Showered with Love

Tonight my amazing friends threw a baby shower for me and sweet baby boy. It was such a nice evening, the food was great, the cake was amazing, laughter filled the air from beginning to end, and I was in a room full of those that love me and my family. What a blessing! There are so many wonderful people that will join us in celebrating this new life.

(I didn't get as many photos taken as I would have liked on my camera, but others did and I will post those when I get them. )

Yes, you are seeing clearly. This is a breast cake, and it was delicious!

Can you believe we only have 8 weeks left?!

Tonight was a great distraction from all that we are going through right now. It's little treasures like this that God uses to keep us putting one foot in front of the other. I am so thankful for a supportive family (both here and far away), encouraging friends who pray for us daily, the sweet smiles and snuggles from my kids, time spent with my best friend and husband, and laughter with my girlfriends. ( did I forget breast cake?:)

Thank you, thank you, thank you to all who helped out and came to the shower and to everyone who was not able to make it. What a special night to be showered with your love. xoxo

St. Patrick's Day Part 2

We had a great St. Patrick's Day filled with yummy treats and lot's of green!

Delicious and beautiful key limes.
Giant cinnamon rolls before the green frosting, yum!
We made green jello for the clovers, and gold-ish jello for pieces of gold to make our 'Shamrocks and Gold' treat :)
My sweet boys!
Corned Beef, Cabbage, and Red Potatoes- SO GOOD!
This is a really rich chocolate brownie with a white chocolate mint ganache topped with a chocolate ganache and chocolate chips...I know, delicious.(a family recipe) The Guiness only made it for the photo, it didn't even get opened! :) I originally made the brownie to take over to our friends house for a late night St. Patty's Day celebration, but by the time we finished dinner I was wiped out and settled for pj's on the couch. :)

We had a great day celebrating our Irish roots!

St. Patrick's Day Part 1

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Are you wearing green today? I hope so, you don't want to be pinched! I've already been pinching sweet little buns this morning. I couldn't resist! :)

St. Patrick's Day is such a fun holiday, and one that has great meaning in my Irish family. My great grandfather came over from Ireland to America and planted his roots, leaving his parents and siblings behind. What courage! I will never forget going to Ellis Island and tracking the foot steps that my family made so many years before me.

St. Patrick's Day is so much more than wearing a little green, eating some corned beef, and drinking your weight in Guiness. It is a day to celebrate a great man who lived his life serving God and the people of Ireland. St. Patrick (born Maewyn Succat...doesn't have the same ring :) was actually born in Wales and was captured by Irish raiders to be a slave in Ireland when he was 16. After six years, he escaped and returned to his family, only to later return to Ireland as a missionary later in life and be named the Patron Saint of Ireland. Quite a turn-around! His calling from God was to teach those who didn't know about Christ, while doing this, he also built many schools and churches and became a man that many Irish loved. The shamrock, which was not four leafed but three, became a signature example that he used in his sermons to explain the Holy Trinity.

St. Patrick was one of the earliest Christian missionaries, he proved that Christians could live out the Biblical commandment to spread the word of God while "exalting and confessing his wonders before all the nations that are under the heavens.” When he died on March 17th, 461, a day to remember and celebrate was born. A day to feast!

Are you done with your history lesson yet? :) Just a little food for thought as we celebrate this fun holiday.

This was from Saint Patrick's Breastplate:

Christ be
with me
Christ before me
Christ behind me
Christ in me
Christ beneath me
Christ above me
Christ on my right
Christ on my left
Christ where I lie
Christ where I sit
Christ where I arise
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me
Christ in every eye that sees me
Christ in every ear that hears me
Salvation is of the Lord.

I have lot's of fun St. Patrick's Day activities for my little shamrocks today. (at home of course) We have pots of gold to eat, Irish cinnamon rolls with green clover icing to scarf down, and so much more. I will post fun pictures when the day is done, but for now, Have a great (and safe) Saint Patrick's Day!

Family Fun

I was looking through pictures on our computer and found some fun, random pictures of the kids that made me smile.

This was so cute, Anna wanted to wear goggles to eat dinner. It was a very silly dinner filled with lots of laughter. :) The boys asked for some whipped cream for dessert, so Aaron "missed their mouth" and put a spoon full on their foreheads. It made them laugh so hard, and it was hilarious to see their little tongues trying to reach the sweet treat on their heads.

Anna and Daddy. Aaron is such a fun dad, no matter how tired he may be he is always up for horsey rides, wrestling, snuggling, and loving. Anna likes to climb on his back and pretend like she is a kitten. She's great at staying in character too: "Anna, are you ready to eat?" "Meow!" "Anna, are you ready for a bath?" "Meow!" "Anna, I love you so much!" "Meow, meow!" It's pretty cute, and the boys are great sports and play along with her.

Sweet little baker boy Tyler, digging out raw coconut oil for cookies. He loves to help out in the kitchen and is the first to ask if he can make a meal for us. :)

My little runner Ryan, he loves to work out with us. Last summer he became quite the running partner. This was taken at the Fox track for a fundraiser run to support EFM. He ran the whole time, rain and all and ended with a huge smile on his face.
We have so much fun with our kids. It seems that at the end of a long day or when I am feeling the most exhausted, one of our kids will say something that just makes my heart melt. Recently Ryan said "I love our family!" It was so sweet and sincere, and made me so happy. My favorite thing to do is play at home with my husband and kids, and to hear their laughter fill our home. I am so thankful for each of them.

Uneasy

I don't usually talk about controversial subjects on this blog, but felt convicted to today. Feel free to stop reading now if you don't want to read the heaviness of this topic....

Today was a strange day. It started with the report about Obama passing the legislation for embryonic stem cell research. You know, an easy, light topic to start the day. :) After reading more about the procedures and how the stem cells are harvested, the uneasiness grew. As I read information from a neutral site, these are the thoughts that came up:

-If harvesting from adult bone marrow and umbilical cords (from babies given a chance to live) is a better option (larger number of cells and healthier cells in each procedure than in an embryo which only contains 100 cells and not all are stem) then why is there even a need to okay the use of embryos?

-I would love to see a cure for cancer, Alzheimer's, heart disease, and many more diseases.

-What will this lead to? Mass production of embryos only to be destroyed? Cloning? (yikes) A society that only follows science and not a moral compass?

-Abortion is already so prevalent, will this normalize it? Or worse yet, justify it?

-I have a love hate relationship with free will.

-Why is this a focus when there are so many mouths to feed, jobs to find/create, and a nation to save?

I tried to ignore this all day, I could feel Satan using the fear of the unknown and unfamiliar to weasel his way in and I knew that this was yet another worry of mine to give to God. Still the uneasiness grew all day. This will be an issue and worry that I will have to continually pray about. Did anyone else feel it today? God can bring good out of ANY situation and that is what I choose to trust in.

Armor

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes...Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith...take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit in all occasions..." Ephesians 6:10-18

Through discussion at church, and at home, the boys have had a lot of questions about good and evil and God's protection over us. It is so important to equip our children with the truth that God gives us for protection against satan, to not be fearful as God is our protector, and to fight for the good. I love these in depth conversations with our kids, and the innocent questions and thoughts that stem from our talks together.

Today we focused on Ephesians 6:10-18. The boys loved the thought of being knights for Christ, going into battle against evil "the bad guy" and wearing the armor of God as our protection. We made armor out of paper bags, and decorated them with markers. (an awesome idea from a friend) It was such a cool time with our kiddos! I loved hearing the kids talk about how cool God was, and that he is the 'strongest, biggest super-guy EVER!' I cherish these times that our family spends with the Holy Spirit, the chance to be closer with Him, and to watch my children seek Him.
Praise the Lord for the unconditional love, protection and life that He offers us!

Happy Birthday Kitty-Cat Karyn!

Tonight we had my sister and her fiance over for dinner to celebrate her 22nd birthday (March 4th.) I can't believe she is 22! I still think of her as my tiny little sister who thought she was a cat and hid under the kitchen table to spy and swipe at my feet. Now she is a beautiful, determined, ENGAGED woman starting her own family. It makes my heart so happy to see the amazing things she has and will accomplish, but part of me selfishly wants her to stay my baby sister who needs me. My mom used to tell us that once we hit a certain age we would start growing younger, and if we put bricks on our heads we would stay little girls. :) Tonight as I watched my grown up sissy eating her chocolate cake, I felt myself wishing that those funny sayings my mom used to tease us with were true. Now that I have my own family, and my own precious kids, I know exactly how Mom felt as she watched us grow older: painfully happy and proud.

For Karyn's birthday dinner I made her favorites: BBQ ribs and chicken, roasted garlic mashed potatoes with chives, peas, sourdough bread, and Molten Lava Cakes with raspberries. It was so yummy, but even better to watch Karyn's face as she enjoyed it all.

In a couple weeks Karyn is going to come with me to the women's retreat for our church. I am SO excited for a weekend at the beach to worship the Lord with no distractions, to breathe in the fresh salty air, and to spend some great time with my sister. Happy Birthday Karyn Elise! I love you!