Thewholefamlee\’s Weblog

Here he is! Our precious son. He is home and full of sleepy smiles, funny noises, and poop! :0

ok, so after a long time away. It’s time to get back to updating the blog world on the life of our family.  So, I’ll start with the most recient. We just returned from a 3 day camping trip. It was lots of fun, full of camp fire smell and sleepless nights, but camping was made for family bonding.

Here’s a picture.

Riding to the Lake...Yeah water!

We also are pursuing another adoption. It’s a fun journey.  We are excited to see how God is going to expand our family.  It’s definately a step of faith and there are some unknowns out there, but this is the part where we learn just how little we are and how big God is.  I’ll try to be better and keep the blog updated. 

Here are some recient pictures that my good friend took for us. Aren’t they great!

So sweet

Oh, and who can forget! C has lost his first two teeth this month!

C's 1st lost tooth

J’s first look at the pumpkins. He loved them so much he thought they were balls and started throwing them. Easy, no basketball yet.

J

C giving J a push on the tractors

Trying to get a picture of them both in the pumpkins...oh well

This weekend I had the privelage of going on our church’s women’s retreat. It was a blessing to my soul. Every aspect ministered to my soul. From the fabulous food (cooked by a precious woman in our church), to the fellowship of late night laughter, to the words of the speaker, and mostly God providing repentance in my soul and a new look at my life.

God used our speaker in amazing ways. Her main theme was choosing to worship God.  Some of the key things I learned and treasured in my heart were:

1. “where are you going?”  are we in such a hurry, so busy that we cannot spend time with the Lord every day. Really, where are you going, what have you got to do that is so important?

2. Worship of God absolutely does require a time in the morning before you have started your day to “TUNE YOUR HEART”. If you don’t spend time tuning your heart in worship of him you cannot effectively worship him throughout your day. I use to cring at this thought… I would make excuses like my son was up half the night, I feel exhausted, I have little ones, this is the season I am in…hello!!! But really a simple tuning of our hearts in the morning is essential and the one thing God has created us for…worship. The tuning of the heart is simple, pick a verse (just one or maybe a few words) from a psalm or book of bible and think on those words…really think on them and praise God in some way for those words. Then those words will most likely lead you to some attribute of God which will probably lead you to sing a song that reminds you of that attribute and then a burst of prayer…and when you rise your head you will realize you have just spent some time with the holy of holies in his throne room. This is worship.

2. Nobody is born  or naturally bent a “Martha” rather you choose to be Martha or Mary

3. I often have an unteachable heart because I am still holding on to this world. I often have the audacity to negotiate with the creator of the universe just like Lot did when he was holding the hand of a heavenly angel and asked if he could go to the nearby city instead of the hills like he was commanded. How dear I negotiate with the heavenly father as Lot…hurts my soul to think on this. Praise God, he is merciful.

So those are the highlights of the retreat. There is so much more and I praise God for allowing me the time to spend in moments of quite with him. May this encourage anyone who reads to continue to worship the almighty.

For His Great Love,

A

So, we went to one of my childhood friends bithday parties this past weekend.  It was a wonderful party. We were asked to dress up as our favorite movie stars. So, we decided in light of the fact that C was going to be Darth Vader, we would join in the Star Wars fun.  I have never seen a 5 year old get so excited. He was thrilled to have his whole family dress up.  Here are a few of the pictures from the event.

Enjoy!

Chewy and Princess Laya

This title about sums up the past 2 weeks. J has decided to take off. He is finally walking only to wish badly he could run, so in light of that ideal he still gets down on all 4’s to take off fast if he needs to make a mad dash for something before C gets it. He also has managed to cut 2 molars, which only has slowed his eating down, which might not be a bad thing. He He! C decided to be a brave Jedi and jump off of his fort last week only to land squarely on the ground without shoes and break his left ankle. So not only have we seen a slew of speech doctors but now orthopedics. We are about get the children’s hospital down. We know where to park and how to get where we need to go ASAP. As if this was not enough Daddy has finally finished a big project at work which has lead to some over time work in the midst of the broken ankle, molars, and walking. Not to worry…he is finished now! Praise the Lord. We had game night (played Operation) and ate ice cream to celebrate daddy’s big project finished. And in the midst of this all I decided to join my friend in a garage sale venture this weekend. I sold almost everything and saw some strange people. There was a little old lady who showed up at our sale with a monkey in the back of the car. For real. The monkey’s name was Abby. The children got a kick out of seeing that. I also started to decorate the 3-4 year old Sunday school room at church. Why now? Good question, but I did and it looks so much better, but I still have a ways to go. In the midst of all of this I have tried to cling to the promises of God; that he would give me the strength and joy to make it through this time and any other trials ahead. I pray that I consider it joy that God finds me a willing child to learn from his grace and that it is sufficient for me so that I may become more like his Son.

Maybe now that Daddy is home more the computer might find a slice of my time so that I can update the joys and trial of life. Till then, watch out for those monkeys!

Just wanted to see if you still wanted to come visit J. Just let me know it is totally up to you! Did you get your job?

A

We picked up a new hobby, Rock Climbing. We decide to start rock climbing because our whole family could do it together and we love being outdoors. So, this weekend we went with my in laws. We picked the same site we have always been too, since we are new at this. Previously, I climbed up the 35 foot cliff after much debate and loved it once I got the hang of if and little C climbed about 10 feet. We were so proud. This time little C wanted to go first; we let him. After climbing about 10 feet we expected him to return down, but he did not, he kept climbing and climbing only to finally with (much joy) reach the top where daddy ran vigorously to meet him. The only problem is that we hadn’t taught him how to repel down yet. I climbed up after him and repelled down hoping he was watching. He did and with a bribe of Gatorade and a snack he made it down. We were so proud of him and he was very excited himself. Our youngest meanwhile was climbing his own small size boulders, and eventually fell asleep. Rock climbing has been like fresh air to our family. We have enjoyed God’s creation, we have spent time as a family talking, challenging, searching for critters, and simply enjoying family. It’s been a worth while investment.