dyeing eggs

happy birthday tiger

While dating Zach, his younger brother gave me a large stuffed tiger as a gift.  I love this tiger and have had it in my kids rooms since I began having kids.  Connor has taken over the caretaking of Tiger and sleeps with him every night.  It is his Hobbes though his name has never graduated beyond Big Tiger.  

A few weeks ago Connor declared that it was Big Tiger's birthday and he spent the afternoon wrapping presents for him and putting them on the table just like I do for them on their birthdays.  That evening before bed we crowded around the table and watched tiger open his presents.  It might have been one of the cutest experiences of my parenting life.

Happy Birthday Big Tiger!  We love the joy you bring to our lives!

mother/son hoedown

When the flyer came home from school advertising the mother/son hoedown Micah immedately said absolutely not and Connor immediately said absolutely!

The dance was last Friday and minutes before Connor wanted to bail so he could stay and play but after suggesting an after dance trip to Scoops he rushed to get ready.

We had a BLAST!!  We ate yummy barbecue, got our picture taken and danced and danced and danced and laughed and laughed.  An hour of dancing was a workout in itself but add a crazy six year old boy doing all sorts of jumping moves will slap where you out!

With about 30 minutes left before the dance ended they put on a slow song to which my son finally put his foot down and said no he wasn't touching me and dancing.  With that loving response we headed out early to get ice cream and sit on the square eating, getting brain freezes and taking silly pictures.  

Pretty much the perfect ending for a boy mama date night.

kitten love

Poor Micah thought he had time to relax on the swing and read before his baseball practice.  However the cats love him and I mean LOVE him and when Callie saw him sitting up there all alone she decided to keep him company.

At first she just sweetly sat next to him but then she decided he needed a bath and then a lap buddy and then a bath again.  Now Micah has the knowledge that a cat's sandpaper tongue can tickle, bad!

sunday song

"Boldly I Approach (The Art Of Celebration)"
Rend Collective

By grace alone somehow I stand
Where even angels fear to tread
Invited by redeeming love
Before the throne of God above
He pulls me close with nail-scarred hands
Into His everlasting arms

When condemnation grips my heart
And Satan tempts me to despair
I hear the voice that scatters fear
The Great I Am the Lord is here
Oh praise the One who fights for me
And shields my soul eternally

Boldly I approach Your throne
Blameless now I'm running home
By Your blood I come
Welcomed as Your own
Into the arms of majesty

Behold the bright and risen Son
More beauty than this world has known
I'm face to face with Love Himself
His perfect spotless righteousness
A thousand years, a thousand tongues
Are not enough to sing His praise

Boldly I approach Your throne
Blameless now I'm running home
By Your blood I come
Welcomed as Your own
Into the arms of majesty
[x2]

This is the art of celebration
Knowing we're free from condemnation
Oh praise the One, praise the One
Who made an end to all my sin
[x2]

Boldly I approach Your throne
Blameless now I'm running home
By Your blood I come
Welcomed as Your own
Into the arms of majesty

zoo day

When the weather is gorgeous we head to the zoo!  Time is running out on my season of having babes at home to take zoo trips on a regular basis and I want to take advantage of it!  

Our highlights from this trip...

*Going with Fiona for the first time

*Logan being a navigator with the map

*Having a staring contest with a zebra

*watching the turtles float on driftwood rafts

*seeing a two day old milky owl being fed

adventures down the road

I have seriously been struggling recently with always being in the middle of a project, cleaning, organizing, yard work etc.  We're coming up on a year in the  house and there is still so much I need and want to do that I could probably be doing something nonstop and still be years from finishing! 

I get sidetracked very easily by the next thing that can be done so sometimes the best way to just stop and walk away is to literally walk away!  Logan and I took a walk down the road and when I say walk I mean meandering stroll, slowly, so much so that Callie even followed us on our entire journey.

He tried to crawl through the drain but saw ants so didn't get very far.  Then we headed to the trail behind the church and I sat on the bridge and watched him wad and then fall in the little stream.  He had thrown two sticks in a storm drain and was hoping they would come down the stream.  We didn't see them but we did see plenty of other sticks, rocks and other things that boys love to pick up, step on and throw.  An hour away is pretty short in the grand scheme but it's been two weeks and he still brings it up so an hour can also last forever in the mind of my baby boy.

painting on the porch

Before pollen started overtaking our porch and after it had begun to warm up to those beautiful Spring temperatures that I love but never stick around for too long, Connor wanted to paint with me.  We sat on the porch for over an hour with acrylics for us, watercolors for Logan and a stack of paper. 

Artistic painting is not my best crafty outlet but it's still fun and after I painted my word wait in the corner of one of my "pieces" Connor painted one with the word kind and then hung it up in his room.  

And as you can see Obi enjoyed the process as well.

the invisible list: a post for (in)courage

Yesterday a post went live on a blog called (In)courage where stories are shared of what Jesus looks like in the every day, gloriously ordinary, and often messy lives.  When the opportunity came up in December to submit an original post to be considered I held my breath and typed on.  I was contacted at the beginning of the year that I had been selected and my "go live" date was March 22nd.  I could go on and on about the numerous answers to prayer this one situation brought and maybe I will, in another post to be shared, but for now here is that post, The Invisible List.

My days are lived by lists. Notebook after notebook are filled with them. A green one is full of plans for making our new house the home I long to share, a pink polka dot notebook contains life’s daily tasks so that lessons aren’t missed and menus are planned.

On the less tasky, more crucial side, are the life giving lists. A floral notebook holds thankgivings, a thousand-plus gifts, while a yellow moleskin is full of quotes and verses that changed my heart in profound ways, along with a long list of verses telling me that I am God’s and the gifts that come from being His child.

The most important list, however, has never been put in black and white. It’s a list my heart has been writing on its own. One that is written through whispers of the Spirit, deep longings to be placed in priority, spelling out the desires of my heart when it comes to what I desire to attain, not in the world but in the Kingdom. The first on the list, wisdom.

I started my early twenties as a college graduate with my first job in a new state with my new husband in a new home with no new friends. By God’s infinite grace and mercy we found a church on our first Sunday’s search after our honeymoon. Shortly after, I was attending a women’s group on Wednesday nights and was blessed to sit in a room with women, the youngest being ten years my senior, surrounded by wisdom.

As a girl at the beginning point of a different level of life, I voraciously soaked up the words and experiences of others.

The stories of trials and joy brought me to tears countless times and gave me hours of belly laughter, but it also stirred within me the desire to be them. To be a Titus woman who shares the good, the bad, and the ugly in order to encourage and teach. To be a prayer warrior who is, figuratively and literally, on her knees for the cause of others. To be someone with wisdom, the wisdom that comes from knowledge being lived out. The list within had begun, the ability to accomplish it, however, is a lesson I’m still learning.

Eleven years later I’m a mom of three and a wife of over a decade and — praise Jesus! — a person with the love of friends. I find myself in a role I used to look up to, wondering how did I get here and what right do I have to try to fill it? In my head I’m a walking contradiction who relates more than a little to Paul’s vent in Romans about not doing what I want to do and doing what I don’t want to do. A problem, I would guess, is familiar to more than just me.

Each day contains moment after moment where we choose to follow our flesh or our Spirit as they war within us, sometimes more fiercely than others, battling to prevail. I could say the odds are ever in my favor to follow the one of Truth, but no one would believe it, because disbelieve it they should.

But always in the midst of despair, no matter if daily bumps or life altering disasters, there is Hope.

Our battle is won and each of these seeming failures are really just moments that bring sanctification, molding me to be more like the Savior who already fought and found victory. Every step on every path God has designed is another piece of wisdom placed in my heart, another experience I can share with others, another beam of light that the gospel can shine when I use the all He gave me for Him.

In Him is that hidden treasure of wisdom and knowledge {Colossians 2:3, ESV} and from the first time my heart began its silent list of longings to the day I depart to worship at His feet, those hidden treasures will constantly be unearthed and the wisdom my Savior has will be made clearer and clearer. And I pray I will not just hold it dear, but hand it to others along the way.

basketball

Basketball season has ended.  We remembered to bring our real camera the last game so that we could get some action shots for the boys.  The ones from Connor's game were awesome because Zach took them all.  The ones from Micah's game were taken by me whilst Logan was crawling all over my lap trying to play with my hair, take a picture or see the picture so they are not of the same caliber.  Hopefully he forgives me for it!

They both had excellent seasons.  Connor's league doesn't keep score but according to him they won every game except one.  I think he might have conveniently missed a few of the other team's baskets more than once.  Micah's team ended up first in their league.  They had two great coaches, Zach being one of them, and some really good players who worked together really well.  He had three friends on his team, one of them was his best friend Gavin, so between playing with your buddies and winning most of your games it was an 8 year old boy's dream!

They are already talking about next season :)