Cousins Visit

We just had a wonderful time with the cousins! Our days were filled with Knott's, pool, beach, pretend, horses, tea parties, and more. It's a joy to watch these little girls together. I'm so thankful for these times! May the Lord work in their hearts and draw them to Himself at an early age. That is my prayer.

Maddie kept saying, "Riding on the Range!"

Savannah is 8 Months!

When I walked in Savannah's room this morning I was surprised to see her STANDING in her crib! This girl is a fast learner. I can tell she wants to keep up with the big kids (especially Maddie). She army crawls so fast and uses her toes to push that she has bled on her big toes!

She's sitting pretty!

Savannah loves to learn from Madison- here Maddie is teaching her to write!

Savannah was happy to have GiGi visit!

It's hard to see, but she has two teeth on the bottom, and a few more moving in!

Knott's Berry Farm

We had a fun-filled day at Knott's Berry Farm on Tuesday!

Jesse and Maddie weren't very interested in the Snoopy Show...ha!

What made the day even better was having Papa, Mimi, Aunt Melissa, Charis and Emma there!

Maddie went on the Log Jammer with Jesse- my little adventurer!

Papa went with the other girls too.

All the ladies.

Savannah is my sweetie- she was so good all day even though it was hot and she had a cold. What a little trooper.

Here we are on the steam engine.

Madison called the bandits who came on the train "band aids"! They said they weren't even going to bother robbing us because we had too many kids to have money!

Then we rode the stagecoach.

This was so funny...my mom got scared on this one!

They are just so cute :)

Smooches

Daddy and Maddie riding another train.

OK, they were adorable on this one.

I love how Emma is just calmly smiling at Maddie while she has her mouth opened wide screaming!

I hope watching this didn't make you feel sick!

Melissa was a bit terrified by the Farris wheel, but Emma and Charis held her hand.

The Mexican Hats spun so fast! Madison asked to go on them twice!

Savannah was still going strong on the carousel at 9pm!

It was a long day- we got there at 10:30am and stayed until 9:30pm. It was so much fun to watch these little girls scream and play throughout the day!

While Daddy's Away...

Jesse is in Little Rock preaching at an evangelism conference this week, and the girls and I have had some sweet (and challenging) times together in his absence.

One of those sweet moments was during Madison's bath the other day. She asked, "Mommy, may I have no bath toys today? I want to just talk with you about Daddy." "OK." I said. "What do you want to tell me?" "No, I want you to talk about Daddy." So I then told her how Jesse and I met, and what I liked about him from the beginning. I told her, "I liked Daddy because I could tell he loved Jesus so much." Maddie then said, "I love Jesus too."

Today we stayed home from church because Maddie and I have sore throats and don't want to get other's sick. At lunch, Madison asked, "Can I pray?" She's never asked to pray before....so I said sure. She closed her eyes, and simply said, "Dear Jesus, please help Mommy feel better. Jesus thank you for this food. Amen." Her thoughtfulness made me tear up!

It's good for me to remember these sweet moments during the challenging times. Madison has been working on responding without complaining/whining. I don't want her to think it's OK to fall apart when she doesn't get her way. Faithfully training through this is challenging. I believe that through God's strength and His Word, both Madison and I will benefit from the effort it takes to train her to obey the first time AND with a good attitude.

Hebrews 13:17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

I John 5:2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.

Galatians 6:8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

My Baby is Three! Happy Birthday Madison!

When she was just a few days old sleeping in Daddy's arms.

Her first birthday.

Her second birthday.

Today...she's turning three!

These days have flown by. I'm so thankful for each moment with this precious girl. I love watching her grow. Her personality keeps me laughing and on my knees asking the Lord for wisdom in knowing how to best train, love, teach, and discipline her. It is a joy to be Madison's mom and I cherish this great responsibility.

Our Little Crop

As you may remember, a few months ago we planted a little garden at our new home. We have been loving on this garden since then- watering, weeding, pruning, killing tomato worms, putting in stakes to support the growing plants, and now harvesting! We've had quite a lot of green beans- delicious. We've picked them several times, and new ones grow back quickly. The tomatoes are just turning red, so it's time for me to make tomato sauce with the Roma ones...yum. We've had just a few strawberries and cucumbers. The peppers are about to turn red, so they should be ready for picking soon. The herbs are just growing out of control! Today I made peach sun tea with some of the mint leaves- excited to try it! It's been a fun project to keep up with as a family. Jesse has a green thumb, that's for sure. A funny tid bit on him...he used to do lawn care before he moved to Cali and went to seminary. So he's a professional.

Promises in Christ

Jesse has taken the girls to the park, and given me the morning to study the Word more in-depth. I love these mornings...I've "gotten away" a few times this summer to sit with my Bible and study for a longer period of time. When I'm at home, I only have short bits of time to read and pray before one of my sweet little girls needs me or the laundry needs to be folded or the doorbell rings, etc. I'm sitting in Starbucks after studying the Word for about 2 hours and I'm filled with thankfulness to our Savior. I think it would be helpful for me to write down some of what I've learned as a way for me to remember what God is impressing upon me. Please don't feel like you have to read all of this, but if you do, I pray God's amazing kindness is revealed to you and you are brought to a place where you humbly and thankfully praise Him. I'm doing a study through Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians where I'm just noting all of God's promises to us as His children. What HE has done for His redeemed. I want to answer the question, "Who am I in Christ?" Well, this is no small study because I have come to find out that salvation promises so much more than I generally think. The list I've typed out of God's promises to His children is extensive. Listen to these promises He has made to those who are given faith, repent of sin, and trust in Him: we are justified by faith (not works), crucified with Christ, He gave Himself for me, grace through Christ, faith through Christ, no longer slaves to sin; but slaves to Christ which makes us heirs with Him, Heavenly citizenship, hope of righteousness, eternal life, new creation, He's lavished on us all wisdom and insight through His Word, He's made known the mystery of His will, the Holy Spirit is our guarantee of our inheritance, made us alive, we're adopted into His family, He looks at us as holy and blameless because of the work of His Son on the cross, He can show us the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness towards us, we are given boldness and access with confidence through our faith in Him, He is able to do more than we ask or think according to His power that works within us, etc. These are just a few of the promises of God that the Scripture gives to us. I've listed the rest that I've found so far in Galatians and Ephesians with chapter and verse here. I think that so often I focus on all that the Bible tells me to "do", that I become almost weighed down with wanting to be loving, patient, giving, humble, etc. BUT, when I consider all that Christ has accomplished for me, when I sit and remember His love for me, what He's sacrificed for me, all of a sudden my obedience becomes more joyful. How I can I respond any other way after seeing all that Christ has done for me? He crushed His only Son to save me, my only response is one of joy and obedience and praise. My prayer is that I will dwell on my Heavenly Father's lavish love for me and that this will affect the way I think, parent, talk, and live every aspect of my life. Hold me to this. I pray you can rejoice with me in Christ's abundant, undeserving, immeasurable riches of His grace.

Fourth of July

We started our Fourth of July festivities the day before by making chocolate gelato and vanilla ice cream. Jesse and Maddie helped with the process!

Here's what the custard looks like as you cook it.

Maddie's favorite part- mixing in the chocolate!

After refrigerating the mixture overnight, now it was time to churn it.

Ah...now that's good stuff!

We had a few friends come over in the afternoon to celebrate the 4th. Mike was so funny holding Savannah-I think it made him nervous :)! He's great with her.

Davide and Maddie had fun playing in the sprinklers ("frinklers" as Maddie calls them).

Dinner time with Jordan and Jenny, Lianne and Wyatt, Mike and Rachel.

Happy Fourth Savannah!

It's our family tradition that I make this Bumble Berry Pie every year. It's a fav!

Mads was ecstatic about the chocolate gelato!

Helpers

After hanging out all evening with friends, we went to see some fireworks.

Madison and Savannah loved them! The next night (July 5th) Maddie asked, "Can we go see fire lights again tonight?" We told her to start counting down the days...364 left until more fireworks!