to send us back into the 'rat race', not that we miss the rat race, but that is where our family is and we would like to be there with them. In the meantime, I am loving it here... not enough to not want to move back near our family, but I am so appreciating God's blessing us with this time here to just do the small town life thing.

Disturb Us, Lord

2009-09-11T16:17:00.000-07:00

Disturb us, Lord, when

We are too well pleased with ourselves,

When our dreams have come true

Because we have dreamed too little,

When we arrived safely

Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when

With the abundance of things we possess

We have lost our thirst

For the waters of life;

Having fallen in love with life,

We have ceased to dream of eternity

And in our efforts to build a new earth,

We have allowed our vision

Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,

To venture on wider seas

Where storms will show your mastery;

Where losing sight of land,

We shall find the stars.

We ask You to push back

The horizons of our hopes;

And to push into the future

In strength, courage, hope, and love.

[Sir Francis Drake]

She pulled one over on me!!

2009-09-08T07:55:00.000-07:00

This is one of our favs of Phoebe. She was probably around two years old and just a dream. I mean, Look At That Face! Mm! I had to pick one of the most pure pics of her to get the full impact of this story. :)

Well, Little Miss Dream, Little Miss Innocent, has ventured to The Dark Side. I remember the first time I heard her playing Star Wars with her siblings, which by the way, was a fight I lost, the girls watching Star Wars, that is. Anyway, Ellie, my girlie-girl, of course wants to be the princess in the movie, Princess Lea, or Padme (I don't know how to spell their names). But, who does Phoebe want to be??? Not the princess, maybe Luke? Han Solo? NO! Darth Vader! My sweet little baby girl, wants to play Darth Vader. Rrrr.

And that is not even the point of my story! Last week, she comes limping down the street, with her pant leg up and a red blotched tissue on her knee. My precious little seven year old daughter comes into the living room and I ask her if she is okay, does she need a band-aid? What happened?

Unfortunately her brother ruined it for her, but I think the effect was still achieved!!! SHE WAS FAKING AND HAD COME UP WITH THE IDEA ALL ON HER OWN!!! Her knee was completely unscathed. And I had been scammed. Unbelievable!

Pretty funny, huh?!!

How do you know?

2009-08-30T16:19:00.000-07:00

....how to start....where to start...

I remember when the babies were young and my friends with older children would say to enjoy that time because when they are older it is a different kind of difficult. When they are young, it is physically tiring. As they get older, the wearying happens on your heart. Who is it that says, when you have a child, its like having your heart walk around outside your body. Well, we have reached that point.

We now have to begin to watch our precious punkins, make choices in life that, for the most part, will affect them more than anything and at the same time shoot various sized darts into my heart. Ah, parenthood....

I so regret I was so self-focused at the beginning that I missed time that should have been poured into them. I wonder what all I missed in teaching, training , and loving on them to prepare them for life. I would completely crack under the stress, worry, and regret if not for my Almighty God! If He can do what He has done in my life in spite of me, then I know He can take care of my children in spite of what I have, or have not, done to them!

The more I have to let go, the more I pray, pray, pray.

Jesus said to her, 'Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?' John 11:40

First day of school.

2009-08-30T15:55:00.000-07:00

Nate chose to make a first impression with his, 'If you were more like me, you would be AWESOME!!' shirt.

Super Jacob, 5th grade, super sweet teacher.

Ellie-Jellie. Friends in her class. Ready for 3rd grade. Song in her heart!

Zoobah. 1st gr. Ready, set, go!

Nate was ready to leave and I wanted a perfectly posed 1st day of school picture of the children. John tried to just snap one of them here in the kitchen, this is my attempt to stop it. :)

Happy Birthday, L.E. ! You are a beauty!

2009-08-24T08:20:00.000-07:00

We went to the fair yesterday for Ellie's 9th birthday. She and Jacob did this bunjee jump. Ellie is at the top right of the pic, she was really jumping and flipping. Jacob is facing camera in the center of the pic. Ellie is always wanting to do what Jacob is doing! :)

She got her ears pierced on ID on vacation and by the time her birthday arrived, it was time to change her earings! Fun, fun!

I think she is about 4 or 5 yrs old here. What a cutie, huh?!! She has such a great and infectious smile. She lights up a room!

Ellie loves to dress up. She loves a pretty dress, skirt, pair of shoes, etc.! (I have to admit, I am a tad jealous of her outfits sometimes! Like this one! :)

She had to be only about 2 or 3 years old here. She was born with a head full of hair, so she had a head start!! This was a fun sitting, she loved the wings! :)

Ellie was born with a song in her heart. She always has a tune running through her mind. She used to lose track of time in the bathroom, just singing away and unconcerned about the task at hand!

She definitely lives in the moment. She rarely remembers where we are going or if we have been there before, or if she has met someone already. She is almost always delighfully surprised by what is happening.

She can be very daydreamy, but it is very sweet (once I prayed to really love my children with an understanding of who God made them to be. Not to be so focused on what things we need to fix or work on about them! Thank you, Lord).

So I mentioned she loves music, she loves beauty, and she loves Love! I love to sneak peeks at her face when the lovey parts come on the movie, she is enraptured! She is a girly-girl if ever I saw one! On the other hand, she loves to keep up with Jacob!

And she got her Daddy's ability to make people laugh! You know those really beautiful women that aren't afraid to not look perfect for the joke or the laugh? That is Ellie! I love it, she can be the biggest goofball! So funny!

We are so thankful for Elisha Chloe-Nichole, and look forward to seeing what God has in store for her! :)

My baby...

2009-08-19T19:26:00.000-07:00

My beautiful 4th born child. Seven years old.

Phoebe Isabelle-Clare

Wasn't she just yummy!

She was literally the easiest, most angelic baby. God gave me grace and mercy while I adjusted to being a mother of 4, which is such a blessing! He has given to me just as I needed and the desires of my heart and abundantly blessed me.

Heart-breaking, isn't she? (or is it just me and her daddy? :)

After Ellie was born, John asked if he should schedule The Appointment. (You know what I mean by "The Appointment" right? The one where the husband goes to the dr and the dr asks, 'Are you sure you do not want to father any more children?' Yah, that is The Appointment.) And even though I was slow to adjust and needing much more loving instruction and discipline, etc from the Lord, I somehow knew that our family was not complete. OH MY GOODNESS, WAS IT NOT! HOW COULD WE HAVE EVER LIVED WITHOUT PHOEBE?! NEVER. THANK YOU MY SWEET HUSBAND FOR BELIEVING ME AND MY SWEET LORD FOR MY HUSBAND AND MY CHILDREN! YOU ARE SO GOOD TO ME.

Oooh, and Daddy love. Sweet...

Some kind of wonderful......

2009-08-07T18:07:00.000-07:00

My beautiful sister and I. :)

My sister, Amy, and her sweet cutie husband, Nicholas. Aren't they a cute couple?!

My parents took us to a Kenny Chesney concert for my bd. FUN!

All the sweet girls in our fams joined us for Ellie's ear-piercing.
Amber (sister in law), John's mom, my mom, me and my sister Amy, then my dark-haired little niece, Madisen, Ellie and Phoebe. :)

McFamily :)
We had a glorious visit to ID. We spent time with precious family and friends! I am not even going to try to list everything out that we got to do!
Thanks to everyone who took time to see us!
Love you!!
XOXO

2009-07-27T07:46:00.000-07:00

*******************************************************************

WHILE VISITING ID I HAVE JUST PUT PICS ON FACEBOOK~ WILL RETURN TO BLOGGING WHEN WE RETURN TO MT.

THANKING GOD FOR OUR WONDERFUL VISIT TO ID, PRECIOUS FRIENDS AND FAMILY, AND SWEET FRIENDS IN MT! HE IS SO GOOD TO US.

A fun pic.... AND HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!

2009-06-21T06:44:00.000-07:00

We had the Dighans family over last night for dinner and this is the crew, minus their newest little daughter just about a month ago, and us, the parents. :) It is great how all of these children get along so well and like each other. We had a very nice visit! Names: (starting with our Jacob, lower left and going clockwise) Jacob Mc-10yr, Summer D-10yr, Ellie Mc-8yr, Jayna D-12yr, Easton D-2yr, Nate Mc-13yr, Luke D- 8yr, Logan D-6yr, Phoebe Mc-6yr, and Alena D-4yr at the bottom center. Their newborn baby daughter is named Jaqueline Beth. Sorry didn't get any other pics!

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Nate is second only to Daddy as best scrambled egg chef, so I asked him to work his magic for Daddy's Father's Day breakfast in bed!

Here's what's on the menu; Nate's fabulous scrambled eggs, grapes, cinnamon rolls, and Daddy and Nate's new love, Jimmy Dean's Pancake & Sausage on a stick, with a bowl of maple syrup to dip it in, and a glass of chocolate milk!

AAWWWWWwwwww..... How cute is that!!!

A Glorious Saturday Morn... (and a bit more)

2009-06-06T07:53:00.000-07:00

The Delicious waffles my children's Daddy makes.

The typical mealtime dogs' posture... Daisy the good and obedient, Chewy, the pathetic beggar.

Jacob and best friend, Kail.

Jacob and I LOVE our berry syrup, he is having strawberry this am, to give me the last of our fav, boysenberry. So sweet. XO

Short bus smile. :)

Yay! I got a real smile on Natey!

Phoebe, the beast, tried to insist Daddy make both pancakes and waffles, after she couldn't convince him to make pancakes for her. (He decided to make waffles b/c the last several times he has made pancakes, so don't pity her! ;)

So, Ellie just tickles my heart. She is at such a fun, pre-adolescent age. She delights in being a girl, a female through and through. She often comes up in the morning, hair tousled and some treasure of the day. Today it was her rainbow slinky and Hello, Kitty purse. I had to ask her to show me what treasures were chosen to fill it!

Her Disney princess Ipod, Hello, Kitty watch, castle shaped playing cards, a bouncy ball, and, of course, what girl goes anywhere with out her... lipgloss! Two shades, by the way, because it depends on a girl's mood, which can change in a moment! :) Oh, and a cute little empty container of butter extract.

What has been the most popular past time with my children this past week, the first week out of school, I might add? Playing...wait for it...school! HA! Love it!

My man-child mowing the lawn. I am in a sort of awe of him these days....

And a wholly different kind of awe comes over us at times with this one. ;-) Quite a character.

Good bye, May!

2009-05-31T05:34:00.000-07:00

Last night we went to The Gala again this year.(I felt prettier than I looked, but oh well, I don't care- heehee -no comments, k?) It is a huge fundraising event for those who are able to give to the hospital. There are also some lucky schmucks who cannot give but because those in line ahead of them for tickets, say no, the offer trickles down and that is us! We had fun. A delicious dinner. Visiting with lots of friends. Listening to a professional auctioneer, auction off some aaaamazing things donated, like, wine of the month for a year, several trips, dinner for 10 at a nice restaurant in town, a beautiful bronze sculpture of horses valued at $29, 000! (btw, it only went for a fraction of that, John said now that is the way to get some art!), a wine tasting dinner for 10, I think. It was fun to watch and listen. One thing they did is sell places in a contest to win a diamond ring. Our kind host, Chuck Notbohm, bought the four women at our table a place in the game. My friend, Vicki won! It was especially sweet for her to win because they had their wedding rings confiscated/stolen on their honeymoon and she hasn't had a diamond ring for 14 years of marriage! Now she does! I don't think the ring could have been won by a more excited and grateful girl! Too fun!

Phoebe is playing T-ball and loving it!! And doing great at it, too! She is the one in orange in the pic. I will try to get some better pics at the next game for ya!

One of the last weeks of school, she had a dress up week and this day was Cartoon/Superhero Day. She is Jerry of Tom and Jerry, it is one of her favs! I think she is one of the cutest mice I have ever seen! (oh! flashing back to Yellowstone vacation and a mouse caper.... squeel! there he is! oh, he's cute, ah! there he is!.....thump)

John grew out his beard. Soon after this pic he trimmed it, I don't know why... I could have made a comment... something like, when you can put it in a ponytail holder, its too long...or something like that.

Jacob has been a building machine with his Ubersticks! He is really a creative guy!

Another May has come and gone!

The next will be here before we know it!

Jacob has learned to mow the lawn,

Phoebe is learning a ball player's spit.

Some things we learn are good,

some things we learn are bad.

So, learn the things you should,

and it will make you glad.

Rhyming drives Nate crazy,

but we think rhyming is RAD!

LIVE! LOVE! LAUGH!

xoxo

Can I just say....

2009-05-17T15:12:00.000-07:00

I love listening to Jacob singing worship at my shoulder in church, and bless his heart, he is trying to find the notes, but his voice must be getting ready to change or something, so I sing down an octave with him and help him find his place. I was grinning like an idiot over my son and the Son this morning!

And, I love Phoebe's little underpants that are covered in strawberries! They are last of the fun and/or character underwear. (When Jacob got his first 'big boy' underwear, with Spiderman on them, he went around asking all the grown boys in his life if they wanted to see his Spiderman underwear and asked them who they had on their underwear!)

I love it when Ellie makes Jacob laugh!

I love it when Nate makes John laugh, too! (And me, he makes me laugh often. :)

I love going for walks with Phoebe. And I love it when she get ahold of the camera and gets some great pics! :)

And I love you! XXOO

MT Macs

Oh yah - I love making dinner somedays!

Good bye 2011...

We have a baby!

Merry Christmas 2011

PICTURES

My firstborn is 16!

What's for dinner?

Grandma Katie and DadDad

Thanksgiving 2011

Oh, the Glory Days

Puppy Love

Stuff of late.

Its Dinner Time...again!

My kids crack me up

Today's Schedule

What's For Dinner?

A Sandwich

Yesterday's Laugh of the Day

Becoming Vegetarians

Parenting by Phoebe

Hi this is Ellie

Diary of Our Home-Schooling

a new thing (Linked here in the post title)

pics...

Happy Father's Day!

Signs of the times

Girls Time.

Kiddie pool... or Ocean?

The Snowman.

My Outlet

Ahh, Valentines Day

This -N- That

Bravo

Travel

Ramblings...( sorry, this one is just kind of a journal entry or something!)

PHuzzbucket

delicious love

Motherhood: It's not for the weak.

Happy Birthday, Ellie!

My Photo Book Jul 10 2010

My BABY!

Misc...

My Jacob

Phoebe's devo

A couple o' pics...

Not at the table, Dad.

How do you choose what you're wearing for the day???

...a title...what to title....title...hmm.....

"your patience possess your souls" Luke 21:19

Rescued into Jesus' arms...

New pics

I got one!

T.M.I.

Happy Birthday DadDad

Life Lessons and Love

Happy HEART Day!

Happy 40th Anniversary!

A Birthday

Babies and such...

Latest...

Mama Says... (I loved this and cut and paste it from my sista-friend, Vicki!)

Goings On

Happy Birthday, Natey! (*updated 12/17/09)

Touches my heart

P.S.

Thankful Thanksgiving Thursday

Getting a picture of Nate

Caramel Apples

Pics FINALLY!!

Stolen...

Nicknames

~Butterfly~

This day in history....

It's a sweet life.... *edited 09/29/09*

Disturb Us, Lord

She pulled one over on me!!

How do you know?

First day of school.

Happy Birthday, L.E. ! You are a beauty!

It's a sweet life.... edited 09/29/09