to my sweet Hubby! We had a birthday lunch celebration for him and sister was so excited to show him the cake that she had concocted for him with lots of green icing and LOTS of sprinkles. Brad had hoped for a chocolate cake but in sister’s world there is only one cake (that she likes to pick out at the store) and that is a Funfetti cake so I made hubby the chocolate cake earlier in the week and we celebrated with the sister made Funfetti cake with EXTRA (did I mention the vast amount of sprinkles yet) sprinkles today. As a side note, speaking of the Funfetti cake by Pillsbury, on the side of the box there is a recipe to make cookies from the cake mix and they are actually really good. It was super fun to celebrate Brad as we are all SO very very thankful for him!!! We started celebrating earlier in the week with my mom and we are off to dinner with his family for celebrating tonight. He is definitely worth all the celebrating!!!

May is in full swing at our house! It is always a busy busy month!!! We have birthday’s galore to celebrate this month, Sisters, mine and then Brothers (poor Dad, we will celebrate him in a few more months…he is definitely worth celebrating too)! Sister enjoyed her birthday party last weekend! There was a 60% chance of rain but we got to party in the backyard with sunshine, birds chirping and not a scary cloud in the sky!!! Yipppeee! She was very hesitant about her birthday but I think that she has since decided that they are a pretty good thing to have!

I have started pondering my birthday party as I am a huge fan of birthdays!!! I am still a year away from the big 3-0 (which I plan to celebrate well when it arrives) so we will keep things small with just a few friends. I am sure that there will be a game of Catan and it just might become a Catan themed party. Check out these Catan cupcakes that I stumbled across the other day…Incredible! I have a little over a week left to think something up.

I am still a little up in the air with Brothers birthday! Turning the big 1 is so much fun! Brad and I are still chatting about it but so far we are thinking farm animals or maybe frogs we shall see!

Well, I am off to celebrate Sister a little bit more before my general birthday time starts!

Those are precious words to me right now that truly mean so much more than I can express. For the last few weeks we have really been trying to observe the Sabbath and figure out just what that might look like for our family. It is one of the ten commandments that often gets skipped or over looked pretty often but if you look it is there…the command to rest! Ahhhhh! We are not legalistic about it we are just trying to set it apart and truly rest a little. Two books that have been so helpful in figuring out what this might look like are The Rest of God by Mark Buchanan and Keeping the Sabbath Wholly by Marva Dawn (we by no means do everything that these books say but it is a starting point). I am also looking forward to reading Karen Mains Making Sunday Special. Saturdays have become a little busier as I try to prepare for Sabbath and so far this has just kind of looked like cleaning the house, making sure that everything is ready for church (diaper bags etc) and I am really enjoying preparing a little nicer of a meal that evening. After dinner and after the kiddos have gone to bed I have been spending time reading the Bible and books just resting and preparing my heart for worship the next morning. Sundays are busy with church in the morning but I have really been trying to rest in the afternoon when the kids are down for nap. I am not sure what this looks like exactly but sometimes a nap, sometimes reading and I am learning to incorporate play as well. I see play as maybe the things that I really enjoy doing that I do not get to do all the time or things that just bring me joy, be it sewing or crafting in some way or another. I am really looking forward to getting out in the backyard with the kiddos when it gets a little warmer and just playing as a family which is something that I really enjoy as well. We end our Sabbath at dinner time Sunday. We have been trying to think through a meal that would be fun to have together that is different from the rest of the week. We have heard of people having popcorn and ice cream (crazy I know…what kid would not love that), pizza and other simple things. Tonight we had breakfast for dinner. This was Brad’s suggestion and I think that it is a great one that we will probably stick with. Sister was quite excited to have breakfast for dinner! This is definitely something that is evolving in our home and it is exciting to just rest so I wanted to share. There is a lot more that goes along with the rhythm and rest of the Sabbath that is exciting so if you are interested do check out the books. Happy Sabbath!

For Christmas my sister-in-law gave me a very precious gift of Advent Jesse Tree ornaments that she has handmade! They were unfinished at Christmas and looking incredible but today the finished product arrived in the mail and incredible does not even begin to describe them! Wow! Thanks so much for all your hard work and attention to detail Becca! They are really amazing! We are excited to use them with the kiddos next year! I had high hopes of coloring copied pages for the tree this year (sad compared to Becca’s creations) but I just ran out of time and we never picked up a little tree to use so we decided to wait and I am so glad that we did! How spiffy our little tree will be next year!

We are pretty much officially decorated! Everything pretty much found its place the weekend after Thanksgiving but we had put off decorating the tree as time was just not permitting until last night. I must say though I always think that there is something so lovely and simplistic about a lighted tree without the ornaments…then I put on the ornaments and think that it is even lovelier! After dinner last night we all helped decorate the tree and I must say that Miss Charis dearly loved each and every ornament that came out of the box. It was like a huge wonderful box of gems! She picked the branches that the ornaments went on although Brad and I did choose a few different branches for the more breakable ornaments. This was our decision after she found one of the large glass balls and started throwing it around on the carpet! She has pretty much settled on two favorite ornaments for now I believe. There is a little girl holding a cat on a swing that was mine when I was a little girl and she loves to go up and swing the ornament on the branch. We also have a little bird that Brad gave me one year for Christmas which Charis loves to kiss. It is pretty sweet! I think that she could spend the whole afternoon just looking at the ornaments. Each day after nap she wants to come downstairs and turn on the Christmas tree lights. It is so much fun to see the wonder and marvel in her eyes! It has been neat to use many of the decorations to share with her about Jesus and just why it is that we celebrate Christmas.

Years that is!!! Can you believe it? Brad and I have been married for 9 sweet and incredible years! The Lord has brought us through so much together laughter to tears and everything in between. I am so thankful for my dear husband and how the Lord uses him to stretch and grow me as well as to love me where I am. Brad is an encouragement to me and cheers me on through many things! I am so thankful for this gift that the Lord has given me!

I spend a lot of my day encouraging Charis to be obedient to me, asking her to look at me and asking her to listen to me. Recently the Lord has shown me that this is how He spends His days with me as well. I constantly feel that God is calling me to my family. I am a little slow to really pick up on this and follow through but I am slowly accepting it. When Charis was first born I spent a lot of my time in wonderful and good activities outside our home just filling my schedule which meant less time with Charis. Recently I have found myself just constantly searching for some wonderful place or thing or even person to invest my time in. I have spent a lot of time praying and talking with friends about what God might have for me (where does He want to use me). I am really slow sometimes but I just really feel His call to my dear husband and our sweet kiddos. I am called right now to be His light to the kids even at their tender ages. I think that this is hard for me because the Christian world says that I need to be out doing and conquering souls for Him. I am still called to this as it is the great commission but I am just called to it on a different scale…I am to be His salt and light in my home. I am slowly accepting this and truly trying to work on it with the kids and just loving them well. I am looking for ways to come along side Brad more and bring encouragement into his days as well. I want to be obedient to where God is calling me but being obedient is sometimes hard. I have a great reminder in my day though as every time I ask Charis to be obedient I hear the Lord calling me to obedience as well.

This morning we loaded up the car with kiddos and extended family in tow and we journeyed up to the mountains. It was so refreshing to breakaway from suburbia and be deep within the Lord’s creation. It was sweet to see Charis playing in the creek, to breath in the fresh air and to be at a slower pace enjoying all that God has made! I found my heart singing this hymn as the morning wandered on…

For the beauty of the earth,
for the glory of the skies,
for the love which from our birth
over and around us lies;
Lord of all, to thee we raise
this our hymn of grateful praise.

For the beauty of each hour
of the day and of the night,
hill and vale, and tree and flower,
sun and moon, and stars of light;
Lord of all, to thee we raise
this our hymn of grateful praise.

-Words by: Folliot S. Pierpoint

Brad’s extended family have been visiting this week so he took the week off to spend time with them which in turn means that the kiddos and I have had more Daddy time as well. On Tuesday we went to the zoo which was really a lot of fun with the kids in tow! Charis is at an age where she can chat about the animals and really experience the zoo. We headed to Kid’s Cove (children’s play area) first so that Cai could have his morning grub while big sister played in the huge sandbox. Before I knew it Charis had the whole family in the sandbox with her! It was definitely a funny site to see…Miss Charis Queen of the sandbox! Cai napped pretty much the whole time which was perfect! He is a little trooper! Charis’s favorite animals were the Rhinos and Elephants probably. She liked seeing the Gorillas but I think that it kind of freaked her out as well. She really was not sure what to make of the creature! It was definitely a fun trip to the zoo and we are excited to go and see the animals again soon!

I am sitting here realizing that this could possibly be the first time that a real since of quiet has fallen over the house since we arrived home from the hospital. There have been moments of silence but this quietness that has fallen on the house tonight is peaceful and reassuring. Charis has finally chatted herself to sleep, Cai is sleeping peacefully (at least until the next feeding) and Brad is still trying to find the end of the internet! The birdies are chirping away outside and the sun is starting to sink to find its bed for the evening. Ahhhh! Life is moving along quickly! Cai already seems to have grown up in ways. His cheeks are fuller and he opens his eyes for longer periods of time. Charis seems to be adjusting to life somewhat as she seems to have accepted Cai in her own way and will even love on him and give him kisses before she heads off to bed she is even eager to greet him in the morning. Brad is hanging on for the ride and seems pooped from playing mom and dad! He has been absolutely incredible with the kids, working and taking care of the house. Wow! I think that I would of long since fallen apart by now. I am hanging in there a little bored with the home front and longing to be free to run errands but that will come with time. I am missing picking up and snuggling with Charis but my incision is healing and just a few more weeks before I get the all clear to pick up Miss Charis. Life with two is definitely not boring but it is rewarding in so many different ways on so many different levels. I often feel torn between the two but I think that with time and healing this will work itself out. I am sure as Charis and Cai grow and get to know each other a little more our world will be different as well. These days have been sweet with the family and we have had SO much help from our extended family as well. Charis will be sad when I am fully recovered as her mornings with mom are probably just not the same as mornings with Gma and Granny. For now I am off to enjoy the quiet stillness of the house before hunger sets in with Cai or Charis decides sleeping is overrated and she would rather chat a little more. Hope that your evening is quiet!