God's Goodness

We played outside and then cooled off with popsicles before nap time. The new Slow Melt popsicles are great for the girls!


Grace is not too sure about the neighbor's dog barking at her!

With Phil gone I feel very overwhelmed, but not in a way that I expected. Instead of being overwhelmed by the children or by loneliness, I am overwhelmed by God's goodness to me. I can tell that many people are praying for me, because I have peace in my heart. God continues to show me everyday that He is in control of my circumstances, and that He can fill any void in my life. I'm amazed as I see His plan for our family unfold.

When we sorted our mail up in Spokane last week, we found something stating the value of our home for 2008 taxes. It was off by about $20,000, so Phil called to ask about the discrepancy. Apparently our new home was way under-priced, and the amount quoted was more in-line with the other homes in the neighborhood. There's no mistake about it! God allowed us to find this home! I asked Phil why the previous owners would list their home at such a low price. He said they were in the military and needed to move as soon as possible.

Nothing is random. Phil found this house the day before he left Spokane back in March. The house went on the market that morning. It was no mistake that Phil helped our friends move up to Spokane that week. When I think about how these small details work together, it amazes me! God certainly is the blessed Controller of ALL things.

"Dada"

My girls have lovingly named this shirt "Dada" because Phil has an Old Navy 4th of July T-shirt with an American flag on it.

I took this picture out in the garage this morning. Jared parks Caleb's new gator in the garage at night. When I go out there to do laundry, the girls usually run in after me and race to get into the driver's seat first. "First" is a really big thing at our house right now with the boys, and I'm afraid the girls have caught on, too. As you can see, Gracie has already made it into the driver's seat. Now, for Lily--it's just a matter of pushing Gracie off without Mommy noticing. She certainly wouldn't do it in front of the camera though!

Missing Phil

Phil and the boys watching clouds at the Exploratorium last week

We dropped Phil off in Seattle last night at 7:00 and arrived home this morning at 11:30. It's good to be home after such a long trip, but being here without Phil makes me very sad. I've had a lump in my throat most of the day, but I didn't want to cry in front of the kids and make them sad, too. The first day is always the hardest, I know. Maybe tomorrow will be a little easier...only 50 more days!

Home Sweet Home

After a 19 hour trip, we made it up to Spokane early Sunday morning. Our new house is wonderful. This is the first time I've ever seen it. Our neighbors keep their lawns nice and trimmed, so Phil is outside mowing the lawn right now. I love the smell of freshly cut grass! Yesterday our friends James and Mariann drove over from Idaho to help us unload the trailer. They brought coffee and two loaves of homemade bread.

We went to Lowe's this afternoon and purchased a few home improvement items. All of the choices there overwhelmed me--mostly the cost of everything overwhelmed me. If I want to change the knobs on my kitchen cabinets and drawers, it would cost me upwards of $3.00 per knob! I guess I'll stay with the '80's kitchen look for now. Maybe the look will come back.

Happy Birthday, Caleb!

My sweet Caleb is 3 today! For his birthday menu he chose macaroni and cheese for breakfast, lunch and dinner!

Camping Pictures

As promised, here are a few of the camping pictures.


Our first day there, we had beautiful, sunny weather, so we enjoyed playing at the beach.


Grace was a little sleepy, so she snuggled with Aunt Corinne.


Caleb worked on building sand castles with the other boys.


This is how Lily got the church boys to lend her a few of their sand toys. She just had to flash her cute little smile!


I didn't go out into the ocean with the boys. They just gave me a little ride through what they called the "icky sticky swamp."

Weary Travelers

Phil and the boys at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco


The boys are enjoying a drink from an unusual water fountain at the Exploratorium


Lindsay made giant bubbles at the Exploratorium


We headed to the Mendocino Coast for our church camping trip on Sunday and arrived home tonight. Morgan and Lindsay were able to join us! Our kids loved having their cousins sleep in the tent with us...yes, that would be six kids, two Pac 'n Plays, and two adults in one tent. The boys went kayaking with Phil in the ocean. Jared LOVED the caves. We hiked, ate S'mores, sang around the campfire and chased our girls around here and there. Phil had a doctor's appointment in Santa Rosa this morning so we left early with Jared, Caleb, Morgan and Lindsay (the twins stayed with Gramma, Grandpa and Aunt Corinne), and then we drove down to San Francisco to take the kids to the Exploratorium. They loved driving over the Golden Gate Bridge!

I'll be busy unpacking and doing laundry on Thursday, but I also need to pack a load of stuff to take up to Spokane. On Friday morning we're driving up to Spokane to move a few things, and then over to Seattle to drop off Phil at school. He'll be attending classes up there this Summer and will return home on August 18.

I'll post a few pictures of our camping trip a little bit later!

Caleb's Cars Birthday Party

We had a great birthday party for Caleb today! It was good to be together with family and friends to enjoy a nice warm day and to celebrate the 3 wonderful years we've enjoyed with our sweet Caleb. The kids had a great time out on the race track. Caleb loves all of his new gifts--paints, a tricycle from Gramma and Grampa, a Tonka truck from Great Grandma and Great Grandpa, Cars toys from Uncle Chris, Nana, Papa, Tyler, and Jackson, and a motorized John Deere gator from Aunt Corinne.

Music

Can you hear the beautiful music on my blog? If not, then you're probably holding down your left mouse button while reading this post. If you lift your finger and wait a few seconds, you should be able to hear it. If you're able to open new tabs on your computer, do so in order to leave this site, and the music will continue to play while you surf the web. Otherwise, the music will end when you close this window. Enjoy!

Erin

I had a wonderful day visiting with my friend Erin (Morgan) Irving. She's visiting from Kansas City, so I drove out to her mom's house in Folsom for the day. We had lunch and then met up with her mom and went shopping at the Eddie Bauer Outlet. I enjoyed meeting her 3 beautiful children, Morgan (3), Bradley (1) and Madison (9 months).

I Like...

-the smell of rain
-milk chocolate
-inductive Bible studies
-flowers on my dining room table
-coffee
-drinking coffee with Phil
-my girls in pigtails
-music
-coloring with Caleb
-watching Gracie straighten up the house
-taking Jared to the library
-kissing Lily's cheeks
-losing weight
-saving money
-books by Elisabeth Elliot
-rice
-reading to my kids
-good preaching
-when my mom brings us dinner
-giving gifts (especially to my kids)
-hugs from Phil
-blogging
-campfires
-living across the road from Phil's family
-candles
-laughing with my sisters
-Monday mornings
-Pottery Barn
-vintage fabric
-hearing from friends
-praying for my kids
-maternity clothes
-the 2nd trimester of pregnancy
-the sound of Phil's voice
-knowing that I have eternal life
-American history
-looking at maps
-Winter Olympics
-baking

Time and Pictures with Phil

Remember this one, Corinne? Phil is comforting me after I got run over by a snowmobile.


Mr. Fearless had to talk me into this one.


During our coffee and prayer time this morning, my friend Jenny mentioned that we as moms need to be careful not to let our children "take over," so to speak, but to remember to spend time with our husbands, as well. Sometimes that's difficult for me to do with small children, but thankfully Phil and I have family here that will watch the kids so we can squeeze in an occasional date. It really is the best thing we can do for our children. Something I've noticed since I've started blogging is that Phil and I are not in many pictures together. I need to be more conscious of this when I take out the camera. Jared is old enough to shoot a few pictures, and he definitely needs the practice! He always seems to get great shots of our feet or the tops of our heads. Maybe he'll enjoy taking pictures of Mommy and Daddy together. Here are a few pictures of Phil and me taken a long time ago.

Caleb's Race Track

Grampa and Phil are out in the backyard right now working on a race track for Caleb's Cars birthday party next week. You can see Caleb sitting in the foreground watching the men at work. He says they're making an oval for him.

"One Way" brought to you by Jared

Gabcast!

Yikes!

Phil called me over to his computer tonight and said, "check out this website!" It's a website that posts the crimes committed in the city of Spokane. You can enter your address and it will list by category the crimes committed within a certain mile radius of your home. If any of you know me very well, you know that this is NOT a good website for me to even know about! Why did he show it to me? I don't know, but I'm surely going to obsess over it. Now I know that there have been 16 crimes in our new neighborhood--including 1 murder--since October 2006. Can you just see me checking it everyday? Brooke, are you reading this?

Good to Be Home

It's always good to come home after a long day in "the city," as we like to call it up here in the country. It rained while we were gone, so we were greeted by that wonderful "just rained" smell when we arrived home. Phil got his stitches out today, and everything seems to be healing nicely. The kids enjoyed playing with The Little Einsteins dolls in the Disney Store. We also stopped by the party store to pick out Cars party supplies for Caleb's birthday. He had a meltdown in the store, because he really wanted to buy a birthday cake there. He's been looking at party supply catalogs recently, and there are cakes on every page. He just assumed that his plates, cups, napkins and party hats would come with a cake. Poor little guy!

Here's something neat--I wanted to return a pair of shoes to Sears. I bought Jared slip-on shoes that were nearly impossible to get on his feet. I finally decided to return them on this trip to Santa Rosa. Before I returned the shoes, I glanced at my receipt. It said that I had 90 days to return any item, and Sears was kind enough to put that date on my receipt. It just happened to be today, 06/06/07!!! I love it when things like this happen!

Fun with Cherries

Our friend Amanda came to visit for the day and we pitted lots of cherries. Jared helped pull the stems off of the cherries, and Amanda had to do all of the dirty work. When we were through, we made a yummy cherry pie for dessert. Jared wants me to tell everybody that we love Amanda!

Monday Mornings

I am thankful for my friends Jenny and Sandi who come over every Monday morning for prayer and coffee. Last year after Phil's accident, Jenny had this idea to meet and pray for our families. We decided to meet at my house, because the twins were only a few months old and needed to nap in the morning.

We've seen numerous answers to prayer, and it's been a wonderful way for me to begin my week. I actually look forward to Monday mornings! :)

Holding Hands

The girls held hands on the way into church this morning. I just happened to have my camera in the car!

Happy Birthday, Lizzie--I love you!

Thoughts on Motherhood

Something has been on my mind lately. With Phil going back to school, I find myself envious of this opportunity that he has. I've wanted to go back to school to pursue a Masters Degree in Education for quite sometime, but it never seems to be the right time. Motherhood has taken over! I can get lost in changing diapers, breaking up little squabbles, folding laundry, doing dishes...the list goes on. Foolish thoughts creep into my head at times. "Is THIS all there is? What about ME?"

Last night we had a college group visit our church. The young people sang and gave beautiful testimonies from their hearts. They truly love the Lord and want to serve Him with all their hearts. They all had such a passion for the Lord Jesus. As I sat there listening to them, I thought to myself, "I want my own children to grow up loving the Lord like this!" I know that only the Lord can make them who they are going to be, so I pray for them daily. The one thing that won't help accomplish this is for them to have a selfish mother. Elisabeth Elliot's devotional today was just what I needed (there's a link to it on my blog). I must be emptied of "self"--leaving myself behind to be a faithful follower of Christ (Philippians 2; Matthew 16:24). She calls this "dying to self." This is hard for me to do. Sometimes I want more out of life. Sometimes I actually think that I deserve more.

As I type this 3 of my 4 children are fussing--2 are actually pulling on my clothes! Would I rather be sitting in a classroom pursing a degree? Honestly, yes! But it starts here. Every little sacrifice of "self" is an opportunity for me to show my children the love of Jesus--a love that led Him to sacrifice His own life for me.