Happy National Ice-Cream Day!

There are no excuses for not celebrating this one....

Baths, and PJ's, and just because I can

I realized a few days ago that we've never taken a picture of all 3 kids in the bathtub together. A daily occurrence around here, and one that I admittedly sometimes face with dread after a long day, and a day when the daddy Calvary wont be coming home until after the bedtime routine is finished. But these are the moments- chaotic and tiresome and seemingly endless now- that I will one day look back on with longing. There's just something about deliciously smelling, clean kids in their jammies that makes it nearly impossible not to snuggle them. So here is our last month of PJs, robes, and birthday suits.

Happy Valentine's Day

It may be a Hallmark holiday, but it's a day I will always try to make special for our kids while they are young and under our roof. It's another opportunity to teach them about God's unconditional love for us, show them the tangible love of our family, and demonstrate for them a marriage that- although far from perfect- remembers how important it is to keep the romance alive. Our kids are watching us. And the greatest gift we can give them besides Jesus while they are under our care, is a husband and wife who keep on moving toward each other, and a love that is built on the grace of God. And maybe a few stolen kisses here and there that make them giggle now and will someday soon embarrass the heck out of them!

All Things New

We finished up 2012 with two lazy and wonderful weeks of celebrating Christmas and spending time with family. John didn't have to report to the office during the holidays and not having him rush off every morning when we've barely just woken up is one of my favorite parts about December. I got to snuggle in bed a little longer and enjoy my morning coffee a few times while he got up with our early birds and fixed breakfast. Ahh, if only it could have lasted forever. Today I was running around like a crazy person trying to get the kids out the door by mid-morning because I apparently have forgotten how to do it by myself. Oh how I miss you already, two-parents-at-home life of leisure.

Christmas was so fun with such excited little ones and their equally excited cousins.
 It just gets better every year. Here are a few of the highlights.

                                   

 

As John and I celebrated New Years this week, we both agreed that we are more than ready to say good-bye to 2012. See ya later! It was a good year, but one with a great deal of sorrow and trials. God has stretched us and tested us, and yet we have found Him to be so faithful and loving to us amidst the heartbreak. We are eagerly anticipating the new things that are coming in the year ahead. The biggest being that Gavin will HEAR this year! Whether God chooses to heal him through His miraculous power or through the medical miracle of cochlear implants, we are giddy with the thought of our son hearing our voices in only a few short months from now. It just can't get here soon enough.

My verse for this year that God has really been laying heavy on my heart is this:

"Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a NEW thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the dessert and streams in the wasteland."
-Isaiah 43:18,19

That is just some powerful scripture, no matter where you find yourself starting out this year. God is going to do big and amazing things, because it's in His nature and, well, He just can't keep Himself from being Himself. He loves us way too much.

Happy 2013!

Day 18

When your kids are too sick to go into the church nursery and your advent calendar's activity of the day is to "set up your Christmas manger" (which you don't have), this is how you spend your Sunday morning improvising:

 

A big thanks to all the Little People, animals, and construction men for making this scene come alive. And especially to cowboy man, for stepping into the role of baby Jesus. You were the only one small enough to be swaddled in toilet paper and placed in the trough. I'm sure you understand.

6 months

So I've apparently gotten into a bit of a writing slump...

I blame 90% of it on the crazy busy, unending job of feeding and watering 3 little people; and the remaining 10% on my own laziness once those 3 little people finally close their eyes at night. But at least I'm being honest right?

Life continues on here as the days blur into weeks, which blur into months, which continue through holidays and family feasts, and thankfulness, and replacing pumpkins with garland, and filling up the calendar with so many events you start to sweat a little when you face your Monday morning to-do list. I love this time of year, even more now that Eli and Norah are old enough to be transfixed by all the magic and the twinkling lights. But it does still get a bit overwhelming at times trying to cram it all in.

Gavin will be 6 months old this week. I would say that the time has flown by, because that's what you're supposed to say as a parent. But sometimes when I look back at all that has happened in our little guy's short life already, it seems much longer. And I don't mean that negatively. Certainly, these months have been emotional, and heart-breaking, and difficult. We would never have chosen to watch our son struggle to hear us, to meet milestones that should come without effort, to deal with an uncertain future. But this boy has wrapped himself so tightly around every inch of our hearts, that it's as if he was never not here. We still are in the waiting phase, faithfully keeping Gavin's hearing aids in for as much of the day as we can, practicing simple sign language with him while we bathe him, play with him, feed him. We still don't know how much language he is getting. We probably wont for a few more months still. And the waiting is so hard.

But I do know that Gavin (or God rather) is changing me through all of this. I look at Gavin and I see perfection. My mother-bear protective nature over him is something fierce. God has been teaching me so much about my own pride, about waiting for His timing, about releasing the death grip I hold on things I cannot change. And he has also been revealing to me the beautiful heart of the man I married. John cares for Gavin so sweetly, tenderly helping him with his hearing aids, getting up with him during the night, patiently working with him on his development, never complaining about what isn't. I am so thankful for a man who is much stronger than I am at showing grace in difficult circumstances.

The Bible verse we chose for Gavin's nursery wall when I was pregnant has become the powerful words I pray over him each night when I put him to bed. What a perfect reminder of just how much God thinks of each one of his children.

"The Lord your God is with you.

He is mighty to save.

He will take great delight in you,

He will quiet you with his love,

He will rejoice over you with singing."

-Zephaniah 3:17 

S'mores

It may have taken us until September, but we finally got around to making s'mores out back with the kids this summer. Just wanted to document this accomplishment. Turns out Graham crackers taste pretty stale when you're still holding onto last year's box. 

Sibling Love

These kiddos are pretty crazy about their new baby brother. Makes our hearts melt to see how sweet they are with him. Gavin doesn't get much personal space around here but he doesn't seem to mind all the head rubbing, hovering, and sticky fingers so far.

Things we do while we wait for baby

John and I received a fancy ice-cream maker as a wedding gift and we have used it exactly one time in almost 6 years. You know, one of those gifts you register for as your mom rolls her eyes and tells you how much space it will take up to store and how you'll never use it, yet you scan it anyway because you picture yourself giggling in the kitchen with your new hubby as you make batch after batch of delicious goodness that you feed each other off a shared spoon as Norah Jones croons in the background. 

Fast forward 6 years and 2.9 kids and okay, I can admit we haven't used it quite as much as I anticipated we would, but there's no time like the present right? And since the kids seems to share an obsession  appreciation of ice-cream equal to their mama's, its a good way to keep them happy and entertained for a good 30 minutes. Today we made a batch of chocolate cookies n' cream and oh my goodness, was it delicious. And I consider myself to be a connoisseur, so I wouldn't say that if it wasn't true. There is something about the creamy perfection of homemade ice-cream that beats anything you can buy in the store. And that is what I had for lunch today friends. And seeing as I'm moments away from birthing a baby, I think that is just perfectly acceptable.

Pour in all the ingredients

and then turn on machine and wait....

and wait some more.

Crush up Oreos with rubber mallet..

add to mixture, and then wait just a bit longer

Ready to pounce as soon as the timer beeps

Creamy, perfection in only 25 minutes

Chocolate on the face, arms, legs, shirt, shorts, and table means it must be pretty good

Chocolate warrior princess

To sum things up, its just the perfect treat for a lazy Sunday afternoon. 

And perhaps also perfect at 3am when I am up watching House Hunters tonight because I can't sleep... but that's just speculation.