Five for Friday...

Today, I am going to count our many blessings from the past whirlwind of a week!
All praise and glory to God!

"Count your blessings, name them one by one; Count your many blessings,
see what God has done!"

1. We had our preconstruction meeting for our new home and it went great!!! Construction to begin sometime mid-July!! (Completion tentatively scheduled for beginning of October!)
   
2. We found a temporary home to live in (thank you Cherith!) and got moved in!
3. We closed on the sell of our home (at 5pm!)! Yeah!
4. We had a huge amount of help from our church family this week! Thank you to all who helped (you know who you are!)!!! We love you all and are so blessed to be "doing life" with you!
   
5. We head to Florida for our first official family vacation TOMORROW!!! Yeah!! Can't wait to build sand castles and search for seashells with our boys! (I'll be sure to post pics when we get back.)

**And one more: Asher has his first tooth and is getting another (both on top)!!! He's so cute!

five for friday

here it goes...

1. We are beginning our move to the house next door (yes, you read correctly, next door!) we will be renting while our new home is being built! It is chaos around here, to say the least!
2. You never think you own as much stuff as you really do until you go to box and move it all! Less is more in my eyes these days! Give it all away!
3. A quote from J.C Ryle in Duties of Parents: "I know that you cannont convert your child. I know well that they who are born again are born, not of the will of man, but of God. But I know also that God says expressly,"Train up a child in the way he should go," and that He never laid a command on a man which He would not give man grace to perform. And I know, too, that our duty is not to stand still and dispute, but to go forward and obey. It is just in the going forward that God will meet us. The path of obedience is the way in which He gives the blessing. We have only to do as the servants were commanded at the marrage feast in Cana, to fill the water-pots with water, and we may safely leave it to the Lord to turn that water in to wine." ...enough said!
4. Joel's newest "baby step" toward pooping in the potty, is to ask for a pull-up and then go sit on the potty with it on. (Hey, I said baby step...) He used to come ask and then go hide in his room to do his "business", so at least getting him to not be afraid of sitting down to go is a step in the right direction.
5. Sam's latest phrase he has picked up: "No thank you Mommy, but thank you for asking." So cute! He's heard me say it (I assume) and loves to "impress" me with it! :)

There you have it! Have a great weekend!

the latest...

...our house is in total chaos these days:

• boxes stacked all over the place


• many boxes yet to be packed


• crawling baby on the loose


• leaking a/c unit that cost $200 to fix!


• big brothers are best friends and worst enemies (the status changes moment by moment)


• "big" part of the move scheduled for tomorrow evening


• extremely hot outside these days, so outdoors is not a lengthy refuge for mommy to send the kiddos


• stressed mommy on the loose (much worse and more dangerous than the crawling baby)!

And so now you may ask, "Why is she telling us all this?"

To ask for your prayers....that is why! These days are short, I know, but in the midst of it all, it can feel very overwhelming! Please pray for the Lord's peace, help, provision, and longsuffering (especially w/ the boys!) in these days. And pray that He would be where this tired mommy runs to in the many moments of fear, anger, or stress that WILL arise. Thanks.

five for friday...

yes...I am copying Callie...who admitted she was copying one of her friends. Oh well, are there really ANY original ideas these days anyways?!

I'm going to attempt to do five thoughts, updates, or random musings/happenings in our lives from that week. Hope they don't bore you to death! Here it goes...

1. The other day Sam said (probably just as an attempt to be REALLY cute, but hey, who cares), "Mommy, I'm a wittle sad. " To which I replied, "Why? What's wrong?" "I want to see Jesus." Sam answered.
(Oh that my heart would long for that every single moment of my life!)

2. Tonight we went to the last single's event for the summer. It was a BBQ at a families house w/ a pool. I took the boys but before we left, Rob told me it wasn't a pool/swim party. The boys were disappointed, but I said okay. Well, after being in the backyard at the party for only a few minutes the boys asked to put there feet in. Sure, why not? It's hot. I'll do it too. Well, by the end of it all, Joel was drenched and Sam was half way there!
Lesson: Put them in their swimsuits for good measure next time. Boys WILL get wet if there is water around!

3. I've nearly finished the biography of Elizabeth Prentiss and have absolutely loved it! What an encouraging, challenging, and inspiring book! I pray my life points to the Lord like hers and that I long to be with Him like she did!

4. So I've finally begun packing for our move. It's not very easy this time aroung with three kiddos underfoot; one literally! I'm starting to doubt I will get it all done in time. So, if you've got an itchin' to come fill a box or two, feel free!

5. Tomorrow night we are supposed to get together with our dear friends Josh and Amanda and I CANNOT wait! They just returned from the Pastor's College in MD, where we were last year! We can't wait to catch up and just be with them before they head out to Seguin, TX where Josh will be doing his internship. They are some of our dearest friends and the Lord has used them in so many ways in our lives and we are SO blessed to know them!

Well, there you have it, "five on friday". Hope it wasn't too boring. Thanks for reading!

9 months old!

What a happy boy!

I just LOVE those blue eyes!

Crawling....army guy style!

Starting to pull up...

Brothers and buds!

My how time flies! It seems with each of the boys, the baby year goes faster and faster! Slow down will ya....I want to hold on to it a bit longer! And oh our Asher...you do just want to hold on to him as long as possible! He is such a happy, sweet little guy! He is crawling all over the place, laughing and interacting with his big brothers, eating all sorts of "real" food, and saying "da da da" and "na na na" a ton (we're working on the ma ma)! He had his 9 month (shot-free!) doctor visit on Monday. He's around or just below the 50th percentile for his height and weight; a bit on the "petite side" according to the chart and the doctor. (That's my side of the family; we aren't a tall family!) Though there is nothing petite about his thighs!

Asher has been a joy these nine months and we all love him dearly and can't imagine our family without him! He truly is "happy" and we are "blessed" because of him, just as his name means!

battin' 1000...

...our little man is, that is! Samuel hit a ball each time at bat when his coach was pitching to him! He never had to use the tee! We were beaming with pride and he was very excited too! Way to go Sam! That's our boy! (He loves it when we yell that at the games!)

Only 4 more games to go, so if you haven't come out to see our little "natural", you better hurry because time is running out! Go A's!

Ready...

Swing and a hit (I think).

Hanging loose on 1st base!

Coming around to 3rd...

Striking an adorable pose! Oh, I love

that smile! What a boy!