9 years and going strong!

Wow, I am so thankful for the most amazing husband that God gave me! After 9 years I still love being with him and he still makes me laugh. Every year we like to take time around our anniversary to evaluate the past year. What were the highs and lows of the year? What are we looking forward to in the coming year? For the most part it's a fun time as we laugh about memories from the year, however, there's always a little bit of the time that's hard as we talk about areas of weakness or things we might have struggled with.  This past year for us was a year of extreme highs and extreme lows. We went on the trip of lifetime last summer, Mike got to preach a lot at church (which he loves!) and I even got some opportunities to speak at our women's Bible study, which has been a desire of mine. So we came off that mountain top and  spent some time discouraged for a variety of reasons. And though at times we struggled to know how to encourage one another, we have come through this year with an even stronger marriage.  Don't get me wrong we still have our rough days (who doesn't?!?) but we thank God for the growing love we have for each other and how after nine years we still love just hanging out and being together!

We got to go to Phoenix for a few nights to celebrate our anniversary! Thanks to everyone who helped with the kids...especially since they had to deal with one who was sick!

Hanging by the pool :)

This is really who we are...silly, goofy and just like to have fun! Though, seriously, 9 years into our marriage and I had NO idea that Mike could make such a good Popeye face!!! Next time I'll put a spinach can in his hand and make him flex!

Ok, so we went to Ikea for breakfast...I'm not gonna lie the french toast sticks were AWESOME! The rest wasn't that great, but we spent lots of time during our first three years of marriage at Ikea in Austria  because it was the only place that had free refills on soda. So we thought it would be fun to go back. However, I forgot the other thing about Ikea, we always get in a fight there...just too overwhelming! :)

We also got to go a Diamondbacks game. The D-backs were horrible but it was still fun to be there! (Thanks Shawn for the tickets!) We had a great time just getting to be together! By the end of our lil getaway we felt rested and ready to get back to our crazy clan!

Trip to Chicago

Don't worry about cleaning the house, I'll do that. Yep, that's what Mike said to me as I was packing to get ready for my trip to Chicago with NO kids! I did a little dance for joy (because I hate cleaning!) and tried to politely argue. Thankfully he turned my offer to help down! Let's be honest here, I would have been extremely disappointed if my politeness backfired and he accepted my offer to help clean. So I packed my bags and it felt pretty amazing that I was not worried about diapers, pacifiers, leapsters, pillow pets, blankies...etc you get the point! And off we went to the airport, Mike and the kids dropped me off and I waved goodbye, excited at the thought of just getting to sit and read a book!

Though to be honest I have never loved the flight out of Flagstaff. I struggle a little with motion sickness and since I was a kid little airplanes always make me sick if there is turbulence. So I was a little bit worried. It's only 30 minutes surely I can survive that! Well, let's cut to the chase...the flight was AWFUL! It was so bumpy, I was sure I was gonna lose my lunch.  I had the fan blowing on my face full force and I slyly checked to make sure that I had a barf bag available to me because I didn't want the poor guy next to me to know I was on the verge of losing it! Seriously, sweat was dripping down my back (I was worried I would get up to get off the plane and people might think I wet my pants) and it felt like the longest 30 minutes EVER! Thankfully, I survived which of course meant I should reward myself with some TCBY.

So I get on my next flight and I'm on the aisle but this big African American guy is in my seat. I look at him and say I have the aisle seat and he says to me, "I might throw up if I sit there, you want to trade seats?" I'm thinking he did not just say that, so I responded " You want to talk about throwing up, I seriously just almost threw up on the last flight and I need that aisle seat." That big guy moved over pretty quick and his friend by the window was pretty glad he wasn't next to me. :) Oh this story just gets better so the flight attendant comes and asks if we're all together and the guy next to me says yeah she's my cousin. And I'm like no I'm not! And again he's like yeah she's my cousin and I reiterate that we are not related! So this really nice lady moves me to a row all to myself and I spent the whole flight reading and relaxing. I get off the plane and head to the bathroom and as I'm coming out, way back I hear someone yelling COUSIN, COUSIN! I slowly turn around and sure enough the guy who was next me on the plane was yelling that to me and waving. I waved and quickly kept walking! He was just being funny but I was not about to wait around to make a new best friend.

I was staying with my sister but it worked out that I would spend my whole first day with Katie, one of my best friends! Katie got a babysitter and we spent the day eating, laughing, eating some more and just having fun catching up!

I'm so thankful that, despite not getting to see each other very often, God has sustained this friendship and allowed us to stay close even from a distance!!!

So I got to spend the rest of my time with my sis and her fam. Let me tell you my niece Lucy has the most amazing dance moves! I don't know where she comes up with these things but they're awesome!

Here we are hanging out in the back seat of the car. Lucy and I are kindred spirits because we both love making up songs and singing our hearts out even if it's driving everybody nuts!

I had a blast seeing my amazing, beautiful sis and hanging with her! I don't get to see her as much as I would like so I'm SO thankful for any time we get together. As always there were lots of laughs, also yummy food (do you get the idea that I love food?? cause I DO!!) and naps of course! She's pregnant so of course she needs a nap and I was happy to join in on that fun!

We went to a Vietnamese buffet for lunch that was super yummy! I'm pretty sure Jess is going to be craving this for the rest of her pregnancy!

Jess, Chip and I taking a pic at the Arboretum, where we took a picnic dinner. I wish we had something like this near us!

Jess and Chip have a tradition that every Saturday morning, that the French Market is open, they walk down there with the kids and get Starbucks, scones and the most amazing, melt in your mouth donuts ever! I was pretty pumped about this! I love the thought of getting up and walking somewhere for breakfast. It was super fun!!!

I love these guys! Josh is in the stroller but what a great pic of this sweet lil, well growing bigger (I mean number wise of course!) fam. I'm so thankful for the time I got to spend with them! Chip was such a great sport putting up with me and then taking Jess and I to a nice dinner my last night! It was great to get to see them and hang with the kiddos. I'm sure they miss Aunt Becky!!

Just to once again let you all know how amazing my husband is...not only did he send me on this trip and keep the four kiddos but while I was gone he cleaned the house, took down this horrible wall paper I've been wanting down, cleaned the garage, planted a garden, did all the laundry, cleaned out junk drawers and our pantries! He is the most amazing husband but I'll tell you more about that in my next blog...

The Twins Get Baptized Plus a Few Cousins!

Well,  I'm still working on the whole idea of blogging something as soon as it happens! It doesn't pay to be a procrastinator when it comes to blogging! So one night on the way to basketball practice Mike began to explain to the twins what baptism is because we were having a baptism service that weekend. In their minds what they heard was "if you want to follow Jesus, part of being obedient to Jesus is being baptized." So of course they just had to be baptized! I LOVE that about them! They had never sat through a baptism service before so we did not let them get baptized that night because we wanted to make sure that they really had an understanding of what was taking place. (Jason did whine and complain ALL night because we weren't letting him! And I did feel bad saying no, because who am I to stop them from being obedient to Christ! But we wanted him to understand more clearly what baptism was.)

So over the course of the next few months, both twins continually asked when the next baptism service was. And by continually I mean EVERY single time we went to church. Though I have to admit it just warmed my heart every time they asked because there is nothing more that I want for my kids then for them to boldly follow Jesus. SO finally the baptism was a week away. I was preparing to find a time to throw a party, and find them special Bibles to make sure we made a really big deal of this decision. However, things didn't turn out like that...Mike's grandpa passed away at the beginning of the week and the thought of their baptism pretty much needed to take a back seat to the what was going on. BUT some really cool things came out of all this: two of Mike's cousins had been wanting to get baptized and the timing has never worked out before.  So Mike approached them to see if they wanted him to baptize them, and after thinking about they decided that they wanted to do it. (On a side note, Mike's cousin Jordan got knocked in the head and had to get stitches the night before. So pretty much half of his head was bandaged so he could get fully dunked. They were worried if he didn't get fully dunked that it wouldn't count and he would have to do it again some day! Totally kidding!)

Going to this baptism service was light at the end of the tunnel of an awful week for Mike's family. It was so cool getting to see Mike baptize his two cousins and an extreme privilege for Mike! So the twins had decided that they wanted to be in the baptismal together, so we let them. Looking back this was not the greatest of ideas because they were distracting to each other. For example, Trenton got baptized first and while Jason was talking, before he got baptized, Trenton re-dunked himself under the water! Though it was quite humorous, the mom in me was hoping that everyone knew that they really were serious about this decision and had been talking about it for months. But once again I was reminded that this is between them and God and not what everyone else thinks. It was seriously so sweet watching Mike baptize the twins. I prayed before hand that this would be a significant night for Trenton and Jason, a real clear moment for each of them where they feel a strong sense of putting their flag up that they represent Jesus. The next morning I was laying in bed with Jason and I asked how he felt after being baptized and he said, "I went down dead and I came up alive." I pray that though they are only 5 that this is exactly how they feel, alive in Christ and wanting to live for Him!

If this video works, it's a sweet (and funny) part of Jason's baptism!

Here's Mike with the four boys he got to baptize!! What a special night that they all got baptized the same evening, it will be such a sweet memory!

(Of course my camera wasn't working that night and this is one of only pics I had on my phone, but others took pics for me, so I will add those soon...hopefully!!!)

We Say Goodbye to Pompa

Well, a few weeks ago we said to goodbye to our final grandparent, Mike's grandpa, who was 91 years old! Mike had a deep admiration for his Pompa, who according to him was one of the toughest, roughest men ever but who always loved kids.

Pompa was in the Navy in WWII. He served in the South Pacific where he was the Captain of a PT Boat.

When he returned from WWII, he played four years of professional football.

Here we are with him a month or two before he passed away. I wish we had a pic of him playing peek-a-boo with Kara with that bear laying on him. Kara had him just laughing, it was such a sweet moment. The kids always brightened him up, even when he wasn't doing well.  We will miss you Pompa!!!

But as I was faced with the death of this loved one, I realized how quickly life goes by and I couldn't help but think about what comes after death. I am a strong believer in Jesus Christ and so I began to think about heaven. I was really struck by the fact that there is NO joy in death without Jesus! Why is that some of you might ask. Well, here's why: Jesus Christ is the only way to get to heaven!!! I have had a strong sense of need to put the Gospel, which is the good news of Jesus, on my blog. God has been laying on my heart a strong need to be bold about my faith and a sense of urgency to share Jesus with others. We don't know how many days we have left on this earth and I want to be done wasting time. I have always been a people pleaser who worries about what others think of me. I'm working towards being more worried about what Jesus thinks of me then others. Confession: I raised my arms during worship today at church! Yep, that's right I sure did! Some of you are thinking Jesus freak and others might be thinking wow I never knew this girl was a charismatic. I've always been afraid of labels and not wanting to be labeled. But more and more what I want is to be done caring about labels. But if I am going to be labeled I want it to be as a Christ-follower who doesn't just talk about Jesus but lives out my faith as best I can. I'm not perfect so I will mess up, but I pray with God's help that even amidst my failures that I will be a light for His Kingdom.

THE IMPORTANT PART:
God loves you! Yep, I'm going to say it again: God loves you! You may be far away from God or you may be searching with all you are right now to find God but wherever you are God loves you and has a plan for your life. If you are reading this and you do not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, what you need to know is that there is nothing you have done or you could do that would keep God from loving you!!! You may be thinking if God is so loving then why is there heaven and hell. Because though God is so loving, he is also just. If there were no hell, there would be no consequences for evil and sin. The definition I taught my kids of sin is that sin is anything that we think, say or do that displeases God. So we ALL sin! In the Bible in Romans 3:23 is says, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." In our sin we cannot be with God, but God loves us so much that he sent his only son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. I have three sons and I wouldn't for a second let them take the place and die for someone else who did something wrong. But that's exactly what God did!!

I believe that forgiveness and salvation is found only in Jesus and his grace, through his death and resurrection, and that our works are meaningless before him. It doesn't matter how many good things we do, how nice, giving or successful we are, the only thing that matters is if we have trusted in Jesus.

Romans 10:9 says, "if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, then you will be saved."

In John 14:6 Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

There can be joy in death when Jesus is part of the picture!!! We were singing a song in church this morning and here's a verse from it:

In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This Cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand

Jesus does not only bring joy in death, because we know we will be in heaven, but here on earth He brings love, peace, calms our fears, strength when we have none, solid ground when life around seems to be crumbling and SO much more. I can truly testify that there is no greater thing then knowing and trusting in Jesus Christ! I have prayed and prayed about what to write (maybe agonized a little :) and my prayer is that God would use these words for His glory. What I have written is a tip of the iceburg, because let's be honest you probably wouldn't read it if it was much longer. Maybe many stopped before even getting to this point. If you're still reading then I hope and pray you will ask God if there are something in these words for  you.

One last tid bit to those who are followers of Jesus Christ...are you boldly sharing your faith??? I have been so challenged of my need to be more bold. I have been asking God for boldness and though it's still hard at times, it's getting easier to share my faith with others. Our treasures are not on this earth (and I know how easy it is to get distracted!) but in heaven! I pray for my kids to be bold in their faith but if I am not being an example of that why should I expect them to be bold. We might be labeled or even persecuted for our faith, when we step out in boldness but how awesome will it be when we stand before Jesus and he says, "Well done, good and faithful servant!" Yep, that's my goal and I'm not ashamed to say it!

T-Ball Has Begun...

So it's that time in life where our kids are beginning to play sports. The twins played Upward basketball in the winter. Yeah, that was a real treat to watch! How on earth could either of my extremely extroverted twins even think about what the basketball was doing when there were eight other kids out there they could be talking to. Along with talking to others they enjoyed waving to friendly faces in the crowd and pouting because they had to play in the 6th period instead of sitting on the bench. There were a few good basketball moments (but no baskets) during the season, but let's just say we're gonna given basketball a break for a good long while!!!

Sports are not cheap, especially baseball! So after asking the twins multiple times about t-ball, they assured me that they wanted to play. I have to say t-ball has been way more fun then basketball but still highly entertaining. Kids hit the ball and don't know where to run, when a hit goes into the outfield every member on the team feels the need to chase it which results in a dog pile in the outfield, you know "those parents" are yelling at their 5-year old to try harder (ok this is not fun, but really infuriating!), and at their first game Jason was poking his fingers through the ear holes of the helmet of the kid on first base.

This is Trenton and the boy in blue is Christian our neighbor. They were SO excited to get to be playing Christian's team today.

I love this pic! I guess they decided to put on their tough faces because usually they're making goofy funny faces. I can see this picture being in a slideshow at both of their weddings some day. In case you're trying to guess who's who, Jason has his arm around Trenton. And Trenton is the left, so in pics when they're wearing their glove you can go by that. I love my twins and though they look so similar just how incredibly different and unique God made them!

A Season of Discouragement

If you know me then you know I am very easy going and typically upbeat. You know that I am the eternal optimist that sometimes drives those dang pessimists crazy! However, for about the month of march this was not the case. I felt a heavy sense of discouragement fall over me. I think ministry wise there were some areas I was not being content with, I was not content with my friendships and I was feeling like being a stay at home mom was mundane. The laundry's never done, the second the kitchen is clean it gets dirty again and Mike gets to go out to lunch all the time with people, or that's how I pictured it. You know those things that were popping up on facebook...how I picture something, how it really is, etc. Poor Mike while he's out there bearing other people's burdens, which sometimes takes place over lunch, I'm making him feel bad because he gets to go to lunch with people while I'm stuck at home!

However, during this time God was very alive to me. His Word was sustaining me and I was constantly crying out for Him to show me what needed to change.  And I felt like what He told me first was I need to be faithful with what is before me. I was reminded of the story with the talents, why would he give me more if I haven't proven faithful with the little before me? I need to be faithful with the women he has put in my small group, faithful to my children who I should joyfully be serving, faithful to my husband who works so hard for our family, faithful to share Christ with others, and most importantly faithful in my pursuit of Him. It's one thing to begin to see what God wants you learn, it's another thing to really put it into practice!! But trust me I'm working on it!

The second thing God was teaching me, and some of this I'm just putting words to, was my need to fully depend on Him. I am an extrovert to the core! I love people, I love being around people and having good friends. I have come to realize that I think sometimes God puts me through a dry season of relationships so that I turn to him first and most. It's so easy for me to make my days busy and put my relationship with others above my relationship with my Savior and Lord.

So I'm crying out to God asking him to give me joy and help me to be faithful and depend on Him but I'm daily failing so then I get mad at myself because I should not be unhappy when I have SO much to be thankful for. But I'm so thankful that my GOD IS SO FAITHFUL! There was a time when I was in the shower and just sharing with God some of my frustrations. So what happens?? Of course as soon as I get out of the shower a friend texts me and it was totally related to one of things I had just been sharing with God! And then at another point I'm spending time with God and just sharing my heart and hurts with him and feeling like noone cares (by the way Satan is really good and getting us to believe the lie that noone cares and it is so NOT true!) and that same day I get this amazing email from Lisa, my sister in law, and again it was exactly related to what I had been praying about and the encouragement I had been asking God for.

I began to read a book, thinking I was just checking it out to see if it would be a good choice for our women's summer study, about faith in the hard times. Yeah, God's funny like that. He just wanted to get that book in my hands! One of the main focuses of this book was making an "I Remember" list. Sometimes in the hard times our vision isn't good and we begin to see things unclearly or in the wrong light because we're not looking through God's lense. That's why we need an "I Remember" list to be reminded of the faithful, powerful, loving...the list could go on and on, God that I serve. So when my vision is skewed I can look with clarity back at all that He's done and ask God to adjust my vision as I look forward. So I wanted to share a few from my list:
- God allowed our house to sell in a horrible market
- He provided the most amazing new house at an amazing price!
- He allowed me to teach at our women's study, a desire I've had for a long time
- I was pregnant with Kara and was not being a good mommy and just cried out to God that I needed a break and some friends called and asked if they could take our kids for the night...but as if that wasn't enough they gave us a giftcard to use for dinner!
- I had an overwhelming sense of peace when the twins were being born 8 weeks early
- Mike was preparing for Missions trip to Honduras and preached in the morning and then had a 5 hour meeting after church, and had been gone the whole day before, so I was just being selfish and was mad that I was with the kids again by myself. I just spent the afternoon planning my mean words I would say when he got home but then praying and asking God to change my attitude and help Mike come home to a loving wife. That's probably why God had the meeting last 5 hours cause that's how long it took me to open my hands and release it all to him. But to God's glory Mike came home to a loving wife.
- God brought friends to walk with me through this time and allowed my mom to encourage and challenge me at just the right moments
Ok the list could go on and on but those are just a few! I praise God that he has brought me out of this season!!! My amazing husband came home and surprised me with a five day trip to Chicago with NO KIDS! He is such a servant to me! I believe God had me in this season to develop a deeper level of trust and dependence on Him. God also showed me when I get stuck in a "woe is me" mentality I am missing oppourtunities to serve others and share his love in ways that he is calling me to. And finally to be content (wow that's a hard one) and faithful with everything he puts before me, so that I can prove worthy of him increasing my portion.

Spring Break

Well, the twins had their first spring break a few weeks ago! It's kind of hard to remember how nice the weather was because we currently have snow on the ground on April 15...can I just say YUCK! Mike was in Honduras for spring break so I decided to pack the kids up and head down to Tucson to visit some of Mike's family. It's about a 5 hour drive and my biggest fear was everyone  having to go to the bathroom all the time. Since I was by myself that meant every time one kid has to go potty that we all had to get out of car and head into the bathroom! Thankfully my kids are awesome in the car and we only had to stop once! So we stopped at Del Taco cause they had outside seating and I had packed most of the food for our lunch. I get everyone out of the car and we head to the bathroom. And of course I picked the place where they only had one girls potty and one boys potty. Well, I can't just leave the kids outside of the bathroom (this was not an upscale Del Taco or area by any means!) so we all head in to the bathroom. After the kids finish going, I make the boys hold Kara's hand and all face the wall while I try to potty. Of course Kara won't stand still, so I have to keep yelling at the boys to look at the wall while they're trying to get Kara to stay by them. What an experience!! Thankfully, no one was waiting outside the bathroom or they would have been quite entertained by all the commotion going on inside. But the bathroom stories aren't over yet because as soon as we start to eat, Trenton has to go #2. He doesn't want to go by himself so Jason goes with him. I keep running inside to check on them and then back outside to other kids. So I go to check on them and Trenton is yelling, "Mom, what should I do with the toilet paper?" And I'm like throw it in the toilet! So then yells, "well as soon I got up from toilet Jason sat down on it!" So I'm yelling, through the door, well tell Jason to get up so you can throw your tp in! All the while, this guy has been waiting about 10 minutes for the bathroom to just wash his hands and his wife has finally got out of the car to come looking for him! It was about 20 minutes of chaos and I have vowed never to stop at that Del Taco again!

This is an Uncle Randy burger...it seriously is the best tasting thing in the world! I don't even want to know how many calories in this thing but it's SO yummy! You can see Jason in background trying to fit his burger into his mouth.

Davis and Uncle Randy being silly! :)

The boys all playing with bubbles. If you look closely you can see the bubbles in the air.

Kara playing with her bubbles.

I love this pic of me with my boys at the zoo!

We had a great time with Aunt Dana at the zoo! Then we headed to McDonald's for some happy meals and more fun!

I love this pic of Jason and Davis!

Trenton driving Kara on the wiggle rider!

Ok I'm obviously not good and picking and choosing pics! I still had even more I wanted to add but they were taking awhile to download. I was so blessed by our time down in Tucson! We went to the park, the zoo, Chuck E Cheese, got lots of time playing with the cousins, swimming in the pool, played wii and angry birds, of course! I got to have late night chats with Aunt Dana and a prayer time as well. It truly made the time without Mike go by quickly and the kids all had a blast! Thanks to all the Tucson fam for such a fun spring break!!!