Bedtime Prayers

My heart overflowed to the point of tears last night before bed. I have been praying with the girls before bed lately. We talk about what we are thankful for the day and in general and then we talk about anyone we feel like God is putting on our hearts to pray for or if there is anyone we know who needs prayer.



I don't think I will be able to put you in the room with me last night the way I would want you to visibly be able to see and feel it but I will do my best to paint the picture for you ;)



We were just talking in general at first about what we were thankful for. Gracie, who was sitting on the edge of her bed-legs crossed and hands folded in her lap--was thankful for my birthday and all the birthdays we were celebrating this week. And for being able to go to Grandma Sally's and Papa's house and see Megan one last time. Karys was thankful for Tyeson, Mya, and Zach, three of the kiddos from preschool who just happen to be the ones we carpool with.

After that the girls came up with a list of ppl to pray for, Megan-safe travels back to CA, Aaron Paul--has had a really bad cold and ended up with RSV and in the hospital, Leah Grace--has an ear infection, and Baby Caden and Nathan--b/c we were praying for the other cousins why not add them to the list?!?

Karys prayed out loud all on her own to the effect off this..."God, please be with Leah. Her ears hurt so heal them. Help her to sleep well and feel better in the morning. Mommy, can you help me?" "Karys you are doing great!" "Well plz help Leah know how much you love her and thank you for loving us. There! Amen."

Gracie wasn't quite so sure about praying on her own but loved repeating the words that I had for her so that she could indeed pray for Caden and Nathan. Then I prayed for Aaron..."Mommy, he is pretty sick and that is serious so you better pray for him..." I LOVE IT! Nothing from me but a tangible way to see God already at work in the hearts of my girls! Praise you Father for who you are and thank you for growing and watering the seeds that have been planted in them by so many. PRAISE YOU and to you be the glory for their compassion!

We Speak to Nations

I don't know what it is about this song...well actually I am starting to discover it....but it evokes such emotion in me every time I hear it. I can't get it out of my head, and I am drawn to listen to it whenever I get the chance. I know this is the case b/c this morning Karys asked to listen to "speak to nations" She is even starting to walk around the house singning the words that she knows. We watched a video online this afternoon that was set to the song. In it it showed ppl from all nations and walks. I started explaining the different pictures to the girls..."He wears a turban b/c that is part of his culture." "His skin is a beautiful brown." "They don't have a bathtub so they are taking a bath in a bucket." "They don't have any food so they are eating dirt." There was a moment during this time where I wondered if I was sharing too much with the innocent little girls next to me. However, God showed me the power of the love that lies in the heart and the naiviety of a child.
"How do you think we could help them?" I asked
Karys was the one who gave the replies in words...My little Gracie just brings me to tears when I look at her. You can see the compassion on her face and the beginning of tears in her eyes. She couldn't even speak her eyes were just tightly fixed on the pictures on the screen.
KARYS-"We could send them some of our food, mommy. Our cupboards are so full and we don't even eat it all."
"Do you think you would ever want to go and visit them. Make some new friends?" I asked.
KARYS--"Oh yes! That would be so fun. We could bring them toys and if one of them didn't have a house we could bring them home to ours b/c ours is big."
GRACIE--"It should be a boy though b/c we don't have a brother."
KARYS--"When can we go mommy? We don't have school tomorrow how about then?"
"Probably not tomorrow, baby...but someday..."

WE SPEAK TO NATIONS

Hear the sound
The sound of the nations calling
Hear the sound
The sound of the fathers crying
Who will go for us
Who will shout to the corners
Of the earth
That Christ is King

CHORUSWe speak to nations
Be open
We speak to nations
Fall on your knees
We speak to nations
The kingdom is coming near to you

Oh we speak to strongholds
Be broken
Power of darkness
You have to flee
We speak to nations
The kingdom is coming near to you
We speak to you
Be free be free

Hear the sound
The sound of the nations worshipping
Hear the sound
Of sons and daughters singing
We will go for you
We will shout to the corners of the earth
That Christ is King

chorus 2x

Painting the Ding Dongs

It was pretty late in the evening, 6:30/7ish, Rob started doing some painting in the girls room. We always have ongoing projects so you have to capitalize on any moment you have free time or feel so motivated to work on them. In order to keep the girls involved as well as wear them out before bed time, he gave them the task of painting the "ding dongs". They got such a kick out of renaming the door knobs to all of their cupboard doors ding dongs ;)Since we are doing a stripe theme in part of the room, we decided to paint the dongs a variety of colors so Karys painted the blue, Gracie painted the purple, Daddy painted the green and we later painted the pink when we got the color we wanted ;)Karys cheesing out for the camera while she painted hers. The girls also loved the fact that Rob went into his closet and found them "paint shirts". They thought it was so great, as did mommy b/c the paint then stayed clear of their clothes =)Gracie holding out her ding dong....You did so great Gracie! The paint did however find its way into Gracie's hair...hopefully this is the only time that her hair is ever purple!
It is so exciting to not only watch their room slowly come together but to also watch them be so excited about it and wanting to show it to EVERYONE who comes over!

The white stuff...in OCTOBER!!!

This was what I awoke to on Monday morning, the 13th of October...and this wasn't even the first snow! Seriously God, I am living in Iowa...one of the best things about being back here in the midwest is having the four distinct seasons-of which fall is my FAVORITE! If everything is covered in white this early I am not even going to be able to see the leaves change colors lit alone fall to the ground. In all fairness...it was a BEAUTIFUL snow! The big flakes that cover everything and give it such a fluffy look ;) And another benefit...it was all gone by late afternoon!Love this tree across the street! Love it even more when I can see it change colors ;)Another benefit of this day was to see this van outside my house. This is the van that Grant, Amy and Jaydon drove over to our house. They came in about 3 hours after the comforts left that Sunday and stayed the night with us. We shared a great meal with them and had fun catching up and seeing Jay-Bay ;) He is such a BEAUTIFUL boy and I just can't believe how big he is getting! God's faithfulness is just so evident in this family! We had a great Sunday night too staying up and playing the card game "Hand and Foot" with Amy and Grant. We played best out of three, and after getting beat the first round Amy and I went on to win the series! That's right....Girls rule, Boys drool!!!

SUCH a PRECIOUS family! WE LOVE THEM!Grant and Jaydon...boys will be boys ;)
The happy couple
CANNOT believe that Jay is already 1!!! What a journey...God is faithful buddy, GOD IS FAITHFUL!

Thanks for coming to hang out with us guys! We Love you!!!

Uncle Seth and Auntie Heather Visit

We always look forward to visits from the Comfort's! They are so intentional about making trips up to spend time with the girls (and us ;) and we just LOVE that so much! The girls talk about the trips long after they are gone and so look forward to them coming!Daddy and Addyson eagerly awaiting Heather and Seths arrival!Karys set straight in to brushing Auntie Heather's hair before bedtime...Heather loves to have her hair played with and good thing b/c these girls LOVE to brush hair.Uncle Seth is such a great guy! He tickles, draws great pumpkins, helps learn letters, and does an AWESOME job painting! WE LOVE HIM!What a girl, what a girl! Auntie Heather loves to play beauty shop, read books, rub backs, and play babies...what little girl couldn't love that!Sat. morning it was Gracie's turn to do Auntie's hair...Heather wasn't so sure about the new styles Gracie was introducing her to ;)Seth and Addyson having an intense tickle fight...pretty sure Addy won ;)We all just hung out on Sat. after I got back from my XC meet and the boys spent the day painting in Gracie and Karys' room and watched the Hawkeye game. I think it was their 4th win in what is now an 8-0 record!!! Addyson was even singing the Hawkeye fight song by the end of the night ;)Addyson and Seth waiting to head off to church! I love this picture they are both all smiles!After church, the comfort's and the girls had a coloring contest to see who could draw the best pumpkin. The girls LOVED this! They had never had a "drawing contest" before and thought it was the coolest thing! The pictures are still up on their door =)"Auntie Heather and Uncle Seth can draw some good pumpkins" --GracieThe girls changed out of their church clothes into some interesting combos...KJ had her little mermaid nightgown, Gracie had a summer dress with a black shirt and pink leggings and Addy actually had on matching clothes ;)
The girls love to sit all together in the big chair and hold Addyson...they all got up from here to go and wave goodbye to the comfort's. We had a GREAT weekend!!! We are so grateful for Heather and Seth and the way they love our girlies so well! Wish we were closer but definitely cherish these times we do get

Picture Day!!!

So it was a crazy Tuesday morning...Karys was having school pictures that morning, neither Addyson or I were feeling very well, and b/c of that I was told on the phone that morning that I prob had H1N1...yeah, quite the morning! So I forgot the money for Karys pictures, something normal that I would totally do ;) and ran it back quick...I must have just missed KJ having her picture taken. My friend Tanya later told me later that Karys would absolutely not smile for her picture! Tanya said she and Tyeson were both in there trying to get her to smile...Tyeson was even singing her happy birthday, making silly faces, etc and FINALLY she made one of her cheesy smiles. I am still looking forward to seeing them!Tried to get some pictures of her when she came and she was still not so keen on having her picture taken.Some GREAT smiles came out at lunch today!!! So at least we got some good shots just in case the preschool ones come back with the silly smile!We all know you can say "Cheese!" with the best of them!Addy girl just happened to be looking super cute too right before we were going to head out the go see the Dr. and find out if we had swine flu! She just had this cozy jumper on and it was chilly out so I slid this hat on her and she was happy as could be. Nose all stuffed up, low grade fever, and happy as a lark!She was laughing and all smiles as we snapped away!Not so sure about this whole deal...I am supposed to be sick....Smiling with big sister GracieCover your cough ;)She is just such a happy baby!!! She is about 4 months in these pictures...time is going so fast and can't believe how big she is getting!!! She weighed in at 16'6" at the doctor today. Look at those big baby blues! Melts mommy's heart daily =)

Where to start?

My last post was Embracing Reality....that is what I am doing too ;) Can't get overwhelmed when the blog is behind, just have to take the time you have and post what you can!

So when I look back, these are the first pictures that I haven't posted that haven't already been transferred off the computer to the hard drive. They were taken one morning before church...Sunday mornings are always interesting b/c the girls are now both now in the stage where they both pick out their own clothes for church. Of course I can never get them to wear any kind of matching outfit no the same color scheme even...but I LOVE so often what they come up with!!!
This was a dress that the girls got for Christmas last year...so crazy how much shorter they are this year! Had to match some tights to it just so we didn't show so much leg ;)Waiting for Daddy to come back home and get them to head off to Kingdom KidsHope there are many of these sister pictures for years to come!And they are off! One of the last nice days we have had this fall...what a GREAT day to walk to church!