Being intentional to find rest...

In the business of this season, I was adament about finding rest and quiet in the weeks before Christmas. Weeks that I sometimes feel are the calm before the storm. However, the days seemed to quickly fill with appointments, activities, and visits from sisters (yay!). After the first week of making a trip to Sioux Falls on Monday to take Gracie to a Pulmonologist, a trip Thursday to Sioux City to take Gracie to a pediatric dentist, and then finding myself at Friday when Rob to the girls to Lennox and left me with a "Day to myself".....I realized that this was life. This was what we always do, we go from place to place and moment to moment...I have two little ladies under two, really Erin be realistic....there is no calm ;) But on the day I had to myself, I took some time to just reflect and realize the intentional rest that I had already been taking in spending time in God's arms...resting in the arems of my daddy and allowing him to calm my heart...a heart that tend to beat too quickly most days and move too fast. In that, I was granted the peace of HIS blessing...a blessing that was shown to me in so many ways, but primarily in the realization that He loves me SO much...even as much as He loves HIS son. WOW! And that He is orchestrating my life to one day lead me to the place that He has prepared for me...a place that I would consider perfect because He will be there and I will dance in His courts, but a place He will consider perfect b/c I am there--we are there!

Oh how I have found myself to be such a learner in this season of life...Rob always teases me and says that he thinks I could be a student for life b/c I love school so much! Who needs school...my brain is already taking in all that it can get!

Some quick news points you may not know about that have happened recently:

• I applied, got offered, and accepted a job at Dordt College as an anatomy lab instructor for the spring semester. This job is going to be about 10-15 hours a week and be on Thursday and friday afternoons. It is just working out so well as Rob is home Fridays, so the girls will only spend one afternoon without one of the two of us home, and yeah they nap still anyway ;) I am pretty excited about this, being back in the classroom and just utilizing my education a little!
• Gracie went to a pulmonologist for her persisten coughing, even when she was not sick she would cough when she would go out into the cold or start breathing really hard with physical activity. He is diagnosing her with childhood asthma and she started on a steroid medication last week that she will take through the winter for sure. We are kind of having a hard time with it as she is waking up in the night alot since being on it and she just outright does not like to take it. So we covet prayers in this area...has to be pretty scary and uncertain for a two year old!

Other than that no real big news...we are getting ready to start our Christmas tour tomorrow! So we will be in Lennox through Christmas day and then on to Ankeny through the 29th...Blessings to all this season!

Christmas Tree

Here are just a few pics of our venture out into the cold to find a Christmas tree. Gracie absolutely loved it! Karys wasn't quite so sure b/c it was pretty chilly that night...I think Gracie was right there with her by the end of it, but it was a GREAT adventure!

Thank you God...

Every night before Gracie goes to bed we always say a little prayer and then we are trying to teach her to pray on her own as well. At the time, she is such a Thankful little girl! She is always thanking Rob and I and even others for the things that she has been given. For this reason we start our prayings saying, "Thank you God for...(fill in the blank). Here are some of her Thank yous leading into some of mine....

Thank you, God for...
--GREAT Dora hugs
--Karys, "I love Karys" and mommy and daddy
--for baby cousin (Leah) and Nathan
--for blankets
--for songs and books
--for bed (I added "and sleep" and she quickly said NO)
--for cookies and milk
--for baby Jesus in the manger

• for laughter that fills the walls of my home...the kind that comes from the belly of a little girl and melts the walls of my heart.
• for warmth and a refuge from the cold
• for forgiveness...the ability to fall, and fall rather hard and be picked up from your heap into warm and loving arms. To pour out your heart and your hurts to the one who hurt you, and to release your pain in that same swooping embrace of the arms that hold you.
• for showers and the ability to feel refreshed and clean
• for communication...despite its complexity! Whether through the motions or our hands, the words from our mouth or the expressions of the heart.
• for sisters...by blood, by marriage, and by the family of God. Women to walk with, to talk with, to cry with, to laugh with, to be still with, to live life with....
• for books...lessons others have learned written down for us to learn and grow from
• for Beth Moore...the woman is an annointed daughter of the King; rich in blessing right from the Word of God.
• and most of all for Jesus Christ...whose delivery into our world is utterly amazing to me. The humble babe who grew to walk among man...what a life! Only to know His calling, His purpose, His commitments...may I live with the same calling--to love my God well, to love His ppl well, and to proclaim the gospel and its teachings to the ends of the earth

The list could really go on and on....the feeling of THANKFULNESS has overwhlemed me this holiday season more than I think I have ever allowed it to. I am so richly blessed! And oh how I so often take it for granted! Oh how selfish I am....May I continue to give back out of blessing and may my lifestyle be altered by giving....of my time, money, and heart

Thanksgiving in Ankeny

The Comforts
Grandpa and Nathan bond in a manly, football watching way
Grandpa Earl...so great to have him be able to be with us!
Cousins John Elliot and Nathan getting some good hang time!

Heather and Gracie making a variety of faces...this is their 'scared' face.
Wow! I think Uncle Chad must have farted...again ;)
Aunt Kris needed a picture of us...Rob is mocking my infamous 'head tilt'
Four Generations!!!
Gracie just loves being with Family and all the excitement!




I am not sure why some of the pics are smaller, but my Thanks to Auntie Kris who got me these pics...the only ones I have from thanksgiving down there b/c my camera is missing...hoping to get more from Doreen and Heather as well!

My Camera

So I just need to vent a minute...I am not that materialistic, and feel I am starting to live very simply; HOWEVER, there is one material item in my life that I may cherish a little too much! All that aside, I sent my camera in about 5WEEKS! ago to be cleaned and serviced and am yet to get it back! I am going crazy...Rob looks at it as "Oh no, you are going to miss out on recording 6 weeks of their lives" but that is a long time when it is the holiday season and milestone events are happening at this point in their lives.

End result/request: please pray for my camera to be returned to me SOON!

The WORD that you wait to hear...

Rob and I are really trying to keep the main thing the main thing this Christmas and just really incorporate the Christmas story in as many ways we can. This morning Gracie was so excited to check out some Christmas books from the library and to my great delight they all had Baby Jesus in them! The greatest part though was getting them home and listening to Gracie 'read' them and tell Karys about it. Then it happened, Karys threw both hands up and said 'Jesus', you might not have been able to make it out but I knew that is what she said, then she just clapped and smiled and went on to her next thing. What an amazing moment! I pray so often for my girls to know, to truly know the heart of the KING....it's moments like I had today that bring the hope.

"Mommy, Baby Jesus lives in my heart?"

"Yes baby, HE does."

"Where HE at?"

"He lives in heaven with God, but HE is all around you and in you...HE never leaves you."

"Good mommy, you never leave either..."

Some Thanksgiving Pics

All the girls laughing at Gracie saying, "Cheese Everybody!"
Our wonderful baked goods, my cookie was the best...Dad said!
My little 'wiggle worm' who now does 'cheese' on command
My little baby Leah who will one day accidentally come home with me
Gracie LOVED decorating Grandma's tree and looking at each ornament
All of the ornaments she hung ended up in one general region, can you tell?

Both girls were SOOO excited to see Megan!
She is such a little mommy and love to hold Baby Leah
Gracie giving Karys gentle instruction on how Leah likes to be touched and held
The boys attempting to be Clark Griswold and get all the lights hung just right
We may look cute, but it was definitely a competition to see who could decorate the best cookie

So here are some pics from the end of our holiday week...my camera has been out of commision, I had to send it in to the Best Buy place to be serviced and have been without it for almost 5 weeks! Yeah I know...I Am dying!!! Anyway, the pics from rob's family time are on his sister's and mom's cameras so those will come later!

Thankful

As I reflect on the past 10 days I just am so glad to be sitting in my own house...sleeping in my own bed tonight...and having no where to be necessarily. Our Thanksgiving was great! Don't get me wrong...we did the whirlwind tour that involved an Iowa Hawkeye football game, Rob going back to Orange City and then to Ankeny again, the girls and I spending the week in Ankeny, a trip up to Lennox Thanksgiving night, making turkey cookies in IA and SD, Rob flying in the air to hang X-mas lights with my dad, and spending some great time with family. It is almost overwhelming to sit and think of everything that you are thankful for...I just really feel like I deserve nothing that I have, but that God has RICHLY blessed me and our family with so much. However, there were a few things that just really were on my heart this season...
-I am so thankful for healthy children...I really had good pregnancies and labors (in light of what could have been ;) and neither of the girls have handicaps or terminal/chronic illness...what a blessing!
-I am also thankful for the things that allow us to sustain that the simple necessities of life...food, shelter, clothing, heat. One of the stories from the past week actually happened this morning while Gracie was getting dressed. I had picked her up some new pants this weekend off the sale rack at Target...I think they were less than three dollars and she said to me when we put them on, "Mommy, where these come from?" "I bought them at the store this weekend." and with that she just looked at me so sincerely and said "Thank you, mommy." That moment, and all the others like it I have had recently have just reminded me so much of how I take things for granted...of all the times I could touch the heart of God by just looking at him so sincerely and saying "Thank you, daddy" Even for something as simple as the pants I am wearing that day.
We live in a country where we are all so blessed...and we really don't stand in need of much in the grand scheme of things. So I walk away from this thanksgiving realizing the thankful part of the word, and valuing the giving part as well...because of the fact we aren't in need of much, there is no reason I can't give someone something to be thankful for as well. GIVING ISN'T GIVING UNTIL IT INTERRUPTS YOUR LIFESTYLE...just a quote Rob read in a book this week preparing for a sermon....how is my life interrupted?

Wow! What a difference a day makes...despite the fact that Karys is still feeling a little under the weather and Rob and I both left the comfort and warmth of our bed last night 2x each, the mood in our house today is so much lighter and joyful. I think God granted me patience for the day and Gracie is adjusting to Karys needing a little more attention than normal.

My thoughts this afternoon settle in on the fact that I am so richly blessed...yes I know we all say this, but imagine it with me. Waking to the sounds of a little one crying, wondering what is wrong since Rob, being the lighter sleeper, is usually in there by now and is no longer next to me...realizing that he has already contorted his body to lay next to our beautiful two year old in her daybed I get to work on the joy of rocking a feverish baby to sleep, who is ever so cuddly! As I do this, I can hear him trod down the hallway and crawl back in bed. How many hours do we actually spend in bed together? I know you are thinking right now, I better read back a couple lines to make sure she used the word blessed ;) And yes I did! What a wonderful husband...he gets up in the night with our ladies, he wakes in the morning with our early bird (Gracie) he allows me to sleep then gently encourages Gracie to come in and kiss me when he needs to head out the door (how can you respond negatively to a princess kiss in the morning!) and today he went the extra mile to let me shower before he left! Sometimes I feel guilty when both girls are now sleeping and I am contemplating taking a nap...but we were both up last night right? I will wait for the guilt to settle in later and drift off to sleep in my blessed bliss!

Entry into Cyberspace

Ok...so I am joining the club. I have well determined that there is no way that I can keep in touch with all of those close to us...our days are too busy. Between trying to get stuff done and the sprint Rob and I feel like we run from mid afternoon until the girls go to bed it is hard to find the time to connect with people not in orange city, and even then we struggle.

So! Because the girls are doing so many CUTE things right now and GOD is SO GOOD in our lives...he always is, I guess we just really see and feel HIS presence in this season of joy...we have decided to start a blog to keep all informed!

So I guess we will start with today...a long day! Karys is under the weather so both rob and I were up with her last night. I don't know if anyone else sees this but I feel like our kids get sick a lot! Despite that though I feel like there are such blessings amidst the chaos...So cute to watch Gracie console Karys when she isn't feeling well, she rubs her back and tells her in the sweetest voices, "It's ok Karys..."

Time to get the kids to bed though...the long day's end is in sight!