Don't worry T&T...

...we're taking excellent care of your children while you're away.  See?

It's all fun and games...

'Till someone takes a dirt clod in the face.

Oh, dear.  Good thing I was there to comfort her make someone hand her a towel.

Gotcha!

I don't know much that could make a boy more happy!

I suppose the girls liked it okay too.  :)

I wish that I could show you the hilarity that ensued when Buzz stripped them all down and sprayed them off with the (COLD!) hose.  :)  I don't think they've ever been more happy to get into the shower!

Now if only I could convince them that the baby monitor only works one way... these kids seriously need some walkie-talkies!

After school snack

So glad that the weather is warm and the grass is green so that you can enjoy your picnic, little love.  Kisses to you!

Questions remain

Even as I typed my last post, celebrating the healing that has been given to my sister in law, my mind was never far from those who remain in the midst of suffering.  There are so many people who do not get their miracles in this life.  Pain, be it physical, emotional, or spiritual, abounds in this world.

Some of you know of the spiritual journey that I have been on for the last year and a half, some of you do not.  For those of you who don't know what happened, tragedy struck close to home when friends of ours very suddenly lost their young son.  I have been angry with God.  I have questioned why he allows so much pain in this world.  I have wondered how good he could really be if he is capable of stopping the hurt and yet chooses not to do so.

Slowly, very slowly, I am re-learning the character of God.  The lessons ingrained during my childhood have whispered truth to me in my pain and questioning.  I remember that God hates the sin and pain that fill our world and that in his perfect time he will restore creation to what he intended it to be.  I have come to peace with the fact that God will carry me through the hard times without necessarily delivering me from them entirely.  I have come to terms with submitting to his sovereignty.  I can clearly see his hand moving to guide the circumstances of our family's life.  I am grateful for his provision.

What I had forgotten was that there is this whole other dimension to God's character.  That he is merciful, powerful, loving, and kind.   I had forgotten that he might reach out and grant beautiful and miraculous healing. I had forgotten the power of prayer.

There are still many questions, many hurting people.  I don't ever want to make light of that fact.  For now though, in the midst of my questioning, I am finding tremendous joy and peace in rejoicing with my sister and rediscovering my saviour in this new light.

How could I not sing his praise?

To God be the glory...

...great things he has done!!!

Six and a half years ago I awoke from my pre-night shift nap to find a message on my phone that my dear sister in law had been in a car accident several hours away.  Not knowing the extent of her injuries, but knowing that she was in pretty bad shape, we made arrangements to leave town immediately and drive the six hours to where she was hospitalized.  We were in shock to see the condition of her car, her body.  But we rejoiced that her babies, who had been in the car with her, were without injury.  We rejoiced that although her back was broken, she had movement and feeling in her legs.  We rejoiced that although she could have been lost to us that day, our sister was alive.

The next several months we watched as she quietly endured several surgeries, painful therapies, and endless restless days and sleepless nights.  We watched her struggle with not being able to hold her babies like she wanted.  And sadly, six months after her accident, we helped her move half way across the country.

It has been a very long and painful journey for my sister friend.  She hid it well.  Very few people knew the real pain that she was in.  Even the things that she had shared with me during long tearful talks had failed to fully open my eyes to her circumstance.  It wasn't until we moved here almost 11 months ago that we were able to see first hand what her life was like, how much she continued to suffer.

But now... but now!  As of two weeks ago, our sister, our aunt, our friend has been healed!  The very next day after she posted this on her blog, she awoke a new woman.  Words cannot express the joy that we feel or our gratitude that God has chosen to answer the countless prayers that have been raised on her behalf!  I hope that you will click here to read her account of what happened, as no one can tell the story better than my sister herself.

We are delighting in the lightness of her step and the sparkle in her eyes.  She and her family have been set free from the oppression of pain! 

To God be the glory!

Fat...

...and happy...

...in the most wonderful way!

One more...

Because the kids are cute.

And because I'm missing the flowers in my yard.

Look who...

...finally learned how to roll over last week!

She's not a big fan of being on her tummy, which means that I've been having to rescue her during her naps and even in the middle of the night.

She'll get used to it.

See?

Dare!

Even though in my opinion it was a little too chilly to play in the water today (mid 60's), I let Sparkle run over to the cousin's house when the phone call came inviting her to do just that.  Thanks to Aunt T for having her over and for sharing her pictures!

Here they are testing the waters...

Cold, but still posing!  This girl kills me!

TJ went first sitting in and then dunking her head into the water.  The other two followed her lead. 

Here was Sparkle's turn.  This picture cracks me up!

And putting her face in...

Brrr!!!

After they all had a turn, they willed every ounce of sunshine to come and warm them back up.

Crazy kiddos!

Farm!

We drove down south to a children's farm/homestead yesterday to spend the morning with friends and check out some animals.

Here's what Sunny thought...

...of these guys.  I wonder if she's making the connection between the chicken we eat and the ones walking around in front of her?

Picking flowers along the way, of course!

Coming nose to nose with a baby cow:

Sevvy checking out the action:

And finally, the highlight of the day by far...

~Bottle feeding baby goats~

Such a fun place!  We've been wanting to go since last year, but we never did make it down with Sevvy being brand new and all.  We'll definitely be going back, next time with the whole family.  You should have seen how green Sparkle turned when we told her that we went to a farm while she was at school.  :)

Crazy-cakes!

That's what we like to call each other (in only the most affectionate of ways, of course!) around here.  The crazy definitely runs in the extended family as well, just in bigger doses! 

Click here to see a few pictures of uncle T's recent trip to Antarctica to RUN A MARATHON.

I know.  Like I said, Crazy-cakes!  With a capitol 'C'!

I'll be posting more soon.  Buzz' work schedule has picked up, which leaves me with a lot of time to spare after the girls are in bed.  In the meantime, our family will be outside, soaking up the sun and filling my new favorite vase (an actual milk bottle sold by a local dairy!) with the flowers growing in our yard~

Happy Spring!

Fourteen years ago today...

...at the tender age of fifteen, I first held hands with the love of my life and future husband on the Santa Monica pier.  It was one of the most exhilarating nights of my life...  I will never forget sitting on the end of the pier, listening to the crashing waves and enveloped in the darkness of night as we confessed our mutual affection for one another.

I love you, Buzz!  One more year and I will have spent half of my life with you.  Nothing could make me happier.

Gulp!

You read it here first, folks.

I'm officially making it my goal committing to run (yes, actually RUN) the local 5K this fall.

I've been getting on the treadmill with some regularity of late and I'm actually starting to like it.  Who knew?  I'm terrible at running. I run about a 13 minute mile right now, but my husband assures me that I will get faster the more I do it.  I'm definitely running farther than I've ever been able to*.  Today I did a mile and a half before I stopped to walk.  Took me over 20 minutes, but still.

The major obstacle I'm facing at this point is finding shoes that work for me.  I have ridiculously high arches.  I thought that I was on to something with barefoot running, but after a week of feeling good sans shoes, my feet have been killing me... so much so that I didn't run at all last week.  Boo!  Buzz has a couple of days off this weekend, so I'm hoping to sneak away for a couple of hours to do some shopping minus the kids.  Wish me luck!

*I was actually on the cross country team in middle school.  It was a mistake, really.  I wanted to run track but showed up for the wrong practice because I didn't know the difference.  I was constantly stopping to walk and I finished last or next to last in every race except one.  I'm still not sure why they kept me.

Don't say...

...I never let them do anything messy fun!

The other day I threw caution to the wind and let the girls paint to their heart's content out on the front porch.

They liked it - a lot!

One of these days I'll have to go scrub all that paint off of the patio furniture and siding.

Celebration

We had a lovely day celebrating Easter with our cousins down the street.  After church and lunch, we staged an easter egg hunt.  We couldn't have asked for more beautiful weather!

I love this series of photos taken from Aunt T's camera...

We gave Sunny a few minutes head start on the other kids and made them sit on a bench until they were allowed to hunt:

Check out their faces!

And look how excited they were when we said that they could go...

(Click here to visit their Wild & Crazy Family!)

We moved inside to check the contents of thier eggs and nurse the bee sting that Sparkle got on her foot during the hunt.  Poor girl.  From her smile I'd say that candy proved to be the perfect remedy.

Super excited about the candy filled eggs...

We took many, many family photos in an attempt to get one where all five of us looked decent (thanks T&T!).  Here's my favorite, despite the fact that Sevvy isn't looking...

When Sevvy did look up, her face was nothing but sour.  I guess she's had enough of having her picture taken in the past couple of days.  Can't blame her, really.  :)

We rounded out the day by dyeing easter eggs and sharing a yummy dinner together.  So grateful that we could share this holiday with family.

Until next time!

From our family to yours...

Happy Easter!

Cousins!

(We love you!)

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!  In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead..."  1 Peter 1:3

Landmark

April 2, 2010 - the day when Sparkle was first moved to tears while watching a movie:  Where the Wild Things are.

I still remember my first:  The Last Unicorn.

Sympathy... empathy... things that you can encourage, but not force.  Looks like she's well on her way.  A proud moment for this Mama.

Photo of the day...