Settling in...

We've been living here with our friend's for 4 weeks now. It's hard to believe that most of January has passed and February is around the corner! The holidays were such a whirl wind with moving and unpacking and getting back into a routine that the days kind of blurred all together!

Since Christmas we've had 2 birthday's in the family. Carissa turned 4 as you saw pictured earlier in another post; and Noah turned 6. He's since had a hair cut and is looking quite his age. His height totally took me off guard this week and I'm realizing just how big he is getting. When I took cupcakes to his classroom on his birthday, his teacher (Mrs. P) told me she overheard Noah saying, "Oh Jose, I really like how you've made your p right on the line. It looks so nice." She said she giggled and thought, "He's turning out just like his dad!" LOL I love to hear about his sensitive spirit and to know that he is encouraging his classmates and doing his best to build them up.

Since February is around the corner I'll give you a peek into what's in store for us. Our church is having a women's retreat that I have the privilege of being incharge of the worship sessions. I am both honored and blessed to be able to plan how to bring the women that come, to the feet of Jesus in a real intimate way. The day I come home from the retreat is Micah's 3rd birthday so there will be hoopla's to do that evening :) I'm sure by then I'll be ready to be home and embrace my family after being renewed by being away. Two days later will be Eric's birthday.

Our living situation is working out well. We've all shared the sickie bug this week - we tried to tell them they didn't HAVE to share quite SO much with us but ya know.... :) living together means sharin' the love... and the ookies too. Hopefully we'll all be feeling much better by the weekend so we can work some more on putting in the bathroom in the basement :) Life will be SO great when we have a bathroom of our own in our basement home :)

Josiah is crawling ALL over the place. He's into EVERYTHING and he is all smiles to anyone that looks at him. He is going to be a charmer like his big brother, Micah, I think. Though, I do suspect he will not be QUITE the handfull as his big brother Micah.... Carissa informed us today that since she was 4, she would get more money (said with arms crossed infront of her). Eric asked her how much she got now and she said, "NONE"...he said, "that's what i thought... so giving you a raise won't be hard!" Ha ha. I'm not sure where she got the idea that she was entitled to money...????.... she'll soon realize we don't always get what we want to be entitled too :) (GIGGLE)

So, that's a glimpse at us in the here and now... and a glimpse into our next month.... it's gonna be busy - but blessed. I certainly hope your 2008 is being blessed so far.

The Perfect Cupcake

Noah turned 6 years old today! His request for his party at school was cupcakes. And not just any ordinary cupcake! He asked for half vanilla, half chocolate and topped with vanilla frosting and lots of sprinkles!! They were delicious! His classmates ate them all up and I heard lots of "oohhh... vanilla AND chocolate... COOL!" :)

cutie-boy

Josiah is almost 8 months old. He's had to get a second hair cut already too! Here he is this morning.

...the birthday girl is 4!!....

Carissa spent her 4th birthday amid chaos as we moved out of our duplex and into our new temporary home with our friends. Like a true trooper though, she didn't seem to mind. The night before her birthday she and her Grandma Bombard went and picked out a cake at the store. The top even got written on "Happy Birthday Carissa". She thought it was beautiful! :) Chocolate cake with white frosting... it was delicious! All the boys got in on giving her some birthday kisses before we sang to her.

Josiah's Adventures

So, hubby has decided Joey is a good nickname for Josiah.... due to his love of bouncing he said he's like a joey (kangaroo)... Standing on your lap and jumping is a new favorite past time. We really need one of those Johnny Jump-ups b/c he'd LOVE it.

Today he found Dixie's cat food and water dish. Carissa came running to me to tell me. I find him batting his hands in it and he was covered. Then I fed him lunch. He sat in his booster seat up at the table. Then chaos broke out with Micah in the bathroom or something and i ran off to get him. I come back into the dining room (mind you, this was like a MINUTE!) and i can't see Josiah's head! He's leaned all the way forward, worked ONE leg out of the buckle and is laying across his chair and the chair next to him. A minute later and he'd have probably fallen on the floor! he's not full on crawling yet, but he's sure figuring out how to get places, and apparently OUT of places too!

it's a new year

and everyday is another chance to shine Jesus to our world! last night as we stayed up until midnight to bring in the new year we got to talking about what a big deal some parts of the world has made New Year's Eve. we speculated at the money spent and the gross dollar amount was surely much larger than we even imagined. we then thought about the millions of people have go to bed December 31st and wake January 1st with little fanfare or celebration about a "new year". for so many it's just another day to wake, work, care for family, do the best they can with what they have and pray they make it through another day. sobering indeed.

so i've been asked if i'm making any new year's resolutions. you know the typical ones.. lose weight, spend less money, make healthier meals, keep my house clean etc... the list goes on. so often by February 1st we've either forgotten of given up of feel guilty for not accomplishing what we so passionately challenged ourselves to, just weeks before.... i heard someone talking about their "new years resolution" and i really liked it. i don't have to be original right? :) their desire for 2008 was simply that they would work to be a blessing to those around them. simple as that. i want to be a blessing to my friends, family, community, church, random strangers in the grocery store, you name it. it looks different to different people. what might bless one, might not bless another. my desire is that as i grow in my friendship with Jesus - that he would make me sensitive to HOW to bless others.

as you know we've moved out of our home and are living with some friends temporarily... the time line is completely up to God and while it is a time of uncertainty we are at peace and feel so at home. our kids call our friend's "grandma and papa" and they are doted and loved on incredibly. we have so much to be thankful for as we enter a new year.