Birthday Celebration!

I thew my sweet friend Kristen a golden birthday party this year.  It turned out really fun.  I thought I would share some of the photos just because of how fun it turned out.  We were on a pretty tight budget so we made a lot of the decorations.  Check it out...

spray painted soda holder with glitter-sprayed dollar store flowers

tables with lace table cloths and decorations

dinner buffet

place settings with paper straws from etsy and decroated frappuchino bottles as cups

party favors made with stamps and folding paper for the bags

raspberry sparkling lemonade

cherry blossoms and fruit pizzas

cheese cake bites

spray painted mason jars for dinner ware holders

cheese cake stuffed strawberries

fresh cherry blossoms

three generations, mama, baby and grandmama

 Pretty fun, right?
We did chicken salad on croissants, spinach/strawberry salad, fruit salad, cucumber finger sandwiches, cheese cake stuffed strawberries, cheese cake bites, mini fruit pizzas and cheese ball and crackers.  For the lemonade we mixed up a whole thing of your standard, powdered lemonade with some sparkling water - citrus flavor and to get the pink we dumped a whole thing of frozen raspberries in.  It was fabulous!  We also had green tea and iced caramel mocchiato.  It all came together so well.  We had a high school friend of mine do a Mary Kay facial demo and ordered off a wish list for Kristen's present.  It turned out to be a really, really fun day!

A mission for our family

So last night Andrew and I sat down and wrote up a mission statement for our family.  It was really a sweet time for our hearts to connect together in the presence of Jesus.  The verse that I had on my heart was Hebrews 12:1-3 about running the race and fighting the good fight.  I began to think, perhaps God hasn't given us a girl or maybe even never will give us a girl because the mission that Andrew and I have together is to raise strong men of God that stand up for Faith and take an active and fighting role in the Church.  What a blessed purpose.

The verse that was given to Andrew's heart was even better,

Isn't that wonderful.  We both loved the beginning phrasing, "but you MAN OF GOD."  While our family so far consists of just boys, I just thought it was wonderful.  A charge from God.  Andrew said even a charge from him and I to our boys.  There is just so much power and I love it.  Here is our mission statement:

It was so fun to work on the wording, phrasing and elements of this together.  I just love it and am having a 16x20 print made of each to hang above our nook in the kitchen.  Thanks, Mom for the idea!

Hope you enjoyed this and were perhaps encouraged to do one for your own family!

Kayla

Grace upon Grace

Well, once again it's been a very, very long time since my last post...I don't really have anything deep or exciting to say tonight.  I'm waiting for my husband to get home from work...ugh.  We are still waiting on the mortgage company to find out if we are approved for a loan modification, working on the kitchen with some tax money and rearranging and reorganizing to make this place nice.  The whole process has made me so very thankful for so many things.  It has made me really appreciate just HAVING a house and then it has made me aware of the things that I'm thankful for ABOUT this house, the neighborhood, the nice yard, the tree cover, the space, the location and more.

I made up this printable, feel free to download/save it and print it out and frame it.  It is such a good reminder of what we have to be thankful for, really.  So simply put too...

There it is.  You should be able either to just click it and then right click and save or just right click and save it.  However it works for you, help yourself.  The photo is one that I took on a walk with Benntt and Andrew at the end of our road.  I just love it.  I hope you do too and that you really reflect on the Grace that we have received.

Have a happy night!

Kayla

Changing tides

So, it's been almost two months since I posted last.  Obviously.  But, there has been a lot happening and some big changes taking place in our home.  Just last Friday, Andrew and I found out that there is nothing more the mortgage company can do to help us avoid foreclosure.  That's right, we are in the foreclosure process.  As scary and horrifying as this whole thing is, it is such a time to look to God and His promises of provision, protection and good.  Instead of Andrew or myself playing the blame game or this whole thing separate us it has brought us closer together and more reliant on Christ.

There is so much in Scripture to encourage and comfort one in this kind of situation.  My favorite is one that was brought to memory while Andrew and I were praying together.

^{Matthew 6:25-34}

²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life^[a]?

²⁸ “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? ³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first his kingdomand his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

What a beautiful reminder!  How true it is.  If the birds always have a home, why would God not lead us to the new place that we are to be.  The whole messy situation that we have gotten ourselves into is such a beautiful picture of God's love and grace.

It has been such a good refining experience for me already.  All of my growing up years I was a strong, confident, "do it myself" person.  After "the summer of letting go" I spiked in my confidence and then just let it all go.  My confidence and security in Jesus just diminished and I relied only on myself and felt that it was my responsibility to right everything and I became afraid.  I have been afraid to answer the phone and talk to creditors, afraid to face my poor choices and decisions etc.  But, after receiving that letter I knew there was nothing else to do but take Jesus's hand and deal with things with boldness and confidence in Him.  So that's what I and Andrew are doing.  We still don't know where we'll go or what we are going to do, but we are taking every action and step that we can in confidence with Jesus.  And looking for His guidance in everything we do.

At the same time that all of that is going on, I am still battling with my anger and impatience, but there is obvious progress being made.  The biggest thing that Jesus is working in me right now is having GRACE.  I am not a very gracious person and He is constantly showing me that I need to extend the same GRACE that Jesus gives me for my mistakes to my sweet, precious, growing boy.

My sweet, sweet boys.  They grow so quickly!

I probably won't post until after Easter, so enjoy your friends and family and remember the GRACE given us on that sweet day!
Thanks for reading!
Kayla

A little bit of soul searching

So I have been going through a book called "Be the Mom" written by Tracey Lanter Eyster, with a fellow young mom friend of mine. It has been a really fantastic read and I am so thankful to be going through it early on in my children's lives. Through the book I have been constantly convicted of a huge problem that I see in myself. Something I don't like to admit to but need to confess in order to conquer...I struggle with anger.

It may not seem to be a big deal, everyone gets angry, but to be perfectly honest with you, I have gotten angry to the point of literally throwing the cat down the stairs...yea, I cried right after over the fact that I have allowed myself to lose control of myself so much.

On that note, with Bennett getting to the age of "testing" and having a new one, I am constantly reminded that I need to gather control of myself so that I avoid any relational problems with Bennett because of my anger. I also do not want to pass on an attitude of anger to him, nor acting/lashing out in anger which I have already seen in his throwing things out of anger.

I so regret my lack of control when I see him get angry. He looks for the closest thing to him and will either take a swing at it or chuck it as best he can. I know this comes from him watching me shove things or throw something out of anger and it so saddens me that this is what he has learned from me.

So in order to teach him to control himself when angry, I first must accomplish this in myself so that I may reflect Jesus in the best way possible to my sweet, impressionable two-year-old. He already learns so much from everything he sees and hears. I have been very intentional in sheltering him from naughty things in movies and forget that I am a bigger influence than TV.

I know that in order to control my anger I need the help of scripture so I looked up some verses on anger and would like to share them with you...

The one that had the most impact on me as I was researching was this, "My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you."

What a good reminder. I have not been good about accepting the Word that is planted in me, instead I just release as soon as an ounce of emotion stirs up. It is my intention and goal to begin to memorize, and in some cases, re-memorize Scripture. Something I let go of that fatefull summer years ago. I can clearly see a difference in myself when I reflected on the good and the Word I had memorized compared to now, after releasing and a giving up on it.

So in a way, I guess this is a cry-out for prayer and accountability in those things. I hope that this may have been an encouragement to you as well to the importance of memorizing scripture.

And for good measure, here are my sweet, sweet boys again! :-)

Have a happy day!
Kayla

A little past a month

 Little Parker is now one month and one week or so old!  My how time flies!  Big brother sure is proud of him and just tickled to have a baby brother!  I lay Parker on the floor for tummy time and play time and Bennett has so much fun running around him and getting down to that same level to talk to him.  He is such a proud big brother!  Here is a photo update for those of you checking in to see my beautiful, precious boys!

Have a happy day!

Wooftah!

I get into a new routine and then something throws me off.  As I sat down here to make a new post, I couldn't remember where I was at with our love story.  So to review, I shared our meeting story, his first letter to me and a few bits and pieces of other parts.  I think I will share another of his letters to me today.  I don't have a vision for this post, so it is going to go wherever God leads it to go.

This letter is one of those things that brings you back to a certain place, a certain feeling and emotion.  The place this one brings me, and you can come with me, is a cold winter night, bundled up in bed as I read this.  It is close to Christmas so that jolly, joyful, expectant warmth is in the air on top of the cold.  Hold on, here we go...

12/11/06
"Dear Kayla,
There are many things that I'm going to write that I would rather say in person.  First off, when I saw you at your Christmas program I was struck by your beauty.  My gosh!  I can't get over it!  I kept staring thinking the whole time you were up there, wow!  Today at school I couldn't stop thinking about you.  And when I was on my way home on Sunday before I read your letter I kept thinking that I don't deserve to even look at you!  Wow, still can't get over it.  It's not the first time I realized how beautiful you are either.  Dang, I lost my thought...Oh yes, I remember now.  There is a song that Demon Hunter sings that goes 'I found a dark infernal place I don't want to face anymore.'  Well I've found that one dark infernal place that I don't want to face and that is a life without the friendship that I've found with you.  Sounds kinda corny but that's what I've found to be true.

Kayla, I pray to God every day that you will find the right guy that God has for you.  I don't care who he is, but I pray that he will be able to mend your "shattered" heart.  And don't you be too sure that I wouldn't be able to break your heart (not that I want to, far from it!) unless I mean nothing at all to you.  There is just as much chance that I can do it to you.  So be careful, I'm just as human as you are.  You're not the only one that can hurt someone.

You wanted to know if I thought you were the girl for me.  Well I'm going to have to tell you that answer in person.

My letter wasn't meant to make you angry at yourself, and I'm upset that it made you mad/sad.  I was thinking you should be mad at me.  I can't control how you feel and that text was what I needed to see/hear. I reacted wrongly because I was jealous of Jake, you're wrong to beat yourself up.  It was meant to show you how I felt and how I feel.  I care very deeply for you.  I want you to know that.

Don't be sorry that I felt hurt.  I chose to feel that way.  I should be asking you for forgiveness.  So don't hate yourself.  And well I wished I could have talked to you about that in person too...and holding you does sound like something I wish I could do right now!  lol!

No, as far as I know you're not dreaming.  If someone were to pinch you it would probably hurt.  And I don't know why you.  Better question, why me?  What the heck did I do to deserve gaining a friend like you?  I hope that this isn't a 'too good to be true' thing, cause I really don't want it to be.  That would suck!

You know what I'm sick of?  Writing.  I wish I could just talk to you!  This is my fault though so that's another thing I should ask forgiveness for.  Sorry.  Forgive me/

Hey if you ever compare me to Jake, I don't care!  Compare away!  If you feel you need to talk about him, by all means go for it!  It really doesn't bother me, honest.  And if you need to talk about anything else, go ahead.  That's what I'm here for.

Oh man it's late!  Well good night to you as well or whatever.  I'm not grounded anymore so that's a bonus, and I'll be getting my phone back in a week or so!  Well, I love you, and hope to be able to give this to you soon.

Your Special Friend,
Andrew"

Haha, as I was typing, I was realizing all of the things you are probably blanking on that he was touching on.  I think that I will dig out my notes to him (yep, he saved all of them too!) and I will start sharing those ones as well.

As I reread all of these notes, he just blows me away all over again.  While he hasn't changed since this time, life has changed around us and since our situation and relationship has changed, it appears that he may have. In truth though, he is just as dedicated and loyal and loving as this letter.  There isn't a disloyal bone in my man's skinny body!  <3 as="as" day="day" e="e" f="f" him.="him." i="i" is="is" just="just" met="met" more="more" nbsp="nbsp" not="not" p="p" so.="so." that="that" the="the" wonderful="wonderful">
I encourage all of you, whether dating, engaged or married, make a list of all of the things you love about that special someone.  Put it somewhere safe so that in a few years if you are still with them (hopefully so) you can look back on that, especially if things are tough, and it can bring you back to that place of infatuation that I am feeling reliving all of this love.

As I am reminding myself the love of my husband, I am reminded as well that we really should be looking back on Christ's love for us in this same way.  Every single word in that Bible of ours was put specifically to speak to each of us by God the Father.  I love that God refers to himself as our Father.  I get all warm and fuzzy feeling because of that.  I probably have one of the best earthy father figures anyone could ever have.  He is such a picture of the father that I feel God wants us to see him as.  I am very thankful for that.  I really need to make sure to take the time to appreciate the Father that God is to us every day.  I have been very bad about keeping up with my personal quiet time and devotionals.

As I come into a new routine with a new baby and my two-year-old, I have to learn and really make a time to spend time with Jesus.  As much as I have to TAKE the time to do anything else.  It shouldn't be as hard as I make it to take the time for Him.  I have such easy babies and all I do is give myself excuses or else I forget.  It's time to stop that.

Speaking of new routine, I am pretty proud of myself.  I have worked out twice in the last week and I have already lost 20 of my 35 baby pounds!  Woohoo!  I am so excited!  Only three weeks out of the hospital and I am already that close to being pre-Parker!  Then another 35 after that and I will be pre-babies all together!  Next summer, get ready!

Well, thanks for reading again.  I hope I encouraged you in some way, shape or form. It then makes my posts worth it!
<3 p="p">Kayla