The Proof of Your Love

So many times in life we can go through the motions of helping, but what truly matters is the motives behind our actions.  If we aren't truly reflecting God, His heart, and His love our actions are meaningless!!!  This is currently my favorite song, it says this so well:

Boating Fun

Thanks to a friend and her fabulous blog that I love following, we are taking fun reading adventures this summer.  This month we learned all about boats and had a blast.  June is about bugs and insects, here's the link for those of you who want to join the fun: click here

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Super Hero

Everyone has their own perspective of who they think a hero is.  Today I got a glimpse into the mind of my 4 year old and his idea of hero.  We have some family friends who are getting ready to leave for a missions trip, while dropping something off for them this morning, my son asks me if this person is a super hero.  I was confused for a bit, then asked him what he meant and he said she was a super hero because she is going to help people.  He definitely gave me a lot to think about this morning and I completely agree with him.  Super hero's do exist, all over the world people are making such great sacrifices to help others.

Little Helpers

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This may look like child labor, especially since I hate dusting and vacuuming.  But in my defense, when I asked them if they wanted to help me clean, these are the 2 things they chose to do.  I might actually enjoy cleaning now thanks to my great helpers!!!

What Really Matters

So many parents, friends, and family members get caught up in judging each other.  Well, truth be told, 1st of all it's not our job to judge each other, we weren't placed here for that reason.  2nd, it's not what truly matters in this world.  

There is something so much bigger that matters, read this blog to find out what truly matters: click here

The need for orphans is SO great.  Now this doesn't mean that everyone needs to adopt because that doesn't work out for everyone, but you can always help out an adoptive family.  We have some amazing friends who are following God's call to adopt, click here for more information on how you can help.

All About Kyler

His newest  accomplishment is going down the stairs, and he does it so well I might add.  He loves that he no longer needs to wait for us to carry him down to play with his siblings.  I love that we don't have to worry about constantly keeping the baby gate closed.

This little guy has also been learning words like crazy.  His older siblings enjoy trying to get him to repeat what they say.  He has also started to learn how to climb on bigger things (like our couch).  He gets excited and cheers for himself when he gets up. =)

One more mommy brag, then I will stop for today.  Kyler loves coloring.  This is a daily thing for him and he can sit and color for a long time.  Much longer than the typicaly 1 year old.

Slavery Today

Many people don't realize that slavery is still a huge problem today.  It's probably not the same slavery you think about from the past, but definitely still slavery.  I'm referring to sex trafficking, one of the biggest problems today that many of us are completely unaware of.  Currently the U.S. is the #1 sex trafficking country, yet we are blind to it.  Just to give you a little perspective on the truth behind this problem I would highly recommend watching the movie "The Whistleblower."  I will caution you that it is very intense, but I think people need to know what's going on!!!

Schools Out For The Summer

Last week we finished up school for the year.  Both Kristin and Kade far exceeded my expectations in every way, despite all the transitions this year has brought.  It is such a blessing teaching my kids and watching them grow, but I think we were all ready for a break.  To finish off our last week, we went on one final field trip to the new bakery in town.

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To celebrate the end of the school year daddy took them swimming.

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Little Person, Big Faith

It is pointed out multiple times in the Bible that we should have faith like a child.  This week I saw this in my son.  We have a new neighbor that moved in this week that is paralyzed.  As I tried to explain to Kade what this meant his exact response was that we need to pray and ask God to heal him.  That is exactly what Kade did this morning and then a little later he randomly tells me that God told him this man would be healed at 4 o'clock today.  God really can do anything and I think as adults we forget this often.  I am so blessed to see true faith and service lived out in my children, they are teaching me SO much.

Crafty Girl

Our little girl continues to love crafts and creates something new everyday.  It amazes us at the things she comes up with by herself.  Here are a few of her creations from last month:

a hat (sun bonnet)

 She created multiple cuddle puppets, as I watched her make these I really had no clue what she was doing or talking about.  Come to find she saw these on a commercial and created her own.  The picture below is what a cuddleuppet looks like.

Luke was most impressed with this one, he kept asking me if I was sure I didn't help her.

Spring Fun

We have enjoyed the unusually warm spring, the kids especially.  It does seem odd that we were playing in the sprinklers in our very green grass in April.

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Golfer in Training

I had the opportunity to go to an amazing conference a couple weeks ago.  The kids had some quality daddy time while I was away.  When I got home I found these pictures on my camera. =)

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It appears that we have a new pet living behind our house.  We hear him all day long cackling and he walks the same loop (I guess it's mating season).  We have enjoyed watching him.

This is one of many pictures Luke captured.

MLB

Last week we took the kids to their 1st Major League Baseball game.  Let me tell you, that was the most fun I have had at a baseball game in a long time.  The kids just loved it, I enjoyed explaining what was going on, and I think Luke just enjoyed sharing his favorite past time with them.  Kade of course now plans to play there someday when he is bigger (I have an uncle who would be so proud of this=).

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The tickets we got (for super cheap thanks to a co-worker who has season tickets) were by the bull pen.  This was fun for 3 reasons:
   1.  many home runs come to this section
   2.  sitting over here scores you free "official" baseballs
   3.  you get to hear the phone ring in the bull pen and watch pitchers warm up

The kids loved our new baseballs.  I loved that a sweet old man sitting in front of us was giving the balls he caught to our kids.

This picture is just priceless, loved watching them all watch the bull pen. =)

To top off the game (like it could get any better), there was a beautiful sunset.

We also witnessed Major League Baseball history: the oldest pitcher to win a game.  This was a big deal and definitely the hi-light for Luke.

Kid's Night

About a month ago I let the kids start helping choose meals that they would cook (with my guidance of course).  They always help me cook and enjoy doing this, but having their own special night has been SO much fun for each of them.  So once a week one of my older kids gets to have their own personal quality time with mommy and make dinner.  I love seeing the looks on their faces when Luke tells them how wonderful the food tastes.  =)

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Easter 2012

I guess better late than never, here are a couple pictures from Easter.

Games Games Games

We loving playing games at our house.  It seems though that many games end in one of my boys having a meltdown.  Kade gets upset about losing and Kyler gets upset about not being able to touch and eat every piece.  I'm pretty sure I have now found the perfect solution for this problem.  See the video below:

We have been doing many remodel projects on our house since January.  Thankfully most of the major projects are now complete, yet we continue to find ourselves each night after the kids are in bed still doing random projects.  I learned last night (the hard way) that it would have been easier to buy bean bags already stuffed.  In my defense though, these are really nice bean bags that would have normally cost a fortune, I guess I saved so much money because of all the work and mess that goes into this.

This is just a small glimpse of the giant mess I made.

The Battle For Adoptive Families

A friend shared this post last week, thought I'd put it on here.  It is such a well written blog on adoption, so true in every way.

http://lethoperise.com/2012/04/12/the-battle-for-adoptive-families/ 

A Little Sunshine

We have been spoiled with a very warm spring so far.  Having weather in the 70s & 80s has made for many fun outdoor adventures.  Well, today reality hit and we woke up this morning to see it snowing (which I'm not complaining because we really needed the moisture).  What was the 1st thing that came to my mind on this chilly morning, my flowers.  Many of my tulips and daffodils bloomed early since the weather was so nice.  So, very early this morning I attempted to rescue my beautiful flowers.  Well, it was too late for all the daffodils, but I did manage to save some tulips.  I'm sure you are wondering where I'm going with this story that seems to be dragging on.  Stay with me, I have a point.  Due to my heroic effort, I completely changed our plans for the day (I love homeschooling).  Instead of our regular routine, we did some baking for math time (the best thing to do on a chilly day) and then arranged our flowers so that we could bless others with them (I counted this as science and Bible).  I love random teachable moments.  My kids got to help pick who would get these special arrangements.

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