STRAWBERRIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today we took a fun adventure to the Strawberry Patch. This has been an outing we've tried to take 3 times. Thankfully the third time WAS the charm. The last 2 dates we chose were either on rainy days or just after lots of rain so we had to postpone so the ground could dry. So today was THE day we had waited for! Here is HC and her buddy, A, posing for a picture. L and JB
JB, A, HC and L - with baskets in hand and ready to pick their strawberries!!!!
The farmer was showing the kids the best way to pick the berries and he showed them which berries were the best ones to choose. Let the picking begin!
JB was a quick student! He quickly got the hang of things and his basket was heavy quickly.
HC had a great time! Sweet girl!
He's a natural I tell ya!
Berries!
HC picking some berries.
The berries were so juicy and plump!
Fun times.
CHEESE! We love STRAWBERRIES!
HC took a pic of me and JB.

Thankfully we left with some extra goodies too - some squash, zucchini, broccoli and onions! What a fun trip for some yummy goodies! The End.

JB's 1st T-ball Practice

JB and Daddy have been WAITING for this day! It was a big one. Yes, I know - this is ONLY practice but.... when you are 4 and find out that you get to play BASEBALL yourself... that is BIG news even when it is practice for a game. JB and one of his favorite coaches of all time - Daddy! I told HC to pack a bag to bring along - in case she got bored. Little did I know that my girl was packin' pom poms! :)
Coach Mike - teaching his group of 3 to catch the ball with an alligator chomp.
Coach Steve, aka Daddy, helping the boys learn to field the ball. So far, so good.
And up to bat for the Braves, is JB.
He hits
HC also brought her binoculars. I love the way she thinks! haha
The boys became more and more aggressive in fielding the ball.
It became a full contact sport.
My JB is ALL IN! I love it - but.... I think they are going to clarify that there isn't a race to catch the ball. The point is to catch the ball and stop the OTHER guys, not tackle one another. Oh well... this was the first practice.
And finally it was time to practice running the bases.
JB was THRILLED to run and JUMP onto each base.

I do believe we've found JB's niche. He had a blast playing and it was just as much fun watching.

HC Graduated from Kindergarten Today!!!

My sweet girl graduated today! :) She was so excited.
Some of her school work from K-5.
HC was thrilled for the event to begin.
She was reciting her poems but her nerves got the better of her and "Mommy, I'm scared!" came out of her mouth instead, with tears in tow. But thankfully JB jumped up to help her recite her poem
and she managed to finish 1 of the 2 poems. What a big moment! So proud of her!!
I was able to hand HC her graduation certificate since Mommy = teacher. That was a fun thing to share with HC.
Look out world - here comes a HAPPY 1st grader!!!!
Ready to move the tassel from right to left. It's official now!
A proud Daddy and brother. We love you HC!
WE DID IT!!!
So happy!
Two official grads!
CHEESE! Friends are SO fun!
Looking forward to what 1st grade has in store for us - Mommy/Teacher and Daughter/Student.

This year was so fun and I know next year will be full of many more adventures for us. Congrats HC!! We are all SOOOOOO PROUD OF YOU!!

HC's May Ballet Recital

HC posing once hair and make-up were complete!
Hanging out with her friends while waiting for show time!
Lining up and ready to go.
Let's dance!
Fancy footwork!
All done!
YIPPEE!!
A proud bunch of girls.
HC and her ballet teacher.
Mommy and HC - so proud of my sweet girl! This week was a bit hectic and their last rehearsal was cancelled and the day of the show was way hectic. I was so proud of HC hanging in there and persevering. She is the youngest in her group and she fights hard to keep up the pace! Can you tell I'm a proud Momma? This dance was more complicated than last time. :)
HC and her proud Daddy!
JB and HC. He gave her purple roses. :)
Time to relax and laugh together. Job well done girls!

Trying to Stay Standing

Life has been super busy for me lately. I've found myself busy working on many projects, some of them have been easy and others have taken much time and focus. In addition, I've had some time to get away for retreat to glean and grow. And of course, the fact that we all are human means we all have the potential to hurt or be hurt from time to time. I feel like things have been spinning so quickly all around me and yet things are normal too. It seems like a whirlwind and yet like calm. It seems like everything and nothing all at once.

While at retreat, we stayed at a house on the beach, the waves were constantly crashing over and over and over again! They were non-stop and they were strong. There was no peace in the water all weekend long. On one afternoon I had some down time and had the privilege of playing in the waves with my friends. It was SO rough and it was extremely difficult to stay in the same area. Yes, sure I know we tend to be shifted off course on a normal day in the water but this day it took SO MUCH work to remain even close to the area we wanted to stay in. You know, we get in the water in one spot and when we next look up we are off center from that spot by a little bit. Well, this time the water was so forceful and constant that to remain standing was quite a job, much less staying near our 'area' while in the water. It was a constant struggle to stay in line with our stuff. It was fun and it was nice to let the waves crash into us but I felt like I couldn't remain in the water as long as usual because the force didn't let up. So we took a break a lot sooner than we would have on an ordinary day at the beach.

Lately I feel like the waves of life are treating me much the same way as the water did. Every time I stand up to get things back in order or try to find our start spot again... another crashing blow comes and knocks me under again. Then I'm forced to stand up again, wipe off my face so that I can see clearly again, find my marker, fight to get back to my start point to only be knocked over again. Wave after wave after wave crashing and crashing and growing in strength as my strength is waning. Some days I want to come up to find that place of peace again, and although it does come... I find another wave knocking me down again - leaving me seeking that place of peace again.

I'm trying to keep on keeping on but on some days I find it difficult to stand up again. I'm trying to strive and I need to rest. There's much to be said about that alone but I'm still walking this out so no clarity yet. I do know God is with me and He never leaves me. I know that He is my strength but I don't know how to keep that thought in my focus versus looking for the next blow. All I know is He is my all in all and after reading this scripture I felt comforted. I haven't made sense of this all yet but I keep pressing on.... I can't stop getting up again. That's the least I can do at this point. Keep on standing up again.

"The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. A righteous man may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers them from them all; he protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken. The Lord redeems his servants, no one will be condemned who takes refuge in Him." Psalm 34:17-20, 22

To Live Life or To Live a Schedule

I recently heard the following comment: "There are two types of families. One whose schedule revolves around life and one whose life revolves around a schedule." I know as my kids get older and start showing interest in activities that the temptation is to overbook our life. I know it takes intention to keep life at the center of life. It is so easy to allow the schedule to consume life. I think it takes wisdom and prayer to know when to say "No" to a good thing so we can say "Yes" to the best thing.

I am one for keeping a schedule - my kids need rest and too many outings in a week produces chaos in my house so... we do follow a schedule of sorts already. Right now our schedule is not over the top but a schedule can consume you by what you don't do. I see how easy it is to be consumed by a schedule of order, so that I don't break the rhythm of our day too. Going on outings during the scheduled nap can be a little trying on us and I've also said many "No's" to a better thing because I didn't know if I was up for the interruption to our schedule. Either err is not beneficial. It is important to LIVE life and not just plan life. I fight the urge to plan and keep order and not interrupt but I am learning to relax and LIVE! It's much more fun to get out of our box and see the world than to stay bound to a nap.

This 'type of family' comment really jumped out to me and my prayer is that our family remains a source of life for us and doesn't become a rat race. We aren't in the over-scheduled world yet and I pray we find the right rhythm for our family - a life giving rhythm and not always running a race that never ends. I also don't want to stop living for fear of life interrupting the easy schedule either. Such a balancing act but I want to live a full life that keeps living interesting.... not predictable and safe nor do I want to become so busy that we do not have time to enjoy anything because we are always running. Both extremes would be a sad choice. Oh for wisdom to keep life balanced so that it produces life and not regret.

Happy Mother's Day One and All

This has been a super fun weekend! Saturday was filled with laughter and exploration for the kids - digging in the backyard that is. Then today was just fabulous! My babies gave me my gift from them yesterday. They could not wait. They said "Dad, may we PULEEEEEEEEEEEZ give Mom our Masterpieces now??? PULEEEEEEEZE!?"By then the secret was almost out so - he allowed them to give me my gifts. Here is what HC created for me:
And here is JB's work. Truly Masterpieces right!? :)
I love my husband! What a super Daddy he is! He really planned this Mother's Day out right! I think the thing that makes it all the more special is that this year the kids 'get it'. They know it is a special day and so they continuously give me hugs and tell me how much they love me and they repeatedly tell me things like this "Happy Mother's Day Mom! You are the BEST Mom I've ever seen!" Who can resist that!? I am reminded today that at this stage of life - my kids run to Steve and I as we walk in the door and when we leave they are full of hugs and kisses! I know that there are many stages of parenting but for now I'm drinking in the abundance of love - it overfloweth in my house! Lord may HC and JB always love Steve and I AND each other! That is my Mother's Day wish today!

Happy Mother's Day to all you SUPER Mom's out there!!! May you have all the hugs/kisses/and appreciation that your heart desires!!

The Truth About Truth

I just returned from weekend retreat and there is MUCH spinning around in my head. The biggest thing of all is that God wants truth to rule and reign in our lives.

Truth is a must for living a fulfilling life. Being honest about my places of pain has become a surprising source of freedom lately. Rather than trying to 'suck it up' and go on, now I'm acknowledging how things really did/do hurt me and not trying to act like I'm fine. We often add sorrow to our own lives by trying to get over things instead of stopping to feel the hurt. We want to make it invisible but while pain hides in our heart - all it does is grow into a more vicious seeping oozing wound. Truth is freeing - although it is difficult to stop the bad habit of pretending we are OK.

Another freeing truth is having a proper perspective in life. The funny thing about the topic of perspective is that God had already been working on this topic in my life earlier this year and this was the main topic of our retreat. God's desire is for love to flow from the throne of God, through His Son, into our hearts and into the hearts of others. We cannot properly flow this way if we do not have a proper perspective. Our cycles of belief can distort our perspective and keep us bound in cycles of pain. This is not what God wants for us - He wants us to see clearly so that we can see our pain in proper perspective and then He can fully heal us in that area. It's kind of like when someone has an addiction. They cannot overcome the addiction until they are ready to admit they have a problem. Until you admit that you are hurting you are not usually ready to heal. It does require a choice on your part.

Bottom line is that His ways are higher than our ways, His thoughts are higher than our thoughts - that means they are better! He sees what we need and He hovers over us waiting, longing for us to want healing. His heart ACHES to heal us. He ACHES for us to be whole. He ACHES for us because if we would only allow Him to - He can free us. He ACHES for us to call out to Him in moments of distress. He ACHES for us to trust Him and rest in Him. He ACHES for us - He really really ACHES for us to be free! So much more can be said on this topic, but this is all I have for now. There may be more to come.