Get Moving!

Isaac is 8 months old today.  Do you have any idea how hard it is to get a good picture of a moving 8 month old?
This was the first try. Probably a bad idea, trying to get him in the commando crawl. (Please ignore the blue glow from the tv: Daddy was playing Wii)

Here he stops to play. Maybe he'll slow down enough here. Nope.  The toys are way too interesting to look at mommy's camera!

Quick! He's looking!  Never mind.

We almost got this one.  But not quite.

He's taking off again.  No luck Mom!

A Recap: Spring!

Spring has arrived, and full force I might add. And along with the warm weather comes lots of playing outside and the abandonment of the computer.  So we'll do a brief overview of the last month to make up for my absence from this blog.

Isaac turned 7 months old: he's adorable for sure, and rolling and squirming to get wherever he can go

He's also learned to sit all on his own which makes life much easier on this Momma, since he's happy to play alone or with the other kids for good stretches now

Jadon learned to pump his legs on the swing.  Our regular babysitter dropped by the yard to play with the kids a couple weeks ago and taught him how.  Awesome! (this Momma is thrilled to not hafta push too!)

Chloe is nearing her 8th birthday.

She's such a HUGE help around the house, I don't know what I'd do without her.  There are days that I have to remind myself to let her be a kid. Since she likes to help out, I sometimes take advantage without realizing it. But the help with Zac is awesome! I can even get supper fixed on time most nights with her help.

Micah hasn't changed much.  He's still a baseball fanatic, and he loves playing outside.

I spent last Friday repairing every bike we own so they can ride in this awesome weather we've had.  Micah asked to go out and ride at 8:00 this morning!  No wonder he's so stinkin' skinny!

Jody and I spent a day last week preparing meals for the freezer, along with another friend.  Together, the 3 of us made 36 meals: that's right, 12 full meals for each of us!  Now my freezer is stocked for those days I just can't get dinner ready, or nights when I've got something else going. 

Kevin shot his second turkey ever on Saturday. 

Oh, and the Rodies won their first tournament of the year!

                      (dodgeball tournament that is)

So that's what has been happening around here.  Tonight marks the start of softball season, so we'll be busy, busy.  Hopefully, I'll find some time to post updates on here, but if not, you'll know what we're doing... watching softball of course!

Triumph!

Jody called about a month ago.  She had a table in her school room that was too big for the room and wanted to know if we would like to trade for the dining table we were using.  Our table comfortable seats 4, a little tricky with our growing family of 6!  Unfortunately, there was a catch.  Her table had a bad finish, as well as some traces of paper permanently afixed to the sticky finish.  But, ever the adventurer that I am, I thought "How hard could it be to refinish a table?" So we made the trade.

Well, the job turned out to be a little trickier than I had first imagined.  Stripping was easy, and kinda fun.  As was staining.  I didn't love sanding the whole surface, but it wasn't too bad.  The problem came when I tried to put the 2nd coat of polyurethane on.  Remember high school chemistry (maybe it was even grade school) when you learned that oil and water don't mix?  I kinda forgot that part.  Or at least forgot to apply it to my table.  Oops!  After attempting to wash my brush with water, I reapplied my varnish.  It did NOT like the water in the brush! So after my lovely table had been stained to look like this

It ended up with a huge white streak across one side.  Needless to say, I was less than pleased.  So after debating for most of the weekend whether or not to leave it, I finally decided to bite the bullet and strip and stain it again.  In the end, the extra work was worth doing.  And today, we finally got to eat at our new table!  We all fit, and the food fits too.  We even have extra leaves for when we have guests.  I can't wait!

Sometimes you just don't "feel it"

I've come to a realization today.  There are days that I don't "feel saved."  I have a lot of them, actually.  I don't mean days that I question my salvation, that I know with certainty, deep within my soul.  But I have lots of days that I don't feel an overwhelming presence of God, or I think I know what I "should" feel and it doesn't match up with my actual feelings.  I often finish reading my Bible without feeling, that "wow factor" from what God is saying.  Often, I'm not even sure of what He is saying to me.  


But after a string of days like that, I realized something today.  It's okay not to have that overwhelming feeling.  At Friday's service, I kept thinking my heart wasn't really in it because I wasn't feeling overwhelming grief.  But today I knew why.  Jesus' death wasn't the end.  He died, but not forever.  And while His death was a terrible thing that I am to blame for, it was part of His plan and I just have a hard time being sad knowing how the story ends.  Jesus took my sins with Him on that cross.  And He rose again that Easter morning.  That is what the story is about.  So while I may not always "feel" the overwheming feelings I sometimes think I'm supposed have.  I KNOW that my REDEEMER LIVES!  And that is awesome!

So I'm gonna allow myself to have those moments and enjoy the life my Savior gave me.  And when I pray or study the Bible, I'll wait quietly for when He will use His words to teach me, knowing sometimes it may take a while before I know what the lesson is.  And I'll continue to teach my children His word.  Because, while somedays God is silent, He is always present.  Even when we don't "feel" Him, He is present.  And today is a day to celebrate!

Beautiful...

Last week, I had the awesome privelege to visit with my girlfriend Val and her family in the Pacific Northwest.  Isaac and I flew out last Thursday and were met by Val's hubby, Andy, at SeaTac.  It was late, and dark, but I really appreciated getting to know this guy who had to be really cool to have married my bestest friend. Val and I stayed up way too late talking, but it was totally worth it.  We hadn't seen each other for over a year!


Friday, Val and I and her two girls, along with little Zac spent a lazy day visiting this cute little town nearby. It definitely had a great view from the pier.

And it was certainly a great place to let the girls run off some energy. 

Then we stopped at this cute little ice cream shop where I was forced to eat a waffle cone against my will.

Don't let me fool you though, I would drive back just to get another one.  You could smell the waffles cooking all the way down the street.  Yum!

I think Carolyn and Abbie enjoyed their ice cream too.


We had such a fantastic time.  I love that I got to spend so much time with Val's family.  I've met them, of course, and I feel like I know them, but really more from talking about them than to them.  But now, her family is my family.  Carolyn and Abbie are such great kids.  And Andy and Val are great parents and really fun people.  I am so blessed to have such an awesome woman as a friend and I feel even more blessed now that I've gotten to know her family better.


The area where Val lives is gorgeous, a photographer's dream! I missed the view from the bridge on the way onto the island because it was so late and dark, but I cerainly didn't miss it the next day.  I can't imagine getting to see this view every day.

The trees are awesome!  They seem to just stretch up forever.

And don't let reports of Washington rainy weather fool you.  I actually took this shot in the rain (you can see a couple of drops) but it's such a soft rain you hardly notice.

I love warm beaches with white sand, but there is something so awe inspiring to me about rocky beaches like this.

They are certainly fun to explore!

Andy joined us Saturday and showed me around his part of the navy base.  That was really cool, but I kept thinking, that Kevin and the boys would have loved it.  So, maybe we'll have to all come back someday.


After the base, we also went looking for tulips Saturday afternoon.  I've never been a huge fan of tulips, just not my favorite flower, but I think I may have changed my mind.

We had such a wonderful time.  Leaving was pretty tough, but I was ready to be home with my family.  Hopefully I'll get to go back with my whole crew sometime, but until then, I've got some great memories.  Miss you guys.