Maddie's new friends

Since our last post, Deidre has been really sick. I think she is allergic to babies. While Grace has let me take time off to take care of my girls, for the most part ladies from our Bible study and church have been super helpful. It seems like Maddie is with at least three different people every week, and she loves it.

I want to thank everyone who has helped watching Madison. That's you Mimi, Gigi, Brooke, Kim, Anna, Hannah, Rachel, Karina, Melissa, Karen, others whom I am forgetting, and even Paul and Josh: thanks for spending time with Maddie. It lets me go to work, graduate seminary, and frees me to keep ministering to others. I am very grateful.

Plus, Maddie really does love it. You all should see her trying to tell me what she did with you when she was out. I'm not sure she always tells the truth about it, but it is pretty adorable.

Maddie's Going to Be a Big Sister!

It's official...we're having another baby! Jesse and I are thrilled. We are so thankful to the Lord, because we know He is the One who opens the womb. I'm about 6 weeks along, which makes the due date around November 19. At our doctor's appointment today we were able to see this mini human- about the size of a jellybean, with little arms and legs already sprouting! Its tiny heart was beating so fast! What a joy it was to see and hear this new life!

Here's Maddie showing you the size of her little brother or sister:

Cousins...Part 2

Last week we went to get pictures taken of the cousins at Picture People. Here are the photos I took before we left.

If you want to see the professional ones go here.

After pictures the girls rode the carousel.

My sister is beautiful!

Maddie LOVES pasta, can you tell?!

The next day we went to Melissa's in-law's new house. It's in Agua Dulce, and it's my dream home! Charis loved playing pretend in the big backyard.

Maddie really wanted to ride the horse.

Everyone enjoyed the swing.

Charis looks just like her Grandma!

Emma loved the ride.

I think Maddie must have eaten 8 strawberries for lunch that day!

The day after Grandma's, we drove down to Santa Monica Beach. The girls had a ton of fun in the sand.

We miss you already Aunt Melissa, Charis, and Emma! Thank you for coming out- it was fun to play for the last two weeks. Love you!

Cousins

My sister and her kids have taken a full 2 weeks vacation here in CA. It's been so much fun to see the little girls play together. Here's a few pictures of what we've done the first week. The second week is still in the works!

All aboard!

They loved the trains at Griffith Park.

Little boxcar children.

Emma loves mothering her dolls.

So, now does Maddie.

Eating cookies and watching a movie.

Olvera Street excursion.

Look at all that pink.

We ate a yummy Mexican lunch in the park.

Nothing like eating on the run (with some help)!

A little "hike" (not a real one for adults, but definitely for little legs). Jesse had Mercy (the Smiths joined us) on his back, and Maddie in the front for a bit.

Mondays with Rachel

It's a joy meeting with Rachel on Monday mornings! She is a blessing to our family, our Bible Study, and pretty much everyone she knows. She has such a kind, teachable, heart and loves to serve. This last Monday she showed up with a bouquet of beautiful daffodils, a chai tea latte, and her camera. Madison and I were spoiled! After having breakfast, making some peanut butter bars, and talking; we headed to the park where she took beautiful pictures of the Smith's kids and Maddie. Go here if you'd like to view her work. Thank you, Rachel!

We love you Grandpa!

Two days ago Jesse's dad had double knee replacement surgery. We are so thankful that all went well, and that he's already walking a bit. Here is a blog post dedicated to make you smile, Grandpa...

Grandpa, I was thinking about you today at the train park-

I know you like trains.

There were so many fun trains, so I ran to see each one. All day I said, "choo choo".

Then I ate a few chips and got my energy back.

Here's my best pose for you.

(She actually just laid down there- not sure why :)

I love you Grandpa, and hope you feel better soon! Next time you come to CA, I want to take you and your new knees to the train park!

A Few of Madison's Favorite's Lately...

Papa is one of Maddie's favorites..she dances and jumps up and down every time she sees him. And when we're not with him, she repeats his name over and over. So precious!

Hair bows are another favorite. The more, the better!

Going outside....and bringing all of our favorites with us (purse, dog, blanket, and bus)!

This is what happens when there's too many favorites to carry! She actually only took the purse out, the rest stayed home.

Pretty shoes (little girl high heels) are a fav. These were actually my niece's shoes that she wore in Jesse and my wedding 3 1/2 years ago! Maddie definitely prefers these to any other shoes, and likes to wear them all the time (even with jeans and sweats).

Books and babies!

We were so glad to spend a day with my dear friend, Leslie, while they were visiting for Shepherd's Conference. It's so fun to see Leslie as a mom. Charlotte is adorable!!!

CSUN Ladies with Melissa

I love this group of CSUN gals! This past Saturday we went over to my sweet friend, Melissa Nesheim's, for our monthly ladies event. Melissa talked with us about being women who, "...love their husbands and children, how to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind..." (Titus 2:4). It was a morning filled with practical advise on how to have a life that is prepared, disciplined, and full of peace and joy. No one really wants to live a life of chaos, but we tend to do that if we don't make plans to be organized. All of us have priorities (ones we say we have, and ones we ACTUALLY have). In order to ACTUALLY make your priorities happen, we have to plan for them, and then carry them out. My main priority is to be in the Word of God, and fill my mind with it so that I'll be able to glorify God with my life. This only happens when I get up early enough, and have a plan of what to do.

Melissa also touched on priorities like going to church, having a budget, serving in the church, and exercise. We also looked at things that take away from our ability to accomplish these good things. One main way is all the technology in our lives today. Melissa encouraged us to not waste time on Facebook, blogging, texting, etc. But to set time aside (a certain amount) to do these things. A few ways to help accomplish our tasks is keeping lists and a calendar where life can be organized.

Melissa gave us some practical hints on meal-planning, scheduling your day, and ways to keep a family structured; and yet having fun while doing it.

The Nesheim family is big on traditions, which I love! It makes a home a fun place everyone wants to be. Some of the traditions I loved were...

• "Special Days"- this is celebrated every month on the date of your birthday (for instance, Madison's special day would be the 16th of every month). Not a whole lot is done other than being extra thankful for that person on that day. Maybe a little sticky note on the mirror for them, or joke in the lunch box.
• Having a special game or activity with each child that becomes "yours"(so maybe one child always plays hangman with dad, while another one plays the game Sorry).
• Carnivals- they set up card tables in the living room and buy tickets with fake money to play games. Their family (and friends) rotate through the games. This is done on holidays or any random day, just for fun.
• Making cards- instead of buying cards, they make them for each other for any holiday.
• Friday night is ice cream and family movie night. Then the kids can have a sleep over in each other's room! (They have four kids- so they have fun sleeping altogether).
• Saturday mornings are usually a family bike ride.
• Christmas Eve- same meal every year, get new PJ's, watch a Christmas movie, and sleep under the tree altogether.
• For Valentine's Day they gave each other coupons with ways they promised to give a gift of love or serve the other person (one of the little ones gave her mom a coupon to help her mom brush her teeth- so adorable!)

The point of having these traditions is to be different from the world- they actually enjoy being together, and love each other. When a family loves one another, it's a picture of the Heavenly Father's love toward the church. (Noel Piper has a great book about traditions, if you'd like to think about it more).

Hope these give you all some fun ideas!

It's Fun Being a Girl

Like any normal girl, Maddie loves shoes! She especially enjoys trying on high heels. As you can see, they can be a bit tricky to get on :)

And along with loving shoes, she loves helping Mama clean! I just die laughing watching her face when she cleans- it's so serious.

Compassion and the Christian

I love listening to Jesse preach! I actually became interested in him the first time I heard him preach (that's a long story for another time :)!! I have the privilege of listening to him teach every Thursday at Bible study, and this semester we are going through 2 Kings. But last week he had the opportunity to fill the pulpit at Grace Community Church. (Our pastor was still recovering from back surgery). Jesse was asked to preach 3 days before Sunday, so not a lot of time to prepare. He titled his message, "Mandate for Ministry: Compassion and the Christian" from James 2:14-17. He had just spent the last semester specifically thinking through this subject as he wrote his thesis. Click here if you care to listen to this thought-provoking message. It's amazing to think that God designed the church to care for one another in such a way that we are an example to the world of Christ's love. What a blessing it is to be a part of the body of Christ, and what a joy to serve others within that body. I am now more motivated to show compassion on fellow believers not only to bless them, but also to show Christ's love to the unbelieving world.

Christmas in February

Jesse surprised me with a trip to New York for Christmas- what a gift!!! He planned for us to go in February, so for the last 2 months I've been looking forward to this trip. We took a red eye last Monday night, and arrived in NY at 6am (3am our time- whew!) I had another surprise as we were boarding the plane, Jesse informed me that we were flying first class!!! I've never been so fortunate :) And these tickets were FREE because we've saved our earned miles up. Once we arrived we checked our bags at the hotel and hit the streets. We walked all over seeing the Empire State Building, the Library, Times Square, Madison Square Garden, and so on until we hit Battery Park and saw...

The Statue of Liberty! I'd never seen it surrounded by floating ice in the water. It was a beautiful clear day, just very cold.

Then we walked over to Ground Zero, and Trinity Church where there is a 9/11 memorial. These grave stones have been at the church since the 1800's. In the background you can see the rebuilding of the Twin Towers.

After all that walking, we ate a slice of NY pizza, and headed to check in at our hotel. Here's the view from our room on the 49th floor!!! (that's 7th Ave below)

That evening we went to Solute for dinner- amazing Italian food.

Isn't Jesse's coat amazing??!! It was my dad's when he lived in NY and was Jesse's age. Pretty cool!

Then we walked to Starbucks on our way to...

Lion King!!!! What a breath-taking show. The music and costumes were so creative.

Even though we were exhausted, we couldn't just head back to the hotel after the show, so we walked around some more. Here is Rockefeller Center.

Here is the view from our room the next morning...it had snowed all night long! It continued to dump the rest of the day. They were calling it "The Blizzard of 2010"!

We ventured out to Central Park. My personal favorite place we visited!

It was a winter wonderland!

Jesse took an artsy picture of me crossing a bridge.

Lots of sledding in the park.

We were thankful for our water proof Merrel shoes.

Then we headed back into the city to see if we could win the Wicked lottery....and we did!!

So we grabbed pizza again for lunch, quickly changed, and ran back to the theatre.

We were in the first row looking down at the orchestra- so amazing!!!!

After seeing Wicked, we decided to take the subway all the way to the top of Central Park, and walked the whole way down. The length of the park is 2.5 miles. We saw waterfalls, snowshoeing, cross country skiing, runners, dogs frolicking, and everything was perfectly dusted with snow!

We were pretty bundled up, but were still soaked after our adventure in the Big Apple.

Here's a mom pulling her son on a sled back home after a day of fun. School was even canceled due to the weather.

I had a wonderful two days with you in NY, Jesse! Thank you for being such a fun husband.

In case you were wondering, Madison had a delightful stay with Papa, Mimi, and Aunt Dottie while we were gone.