Happy Love

When my daughters help each other
When they play and laugh together
When they hug and kiss on the cheek
When they tickle and tackle and smash
When they team up to scrounge up a snack in the kitchen
When they pick up their toys and help me
When they look up at me with eyes full of pride and say, "I did it!"

it makes my heart explode with happy love.

February in Snapshots

She just cracks me up!

Eva and Anna, plus Zay playing dress up
(luckily, clean up is a breeze! I just toss it all into
our truck/coffee table)

For my birthday, I put up a new memory verse
and took down the tapestry
You will soon see pics of that tapestry transformed
ok, by soon, I mean a little more than a month.

1992.  No.  I did not pic out my own glasses.
My brother Jake, me, and brother Evan
and great Grandma Zola, Grandpa Crissman's mother

Special friends, Cat and Zaya :D

A Word for the Church

I awoke with this thought while snuggled in blankets, snoozing and waiting for the rustling of my youngest in her crib to turn to calls of, "Mama."

~ Do you struggle with something? Something that just doesn't quite seem to be rebuked in the Bible, yet your convictions tell you it's wrong? Do you struggle with why you should say, "No," to it? Please let me share what the LORD has shown me. 


Prone to wander, Lord I feel it/ Prone to leave the God I love


Say No if only because denying yourself brings Him glory.  


Brings Him GLORY!!! 


Seriously, how many things will you do today that will bring Him glory?? Is there anything today on your to-do list more important that bringing Him glory?


Don't sit back and count yourself as one to whom this message does not apply.  Take seriously that you may in fact be more like a Pharisee than you care to admit.  That may sound harsh, but I humbly admit that I am quite the Pharisee myself, if I dare to look inward honestly.  All too often I make myself comfortable on the judgement seat reserved for Christ alone.


Do you yearn for the time when EVERYTHING we do will bring Him glory? Ahh, yes.  That will be a time of jubilee.


Galatians 5:22-23 says, "But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!" (NLT)


Self control.  


Ironic that this post comes on Ash Wednesday?? ha. That's just the way He is, isn't it? :D

Carrot Quesadillas *or* My Perception of My Own Brilliance Knows No Bounds

For lunch today, we had quesadillas, hard-boiled egg whites, bananas and milk.  Pretty run of the mill, right? Well, not today!! HaHA!  

I put shredded carrot in their quesadillas and they LOVED IT.

Epic mom moment.  

*phew*

It could have very easily gone the other way.

Here we have the lovely and effervescent Zaya
modeling her scrumptious lunch.

and again
(I indulge myself, she's just so dang cute!)

Hey Eva, give me a nice smile...  ?? Okaaaaay....

see? I used the "fancy" side of my cheese grater... :D
soooo easy!
(I grated one big carrot onto a paper towel and then used the
paper towel to squeeze out the extra juice.  Carrots are JUICY!
One carrot made more than enough for 2 6" tortilla quesadillas,
I saved the extra for salad.)

Happy Labor Day, Mom!

33 years ago today, my mom was working really hard RIGHT NOW to bring me into the world... little did she know, it was still about 9 hours away.... Thanks, mom.  :D

I'd just like to share a few reasons why today was SO special :D (who needs birthdays?)

1. My shopping trip at Meijer took about an hour longer than it should have, as I went back and forth across the store (mapped out list in hand - just not looked at) forgetting things left and right.  Even though I went a full 45minutes past dinner time, the kids were MARVELOUSLY well behaved.  Shocking.

2. They did not ask me to buy them anything, while there.

3. I spent twenty dollars less than my usual 2 week budget allows for!

4. We celebrated by going to McDonalds - apparently everyone was celebrating there.  Huge long line to order our food - the girls stood quietly by my side, holding my hands, waiting patiently.

5.  The Happy Meal toy choice was Barbie or cars.  They picked cars.  {insert overwhelming pride here} The lady at the counter asked if they wanted the girl toy or the boy toy - I said they want the cars.  Cars are for girls too. :P

6.  The play place was FILLED with big kids.  Intimidating big kids.  We always eat first - after the girls had eaten well, the big intimidating kids were gone.  Just sweet kids left - and half as many as when we arrived :D

7.  The oldest kids were boys, and they were instantly protective of Zaya and helped her to not be scared.   Zaya learned how to climb up and go down the slide alllll by herself for the first time.  Both girls played well with the other kids, no injuries or melt downs or accidents.

8. When I told them it was time to go (a full 20minutes past BEDtime - I'm talking *in* bed time, not getting ready time) - they hardly fussed at all.

9.  They quickly got ready for bed and were on best behavior the whole time.  Eva needed to blow her nose.  I grabbed a kleenex and she blew.  A drop of snot somehow flew UP and hit her on her upper eye lid (???).  We wiped it away and she said to me, "Mama, I don't like snot in my eye.  My eyes are expensive and snot is not healthy for them."

10.  Tomorrow's my birthday, but today was amazing.  I laughed a lot today.  I'll just take this day as my birthday :D yay!!

(Rob's working second shift again, so he was at work for all this fun evening stuff.  He blessed me too, though, by being so loving this morning :D)