the lee family

photo update yet again

2011-12-10T21:04:00.001-08:00

SOOO much sister love :)

And check out this little man

Jada did a great job at Christmas in the Creek...she danced with a red nose to "Rudolph the Red nosed Reindeer" :)

Judson decked out in winter gear at Jada's performance

Kiva had a blast at the big show too :)

And a few pics of our cute boy getting bigger and bigger...

And Michelle stopped by...Judson had been asking about her :)

And check these two cuties out...Olivia Blessing...we might be showing this photo at your wedding :)

to make you smile...

2011-12-10T20:26:00.001-08:00

So long Sarah B, pierced, La-La and "Carcules"

2011-12-04T19:06:00.001-08:00

Lots of updates that I will simply do through pics... here goes!

Here are some of my all time favorite people...this pic is from Intimacy this year. Left to right, Ashley, Shauna, Blair, Kellie, Me :) and Aubrey

Jada got her ears pierced! We told her that when she turns 5 she could get them done. She waited a little while and then finally one day she decided it was the day. MiMi and PaPa took her and she was so brave :)

And I just wanted to point out how little and cute Judson is! Does anyone recall how chunky our girls were??? And look at this little man...skinny and long :) He is too much fun!

And he is loving his new toy...I was out of the "sophie" loop with the girls but I am already a fan of this little giraffe and so is Judson!

We celebrated our friend Kristen at her baby shower...they are expecting a little man in January! She will be an incredible mom...we just wish they lived closer!

And I just think this is a funny pic...

Oh, Aunt Aubrey...Judson loves her already...Seriously

So he is really cute and really likes that he found his hands to play with

AND SARAH BROWN IS MARRIED...now she is the beautiful SARAH STEWART!!! Oh my goodness, it was a really amazing wedding with so many people that Sarah has loved so well over the years. Congrats to Andy for scoring Sarah...she really is a treasure. And Jada was a flower girl (yet again) and did a wonderful job. She announced to Brian and I that she is now best friends with Sarah's niece, the other flower girl named "Bailey." So cute

And I just love Christmas time. Jada has been absolutely entertaining herself with many of our nativity scenes...the one that she especially likes is the Little People set. And she has named one of the wise-men "Carcules" (sounds like Hurcules) and for some reason likes to play with that one the most. The other day she was pretending Judson was baby Jesus and she was a wise-woman bringing him gifts. Too sweet.

And Kiva has finally given Jada a name...it is La-La. I LOVE this name for Jada. It just fits her. Thanks, Kiv, for that fabulous nick-name!

Music, children, dreams and peace out FB

2011-11-11T19:36:00.001-08:00

   To start things off...I am no longer on facebook. And though I was rarely on that thing...I feel free. There is really no big reason to blog about that, but I thought you may be interested to know ;)
     Onto much better things...My sweet friend, Aunt to my children and Brian actually thinks she might be an angel of sorts becuase of the sound of her voice and because she so often helps us out with our kids that it is clear she is sent from heaven!...Ashely Brusenhan, just released her first CD! You can go here to listen to it and find out more! It is wonderful and encouraging and we listen to her every morning...and really anytime we listen to music these days.
              Some of you may remember, Ashley also started a thing called "Intimacy" for college women. The 5th Intimacy was last Friday here in Aggieland and it was really a sweet time. Lucretia came and spoke to all of us in her gentle and powerful way. Good times. Anyway, I lead a group of dancers called "Talitha" and we were able to dance as a part of worship. It was really fun and also profound. We were able to dance to one of Ashley's song's from her new CD called "Come Awake." There is a line in her song that says "He wants to wash your feet tonight..." speaking of Jesus with us. As I was preparing and thinking about the girls that were coming to Intimacy, I realized that I really don't get it. The reality of the gospel. I have understood it in many different seasons of my life, but still the reality of those words being true...The reality that Jesus (Perfect Holy God) wants to wash my feet (a nasty messed up girl who sins and sins and sins). So....a week prior to performing I simply asked the Lord to help me understand that more. And I had a dream.
            The dream was one of those terribly real ones. It was really me and the setting was our normal lives. It went like this "I was approached by an authority figure that I did not know and they told me that I was sentenced to death next Thursday. It was clear to me that I was guilty. I was deserving of death and I had no excuse. The next scene was me and Brian talking about how much I wish I could raise our children and grow old with him, and we were making plans on how they would all go on without me. It was eerie. To try and describe the deep sadness that I felt is impossible."
        And then I woke up. Terrible, huh??? No beautiful gospel story there. Just guilt and the bleak future of deserved death. Of course I began praying as soon as I woke up and couldn't get to the scriptures fast enough. I asked the Lord to make it clear to me what I was supposed to understand and even to remove the weight of the dream that still sat on me.
           Two days passed and the weight was still there. And that brings me to our house church meeting on Thursday night. We were worshiping and singing to the Lord to start things off and suddenly the scene of me going to die came back to me. I saw myself standing alone in the room that was clearly designated to be the place of my death. Deep sadness and utter grief filled me. And the only man that held the power to end it all came in the room. Instead of carrying a weapon, He carried a bowl of water and began washing my feet. He started speaking sweetly to me and He simply began telling me what I will receive instead of death. He said, "You get to be Brian's wife, you get to raise your children, you get to live many days on the earth and you get to do all of this for me. And then you get to live forever with me." I wept and wept and am weeping again writing this. A PROFOUND JOY filled me in the deep crevices of my heart and the weight that I had been carrying was lifted.
          I was sincerely ministered to through this, and I believe the Lord allowed me to understand where most of the girls that were coming to Intimacy may be living. Weighed down by guilt and shame and passively accepting their lot in life as bleak. A very incomplete gospel. A terrible way to live! If I were to write down all of the reasons why I deserve death, you would see that I am "the worst of sinners" as Paul refers to in 1 Timothy. BUT, that verse starts off by saying "Jesus came to save sinners, of who I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display His UNLIMITED patience as an example of those who would believe in Him and receive eternal life." I feel like I could have written this verse. For real. And I just want to say that Jesus loves to make things new and He has even stored up an inheritance for us to receive rather than wrath or shame or guilt. We, as daughters, as redeemed ones should actually be the lightest, free-est, and most expectant of good things on the earth. Not one of us is forgotten. Praise Jesus!
    And on a different note...thinking about life and children. Many of you are moms and many of you will be. So here goes. There is a lot lot lot of things that the Lord teaches us moms about surrender. About laying down ourselves for our children. It starts during pregnancy as our bodies change, goes on to birth and all of the pain involved there, then goes into not sleeping much and not showering much and not reading magazines throughout the day while sipping on some fancy drink...etc. All of those are silly things really. But you get what I mean. Some of the girls that I have run into over the years have been surprised with their pregnancy and they have had to lay down their ideas and timing of missions, or adoption or corporate work, etc. "Surrendered" is another word for "Following Jesus as a Mom" in many ways. But, sometimes I think we are thinking too hard or too long about things that don't really matter that much. You know...too many conversations about the food that we are feeding our children or the education that we are choosing for our children or the extra-curricular stuff that we are choosing to place them in. All relevant stuff to a mom that is surrendered to Jesus and wanting to make good decisions for her kids, but...all of that needs to be in it's right place. ALL of that as a preface for what I am about to write.
          So, I am reading a Piper book and this is what I read today..."I plead with you to dream a dream that is bigger than you and your families and your churches. Un-deify the American family and say boldly that our children are not our cause; they are given to us to train for a cause. They are given to us for a short season so that we can train them for the great causes of truth and mercy and justice in a prejudiced, pain-filled and perishing world." YES!...AMEN. As I raise Jada, Kiva and Judson (and Lord willing more little people) I really want to raise them with a generational view in my mind. I want to invest in them so richly through prayer and truth that their children and their children's children will be laborers in God's plan to bring His kingdom to earth and to rescue and set free the forgotten. I don't want my first thoughts to be about the food/school/sports stuff...I want my thoughts to be about how to expose them to the real reason they are living. To give themselves away to Jesus so that He can use their gifts and talents and personalities to be a part of Jesus' mission to rescue the world! So as moms...and as future moms...let us all pray and teach and train our children to love like Christ did and let's honestly allow the Lord to shape us and train us in the same way. Receiving the deep love of God towards us and freely giving that away.
   Which takes me back to my dream to tie all of these ramblings together. "Whoever has been forgiven much...loves much."   Out of a thankful heart, Let us not be so easily distracted and yet let us fully enjoy the people we have been given to love.

Party time and a quick catch up

2011-11-11T19:24:00.001-08:00

My hope is to simply catch up through pictures...so here is some fun photos from Kiva's party...she likes Elmo a lot...not because she watches Elmo a ton (we are definitely watching Elmo Potty right now though :)), but because his picture is on her diapers and for some reason his personality is contagious through toys and what not...anyway...we had a fun time with it.

So I need to start off by saying that Kiva's party was pulled off by her beloved Aunts that are my sweet friends here. Aubrey, Ashley and Blair totally created the most fun and funny Elmo cake pops along with cleaning the house and organizing gift bags and helping with all of the little details along the way. I love these girls so much...and Kiva, you are so loved by them!

MiMi made these cute matching Elmo outfits for Jada and Kiva to celebrate in

Quick family shot...Judson was sleeping :)

And of course, our sweet friend Blair dressed up as Big Bird to complete the party...which was really funny because as she walked out Kiva said with a simple expression.."Blair." and continued to eat :) So funny. I think this just fills you all in on how fun Blair is all of the time!

Precious people

On Kiva's actual birthday Aunt Sarah/Apple brought Kiva some fun princess attire that she immediately loved too

And of course, Ashley found a bigger than life Elmo Balloon for Kiv

Jada went to the Woodlands with MiMi and PaPa and of course had a blast...I think she is looking so old!!!

Jada with one of her sweet friends Piper

And are you serious...look at how stinking cute this little man is! I like him so much

Kiva is 2!

2011-10-31T11:25:00.000-07:00

a little pick me up

2011-10-12T12:34:00.000-07:00

Just thought we would share a sweet smile to brighten your day :)

Tears, Snot and 3 years of remembering our Mia

2011-10-03T19:54:00.000-07:00

Today marks 3 years since we held and said goodbye to our daughter, Mia. Today was not an especially sad day nor was it an "ordinary" day either. It is a paradox of sorts and honestly it is a paradox that I truly live in daily. Here's what I mean.
     Our days look a lot like many of yours...feeding children, playing with them, teaching and training them, bathing them and over-all tending to them. In each day of ours there is laughter, singing, dancing, crying, wiping runny noses and praying. There are moments when I wish I could sleep in till whenever and moments that I crave stillness. I am wiped out by the end of every day and am happy to have a quiet home. But there are some things that the Lord reminds me of daily...literally, daily, that I was taught through Mia.
The theme of it all is found in these simple words, "I get to be the one that..." Fill in the blank! "I get to be the one that rises early to snuggle with a little one. I get to be the one that grocery shops for a family of 5. I get to be the one that teaches a soul how to pray. I get to be the one that cleans up after the juice spills. I get to be the one that is the bottom of the priority list for a shower :)" ...get the idea? Here is one way Mia has taught me this:
      3 years ago, as Brian and I held Mia, there were certain things that have been branded into my memory. One of those things was wiping Mia's precious nose. She had a little speck of blood and I wiped it off. I remember saying to her how I wish I could do that for her more as she grew up and I would miss that. I am weeping now just writing that out...but that is the paradox that I am speaking of. Every day, when I am tempted to be too tired or too pitiful or too lazy or too self-focused, I remember things like Mia's nose or the shock of sudden loss or the gift of my 3 children.. and all of the sudden the very thing that seemed taxing becomes a deep treasure.
    I have experienced the tension...the mystery...the paradox of living fully alive in the moment and yet longing for our home in glory. I am glad the Lord made it that way, aren't you? So I encourage you, in whatever season that you are in (student, friend, room-mate, co-worker, wife, mentor, mother, daughter, teacher), to live fully in the moments that you are given because we don't get them back. Let's simply make our prayer "teach me to number my days that I may gain a heart of wisdom." Psalm 90:12. I am reminded of the old song:

O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s light for a look at the Savior,
And life more abundant and free!

Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.

So...today we went to Mia's grave as a family and released balloons, prayed and remembered.

And two beautiful paradoxical moments were the girls laughing, giggling and playing while we were there among the graves. And this precious picture

...so much to look forward to in this life and the one to come

"uh-oh-da-day-oh"- Kiva

2011-09-18T20:51:00.000-07:00

Somewhere along the way, my suspicion is MiMi, the girls picked up the phrase "Uh-Oh- Spaghetti-Oh" and Kiva has wonderfully translated it into "uh-oh-da-day-o". I LOVE IT! She says it many times throughout the day and Jada and I just look at each other and giggle every time! She is way too fun.

We have been doing a lot of staying at home and playing. Judson is fabulous and the girls are too. I am learning how to structure our days to make sure everyone is fed, bathed, played with and really seen. You know? I want to really see each of them and what they are needing in each moment. I am learning how to be more structured in many ways so I can make sure I don't miss any of those "seeing" moments. It has been great.

And we have been up to a lot of things like weddings, birthdays, starting another year of CC (Jada's school) and Brian has been doing little things like starting a new school and church. Here are some photos to show the smiling faces in the midst of all of it!

Jada was a sweet flower girl along with Caroline...they were precious together!

Caitlin and Eli are hitched!!! Yay. Brian officiated the wedding and did an excellent job. We love the Garzas! :) And I love this pic of Jada and Brian! And Aunt Aubrey was such a gift (as always) to us throughout the whole weekend. Judson loves her a lot already too!

MiMi with our little man

Jada started her 3rd year of dance!! And has started jazz this year too!

Kiva likes Elmo a lot...so of course we needed these matching jammies...look at those sleepy faces!

sweet men in my life!!!

play time with new headbands

and of course, Kiva was calling PaPa on her phone

There ya go...more updates to come! Bless your week!

a few faces

2011-09-05T20:46:00.000-07:00

Some of you have been asking for more pics...and I have some, just haven't blogged :) So here are some recent happenings around here...all of which have been captured by my phone camera so excuse some of the blurry-ness. We are all doing great! Lots of days at home that I am loving. Just trying to learn our new pace and enjoy these precious people I get to take care of.

Also, we are about to send out Judson's birth announcements, so if you have been following our blog and I don't have your physical address can you email it to me?! That would be fabulous! stephanielee10@gmail.com Enjoy...

Already a month old!!!

Judson's toy quickly turned into a tent in the hallway

another cutie pic

2011-08-11T18:52:00.001-07:00

He really does get sweeter every day...

a new pic

2011-08-10T12:00:00.000-07:00

Just a quick pic from a couple of days ago...he is changing every day...more to come!

Hi World...it's me...Judson!

2011-08-07T18:59:00.001-07:00

My apologies...my mom and Brian's mom have lots of pics on their cameras that I need to get from them...here are a couple that I have from my phone. I will post more of Judson's sweet face tomorrow after I take some with my camera here. But for now...here are some of his sisters with him when we came home on Friday afternoon! He has brown hair, light eyes and his coloring is similar to Jada. The girls are doing really great with the transition so far.
The very brief birth story: Wednesday evening we went into the hospital...Thursday morning at 4:15 I woke up in the hospital bed with contractions and by 5:45 Judson was born! It was crazy fast...at 4:15 I was dilated to a 3...it was a super fast progression from there. He was a "facial presentation" so there was a bit of a scare for a couple minutes. The nurse ended up delivering Judson on the bed, the doctors and midwife came later...and he was a perfect little man with a few bruises on his sweet face. It was a very intense hour and a half. The Lord was near and brought Judson to this world in a beautiful way. To say the least, we are so thankful for our sweet guy.

This time tomorrow...

2011-08-02T20:55:00.000-07:00

This time tomorrow we will officially be at St. Joe's having begun the induction process! Will you please pray for the little guy's entrance to this world? We are excited to meet him of course and will blog with pictures of his sweet face asap! :)

the water song...and the "too much"-ness of the Lord

2011-07-26T19:26:00.000-07:00

It is the countdown...the time when I haven't planned anything at all because Judson could come anytime...but don't want to spend all day every day bored watching the clock tick waiting to meet the little man. So...we play and rest and do the things that are normal. Meanwhile, in the background of all my thoughts are prayers for Judson's little body, hopes that the labor will be short and sweet :), and more prayers for the girls to adjust well. All the while enjoying the stillness of being home with the girls.

Season...I use this word every day. Like in the context of times in our lives and the process the Lord has each one of us on. So, the season of the Lee family being a girl family is about to come to an end and I want to enjoy that. The season of us being a family of 4 is about to come to an end. I think about the term "when the fullness of time had come..." at the beginning of the gospels. The time was full, the season was complete, when God set into motion the birth of Christ. I like that thought. And when I think about this season of our lives changing...I want it to be FULL...complete...nothing left without being felt, experienced, enjoyed, treasured, and understood in the most full way. And as we begin a new season of our family of 5 and adding a dude to the mix, I am excited to tears about the new things we will all learn and experience together.

Judson. My heart is absolutely overjoyed at the thought of raising a son. It is quite a different feeling for me than I had with the girls. As I pray for him and think about him, I can't help but imagine him as a strong man in the kingdom of God. I imagine him strong in stature and faith but a humble man like his daddy. I love that his name means "one who praises God and Christ-bearer"...but as I continued to look into Judson's name meaning it also means "to descend or flow down." This is crazy to me...here's why...

Have you ever read "Hinds feet on High Places."? It is an allegory and it is extravagant with deep meaning of the Shepherd heart of God. The poetry and literary illustrations are precious. I read it while I was still a student at A&M and we have been reading the children's version to Jada. I picked it up and read it again a few weeks ago. One of the things that stood out to me was the "water song." Literally, the happy song the water sings as it descends from the tops of the mountains. This is how it goes...

Come, oh come, let us away—lower, lower every day

Oh, what joy it is to race, to find the lowest place
This the dearest law we know—“It is happy to go low.”
Sweetest urge and sweetest will, “Let’s go down lower still.”

Hear the summons night and day, calling us to come away.
From the heights we leap and flow, to the valleys down below.
Always answering to the call, to the lowest place of all.
Sweetest urge and sweetest pain, to go low and rise again.

This song is repeated throughout the story and it kept digging deeper into my heart. It was as if the Lord was speaking so clearly to me about the happiest place being the place of a servant. I was reminded of Christ and the way He demonstrated this. I thought of how happy I am when I really sit and think on how much I do not deserve and how much the Lord has given me. It is gratitude and it makes me want to happily bow low in my life and delight in not being important. I don't know if I am making much sense, but I feel like the water song is like a response to grace. A response to God's goodness towards me.

A story from my life: As I started following Jesus in the spring of 1998 I was a mess in many ways. As I started to know the Lord in new ways, I understood how the Lord had truly made me new, cleansing me and giving me a new life. As I thought about my future husband, I prayed and hoped for a man that really loved God with all that he was. I hoped for a man of purity, of holiness, that really walked in the favor of God. Though these things were my hopes and prayers, I always had it in the back of my mind that if the Lord didn't give me those things in husband, that I totally understood...you know, I realized fully that I didn't DESERVE that in any way...but I knew his grace and his forgiveness, so I hoped :). So when the day came when Brian proposed to me, I was thrilled with excitement of course. But it wasn't until a couple of days after the proposal when I was alone in my college house and I re-read Brian's words that he spoke to me when he asked me to be his wife...it was then that my heart was pierced with the realization that the Lord gave me far more than I could have ever asked or imagined! I literally remember leaning against my wall, starting to cry and then eventually sinking down into fetal position weeping with the thoughts of "too much, Lord, you are too much." Deep gratitude, almost painful recognition of my own unworthiness and a position of not being able to get low enough to say thank you to such a good God who loved me extravagantly. Which brings me back to the water song...

I believe the Lord has and is giving us Judson as a reminder of the "too much"-ness of the Lord. Who am I that I get to raise this little man who will become a grown man who, by God's grace, will lead men and women to praise and follow Christ?! So, again I say...I am happy to serve Judson as his mother, and flow down, like the water song, and I consider this gift "too much"...and I can't wait to kiss his little cheeks in a week!!!

...and if you are looking for a good book to read...pick up Hinds Feet on High Places...you will not be disappointed!

keeping up...

2011-07-19T19:33:00.000-07:00

July has been wonderful. We have been taking time to be still and enjoy eachother. A few different things that are noteworthy...

We will have Judson on the 4th (by induction) if he hasn't come before then! SOOO exciting. Some precious girls that are in our lives threw a "little man shower" I felt so loved and now Judson has all that a little man needs!

Brian is the new director of a charter school in Bryan. After over 3 1/2 years of working "on call" on top of his regular job, he is now down to one job that he is really excited about and is learning so much through. He is made for this kind of role. It is called Arrow Academy. Some really great opportunities for him to lead and grow in so many ways.
Aub took some fun pics of me and the girls.
Hula dancing...enough said
The girls love playing dress up and one day we went to get yogurt and then by Mia's grave in their dress up clothes...and I love this pic especially b/c of the symbolism of the fountain. On Mia's headstone one of the verses that is written is "For with you is the fountain of life, in your light we see life." Psalm 36:9...it was a sweet mom moment for me...I dearly love all of my girls! And finally...a random pic of the girls. I have been intentionally enjoying and watching and laughing with and taking in the girls before Judson comes. It will soon be "the girls and Judson"

Judson and the Girls...

2011-07-03T19:34:00.000-07:00

I won't blog much...but I thought I would update with some recent pics and thoughts. One month from now we may be holding our sweet little boy in our arms (or be a day or two away)!! My friend Ari took some maternity pics of me and Judson...I am feeling very pregnant these days, but I really cannot tell you how thankful I am to be carrying around this little man. He is a mover! I definitely get stopped in my tracks every now and then when he decides to do a sudden movement...and I just want to say that pregnancy is such a gift to me. I treasure these moments so much. I really really love it. Of course, I will love sleeping on my tummy in a little over a month also, but not near as much as this season :)

And to prepare for J-man...the girls are now in the same room! Oh what an adventure it has been...they have been great...however we have had some very early mornings. For now, Jada is in a toddler bed and Kiva is in a crib that will convert to a toddler bed. We will probably go the bunk bed route next summer. If anyone has any suggestions on how to make room sharing the most peaceful, I am all ears.And I just thought they were cute looking at eachother...sorry about the cell phone pics...that is what I have handy!Jada's self portrait with the camera :)

Are you kidding me with this look, Kiv? She is sooooo much fun! Aunt Ashley took this one.And a recent moment while dress up and dancing...love the serious look on her face as she very obviously perfects her moves!

catching up...

2011-06-14T16:40:00.001-07:00

I thought I would start this post off with a bang...I mean seriously...have you ever seen cuter people in all your life??
Well...we are here and we are all doing great! It was a CRAZY May. Seriously. There were so many moments that I thought "this would be fun to blog," but really didn't want to use any of the free time I had to sit at the computer!

Here is a summary of what we have been up to...and then I will share with you some fun photos and moments after!

Summary: May included photographing, editing, processing and delivering over 300 dancer's photos. Photographing and editing a wedding. Brian got a new job! My mom's birthday. Mother's day. Our anniversary. A church change. Judson grew a lot. Jada's dance recital. Some great ministry stuff happened. Friends came in town to stay with us from out of town. Our whole family got the stomach bug and then passed it onto some of our favorite people :( And then we left for Oklahoma and Kansas City. That was all within about 30 days. And in that time...the great thing is the Lord sustained, gave plenty of grace, drew my heart to a very needy place and even gave me some sweet moments of taking in the wonder and beauty of these two precious girls named Jada and Kiva.

Jada's buddies in their recital costumes :)

At the recital :)We had a surprise party/lunch for My mom's 21st birthday (wink-wink) and she really was surprised!!!Kellie and Ash took Jada and Sophie to a "princess party" at a local theater company...too funAub with the girls...and side note...Aub officially graduated with her masters in May! Check that off her list! Yay!
More to come... good stuff that happened in OK & KC!

Piggies!

2011-05-05T17:20:00.000-07:00

Kiva's first pig-tails!!!
I could eat this child up! Love her little curls at the end...and she thinks she is so pretty too, which is one of my favorite things about this whole process.

Don't you think she looks so old?? She is so precious!

Pedicures, almost a mother's day gift and Feathers!

2011-05-05T17:09:00.000-07:00

Jada had a goal...starting last summer.
If she went 7 days with NO fits, she could get a pedicure!
SHE DID IT!so of course she chose purple nail polish with flowersshe asked lots of sweet questions and was so excited the whole time

and Jada and I got feathers in our hair! More/close up pics to come on that.And for mother's day this year, I was hoping to use a new photo back drop to capture some beautiful moments of the girls and then print them on something extravagant for MiMi and Grammy. Well...it was a great intention...but the girls were being WAY to silly and not too interested...
for example...can you please stand closer together? Hug? please?

ok, or chase eachother...

We thought this one was sweet...

Jada, can you scoot closer to Kiva...Kiva, smile, Kiva, smile!

or there's that face, Kiv...Jada, a real smile please?

Peek-a-boo? Kiva...where's your pretty smile??

Oh...you needed to stretch? ok!? Show off those legs :)

I LOVE this precious Kiva face

And this one...serously, so cute.

And the end...no fabulous photos...just some fun memories!
(MiMi and Grammy...I wills end you some prints for fun!)

Chicks & Easter!

2011-05-05T16:01:00.000-07:00

Warning...this post will be phone and point-n-shoot picture intensive...hope you enjoy :)

Our friends, the Jones', have chickens now. And of course we had to go see the new chicks that have been newly introduced into their family! Jada LOVED them and Kiva was a little concerned and then played with toys.

Easter was a full day! The small group of people that we have enjoyed living life with met first thing in the morning at a park for breakfast and worship...and also a little play time.Kellie and the girls playing in the rocksI just love the bloomers poking out :)a brief easter egg hunt around the fieldIt was an old park that had a merry-go-round that was super fast...the kids didn't ever play on it, just the adults! There was a lot of spinning fun with Bernie, Kellie, Chester, Josh and Merinda all had some serious dizzy moments.then we went to mimi and papas!after a brief easter egg hunt in their backyard,
instead of Easter baskets, they were surprised with a fun pool!then off to church in matching dresses We got to celebrate Merinda's birthday by surprising her at Messina Hoff...we took Kiva on a little day date :)Kiva eating with her left hand :) So precious!Some Aunt Ashley love
Taken from Aunt Ashley's phone...Kiv striking a pose in her swim suit!

What did Kiva do while we were in NYC?

2011-05-05T15:33:00.000-07:00

It has been a while...so the first blog post of the evening is the update on what Kiva did while we were in NYC! Most of these were taken with a phone and sent to me so I could stay current on what our sweet Kiva bear was up to!

Back-story- The Thursday before we left my mom, "Mi-Mi," hurt her knee badly AGAIN! I felt SO bad for her. And the prognosis was another surgery :( She was a trooper and tackled it again...however, much to my mom's dismay, Kiva's vacation to MiMi and PaPa's house was canceled until further notice! Sooooo...I asked Kiva if she wanted to go to NYC with us, and she looked at me and shook her head NO!

Well, next option...send out an email to the girls/aunts in Kiva's life and see if we could piece together some time slots for them to care for Kiva in our absence. A nervous and protective mom takes a deep breath and says a quick prayer for mercy. Press send on the email. 30 seconds passes and my phone rings. It was Aunt Aubrey with a simple statement "This morning when I woke up, I don't know if I was dreaming or if it was just something that the Lord spoke to me, but I think I am going to watch Kiva next week while you are in NYC!"...WHAT??? Seriously? Lord, THANK YOU! I listened to Aubrey with tears of gratitude. So...while we were in NYC, Aunt Aubrey & Uncle Will got to practice being parents :)

And Kiva had a BLAST! Seriously, she loved all of the attention and love... and was completely satisfied and content the entire time! Aub was amazing. Pause: I just want to say that nothing is more precious to me on this earth than Brian and my girls...and there was no hesitation in my heart about how Aubrey and Will would love, shepherd and tend to Kiva in ways that far exceed any friend...throughout the years Aub and Will have been family to us in so many ways, and this was just another way that the Lord provided and gave extravagantly through the Agnors. Oh how I love them!

At the end of our trip, MiMi was feeling up to watching Kiva for a couple of days...so Kiva ended up getting her MiMi and PaPa fix too :) She is well LOVED by them (of course) and though Kiva was happy to see us, she didn't seem too concerned about when we would return! So, here goes the picture journal of Kiva's time...

i took this before we left...proof of her left-handedness!!
And I looked at these pics in my camera while we were in NYC when I needed a Kiva-bear fix!

Goodmorning from a happy Kiva

bathtime fun

an adoring Aunt Aubrey!my favorite one by far...this was sent with a message "is this cheating?" Aunt Aubrey, Aunt Ashley and Uncle Will took Kiva to Chuck-E-Cheese of course!

nyc and thankful

2011-04-20T20:25:00.000-07:00

A quick photo update...I have so much I want to write...but I am soooo tired but so grateful. A quick recap: we were in NYC for almost a week and then we came home to an amazingly clean home but with NO A/C! So, this is the first night back in our house. NYC was really great...here are some photos of what we did! Many of these are from my phone so they are blurry...but totally documented some fun events! (I didn't bring my camera on most of our excursions:)

jada's flight...she loved it!

we rode with the phinney family from the airport to our hotels...Jada LOVES them!

seriously...look at jada's face...loves the phinney fam!

we saw Mary Poppins the very first night we were there...it was AMAZING!!

mary poppins...love her

our first full day...was BRIAN's Birthday! We spent most of the day in Central park and we started with a horse and carriage ride. It was dreamythen we headed over to the zoo...our favorites were the polar bears! They were really funny...we compared the two of them to Baxter and Tali (our dogs)...they had their personalities for real! This one was swimming and having a blast...while the other one just watched him.and then there was the petting/feeding area that was like a dream world for Jada...she LOVES animals. Really. can you tell it was super cold...Jada sported her lion hat most of the tripand yep...there was a COW in the Central Park zoo...hilarious. especially since the locals were acting like it was as cool as the polar bears...we definitely felt very Texan in that moment.fao schwarz big piano!build a bear...jada created "fancy puppy"...and she chose the outfit b/c she has matching red sparkly shoes :)this is one of those blurry pics that I totally love...we had so much fun togetherjada pushing the pedal to fill her fancy puppythis big dude was also doing his own build a bear...funny...a sight you only see in NYCJada thought the subway was so fun...

we took a ferry around the statue of liberty with the Phinney fam. (the statue is very small in the background)...it was SO cold so Brian took Jada outside while wimpy mommy and some of the Phinney fam stayed inside.in one of the stores...just having some reading time...it was such a special/sweet time with just Jada...she loved the attention!the dancers...the reason we were in nyc...they did great at project dance...even through cold/wind and rain!

Brian went to the Yankees game the last night we were there...Jada and I stayed back in our warm hotel and had some sweet mommy/Jada time.

Next blog post I will update you on some really sweet moments on our trip that I didn't get photos of...and the fun that Kiva had back in BCS. Until then...

Some things I've been thinking on...

2011-03-21T18:25:00.000-07:00

So...a few days ago I started to write this blog...and I gave myself some bullet points that I wanted to make sure and share about...here are the "bullet points":

Remembering...discipline

Washing all pink loads... anyone?

The Gospel..."A Gospel Primer for Christians"

Having three kids and would love some heads up...

Gratitude...I love the noise of the girls voices.

Jada's sleepover success and why I am so thankful for the girls in our lives...

After I wrote the bullet points for myself I decided I was too tired to think that hard...so I closed my computer and went to sleep!

So now, in the middle of my Wednesday, after just completing some photography work, I am coming back to it (not really full of energy) set on completing this mission too! And so I don't have to say it later...all of these pictures were taken from phones, so please excuse the blurriness and try to enjoy the moment :)

Here goes...I have been thinking about what following the Lord was like when I first came to Christ. It was Good Friday 1998. I knew I had so much to learn and in a short season grew so quickly. It was fun and hard and challenging and beautiful...I look on that season fondly. The Lord gave me deep understanding of who Jesus is and how He is so much better than anything else. That came out in all sorts of different circumstances where surrender (though through tears at times) was easy. When I say "easy" I mean, it was so clear that Jesus was better and I had to make a choice...Jesus or "fill in the blank". I learned quickly that my heart wasn't a safe gage to follow and that I had to lean into and trust what the bible said. The Lord was gracious and over and over again spoke loud and clear. The Lord redeemed so many things that were broken and still he continues to redeem things and relationships from my life "before Christ." So, as I have been reflecting on the Lord's current redemption of things from long ago, I have asked myself the question "what about now? What am I surrendering now? Am I continuing to make choices that say Jesus is better than...?" Through all of this, I think the Lord is asking me to be more disciplined in prayer, in the scriptures and in pursuing Him more...just talking to Him more. I am excited and hopeful...I don't want to miss anything the Lord could give me or my family out of laziness or an unexpectant posture towards Him.

And I find myself sorting clothes for laundry and now I have a whites, darks, mediums, and pinks...yep...I run all pink loads! Every now and then purple will join the pink party too, but good thing Judson is coming next to defend the blue in our home!

And it seems there has been a lot of talk about the gospel...what it really is and the implications of it for a lost world. I have lots of thoughts, but mainly I wanted to write about a fabulous book that my friend Kari gave me last summer. It is called "A Gospel Primer for Christians". I have found it sooo good and helpful for me to understand the Gospel in deeper ways and to literally remember it daily for myself and the people I see in the places that I go. You can get it for $5 on amazon...it is really really worth your time and energy getting it!
And since we are embarking on being outnumbered by the children in our home...I thought I would ask any and all of you to give me some advice on how to mother/parent three children. Anything from carefully shepharding their hearts to how to grocery shop would be helpful! So, please get back to me on it...assume I am clueless!

And we had a day at home recently where there just never seemed to be a moment where Jada or Kiva weren't needing my full attention. They were loudly calling for me constantly...even when I was sitting next to them or holding them. And I was feeling some anxiety start to rise up in my heart when I seriously and suddenly broke into laughter...the sounds of their voices turned from needy to wonderfully delightful...they will be in their 20's far too quickly...and the days that I have with them now are truly treasures to me. So, as I ask the Lord for patience and perspective, I hope to enjoy every single moment they need something or just want my attention :). I am grateful for it!

And I left off last time with Jada wishing for a sleepover for her huge and monumental 4 1/2 birthday. Well, it was amazing. Bernie and Kellie celebrated her so sweetly. They made her favorite meal...pancakes and bacon...and the pancakes were even pink! The evening she was gone I was truly overwhelmed and humbled by their love. There is something so unique about other people extravagantly loving your children. I thought about how that must be why the Lord tells us to love one another...He really enjoys it. So, thank you Bernie and Kellie for Jada's...and I quote..."best night of her whole life in the whole world."
And on other random news...here are some other photos from our latest days...Jada had a play date at the Crawford's home and when Kiva and I went to pick her up we walked in on a girl band. Love it!
And make no mistake...Kiva loves Aunt Ashley. She points to her picture when she is not there and says "A-ley" and gets excited every time she sees her. So...I took this pic of Kiva reaching for Ashley's pic to prove to her that she does this while she is not there...so precious!
And with these fabulous spring days we've been having, we have been going on lots of walks and made many trips to the park. The girls LOVE bringing their sand toys and can spend hours shoveling dirt, sand or rocks into different containers. And you may recognize the brown dress that Jada is wearing from when she was a flower girl. Truth is, she wears this "princess dress" daily...even on walks. So funny. And the last picture is a bunny that was hopping down our street last week on one of our walks. The girls were giggling and totally into this little guy...Jada requested that I take a pic. So here it is :)

It was a pretty big day...

2011-03-19T20:11:00.001-07:00

Jada has been awaiting this day for a long time...for months she has been asking about it. And FINALLY (in Jada's world) the much awaited day came. That's right people...her Half-Birthday! She officially turned 4 1/2 today. I am really not exaggerating in any way...for some reason she has longed to be 4 1/2. So of course, I made a little blueberry struesel for breakfast with four and a half candles and we sang. She was giggly excited. Then she was surprised with "blonde" Ashley coming over with a crayon-tower and two little flowers to plant in cute little pots. I don't think there could be a better gift than a crayon-tower for 4 1/2 year old Jada. She was mesmerized and giddy. And then of course, we finished the day with some pink and white circus animal cookies with sprinkles. It was fabulous. I asked her "If you could do anything for her half birthday, what would it be?" She said she wanted to have a sleepover with Bernie and Kellie. So, Monday Jada's wish will be granted. SO fun. And the day ended with a very silly bath time leading into this scene...

Kiva pushing Jada in her grocery cart AND the doll stroller...we were all cracking up at one point!
So there you have a fun and very happy four and a HALF year old Jada!
On other news, spring break was great with Brian home. We were able to relax and just be together as a family a lot. I am super grateful for this time! On Friday we went to the zoo in Waco and met our old/good friends, The Coles and Sepulvedas...minus their husbands who don't have spring break :(. It was great to see them and to see our children growing up together. We took a group pic at the end...which was pretty funny, but it is proof that we were together!

a visit, big sis shirts and getting older

2011-03-14T18:00:00.001-07:00

I bought the girls matching big sister shirts. It is humorous to see Kiva in a "Big Sister" shirt for sure...here were some quick pics I took...and I just had to include the one with Kiva standing with her cute little tummy out and sway back. And also, please take notice of Jada's favorite new shoes "twinkle toes"...yep, they have rhinestones and they light up. They are pretty fantastic. If Jada knew how to blog, this post would be about the awesomeness of her "sparkly light up shoes."

And I have been thinking a lot about this life being a breath...a vapor...even more I have thought about how time flies by and how I want to live fully. I want to be 80 years old and FULL of life in the Holy Spirit...full of energy and full of faith. I don't want to be old. I like being 32. I like this season of life and I am NOT wishing I was 20 again or anything like that. What I mean is, I don't want to act and live like I am old. So, I am reading a book about parenting called "Raising children to Adore God." I am not too far into it and it is good for sure. But they used a quote that I wanted to shout out a "YES...exactly!"...

"Anyone who stops learning is old, whether it happens at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps on learning not only remains young but also becomes constantly more valuable."- Harvey Ullman

I like that. I want to be steadily and constantly teachable...not just by someone older than me or who has some radical story, but I want to be able to be taught by the Lord through anyone. My children, other people's children, friends, younger men and younger women, peers, older folks ...you get my point. I want to be a learner and I want to live like I am in process of knowing God and knowing what this life is about. From parks with squealing children to a cemetery full of obvious silence, I want to have ears to hear the Lord. So, who is with me??? Let's be young forever...even with wrinkles and gray hair (possibly not showing b/c of great hair color products...we'll see :))

I am planning to post about 'Talitha' soon. I have lots of thoughts and stuff to share. I love those girls.

And to kick off spring break, Grammy and Grumpy came in for a weekend visit. It was a wonderfully relaxing time together. Their birthdays were in February, but they both were a bit under the weather, so we got to celebrate together with some good ol' cheesecake factory cheesecake :) We really enjoyed our time together!

some love

2011-03-09T18:27:00.000-08:00

Here are lots of random photos that I just had to share...some life stuff...most of these were taken with my phone camera so sorry for the blurriness. I just love these girls!

Here...a normal morning consists of Jada dressing up in a 'beautiful dress" and Kiva immediately finds some sort of jewelry!

Aunt Shannon gave this cutie outfit to Kiva...I love these photos. This is a Kiva deep thought face...or "I am considering if I should obey or not."And this is very normal...Kiva is ALWAYS running/walking super duper fast!Jada likes wearing her hair in "bun-piggies"...she reminds me of minnie mouse but cuter :)this is a pic from a few weeks ago but Jada has been practicing her "wink" that she is proud of

AND...my mom and I went to a quilting store to just look for fabric for Judson's room...and we found the cutest turtle fabric and I just LOVE the colors. We found everything that we love! So, my mom will begin doing Judson's bedding soon. YAY!

Our son's name!...

2011-03-07T17:40:00.000-08:00

Has anyone ever heard of a missionary named Adoniram Judson? If you know Brian, you know that he loves reading biographies of the people God has used to change the world. One of his favorite biographies was of a man named Adoniram Judson who was alive 1788-1850. He was a missionary to Burma and literally created their written language AND translated the bible AND started the first Christian church there AND suffered a whole lot yet remained faithful to God and God's call on His life. He lived a life of surrender and obedience and God used him mightily!

His story is inspiring...you should read all about him! Especially since he is our son's namesake! His name actually means "one who praises God"...and Christopher is Brian's middle name and means "christ-bearer." So we are praying for our God Praising-Christ Bearer!!!

Judson Christopher Lee!

It's a.....

2011-02-22T20:07:00.001-08:00

Well...today at 4:30 we found out that we are having a....

WE ARE SO EXCITED!!! Please pass on any recommendations on "raising sons" books!

Simplicity, Fun and Free Fridays, Valentines and Blackberries

2011-02-17T17:18:00.000-08:00

A group of people that we live life with is fasting from different things. Some people are fasting from food, some are doing the "Daniel" fast (fruits & veggies), some are not using facebook, some are not using the internet...I am not using the internet daily from 7 am-9 pm. It started Monday and I have LOVED it! Last fall I really felt like the Lord was encouraging me with the word "Simplicity." I did a dictionary look up for it (Websters 1828 version is the best...just in case you were wondering!...it has the most biblical references and it is just plain GOOD) Here it is

Simplicity

n. [L. simplicitas.]

1. Singleness; the state of being unmixed or uncompounded; as the simplicity of metals or of earths.

2. The state of being not complex, or of consisting of few parts; as the simplicity of a machine.

3. Artlessness of mind; freedom from a propensity to cunning or stratagem; freedom from duplicity; sincerity. Marquis Dorset, a man for his harmless simplicity neither misliked nor much regarded.

4. Plainness; freedom from artificial ornament; as the simplicity of a dress, of style, of language, &c. Simplicity in writing is the first or excellences.

5. Plainness; freedom from subtilty or abstruseness; as the simplicity of scriptural doctrines or truth.

6. Godly simplicity, in Scriptures, is a fair open profession and practice of evangelical truth, with a single view to obedience and to the glory of God.

Aren't those great definitions! Anyway, in light of this season (January/February) being one of the busiest seasons for me, I think the Lord is helping me to learn this and is using the fast to help. I didn't realize how much I tried to "multi-task" while the girls would be playing peacefully or while they were resting. Not having the computer in my lap or even looking at email on my phone has helped me to pray throughout the day so much easier...has helped me to enjoy the girls more without feeling torn...has helped me to read more and it has given me deeper understanding of the definition of simplicity. I am enjoying it! And this fast will go on for 21 days...but I like it so much that it just might become a new norm for me. I encourage you to try it!

Fun & Free Fridays!- a friend of mine that I met in college, Sally, is beautiful and truly has style like very few people I have ever known. One of my favorite stories from Sally is when she was a little girl. Her mom let her dress herself one day a week. Through that, Sally quickly learned from her peers at school that some things were not "cool" and some things were. So...she was given creative power and freedom to experiment. I LOVE THAT! So, we are starting now with Fun and Free Fridays! No matter what we do or where we go, Jada gets to dress herself. Last week was the first go at it...pretty funny. She had a blast. She picked out pj pants, a t-shirt with butterflies, a large print floral jacket, a necklace, and a parrot hat (of course). We stayed home most of the day and went to Hobby Lobby for a quick errand...she sported her look well, but I didn't get a photo of it! Lame, I know...but I will capture this week's look for sure!

Valentines was fabulous for all of the girls around our house. Brian and I celebrated last week and it was wonderful. I love him more and more all the time...seriously. But on Valentines day our focus not only turned to our Jada and Kiva girls...but to 7 beautiful single ladies that bless us every single week! These 7 gals love Jesus beautifully, care for other people more than themselves, and have a history of loving children, their roomies, their families, the poor, the hurting, the forgotten, the church...shall I go on? So, Aubrey and Brittney came to help and it was totally an honor to serve them dinner, to give them an opportunity to worship in stillness, to give them notes from lots of people that love them dearly, and we ended with praying for girls that are in bondage to sex trafficking all over the world. It was a precious and powerful night for me...I love them. AND on other news, I am addicted to blackberries. While I post this I started and am almost done with a whole carton. :) Kiva likes them a lot too.

And what's a blog post without some photos of our cute little ones. Here is a simplicity photo of them playing outside. Jada fixed her own hair (obviously) and I think she looks like a jazzersize advocate for sure!

Texas Snow Princess

2011-02-04T08:11:00.000-08:00

That is right...we built a snow princess. It was huge (for Texas)...almost 12 inches tall! Brian's work was canceled and we ate a big breakfast with eggs, bacon and pancakes. After that we had to round up all of our clothes that would keep us warm...quickly realizing that we totally don't have a coat for Kiva, so she wore a 2t that made her arms kind of stick out. I seriously couldn't look at her without laughing with tears. She was so cute. Jada made snow angels in the street b/c there was more snow there than anywhere else :) And then came the massive snow princess...gaze upon it's beauty...

Happy Snow Girls

Our Snow Dogs

Kiva's Funny Get-Up

Jada making a Snow Angel

I love these days...

2011-02-03T07:46:00.001-08:00

The girls and I have had two full jammy days this week and I am actually hoping for more! I love these days. Now that I am in the second trimester I am enjoying energy throughout the day! We have organized and played and played some more after that. I love these days. Today is a MiMi day, the girls left in their pj's and I am still in mine about to work on all sorts of things. I am grateful.

And for a few quick pics...Jada and I went to Houston to take sweet Blair to the airport. On our way back we had a little date and went to Build a Bear for the first time ever. Jada was in dreamworld getting to create who she lovingly calls "Lady-Belle"...as you can see why! Thanks Rhonda for the gift-card and the fun excuse to get away with Jada!And Grammy came for a visit and we exchanged pics...this is from last October but I just LOVED it! Kiva has changed so much and so fast...but I seriously get so much joy from these faces!

And to follow up...Last week was great. The ladies' night in New Braunfels was really sweet. Thanks for your prayers. There were lots of tender hearts and I think I was able to communicate almost everything I had planned. It was a nice night.

And heads up...we (hopefully) find out February 22nd if this is a baby boy or baby girl!!! We are really 50-50 on it. Any predictions?

the most precious sounds...

2011-01-28T18:05:00.000-08:00

As I am typing, Brian is putting Jada down for bed. He plays the guitar for her every night. She loves music. She loves playing her guitar, singing and now writing her own songs. Mostly about rainbows, heaven and ladybugs. Tonight, like other nights, Brian will sing the simple song "God is so good, God is so good, God is so good, He's so good to me." And then they will make up their own words from there. Moments ago I heard this song begin in it's normal state, then a pause, then "He takes care of the animals, He takes care of the animals..." Pause...Then, "God is really great, God is really great, ...." Then on to another song. I really hope sounds like this are burned into my memory forever. They are just so precious. Not to mention that I am just so grateful that the girls have a really really great daddy. And I hope these moments are burned into Jada and Kiva's memories forever too!

Loving my girls...I am speaking this weekend and dancing as a part of the Lee home!

2011-01-26T19:01:00.000-08:00

I will start with my precious daughters...Jada and Kiva. They are fabulous. I love the ways the interact. Jada has a little mama heart for sure and Kiva is loud...she communicates much louder than Jada did. We like it (most the time :). She loves sitting in my lap in the midst of playing and getting a little snuggle time...then off to play again. She will come over to me and put her forehead on mine and make our noses touch and then lean back, look at me and walk away to play again. And for Jada...she is so much fun too. A conversation I had with Jada today:

Jada- "Mommy, when I get bigger, can I be on a stage?"
Me- "If Jesus wants you to be on stage, sure!"
Pause
Me- "What would you want to do on stage?"
Jada- "Whatever Jesus wants me to do."
Me- tears and smiles

Dancing is truly going strong in our lives around here. Talitha...loving it. Jada's dance and all of her dancing around our house...loving it. AND something really fun...I am getting to choreograph for the dancers that are going to New York from the studio where I used to teach. And not only that...but Brian, Jada and I are heading to New York with them in April! Jada's first flight and Brian's first time in NYC! We are excited for Jada to see such a different culture and the ministry "Project Dance" that we will get to serve with!

And lastly...this weekend I am getting to speak at a night called "Sweet Abandonment." Sweet Aunt Ashley (Ashley B.) will be leading worship before and after I speak. I would LOVE your prayers. For her leadership, for my words and sensitivity to the Spirit, the girls/women that come to be drawn near to Christ and willing to trust Him wherever they are. We will be in New Braunfels at 7:00. So...will you pray with us?

Love to you and I hope you enjoy this weather (if you are in Texas) and the scenery (if anywhere else!) :)

6 inches, Speed Walking, and a new season of Talitha!

2011-01-17T17:17:00.000-08:00

I should start by saying that I have been lame at blogging so far in 2011. I have just been a sleepy prego...and I only have one more week until the first trimester is complete! I am actually already feeling the relief a bit.

I will start with tonight...we cut over 6 inches off of Jada's hair. She was so excited and giggling about it! Here is her new look before she went to bed!And our Kiva bear is a serious speed walker...and she leads with her cute little pop-belly! Here is an action shot :) and here she is pausing for a shot of her cute belly peeking out from her shirt!
some other fun...our friends, the Cole Family, stopped in for a couple of hours and I snapped a quick pick of their little one with ours. Too cute!The last pic is from New Years Eve...we had some really great friends over for food, the Wii, and games...we were able to bring in the new year with Uncle Will leading us in worship and prayer...we were seriously honored to be expectant and hopeful for 2011 with this group! This is a totally random shot of some of the men playing Wii...meanwhile the girls were talking in the kitchen :)
And a new season of Talitha has begun! We had our intensive choreography weekend last week and we began weekly rehearsals yesterday. I am amazed and thrilled about this group of "daughters." Seriously. They are such a gift to me. We are all expectant for the Lord to move in sweet ways in and through Talitha this year! I will not be performing with them this year since my prego belly will be showing by March 4th! But I will get to do one section with them, which I am super excited about. I will keep you updated as we grow together.

All for now. Have a great week!

why can't Christmas last longer??

2010-12-30T06:04:00.000-08:00

SERIOUSLY...I was thinking last night how much I love Christmas and I wish we could leave the Christmas tree and decorations up until the end of January. I love that our "world" as we know it takes a break. Brian gets to be home and there are no regular responsibilities or meetings. Cooking is more fun and giving gifts really great too! I love that Brian has more than 2 weeks off of work...we are spoiled with him home (especially during this first trimester sleepiness :)!
So in attempt to catch up over this month, here is a long photo update for you! To start things off, we hired someone for a low price to paint our living room and Jada's room...which turned out to be somewhat of a disaster with paint on the ceiling, furniture and carpet. SOO...our truly amazing friends came to the rescue! A group of 11 people came over from 5-midnight (and some stayed even longer). It was truly an act of love on their part and the Lord reminded me in those moments of how blessed we are in the community that we live in! Five years ago when we bought our home we painted every room with the help of the house church that we were a part of. Now the Lord has given us Then and now our home is not our own...it is truly a gift to us through people that we love. So grateful!

Jada surprised Uncle Jason with a visit to their house in Spring! On the drive she said "my dream finally came true...I get to go to Uncle Jason and Aunt Shannon's house!" So sweet. It was super fun. Aunt Shannon bought a ginger bread house for Jason and Jada to make together...it was fun...and we all realized it was our first official gingerbread house to decorate!Afterwards they took us to lunch and then to main event to play some games.

And then we went to a wedding in the Woodlands with some friends. Our neighbors and great friends Jared and Risa were there which was the highlight for Jada!
Kiva is changing so much. She is so great! Brian and I say that every day... we really say "Kiva is so great." In every way she is so much fun, easy going, stubborn, joyful, and she is a really fast walker! She had a pretty rough cold this week. She was an absolute joy in the midst of being sick! She is so so stubborn with her pink meds though! It is a team effort to get the stuff down her throat :) Oh Kiv!And then Jada sang in her first Christmas pageant/show! She did great...this is her waving at PaPa. She exited the stage a little early in her excitement to jump in PaPa's lap!The Breed Family (their family of 5) stayed with us for 5 days. They were in from North Carolina. It was crazy but great. They are so important to us and we are super grateful to have seen them twice this year!

Christmas eve we spent the day celebrating my brother Jason's birthday! It was a super fun party planned by Aunt Shannon here in Bryan College Station. It was super fun and very yummy! Then we spent the night at MiMi and PaPa's and celebrated Christmas the next day. And we just returned from New Braunfels visiting Brian's family. We had a relaxing time and we took some pics...just not with my camera :(...if/when I get some of those I will show ya! For now we are home and enjoying the rest of the holidays!

Glad Days...

2010-12-10T20:36:00.000-08:00

There has been a ton going on in our lives...like all of you! So I thought I would do a quick picture update...some with our not so good camera...but whatever :)

The cutie sisters by the tree!

Kiva cracks us up throughout the day...seriously, the girl is funny!

Jada had her first trip to the dentist...it is the same dentist that I used to work for (way back!) She did great! Her teeth look good too :) whew!

Jada's school group (aka: some of our friends) went to Lights of Texas at Camp Tejas...it was incredible!!! Hay rides, a light show, bouncy things to play on, kettle corn, hot chocolate...etc.

Jada and her friends played on the bouncy things with no reserve...it was so fun! I had to include her friend Ainsley in this b/c seriously, look at the joy on these girls' faces!

I got to take some pics of my favorite twins...Blaine and Suzanna! They are getting way to old! I had a blast with them...even though they are getting closer and closer to my height. I used to baby-sit them when the were 2 1/2 and got to be with them a lot for the years to follow. I am so thankful they are still a part of our lives!

Jada is a super detailed girl and she got a new puzzle of the US states and did it all by herself...way to go Jada!

More later...have a great weekend!

Some news for ya!

2010-12-05T18:11:00.001-08:00

Recently I have had this strange aversion to fruit. I love fruit...but I just can't even take a bite of a small piece of fruit without getting this yucky feeling! And last Friday night I went to sleep at 7:30 pm and woke up at 7:00am and still felt a little tired. And then there have been about 7 or 8 different people that have had dreams, scriptures or the Lord simply bombarded their thoughts with this really cool fact...and all of it comes down to this.....

WE ARE EXPECTING BABY LEE #3!!!!!...and we couldn't be more thankful!

So, here is the story. About a month ago a friend of ours who has a history of having "words of knowledge" or is prophetically gifted or to put it in a simple way...she just knows things sometimes and it has historically been right. ANYWAY...this friend or ours said that when she saw me that night she felt like the Lord spoke "Pregnant." She asked me minutes later and of course, I didn't know yet, so I just responded with "That would be awesome! We'll see!" That same evening a close friend of mine emailed me from out of the blue and said she was just thinking that I might have some baby news for her. Earlier that month another close friend of mine had a dream that I was huge and pregnant and in the hospital about to deliver another baby. Later on in the month my mom had two dreams that she felt like were about me being pregnant. At Thanksgiving my sister-in-law said she felt the same thing that she felt before we knew we were pregnant with Jada and Kiva. Last weekend a close friend of ours in our small group was reading the bible and felt like Isaiah 43:5-7 was for us and our children. Even a sweet lady that loves the Lord who is the chef at HEB (who happened to know we were pregnant with Kiva before I did) told me last time I saw her that we better get ready to have some babies back to back. Other close friends of ours throughout the month of November said that they truly felt like we were going to have another baby soon. About 3 weeks ago, Jada said that Mommy is going to have a baby boy in her tummy soon. (we'll see about the boy?!) but she was right on about the baby!

So, when Brian and I found out that we were indeed pregnant...it was as though we were already informed of that. The Lord had spoken to us through His people and through His word and it was beautiful! We have never experienced anything quite like this before. So many different people, so many different ways the Lord was communicating. Isn't it wonderful to know that JESUS IS ALIVE and loves to show His supernatural power in personal ways?! I am so grateful.

And as for this precious little person growing now...what promises await him/her! This baby is already marked with the power and presence of God in unique ways on earth. And as the Lord knits together all of this baby's precious parts, I can't help but to be expectant in fresh ways and free to believe God for His plans. There have been little moments of fear creeping up and the Lord has been so kind to help me draw near and lean on Him in those times (I write this with tears of gratitude)...and check out what Is.43:5-7 says:

Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west. I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth— everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”

Wasn't it so kind of the Lord to give our friend this verse before we even knew we were pregnant??? I am thoroughly convinced more than ever that we are a part of the beautiful body of Christ that has members that comfort, unite, prophesy, dream, pray, support, serve and hope in ways that make all of our days better! THANK YOU! Maybe this will be a boy or maybe it will add to the sisters in our house! Either way...yay!!! And Jada and Kiva will be sharing a room this time next year. That thrills Brian and me. And so it looks like August 9th is the due date so far...of course we will keep you posted! But for now, we would love your prayers for this little one.

confessions of jada and kiva's mom...

2010-11-21T19:38:00.000-08:00

Number One- on our way home from church tonight we went through the wendy's drive through to give the girls some chicken nuggets for dinner...while I was there I ordered a chocolate cookie dough twisted frosty. And then I ate half of it. I could smell the sugar...and it was spectacular.

Number Two- I like to shop at TJ Maxx and Ross. I feel like when I conquer one of those stores and find something for a great deal that I should win some sort of prize along with my purchase...I always feel like, Yes...I won.

Number Three- I have stubbornly resisted being like my mom in some ways...and one of them is curling my hair or curling Jada's hair. My mom always had my hair curled and looking very symmetrically perfect. Something in me rebelled along the way and I just let my hair do it's thing. Well, last week we put Jada's hair in sponge rollers after her bath. She was so excited. I wasn't sure she was going to actually go through the night wearing them...but she did! And when she woke up she was so excited for the reveal. I have to say that her hair looked fabulous. Ok...so this time my mom may have been right :) It started off super curly and fell throughout the day, which was perfect because we had our family pics taken that afternoon and check out her rockin hair and my friend Shauna's stellar pic. I will share more of these pics another time. For now...just focus on the hair.

first thing in the morning before school

And with all of this talk about Jada's hair...I thought I would include a cutie pic of Kiva sporting her new look with a headband and bow...that blonde hair is coming in slowly but surely!! And of course Kiva working the camera striking her pose for Shauna :)

Good Gifts...

2010-11-20T22:39:00.000-08:00

I have been struck with what GOOD GIFTS Brian, Jada and Kiva are to me. No really. There are have been so many moments where I literally think "I hope I never forget this." Tonight was one of them...
Before rest time today, I told Jada that if she sleeps we could lay on our driveway and look at the stars late tonight. She slept... I was excited for the night and so was she.

So, we had some of our amazing friends over for dinner and when they left Jada immediately wanted to get our blankets, suckers (dum-dums) and head out the door. Brian, Jada and I proceeded to lay on the driveway and look at the stars. The scene was more precious to my heart than I can express. The three of us were laying on a small blanket finding shapes in the clouds, looking at how bright the moon was, searching for stars behind the clouds, telling animal stories and all the while enjoying our dum-dums. There was sweet silence joined with a sweet 4 year old voice filled with excitement and wonder...and it was wonderful. It was simple and magnificent. I didn't want the night to end.

And unless Jesus comes back soon, I am struck with the reality of generations that will come after me that will gaze at the very same stars...Jada's grandchildren...So Lord, help me never to be too busy to be still and gaze into the night sky with the precious ones that I love and may the following generations know you more deeply and honor you more gladly as they lay under the night sky.

5 steps and biggest loser

2010-11-11T21:05:00.001-08:00

A very brief update...KIVA TOOK 5 STEPS TODAY!!! She is so proud. Jada is so proud. It is so fun.

And I heart Biggest Loser! Seriously. I have cut out sugar almost completely from my diet for a while b/c of them. I didn't know I would feel so good. So much more to share...but I am sleepy.

our flower girl's weekend..

2010-10-30T06:57:00.001-07:00

Warning...lots of really poor quality photos...I left my good camera at home :(...but it was a great weekend. Brian, Jada and I headed to Waco for Kristen and Carlos' wedding! Brian was the officiant and Jada was one of the flower girls! And lots of our sweet friends were a part of the wedding. They are such a precious couple and we were truly honored to celebrate them! And Jada had a blast having some alone time with Mommy and Daddy too...we really enjoyed her. She LOVED the hotel...Jada would look for our room number and was in charge of the key every time. It was so sweet. So here goes a plethora of bad quality photos of a ton of sweet memories!

Jada and Sophie at rehearsal

All the girls playing ring around the rosies of course

Jada's picture that she loved...she took it while the rehearsal was going on :)

Jada and Kellie

Jada loving some Kellie/Bernie attention and love...The Big Day...My handsome hubby and the Handsome groom, Carlos!

All three flower girls and Jada's fake smile :)
Jada holding Kristen's flowers (she thought it was a big deal!)
Jada and Daddy
So sweet...Kristen seriously was BEAUTIFUL oh my goodness!!! I took her bridals and they are on my website if you want to see some more of this beautiful bride
Jada and Bern!!
The reception was so great...they had face painting and glow sticks for the kids!
While we were in Waco we visited the Cole's at the farm! David took us on a little farm tour which was so great. Here is Jada talking to baby Asha...Our walk on the farm

Turkeys...that will not be there in a month...
Jada loves animals and totally loved the Goats...
And this goat really loved Brian. He kept walking by and rubbing up against his leg...hilarious!
BunniesAnd possibly Jada's favorite part...picking Spaghetti squash...

she needed a little help
oh so proud!so last night for dinner after 45 minutes in the oven...

YUMMY!

Kiva Bear is ONE!

2010-10-28T21:49:00.000-07:00

This is how our day started out...who couldn't be happy about the day with this face??? Now let me go back and tell you about the ways we were able to celebrate...and a few other fun things at the end...

We had a birthday party for Kiva on Sunday...it was super sweet and fun...Grammy, Grumpy, Aunt Dawn, and Madyson...Uncle Jason and Aunt Shannon and MiMi and PaPa were all there for the fun

MiMi made teddy bear cookies for our Kiva BearKiva and Uncle Jason

MiMi made a special cake for Kiva!
Aunt Ashley was there...which makes Kiva super happy!
And what's a one year old party without a picture of a belly hangin out with only one shoe on?
Kiva LOVES it when Brian tosses her in the air...squeels for sure!
I totally expected Kiva to dive into the cake...but the icing was a bit to sticky or intriguing!
One of Kiva's favorite gifts...a book about belly buttons...she LOVED it
a proud daddy...
after Kiva's party we had her dedication at church...these are the wonderful family and friends that joined us along with our church body as we prayed and blessed her. (Aunt Aubrey was there too...but she wasn't there yet for the pic!) It was a sweet time for sure. Aunt Ashley played Kiva's song that she wrote while I was pregnant with her and Thad spoke a blessing over her while the church body prayed that she would love Jesus with all of her life.Fast forward to Wednesday now...this was Kiva's last car ride facing the back!

Kiva's last ride was to family night for our small group...we met at the Fogle's house. Interesting and fun fact...my friend Anne and Kiva have the same birthday!!! And another friend of mine had her daughter, Izzy, exactly one week before Kiva...so of course we had to celebrate all of the girls' birthdays!

and of course Jada and Sophie enjoying a cupcake!...or maybe just the icing?
And this was first thing this morning!!!...We all took Daddy to work so we could all enjoy Kiva's first car ride facing the front...it was super fun!
Play by play...Daddy putting Kiva in the car for the first time facing the front...what's that...a dvd??

Oh my goodness this is the most exciting thing in the world!Kiva proceeded to kick and squeel the entire ride...literally...she could hardly contain herself! I wish I would have taken a picture of her when she saw MiMi and when MiMi gave her a new doll...another elated moment!

We were able to meet my dad for lunch...it was a good time to reconnect...and this picture is Kiva reaching for a nugget...seriously...she ate 8! The girl loves meat!

And the only appropriate way to end the day was celebrating my friend Anne at a murder mystery party...she and her husband looking hot in their 80's look! Love you, Anne :)

So now back up even further...last Saturday Aubrey, Ashley, my mom and I drove to Houston to celebrate AUNT SHANNON'S BIRTHDAY!!! It was a super fun birthday party...we were taught how to paint a picture starting from scratch...we were quite impressive indeed...but prepare yourselves for the picture that we painted :)

So here's my mom, Aunt Shan and Me before the painting fun began...

Mi Madre and Me

Aww...Ash and Aub!!!...Is this our first picture with the three of us?And our artwork!!!...on our drive down to Houston we were all talking in the car about which one of us will have the worst paintings...and hands down Ashley took that prize :) Check out the legs on her lady! I am laughing just typing this...looking at her painting never disappoints for a good laugh! I mean...isn't it a normal thing to paint bottoms?! Funny.

And the whole group...we love you Shannon and were honored to celebrate you...So at almost 1:00 am...I am done blogging and will start the day fresh tomorrow as we celebrate Kristen and Carlos as they get hitched! Can't wait!

On the eve of Kiv...

2010-10-27T19:06:00.001-07:00

This time last year, I had no idea how my eyes would fill with tears listening to Kiva's sweet humms as she falls asleep, or how I would giggle over and over every single day as Kiva's laugh shakes her whole body (especially her pop belly!), or how she affectionately answers to Kiva Bear with a shoulder shrug and a grin, or how much sweeter the spirit in our house is with her playful personality, or even how the beautiful sight of Kiva jumping at the sound of the door opening when Daddy comes home...Not to mention how precious the sight of Jada helping Kiva by bringing her baby to her, or feeding Kiva, or reaching something that is out of reach so that Kiva is happy. I had no idea how my life would be better, our marriage better, our home better, our hearts better, our family better...Kiva just makes everything better. I had hoped for many things when I hoped for Kiva...but there are just some things I would not have known to hope for...Kiva has far exceeded all of my expectations of another daughter. This time last year was the eve of Kiv~ and all the beauty that she brings... I cannot wait to celebrate her tomorrow!~

A very broad update!...

2010-10-26T20:44:00.000-07:00

There are lots and lots of things that have been going on in our world over here! So...I am planning to give you a broad overview of the fun we've been having. A couple of fun facts:

Kiva turns ONE this Thursday!!! We celebrated with a party in the park this past weekend and we were able to dedicate her to the Lord with our church...I can't believe how time has absolutely flown by...I will post those pics on her big day...
The girls and I took some pics in the pumpkin patch by our friend Kristen...it was a fun time
We have new neighbors! I have been meaning to blog about this for a while...our neighbors are JARED AND RISA!!! We are just so excited! They just moved in about a month ago and we are thrilled to get into the groove with them with intentional community life...we are already close with them so now we just get to live in this new way!!
As you know, Kiva loves her baby...and here she is putting her baby to bed...my grandad made this crib...so fun!
Jada has never really been into babies like Kiva...she has always loved animals more! For example...while Kiva was playing with her baby Jada decided the piggy bank was her baby for the day!
Jada is seriously a good artist for just turning four...she has been drawing really great hearts...here is one :)
I got Kiva this onesie for my sister-in-law, Shannon's, birthday...too fun. I also think it is for Aunt Dawn too :) I just love her joy in this photo!
I had the chance to speak at a couple of different ladies things lately. This past Thursday I had the chance to speak at an event called "Roots." It was a really sweet time with ladies from high school age to grandma age. It was a truly beautiful representation of generations among women. I got to talk about mentoring and discipleship...but I didn't talk about that. Really what I talked about was Mothers and Daughters. It is a subject that is so dear to my heart for so many reasons. I could share all sorts of fun stuff about it, but I will share an experience that I had before I spoke...I had been preparing and feeling the weight of carrying the women that I would be speaking to around with me...you know that feeling of really wanting to share God's heart with them. So, I had a chance to go out to Mia's grave while I was alone preparing for the night. It was a sweet reminder of releasing "daughters" (aka: girls) to Jesus. My mom brought some balloons over earlier in the week and I was able to release them as a representation of releasing the women to the Lord. I loved watching the balloons float away as I cried in hope of what God wanted to do that evening. The day before I took some pics of Jada with the balloons...I am glad I did. Here are some fun ones!
I will post more on Kiva's birthday...Lord willing :)

Kiva's Baby

2010-10-14T17:12:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Kiva, Jada and I were out running errands. While we were in the toy section Kiva pointed to a baby on the shelf. I thought it would be harmless to let her hold it in the basket since she "holds" things in the basket for me all the time. Well...she definitely owned that baby the moment her hands were on it! So...of course, I buy it.
I have NEVER seen anything like this...Kiva LOVES her baby. Seriously. She holds her and hugs her and pats her back and puts her on a blankie. She even tries to share her food with her as seen in these pics. It is so sweet. The baby goes with Kiva as she crawls and eats and sleeps. If she is not near Kiva for a moment and I ask her "Where's your baby?" She will make a squeeling noise, look for her, and crawl to get her as fast as she can. This is one of those toys that is just Kiva's...Jada doesn't get to share it. Jada is fine with that...but Kiva will make sure and let Jada know if by chance Jada picks her baby up. SO funny! I love this new baby thing. Brian and I both think this might be the sweetest thing yet!

thinking on...

2010-10-12T12:58:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking a lot about all sorts of things. It has been good and challenging and tiring and good some more :) I think the Lord is asking me to Simplify. I am glad about that. But, this so happens to be a season where I feel really busy. More than normal. I have been asked to speak at different things lately. One of those is next Thursday night (say a little prayer for me :)) and I am speaking about community among women. I have been feeling awkward and a little insecure in regards to some of these "ministry" things. I like being at home with the girls and our community of friends. But, I am thankful for these opportunities with other women for sure. Anyway...I was reading a book in preparation and stumbled on this quote. I thought I would share it with you. It was encouraging to me and thought it might be to you too...

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine like children do. We were born to make manifest the GLORY OF GOD that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others." from a Lisa Bevere book.

So...let God's work in us shine today to make Him famous in the world we are in...sound good?

Is that....? How long have you had that? What does it say?

2010-10-07T07:36:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time comin'...this blog, I mean. I was debating at the beginning if I should write a blog about it, but now I think the time has come...so here goes!

This past weekend we remembered our sweet Mia. 2 years ago is when she went to be with Jesus and we have missed her every day since. It was a good time that our family spent at her grave. We released 4 pink balloons (for each one of us), Brian read his letter from her funeral and our sweet friends brought flowers, painted a beautiful fountain canvas, made a handkerchief, and did some super precious scripture stuff to honor her and remember her. My mom and Mike brought a sweet wind chime as well. It was a good time of that strange tension of loving every minute that I have with my family here and wishing Jesus would come back right then because death still effects us. So...in light of this weekend, I thought it was an appropriate time to share about this news... I have a tattoo on each wrist! One of them is white and the other is light blue and black. Here are their stories:

I got the white one first.

...you can hardly see it, but it reads "hope." It is written on my wrist in the place where I could see it when I hold babies. Brian and I went and got this on my wrist about a month after we lost Mia. I wanted it to look like a scar of hope. It does. And I am so grateful that during that time of great loss, I was able to hope because of Christ...He really defeated death once and for all and gave me a reason to HOPE. And throughout my pregnancy with Kiva I enjoyed this tattoo a lot and I just plain like it :) And something else that is super special to me... My mom and my sister in law got a white tattoo shortly after. I love that we have that in common! It means even more that way.

Now for the darker tattoo:

It says "talitha" with a little blue bird.

The word Talitha is taken from Mark 5:41 "Taking the child by the hand, He said to her, "Talitha kum!" (which translated means, "Little girl, I say to you, get up!"). Immediately the girl got up..." Other translations say Daughter in the place of little girl. You get the word's definition right? The origin is believed to be Aramaic. Jesus said it.

And the blue bird...to me it is a symbol of life and freedom. Many places a blue bird symbolizes satisfaction, joy and fullness of life.

Now that you have the facts, here is the story behind the Talitha and Bluebird tat :) It is a rather deep and emotional story...just a warning. Shortly after we lost Mia I was sitting at the cemetery weeping over having lost my daughter. I was listening to the Jason Upton song that says "Come up here, come up now...my beloved, my beloved." I was listening to it in a fresh way as though Jesus said those words to precious Mia in my womb...I knew He loved her dearly and had called for her to come be with Him. It was one of those super emotional weepy moments. It was good. Anyway, I said to the Lord outloud "Why did you have to take my daughter? There are lots of daughters, why mine?"... and it was as if the Lord answered me right back "this is what you are created for...to bring daughters to me." Immediately, I knew that the meaning behind this was to spiritually bring him women, young women, and old women and little girls...HIS daughters...daughters that He wants to live with Him forever...to lead them, to guide them, to show them who Jesus is. I knew this was real and I began weeping more and through my tears I said "OK...I will." It was a terrible/beautiful moment mixed with grief, vision and purpose.

So...do you get the word TALITHA in that? Little girl or daughter. It is part of me now. Evidently this is true with Jada and Kiva and any other daughters we may have. But also I have had this in the forefront of my mind every time I am asked to speak anywhere...to college students, moms, women, small group, each girl/woman that walks into my home...etc. I want to be an arrow to Jesus. ALSO...it has given me much rest AS HIS DAUGHTER...safely resting in His love for me and His really good sovereign plan for all of my days.

The bluebird...when I was pregnant with Mia (her full name Mia Carolyn...meant "who is like the Lord...the FREE one." I would often say "I think she is going to teach me to be free." That is why the bluebird is there...and this weekend I realized once again that Mia has taught me to be free in so many ways already. Praise Jesus.

And another sweet thing is that the actual tattoo is in Lucretia's handwriting (an older woman/friend who has shown me what it looks like to be a daughter of the Lord in beautiful ways.) And Ashley B. found the pic of the bluebird for me (a beautiful example of a younger woman who has faithfully looked to Jesus as a trusting daughter.)

So...now if you see me you don't have to wonder what that is, what it says or think "oh my goodness is that a tattoo under her watch???" Yes, it is...and now you know why it means a lot to me :) Feel free to talk about it or ask about it anytime!

Onto some other news...the mouse came back...SICK. It was just so frustrating to me. So, last night after our small group meeting Brian, Will and Eli set up 10...count-em TEN mouse traps to catch this pest.

Some serious amo huh?

This is the team of mean, strong, mice fighting fellas...don't they look tough...if I were a mouse, I would be afraid!

I mean...if you've ever wondered what super-hero muscles look like...now you know!
Moral of the story...there was a snap that was heard in our home around 1 am...see ya mousie! YAY for Brian, Eli and Will!

com-group family fun and a super-hero!

2010-09-30T21:01:00.001-07:00

We had a com-group family fun night last night. It was super fun. Decorating pumpkins, football, dress up, pizza, worship that included Jada and Sophie dancing beautifully, 3 games of settlers and some sweet time on the porch over green tea and tiki torches :) Good times.

and a couple of weeks ago we had a visitor...a mouse! A terrible-yucky-horrible mouse. Sparing you the very long story of how these pics came to be..."Uncle Will" was a hero and cleaned out the fireplace of all sorts of ashy gross stuff which inevitably led to the mouse's departure! These pics were taken around midnight...while Aubrey and I sat with our feet up on the chairs squeeling. He deserved way more than a blog "shout out" for this super-hero like action. Thanks, Will!

a bit of an update...& prepare for girlie-ness

2010-09-30T19:16:00.000-07:00

just some fun with a mirror...my favorite days are stay at home days!

Look at that sweet Kiva-Bear face!

and a puppet show with a barking puppy!

good times at Jada's school roller skating party...photo booth pics!!

jada's first attempt at skating...so fun!

as promised...jada's party pics. It was a sweet small group of girls that Jada dances and goes to school with, and of course cousin Madyson. Kat Phinney, a precious friend of ours, dressed in her butterfly dance costume from last year and made an appearance as "queen butterfly"...seriously, it was so sweet. I was teary watching the scene. She gave them butterfly wings, fluttered around and showed them how to fly, taught them a precious little song about how only God in heaven can make a butterfly and then had to go back to her castle. One of the funniest things was that Kat went inside, got dressed in normal clothes, came back to the party and the girls didn't recognize her :) Isn't a 4 year old imagination wonderful?

and Aunt Shannon was a 4 year old birthday party super star! She made these incredible cupcakes..seriously, she made them and created them and designed them and they were not only beautiful, but they were super yummy! And during the party she painted all of the little butterflies' faces (and MiMi's of course!) It was too fun.
it was pretty hot...can you tell?and Mazie (MiMi and PaPa's dog) even made an appearance at the butterfly party
Brian's Mom gave him an ice cream maker and so we all had home-made ice cream after the party was over! Needless to say, Kiva loved it :)
Kiva noticing Jada has some ice cream left...
and Jada was so nice to share...a HUGE mouthful!
dance started for Jada and I am not teaching this year (just subbing when needed :)) and Aunt Suzanne gets to be her teacher. Jada loves it!

our 4 year old and one week!

2010-09-26T21:38:00.000-07:00

I have decided that if I had the power to freeze time, I just might do it! Our sweet Jada bug turned 4 last Sunday and Kiva will turn 1 in a little over a month! We celebrated Jada with some close friends and family...photos of our celebration to come. BUT...here are her 4 year old photos. She just looks so grown up! I will try and post some celebration pics soon!

a sweet prayer followed by none other than...

2010-09-14T21:02:00.000-07:00

Me (Steph)- "my tummy hurts a little"

Jada- "do you want me to pray for your tummy"

Me- "yes please, that would be great"

Jada- "ok, I will, but after I pray for your tummy I need to do the hula dance"

Me- "of course" (meanwhile thinking, how does she know about the hula dance?)

Jada- "God, please heal mommy's tummy and make it feel better, in Jesus name, Amen" followed by a very calculated absolutely correct hula dance complete with wave like arms and a slow turn including large hip motions

Me- crying in laughter and still laughing now.

the only response...joy

2010-09-11T20:21:00.000-07:00

I have wept tonight over two friends who have precious children with unknown stuff going on and the anticipation of the "what is going on?" and the plea of "LORD HEAL." I am broken for them, yet hopeful, expectant and will continue to pray in belief that God will rescue and write beautiful stories of redemption and grace. I recently read through some of my journals from this time last year and I was honestly blown away by God's utter faithfulness in not only answering my deepest cries and prayers...but He actually far exceeded what I had asked for. This has served to spur me on in my faith to believe God MORE. He is truly moved by our faith. I could list the many scriptures that I have been pouring over and really questioning my own heart on this...why don't I ask for more. Why don't we believe God more? I don't know. But I want to. I love Him and he has been nothing but amazing to me. So...Please God, I believe...help my unbelief!

My friend, Kari, gave me a gift when she came to visit. A book called "A Gospel Primer for Christians" by Milton Vincent. It has been so so so so so so so so good. Order it if you can! Anyway, it has been a daily reminder for me of the truth of the power of the Gospel in my life. One of the sweetest parts for me has been that the Spirit of God has quickened things that He has already placed in my heart and brought them to the forefront of my thoughts through these short chapters. It is as if words are written to the things that I have been thinking about over different seasons of my life. One small part has stood out to me in a unique way. I hope it encourages you to worship and overflow with gratitude towards Christ as you read it and may your life be marked with joy.- Quoted from Milton Vincent:

"Viewing life's blessings as water in a drinking cup, I know that I could discontentedly focus on the half of the cup that seems empty, or I could gratefully focus on the half that is full. Certainly, the latter is the better of the two, yet the Gospel cultivates in me a richer gratitude than this.

The Gospel reminds me first that what I actually deserve from God is a full cup churning with the torments of his wrath. This is the cup that would be mine to drink if I were given what I deserve each day. With this understanding in mind, I see that to be handed a completely empty cup from God would be cause enough for infinite gratitude. If there were merely the tiniest drop of blessing contained in that otherwise empty cup, I should be blown away by the unbelievable kindness of God toward me. That God, in fact, has given me a cup that is full of "every spiritual blessing in Christ," and this without the slightest admixture of wrath, leaves me truly dumbfounded with inexpressible joy. As for my specific earthy circumstances of plenty or want, I can see them always as infinite improvements on the hell I deserve.

When I look at any circumstance that God apportions me, I am first grateful for the wrath I am not receiving in that moment (The empty part of the cup never looked so good!). Second, I am grateful for the blessings that are given to me instead of His wrath. (Life's blessings, however small, always appear exceedingly precious when viewed against the backdrop of the wrath I deserve.) This two-layered gratitude disposes my heart to give thanks in all things and it also lends a certain intensity to my giving of thanks. Such a gospel-generated gratitude glorifies God, contributes to peace of mind, and keeps my foot from the path of foolishness and ruin."

precious songs to stir your hearts

2010-09-03T22:16:00.000-07:00

there are no words...

the Art of Play

2010-08-31T12:05:00.001-07:00

A wise woman once told me that there is an art to playing and that there are some people that never learn how. WHAT? I thought that everyone knew how to play. I think part of my mis-understanding is that we are surrounded by SO SO many people that are just plain good at playing. Other parents, college students, newly married folks, many adults...they know how to join in with pretend play and engage children in really fun ways. I think about this 'art' almost every day. I want to be good at playing with the girls. Good at jumping into their world and talking with them about all sorts of things and for sure pretending to be "Princess Mommy Belle" at various times throughout the day. I enjoy being with them...though exhausting at times...I really really love that I get to be a mom. I want to do it well.

And so it begins here in the Lee Home...we are beginning a journey of schooling that requires a lot from me...playing, planning, teaching and flexing. Yep...we are starting to home school Jada this year as a part of a school called "Classical Conversations". We think that homeschooling is the only way that Christians should educate their children....KIDDING. Seriously, there seems to be so so many strong opinions about schooling in many circles. We really think that there is absolutely no right or wrong way. I think Jesus knows our kids so well and knows what they need...and we, as their parents, get to seek God's direction for them. We really just feel peaceful that this is the route for us, so here we go! We will continue to re-evaluate as the girls grow up and hold our hands open to the Holy Spirit's direction. Many people in our community are a part of "Classical Conversations" and it is exciting to think about our children growing up together in this way. At Jada's age, almost 4, the year's goals are writing, reading and calculus. Kidding about the calculus. So far we have begun the "Handwriting Without Tears" part of her learning. These are some pics from her first time with the wood pieces...she is like a little sponge, I love watching her little mind work wonders as she creates. I showed her how to create her name with the wooden pieces and she is a pro at that already. So fun. And of course she created a little person named Kiva too.

As we move forward in our home schooling ventures, I will keep you updated. She begins tomorrow with her class that is once a week. It should be fun. My friend, Amy, is the director of the school and has done a fabulous job getting it started...and it is fun to get Jada started in the school's beginning. Here is Jada at the orientation day.How is Kiva? Well, she is quite the bruiser lately. She has been pulling up...and what goes up must come down...which has left her with many little marks on her sweet little body to prove it. But how precious is this little proud girl?

your love is in the little things

2010-08-21T16:44:00.000-07:00

The title is a little board book I have read to Jada and now to Kiva. This has resounded to me over the past week. I have literally felt the Lord's love towards me in the "little things" and I have recognized how much the Lord wants me to love Him and others in the "little things."

So, a little background: Brian and I have been learning a lot about each other and our marriage over the past month and a half or so....more than usual I should say. It all comes down to the garden. Yep. Way back then. You see, Brian and I have been married for 8 1/2 wonderful years. We've known each other for 12 years. We have admittedly had a really GREAT partnership. I love him so much. He loves me too. We know that. We are glad about that. BUT our marriage is not at it's best yet.

We have recently recognized that Brian RESPECTS me a whole lot in his actions towards me...and I LOVE Brian a whole lot in my actions towards him. Sounds good until we step back and see that we are giving what we want to receive the most. Make sense? So, back to the garden...Brian should be the loving boss of me and I should be the respectful helper to him. We have known that we want to live in this since before marriage...and in many ways we have...but there are ways that the Lord is pointing out that He wants us to grow in!

All this to say, we have been learning how to love each other in the little things. Redefining our roles in daily things. It is good.

On another topic: I have been reading a book called "Relentless Generational Blessing" by Arthur Burk. ALL OF YOU SHOULD READ IT! Seriously. But more than that, my world has totally been rocked in so many ways. He unpacks the scriptures in beautiful ways and the Lord has used this book to stir my soul in a fresh way towards Him, towards loving Christ in a fresh way, towards Holiness, and towards investing in our children in eternal ways that I just didn't know possible! So...check it out!

And no blog post would be complete without a new pic of the girls :) Matching shirts...

I really really enjoy these people!

2010-08-20T20:33:00.001-07:00

I have stopped everything. Well, what I mean is I have been intentionally staying home with the girls and just enjoying them without anyone else. It has been needed. It is like I have stopped spinning and my feet have landed! So, I have been able to really enjoy the girls without something that I "have" to get ready for or somewhere to go. And wow, I just really really like my girls! They are both so fun! There have been so many sweet moments in the past few days...they are really interacting sweetly together (of course with some training moments throughout our days:). Jada really serves Kiva in some sweet sister ways and Kiva absolutely LOVES her big sis. They are fun to watch together. Here is a scene that has happened a few times...

Jada is laying down reading or playing something

Kiva crawls over to Jada

She crawls right over to Jada's face and then releases herself to her tummy

....they butt heads!

Jada cries as though she has been seriously wounded

Kiva smiles...and even chuckles.

Oh my...these girls are so funny and oh so different. I really love how different they already are. They are both teaching me a lot about myself.

Anyway, the light was coming in Kiva's window beautifully today and I caught some super fun pics of her.

a little blurry but I loved Jada's sweet face in this one...she enjoys Kiva so much!

And as promised...some photos from our fun with all sorts of people. Unfortunately I got behind on our blog so I am not going to write about all that we were able to experience during out time with our family and friends...but here are some photos! We will start with some fun one's from the Lee's

Some Grammy love :)

that's right folks...THE Big Red Car from the Wiggles!
They went to Fiesta Texas and Jada had a blast!
Jada and Cousin Madyson The Burdettes Kiddos during snack time

The Breed Kiddos and ours! What a crew!

where is everybody?

2010-08-14T17:13:00.001-07:00

Tonight as I was bathing Kiva, Jada asked "where is everybody?" Brian and I laughed out loud and Brian said "so telling." We have been spinning a bit...lots of traveling and house guests/friends and not much simple family time. We enjoy it all...but it is nice to be just us tonight. Really nice. Pictures of the "spinning" fun that we've been having to come! For now...ahhhh, a quiet house!

a doodle doo...

2010-08-02T17:45:00.000-07:00

No kidding, this is what was on our front porch this morning

this was the rooster walking back to his home...

and this was him posing for the camera one last time I guess

For some of you that live on lots of land or on a farm, this may not be a strange thing...but we live in a subdivision....a neighborhood with dogs and cats and hermit crabs...not roosters!

We have some new neighbors that are great...but they definitely have this rooster that is usually in their backyard. We know this because we hear him "cock-a-doodle-doing" in the back yard every morning. We don't really mind, our bedroom is on the other side of the house, but surely the neighbors that live behind them mind quite a bit. Not sure if someone has called our HOA yet, but we won't...we think it is kinda funny. And besides that Jada said tonight, and I quote, "wasn't that rooster just adorable?"

one knee...one hand...almost!

2010-07-31T19:15:00.000-07:00

Kiva is 9 months old!!! And she is just so close to crawling...today she crawled once...meaning one knee and one hand and then flopped onto her belly and did the good arch stretch. Crawling is just around the corner for this household! And we have had an enjoyable last week being home...I love Brian being home from work for the summer! It is such a gift! So, here are some fun pics of some of the fun we've been having!

at the children's museum

painting the car at the museum

Jada and Piper at the children's museum playing dress up

Kiva is really good at looking at the camera and smiling...which has been fun!
Daddy took this one...I like it.My mom reconnected with our neighbor when I was 18 months old until 4th grade...Gayla. It has been fun to catch up with her...thanks to facebook :)

Right now the Hollands are here visiting...we love them...proof, when they were almost here Jada went and got one of her chairs and looked out the window saying "Faith, Jacob...Faith, Jacob..." over and over in a sing-song style. She was giddy when they arrived.

And a little movie before bed time last night. Tonight, the three oldest are having a 'sleepover' in Jada's room...and are sleeping soundly. Precious.

Some Jada Quotes over the past 24 hours...

2010-07-29T17:22:00.000-07:00

You are such a gift to me daddy.”

“You are the best daddy in the whole wide world.”

“I love you the most as you love me.”
“You are so fun to me daddy.”

“You’re the greatest.”

“How did God make you so hansom?”

When asked, “why are you saying all these sweet things to me?” She replied
“Because I love you.”& “Because I am a nice girl”

"Mommy, You are a gift to me."
"You are a great great mommy in the whole world."

Really precious thoughts from our sweet sweet 3 1/2 year old...and we agree, she is a nice girl! We love her a lot too :)

Answered prayer!

2010-07-25T20:32:00.000-07:00

As we were having dinner with some friends, we realized that we really needed to document the ways the Lord has been answering our prayers in regards to Jada...so here goes!

Last spring, Jada was really sick all of the sudden. She was throwing up and screaming in pain. It was scary. We took her to one of the smaller emergency rooms in the area since our regular family doc was out of town. When we arrived, it was so so sad. She was really hurting and about every two minutes she would scream out in pain and had some bouts of vomiting. The docs could not identify the cause and told us that it would probably keep going and spread to Kiva for days before it was all over. All of this happened to be on a Wednesday night (our regular small group meeting night) so they met at another place and really spent time praying, and really asking the Lord to relieve her from pain and heal her. They texted us when they were praying and no kidding, 10 minutes later she was pain free, laughing and wanting a happy meal :) WHAT? Seriously, it was done. And Kiva never got it. Our small group was so encouraged and so were we! Jada totally knows that God healed her.

Last week when we were on vacation with my family, we switched condos in the middle and I accidentally left Jada's special night light that is a moon and sun. By the way, this is one of the coolest things ever to train your children to stay in bed until the "sun" comes up. It is called the "Good Nite Lite" if you want to know about it :). ANYWAY...so the next day in our new condo we were trying to figure out how we could get this special night light back. We knocked on the door to the old condo in hopes that the new guests would just hand over the night light...however, no answer three different times. Jada cried, really grieved her night light, not like throwing a fit, but really sad and asked Brian to please pray that God would give the night light back to her. Precious prayer. SO of course we really wanted that for her....and Brian was fully prepared to get online and order another one soon. The next morning on our way to the pool, Brian knocked on the old condo door and the new guests handed over...you guessed it...Jada's night light!!! Jada was so thrilled and squealed and said God answered our prayers! She then was giddy with delight holding her sun/moon. About a minute later I asked "Are you so happy that God answered our prayers?" and she said "YES, and I think God is happy too." Amen.

And two nights ago Jada had this huge fever blister on her top lip. It looked like it really hurt, and anyone who knows Jada knows that she was letting us know with crying and being a bit overdramatic. She couldn't eat or drink easily and was truly in pain. That evening we were able to pray and Jada asked the Lord to heal her lip. The next morning Jada had her bowl of cereal in front of her morning sprout show while Brian, Kiva and I were in the kitchen. A couple of minutes later we hear Jada shout "My lip is healed!" "What did she say?"...we asked eachother. I said "I think she said that her lip pealed." So we asked again..."MY LIP IS HEALED!" She was right, it was gone.

She has seen God answer prayer in beautiful ways and so have we. Thank you Lord for building our faith through our children!

what day is it again?

2010-07-22T17:13:00.000-07:00

I really thought today was Monday...all day. I love that! I have taken off of work for two weeks now and we just returned from a family vacation with no phones and computers! Sigh...deep breath...and I am definitely on the computer in the moment trying to organize all of our pictures over the past few weeks. There are a whole lot of photos...prepare yourself!...

two sunsets...seriously beautiful view from our condo!

moody gardens...jada was inside a caterpillar cocoon!

penguins at moody gardens

jada loves mimi loves jada loves mimi...you get the point

some chill time at the condo

kiva bear with daddy getting ready for our moody gardens adventure

the following photos are from some of my favorite times during our trip. One morning Jada wanted to play dress up and dance...so we did. Jada and I danced while Kiva wore a tutu and watched with joy! Daddy had some fun too :)

Kiva is so close to crawling!

our jenga games got serious!

jada resting in our "cozy bed"

Jada is really becoming a good little swimmer

Kiva's first time in the sand and ocean was a success!

how precious is this!...little polka dot outfits...

too fun!

Uncle Jason and Aunt Shannon!

Kiva's room was our closet...and here is Jada feeding her teddy bear in the closet about to put her to bed :)fun times

family pic.kiva's first cupcake...we had a little celebration for Jada's friend Ella before we left for vacation..Kiva LOVED the rainbow cupcakes :)

Brian's cousin Sarah came and visited...Jada had a blast!

Brian's Aunt Jennifer also came in...it was fun

4th of July...Jada watching her first fireworks!

Can you just sense the delight from Kiva in the "fun basket"?...they both did great in HEB together!

God, You are Faithfulness!

2010-07-05T18:23:00.000-07:00

Tonight we began teaching Jada how to pray in a super intentional way. Over the last year, Jada has requested for us to pray for many things; her mosquito bites, for Kiva to grow big and strong, for orphans, for Daddy, etc. We saw that she valued prayer, but she always wants us to be the ones praying. She has said some prayers that have been precious...but most of the time she asks us to pray. I recently asked her why and she said that she doesn't know how. Hmmm....ok...so I found a little poster at an educational store here and I thought this would help Jada understand a little better. So, tonight, we started with her thumb :) ....which was "PRAISE GOD."
Brian, Jada and I talked about what it means to praise God; basically saying "God, you are..." We then applied it. Brian went first "God you are so big." Then I went "God you are so strong" Then Jada went "God you are faithfulness."....precious. Brian went again "God you are kind." My turn, "God you are loving." Jada ended with "God you are so nice to us." AMEN. I praise God for that! She kept holding up her thumb saying "PRAISE GOD."
So...we will go from there...a good place to start. The next is confess your sins...the pointer finger...weird. Anyway, I am glad for this tool to help us teach Jada how to pray. She is just entering into a totally new world of bigger kid that we need SO much help on. Praise God that He knows how to draw her to himself...we just need to ask for Him to help us lead her there. Thanks to you all for being a part of this process of parenting with us!!!

while you were out, jada's friend & our pretty kiva...

2010-07-03T17:44:00.000-07:00

This week Brian finished working at summer school!!! And Jada has really been enjoying play dates with her sweet friend Ella...they really play super well together. From about 10:30-after 5:00 they played together with ZERO meltodowns or moments when I had to step in...it was so easy and peaceful. So here's to a sweet little friendship! And of course some amazing princess crowns from craft time!
Brian took Jada to New Braunfels for a couple of nights while I stayed here, did some photo shoots and editing, took care of Kiva and surprised him with some new paint in our room :) (thanks ashley!!)

Jada and Brian had a blast...basketball for Brian and a sleepover with Aunt Dawn and Madyson, the chicken dance and much more. I am so glad they were able to make the trip. Hopefully I can get some pics from Aunt Dawn from their adventures! And I had some one on one time with Kiva that I totally enjoyed! She is just so cute and so so fun! That's it for now. Enjoy!

a day in the life & blue bell!

2010-06-29T19:29:00.001-07:00

Monday...a stay at home jammy day...so the inspiration of 'a day in the life'...some of the most precious moments a mom can ask for...and the life around us! I have been reminded lately of the "little things" that are truly some of the most precious moments of my life...the way our laundry piles up on the long green chair, the way our dogs lounge around the house, the way our sweet girls play in simple ways...I really love the gifts of our children and my days with them. So...lots of photos...I will really like looking back on these :)

sweet kiva in the bathtub

a photo in the mirrorjada dressed in her first costume of the day...painting her first page

Kiva loving the finger foodsBaxter's normal resting place

"mommy hermit crab"...the crab that seems to love it here :)

and good ol' Tali making sure everything is alright

a good cup of coffee and some scriptures

kiva really loves taking toys out of a basket or bin...she takes toys out one at a time and then sets it to the side and goes back for another. pretty cute :)

we played in these spots for almost an hour...it was sweetand notice the change in costume...now time for the purple tutu

nightly blessing book and bible reading...usually doesn't happen with both girls on Brian's lap...but it did in this moment
And today I got to meet up with a sweet high school friend of mine, Kellye Frazier...and her three boys. We went to the Blue Bell factory in Brenham. It was a great time to hang with our little people and eat yummy ice cream! It is always wonderful to be with her...always easy just like we never skipped a beat. Thanks for the idea, Kel, and we must do it again sooner than last time :)

Jada as a flower girl round 2!

2010-06-26T11:13:00.001-07:00

Jared and Risa's wedding was last weekend. We just love them and were so honored to be a part of it! It was fun catching up with old college friends as well. Brian was a groomsman and Jada was the flower girl. Jada said that "daddy was the prince" in his suit...it was really sweet. We truly were honored to be a part of Jared and Risa's wedding and we are especially excited to be a part of their lives as a married couple!~ Some photos from rehearsal and wedding day!

And a pretend video...

2010-06-17T20:31:00.000-07:00

A fun video of Jada playing some pretend princess stuff :) She is just so precious!

GiGi and Veggies!

2010-06-17T20:16:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we were able to visit my grandmother who Jada calls "GiGi"...

And our sweet Kiva LOVES veggies!!! Here is a pic of her chewing on a bell pepper! She loves cucumbers too. So fun.

here it is

2010-06-16T12:10:00.001-07:00

Officially our first random video! Thanks, Ash.

pics I keep forgetting to post :)

2010-06-15T11:17:00.000-07:00

These are some photos from Aubrey and Will's wedding :)

tremblings and indescribable gratitude

2010-06-14T19:25:00.000-07:00

Dear Jada and Kiva,
I am so glad that I get to mother you both. I really cannot tell you how thankful I am that mothering you two is part of why I have been created. Every day there are moments that I tear up at the awesome gifts that you are to me. Both of you demonstrate God's love to me in deep and very profound ways... just by being my daughters.

Jada, you are incredibly creative and meticulous. I love how you play pretend, how you sing as you play, how you tell knock knock jokes that totally don't make sense, how you trust me and daddy, how you listen to the details of every story, how you ask remarkably great questions, how you like to help, how you are gentle with your babies when you pretend to be the mommy, how almost everything you paint or draw becomes someones gift, how you say your "r's", how you give Kiva gentle kisses on her head throughout the day, how you laugh at really funny things, how quickly you learn scriptures, how you love to play your guitar, how you try to get away with only having snacks throughout the day, how you say "mommy", how you click your lips together when you are telling stories, and how you love to be thrown high in the air in sweet freedom.

Kiva, you are patient and and laid back. I love the way you follow me with your eyes in and out of every room. I love the way you yell when you think I walked a little too far away, and then I love the way your whole face lights up when I look at you. I love how you are feisty when you have had enough or when you are tired of being patient. I love the way you hum when you are happy, the way you look for Jada when you wake up from a nap, the way you giggle when you just see my hand heading towards your neck to tickle you, the way you already love to fly high in the air when daddy throws you, the way you open and close your little hands when you reach for me, the way you jump on anything and the way you have been an example to me of God's redemption.

Girls, I want to tell you that I don't know what I am doing. I really don't have a clue how to raise you to love Jesus. As I teach you the bible, I don't know what scriptures to teach you, in what order or at what times throughout the day. As we sing, I don't know what songs will teach you the truths of God in the way that you will understand them best. As we pray together, I don't even know how to teach you to pray on your own. I am totally totally at a loss on how to train you in many different moments. I am totally trusting Jesus for the outcome. I am trusting that the Holy Spirit of God will take all of our time spent together and turn it into something eternal and beautiful. I am trusting that the Father that is leading me is leading you to Himself. I am totally relying on the fact that God says in my weakness He is strong. I am trusting that as we lift Christ up in our home, that HE will draw you to Himself. I tremble at the magnitude of my position as your mother...to guide, shepherd and lead you in the little moments and the grand moments. I love my life with you and I am so thankful God chose me to be your mommy! I really do not want to take one day for granted. I love you both dearly.

our first video...or maybe not! Anyone?

2010-06-13T20:13:00.000-07:00

Kiva is a jumper...when she stands in your lap she jumps...so we naturally decided to get a "johnny jump up" and she loves it! Also, we did a monumental thing this week, we moved Kiva's crib down and put a mobile in her bed. Super fun. Our new point-n-shoot has a low quality video camera in it and we have been experimenting with it. I am terrible at it! I keep turning it vertical like a camera and then realizing it part of the way through. We take lots of random videos around here for Jada to watch! But, I thought I would post a random video of the girls in Kiva's bed just to get the first video blog out of the way...you know, break the ice a bit. Enjoy. Well...maybe not?! Anyone have any advice on uploading video? It is taking forever and then showing an error?!

a love/hate relationship and gymnastics!

2010-06-08T11:00:00.001-07:00

We returned from Oklahoma last night...it was a great time. The car trips were....well, lets just say we are glad they are over for the week :)

Today Jada started summer gymnastics!! Pretty fun. A small group of boys and girls from the church are doing it all together, it is a great excuse for all of us to hang out...and I am quite glad I am not teaching, just watching!!!

Now for the love/hate relationship...I LOVE the size of my new little point-n-shoot camera, it is cute, blue and it fits in my purse so well. I had it with me this weekend and at the gym today, which was so convenient! BUT...I hate the picture quality! Kind of despise it. Still grateful for it and glad to have it and will continue to use it...I am just going to have to get over it! So...in all of their glory (kidding)...here are some photos from OK, the car ride and gymnastics!

cherish and jada jammy day

our view of kiva in the car...look at that precious little hand! :)

Sweet Kivabalance beam...cutie!their teachers...and ben

O-K

2010-06-06T18:27:00.000-07:00

We are in Oklahoma visiting our sweet family friends, The Smithers. We drove up Friday (it was definitely an experience with an off and on screaming Kiva and Jada upset b/c Kiva was upset)...SO, we used the headphones! We went to Cherish's dance recital last night and it was super sweet to watch Cherish's love for dancing and raw talent show. Justice took some great dance pics of her and as you can see...she was SHOWERED with flowers afterwards. Jada loves the Smithers and was super excited to finally meet Amber! She likes her curly hair :) We head home tomorrow. The visit is just way too short. We love them.

so many photos-so little time

2010-06-03T13:01:00.000-07:00

Lots brewing in my head recently. I have been editing a lot so I have been listening to a bunch of sermons. Challenging...some really good stuff. I will write more about some of my thoughts another time, but if you have any time check out "the church at brook hills" and then "secret church" or "the radical series" You can't go wrong with those!

How about a little photo update:

sink baths have been SO much fun!

Kiva went swinging at the park for the first time...she LOVED it!

and other sweet kiva pics!

we celebrated Jared and Risa at a fun shower at the park...only three weeks away!

all the little girls at the shower

Jada and Izzy matched with their ballerina swimsuits!

Izzy and Kiva sporting the sun hats...they are only a week apart...fun!

jada photographed her first picture...her subjects were Kiva and Aunt Ashley :), the next two pics were Jada's photography as well..her first pic was the best for sure!!

we used the waver on our hair...we played beauty shop...jada's hair is crazy big riding the horse...she thought it was fun to have our hair matching

I call this picture flash face- the flash on the point and shoot is so bright- but I liked her sweet expression!Kiva leaned forward right when we went in for the kiss!