Without Abandon...

I read something this morning in the obituary of a young lady who died much too young. It was heart-breaking....however, in reading of her her life spoke volumes! Her obituary said, "she lived without abandon..."

Lord, may I live for you today without abandon! Today Lord and always....

Simplicity and Crazy Love

God is so huge....I know you are probably asking the question, "Really, Erin? You are just figuring this out?" And No, I am not just...but in a way, Yeah, I am just figuring this out...

From the songs that come to my head lately with lyrics that just write themselves across my heart, to the answers to prayer and unexpected gifts I receive I have just seen God weave himself or more so intertwine himself into my life lately. It would take me hours to explain to you everything...sorry for intriguing you and not delivering in that area, but I am also a wife and mommy of three and I don't have hours to blog on all of that ;) But there are a few things I want to bullet point that I need to write down so I keep remembering them and want to share with you as well....

• Recently, every time I worry, want to be in control of a situation, or try to make my own plan...God has answered me before I have even had the chance to ask. An example of that would be today. I received a call this morning from the Iowa Board of Nursing informing me that they were still waiting on validation of my nursing license from the state of California in order to be able to process my license in Iowa. I have already been waiting on this for 5+ weeks and I was starting to get a little worried. I am thinking of starting nursing school in May again and I need my license to be eligible for the program. I knew that if I tried to call the CA board it would be busy or some automated voice would put me on hold for an hour only to eventually hang up on me...I didn't pray about it or ask God for help, but instead worried for a minute and then made a plan to fix it myself and forgot about it. Later this afternoon, I was groggily waking up from my nap and my phone rang..."Oh hi, Kathy...you received verification today...you will issue my license on Monday...praise the lord." And Yes I said that to Kathy right on the phone. After I hung up I sat there for a while and the lyrics to the song, I'll Make a Way by Natalie Grant came to my head...I put them on pause as I truly gave the glory to God and dwelled on the fact that that had not been the first gift He had given me of that fashion lately. He was caring for the details despite my lack of dependence on Him...He was gifting me in ways I did not deserve, and with every gift I was beginning to develop a dependent trust. A trust that came without even thinking of it. I trust God with the future and I know He will make a way...."I'll make a way I'll do whatever it takes Even though it won't be easy I have a plan and though I may not understand Someday, I'll make a way."
• God is a HEALER, He is THE HEALER....and I will choose to put my heart into relationships and living life for Him, all the while trusting that He will heal it if it breaks, change it if it hardens, and mold it according to his will and call on my life.
• God works in mysterious ways....and I love being an accomplice in that!
• I want to be BEAUTIFUL! I want to be beautiful...Make you stand in awe...Look inside my heart, and be amazed...I want to hear you say...Who I am is quite enough...Just want to be worthy of love...And beautiful! Karys and I were talking tonight as I was tucking her into bed, about the new pony tails we bought at the store. They are fun, bright colors, just like K Joy herself :) and she was telling me how BEAUTIFUL we were going to look tomorrow when we wore them in our hair. "I know, Karys! But the beauty of our hearts matter more than how we look right? The reason we are beautiful is b/c we look like Jesus" "Oh yeah, Mom...He is in our hearts and in our eyes. He went there after He died on the cross. And somehow he is in heaven too..." Beauty my friends!
• I was reading the 10 commandments to Gracie off the side of a Mission Ball this past Easter weekend. I need to read those more often! Forgot how much conviction lies in the law of the Lord...I had just had a convo the day before with my mom about coveting and jealousy. And here I sat the next day, reading the 10th commandment..."Thou shall not covet" Write your law on my heart, Lord that I may live and walk in your ways!
• The tag line for the Clothes 4 Care sale was, "Live Simply so that others may SIMPLY LIVE!"

Thanks for entertaining all my random thoughts...It is late and I am rambling...more later ;)

March Madness

It always seems that once we survive intensives in February, we begin the sprint through summer and spring. Time is just flying and we are definitely trying to hold on to our hats and make the most of every moment God has blessed us with! Amidst Rob starting Hebrew, myself finishing up labs for the year and the girls wrapping up preschool for the year and participating in gymnastics we are still finding time to just "be" with each other as well.
The following pictures are of Rob and the girls coloring one evening after supper...They were laughing hysterically at Daddy's "sick donkey"! He decided to color the donkey green and give it red spots all over it ;) This was almost as innocent as my sweet Karys' face in this picture, but before I knew it I looked up from wiping the counters down to find Rob and Gracie laughing and smiling...Yup! If you look close enough you too will see what I found ;) Rob, yes the one who often wonders why the girls don't only color on paper, had initiated and engaged in a little marker war with Gracie's face! Look at her! You will find that yes there is more than one dot, but you will also discover sheer joy! She loved it! Especially the opportunity she had to retaliate ;)Crazy girl! Loves to have fun and play with her daddy ;)I think she looks a lot like him in a lot of ways too....you see the resemblance don't you!Oh look! Karys got the crazy genes too ;)Addy, you and I are the only normal ones! Oh wait....Karys smiling with her clean face. You know she got in on the marker action! Any chance she can get to write somewhere other than where she is supposed to! "Cheese! Mom, did I get it all?"Pictures of Addyson in the blanket basket. The girls thought it would be so fun to put her in there and give her toys. "She will love it, Mom...and then she won't get our stuff!"She did love it ;)Bailey girl came over to play for a night too while her daddy was in Haiti. She isn't quite waling yet but that girl still gets around. I had to pray that she wouldn't teach Addy to stand on the chair quite yet!What a little doll! She is such a peanut!Addy was crawling around trying to keep up! So excited to have a friend her size around to play with!Future playmates!This would be the first picture of the morning Addyson got tubes. We headed into the Dr. on Monday afternoon to get clearance on Addyson's ears to be able to fly to CA on Wednesday. Long story short we saw out Family Practice doc, got referred to the ENT doc, and left with an appt to get tubes put in on Wed morning....only to fly out later that day! I was freaking out at first. No, I didn't want to continue on the continuous regiment of antibiotics that we had been on...however, nor did I want my little girl to have a procedure that "my girls don't have". I think that when you go through these years twice you just assume the third time will be the same. And then when it isn't God has to do a work on your heart to help you understand that no little one is the same and different is ok. Another hard part was that Addyson is just the happiest little bug. It wasn't like she was crabby all the time or we were overly feeling the effects of her having constant infections. Her joy often masked her discomfort and that made it hard for me to see/accept the need. Addy and I in the same day surgery area...doing pretty well for being NPO since midnightChecking out the wagon and making her rounds in the wardI think it entertained Daddy just as much as Addy. I don't think he was big on just hanging out in the little room for the hourFinal picture before they came to get her. The procedure went really well and I am sure compared to other procedures really was the piece of cake they described it to be. I could have done without the 45 minutes of screaming after coming out of anesthesia, but after nursing and finally falling asleep she woke up her happy little self and we flew out for Cali that evening!The girls have also been loving gymnastics this month! They are always asking, "When is it going to be Monday?"They are so fun to watch, you can see their different personalities come through but also their shared excitement for all the activities!Stretching out before they get startedDaddy and Addyson came to watch their last meeting time for the session!Where ever they walk to in gymnastics they are always supposed to be in a line, on their tip-toes, and have their hands on their hips =)Gracie is getting the hang of all of the different somersaults and just getting and keeping her body in line. It is so fun and so cute to watch her grow in this way!Karys is still pretty shy at gymnastics, but she is definitely more prone to quietly interact with the other kiddos. She and Hazel thought it was so fun to swing on the bars and bump their bellies together! They just communicated through their laughter =)Another fun activity that the girls love! would be bouncing down the tumble track (aka long trampoline) and being able to watch themselves the entire way in the mirrors....I am surprised they haven't crashed or fallen over from looking more in the mirror instead of where they were going!At the end of every session the girls get a stamp of a gymnast somewhere on themselves. They weren't so sure about this in the early weeks but now they love to get them on their hands and feet and see how long they can keep them on ;)The girls with their instructor Mrs. Alyssa! She does such a GREAT job with them and we look forward to continue classes with her through April!Another one of our fun, March events was Grandparents Day at Gracie's preschool! It was such a BEAUTIFUL morning and 3 grandmas were able to make the trip and come see Gracie's program, make a craft, and eat a snack with her =)Gracie was SOOO excited for this day! We had no problem getting ready for the morning and getting out the door...usually a challenge in our house =) Gracie looking so proud! Not every little girl got to have three grandmas there for the morning ;) She was so confidant in telling them all about her games and what she made them...she is such an independent little bug!Grandma Sally came from Lennox for the morning. Gracie made her a little card that told her how much she really likes to go to the park with her. Grandma sent a "thank you" text on her way home and Gracie loved listening to it over and over throughout the day! Thanks Grandma for driving over!!!!!Grandma Gloria was up at 4 to head to Doreen's house so they could make it in time for the program! That is what I call sacrifice! (Anything before 7am is sacrifice in my book ;) She loved asking Gracie questions and just watching her do her thing....she even ran into one of her cousins who was also there to support a grandchild! Small world!Grandma Doreen drove all the way up from Ankeny just for the morning! What a blessing to have grandmas who love so much! She was right in on all the action with her video camera capturing the program and Gracie right in her element ;) Gracie gave her a card that told her how much she loved to bake cookies with herBefore the grandma's headed out they had to make a lunch stop at the pizza ranch. Mommy had lab so they got to treat Daddy and the ladies to a hometown buffet...let's just say there were no objections ;)Grandma Great with the girls before she had to get back on the road and head home!This is just a cute picture of my morning baby....she wakes up so happy in the morning and loves to just sit in her high chair and work on her breakfast. Gotta love this picture, runny nose and all!Both the girls had the chance to wave palm branches this year during the Palm Sunday services! They were so excited and did such a GREAT job of really getting them up there and waving them high ;)Headed up the stairs and into the sanctuary to be able to make their rounds while the congregation sang Hosanna!Hi, Mom!The girls with their palm branches after the service. Good thing Mommy won the battle to get them in their matching dresses ;)I asked them to put thier arms around each other for a close up...they couldn't get that done without making silly crazy faces and giggling lots!I love them....I love that they laugh together...I love that they have fun....how do I get this to happen ALL the time?By the end of the month the sun was really starting to make itself known. We were able to get outside and really start to enjoy and welcome spring! Praise you God!This is Gracie's good friend, Tyra. We carpool with her and the girls like to play together from time to time. Seeing Tyra ride her bike has given Gracie the incentive she needs to learn to ride hers! Excited to see that process unfold over the summer!I love chalk! I love it when my sidewalks are covered in it...I like to be the one down there with the girls drawing with it...I even love the streaks that remain after a gentle rain has come and washed it away leaving a clean slate to start all over again!Justin and Ang were over for dinner the night we set up our trampoline, so thankfully Justin was willing to help Rob out and it went really quickly! However, I was so bummed I didn't get a picture of Rob making "the face" this year. Everytime he puts up the trampoline or even when he works on projects he usually makes this scrunched up face and sticks out his tongue. He demonstrated great self control this year and I didn't once catch him doing it!Karys helping get the springs out of the bag for the guys. She had Gracie had fun seeing how many springs they could make into a chain.While all that was going on the little girls had a blast on the swings! This is something that Addyson is definitely coming to love...one of those activities that can distract her and make her laugh in most cases =)BEAUTIFUL BAILEY GIRLABSOLUTELY ADORABLE ADDYSONBailey was not digging the grass so much. It was so cute to watch her balance on her bum with her hands and feet in the air. GIGORGEOUS GRACIEBailey checking out the trampoline with her mom and dad. "Bounce me, Daddy!"Addyson found a strap to play with while the guys finished putting up the net. It wasn't long before they were both off and crawling all over the place...It also wasn't long before the net was up and the big girls moved in to start jumping!
Already doing butt-busters and jumping high....lots of fun to be had on the trampoline from now until the first snow fall!