Happy Birthday Nate!

Can you believe it! Nate, our little BABY is 5!!!!! 

Time sure flies when you are having fun!

Hello 2014!

I just looked at the blog and realized I have not blogged here since Faith's birthday last year.

I always mean to put updates up, but have not had our laptop much (Jake takes it to work) and it has all the pics on it.

So since I have it today, I thought I would put a few pics of the fun we have been having in December. As usual, we are having fun, enjoying family time, and always on the lookout for something new and fun to do.

We have been having a great time visiting Seaworld on an almost weekly basis. (Thanks to our passes!)

And of course Christmas! With Jake now being an Associate Pastor, we were very busy with chruch through the holidays, but I would not trade that for anything! Love ministry, love serving! 

Also love that we are in San Diego and the kids can decorate the tree in shorts! This year all I did was fluff the tree and put on the ribbon. The kids did the rest, and I left it the way they decorated it. I usually change things around a bit after they are done to even it all out (the bottom is usually very decoration heavy) but this year I just wanted to look at their creativity daily. 

I hope that your holidays were amazing, that you celebrated with those you love and hold closest to your hearts. I pray your 2014 is nothing more then amazing, and that God will take you places this year that you thought were not possible.

Baby Girl isn't a baby anymore...

Happy 8th birthday to our sweetie girl Faith!

We had such a great time celebrating! We took her and some of her friends to Chuck E Cheese. She had such a great time and felt so loved and celebrated.

We love you so much Miss Faith! We look forward to another year of fun and adventures with you. You are an amazing young lady! xo

Some recent "Field Trips"

Every Monday Jake has the day off, and we make a point to spend the day as a family and do something fun and educational!

Here are some pics of our recent trips.

Checking out the Cattle Run (which really should be renamed the Cattle Stroll) at the Fort Worth Stock Yards. I love the Stock Yards, it's old school "Texas" and so western. When I am there I just want to line dance and eat BBQ!

The closest thing to bull riding they will ever experience!

 

Running from the Dinosaurs at the Dinosaur park. We also went to Dinosaur State park to check out some tracks they have discovered in the creek bed. Very cool! We have been twice already. The kids LOVE this state park...water, hiking, and dinosaurs. What a combo!!

 

 TCU has a free Meteorite Gallery. It's small and you can get through it quickly....I wish the kids were a bit more interested..but it was a lot of reading and displays behind glass, so not much to touch. Faith wanted to spend more time there, so this is something we will try again when the boys are older, or just take Faith and leave the boys at home.

We have been to a couple of other state parks, as well as the always loved Legoland Discovery Center. Monday is really my favorite day of the week! Family time, fun, and learning! 

Happy Birthday Sweet Nate!

Our not so little guy is 4!!

Unfortunately the flu got him on his birthday, but he did perk up the day after his birthday enough to blow out the candles on his cupcakes!

Happy Birthday my sweet sweet Nate! Everyday is an adventure with you, and I look forward to another year of chasing you around!

My One Word for 2013 = IMPACT

I have decided this year to hop on the "One Word" train and after much thought, this is what I came up with.

im·pact  (mpkt)

n.

1. The striking of one body against another; collision.

2. The force or impetus transmitted by a collision.

3. The effect or impression of one thing on another: 

4. The power of making a strong, immediate impression:

I personally love definitions 3 and 4...and it's those definitions that I am after. 

I had thought of the word impact the other day....in the shower to be honest...it is the one place where I can gather a few quiet thoughts without children interrupting every 2 minutes! 

So I had impact, and a few other words that I was tossing around, asking God which one I should choose, what I wanted to go after...what do I want to see when I look back at 2013? Impact was high on the list...I want to make an impression...in my walk with the Lord, with my family, in my little Homeschool, in my friendships, in my church, in my community. I am honestly tired of just "living day to day" and not really feel like I'm doing anything important...of course raising 3 kids is important, my marriage is important. But I am yearning for more...I can do more...God can do more in me...through me.

We come to New Years Day. We had traveled to Shreveport, Louisiana to see my brother in law play in a worship concert for New Years Eve. We had a great time with him and his wife and rung in the new year at our hotel with pizza and yummy snacks. The worship concert was awesome and the presence of the Lord was heavy..what a way to bring in the new year. 

On New Years Day we headed home back to Fort Worth. As we drove down the freeway in Dallas I saw in the corner of my eye a car spinning out of control, and heading straight for us. (We were in the far left hand lane, this car was skidding over from the second right hand lane. Keep in mind this is a 5 lane freeway) My husband places his hand across my chest and says, "It's ok, we're good, we're good" he then takes his hand back to the steering wheel to try to navigate around this car that had decided to come to a rest directly in front of us, as it collided with the cement barricade. I see that we are in fact going to connect with this car, but on the back end...I think we are just going to clip him. We can't move over as there is a truck pulling a horse trailer beside us, and cement barricade on the other...we were trapped in this little spot but Jake was almost at a complete stop...then BOOM! IMPACT as we are nailed by the truck that was traveling behind us. 

That truck just made an impact on my life. And not in a good way. 

The sound of the collision and the sound of my children in the back seat screaming will never leave my mind. But praise God we drive a nice big Dodge Ram and it took that impact well...sure the truck is pretty banged up, but as for me and my family, we all came out ok. I am in the worst shape with some whiplash, but other then that, we are all ok. 

So for 2013 I want to be that truck that hit us...that truck that made it's presence known...but in a good way...to reach out, to take opportunities to serve in all areas! God please take my little life, I give you full reign, and let me be your tool to spread your word and your love. 

Dreaming of a White Christmas

Ever since the first day we arrived in Texas, Faith has told us it would snow for Christmas.

Fort Worth does get snow...but it's not a guarantee, and it does not arrive every year. It's kinda similar to Vancouver...you get a day of snowfall and then watch it turn to slush and melt away.

So as Christmas was approaching, and the temperature was still hanging out in the high 60's...I began to lose hope that the kids would have the white Christmas they so desired.....

But then....3 days before Christmas....I was watching the news and the weatherman told me there was a chance of snow...on Christmas Day! A cold front was on the way, dropping the temperature low enough to generate some snowfall! WOW!!! So I said some prayers that the cold would be sure to hit our area (there was a risk it would not hit us and we would just get rain)

Christmas Eve....Midnight....I am woken up by thunder and lightning...oh no...and then again at 6am...another thunder storm came through the area...the kids woke up and opened their gifts to a storm roaring outside. Our hopes were a bit dashed as I thought for sure it was too warm to snow.

By mid morning the storm passed through, and it was just raining. I decided to check Jake's weather app on his phone to see how long the rain was going to last...then I saw that the temperature was about to start dropping and SNOW was in the forecast for the afternoon! WOOT!

I decided to get the kids through the tub and as Faith was having her bath, the rain turned into snow...Jake yelled it's snowing! Faith screamed from the tub "GET ME OUT OF HERE!" She was soo excited her little dream of a white Christmas was coming true!

Faith and Sam watching the snow start to fall

So once we got a bit of snow sticking to the ground, we dug out all the winter gear and went outside to play!

 Faith making a snow angel.

 The kids enjoying the snow.

The snow stuck around for another day, so we had 2 days of playing in the snow. Now it's gone and all that remains is the body of the little snowman that Faith and Jake built.

It ended up being a very fun Christmas day and it was so nice to have the kids little dream of a white Christmas come true.