Irwin Adventures!!

alien behavior...

2012-01-19T14:17:00.000-08:00

image credit: buydisneycostumes.com

You know those moments that you never ever really ever want to remember ever again?
But yet you know you will never ever be able to forget?
We had one of those today.
In the diner parking lot...mama was craving a big fat juice burger. Yep, no shame here.
And as we're walking out, she and daddy are walking a little a head of mama, as the burger may or may not have slowed down mama's speed on the walk out.
Mama got about two steps away from the 3 yr old ~~alien-exploring her new planet with strange and impulsive interactions and behaviors~~, I mean girl, and noticed that she had missed a split second bow down to the ground with a return prize in the hand of said child.
The prize, you ask? What might that have been?
Oh well, just a simple little half used portion of a tampon applicator.
The purple kind.
Does that make it Tampax or Playtex?
I'm not really sure.
Because all I could think of, if you could call what I was doing at that point clear thinking, was how close I was to vomiting on said child's shoes or her daddy's, if he walked any closer.
They still, both, to this point, didn't know, or understand, the horrors of what she was holding in her hand.
You see, I had been let in on the small secret as we entered the diner and saw the other half of the applicator and wondered what kind of sickness someone would have to possess to leave a remnant like this behind, in a public place.
And the horror that rushed through my blood, when realizing my darling golden curly-locked girl was now discovering this secret at a closer distance than I had allowed us on our walk in, was UNSPEAKABLE.
All I could think of at the moment was....GET it OUT of your little squishy germ and STD-free hands right.this.instant.
So, I did what any mother in her right mind would do...started hitting the purple offender with my car keys to knock it out of her hand.
I sure wasn't going to add to the horror by touching it myself!
It took 3 swift tries...and down it fell.
Back to it's destiny it should have discovered already...road kill under this mama's tires.
Blast!
The little alien and her daddy are still gawking at the mama at this point, wondering why in tarnation mama was dry-heaving and swinging her keys madly in the air at the small child's precious tender left hand.
She was only trying to show me her parking lot surprise!
I couldn't produce speech to let them know the grave offense to everything that was holy, that she had just committed.
All I could ponder was if I had left poison control's number in my phone the last time I had to use it...because couldn't they help me with some sort of answer for this sort of travesty?!
Aren't these just the calls they are waiting for, with sheets of cleansing power tips on how to rid the child of the terrors of someone's past refuse?!
Oh my.
All I could do after the heaving settled and the teary eyes (from shock or death-by-freaked-out-laughing, I'm still not sure which) stopped was huff at the dad to put the violated child in the car while profusely scrubbing her body with hand sanitizer 4 times over, vowing to continue the scrub down the second we entered the homestead door.
The cleansing did continue for about 30 minutes in the sink, while the dad kept saying the mom was highly unnecessarily grossed out, as he was sure the rain and previous car encounters had washed off any gross previous remains.
Okay, sure, I said...well then leave me alone to my freakouts!
I'm sure there's some other mama out there who has been through some horror of the sort who will encourage my weary mama-of-daily-alien-behavior-heart or at least freak out and heave with me!
I was right.
Team mama to the rescue!
My handy texting machine rallied the troops and the small gathering of us all lost our lunch together and promised to watch our little aliens more closely while in the local diner parking lot.
Watch them mamas.
The little aliens in our lives will stop at nothing short than total child-imposed/intended freakouts for the mamas who love their little dear hearts.
After a full shower down cleansing, (because following the "incident" and subsequent scourings, there was a need to scoot around the whole toilet seat with a poo-soiled bottom, to see if the whole seat would really turn brown--it did, if you were wondering and the heaving and scouring continued on) we have entered into nap zone in these parts.
Do you think she'll give me an extra long pause and deep breath to myself today?!
Probably not.
Father help us mamas, for they know not what they do, these aliens you have put into our supervisory territory.
We love them deeply and dearly nonetheless.
And what would we do without our recognized moment-by-moment need for You and hearty doses of mama patience, settled nerves and tummies, gentleness and grace?
Amen.
Thank you for joining me for this regularly crazily scheduled moment in my Irwin-adventuresome day!
Never a dull moment here with this darling alien-exploring-her-new-planet on the loose!

that’s all it takes?!

2012-01-17T18:27:00.001-08:00

Mr. Bubble and

4 varying size bowls?!

and a fave-o-rite baby doll?!

Why didn’t anybody tell me the giggles and oodles of non-troubling finding fun we’d have?!
We’ll be making these messes much more often in mama’s kitchen!!

“Do you think she likes it mama?!””Oh honey, I think she’s in love with head dunks…wouldn’t you be?! I’ll try it on you in the bath tonight, and you tell me how you think she felt!” “Okay, fun!”

It doesn’t take much folks!

I don’t know why in tarnation we think they need all these new-fangled gadgets!

Oh the joys of the simpler things!

AND an added bonus…a spickin’ span floor after clean-up!

holding HIS words dear...

2012-01-02T07:26:00.001-08:00

Luke 2:19, 51
...Mary kept all these things to herself, holding them dear, deep within herself.
...His mother held these things dearly, deep within herself.

Even her, the chosen mother, the mama who carried Him within, till the fullness of His birth time, the one who wiped up skinned knees, and cupped handfuls of little boy tears knew the importance of treasuring her Son's, her God's, every word deep within her being, to roll around over and over, and allow them to tenderly penetrate and thus change her life forever.
Shouldn't we have meditative Mary hearts, all the more?

(image credit: redletterchristians.org)

Giving thanks for the valley...

2011-12-11T21:10:00.001-08:00

After speaking of a particularly trying season in her life of deep lack, author Jan Karon speaks of God's goodness in the midst of it all...
"What I learned mostly, however, is that God is faithful. He really does love us. And here's what some may have trouble believing:
HE REALLY DOES WANT THE BEST FOR HIS CHILDREN.
If you're on a painful journey through the valley, ask Him to walk through it with you. Make some chicken soup from chicken bones, and give thanks. And when you finally get to the mountaintop, give thanks for the valley you've just been through. Because you will almost certainly go there again. And again, it will be hard.
But it will be good."
Learning to look for and taste His goodness in times of little and much.
-just a little sheep, following hard after my Good Shepherd, down in the valleys and up and over the mountaintops

let the merry begin!

2011-12-09T13:40:00.000-08:00

through her little lookingglass...

2011-12-02T20:45:00.000-08:00

My theory is that sometimes it's just good...
to get a three year old's perspective
on life
through her lens.

It doesn't matter if it's not perfect, off-kilter, and a little hazy,
as long as it brings a smile...
is all that really matters in her little 3 foot world.

Grace or Law...

2011-11-30T13:26:00.001-08:00

What are you living under?
You already-saved Christians!
Did you begin in the Spirit and are now trying to live out by the law-driven flesh?!
Check this chart to find out and see...

The Grace List
by Tim Kimmel

The Obedience-based Life	vs.	The Grace-based Life
You live to impress God	vs.	You live to trust God
A performance	vs.	A relationship
A duty	vs.	A delight
Predictable	vs.	Fluid
Promotes fear	vs.	Promotes faith
Creates worry	vs.	Creates calm
Masked	vs.	Transparent
Critical Spirit	vs.	Compassionate Spirit
Sense a lot of guilt	vs.	Sense a lot of freedom
Inclines you towards pridefulness	vs.	Inclines you towards humility
Outside-in management	vs.	Inside-out surrender
For “church” people	vs.	For everybody
More natural	vs.	More supernatural
Focuses on being good	vs.	Focuses on being connected
Lends itself to self-righteousness	vs.	Lends itself to organic obedience Praying He makes me a grace-based live-er, more and more. I need it. And so does my family! "And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace." -John 1:16

a baby, an aunty and her cousin!

2011-11-24T20:38:00.000-08:00

What a sweet sweet joy it's been to snuggle this little for the past few days!

Does God give any gifts more precious than these itty bitty lives?!

I truly think not.

Children are a GIFT from the Lord, they are a reward from Him.

-Psalm 127:3

Happy Falloween to you!

2011-10-22T15:28:00.000-07:00

Have you manuevered through the maze yet?!

Go get out there and do it!

Why don't we play crazy with them more often?!

Don't they make life a heap more enjoyable, these littles in our lives?!

And a lot less, "life...just get it done, and get through it."

Seeing more of it down at their level and through their eyes,

sure makes it all seem more grand.

Of such is the kingdom of heaven, in this mama's book.

twins!

2011-10-15T19:49:00.000-07:00

Any happy hen that can labor & deliver
could-have-been-twins in the form of
a hurkin' huge golden egg,
in my urban farmyard,
deserves a big fat badge of hen honor in my book!

Go Happy Hen!!!
And go happy breakfast eaters!

Let's get True-Faced here...

2011-10-15T16:01:00.000-07:00

Let the redeemed of the LORD say so,

Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy...

-Ps. 107:2

Who's got junk in their life?! (big personal hands-up)
Who's got really big messes that need a lot of clean-up?! (big personal hands-up)
Who knows they aren't perfect and really needs a really perfect Savior to get them through life, for pete's sake, through every day for that matter?! (big personal hands-up)

So, I figured if the people whose lives we are around and a part of every day have seen the real true-faced me...why not the worldwideweb?!

I told the hubbs and the pastor, that if only 1 life, 1 family could be enlightened, freed, impacted by the story of a big God fixing a measly little fearful-which-produces-control-or-angry girl...
then it was all worth it.
Worth all the honesty, all the realness, all the ugliness, all the humbling it took, all the courage that had to be drummed up in Him,
to share the beauty He can make out of my ugly mess.
TO HIM BE THE GLORY.
SERIOUSLY.

Which means He can more than make one out of yours too.
He's a more than enough kinda God, that's how I know it's true.

View on and see how I know how (interview done with my hubbs and my pastor for our FearLess series at church this fall)...

Krystal Irwin's full interview from Larry Whitaker on Vimeo.

There is no fear in love;

but perfect LOVE casts out fear,

because fear involves torment.

But he who fears

has not been made perfect in love.

-1 John 4:18

Let Love, Jesus, cast out all fear.

So you can live in freedom

and have abundant life.

In this is perfection,

nothing else.

That IS what He went to the cross for.

If I don't know much of anything else...

I know this much is true.

the transformation...

2011-10-07T19:14:00.000-07:00

is happening before my eyes!

The adventures of happy girl and her Happy Hen...

2011-10-07T19:02:00.000-07:00

Meet happy girl's favorite friend...Happy Hen

Meet happy girl and her daddy's favorite activity with Happy Hen...

Slide Time!

Happy Hen says "it looks kind of yellow and high and slippery"...

"Are you sure about this happy girl?" -Happy Hen

"I'm sure. Now would you just, ugh, work with me here, Happy Hen?!" -happy girl

"What in tarnation just happened to me?!" -Not so Happy Hen

"Blaaahhhh!!!" -Not so Happy Hen

"What.was.that?" -Not so Happy Hen

"Do my wings look like hers?!" -very happy girl

"Whoa! That was awesome!" -still very happy girl

"Can we talk about this?!" -Not so Happy Hen & happy girl's daddy

"I don't feel so happy anymore." -Not so Happy Hen & still very happy girl's daddy

"Now let's try that one more time Happy Hen." -very very happy girl

"Blaaahhhh!!!" -Very Unhappy Hen

"Why I oughtta!" -Very very Unhappy Hen

"Humph. Do my wings still look ok? I'm so going back to my roost." -Very very very Unhappy Hen

"Here I come Happy Hen, let's try that again!" -very very happy girl

"Why are you running away from me Happy Hen?!" -very confused happy girl

"Oh well, there's always 5 other happy hens to go try again with!" -happy happy girl

Jesus FIRST...

2011-10-02T12:27:00.000-07:00

I am listening to my little right now as she cleans up a monster mess she just intentionally dumped on the floor (carpeted floor) with her potato soup lunch.
I could be totally irritated that she would intentionally do this to MY clean floor, right?
But by the grace of God, it is not one of my usual-reactively-freaked out-responding moments.
And by His grace, as I told her to simply go get a wash cloth and take care of the deed herself (because that's what the consequence chart says she is to do, and who can argue with a chart, eh?)

And by His grace, He decided to bless my heart with songs of joy and praise coming out of her mouth while she worked to re-do, fix up and do it right....
"Jesus First
Jesus First
Jesus First in my life."
This must have been a new Sunday School song today because I haven't heard it around these parts before.

Man alive...why can't I remember these moments?

Cuz isn't their reactive-response usually a mirror of ours?!
Big person Freak out = little person freak out
Big person Hooting and Hollering = little person hooting and hollering
Big person Shame = little person feels even more shame
Big person Intimidation = little person feels fear, not love
Big person Condemnation = little person screaming and tears

Big person LOVE and gentleness and patience in the discipline =
gentler, less freaked out and riled up response (not always a given, but much more of a trend)

Responding, not ReAcTiNg...that's what this mama wants to have more of a heart to do.
And I'm sure this girl appreciates it too.
I want her heart to still worship while she works to do right and well and try agains.

Trying, one step at a time, to put Jesus First, over in these here parts.
Mama leading and girl, prayerfully following.
That way, all the rest just seems to fall into place too.

photo credit: chromenstuff.com

a good friend...

2011-09-29T09:20:00.000-07:00

is worth much much more than even fine gold!
Do you have one of these matchy-matching, soul-connecting, smile-evoking,
giggle-sharing, kindred-spiriting girlfriends?
No, you say?
Why then I say...
please do go out and find you one.
Girlfriends,
they do your body good.

my mini learning the sweet sweet joys of a girlfriend!
(photo credit: Blessed and Beautiful Boggs' Blog)

this shout-out goes out to all my dear girls out there...you's know who you's are!

Looking for His kinda rain?

2011-09-28T19:36:00.000-07:00

We are,
over in these here parts.
His rain brings
mercy
grace
shalom
goodness
righteousness
and mostly
LOVE.
More of Him.
That's for sure.
So we keep looking up.
Waiting for more.
Join us?

Do you get lost...

2011-09-28T16:37:00.001-07:00

In these baby blues?

In this heart of gold?

In His intricate hand that weaves so much beauty?

I do.
I surely do.
Every day.

Deep Thoughts from Mitford's Father Tim...

2011-09-25T15:03:00.000-07:00

Isn't it amazing when reading a simple fiction book, for the sole purpose of being lightly feathered off to a quiet, pleasant place, and you come across some deep and abiding truth of Him?
I truly love it when that happens...
"Do not look forward to what may happen tomorrow, the same everlasting Father who cares for you today will take care of you tomorrow and every day. Either He will shield you from suffering, or He will give you unfailing strength to bear it. Be at peace, then, put aside all anxious thoughts and imaginations, and say continually; "The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart has trusted in Him and I am helped. He is not only with me but in me and I in him.""
-St. Francis de Sales
Father Tim of Jan Karon's Mitford series also shared in a most poignant way of his fears relating to his relationship with his own father, which I thought most fitting in the middle of this FearLess series we are going through at church (SFC FearLess sermon series linkage...)
"But, thought Father Tim, hadn't he, too, lived in a prison of his own for years on end, alternating fearing and despising and secretly rebuking his father? As a believer, his freedom in Christ had been severly handicapped for wont of letting go of the old bondage; of the old Adamic bitterness he'd unwittingly nurtured." -Father Tim, A New Song
Are there any fear driven prisons, created by you or others, that you need the shackles broken off of, to fly free as a bird from, right now?
Is your FREEDOM in Christ being handicapped from hanging onto old bondage, being nurtured by you?
Seek Him to see.
Your soul needs it.
Jesus went to the cross to give it
He wants you to live it.

Are you choosing JOY today?

2011-09-19T16:45:00.000-07:00

I'm working on it.
Joy despite the pain, the hurt, the sadness, the battle...whatever is fighting to steal the JOY He wants you to receive and has in abundance for you.
These choices are never easy though, are they?
It seems like it takes work to choose it.
I don't remember Him ever saying any of it would be easy though.
This life.
But I do know the choice is so worth it.
For the good of your soul.

"...for the joy of the LORD is your strength."

-Nehemiah 8:10

Choose HIS joy today as your strength.

Gitzen Girl always talked a lot about that JOY choice on her blog. (just went home to Jesus, after 3 yrs of homebound chronic illness)

"Joy: the unwavering trust that God knows what He’s doing and has blessed me with the opportunity to be a part of it… not despite what’s happening in my life but because of it. When everything earthly feels heavy He gives me an internal lightness that can’t be touched.
That's what it feels like and means to me. Take a minute today to think about what joy is for you and then take it one step further. Take a moment to leave yourself a note... on your nightstand, on your bathroom mirror, by your computer... leave yourself a reminder to stop, take a deep breath and consciously choose joy today.
Trust me, it's worth your time."

(photo credit: Gitzen Girl's blog)

Got a few more moments to soak in some more thoughts on that choice of joy??

More of Gitzen Girl's thoughts on choosing joy (homebound from chronic illness for over 3 years)...

http://gitzengirl.blogspot.com/2008/11/define-joy.html

More thoughts by Ann Voskamp, on choosing joy...
http://www.aholyexperience.com/2011/09/when-longing-to-choose-joy/

More of Life Lately...

2011-08-29T14:04:00.000-07:00

a FREE memory box from Paper Coterie.
DUDES, you have GOT to check them out.
Quality of products = no-others-comparable. Pricing = incredibly affordable.
Freebies = cherry on top!

Tomato firstfruits, hooray!

Irwin Garden Fresh Homemade Pizza!

Chicken Run Fun!

Enjoying Cousin Adam's fabulous pepper-coring creation!

Sold at a Bed, Bath & Beyond near you!

Dehydrating garden herbs for an Irwin Herb creation!

Coming to a kitchen near you soon!

Turning Thirty-Three! Thirties ARE the new Twenties, right?! I'm feelin' it already!

Shooting the girl and her "girls"...

A surprise birthday grown-ups-only trip to Enchanted Forest!

You'd have thought from the looks we got there, that it was illegal to be there without our child or something! ha!

A fabulous ultra-restorative getaway at a pastoral retreat center,

with a 4 mile hike and 10 waterfalls on boot!

As papa says most often at our house...Life is Good folks, Life is Good.

So is God, who makes it Good, for that matter! ;)

Life of Late...

2011-08-10T15:20:00.000-07:00

learning deep hearty lessons about the REST of God available to us...

rejoicing over our first 2 Irwin Funny Farm free range chicken eggs...

family church camping with friends both old and new...

feeding, chasing, kicking at to scare off attacks and playing rowdy with crazy Irwin chicks...

being SO richly blessed by gracious gifts from dear dear friends (we'll leave their reward treasures in heaven and let them remain nameless)...

surviving (quite well) our 2nd visit to the dentist...

birthday-call-skype'ing with mi Tica Familia in Costa Rica...

having crazy naked playdates...

enjoying new creations in the kitchen from our Bountiful Baskets weekly produce goods...

making super-instant-grow-a-friends Boggs Fam Extraordinaire!...

playing with lighting on the camera to determine if it's time to use techno savings on an upgrade...

stepping up into the 3's & 4's...

installing garage sale super-finds...

being sobered by the Traveling Wall of Veterans...

acting crazy with the neighbors...

family reunion'ing with Dutch visitors...

painting pretty piggies...

pedal boating often...

daily life'ing it...

celebrating Aunt Kitty's big 3-0!

need I say more...

What makes my heart sing in the wee late hours of this dark eve?!

2011-08-06T22:15:00.000-07:00

The most beautiful, freshly discovered, hay covered, warm & squishy inside, first born ever, golden ticket,

joy and pride producing

first fruits, free-range Irwin Funny Farm chicken egg,

you ever did see.

Your literal labors have paid off girls.

We've done our job and now you've done yours.

Welcome home, to urban farmstead sustainable living, Irwin family, welcome home.

"...and bring your father and your families back to me.
I will give you the best of the land of Egypt
and you can enjoy the fat of the land."
-Genesis 45:18

Do you ever just stare at them in wonder?

2011-08-03T21:48:00.000-07:00

I did that today. Stared at you in wonder.
I was lying by you, sweet sleepy thing, just staring at your deep breathing chest, your wholly peaceful face, your settled soul, fully at rest, all nooked up, under my arm, and I first I was in awe...that God gave you to me, gifted me your life in my womb, then brought your fullness into my arms.
And now almost 3 years later, you're still here, your fullness, still in my arms.
And it made me want to rest like that, all nooked up, under my Father's arm.
Finding deep breaths, sweet rest, soul settling and constant peace too.
I love you so my sweet, wild, joy-filled, crazy-when-you're-awake child.
I love our moments together, when you don't even know I'm watching, taking you all in.
I'll never stop.
-mama

He went to OUR Jesus...

2011-07-25T12:35:00.000-07:00

We had a man die who attended our church this past week, who Will had been able to connect with and encourage the family throughout his leaving-to-be-with-Jesus state.
So, death was being unusually spoken about more often in the home, for our little almost-three year old.
When we were on a family drive last night the Little Bug spoke up loudly, obviously out of her own conversation going on in her head, from the backseat...
"Craig died." (pause)
"He went to be with Jesus." (pause)
"Our Jesus."
I looked at the hubs, as if to say...did you tell her that?
He looked back at me with that look that said...kind of sort of not really exactly like that.
Hmmm...
I guess our wee one had been gathering her own little bitty BIG thoughts, this week, about life and death and where we go and WHO we are with when we get there.

Where he went, Father, may she also be someday.

In Your arms for eternity.
With You as HER Jesus too.
And grant me that simple, matter-of-fact,
confident, no qualms or questions asked about it kind of childlike faith,
that just knows that she knows that she knows,
where we will go someday and that we'll all meet again
with OUR Jesus forever too.

(photo credit to Live to Worship blog)

An exciting new book-maker!!

2011-07-05T20:18:00.000-07:00

So, I'd heard the name of this company going around Blog-dom
and finally decided to try them out for myself.
Paper Coterie
Doesn't the name just sound fun and fresh?!
Well, they just so happened to totally and completely live up to that ring!
I've been wanting to create a journal for my cheeky and full-o-sass little two-point-five year old to record and forever remember, for her and for us, all of the craziness that comes out of that mouth all.day.long.
When I saw that Paper Coterie had a coupon code for journals for, wait for this...
FREE...
I jumped all over it and ordered right up!
Shipping was my only fee!
So, you can imagine my excitement as the days ticked off the calendar to receive my FREE treasure!
What stay-at-home-mama doesn't love a good freebie?!
When it arrived and sunk into my happy little hands,
my pleasure increased the second I opened it up and the contents spilled onto my lap!
I'll just give you a little guided tour of the treasure trove itself.
These P.C. people think of everything, down to the very last drop...

The packaging, ahhhh....

A mini letter in a darling bite-sized envelope for me?!?!

What?! WHO are you people, to send me a necklace to boot?!

I have already sported it, often.

Could the cuteness factor even rate any higher?!

A welcome to the circle note!

And then the glory unfolded!

Ahhh, need I say more?!

Incredibly quality and professionally done, beautiful product!

Not a beat was missed!

Dearest Paper Coterie People,

That's it, you did it, I am forever yours.

Happy 4 years...

2011-07-01T17:56:00.000-07:00

of shepherding your flock of littles and their families, lovey!
So proud to be your wifey,
so proud to be the mama of your girl,
so proud to be the one to hold up your arms,
so proud to be the 1st hearer of your sermons,
so proud to watch you shape little hearts and minds,
so proud to be with you celebrating the beauty of His body,
so proud to be by your side on the days when it's a little more tough than beauty,

so proud to be the prayer for your soul,
so proud to be the one waiting for you when you get home,
so proud to be the one cheering for you from the crowd,
so proud to be the one giving back to you when you give out so much,
so proud to be the one following your lead,
so proud to be the one making you a home,
so proud to have your people as my people and your God as my God.
Thank you Sutherlin Family Church for giving us such a beloved home for 4 years now.
Thank you Pastor Will Irwin for drawing me, your beloved, into this amazing life with you.
And thank you our beloved Jesus, that by your precious grace, you've considered us worthy of this call and have sustained us thus far.
Here's to many many more!!

a tribute to my Abba Father...

2011-06-19T10:31:00.000-07:00

See how very much our Father loves us,

for He calls us His children,

and that is what we are!

-1 John 3:1, NLT

Thank you for this love gift, Father.

-your grateful daughter

a tribute to my baby's daddy...

2011-06-19T10:09:00.000-07:00

I was just pondering how my baby's daddy loves her most

and I was reminded of the quote that says something like...

"How do you love a child best? By loving her mother well." -author unknown

And I was thinking therefore...

that even if her two-point-five-year-old mind can't fully comprehend it now,

how incredibly loved, and deeply blessed and secure my itty girl must feel.

Because her daddy sure loves her mama well.

What a picture she has of her Abba Father's love through her daddy here on earth.

I pray, even as I type, that it is this LOVE

that she stands firm and unshakeable in for the rest of her days on earth.

a tribute to my daddy...

2011-06-19T08:34:00.000-07:00

Dayspring Product Review: I AM A CHILD OF GOD wall art!!

2011-06-13T17:27:00.000-07:00

First of all, I just have to shout out from the rooftops how incredibly ecstatic I was to receive a real-live-no-cost gift in the mailbox addressed just for ME! What girl wouldn't be jumping up and down excited for that?! The only thing asked for in return is that I complete and post a product review on my fabulous new gift! That's what I call a seriously sweet deal! I'm telling ya, what girl's heart would be encouraged and lifted up by that?! And encouragement just happens to be kind of a big deal at Dayspring this month! Encouraging products (Dayspring's online shop), encouraging writings ((In)courage's home)...it's all looming in the sweet and (in)couraging air!
So, anyways, on with my thoughts on what encourages me and how this lovely little boldly-stated wall plaque affirmed what I feel God has been speaking over me in loud volumes and whispering into my heart over the past few months...

I AM A CHILD OF GOD...do you know this? (And isn't this plaque just too simply sweet?!)
Does it stir something in your heart...like...I sure wish I could say that as confidently as that plaque seems to shout it?
After recently reading a couple of books about allowing truth to take place over lies in my heart, (Victory over the Darkness, The Bondage Breaker and the e-book Core Lies), along with memorizing scriptures that speak more of what I am, rather than what I am not, I have begun to experience and take in deep, restful, peace-bringing breaths over the truth of who I am IN Christ, Who He is to me, and just who I am to Him. Here's a few of those truths...

My belief is that if the enemy knows he can't steal our eternity away, he'll attempt to steal our sanity away, for the rest of our days on earth, by coaxing us to believe un-truths about who we are in Jesus.

So, when I was looking through the featured products available for review this month, I saw this I AM A CHILD OF GOD plaque, I knew this was the one! One more piece to be added to my puzzle of truth-speaking, over the lies of what I can choose to believe on a daily basis, the fact that I am a chosen child of God. Which also reminds me that I am SO deeply loved, cherished and delighted in by my Abba Father that nothing can cross into the path of my life without His loving hand sifting over it first, to determine what He knows is best, and is in His most good and loving plan for my life, to mold and shape me more into His Son's image. What father or mother does not want what is ultimately best and will make for the most holy success of his/her child?
What else blesses and encourages my heart, in knowing with full confidence that I am a CHILD of the most-high God? That in those moments when I am most haggard and tapped out and wanting to totally FREAK out (I may or may not have had one of these days with my two-point-five year old for the past 4 hours) I can stretch on His lap, just like she does on mine, and nestle into His chest, listening to my Father's heartbeat, allowing my deep sobs to slow to that rhythm of His love for me. The heartbeat that speaks...I love you, you're safe, you're secure, I am here to lay down my life for you, to serve you and to hold you when it matters most.
These are only a few of the things that this truth of...I AM A CHILD OF GOD speak to me.
Do you know these things?
Do you place these truths around you, allowing them to speak over you when you forget to speak them to yourself?
I hope so.
I pray so, actually.
Because we children need these reminders until the day that we go home to be with Him, if we're going to make it through with our heads and hearts held high towards heaven while we finish our days on this earth.
What does I AM A CHILD OF GOD speak to you?

Say it...

Say it again...

And again...

(I decided the wall art's final landing spot is here, right below the family silhouette section of the home,

so that I can not only remind myself of who I am, but to teach her daily of who SHE is too.)

So, say it one final time...

Until it is embedded so deep that nothing can shake it.
That no enemy can steal it.
That no one can speak lies over you that say anything different.
Until you can take a deep, restful, peace-bringing breath over the truth of who you are IN Jesus and what that means to your Abba Father.
There now...do you feel encouraged?
I sure do.

P.S...want this wall art up in your own home?! Go find it at...I AM A CHILD OF GOD.

Disclosure: I was provided with this piece of wall art from DaySpring at no charge to facilitate this review. All thoughts and opinions stated are my own.

THE talk...

2011-04-09T21:12:00.000-07:00

I'm pretty sure I just had my first "talk" with my two-point-five-year-old.
You know.
THE talk.
Like the birds and the bees kind of talk.
Seriously?
What in tarnation?!
NO ONE told me, I'd have to be prepared for this business SO stinkin' early!
Where have I been people?!
Our snuggle-at-bedtime convo just went a little somethin' like this after our snuggle-prayer time (in which we prayed for health and protection for the little cousin in the womb of her Aunt Suzanna):

Anna: I'm gonna have a baby too.
Mama: (choking, gasping, grasping the air for words) Oh wow! Not for a really long time, honey. Not until you're really old like mama. And there's a daddy too. And you're like married. With a ring on your finger. Like mama's ring on my finger that daddy gave her when we got married.**
**Can you tell I'm doing some serious stumbling and bumbling around in the dark. Literal and figurative dark?! Because I TOTALLY was.
Anna: What's married?
Mama: Ummmm, it's where a daddy gives a mommy a ring, and they stay together forever.
Anna: Oh. I don't want a ring on my finger.

END.of.convo.
NO.more.baby.talk.

Think I diverted that one ok? Bahahahahah!
Calling all veteran mamas HEEELLLLLPPPPP!!!!

And mommy and daddy made one.

Did you cry when...

2011-03-24T20:34:00.000-07:00

you first discovered your toilet training toddler standing on a stool so she could turn on the bathroom light, then dragging the stool over to the toilet, while tripping over her pulled-down pants and panties, to step up, sit on the potty and go, for the first time, on her own? WITHOUT telling you she was going or asking for your help?!
Hold on, let me go check with myself to verify, but I'm pretty sure, I actually just melted over it.
Where does the time go and who took my itty bitty away?!

TOTALLY…

2011-03-08T20:08:00.001-08:00

It’s the most hilarious, freaky, weird, gut-laugh-provoking, scary thing when you have a mini-voice-recorder following you around all day long, parroting back to you every.single.word.you.say.

Case in point #1…

The word TOTALLY (emphasis on the TOE-tally)

“Adv. totally - to a complete degree or to the full or entire extent (`whole' is often used informally for `wholly')”

Synonyms…all, altogether, completely, entirely, whole, wholly

Conversations with proof of proper adverb usage…

Mama: So-and-so sure is a good friend for you, isn’t she Anna?

Anna: She so TOTALLY is.

Mama: You like cheerios don’t you, honey?

Anna: Oh, I so TOTALLY do.

Anna: Hi GG!

Mama: Oh, so I’m your GG now, huh? (GG=Anna’s great-grandma)

Anna: You so TOTALLY are my GG friend.

Well, I guess I’m glad she’s getting “all, altogether, completely, entirely, whole, wholly” of something I’m spoutin’ off in this home!

But WHUT in tarnation happened to my innocent two-and-a-half year old and who sent over the fifteen-year-old-full-of-tude?! When you find my itty bitty bundle of pink fluff, can you send some of the innocence (of mouth) back please?

A GIVEAWAY!

2011-02-08T13:32:00.000-08:00

By one of my dear ole friends (I was her boss, she was my boss, we was our boss, and then we were our boss' friends and then we were our friends' bosses and then we were just friends--sisterfriends connected at the heart, at that)!!!
But now that she's skipped right on outta town and sought out the warm sunny rays of Cali, she owns Kia Gregory Photography in Central Valley, CA. Kia is giving away some jewels from Stella & Dot jewelry on her blog right now and I WANT IT!!! (Kia Gregory Photography Giveaway Link)
So, here's your postage, sister KG!
Sure hope I win!
And to all the rest of you in Central Valley Cali...go get you some photographic family artwork done by her!!!!! She's unbeatable!
And now, because this postage is ALL about you Kia Gregory, and just because I can, I am going to highlight your beauty and why EVERYone in Central Valley Cali should go find you!!!!

Cuz really, who could ever resist this gorgeous face

that NEVER ceases to bring deep hearty laughs and joy to my heart whenever we are together...

So, don't just take my word for it folks, go see her work for yourselves at:
http://www.kiagregoryphotography.com/index2.php#/home/

You won't be disappointed!

Feeding the Yammies!!!!

2011-01-30T14:53:00.001-08:00

This post goes out to our fabuloso friends who allowed us to crash their peaceful Friday morning to visit their friendly yammies (lambies, in Anna-speak)!!!

We are SOOOO grateful, M & B!!

You know when you have taken so many pictures of a treasured event, and you love them all so much, that you have a terribly difficult time narrowing them down to your absolute favorites for a succint and quick post?! Well, this is one of those times. So, consider yourself fairly warned that this is some photo-heavy-postage!

When we arrived, all bundled up in our allowed-to-be-soiled-farm-wear, Anna got to start up the morning by mixing the yammie milk on her own (well, maybe with a little help from her friends)!!

And off she went with her mt. dew-yammie-bottle in hand!

This yittow yammie has been rejected by her mama yammie and is therefore needing 4x a day feedings by bottle—gooooo Michelle!

She was ONE happy yammie-feeder!

And then the yammie yicked her finger! “That tickowed!”

Some yammie-yub (lambie love)…

The mama-yammies…

The perfect yittow white easter yammie that Michelle made sure Bill chased down just for our photo opps (we sure have fun and gracious friends, don’t we?!)…

Daddy and Mama got to yub on the yammies too!

I never knew cute-snuggly-perfect-white-easter-yammies were so snuggly!!

And then the mama got pee’d on by the cute-snuggly-perfect-white-easter-yammie…

And then we went home.

No, not really.

But those jeans really did go in the washer as soon as we walked in the door. Good thing we were wearing our allowed-to-be-soiled-farm-wear!!

Thanks for the day at the yammie farm, M & B!!!

You made our Friday extry-special and good!

Check This Canvas Out!!!

2011-01-29T15:11:00.000-08:00

So, a few months back, one of my nearest and dearest's
sent me a forward on a possible FREEBIE on a photo canvas job, since she knew I'd been dreaming about wall art around my home with some of the work she has done (Captivating Photography & Design Co.)
or some from our wedding day.
Sounds simple enough right?
But isn't there always a "catch" with these freebie deals?
(I'm totally not-so-sold on the couponing craze for this reason, in fact.)
No. Not so much. Not always. Not with Zaza Gallery.
All I had to do was place an advertising link to their site on my blog page
and write up a post on my product satisfaction
when she was all made up and prettied in my home.
Well, here she is folks!!!
Isn't she a beauty!!
And the incredibly fast and competent customer service, quality of craftmanship and print,
the image wrapping job, and beauty of the finished product pretty much speaks for itself.
So, I'll just stop there and let you all see and let Zaza's work speak for itself.
And then go get yourself over to their site and ordering some canvas work, you WON'T be disappointed...

BIG SHOUT OUT AND HUGE THANKS FOR MAKING MY HOME A HAPPIER AND MORE BEAUTIFIED PLACE TO THE TEAM AT ZAZA GALLERY!!!

The FEET!

2011-01-27T13:40:00.000-08:00

Praying so hard already that these little feet

would grow up and walk closely and quickly towards Jesus

and then lead other little feet His way too...

How beautiful on the mountains are the FEET

of those who bring good news of peace and salvation,

the news that the God of Israel reigns! -Is 52:7

Just in awe...

2011-01-23T14:33:00.000-08:00

of how God takes ONE + ONE and makes ONE.

And how they are such a perfect

mini mixture of the TWO.

Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous--
and how well I know it.
-Ps. 139:14

Now these are the days of our lives...

2011-01-21T20:09:00.000-08:00

Does anything else seem to consume your life
like these "days of our lives"????
I'm only a veteran mama of a whoppin' two years...
and I already think not.
"Designate a place outside the camp where you can go to relieve yourself." -Deut 23:12

Do you think this counts as a place outside the camp???

This MAMA...

2011-01-13T09:08:00.000-08:00

don't clean up your tantrum-highchair-tray-throwing-loving-mess. Especially when it's crumbly scrambled mushy eggs. YUCK. You get your own little mini-vac out and regulate that under-the-table "situation", we'll call it.
YES, we are learning these personal responsibility and accountability lessons young in this house.And now I have this really strange feeling that because of the two-year-old-techno empowerment this created, I will be having many more mornings filled with messes.
I guess that's some personal accountability for this MAMA too.
"Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it." -Prov. 22:6
Funny how we're all gettin' trained in this process.
Does this verse also promise that she'll never turn from vacuuming my house either?!
That makes it worth every battle. ;)

No WONDER…

2010-11-23T13:26:00.001-08:00

they call it a winter WONDERland!

This girl was full of it today!

Wonder and delight was spouting out of every last inch of her this morning when she awakened to her first rememberable snowfall!!!

“It’s painted mama, it’s painted!”

“Yes, baby, God sure does some marvelous and wondermous work with His paintbrush on our land!”

“Therefore once more I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder”

–Isaiah 29:14

You yub me yike daddy does??

2010-11-21T14:39:00.001-08:00

Do you know how much your Abba, Daddy, Papa, Father loves you?

What if you did?

Would it change the whole wide world for you?

Would it cause you to fear less and trust and rest more?

Would everything else pale in comparison to it?

Would it cause you to step out in obedience to what He asked you to do more often, because you knew He would catch you even if you slipped and fell?

My tender two year old is learning all about her daddy’s love for her here on earth, and I pray it endears her heart to her heavenly Father’s deep and lavish love for her, one day too.

She’s been drawing comparative conclusions in that little amazing mind of hers and one of her favorite lines these days is…

mama: “Anna, I love you.”

Anna: “So much?”

mama: “SO much, honey.”

Anna: “Aw da time?”

mama: “All the time.”

Anna: “Yike daddy does?”

mama: “Yep baby, just like daddy does.”

Anna: “I yub you so much, aw da time, yike daddy does too.”

Can you tell what truths she’s been listening to and learning about, every day, all the time? Nothing else on earth really matters or compares to her daddy’s love for her. It all pales in comparison to that and brings her confidence to go forth into the budding new world around her.

Nuzzle up to your Abba Father. Every day. All the time.

Let Him get really close to your ear and listen to His loving whisperings, letting you know that He is your daddy and HE…

yubs you

so much

aw da time.

And I think just maybe, that all the other worrisome/difficult/scary/painstaking/fearful/challenging stuff will just fade away into the background as you soak in this truth of how much your Daddy loves you…

aw da time.

“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!”

-1 John 3:1

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us.

-1 John 4:18, 19

She inspires me to…

2010-09-28T19:41:00.001-07:00

higher heights.

always be willingly available to HIM.

love unabashedly.

live more greenly.

to be a fool for HIM.

be okay with messes, relationally and materially.

allow courage to squash my fears.

live unhindered by stuff.

not make little stuff a big deal.

laugh a lot.

be flexible.

not miss out on the grand adventure of life.

be sensitive to the voice of His Spirit.

live graciously.

let things go.

live on little or much.

pray.

be content.

have fun.

let your kids be kids.

not be driven by my emotions.

forgive.

play with my kids.

be aware of and stand firm against the enemy’s attacks.

let light shine on dark places.

be who God made me to be.

live victoriously in HIM.

be transparently real.

confess and find healing and forgiveness.

be willing to give it all up for HIM.

to be free in Jesus.

Got to hold up the arms of this dear friend this past weekend, while God used her to speak into the lives of many women at a conference, to help them find simplicity in their walk with Him. While doing that, I was bowled over by how much she has taught me, well really, that HE has taught me through her (this list is only the beginning), over our 12+ year friendship. Could ya'll just go get one of "her" in your life?!

Looking forward to many more to come too, my dear and precious and inspiring Seren.

Park n’ Pears!

2010-09-26T20:41:00.001-07:00

warning…photo heavy postage!
Can’t say I didn’t warn ya by the end! ;)

We had one lil worn out tot by the end of the day today!

While mama went lap swimming, daddy and his crazy girl went to the park…

And then we all ventured out to the pear orchard where a gracious friend was handing out all we could take!

Yum-to-the-O!!

The photos don’t need much on the comment end of things, so I’ll just leave the little pear-happy-monkey to speak for herself!

…She even tried her hand at her own tot-photog work!!

Wonder where she gets her crazies?!

Pure unadulterated love for her daddy…

And all the way home, all we heard was “mama, I sticky”…

Um, can ANYONE tell me...

2010-09-21T20:14:00.000-07:00

WHAT IN TARNATION HAPPENED

TO THE ITSY BITSY BABY I GAVE BIRTH TO,
JUST A LITTLE OVER TWO YEARS AGO??!!!
Because this sassyfrassy with the car keys, her own ride
and the I'm-a-big-kid-now boots and ballcap
is giving me too much of a glimpse into my not-so-distant future.
Anyone? Anyone?

I see HIM in you...

2010-09-09T08:28:00.000-07:00

I have a dear dear friend of whom has allowed me to walk very closely with her lately through some very dark valleys and very high mountaintop spots. I have been deeply honored to be so near to her through it all. I had a write-because-I-must moment the other night after I had been to visit her to run some errands and allow her some respite time for sleep. As I left that day, and was realizing some things about how she was handling it all, in the grip of God's grace, I wanted to honor her in it. Give tribute to the way she is offering up her all, her little and her much to Him, to work in and through her to bring Him glory. It's working. He's been glorified in my eyes through her and it's been quite the sight to behold. She is a true picture to me of the treasure we hold in earthen vessels, being cracked pots so His bright light can boldly shine through. Here's a little glimpse into what I have been seeing with my own two eyes...

I see HIM in you...

I know you say you're worn to the bone,
but I see HIM in you...
and HE "never faints nor grows weary".
I know you say you have no words,
but I see HIM in you...
and HE said "I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say".
I know you say that your light is almost burned out,
but I see HIM in you...
and HE is the "Light of the world" and a "smoldering wick, He will not snuff out".
I know you say you have no fight left in you to handle one more attack,
but I see HIM in you...
and HE is the Victor over all battles.
I know you say your knees are weak and you can't even lift up your arms,
but I see HIM in you...
anad HE "strengthens the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees".
I know you say there are moments you are scared beyond sanity,
but I see HIM in you...
and HE is the God of all reason and peace and a sound mind.
I know you say your heart is cracked in half and broken by the pain,
but I see HIM in you...
and HE is whole and complete.
I know you say your tank is completely empty and dry,
but I see HIM in you...
and HE is the Living Water that fills you right up.
I know you say that you are so very very weak,
but I see HIM in you...
and HE is oh so very perfectly Strong.
I know you say you can't brave one more storm,
but I see HIM in you...
and HE is the Calmer and Authority over all the wind and waves.
I know you say you wish you had multiple clones of yourself to take care of it all,
but I see HIM in you...
and HE is more than enough to cover it all.
I know you say you can't even seem to form your prayers,
but I see HIM in you...
and HE is the Great Interceder on your behalf.
I know you say you don't think you could even cry any more tears,
but I see HIM in you...
and HE is the Bottler and Storer of all you have shed.
I know you say you've never been so tired in your life,
but I see HIM in you...
and HE never slumbers nor sleeps, so you can find rest in Him.
I know you say you feel completely overwhelmed,
but I see HIM in you...
and HE is the Great Overcomer of all overwhelming things.
I know you say you can't go on,
but I see HIM in you...
and HE will be the Finisher of the good work He began.
I know you say you are so deeply sad,
but I see HIM in you...
and HE is the Joy Maker and Laughter Giver.
I know you say it seems like the grief couldn't get any deeper,
but I see HIM in you...
and HE is the great Comforter.
I know you say it seems you are walking through the valley of the shadow of death,
but I see HIM in you...
and HE is the Resurrector and Life Giver of all.
I know you say you feel completely helpless,
but I see HIM in you...
and HE is the great "Helper".
I know you say the hurts ache too much,
but I see HIM in you...
and HE is the Distributor of the healing balm of life.
I know you say you don't know or understand the reasons why,
but I see HIM in you...
and HE is the God who knows all.

HE is all of this and more in you
and I see HIM, the Great I AM,
shining bright and true.

2 Corinthians 4:7-12...
But we have this treasure in jars of clay,
to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.
We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed;
perplexed, but not driven to despair;
persecuted, but not forsaken;
struck down, but not destroyed;
always carrying in the body the death of Jesus,
so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.
For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake,
so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
So death is at work in us, but life in you.

When did you get big enough???

2010-09-07T20:51:00.001-07:00

When did you get big enough...

to look into the depths of my soul with these deep blue gems and already know me better than I know myself sometimes? And then ask me the most cavernous of thought-provoking questions already when I didn't even know you were aware of that part of our existence?!

When did you get big enough to dress like SuperGirl?!

When did you get big enough to start packing YOUR own baby around on YOUR back?!

When did you get big enough to have color draping time with "the girls"?!

When did you get big enough to hold your very own six-shooter and point it at my face?!

When did you get big enough to delight in feeding your own baby her milk?!

When did you get big enough to start chillaxin' in your own recliner?!

When did you get big enough to start stealing mama's Ipod to play your own games?!

When did you get big enough to start dressing up with the big girls in the photo booth?!

When did you get big enough to start helping daddy with his woodworking projects?!

When did you get big enough to start lounging on the couch, ordering your mama maid around when you're feeling mighty sick?!

When did you get big enough to hold your own rind and start eating melon like you're just big stuff?!

When did you get big enough to start drawing attention to yourself at a party by doing acrobatics on the chair and cracking yourself up over it?!

When did you get big enough to start picking apples in the next door mini-orchard?!

When did you get big enough to start delighting in yourself on the mini-screen video cam?!

When did you get big enough to start mimicking mama's cheesy grins?!

When did you get big enough to start watering the yard in your mini-pink-Converse high tops?!

When did you get big enough to start sharing silly giggly secrets with your dear friend?!

When did you get big enough to start sliding by yourself?!

When did you get big enough to start going to five-day-club next door and start hearing about Jesus' love?!

When did you get big enough to start picking the garden's first fruits?!

When did you get big enough to want a girl's first pedi?! And then know how to blow on your own toes to dry them?!

When did you get big enough to start hangin' with the girls (and boy)?!

When did you get big enough to start helping other babies out?!

When did you get big enough to change your own baby's diaps?!

When did you get big enough to have your very own backpack?!

When did you get big enough to start sharing snacks with friends?!

When did you get big enough to start helping babies walk?!

When did you get big enough to know how to pose a cheeser pose?!

When did you get big enough to sass your mama so much?!

When did you get big enough to steal your mama's bday cake when she wasn't even looking?!

When did you get big enough to educate your daddy in baking rules?!

When did you get big enough to start licking the after-baking spoon?!

When did you get big enough to get a big-girl cut?!

When did you get big enough to throw your own pacies away?!

When did you get big enough to start asking for daily trailer rides?!

When did you get big enough to be daddy's belle of the ball?! Or a wild flower-tossin' girl?!

When did you get big enough to swing poi balls like your mama?!

When did you get big enough to hold the boat from drifting?!

When did you get big enough to start showing love to friends?!

When did you get big enough to start delighting in babies too?!

Oh that's right, it was all just before you turned TWO!!!!

Although, I still can't believe you're BIG ENOUGH.

Bedtime I loveitwhen's...

2010-07-20T19:24:00.001-07:00

Anna-bug,
Ever since we've changed your sleeping arrangement into your big girl toddler bed, mama has exceedingly enjoyed our snuggle time as I lay with and sing to you to help lull you down to sleep or in your words... "mommyrockyou" for the night.
I was thinking the other night, as I was laying next to your warm snuggly body about all the many I loveitwhen's about these evening times together and how I wouldn't give them up for ANYthing.

Here are just a few...
I loveitwhen you know your little routine and nothing or noone in the world can change just one little bit about it...pacie, blankie, hula-girl, story from daddy, prayer and mama-too.
I loveitwhen in desperation you cry out "Iholdmama" or "mommyrockyou" to let me know just how much you need your mama, even when you don't show it much all the day long.
I loveitwhen your crazy fluffy-haired head takes over my face and I just get to breath every last sweet-smelling hair in.
I loveitwhen you squeeze your little body into a little ball and fit right into mama's body, spoon-style.
I loveitwhen I stop humming our praise songs because I can tell you are finally settling down for the night and I can step out and let you fall off to dreamland on your own...and you start humming into the dark room just to let me know you are not quite ready to be done singing our praise songs yet.
I loveitwhen we go for a few more rounds.
I loveitwhen the only sound in the dark quiet peaceful room is our unified breath in and out, in and out.
I loveitwhen your little hand reaches up and strokes mama's arm, just like I'm stroking yours. You're not a readily affection little love bug so mama drinks in every last little touch you'll give her.
I loveitwhen you reach over and drop a pacie in mama's hand, sharing your little comforts with mama because I might just need one too.
I loveitwhen our heads are laying on the same pillow, facing each other and I'm inhaling your sweet breath that I've known and cherished for 23 months long already.
I loveitwhen there's just enough light in the room to see your little adoring face staring at me, smiling, just because you love me and know I love you too.
I loveitwhen I get up to leave, every night, and you look up and say with your most pleading voice...mommyrockyou...because you're just not quite done with my presence beside you yet. And I always lay back down for a couple more rounds of a couple more songs because I'm not quite done with your presence beside me yet either.
I loveitwhen I hear your sweet breaths slowing down and deepening into a restful pace and place.
I loveitwhen I can just sense God's peace wrapping us up for the night, letting us know He's going to hold us both so gently tight.
I loveitwhen I quietly step out of the room and already can't wait to see your joy-filled face in just a few short hours (some nights shorter than others) because I'm already going to miss you so.

As I pondered all of these I loveitwhen's the other night, I felt God's whisper speaking to me that He has a lot of I loveitwhen's with me, His child, too.
I want to enter into His embrace in those moments of peace and sweetness with Him nightly too.
And I especially can't wait until you know my Heavenly Father and His rest, peace, embrace and sweetness too.
Thank you my sweet-precious-enjoyable-child, for giving mama so many opportunities for knowing Him and how He relates to me as His sweet-precious-enjoyable-child too.

What a Joy

2010-07-01T07:16:00.000-07:00

Over the last four and half years I have lived with Krystal as my bride and my wife. I have had a front row seat to watch a woman exemplify what it means to be a to be a wife. Krystal has the unique gift of being able to make our house feel so inviting and special. I know every wife can find some more dirt they wished they had time to clean, but our home is always organized...always cozy...always the perfect place for the three of us. It is a tiresome to faithfully do the job but Krystal does it with Joy.

No only is our house beautifully kept it is perfectly decorated. Colors match (that is a big deal coming from a male-I can't even figure which socks go together)...furniture is situated to give ample space and yet make every seat feel like you are part of the conversation...Every picture and frame work together to reveal our family personality.

In the midst of making our house a home, Krystal is also training up a child in the way she should go. Krystal does more than plop Anna down in front of the TV so she can go about her business. She involves Anna in the process.

Anna is learning to cook...

Anna is learning to clean...

Anna is learning to Organize!!!

Anna is learning to love like Jesus...

After all that Krystal still has the time to be my best friend. I love you Krystal.

Some thoughtful thoughts...

2010-06-01T09:12:00.001-07:00

from a quick read I just finished called "The Quilt" by T. Davis Bunn.

You know when you read a book and you just don't want to forget some deep thoughts that seemed to express a concept in your own heart that you could never put into words so gracefully??

It was about an elderly woman who decides in her last arthritic-hands driven days, she is being asked by the Lord to make her last quilt. Now, this just isn't any old quilt. This is a quilt in which "not a stitch is out of place, not a piece of material is laid wrong". It must be the "very best quilt she's ever made". And the most important thing about it is that "for every stitch that goes into this quilt, she wanted everyone who worked on it to say a prayer. And it can't be just any prayer. It has to be a prayer of thanksgiving." Because..."far too little thanks is given these days, and with everything the Lord gives us, all we can think of is what we don't have. Like a bunch of spoiled children." It was not to be a quilt that anyone laid claim on, but the Lord.

For more thoughts on this matter of contentment with what we have, please hear my pastor Paul's words on our present richness...
http://oursfc.org/Sermon/sermon.php?ID=217
http://oursfc.org/Sermon/sermon.php?ID=218

Here's a few more of Miss Mary's quotes on men that I want to remember in my marriage...
"That's the only thing that makes most men worth living with, fact that they've got a little bit of the little boy inside them. Keep that little boy laughing and you've got a happy man on your hands."
"Every man needed the chance to set down his guard from time to time, she'd always told anybody who'd listen. The problem was, most men got so used to working in a world that called for invisible armor all the time, they forgot they were even wearing it."

And some thoughts on God's word and thankfulness too...
"He read from Romans 1:21 'For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.' Nor gave thanks to Him, Mary repeated. Isn't that something. We're not just talking about some little act we can take on when times are good and there's a few extra minutes lying about. Paul says just plain as the nose on your face that this is one of the most basic responsibilities we have. We must glorify our God and we must give thanks to Him. All the sins and all the confusion that Paul talks about for the rest of that chapter stem from people not doing those two things."
"...give thanks to the Lord your God every day...it truly is the way to knowing the peace that surpasses all understanding."

Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, WITH THANKSGIVING, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. -Phil 4: 5-7

Enter His gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; gives thanks to Him and praise His name. For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations. -Psalm 100:4,5

Hope some of that blesses your socks off too.
Aloha.

Do you think it means she loves me…

2010-05-26T21:03:00.001-07:00

when this…

acquires the name “Trytle” (Krystal) or “Mama”??

I’m not quite sure.

But I figured seeing the care she gave and the tenderness she loved on her with, I decided…I’ll take it!

Trytle got a try of all of Ah-Ah’s (her self-pronounced name) snacks…

She and her friends had some quality rocking and lullaby time in the bassinet…

And then there was a minor catastrophe when the bassinet “bhoke”…

Mama’s response…“I don’t know honey, it could be that you’re rocking them at 90 degree angles.”

“Or that you stuffed 52 of them in there at once”…

We righted it back up, and then moved right along.

Trytle even got her diaper changed…

She supposedly had a bad bum rash and needed “meh-cine” to help her out…

“Honey, we usually don’t put dirty diapers on babies faces. Is that what mama does to you??”

Well, as long as you love me up afterwards, I guess it really doesn’t matter…

Or just sling me over your shoulder caveman style, that works too.

As long as I get tucked in with some hugs and kisses and put to bed at night with my 52 friends in my bassinet, all is well in this house.

My cup runneth over with love and admiration from my wee one.

Thanking God today!!

2010-05-09T14:53:00.000-07:00

for the gift of my mama and for the gift of being able to be a mama.

(photo credit to Captivating Photography & Design Co.)

Got to wake up at my mama's house this weekend, after spending the weekend there on "retreat" since the hubbs was off at his little sis' graduation in Idaho. Spent a few days refreshing, reflecting and restoring and also had a chance to realize just how loved I am by my mama through all the kazillion ways she shows it. There is nothing she wouldn't sacrifice for her chicks, whether in the nest or out. I can only pray that my little bug will someday know the depth of her mama's love for her too. It's a good place to find rest and peace.
The best gift I could have received today was opened up when I peered over at the Bug's monitor this morning and watched my girl counting 1...2...3...4 as she passed her pacifiers from one pile to the next with her Mimi. It was one of those "aha" moments for all 3 of us that there is fruit being stored up, grown and born in this lil babe o' mine. All the laboring is worth it...beginning from the Mimi down!!! She's always ready to pass down a legacy of love and a love for learning and we are so blessed to have her training us up in the way we should go...lil Bug and I both! Thanks Mimi for loving us both so deeply and dearly. You are truly are, in every detail of the word, a BLESSED mother...

"Her children rise up and call her blessed; Her husband also, and he praises her: "Many daughters have done well, But you excel them all." Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, But a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands, And let her own works praise her in the gates."
-Proverbs 31:28-31

Praying you all are enjoying some of the fruits of all your labors today, the literal labors and the dailies too!!

These are a few of my favorite things…

2010-04-22T15:20:00.001-07:00

Firstly, a lovely indie rendition of the song itself...

And then, the favorite things my heart really belongs to...

My little musician in the making…

The remnants of our first of many fabulous mother-daughter tea parties…

(These little babies had a little too much tea to drink)…

One of Anna’s Mimi’s famous creations…

A very hard yard-working hubby…

A very joy-filled relationship of a daddy and his girl… With a whole lotta crazy thrown in too!

A very happy girl with her new “Makin Mudpies Kitchen”!!

A girl after her mama’s heart, diggin’ her kitchen-aid capabilities!

More swinging moments of joy…

Blue eyes that just don’t quit…she swallows this mama’s heart in with them…

A hard-workin girl, always rearranging something, the furniture of her life and her mama’s heart…

More mudpie makin!

Even daddy gets trained on how to use her tools…

Every girl needs a good bit of mud in her life, just to keep it real…

Crazy cheesy bedhead…

Wants to do everything just like Papa!

Moments of exercising my own creative outlets…

The joy of hope of new life SPRINGing forth!

A tot enjoying her first of many egg hunts (they went on for days afterwards)…

A tot enjoying the spoils of her 1st egg hunt!

A hard-working man, building his family’s fortress…

Hard-working and gracious neighbors ALWAYS willing to lend a hand (with projects and child)…

Spring flora bursting forth!!!!!

And finally...and most importantly, the pleasures and joys of living with Him forevermore...
"You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever." -Ps. 16:11

Spring LURVE!

2010-04-03T22:29:00.001-07:00

I LURVE spring flowers, tulips and hyacinths especially!

I LURVE Easter dresses!

I LURVE hand-knitted navy blue shrugs with chunky white buttons!

I LURVE my vivacious spirited joy-filled tot!

I LURVE being a mama-tog!

And I therefore LURVE mixing them up in front of my camera’s eye and then spicing them up with my new free actions in my new way-inexpensive Photoshop Elements program that I’m baby-stepping my way through learning about!

It was definitely a LURVE-filled day!

A Mimi date and some Papa Paul time…

2010-04-03T22:09:00.001-07:00

Even grandma’s get playdates, we learned over Spring Break!!! Bugsy’s Mimi had a friend whose grandson Luke (who happens to be my childhood friend’s son) was coming down to stay with her for the week and the gramma’s decided it was high time for their own playdate! So, off Mimi and Anna went and had much playdate fun of their own for once!!!!

And there was no pinching, hiting, or biting involved during tot-play time, yay!!!

And then, the little love bug got spoiled with some splashing in the puddles, “borrowing” neighbor’s car toys, bath-and-song-time-fun with Papa Paul one night as mama and daddy got to sneak away for a late night shopping trip-date! Man, we’re blessed with some seriously loving family!

Solving the world’s problems together…

We love that we have others pouring God’s truth into her little heart, as much as we are! It sure does take a village to raise a child! And we’re pretty durn blessed by the one we’re part of!

Some shining DUKE-Irwin moments…

2010-03-29T23:02:00.001-07:00

Duke Docket #1…

Anna has been learning to repeat her ABC’s (AB’s as she likes to call them) and she shocked the socks off her daddy tonight when she spotted a “D” on his Duke sweatshirt while they were going through her letters. We practice our letter names in the tub with our foamy letters, but we’ve never seen her do sight-recognition on her own. And, this specific letter couldn’t have made her daddy happier! View on…

Duke Docket #2…

And another daddy-couldn’t-have-been-happier-DUKE-glory-moment…A-bug’s friend Halo came over with a shiny blue birthday treasure, which of COURSE got slapped on IM-mediately.

I have to ask though, who looked more excited at first??

Okay, there she goes, she’s catchin’ on…

(this is her official “say cheese” face)

Duke Docket #3

And a video that speaks 1000 words…

SmackTalk, iPhone style!!

2010-03-23T21:16:00.000-07:00

Never thought I would EVER on this green earth say I wanted something so technologized as an iPhone or iPod Touch or whatever else in the world with an "i" prefacing the name there is out there. I'm just not a Mac-y or a tech-y, so they just don't really appeal, I guess. Take it or leave it would be my motto on the matter. Eh, whatev. We usually end up with the bottom of the line free phones that you get when you start a new contract, cuz they fit in the family budget (so you better not go dropping them in the toilet before your 2 years runs up!!) And on top of all that, who would have ever thunk I'd enjoy hearing my daughter SMACK-talk?!?! haha!

So anyways, now that we have that established, I had to eat my words today, all for the love of a child of course. My friend T.C. and her kids came over today for a catch-up visit and brought the beloved instrument into our techno-ignoramus realm and enlightened us with the app "Smacktalk"!! OH man, the Apple heavens opened up and shone down on our little geometric rug in our very own living room aaaaand, I actually said I might consider an iPod Touch solely for the sake of being able to download this singular app just for the hilarity of good family entertainment. The basic jist (which you all probably already know) is that you can scroll through all of these cutesy little animal images that each have different squeaky voices that repeat back to you whatever you speak to them. A-bug was DY-ing. Couldn't get enough of it, once she figured it all out. She was even diggin' the touch screen capabilities!

So, note to self...never say never, cuz you just don't know what kind of smack-talkin' app you're gonna come across someday and fall head over heels in love with, and you'll have to eat your very own words. All for the sake of your child, of course.

It's still not in the family budget of course, but can't a girl (or two) dream of their own personal smack-talkin' days, every once in a while?!

So, anyways, enjoy the vids posted below (or if you can't see them in FB, hop on over to the Irwin Adventures blog @ http://irwinadventures.blogspot.com/2010/03/smacktalk-iphone-style.html) Hope they give you a hearty laugh as it did all of us! Thanks T.C. for brightening our day with the good company and the good laughs!

My lil carnivore...

2010-03-23T15:26:00.000-07:00

As we read, on a daily, sometimes hour-by-hour basis these days...A-bug LOVES to squawk out the sound that the animal of focus makes or the sign that she has learned for the animal.

This morning, I had the best laugh when Anna was reading through her Noah's Ark book and saw some chickens in their coop (because I'm just sure Noah kept his chickens in a coop too, right?!) She pointed at the chickens and rather than saying "cheep cheep" or "bock bock bock" she hollered out "mmm mmm"!!!

I think she knows what I've been feeding her all along. And it doesn't seem to bother her one bit.

My lil carnivore!!

(This just seemed fitting for the post.

I'm sure he'd like to be her lil carnivore too!)

Blab-dab and Blab-dab came to visit…

2010-03-21T21:35:00.001-07:00

That would be all Bugsy could produce when asked to say “Grandpa” or “Grandma” this weekend!! Haha! They must sound too similar to differentiate or she just knew that God knew what He was talking about when He said the “two shall become one”.

Here’s a few sweet family shots of our activity-filled weekend…

A trip to the Safari!!!

Gotta love the petting zoo.

Especially w/signs like this!!

3 generations in one house!

Off to watch the crazy monkeys holler!

Do you think she’s a little adored…

For the cuteness factor…

And then it got really wild!!

It was a crazy jungle out there! In our party of 5, at least!

And then it was hiking time on Saturday… Nice to finally have someone else with the cam to get a few family pics!

There was a scary stand-off for just a minute or two. I won’t divulge who won…

We left the electrical fence work to Blab-dab. Mama’s heart had taken enough “shock” therapy after daddy’s exciting event from last week, to release him to touch anything potentially “hot” yet.

And then, the final main event…Anna’s dream in a box, or a living room in this instance. BOTH sets of grand-parents (with only 1 grand-child on each side) showed up in the same room, her living room at that!!

Bubbles, snuggling and showing-off ensued!!!

Thanks for taking the time, gas and heart to come love on our girl this weekend Blab-dab and Blab-dab!!! We love and appreciate yoU!

We mamas...

2010-03-12T22:19:00.001-08:00

need to do this more often...heap GRACE upon ourselves.

We load ourselves up so heavily with burden upon burden. You know, all those hafta-do's and shoulda-done's. Whether it be self-expectations, crazy schedules, perfectionism, to-do lists, self-imposed rules of perfect parenting, condemnation, impeccable eating plans, comparisons, guilt, pressures, weight-loss/exercise programs, shame, the list goes on and on and on (I'm sure you can add more to the list too!) AND, we know how to do it all well.
What a refreshing, peace-bringing, burden-lifting freeing thought, heaping GRACE upon ourselves!! Here's a link to a quick read on it that I so savored reading tonight. Check it out, take it all in and then go heap it on yourself (and just a thought, I betcha once we start heaping it on ourselves more, we'll be quick to start heaping it on others too!)...

http://simplemom.net/grace-heap-it-on-yourself/#more-5639

"And from His fullness we have all received,

GRACE upon GRACE." -John 1:16

Happy Halfa-Birthday Bugsy!

2010-03-08T21:34:00.001-08:00

Mama wasn’t so on top of it this year, but daddy was!! A mini-party was thrown in honor of the year-and-a-halfa bday girl!!

She was pleased as punch with a bouncy green ball on top!!!!!And then came the real indulgence…With left-over proof to show how her mama spoiled her today!

My baybee is even working at slipping her own shoes on now…

She’s not so itty anymore…

And then came the next indulgence!!!”Mama, should I really be eating this much sugar today?!”” Of course honey, it’s your halfa-birthday! Just shove it in and you’ll thank me later.””Well, okay then.”

And then the neighbor-lets (it’s my new vocab for neighbor kidlets, we sure love these girls) brought over their new buckets to share for some water time!

I’ve been indulging her much lately on learning how to pass water from container-to-container. She has been diggin’ it and diggin’ in! She was so into her work that she didn’t even notice the crazy going on behind her. These girls are hilarious, always up to some crazy sisterly-loving antic… But Bugsy says…“I’ve got water to pour and spill neighbor-lets, please don’t interrupt.”

P.S. THANKS neighbor-lets for bringing more joy to Bugsy’s halfa-bday!!!

At 18 months old, Bugsy decided it was time to:

start putting 2 and sometimes 3 words together to get her sweet and sometimes commanding message across (“Hold please”, “Hiya Mom”, “Help please”, “I want mama”)
start taking 1-1.5 hour nap, rather than 2. boo for mama ;)
start waking up at 630am, rather than 730am. Is there a theme at this age for needing less sleep, maybe?!
have a mouth full o’ molars come in all at once
start using NO a lot more regularly
start using slapping faces as her favored way of getting mama and daddy to hear all about her frustrations
start spending more time in the corner for time-outs, in response to the aforementioned behavior
start remembering where we’re driving and hollering out what we’re about to see or pass by
learning to tease and laugh her head off at herself
climb up on furniture on her own
awaken the toddler 'tude. she's a diva alright. all girl, all the way.
bringing absolute joy to the depths of her parents’ hearts

Aaaand just for kicks, look at the little halfa-year old Bugsy. A little more clueless about our rejoicing over her last year, but darling nonetheless… I just noticed we have a ball theme going on for halfa-birthdays…

Maybe it has something to do with daddy’s love for them???

Thank you Lord for giving us this little Bug to give us maybe a slight glimpse, just maybe a halfa-one of your deep love for us as Your kids.

Isn't She Lovely???!!!

2010-02-28T20:11:00.000-08:00

Meet my beautiful and beloved friend...

We've walked through life's very high's and very low's together for about 12 years now. Is that for real Wren, 12 years (that would be A-bug's new dubbing of her name this weekend. It seems quite fitting as her oldest son named me Turtle a few years back. Aren't the baby-deemed names always the sweetest?)??? God has brought our sappy college-crazy lives outta the pit, and allowed us to walk hand-in-hand (whether in the flesh or via some form of technology) through our mountaintops and valleys with Him and each other. One of those always-there-just-in-the-nick-of-time, always pick up where you left off, and knows me deeply and yet loves me deeper still, kinda gals.

She makes really beautiful babes that giggle and smile much too (2 out of the 4 were in tow with her down here this weekend.)

More pics on the weekend later.
Man it's good to get some precious sister-friend time in...even when adding 3 kids into the mix, cuz that's just life now. It's like pressing the refresh button on my computer when life gets all frozen up and when the refresh is complete, all seems clear and right in the world again. And a little sweeter too. If you don't have one of these gals in your life, go get one!!!!

Thanks for making the time and sacrifices to come love on us Irwin gals, Wren! We LURVE you and your babies much. Thanks for being this kind of friend, that God blesses and honors, to me...

"A friend loves at all times, And a brother (SISTER) is born for adversity." -Prov. 17:17

"Ointment and perfume delight the heart,

And the sweetness of a man's friend gives delight by hearty counsel." -Prov. 27:9

"As iron sharpens iron, So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend." -Prov. 27:17

God is LOVE...

2010-02-24T21:47:00.000-08:00

Praise Him Praise Him, All You Little Children
God is LOVE
God is LOVE

and the verses go on...
We listen to this song every morning (mostly she and daddy b/c morning time, is their time--mama would hate to get outta bed and interrupt THEIR time ;)) on the cd that A-bug's great-grandma Susie (GG) got her for Christmas. GG will be happy to know (if she ever gets to read this, thanks to Uncle Evert!!) that the little bug has already been extracting spiritual truth from this song in particular, as the other morning proved to be true.
A-bug is still learning many signs to go along with her spoken language and the one she often uses is "love" to reply to us when we tell her we love her. Point being, she knows the true meaning of the sign when she speaks it to us daily (well, on her own timetable at least.)
So the other morning, when daddy had to leave for work earlier than usual and mama had to drag her tired buns outta bed for wake-up routine, my heart was blessed more than I ever could have imagined it would have been in my stumbling half-awoken stupor.

Every time the chorus "God is Love" comes on, A-bug loves to do her "love" sign along with the singing. Only this time she put a new spin on it. When the chorus stopped, and their was a brief transition before the next verse came on, she put her hands down from her last "love" sign, and you could see her little wheels spinning. She quickly re-did her sign for "love" and this time looked at me and said "GOD!" (more like "Dod" in Anna-speak) with her sign, like she was ecstatic with herself for figuring this out!! As is my daily occurrence with her lately, I just sat dumbfounded, staring at her, as my mama eyes and heart welled up fully. Did she really know the depths of the truth she just spoke to her mama and over herself?! That Love is of God and God is Love???!!! The love truths spoken all throughout the book of First John?! Probably not. But it proved to me that He really can reveal spiritual things to the minds and hearts of these wee ones if we'll foster an environment of truth being spoken over them--He even has the power to do it, if we don't. Truth rings loudly in their hearts folks, whether they know and understand it fully, or not. She is living, breathing proof!! No wonder Jesus said, let the little ones come to Him. He truly has perfected praise out of the mouths of babes. Let's take time to listen more closely to their little mouths and hearts!! He speaks volumes out of them, if we do--even if it's in sign form.

(My desperate effort of proof, begging her to repeat her sign.

Why don't they ever perform on command?!)

My heart's prayer is that as every little and big girl needs to be reminded of daily, sometimes even moment-by-moment, she will KNOW that she knows that she knows this much is true, for the rest of her days on earth...that Love is GOD and God IS LOVE. And nothing can separate her from Him or the depths of His love for her personal little heart.

A Word for the Mamas...

2010-02-22T20:17:00.000-08:00

Found this quote on a fellow blog-onian's post today and imagine that...it spoke to this mama of a young'in.

"Oh, Mothers of young children, I bow before you in reverence. Your work is most holy. You are fashioning the destinies of immortal souls. The powers folded up in the little ones that you hushed to sleep in your bosoms last night, are powers that shall exist forever. You are preparing them for their immortal destiny and influence. Be faithful. Take up your sacred burden reverently. Be sure that your life is sweet and clean."
-JR Miller

Praying we'd find our strength for fashioning, hushing, preparing, faithfulness, sweetness and cleanness towards our wee ones by His grace alone.

Lovin' Me Some JJ Heller...

2010-02-22T15:01:00.000-08:00

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0u6OwWT93k)

http://www.jjheller.com/home.asp

http://thelovelylittlethings.blogspot.com/

Thanks, A.K. for knowing who I'm gonna love well. ;)

What’s the Hubb o’ mine been up to lately?!

2010-02-20T22:06:00.001-08:00

Finishing up the back fence and gate (major bonus…keeping the deer scat outta the lil Bug’s rompin’ grounds and keeping her safely fenced in too!)

He’s reassuring me that there won’t be such a LAAAARGE gap under the fence forever (my ~~critical~~, I mean detail-oriented eye tends to always notice the gaps.) Just until he gets another plank up there to close it off and keep those varmints out.

Success with a CAPITAL “S”!!

And lots of this when Mr. Sunshine peeks out for even 5 minutes…

Tis good for this man’s soul.

And the fruit of one hard-working, sowing man’s labor has been springing forth! Hope for the new season is in the air!

Prepping my soon to be raised fruits and veggies garden…

Cleaning out my soon-to-be-brewing water fountain on the back porch…

Creating places of R&R for us to draw together to sit long and talk much…

And I couldn’t resist shouting from the rooftops about one of the chores he has taken on around the house! And NO, he’s not for sale or even for rent!! And neither is his lil Bug helper. ;)

Just posting this, makes my heart more deeply grateful for all God’s given me in my man.

Here’s to a fresh new season blooming forth of us, my Ahuv.

Your Ahuva loves you much.

“My beloved spoke, and said to me: "Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. The fig tree puts forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grapes give a good smell. Rise up, my love, my fair one, And come away!” –Song of Songs 2:10-13

P.S…Go boast about your men, ladies, it does wonders for a sense of contentment and gratitude when you forget and sit those on the shelf and choose complaining and grumbling instead!! And I’m pretty sure it does them a heap of good too! A wise friend o’ mine (thanks D.W.) spoke these words to my hearing heart this week and I decided to act on them.

We Giggled and We Wiggled Today!!

2010-02-18T16:28:00.001-08:00

With ribbon sticks! With maraccas!

Through tunnels (well, one of us did anyways)! And the Bug had to get a pep-talk and sneak preview from Lily first, before entering the unknown…

Yay! She made it!

With hula hoops!

Under the giant balloon!

And with LOTS of Bubbowsh!!!

Bubbowsh make us very happy!

Thanks J.B. for being the best Giggly Wiggly teacher and bringing great laughter joy to our toddling day!

“We were filled with laughter, and we sang for joy. And the other nations said, "What amazing things the LORD has done for them."

-Ps. 126:2

See Baybee…

2010-02-16T16:01:00.001-08:00

See Adams No-Stir peanut butter beckoning Baybee and Mama…

See Baybee beckoning peanut butter right back…

See Baybee subtly letting mama know she is ready to partake…

See Baybee intently making sure she gets every last lick…

See Baybee experiencing pure p.b. delight…

See Baybee spacing off into p.b. oblivion…

There’s not much I can say I know that I know is for sure in this mama journey o’ mine, except this I know is true…

there is no illness, ailment or heartache that these 2 ingredients of perfection cannot help or heal in one fell swoop, gobble, or bite.

Even Baybee knows it’s true.

It’s all about the Baybees!

2010-02-13T21:04:00.001-08:00

Notice the wee little “baybees” below the little Bug’s right knee while she’s playing picnic and blowing bubbles at the same time (she’s quite the multi-tasker)?! That’s what we’re ALLLL about right now in this home. The baybee, baybee, baybee, baybees, in whatever form they happen to come in. These 2 happen to be the $1.00 specials from the Walmart doll aisle. She was lugging around a couple of baybees at home that were 3/4 her size and mama decided it was due time to invest in a couple of baybees for the real live toddling baybee girl. I was thinking it would be oh-so-smart of mama to buy 1 baybee for the car and 1 baybee for the home. But oh no, this real live toddling baybee-lovin baybee wouldn’t be having that for one second. If one baybee is by her side, she’s practically distraught signing “more” and hollering “more more baybee” until the other one is back in it’s rightful home, the crook of her elbow. She even refused to go to bed without them the other night. That was another one of those battles mama felt was totally unnecessary to pick. She went to bed with the baybees. Both of them.

But something more deeply important and precious than just seeing my baybee’s mama instincts already kicking in has been shining through the last week, anytime she peers over to her shelf where her toddler-style-board-book Bible lies. “BAYbee, BAYbee!!” she cries, desperate to dig into that book and find the 2 special baybees featured in this condensed toddler-version of the Bible. Baybee Moses and Baybee Jesus. And because hey, why would we stop this baybee from wanting to read her Bible already, at anytime, for whatever reason? So, we almost always plop down, with her in lap, crashing into the book, to briskly turn the chunky cardboard pages, to first arrive at page 10 with Baybee Moses in his basket and then the last 1/4 of the book with the multiple pictures of Baybee Jesus in his manger and growing into a toddling young boy. She loves animals and she could care less as she passes by each page with 15 per page available for the viewing, because she just has to get to the Baybees. And when she arrives, she just sits, and stares, and smiles, and declares “Baybee!” And if she’s in a really good mood that day, she even leans forward and kisses those Baybees, right on the face. And then when she’s done, after just sitting in awe of the last page of Baybee Jesus, she shuts the book, stands, says and signs “all done” and walks it back to the shelf. She got her Baybee from the Bible fix for the moment, and now it’s on to the next task to complete in her toddling whirlwind style.

She doesn’t even have a clue of the depths of truth she is speaking to this mama’s heart. Cuz isn’t that what a big fat chunk of the whole gospel is about. That HE came. As a Baybee. God with us. Immanuel. To save the world, whoever chooses to believe in Him, and what He did on the cross. God sure does “choose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and the weak things of the world to shame the strong.” And He also chose the baybees around us to speak these truths most purely and succinctly to our hearts.

And Jesus said to them,

"Yes. Have you never read,

'Out of the mouth of “baybees” and nursing infants

You have perfected praise'?”

–Matthew 21:16

And I want to be like my little bug with her just-like-Mary heart. Begging to dive into my Bible, desperate to get to the pages that speak to me of Him coming as a Baybee, to be God with us, both then and now. To sit in awe of the pictures and truths I glean of Him as I pore over the pages. Even her sweet little kisses, I want my heart to worship and love and adore Him like that too.

I love the innocence and the newness and freshness I can receive if I’m willing to slow down enough to watch her…and learn more about Him, in the process too. Thank goodness God knows right where us busy mamas are and still meets us where we’re at, with patient love and precious truths through the ones we love the most.

Praying even now, for more of these moments of slow and sweet truth-absorbing times to consume my days.

“Gooh Guhl”

2010-02-09T13:26:00.001-08:00

Good Girl Anna, thank you for putting away your toys…

Good girl Anna, you found a leaf!!

Good girl Anna, you’re learning to stack!!!

Good girl Anna, thank you for putting away your puzzle!

She must be hearing it a lot right now, and man was I thankful to hear that she doesn’t only hear “NO Anna, No” in her little eardrums and heart at all times. I must be doing something right being home with her ALL day long if she’s not just hearing her No-No Nazi Mama hollering to not touch one more No-No item or step away from another No-No activity in the house. That must mean that she is also hearing the things to do in life, not only the things NOT to do in her little toddling world. I think it’s one of those things you can’t even know until you get here, because I never would have known the intensity and challenges of toddler parenting on a day to day basis! So it warmed my heart the other night when the hubbs and I returned home from date night to hear from the grand-rents that A had been saying “Gooh Guhl” all night long after doing something she knew she should be proud of and we would be pleased with!

Thank you Lord for speaking grace through us, despite our stumblings as newbie parents, over this precious soul. May her foundation always be built upon the rock of her value, security, confidence and unique giftedness in You. And may she also learn early that her righteousness and goodness exists in You alone.

My mama always told me...

2010-01-29T15:48:00.000-08:00

that when things got reeeeally quiet, she knew my little brother Thys was in the other room doing something sneaky. Enter stage left into the room, and YES, there was some shinanagin he was pullin' and proud of it with a bit fat toothless grin to prove it. He was quiet about his sneakies from the very start!

"I'll never have a sneaker like that!!" I always told myself. That's just not me. I was always the rule keeper, you see.

Until today, when I ate a bit fat humble helping of my words yet AGAIN, from this parenting venture I'm on...

Little bug wasn't quite seeing the benefits of the strength building rest she could receive from a nap today and she was lettin' me know it with the volume she was producing from the room to my left, as I was distractingly typing away to prevent myself from hollering back with the same volumes. When all of a sudden...things got myyyyysteriously quiet back there. I took a gander over to the video monitor (one of the bestest shower gifts given to the Irwin 3) and saw that she was definitely quiet, but NOT so sleepy. There was a little paw reaching over the side of the bumper pad, outside the crib to something I couldn't quite see with my video monitor vision.

So, off I went to enforce and remind her of the strong benefits of a healthy nap for a growing toddler (and see what was lurking on the other side of the crib bumper, enticing little bug away from her precious slumber--durn temptations!!)

And what to my wondering eyes should appear?!?! No, not a miniature sleigh and 8 tiny reindeer.

Two tiny toddler hands re-folding the laundry that had already been folded once...by her mama, who left a heaping mile-high load of laundry in a basket, right at the foot of her crib, awaiting it's return to the proper home. The itty bitty sneaker had been running back and forth in the crib and must have spied this gem of a basket from a mile away and then realized it probaby wasn't the most proper way to spend her 1.5hr nap time: pulling each piece that she could reach into her crib and re-folding it into it's proper folding manner, according to her book. But by golly, she was gonna see if she could pull it off anyways!!! So, stealthily as she could do it, she snuck down to the corner of her crib, got all quiet as a mouse, and went to work.

UNTIL the mama arrived.

And had a REALLY hard time gently reminding this child that it was definitely still naptime, not laundry folding time while she received an 8-front-toothed grin that could have sold the sweat off a dead man's toe (as her daddy would put it).

I quickly slid the basket far out of her reach and just as quickly slid back out the door before I could not contain the bust-up of laughter that was dying to come out of me, any longer.

Should have figured something like this would have come by leaving laundry basket eye candy right at the end of her bed. We caught her last week unplugging her air purifying white noise maker every day at the end of her nap. We were wondering how the fan was always off, the three times we went in there, before we found the sneaky culprit. She was reaching under the crib bumper to see what she could find at short-toddler-arm-reaching level. The fan was also removed from the near vicinity of the crib.

Welp, time to go relieve her from toddler naptime torture. It's been an hour and a half and she's decided to use that to sing, burble, giggle and run and roll all around--the WHOLE time. Guess it's gonna be early to bed tonight!!

What can you do?! Not freak out, I'm learning. It doesn't help anybody or make anybody go to sleep, especially me.

Anyone else have these toddling woes?! Please shout out an amen!

SHE's a sneaker all right!! Can't you see it in those eyes?!?!

She's becoming...

2010-01-20T15:20:00.000-08:00

bigger.

It was the mini-jeans and the mini-tennies that proved it to me today.

And her signing, telling me she had to go potty, as I raced her in to her big girl chair and watched her indulge herself for the 2nd time on the squishy potty training seat.

And the moment she answered my mom's phone, after looking at the image of me ringing in, and said "Mama?"

And the running into her cupboard, pulling out a bowl and shoving it into my face while pleading "Nack" (snack in her terms).

And the wiping down the kitchen floor with a towel, out of her own volition, because she had spilled some drips of bubbles.

Does anybody have the potion they drink to keep them mini, forever?

What happens when...

2010-01-17T21:32:00.000-08:00

you give 2 easily excitable bubble-loving toddlers a bowl full-a bubbles

(bubbows in toddler-speak) on a kitchen floor?!
A BIG FAT WHOPPING mess of a wet floor,
WHICH equals 2 very happy bubbling-over-with-joy drenched girls!
WHATEVER it takes, is my new motto these days!
Another successful day of letting go of the mess and control!

(LINK to slideshow...http://picasaweb.google.com/turtle.irwin/ABowlFullABubbles?authkey=Gv1sRgCI604Zq4soPEwAE&feat=directlink)

Thank you Lord for your bubbling-over new mercies and fresh grace every morning!

A little CAPTIVATING shout-out...

2010-01-06T20:41:00.000-08:00

These don't need much of a commentary... Just a BIG FAT thank you to my fabooooooo fotographic friend,

Kellie Trenkle with Captivating Photography and Design Co.

(http://vividly-captivating.blogspot.com/)

for a CAPTIVATINGLY beautiful year full o' pics

that captured our little darling in all of her glory and spunk,

enough to last us a lifetime.

Wonder where she gets it from?!

2010-01-05T10:33:00.000-08:00

The Most Incredible Gift

2010-01-04T20:15:00.000-08:00

Left us speechless, which is very difficult to do to the Irwin 3, as most of you know.

We arrived back at home today from 2 fun-filled days at Depoe Bay with Will's 'rents.

A large white package was anxiously awaiting our arrival, beckoning us to spill it's contents out all over the floor and pore over every last minute detail.

And so we did...

We inspected every last square...

Picked out every last ducky (the favorite parts for A-bug of course)

Drew out every last kleenex for every last sentence written in a well-thought out, well-orchestrated, well-loved, much pored over book to explain each quilt square that had a story behind it or a letter written, with a scripture given to savor in the heart of this little girl, for a lifetime.

You see, Anna has this aunty...This fabulously darling little blond thing right here...

Who obviously has a deep love for this babe from afar. And she decided that for Christmas, she was going to collaborate 100 different squares of fabric into a breathtakingly beautiful tapestry, mixed with pieces from my wedding jacket, her wedding dress, my mom-in-law's-from-my-wedding dress, grandpa's old ties, grandma's old fabric scraps, and the list goes on... And for each square there is a story. A bit of life story from Will's family's past and even open squares to add in from my family's past. So for each square, there is a coordinating paragraph in a fabulous binder o' explanation, with a personal letter written from a family member, or a quote, or a scripture for Anna to hang onto through life. I can't even fathom the time, the creativity, the coordination of other people's additions, the planning, the cutting, the arranging, the hand stitching and sewing and the great heart that went into this beauty. So, this is just a small tribute for the deep gratitude this family feels towards Sister Charissa and the others who added their loving words of life into her Christmas quilt.

Oh, I already can't wait for the day for her to understand the depth and height of love that was poured into this gift (and recognize there's more to the fabric than just the duckies.)

It's us, on a quilt.

Our story, of how little Anna came to be,

and of all those who love her and what they desire her to become.

I kept mulling over this verse as we were perusing each specially prepared and planned out square...

"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." -Eph 2:10

Workmanship: masterpiece, poiema, handiwork, a "thing of His making".

Man, this quilt is quite the masterpiece of a workmanship, if I've ever seen one.

But even more so, I pray that this little girl, that I was privileged to be the carrying vessel for her to enter this earth by, who is SO deeply loved by so many others on this earth,

will ALWAYS know that just as this piece was created by her aunty with so much love and intimate care and detail, she too is one of God's greatest works.

A perfect "thing of His making".

There is nothing that could be added to or taken away from her to make her any more perfect than He made her to be...just her, just perfectly Anna.
And I feel so blessed to just sit back and watch her life continue on as she grows to know Her Maker, the Workman, the Masterpiece Designer who has His good works for her to discover and walk in.

Thank you Aunty Charissa for walking in one of God's good works for your life

and creating this beautiful poiema for our specially loved girl.

And a funny little sidenote...if you notice any blank squares, she even added squares for names of more babes to come!

Isn't she a sneaky lil' hinting sis?!
Yes more Irwin's will join in on the adventures SOMEday,

but until then we're enjoying the ride for 3!

Merry Christmas!!!

2009-12-24T10:06:00.000-08:00

From our crazy home to yours!!!
Praying yours is filled with much peace, love and joy
straight from Jesus' heart to yours.

This is what happens...

2009-12-19T09:39:00.001-08:00

when a mama is being trained into learning "forced flexibility"...

when a mama is learning to pick her battles, and this win just didn't really matter in her book...

when a mama is letting go of her controlling nature to have everything on the tree look juuuust right...

when a mama is letting go of her strong, perfectionistic, OCD nature...

when a mama is just sitting back to simply take in each moment of this Christmas season, not just race through it...

This tornado toddler is teaching this mama much.

There still aren't the every-single-moments of our home,

but the plethora of them are growing each day

as God changes this mama from inside out.

And as much as I hate to admit it sometimes...

it feels real good.

Can you believe our Immanuel came in this nature? A babe.

I'm so thankful for the new perspectives I am gleaning of Him as I watch this one grow.

And so thankful He came to dwell among us

so that we could each understand each other in our humanity better.

Praying that His humanity,

the fact that He became flesh and dwelt among us,

draws each us closer to Him to behold His glory

and draw near to His throne of grace this season.

"For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." -Heb. 4:15-16

and yes, i do believe Anna might just kill me someday, but it was SO worth the point to be made.

I Honor My Wife!

2009-12-16T20:48:00.000-08:00

Today is the fourth anniversary of our marriage. In those four years we have not made life easy on ourselves.

We have spent:

-eleven months personally building a house

-ten months living with in-laws

-nine months pregnant (all months carried by Krystal)

-three months building a second home

We have had:

-four different zip codes

-three major job changes

-two cars break down in one day
-one difficult year at UVC

-two amazing years at SFC

-one car accident (not her fault)

-1461 days together

-ten and a half seasons of Survivor (seven on DVD)

...But in those four years we have grown deeper, closer and more in love. I love you Krystal.

Mother: You are the most amazing mother. You work tirelessly to see that our daughter is loved and cared for putting her needs above your own. You are patient and gentle. You see her needs and provide for them all. You discipline with proper restraint and see the need for grace always giving Anna the choice to obey. You are a wonderful example of motherhood.

Wife: You are my dearest friend. You make me better at every turn. There is not a sermon I've shared that has not run through your caring heart to help me weigh its merits and remove the drivel. You help me see where grace is needed and when a kind word is appropriate. I am a better man because you are in my life (Think of all the stupid stuff I use to say). There are a million tiny ways that make our friendship ours...a thousand connections no one else would understand, but you, you see where I am going and know what I am thinking. We are a fact.