legacy

My Great-Grandmother passed away on Sunday. She was a precious woman with a quiet, gentle spirit and a loving nature. She was 95. She had 12 kids, 33 grandkids, 61 great-grandkids, 33 great-great-grandkids & 7 great-great-great-grandkids. She loved God and was apparently famous for her saying, "Life goes on." That is quite the legacy!

The last time I saw her was my wedding day...almost 6 years ago.

Thinking of her and her "legacy" reminded me of this song by Nicole Nordeman. I hope you enjoy it:



"I wanna leave a legacy
How will they remember me?
Did I choose to love?
Did I point to You enough
To make a mark on things?
I wanna leave an offering.
A child of mercy and grace--
Who blessed Your Name unapologetically...
Leave that kind of legacy."

answered prayer

The day before we moved into our new house, we received a contract on ours! God's timing was perfect and he definitely answered our prayer! I think He knew better than us...He knew we needed some extra time to move all of our stuff with two young children. He knew that we needed to have a few days after we closed on the new house before we moved in--to get rid of the two little mice who took up residence in our laundry room and bathroom (yes ewww...completely disgusting...we think they came through the dryer once the previous owners removed their dryer). He knew we could finally enjoy getting moved over without having to worry about our house selling. He just knew!

I think of so many times in my life when I pray and pray for a certain situation and then refuse to acknowledge God's divine hand once those prayers have been answered...or maybe I just forget to properly thank Him. I think of the time when I was pregnant with Noah when we thought there might be something wrong with his heart. I fervently prayed for days. Yet when we found out that he was fine, I didn't properly thank God for answering my prayers.

I'll admit I have been discouraged in the past with what seemed like unanswered prayers. I remember praying endlessly for the healing of two precious baby girls--Harper and Cora--and yet God decided to call them both home to be with Him. I will never understand this--yet I know that God will never allow something so tragic without ultimately bringing some good for His purpose (Romans 8:28). Thousands of lives have been touched through the faith and testimonies of the parents of these two sweet girls.

So right now I am thanking God for answering this small and somewhat trivial prayer...and for this amazing view from my kitchen window:

Noah ~ 5 months

Noah's 5-month birthday was Monday. It seems like he has grown up overnight! I remember anticipating the next big milestone with Caleb with such excitement...I couldn't wait for him to smile, sit up, crawl, walk, etc. Now I know how fast time flies and I just want Noah to stay a baby forever.

Surely my little Noah isn't old enough to go to the cradle roll class at church...but he most certainly is! Caleb was a month younger when he started going. I figured someone would have to hold him, but he sat in his cubby seat throughout the whole class. And he was playing in the exersaucer when I went to pick him up...I hadn't even thought about him being ready for that! I dug ours out and cleaned it up for him to use the next day. He LOVES playing in it!

Surely my little Noah is still too young and fragile to enjoy being lovingly "tackled" by his big brother... I wish you could hear him cackling and laughing!

Surely my little Noah isn't old enough to start eating solids, but alas...he is! I cleaned up our high chair yesterday in preparation for his first rice cereal feeding in a few days.

He is old enough for all of those things...I'm just having a hard time with it!

obsessed

If you have been around my oldest at all in the last few months, you probably already know what his obsession is...Veggie Tales. After attempting to shelter Caleb from television for the first almost 2 years of his life (besides an occasional Wiggles video), he has formed a *somewhat* unhealthy obsession to Bob, Larry, and the rest of the gang. He had never seen VT 3 months ago (I thought they were a little old for him), but my brother got him some Veggie Tales board books for Christmas and he loved them. We had a Veggie Tales video hand-me-down lying around so we put it on one day and he has been hooked ever since.

I *try* to limit his television watching to 1 show in the morning, but Caleb normally attempts to take matters into his own hands. He has figured out how to turn on the television in our bedroom and push play all on his own. He has never been shown how to do this...he is SERIOUSLY motivated. He doesn't really like to watch other shows--just Veggie Tales!

I witnessed the most adorable thing yesterday. Noah was crying and Caleb went to comfort him. Caleb started telling him about Goliath the giant pickle who is THIS BIG. Noah appreciated Caleb's storytelling and calmed right down...and my heart was happy that he is actually comprehending these Bible stories. :)

I guess there are worse things he could be obsessed with...and I can actually type this post because of *Veggie Tales*.

Easter!

Palm Springs!

We had a great trip! It started off a little rough when my mom dropped Noah and me off at the airport. As I was getting out of the car, Caleb started crying and saying, "Take me, Mommy, take me." I started crying and then my mom teared up because both Caleb and I were upset! We finally made it into the airport and Noah was an absolute ANGEL on both legs of the flight.

Once we arrived in sunny Palm Springs, we went out to eat and walked around one of the MANY shopping centers there. Palm Springs is located in the desert, with mountains surrounding it. It was absolutely gorgeous. All of the flowers were blooming, so every time you walked outside it smelled like gardenias!

The next day Noah and I hung out in the hotel room until Kevin was finished with his conference for the morning. Then we drove to the aerial tram. It was so cool! We went from desert temperatures to a snow-topped mountain within a matter of minutes (all while the gondola rotated). We ate dessert at the restaurant at the top of the mountain and enjoyed a beautiful view.

The rest of our time was spent hanging out at the hotel, shopping, and eating out. It was beautiful and I really enjoyed getting to give Noah some undivided attention. However, I don't really like my family being spread out...I like us all being together. And I missed Caleb like crazy!

Caleb has been an absolute angel since we got home. I told my mom yesterday that he needs to stay with her more often...he is greeting people with a pleasant "hi" now instead of a scream (which went on for a couple of weeks) and he is saying YES! This is a huge milestone as he used to answer everything with a "no" whether he meant it or not. This week we have had so much fun playing outside in the beautiful weather, going to the zoo, and playing at the park.

My little family is such a joy and I thank God for each of them every day!