DANCE... the little and big

Monday morning was a dance photo shoot with the big girls...Friday is the first dance class for the little girls...Dance is in the air for me :)

The first, and sweetest, is that Jada and her buddies have their first ballet and tap class tomorrow morning! I am excited. I think Jada will be better and more at ease with the class this go round. Why? Well, the class size is 7 and all of them are her friends from church :) And her teacher is Mrs. Stephanie...aka: mom! This will be the first for both of us...I have never taught children under 5! So, here we go :)

And for the "big girls", I am super excited about them, a group of dancers that I am truly honored to be working with. I was asked to lead/create/choreograph and start a semi-professional dance company to go along with a ladies conference. The first conference is in February so we are starting to gather together really really great dancers to be a part of the dance group. The conference is called "Masterpiece" and the dancers are called "Talitha". These dancers will be dancing throughout the worship sets during the weekend conference and I will actually be dancing too! I am really excited. Lots of details and fun ways that the Lord has led me in this particular journey through dance...and I am excited. Here are some photos from our time together on Monday. I didn't think the most graceful pics would be of me 7 months pregnant... so I opted out :) Our friend Andrew took these stellar photos! Thanks again!

Tomorrow I will post the little dancer photos...

our camp adventures and the secret is out!

To officially finish out the summer, we headed to the hill country to meet up for our "home church reunion." It was so great to catch up and reconnect with the people that we lived our lives with for so long. We love them so much and it was so great to see them. It was fun to watch how all of the children are growing up so much too! I didn't get my camera out near enough but did manage to get a few photos of the children.

Jada getting ready to go :)

The crew of kids playing after some swimming time

The ever important sticker earrings that Ru helped the girls to

We were there for a couple of days when we left for our com-church family camp. It was great to be among the people that God has given us to live our lives with now. It was really fun for us to sit back and see the Lord's kindness towards us in giving us the kinds of friends that He has over the years. We are truly blessed...really. The only pic that I got at com-church camp was of Jada and Brian playing in the top bunk early Sunday morning. It was fun!

And once again, I must post about my secret candy drawer...the word is out and Jada is fully aware of the joy and delight that awaits her in that drawer! O what have I started? Strangely, she doesn't like chocolate (unless it is in the form of an M&M) so that means the Twix are all mine!!! :)

why bother?

Why bother wearing make-up?  The Haiti group shared their experiences tonight at church and it was such a blessing to me.  Mascara mess...but such a gift!  Seeing the video they put together and listening to them share who God is and what they have learned so far from their experiences was really wonderful.  On top of that, I was profoundly struck with gratitude during our singing/worship time.  Ross shared the gospel of Christ and the reality of the cross and I was truly awestruck at the Father's intense love for me/us that He would allow...ordain...purpose for His son to die such a horrible death for someone like me who is totally not even close to being grateful enough for such a King.  But I want to be.  So, more than likely I will wear make-up to church again, but then again, maybe not.  

remembering...

Throughout this pregnancy I often think of Mia.  I am 28 weeks pregnant and we lost Mia at 24 weeks.  God has been so kind to free me from fear this pregnancy.  And this part of the pregnancy with Kiva is so fresh, delightful and fun.  I am SO grateful.  But, fear isn't the issue...the issue that has come up more and more is that I miss Mia.  

I have a ring that I wear.  When we were planning Mia's funeral, I really wanted to put something in her casket with her that I could also keep with me.  As Brian and I were thinking, we were reminded of a ring.  James Avery sells it and it is an intro to Ruth 1:16-17.  This is where Ruth tells Naomi "Your people will be my people, Your God, My God." It goes on to say "Where you will be buried, I will be buried."  So, that ring is in Mia's casket with her body and I also wear the same ring on my hand.  Brian and I were able to buy our cemetery plots shortly after and we will be buried yards away from Mia.  I lovingly refer to this ring as my Mia ring.  

That was background. I had an encounter with Jada this week that brought me to tears.  A couple of days ago, Jada and I were just lying in bed hanging out talking one afternoon.  Jada asked if she could play with/wear my Mia ring.  I said sure. So, as she was wearing it on her foot, she sat up and pretended to make a phone call on my phone.  I asked her "who are you calling?" She then began to tell me that she was going to call Grandpa-Dad (my grandfather who passed away) and she was going to see if Grandpa-Dad could bring Mia back from heaven.  

My heart sank.  Then she began a pretend conversation with Grandpa-Dad, "Hello, can you hear me?  Um, can you bring Mia back?" then she looked at me with bright eyes and exclaimed "He said YES!"  

The floodgates were opened as I was reminded again of the finality of death as I told Jada through huge tears, "Mia can't come back. She is with Jesus in heaven and we will get to see her one day when we go to heaven too." To which, Jada just simply said, "Oh." We then proceeded to talk about what heaven was like and how wonderful it is there.  But I couldn't stop crying.  I mean I really wept.  I realized then that I was so happy to be crying.  Strange.  Jada asked why I was crying and I simply told her that I miss Mia and I wish she were sitting on the bed with us playing.  I explained how it is ok to be sad, that Jesus always wipes our tears and thinks they are really important.  

I don't have a nice conclusion to this blog...just simply that it was good to cry.  I think about Mia daily, but I am grateful for the moments when something from Heaven touches my heart and cries out.

And, mixed with this... I am really glad Jada has a sister coming to join us here on earth soon!  What tension there is in this life: One of the sweetest moments of joy with Jada and one of the deepest moments of sorrow without Mia.  Heaven WILL be wonderful!  But, what a wonderful life it is here to experience Jesus' nearness through a toddlers eyes, creation, and so much more.  Thank you, Lord.  "Teach us, Lord, to number our days, that we might gain a heart of wisdom!"  

You are my sunshine...

I want to really take in each moment.  I have been really happy lately just watching Jada...she is really fun. The other day we were at a store and she was singing "you are my sunshine" loudly while she puttered around the checkout.  The lady behind the cash register was just smiling the whole time and at the end asked if she could take her home with her.  I was simply reminded in that moment how I am the blessed one that gets to take her home with me :)  She is really a treasure to watch.  

So, I am wanting to freeze her at this age yet watch her grow.  Ever felt like that?  I am really glad to be a mom.  I don't want to be in the middle of my day and realize that I haven't taken her in...just her little words and actions.  

We have a quote that is on the wall in our bathroom that says "The greatest honor we can give God is to live gladly because of the knowledge of His love."- Lady Julian of Norwich.  

So, the prayer that I have been praying is "Jesus, help Brian and me to be great examples f thankful and glad living because of the way that you have loved us.  Let this thankfulness and gladness be contagious to our children."

yum

I think this may be the most random blog post of mine...but have you tried plumbcots???  It is a mix between an apricot and plumb.  YUM!  I would take a picture of the little red dandy, but I ate the last one and I am definitely going back to HEB for more!

we're back

We had a great time on our vacation and I thought I would add some fun photos from Uncle Jason's camera :)   Here we are on our way to the beach...

lunch at Amberjacks

Brian, Jason and Mike played golf one day

There seem to be pictures of birds on Brian lately?

MiMi and PaPa with Jada :)

Aunt Shannon buried Jada's legs and made her a mermaid...Jada loved it

It was a great trip and we are now back in the swing of things.  Brian starts school again next week so it looks like our summer has come to a close. Time flies!!

some of our summer fun

We have been able to travel through some of July and spend some time with Brian's family in New Braunfels.  We had a great time and Jada had a blast for sure.  One of the highlights of our time was the San Antonio zoo where Jada got to comb lots the goats hair :)  A well known fact about Jada is that she could comb hair for hours...so she was loving it!  And she also got to feed the birds there too.  She had a spectacular time.  She was little miss social with all of Brian's family and really enjoyed her time!  

And we put curlers in Jada's hair for the first time...she loved it :)  Beauty shop is fun at any age!

I had a couple of photo shoots this week with lights and the backdrop...Jada and Daddy jumped in on some of the photo fun...

And this pic above is a REAL Jada smile...rare to catch on camera!

Also, Jada and Brian enjoy playing their guitars together often.  I thought these pics were fun...and of course Jada just fell right over on her back in her musician's exhaustion.  

We are now in South Padre for a whole week...YAY!  Lots of fun friends will be at our home in the mean time.  So this is goodbye to the computer for the next 7 days!!!  Freedom ;)  Love you all.

Haiti...from Brian!

So….Steph has been trying to get me to write my first blog entry ever by sharing about my trip to Haiti.

Honestly, I have had a difficult time processing my recent trip. Since I have returned, life has been busy and I have had little time to sit and process/pray through my experience. Sharing about my time in Haiti has been challenging because I just don’t know how to sum it up in a nice little 5 minute blurb, but since the pressure is mounting for me write this, I will do my best :). So here goes:

I was talking with a college-aged guy a couple of weeks ago and he asked me to sum up my experience in three words. I think he was joking and did not expect a response, but I thought for about 15 seconds and said, “OK, if I had to describe the trip in three words it would be this…. ‘Exceeded My Expectations’.”

I did not know what to expect as I prepared to lead this group of 13 people, some of them I did not know well, into a country I knew very little about, to work with a group of people I had never met. Before we left I thought, “This could go either way; it could be great or it could be a bust.” I wasn’t sure which it would be, but I never thought it would be as great of a trip as it ended up being for me.

I loved my time in Haiti! These are some of the things I loved about the trip.

1) I absolutely loved the missionary couple (John and Beth Mchoul) that hosted us. John and Beth “Exceeded Our Expectations”. They served us and took care of us in ways I did not think were possible for missionaries who have so, so much work to give themselves to. They are both from Boston, have great Boston accents, and have been serving in Haiti for 20 years. They have been responsible for arranging over 300 adoptions! They were both hippies and former drug addicts who were radically saved during the Jesus Movement in the 1970’s. John is a pastor of a Pentecostal church in Port-Au-Prince and I absolutely loved getting to know him a bit.

I think one of my favorite things about the trip was getting to watch John and Beth live out God’s purposes for their lives amongst the poor, the widows, and the orphans of Haiti.  John’s example of being who God has called him to be was a real blessing and encouragement for me not be satisfied with anything else for my own life, but to fully embrace who called has called me to be, to the people that I live among. Here is a photo of our team...John is in the front.

2) I loved getting to see Haiti as we traveled 4 hours to and from a seaside village and back the second day we were there. While at this village we came face to face with “The Real Haiti.” The people of this village lived in such an overwhelming level of object poverty. Many of the children wore little or no clothing, were malnourished, and there were medical issues that our team doctor was not able to help. We de-wormed the kids in the village (meaning we gave them pills to kill the many worms that they have grown used to living with) and, though the worms will no doubt be back soon, it allows the children relief for a few weeks at least. We also handed out beef jerky and glow sticks and I was almost mugged to death as I tried to past them out. It was quite frustrating, but who can blame them. The best part of this trip was when we left the village to drive to the shore of the ocean, which was only about a quarter of a mile away. About 50 of the kids ran after us, or simply jumped on the back of the big truck and hitched a free ride. When we got to the ocean, some of the guys in our group got in, and the kids were not far behind them. Before long, our entire team was in the ocean with about 40 Haitian children, some with clothes, some without. The highlight of this time was the Chicken fights. We started out making sure the boys at least had underwear on before they were candidates for being put up on our shoulders to fight, but it wasn’t long before that rule went out the window. Here is a picture of us in action.

3) I loved working on the rooftop garden. Our group built 231 self-contained pots out of 5 gallon buckets that will help the ministry produce food to eat and sell. This was a huge project that we spent two full days on and we worked great together and had a ton of fun. Much of the time was spent listening to me and Ross talk about how we were working harder and more efficiently than anyone else, which wasn’t true at all but it made us feel good about our little system we had goingJ.

4) I loved getting to hold Renald! Renald is a three and a half year old who only weighs 14 pounds. His family lives up in the mountains and was not able to feed him so he was given to a rescue center. The center finds families that will help nourish children like Reynald for a short time, then give them back to their families when they are health enough to live. Renald was sweet and I held him as long as I could. The goal is to put 10 pounds on him and get him back to his family…these are the struggles in Haiti.

5) I loved the church service we went to while we were there. There was so much energy in the room and the set list for worship was 13 songs so we sang for well over an hour. I really enjoyed John’s sermon about self-interest as well. It was a wonderful meeting!

6) I loved being a part of meeting people medical needs. Though I did not contribute in any special way, we hosted a medical clinic the last day we were there and we met the needs of over 100 people. Included in this group, was a little boy who had pneumonia for a couple of weeks who would have probably died in a couple of days had his mom not brought him in. Our doctor treated him, and to everyone’s surprise, he seems to have fully recovered and is doing well! The miracle of medicine does save lives.

These were just a few of my experiences in Haiti. I could write so much more, but Steph as said I have already written the longest blog in history so I will wrap it up.

I want to go back to Haiti. I want to take Steph and introduce her to the people there. We are absolutely open to adopting one or two kids from Haiti but not sure what Jesus is saying about that yet. Either way, I think I will see more of Haiti in my lifetime, perhaps much more, and I am excited about that.

Thanks everyone for your support and your prayers as we went. I am so grateful for the opportunity and so thankful that Haiti….Exceeded My Expections!

I would rather...

So, before I write anything more...Brian went to Haiti.  He was able to lead a team from our church and it was a truly amazing trip.  But, I will not write any more about it.  He is going to write his first blog post coming soon!  So, look for it.  

 

I just returned from a worship conference in Dallas.  It was really great.  I can't say enough about the kindness of the Lord towards me in some of the quiet moments during much of the singing and worship times.  But...I have to say, something that stood out to me over and over was my gratitude and thankfulness to be a wife and mom.  I was just so grateful about how the Lord has given and given and given and as I danced and saw my prego silhouette, I was just so humbled at how much I love the treasures of my children.  

All of that to say...Tonight as I was bathing Jada and talking with her about the things that were on her mind like babies, animals, and bubbles, I teared up.  It was by far the sweetest "worship" moment of the week for me.  What I mean is that, the Lord's simple love and kindness was so rich and real.  I just wanted to say "thank you" over and over.  I realized that I would rather really live in each moment with Jada, Kiva (kicking me like crazy :)), and Brian.  Simply put...I am grateful.