Memorial Day

Pictures from a very special Memorial Day weekend
with Grandma and Papa and the crew.

Walking in the parade
Hanging out at the lake
Catching lots of fish
Taking lots of tractor rides
And spending lots of time together.

The little things become a lot more significant in times like this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Prayer Please

So much is going on in life right now.  I have a lot of thoughts that I would love to blog about at some point, but it's just hard to find time to keep this blog updated with everything that I want to write.

The most important thing right now is a request for prayer for my father-in-law, who was recently diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer.  His name is Mark.  Please pray for him. 

We are daily encouraged and inspired by how he and his wife are trusting the Lord wholeheartedly in such a hard time.  The peace that they have is definitely the peace that transcends understanding (Phil. 4:7), which can only come from trusting the Father who loves us and has already rescued us.  All of this has given me a desperate reliance on the promises of God, which we can stand on and put all of our hope in.  Because He is love and He is good and He is faithful. Always.  

I could just keep going...the Word has become so alive to me and God has so many promises for us directly related to suffering. But it's almost midnight so I'll stop here for now.  Please pray for trust and for healing.

Also..this song by David Crowder has been playing over and over in our house and our cars throughout the past month as we have gone through this whirlwind.  In the face of hardship, the enemy shouts his lies, but we cling the the whispers of truth.  I love this song, which reminds me so powerfully of the truth of who God is and who we are in Him.

"Here's my heart, Lord.  Speak what is true."

Mother's Day "Surprises"

I love how little kids have such a hard time keeping secrets.  Mr. Newton is still shameless about giving away a surprise.  Mr. Mister tries really hard but still sometimes lets it slip out.

Yesterday, I walked into Daddy's office where all three boys were doing something suspicious.  Mr. Newton immediately said, "Don't get that phone."   I was confused and replied, "I don't have my phone."  He said, "No!  The new phone in there!" as he pointed to a closed closet door. 

Haha.  Daddy was a good sport about part of my surprise being ruined and they gave me the gift a little early.  The new phone was actually a new case for my new (hand me down) phone.  It was appropriately given to me by my sweet three year old who accidentally slammed my old phone into the concrete, leading to screen full of cracks and a slow and steady decline.

Throughout all of this, Mr. Mister remained tight lipped.  Until bed time, when he told me, "Tomorrow is Mother's Day.  First I'm going to help with your breakfast and then I'm going to give you the video and then..."  I interrupted him and said, "Is this supposed to be a surprise?"  Eyes wide, hand clasped over his mouth, he said, "Oh! Yeah!"  

Those were highlights of this year's Mother's Day when I was too sick to enjoy much else.  The other highlight was my mom bringing us chicken noodle soup for dinner tonight as we've all been getting over coughs and colds.  I guess a Mom never stops being a Mom, even on her day!  

Here's to a healthier and warmer Mother's Day next year!!

Happy 3rd Birthday Mr. Newton!

You are three years old!



This is a picture of the beautiful day God gave you for your birthday this year. 

There was a Happy Birthday crown waiting for you when you woke up.
You wore it all day.  

Even when you played at the park during your birthday playdate with your friends.

And as you ate your long awaited cupcakes.

 

And as we grilled hot dogs and roasted marshmallows for dinner.

What a day!  

You are so loved!  Tonight at dinner we went around and said what we love about you:
Your smile and laughter and cute faces and funny things you say and how you love to sing and how you're getting big but still love to cuddle and that your best friend is a ragged orange dog and that you're just our cute three year old who adds so much joy to our family.

When you woke up from your nap you asked, "Am I still three?"
Yes, love, you will be three for a while.  But I can't believe you are getting so big.

I was telling you today about when you were born and why we gave you the name we did.  It reminds us to trust God even in the hardest times and even when He asks us to do things that seem crazy, because He is always faithful.  So thank you for being a constant reminder of that truth.  And thank you for being full of laughter and giggles and joy.  You make me so happy.  I love you and bless you this coming year - may you live fully in the knowledge that you are loved by us and even more extravagantly by your heavenly Father, who intricately created you to be fearfully and wonderfully made!

I love you sweet one.

Colorado - Part 1

Just as I was taking the flip flops out of the closet after too long of a winter hibernation, we packed up for a trip to Colorado.  When we decided to go in the middle of April, I knew it would be colder there than here, but I wasn't anticipating snow and 20 degrees!

After a rocky start (landing in Denver in the middle of a blizzard and not being able to make it to my brother's house in the mountains because of the snow), we ended up having a really great week.  Mr. Mister tried skiing, we had some indoor fun, and we all ventured out when the sun came out and it finally warmed up to 30 degrees!

Here are a few pics to get started.  I'll post more later.

 

 

 

 

 

Passing the Winter Days

Now that it is beautiful outside, I wonder how we made it through such a long and cold winter!  I was so thankful to be in our new house with more space this year.  Our playroom got a lot of use and kept the kids entertained and happy for a long time.  Toward the end of the winter, though, we were all going a little stir crazy so we had to get creative.  I thought I'd document some of the things we did to pass the days.

Playing in the snow
 

Playdough and crafts, including pipe cleaner creations from this book.

 

 

Playing in the muscle room at Mr. Mister's school.  This indoor playroom was such a great way to burn energy without having to bundle up!
 

Science experiments.  Really basic stuff like what sinks and floats, the old baking soda and vinegar volcano (add dish soap for more bubbles!), adding food coloring to whole milk then adding a drop of dish soap and watching the colors swirl, making igloos, and making butter!  The butter was so delicious.

 

 

 

One day as we were putting different things in the water to decide what would sink and float, Mr. Mister said, "This is so awesome!  I bet no other kids are having this much fun!"  Haha.  So easy to please sometimes.

And now it is finally spring!  So we can got to the park instead, which we did today.  Yay!

More Perspective

On the heels of my last blog post, I thought I'd share another blog that someone recently passed on to me.  It's called To parents of small children: Let me be the one who says it out loud.  It's by a dad of three boys under five (who also happens to be a pastor) who writes honestly about how hard parenting can be.  And how normal it is to struggle sometimes. 

So after being inspired to enjoy even the days that are long, it's also good to remember that there are some things about having little kids that are just hard and that's okay!