A Busy Spring and Summer

Hello all. I'm so delinquent I know... I really have been so busy this spring and summer and I can hardly believe that autumn starts in only a few more weeks! Good grief!

Let's see I think the easiest way to do this is to go month by month and do a quick overview:
April - so long ago that I really don't even remember

May - our good friends Jen and Chris's wedding and Mothers Day when I found out I was pregnant with our second child

June - spent all month preparing and then going to Camp Redcloud in Colorado with our church youth, also spent this month trying to not puke my guts out because of morning sickness

July - mum went to Africa for the month and I learned what it was like to run a household by myself again (with a little help from Chris... except the week he was gone on a mission trip to El Salvador), also spent this month trying to keep food down and not lose any more weight due to such severe morning sickness

August - creating a complete children's ministry at our church out of an almost non-existent one, finally beginning to regain some of the weight I lost due to the pregnancy, going to a fabulous CD release party for our church worship band Wait For Rain, enjoying being a bridesmaid in my best friend Michelle's (And her lovely new husband Zack) wedding, and finding out from an ultrasound that I am carrying a baby BOY!

September - I know that September isn't here yet, but I tell you the schedule is booking fast! Sept 6th is the kick-off for the new children's ministry, Sept 13th is the Launch (or re-launch) of our church, and Sept is also the month I plan to work hard at my work-from-home business.

Anyway, as you can see I really have been busy. But in any case I will post some pics for your visual enjoyment. :)

Promised Pics

Jen & Chris

Liberty's announcement that she is going to be a Big Sister
(see the shirt?)

The youth at Camp Redcloud in Colorado!

Children's Ministry stuff all piled into the pastor's office while new carpet was put into the children's rooms!



Wait For Rain's CD release party!




Michelle and Zack's Wedding

A Visit with Old Friends

Something I love more than anything in the whole world is to visit with old friends... you know the type, the ones you "grew up" knowing, ones that you'll always feel close to whether you see them on a regular basis or not, ones that you always love to spend time with. That is how I feel about my friend Mary and her family. Her mother is my mother's best friend and Mary and I have been "best friends" (or BFF if you will) since 4th grade. Now, I don't think she or I will tell you we are overly close in this stage of our lives given that I live in suburban America and she lives in not-so-suburban Romania - needless to say, we live very different lives. But I will say this, while we might not be "close" in proximity and we might only talk a few times a year and see one another twice or so a year, I will always feel like we're best friends. You don't just live life for someone that long and not feel such tremendous ties to them.
Anyway, we (my mum, Liberty and I) went up to see Mary and her family the day she was leaving to go back to Romania after a short visit to the States. We had a ball! Mary's older sister Lauren was in town with her two precious little boys, Luke and Max. (which I realized after uploading my pics from the day that I didn't get a single pic of Max! Oh no!) Luke just turned 3 and he and Liberty (almost 2 now) hit it off right away. They seemed to have fun together chasing eachother around the house and such. Liberty called him "Woot" (not being able to pronounce "Luke") the whole time - it was so cute. So I've included a few pictures of the day.

Mary and me
(we've been friends for 20 years this year)

Mary and Liberty
(Liberty loved brushing Mary's hair)


Liberty and "Woot"
(Lib running and Luke chasing saying "I'm gonna get you!")



Liberty, Luke and Lauren on the trampoline
(This was Lib's first experience with a trampoline...
she was a little timid, but overall seemed to like it)


Liberty and her new friend "Woot"
(Aren't they SO cute together? Maybe a future husband in the making?)

I thank God for my sweet friends. What a wonderful blessing they are to me!


PS~ Mary, I chose this color font because it made me think of you! You used to love this color... not sure if you still do or not! ha ha!

Still alive

Hey folks... just wanted you to know that I'm still alive. Been busy is all. But you know how that goes... we're all busy right? Anyway, wanted you to know we had a great Christmas and have begun the new year on a good note. Life is busy being the mom of a 1 and 1/2 year old, but I'm learning new things all the time... particularly how far reaching my patience is!
So in other news, if you hadn't already heard, I quit my wonderful job as a secretary at a large church in Houston to be a stay-at-home mom. It's been weird not having to think about my work responsibilities anymore, and occasionally I ask myself "why did you walk away from such a wonderful place to work with a steady income?" and then I look at my baby girl and begin to survey my life and somewhere in that I hear a still small voice say to me... "because I told you so dear one, remember to trust Me." So I commit once again to trust Him who called me and get back to the task at hand - mommying.
It makes me focus on what's important... finances are such a difficult thing, and so many of us struggle with that issue. I encourage you, if that is something with which you are struggling, TRUST HIM! Whether that means that He has called you to a full-time job with a steady income of not as much as you wished it was, or if you've lost your job or are about to lose it, I exhort you to trust Him! He is ALWAYS faithful.
Well, better go now. Will post some more pics of baby girl Liberty soon. Love to you all.

Colorado: Part II

Thought you might enjoy some short videos of us sledding with Liberty!
We purchased a cheap sled from a local Ace Hardware store and took to the hills to have an absolute ball! Here are two videos from our sledding adventure!

Here is my sledding experience... It was so hard to steer the sled but fun none-the-less. Liberty hardly knew what to think, but seemed to enjoy herself.

I love this one... watch how Chris goes careening off to the side! He loved the sledding too.

Colorado: Part I

Here we are in beautiful Colorado! Yes, we are here in what we like to call "God's country" to spend our Thanksgiving holiday... and boy are we thankful! It has been such a restful time, one that was much needed and the land here is so beautiful. In the early part of the week the temps were in the low 40's (high 20's at night) with sunny skies during most of the day. Then on Thanksgiving morning we woke up to snow! It's been snowing on and off most of today and it's definitely been much colder (low 30's with a cold wind making it feel colder). Our condo is nestled up on the mountainside with a gorgeous view and a ski area just about a stones throw from our porch. (Literally, there is a ski lift about 25 yds from our porch!)
Anyway, I'd like to share a few pictures with you of our winter vacation! Oh and Happy Thanksgiving! :)

Daddy and Liberty
~this is taken on our little hike, Liberty insisted on walking up the hill by herself and did really well, but got tired about 3/4 of the way up so Daddy had to carry her the rest of the way~

Mummy and Liberty
~this is mummy and Liberty on the swing at the top of the hill we climbed... check out that view behind us!~

Liberty in the snow
~Liberty found this tiny patch of snow in the parking lot near our condo and had a ball just stomping around on it. She called the snow "no." (and cries when you make her go inside)~

Movie clips

My Little Pumpkin!
Isn't she cute?

Hallo-Wii!

This is a quick post to show costumes and give you an idea what our Halloween evening looked like... enjoy!



BTW... Jake and Val, I can't believe I didn't get a shot of ya'll and Jonah! oh well.

Maggie

All I can say for this post is...

WE GOT A DOG!

Please give a warm welcome to our newest family member, Maggie. Maggie is a 2 year old golden retriever. She is such a sweetie, and is so great with Liberty. We've only had her for three days now, but we are already VERY attached to our new furry friend.

~ Maggie ~
isn't she such a pretty girl?

Liberty's newest love

This post is a quick update on Liberty. Her newest love is going to the park to slide and to swing. Here are a couple of pics of her having such a good time at one of two parks in our neighborhood.

Hurricane Ike - September 2008

Hello friends and family, I'm here to let you know that all is right and good on the home front. We are safe and sound and we were SO BLESSED to not have gotten substantial damage to our home. Our biggest loss was that out backyard fence was knocked down by the high winds, but other than that we really did not have any damage. We were without power for about 41 hours, but that is now fixed. The other blessing that God has sent our way is some absolutely gorgeous weather! Yesterday, was beautiful, today is too, and tomorrow is supposed to be as well. It is our first cool front of the season and the sun is out, the temps are lovely, and the humidity is almost non-existent. Thanks be to our Father God for giving that to our city when so many do not have air conditioning right now. (they are estimating that some may continue to be without power for another 3 weeks)
Anyway, that is all for now... there is so much to tell that I can't put it all into a blog post. Below I have included a radar image of the storm about to hit. (image compliments of wikipedia) If you are interested in learning more about this or other major storms, you can go to www.stormpulse.com . Thanks again for being my loyal readers.

Isn't She Cute???

I admit it... I am absolutely "smitten" with my little girl. But look at her... can you blame me? This was a shot I took as she was just playing in her pajamas one morning... she found an old purse of mine, put her pool hat on and grabbed her "Tinkerbell cell phone" and put it in the purse. She would take it out occasionally and dial some numbers and say "Hi" and then hang it up. A girl - right to the core! Isn't she precious?

New Song

If you know anything about me, you know I LOVE music. So it should come as no surprise that today's post is about a new artist that I have come across and am really enjoying (I just ordered her newest CD off of Amazon).
Anyway, her name is Brooke Fraser. Have you heard of her? Anyway, I love the song Shadowfeet... here is a link to her music video on uTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4KiGN1j1No

Hope you enjoy. :)

(I promise to post about Liberty soon... with pictures.)

A Good Sermon

I just needed a Word and so I looked online and came across Matt Chandler's "Being" sermon. It was an encouragement and challenge to me so I thought it might benefit someone else out there.(if you are interested click on the link I've given you below)
Be Blessed!

Being: Luke 13

4th of July Fireworks

I love the 4th of July. It's my favorite holiday. I don't know entirely why... it could be the pool parties, or the tank-tops cut-off jeans and sandals, or perhaps it's the family togetherness that often happens due to yummy cookouts on the grill. In any case, I love it. Here are three cool pictures I took of the fireworks that we set off in our front yard with our neighbors this year. (we had a fabulous block party - it was so fun!)
More pics of the block party to come, but for now, enjoy the fireworks! :)

Happy Independence Day!

Grampy and Abuela

Today was fun, Grampy and Abuela (my dad and his wife, Lupe) came over for a visit and we enjoyed a yummy lunch and then some fun with Liberty. (When is it not fun with Liberty? She's such a little "ham") Here are the two best pics from the day.

Abuela and Grampy

Liberty as she is being tossed in the air... I absolutely love this smile!

The Birthday Party

Ok, so this past Saturday was Liberty's first birthday party. It was a blast... at least I thought so and I assume Little Miss Social liked her first party too. Anyway, here are a few of the captured moments from the big event.

Liberty in her pretty party dress!
(notice the tiara too!)

Princess for a day...
(ok, really she's always my little princess, but especially so this day)

First cupcake!
Mmmm! Yummy!

I love this shot... not sure if it's just that she's so darn cute or that it shows her incredible eyelashes or just that she's so pensive. Anyway... I love it.

Friends...
there were a LOT more than this, but this is the only group shot I managed to get.

This is another random candid, but for some reason it struck me and I liked it.
I think I feel like it describes us (me and Liberty) well.

The Princess with her grandparents
Momo and Grandpa (which Liberty has named "Papa")

Liberty, Mummy & Daddy

I want to say a special thank you to my best friend Michelle who was so gracious to use her photography gifts to capture this special time for our family allowing us to sit back and enjoy the festivities and not worry about getting pictures. (about 80% of the pictures that day were taken by Michelle, the other 20% were taken by either Chris or myself) So, thanks so much Michelley! Love you friend!

Happy Birthday Liberty!

Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Liberty, happy birthday to you!!!!
My sweet baby girl is 1 today. I can hardly believe that it was one year ago today that I was holding her in my arms for the first time. She has grown so fast (as they all told me would be the case) and I am loving being her mummy ("mommy" if you're American and "mummy" if you're Australian). I readily admit it's difficult especially at times when she's fussing for no reason or the separation anxiety kicks in, but overall so very worth the sacrifices. In the end, my life is so much richer with her in it. What an amazing gift children are from our heavenly Father.
Well, Chris and I got ourselves a new camera. We needed one anyway, but we decided that it was kinda our anniversary gift to each other too. (June 9 marked 7 years for us!) So here are some pictures I have taken recently using our fun new camera. Enjoy! :)

Mummy and the baby!
Mummy's little "helper"

Playing with the twins

Sitting pretty in my rockin' chair

In the backyard baby pool - though this didn't last long because while it
looked like lots of fun in the picture on the box, it was not since the water was too cold and there were no friends to share it with!

Liberty the morning of her 1st Birthday with all her presents and the fun water table from Momo and Grandpa! (too big to wrap in a gift box!)

Liberty and Mummy with the presents Uncle Dan sent... which of course included
a SOCCER BALL!!!

My Camera Broke

So, just wanted you to know that I am not intentionally ignoring my readers. My camera broke so I have been unable to take any pictures as of late. I tried borrowing my mum's camera a couple of times, but it's really difficult to get the pictures off of it because when you plug the stupid thing into the computer it sometimes pretends that certain pictures are not there (even though you can look at them on the camera and know that they ARE! Grrr!)
Anyway, Chris and I labored over what to do and finally settled on buying a new camera which we ordered on Amazon. But it's taking FOREVER to arrive (we chose the free shipping and apparently the free shipping options takes many moons to get to you!)

So when I get the new camera I'll be giving you some more updates with pictures of sweet Liberty. Until then, she is growing fast, trying to learn to walk, saying about a million and one things, signing a whole bunch too and is generally just a busy little person, but she is cute as can be! I am scrambling to get everything together for VBS for the church that I work for and Chris is scrambling to finish up all the end-of-the-year responsibilities that he has as a teacher for high school seniors. Mum is scrambling to get everything ready for her mission trip to Sudan that is coming up in two weeks.
Needless say there is a lot of scrambling going on here at our house. We covet your prayers because we are all weary from the craziness. Summer cannot come fast enough!
Ok, that's all for now. Later!

Not So Funny...

Ok, so this one is not so funny, but I feel it important to pass along. People are dying from water they are drinking and there IS something we can do about it. Please check out www.onedollarwater.com Donate today and save someone's life.