A Handful...of good things!

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Monday, April 27, 2009

Jesus Paid It All!

We sang this song the other night for our family worship time. 
I love it.  What hope there is when we look to the Cross!

Jesus Paid It All!

I hear the Savior say, Thy strength indeed is small;
Child of weakness, watch and pray, Find in Me thine all in all.

Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.

Lord, now indeed I find Thy power and Thine alone,
Can change the leper's spots And melt the heart of stone.

And when before the throne I stand in Him complete,
"Jesus died my soul to save" my lips shall still repeat

O Praise the one who paid my debt
And raised this life up from the dead 
O Praise the one who paid my debt
And raised this life up from the dead 

O Praise the one who paid my debt
And raised this life up from the dead
O Praise the one who paid my debt
And raised this life up from the dead

Happy 8 years, Steve!

8 years ago I was so excited that I was about to become your bride. I could not have been prepared for what life would be like over these past 8 years. I would never have imagined all the places we would have lived, jobs you would have, children we would be raising, trials and joys we would walk through, adventures we would take, the lessons we would learn together. Today I am even more excited that I have been your bride over these last eight years.

Here are eight areas I've seen you grow in this year. Thank you for pursuing the Lord and pursuing change. And thank the Lord for changing us even when we aren't even pursuing change in certain areas. How grateful I am for His faithfulness! Thank you for loving me, putting up with me and making me laugh.

1. Patience with me!
2. Consistency with the girls!
3. Encouraging the girls and me!
4. Personal discipline - with pursuing the Lord, exercise, reading!
5. Spending "quality time" with me - talking, praying together, reading, playing games!
6. Being generous with others!
7. Putting thought into date nights!
8. Personal and Family Worship!

Celebrating 8 Years With My Love!

This weekend Mama came up to watch the girls so Steve and I could get away and celebrate our 8 year anniversary! We had so much fun! We went hiking and camping on the Appalachian Trail. It was a total stretch from me, but I loved it! We left our house at 6 AM on Saturday morning and started hiking about 8:30. The views of the mountains were gorgeous, the weather was beautiful and it was wonderful to have no distractions. We hiked and talked and hiked and hiked! We were so blessed by some friends of ours with great hiking and camping equipment! About 4:30 we found a great little creek on the Trail and pitched our tent. We ate our fun dinners (I had vegetable lasagna!) which were actually really good and Steve built a campfire and we had hot chocolate (well, mine was pink!). We were whipped, so we went to bed pretty much as soon as it got dark! I hardly slept at all. I heard at least 4 animals by our tent throughout the night. I was too scared to open the tent and look out, but I didn't want to wimp out and wake up Steve!! But we could see straight out of the top of our tent and I could see what seemed like thousands of stars. It was breathtaking! We got up about 6:30 the next morning and oh-my-goodness were we sore! I can't believe how many muscles I could feel! We started hiking again and I didn't know if I'd make it! But I did! I'm so grateful we got to get away and try something new together! I love adventures and I love going on them with my hubby! I'd definitely do it again...sometime down the road! For now I think I'll be popping Advil for the next few days!!

Sydney is 3!!

Sunday was Sydney's 3rd birthday, but we celebrated on Friday night! Mama came into town to watch the girls so Steve and I could go camping (more on that shortly!) and we were excited she was able to celebrate our little monkey's birthday with us! I made pink cupcakes with sprinkles and we had a really yummy dinner! I don't think that Sydney has ever eaten as fast as she did. She could barely wait to eat her cupcake and very seriously tear into her presents! She got lots of fun pieces to go with her doll house and a Barney video.

Sydney, I am so grateful to God for giving you to us. You make us laugh so hard. You bring us so much joy. You cause us to seek God for much wisdom! You have grown so much this year. Your chubby cheeks have slimmed down and you look more like a little girl than a baby. God has been changing your little heart. You are sweeter than ever before. I love to watch you greet people in the grocery store or at church. I love your little personality and how you can play by yourself for hours. You can put together puzzles in no time flat without even looking at the boxes! You know all your colors and can say your ABCs. My favorite, though, is when you dance when we are having family time and when you pray for your sissies. Happy, Happy Birthday, my silly, fun-loving darling!!

Jordyn's 11 Months and 1 Week!

Our baby girl is getting so big! I can't believe in less than a month she'll be a year old! Here's the skinny on what's going on with her over this past month...

*Still only 2 teeth.

*She's getting around a little more. She's really speedy at getting from point A to point B when food is involved.

*Table food is all she's getting these days and she loves it! She really likes grapes, cheese, green beans, sweet potatoes, bananas, goldfish and raisins.

*She still has a terribly loud scream, but thankfully she isn't screaming quite as much!

*She enjoys her play time with her sisters every morning, likes to watch Barney and likes rolling balls!

I can't wait to see her eat cake next month!!