A Child's Prayer

It's never too early to teach children the power and importance of prayer.  As parents we want to lead by example, and show the love of God to our son so he will grow up one day to be an awesome man of God.  Today I got a little window into his heart as he got to say his first bedtime prayers. 

This is the stuff as a parent, i live for!

Start children off on the way they should go,
   and even when they are old they will not turn from it.

Proverbs 22:6

A little bit of springtime equals a whole lot of fun!

he makes my heart swell, my face always smile, my heart melt, my time spent more worth it,

and the future full of endless memories to be made!

A Father

"Any man can be a Father but it takes someone special to be a dad."
-- Anne Geddes

My Easter Reflections

This has been an Easter season unlike any other that I think I've had in my life.  I really tried this year to focus on why we have Easter, why we celebrate and not what the world has made it.  It started on Monday when I took I totally different approach to teaching this week, I knew the theme was going to be Easter, but something inside me just pushed to make it real and not fake.  This week in my classroom we did nothing with bunnies, nothing with the secular view on Easter and I am confident that it was the best decision I've made teaching.  I prayed, researched and carefully put together a week that would reveal the true story of what took place the first Easter so many years ago. 
I work with four year olds (for those of you who don't know) and yes we did talk about what Easter is really about; Jesus dying on the cross and how he rose from the dead three days later.  I couldn't have prepared myself in the least for all the proud moments I witnessed this week.  I wasn't sure how much the kids would get it, if they would even be into do all we did this week, but they were and it was awesome.  I worked with Resurrection eggs as the basis of my week.  If you wanna know more about them their awesome, totally recommend them look 'em up on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Resurrection-Eggs-Familylife/dp/1572297220 They tell the story though opening 12 eggs that reveal the story of Easter.  Starting with Palm Sunday, to the last supper, to his betrayal from Judas to the crucifixion, and lastly his resurrection.   Each day we opened a few more eggs and yesterday we ended with the empty egg representing the tomb. I was so great to see how much the children took away from the week and really learned about the true meaning of Easter.
Thursday we went to Northgate's stations of the cross.  I love how real Easter became to me going around and reading the story from an adult perspective after spending my week teaching the story to children.  It was such a great experience and God really moved through that night at church. 

Easter is a time to really reflect and I think I've had the privilege to help children do that along side of really viewing Easter in a new light in my own life.  I hope you all have had a awesome Easter week experience and see God working in your own lives this year. 

Happy Easter!!

crib to bed

Tonight we decided to put away the baby crib (for now ;-)) and break out Aiden's big boy bed.  Wow did this spark a lot of emotions, most resulting in tears, but bittersweet tears they were.  So enjoy a few moments we shared as a family today as we watched our little baby turn into a boy just by a change in furniture.

the "before"

one last hooray in the crib.



operation tear down begins...



such a big helper



All done!!!
(insert mommy's tears here)




NEW BED!
(prob. my fav. pic of them all)



goodnight my big boy <3

the first of many

Having a boy is awesome, love every almost every min. of it.  Well last night we had one of our "first of many more to come" moments in parenthood with a boy.  His first goose eye knot on the head. 

So here's the story...

this

+ this

= this!

We are doing much better, slept through the night and still woke up so its prob. just one of many bumps our poor little head will take!

mine!

Lately in my house i feel  like this is all i hear from my little seagull.  Everything is mine, mine, mine! or as he would say "my, my, my!"  I know its stages and everyone goes through it but oh my is it annoying.  We went to look at a new dining room table and Aiden was not being all that cooperative so he would grab random things and keep saying "my, my, my" ok kid it was funny the first few times, now not so much! ;-)

Undercover Boss

On Sunday nights we like to watch Undercover Boss on CBS.  Basically the show takes the CEO of a big cooperation and lets them go "undercover" in their company to see what really goes on, to me its a very interesting show and I like watching in the days we aren't busy doing something else.  Last night the CEO of  Baja Fresh, "one of the nation's largest restaurant chains" according to my recent google findings was on the show.  Anyways, during the show he went to a few of the chains and worked with some of the employee's there.  This show stuck out to me among all the others we've watch because in incorporated the religious faith of the CEO.  David Kim is a Christian and openly showed the power of prayer in the episode on the show.  I was shocked at how much CBS actually showed of Kim praying with one of the employees that worked for the company.



Here's a picture of the young guy and David Kim from the show

 Its amazing where you can find those "brothers and sister in Christ" so to speak when you least expect it.  Before Kim went out he prayed with his family and i thought oh thought "that's cool that he did and they were able to show that."  Then as the episode went on he went to a location with a young man who was away from his mom, brother and sister due to financial struggles.  When he was talking to Kim about it he mentioned how God has helped him stay strong.  They ended the segment with the two of them praying, it was really powerful to see that take place in the least expected place.  You could outwardly see the stirring in Kim's heart as he left that conversation.  He was probably one of the most humble CEO's the show has ever had.  It really brought into perspective that he was to be grateful where he was in life and the desire to really help those that could use the help with his great fortune.  He was able to bring the young guys mom to live in the same area with a great donation.  Such an awesome transformation took place in the heart of not only David Kim but all the employee's he touched throughout the show.  The episode ended with a prayer between the two again just being so joyful and thankful for what had taken place there.

How often do we miss opportunities, or seek them out to do what happened though that show?  The Walk On Campaign going on at Northgate right now is right there.  Taking people where they are at and reaching out to them.  I not only think of the young employee that was a Christian but other the other ones that may not have been.  How blessed there were to work for a guy willing to take a step of faith, share his blessings and bless them with such everyday needs and dreams.  Sharing the faith isn't always about preaching and bring people to tell them about God, but going out and being His hands and feet.  Loving people where they are, showing them what Christ would do for them if He was in your place, to me that's what makes the biggest difference.  I pray everyday that He shows me those moments and I use each and every one of them!
What would the world look like that if people starting evangelizing like that?  It'd be awesome!

I love weddings!

Going to weddings are always fun, the love in the air, good food, fun dancing, and just an awesome time to be apart of with people you care about.  Yesterday we went to our friend Ian and Verna's wedding and had a lot of fun.  Here's a few of the fun times had by all <3

my handsome boy all dressed up!





Mr. and Mrs. Cromwell

appetizers!

passing time

Still waiting...

Aiden w/ Becky

kisses :-*

Amanda's "hot date"

Congrats Ian and Verna!

 ( sorry no ceremony pictures, we were part of the outside kid screaming section)





God's canvas

God's beautiful artwork across the sky!

I Belong

Last Sunday we started a new song, its written by Kathryn Scott and has really touched my heart.  Today in my rare quiet moments at home I started to listen and look over the music for worship team in a few weeks and this song came up again. 

We all want to feel like we are accepted and love by others, as humansIi think its just in our nature to want that.  I have struggled with this a lot in life.  Being adopted, not being the most popular child in school, growing up with a sister that had developmental disabilities, and all of just "life" left me sometimes not always feeling like i belonged.  This song is such a great reminder to me that I do belong, not only here on this earth but to the one that matters most, God!  I belong to Him.   That is such a cool feeling to know that He wants me, desires to spend time with me and make me feel like I belong. 

As I listen to the words I really feel invited by God to rest in peace with Him those few minutes and feel like where I am, among all my cluttered house or in busy church scene, that I really do belong to Him. 

Gotta get a little life on ya!

Gotta get a little life on ya!  Ain’t always pretty,  Gonna get a little dirty.

 Hello spring we really are glad you have finally come, we hope you stay! In honor of your arrival we did some great exploration of the backyard and heres a little recap of what we did...




we ran all over





played in the dirt and sticks




checked out the porch from all angles




did a bit of lawn care




and lastly to quote lyrics of the awesome Danny Gokey,
'Got a little life on us'


We look forward to many spring and summer days out here doing this all over again.  But for now the sun has set and we are all off to bed!

Values

What are your most treasured values that you live your life by?  This question has stuck by me the past few days.  I'm taking an ethics class for school and this week that was our discussion topic.  They asked us to list the values that we take pride in having and those we wish to have.  I thought it was such a thought provoking assignment, and wanted to share what i posted...

Have and to follow only one God- My faith as a Christian creates the basis of my value system.  So my number one value is to follow and worship only one God.

Honesty- being honest is something that not only is faith based but how I choose to live my life.  Honesty makes a good person, one who is trustworthy, because no matter what I will strive to tell the truth in all situations

Forgiving- I am called to forgive others no matter what they have done to me.  I want to always be able to forgive someone and give them another chance to gain my respect and trust with them.

Being an example-  because I am a mother I want my life to lead by example to my son.  I want him to see me and my husband make the right choice in easy times and in hard times and one powerful way we choose to do this is leading by example.

As I started reading other people’s post and really reflecting on what my values are, I thought of a verse in the bible that names off the “fruit of the spirit”  Because I am a Christian these are the fundamentals of who I want to be and the how I want to live my life. 

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” (Galatians 5:22)

What are your values?