to the father of my children

You’ve been a dad for almost four years now. A great, amazing, wonderful dad.

Yesterday was Father’s Day and it was my joy to make a big deal out of you. Because being a really amazing father in this day and age is a BIG DEAL. Being a dad who loves his kids, teaches them important things, looks out for the well-being of their soul, spends quality time with them, loves their mother with a fierce and kind love, shows them what a godly man is and does: that is a big deal.

And I’m so grateful that all of those things are so very true about you.

Thank you for loving Jackson and Taylor and the children that haven’t yet joined our family. Thank you for looking to the future and planning financially for our family.
Thank you for taking the kids on adventures, whether in our backyard or miles away.
Thank you for consistently spending time with them in the Word, on their level, and instilling in them a passion for Jesus and worshipping him.
Thank you for playing with our kids. For hitting balls and pushing swings and climbing hills and hiking paths and chasing them until they scream with glee. I love watching you play with them.
Thank you for making your walk with God a HIGH priority, so that you have the wisdom, strength and grace to be a wise, strong and gracious daddy.

I am so blessed to be on this parenting journey with you. I am so glad that the love of my life is also a wonderful father to our children. I look forward to more years of this crazy, awesome, wonderful adventure called family life. You are so much more than a gift to me!

 

it’s my birthday

Today I’m 31 years old. somehow it feels a little anti-climactic after last years big 3-0.  But this year I’ve been given a really sweet gift from my Heavenly Father: a deep joy.

Today my kids are barking like seals, my husband worked last night and usually I don’t love sharing “my” day. (Yeah, selfish, much?)

But also today, my kids are in hilariously happy moods in spite of their colds, my husband has a great job that he loves, the weather is absolutely perfect, we had a fabulous time celebrating both Father’s Day and my birthday yesterday with my parents and brother Nate and sis Karla, and well – I’m alive! SO MUCH to celebrate!

So this deep, abiding joy is blessing me beyond measure. I’m really grateful for the love showed to me by God, my family, and my friends over this past year. I feel like I’ve grown in so many ways, with more adventures of grace ahead, God willing.

It’s been a great 31st year. A decade ago, I imagined a life something like this, but it’s so much better in living color. Thanks, God.

Now I’m going to go eat some more birthday cake.

taylor lately

From my baby girl:

• hork! = fork
• airpape! = airplane (always said with much enthusiasm)
• blankek = blanket
• no, pease = no way, no thank you, i don’t want it. (unfortunately a favorite phrase at the moment)
• happy, happy, happy and more happy = please sing to me: “You are My Sunshine” and other songs.
• shoooo = shoe. This girl loves her shoes.
• go, go, go = what I hear from the backseat when I slow down for traffic or stop at a stop sign or traffic light. My girl likes to be on the move!
• She wants to do whatever Jack does and be wherever Jack is. She really missed him this past weekend when he was fishing with Kyle. It was sweet to see.

trying to ride her brother’s bike

mothers day 2013

 

My kids and husband made my Mother’s Day so sweet yesterday.

It began with Kyle instructing me to stay in bed while he got up with the kids. I gladly complied and read all kinds of things in the quiet while he, Jack and Taylor made happy surprises. About an hour later, they burst into my room with cries of “Happy Muver’s Day!” and kisses and hugs aplenty.

Kyle had helped them make a card for me, and Kyle also wrote me a sweet note. Jack and Taylor gave me a gift card for Starbucks, and Kyle found a beautiful and unique magazine for me and gave me a subscription. It’s really unique and lovely – I can’t wait to delve into the pages.

For breakfast, the kids and Kyle made puffy dutch pancake and yogurt/berry parfaits, which we all heartily enjoyed. Then it was time to get ready for church – baths and showers and hair combed and clothes on and teeth brushed. And coleslaw made to take to the in-laws later in the day.

Church was so pleasant and good. Wonderful worship and a great sermon. After church, we ate lunch at Culver’s – they were giving mom’s a free sundae, which I thoroughly enjoyed. The kids devoured their cheeseburgers and an older couple complimented us on the kids and our “sweet family”. Hooray for manners in public! haha.

We made the trek down to Farmington to spend the rest of the day with Kyle’s family. (My mom and I had celebrated together on Friday because she and my dad were gone for the weekend.) It’s so fun when his whole family is able to be together and it had been MONTHS since we all were able to be there, so it was extra special.

The dinner of kebabs on the grill was a big hit and Jack loved playing golf outside with his dad, Grandpa Rick and Uncle Daniel (who, for some reason, was called simply Uncle by Jack all day, haha). Taylor couldn’t get enough of the swing and trampoline – we all are so glad to be outside whenever the weather is nice, which is far more often now, thank goodness.

As we drove home, I thought about the day, my sweet kids who have made me a mom, the wonderful mothers who have gone before and shaped my mothering, the amazing women who are on this journey of motherhood with me now, the women I know that long to be mothers, and the kind of mom I want to be for my kids in the future. Lots of thoughts. Lots of joy. Lots of grace needed.

A very happy mother’s day indeed.

currently 9.0

current reading material: I just finished Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford (loved it), Fit to Burst by Rachel Jankovich (great one!) and Power through Prayer by E.M. Bounds (hard to get into, but very good points about prayer to take to heart). Since my last currently post, I’ve been PLOWING through my reading list and a couple extras not on the list too. It’s as if I opened the floodgates and remembered how much I love books/learning/reading again. I love it.

In March and April I also read Bonhoeffer, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Speaking from Among the Bones, I Am Half-Sick of Shadows, and The Book Thief.

Kind of majored on WWII and post-WWII stories there for a bit! I was a total mess at the end of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Bonhoeffer and The Book Thief. Darn stories about concentration camps and war atrocities.

current songs o’ delight: “Your Great Name” by Natalie Grant (love harmonizing this one!)

current projects: I did a little more writing for Wine Table, which may turn into a regular gig (very happy about that!). This time I wrote about pairing wines with kids’ lunch options. Grown up drinks for the moms and dads that match the food you’re already preparing for the small people.

Oh yes, and there’s also the growing a human thing I’m working on. We found out about a month ago that we’ve been blessed with a tiny surprise that is due late this year. Probably in late November. This has put a little kink in the adoption proceedings, but we still are in the process of finishing our home study (due to some delay’s on our agency’s side) and hope to keep moving forward toward a child that needs a family. Possibly state-side now and Africa later.

current recipes I’ve tried: I’ve been baking a lot recently – its therapeutic for me. Downside is then someone has to eat it. I haven’t tried a bunch of new recipes, mostly just ones that are favorites. I did try a new blueberry orange muffin recipe and found them to be delicious!

Blueberry Orange Muffins 

I have a few things marked to try soon:

Espresso Mini-Muffins with Chocolate Ganache – who doesn’t love coffee and chocolate? I’m hosting a wedding shower for my childhood bestie on Saturday, and these will definitely be making an appearance.

Baked Egg Tartlets – oh yum. eggs in a pastry crust? Yes. Please.

current hair color: still dark-reddish brown. I’d love to get some highlights soon.

current events:

1. SPRING! finally. Oh my word, this was quite possibly the longest winter ever. Having small children has not made my love for winter increase. So you better believe we’ve been soaking up the warm days and even enjoying the cooler days of this yo-yo spring weather. Got sunburns a couple weeks ago and then have endured chilly rain this past week, but tomorrow’s high is 88 and the rest of the week is projected to be in the 70′s. I’ll gladly take it!

The trees have all burst into bud and bloom in the past week and tulips and daffodils are up and blooming. My heart just soaks up the joy of the color green after the drab, grey, monochrome winter.

2. celebrated Mother’s Day. My sweet husband made it such a special day. He helped the kids make a card for me, made breakfast and ordered me to lounge in bed until it was all ready. Then we enjoyed church together, lunch at Culvers (free sundae for this mom!), and the rest of the day with Kyle’s family at his parent’s home. Such a lovely time!

2. Fostering. Last week we had back-to-back respite placements for ten days in a row. Shew! Wore me plum out, what with the first trimester of pregnancy and two more, then one more kid than usual. But it was good. Helped us formulate some more ideas about the right kind of placements for our family at this stage. And I’m super excited that one of the kids will be joined with their forever family soon. SUCH happy news.

upcoming events:

1. A wedding shower for my dear friend, Whitney. I love throwing parties. Very much.

2. My birthday is only a month-ish away!

current photos:

first bonfire of the season = sticky s’more girl

Jack was so excited to go to our friend’s cabin for a weekend with Kyle. He and Josiah had a blast in the woods!

foto friday

our family on Easter (because I haven’t posted this enough places on the Internet yet)

{thanks to my lovely sister-in-law, Sarah for snapping the picture.}

out of the mouth of jack 4.0

You know your kid is a Minnesotan when you’re outside on one of the first 40 degree days of the season and he exclaims, “Mom! It’s so warm, it’s like the desert!” (In his defense – there was no wind, LOL.)

“Oh no! this is TERRIBLE!” (I think he got that from Daniel Tiger, but I’m not sure…and I can’t remember what it was in reference to.)

Jack was putting on his jammies and got his head stuck in the shirt. When he got out, he said “goodness snakes!”

The other day I took him to the library for a special preschool reading time because Curious George (stuffed costumed person version) was there. They read two CR books and then the kids could get their picture taken with George. In the car on the way home Jackson totally made my day by saying, “Mom, it made me really happy to take a picture with Curious George, because I really yike him.”