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!!!

A Few More Highlighs from 2011

I wanted to make sure to add a few more highlights from 2011, then I can be up to date! 2011 was quite the year for us...we sold our townhouse and moved, Mike graduated from seminary, Mike and I went back to Vienna, we did a road trip across the country for Mike's sabbatical and I ran my second marathon! We have been so blessed and I'm really adding these pics so when I print a book from blog for this year I can remember all that we did and all the ways that God blessed us!!!

After hours of driving to Phoenix for class and hours of reading and doing homework, Mike finally graduated! I could not be more proud of my man and all of his hard work!!!

You would think going back to Vienna that it would be the Viennese food we were excited for...but nope! It was the Turkish Kepabs, ok and gelato too! These are our awesome friends Matt & Tricia who put up with us for a whole week!! :)

We had such a fun time hanging out and going to all of our favorite places from the first three years our marriage! We rode city bikes around all day, which was super fun!

This restaurant has the most amazing ribs and fries!

Now onto a few pics from our Sabbatical. I don't know how I'm going to choose just a few, we had such a fun time just hanging as a family. We are so thankful that we go to a church that values time away for the staff to refresh and just get some extended time with our family!!

First stop San Antonio, which included Sea World. Trenton spent the whole night before throwing up but thankfully felt good next morn cause we had to leave the next day. The boys liked seeing the animals but LOVED playing in the water park area and on going on the lil kids rides.

It took a few nights to get there but our next major stop was Orlando, Fl. Kristi's (my sis-n-law) parents live there and work for Wycliffe Bible Translators and they got us a place to stay at the Wycliffe compound. It was an AMAZING three bedroom apartment and we just spent a few days swimming in their amazing pool!

After a really fun time in Orlando it was down to Miami, where we spent our biggest chunk of time - 2+ weeks. We stayed at Katie's (one of my most fav peeps!) parents guest house. Mr. and Mrs. Munz were so gracious to let us stay. This is Kara's first time to the beach.

Our favorite thing from our time down there was a trip we got to take to the Bahamas! Katie and her fam came down and we went on an amazing adventure. In this pic we are petting wild sharks!! It was a lil scary at first but seriously so cool! We had so much fun in the Bahamas and down in Miami, thanks to Katie and her fam! It was seriously such a fun time and an amazing gift that they allowed us to come be a part of their fam for a few weeks!

Next it was on to Chareleston, SC with Mike's sis Lisa and her new fam! We had a blast staying in a beach house, hanging out, swimming, and boogie boarding! After that we headed to NC to see the Bunches, some friends from Vienna and from there we headed home. I'm so mad I didn't start blogging sooner because it's hard to take the most amazing summer ever and majorly condense it cause if I get too far behind I'll never catch up!!!

Last couple highlights from 2011...I ran my second marathon in 3:44! It was so fun but I'm convinced I can do it faster. :) And finally I'm adding a Christmas pic because it's the best family pic we've taken! I love our sweet family that God has blessed us with!

Kara Turns 1!!!

Kara turned one on August 17th and we always do a big birthday party when the kids turn 1, so of course I had to include this...ok and maybe, just a little of me wanted to make sure that this awesome cake I made got on the blog too!!

This picture could not be more accurate...Kara is such a gift!! I am not an anxious person but I agonized and prayed and prayed before my ultrasound with her. I so desparately wanted a girl! Don't get me wrong I love my boys to death and wouldn't have it any other way but I'm pretty sure I won't be painting their nails or doing their hair. Kara Elyse means "Beloved Promise of God." Before I knew I was pregnant (but thought I might be) I was praying God if it's your will please let this baby be a girl if I'm pregnant. Then I went to read my Bible and one of the verses in my reading (no I didn't go there on purpose!) was 1 John 5:14-15, "And this is the confidence that we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him." Well, of course then I agonized over the next few months, did God give me that verse or am I making it up. But I still clung to it and I love how it so perfectly fits with the meaning of Kara's name.

I'm not gonna lie, I'm pretty stinkin proud of this cake! We call Kara our Kar-bear sometimes, so I thought a Carebear cake would be perfect for the party!

She is SO full of joy! She loves to smile and laugh.

Daddy and his lil girl. She is Mike's lil princess and though he didn't know what he thought about having girls, he now tells everyone now that they need at least one lil girl! Kara really wanted to grab the carebear and threw a fit shortly after this cause I didn't let her so we could sing happy birthday.

Grammy and Papa giving her a bath in the sink after cake! One thing is for sure Kara will be well protected with three older bros. Recently Davis asked me, "Mom if I'm nice to Kara does that mean I get to be in charge of her?" LOL I said I guess so but only if you're nice!

Twins Start Kindergarten!

I decided I needed to do a little back logging so I don't miss out on some pretty BIG events from this past year. The biggest event was that my little preemie babies somehow grew up and started school! How did the time fly by so quickly??? I have loved watching them grow up and they are so full of energy. Kindergarten is full day here.  I was really sad about my boys being gone ALL day and was convinced they would certainly miss me too much to be gone that long. So I decided that I would keep them home for one extra half day a week (Friday's are always half day.) Well, after two weeks, my ultra extroverts had informed me that everyone else stays all day and that I should not be picking them up from school already! My heart was a little sad. They weren't missing me quite as much as I had hoped, actually I'm pretty sure they weren't missing me at all. But I was so proud to see my little boys loving school and adjusting so well. Every morning as we walk to the bus stop (Yes they take the bus! One more way I had to let my babies grow up and trust God!) Mike or I asks them, "Who do  you live for?" They say "God!" Then we ask who do you live like and they answer Jesus. And finally we ask who do you serve and they respond others. We started with one of these questions and somehow through different lessons we've been trying to teach them, we ended up with these three questions. I pray, with God's help, that these questions begin to be a reflection of their lives!

My sweet twins, who really are best friends!

Don't they look like a rockstar band? Davis loves hanging with his bros and has really missed having them around this year!

I LOVE this pic with all the boys having their arms around eachother and having fun! So often people ask us if they're triplets!! Davis is just not that much smaller.

And here is their teacher the most amazing, wonderful Ms. Lynn. She is a family friend and has been such a God-send to this mama who was having a hard time sending her lil boys to school. She sends me texts updates of funny stories and for the first few weeks would text me when their bus left and best of all she loves Jesus! I will be so sad when they have to leave Ms. Lynn's class!

Finally Starting A Blog!

Well, I was pretty sure this day might never come! I have been wanting to start a blog for a long time! I'm not always the greatest at keeping everyone informed with what's going on with us and I wanted a way to document our favorite memories...so I think a blog is my best chance at doing those things! I tried scrapbooking and have completed about half of Trenton's first year (he's 5 now!)...so that's definitely not up my alley! I just don't want my kids to be the ones who say "mom how come you don't have any pics of us" or "how come we don't have any fun books to look through with our fav memories." So I'm gonna try this blog thing out! If you begin to notice it's been a while, feel free to send me an email with a little encouragement that it's about time (since it's been 5 months!) that I share some funny stories and pictures. I feel so blessed by all that God has given me and the amazing family that I get to do this life with and I hope and pray that for those who choose to read my blog that you feel blessed in some way too!