And One Thing Leads to Another

I am sitting in my living room, enjoying a picturesque morning.  Seriously, I might pinch myself because it's meeting all my definitions of "perfect" right now.  Coffee in hand, candle burning, windows open, cool breeze coming in, Ava napping...ahhhh.  Bliss.  Oh, and to top it all off, our sweet Ryley is also curled up at my feet, snoring :)

It has been the biggest blessing ever for our summer schedule to be "over" for the most part.  Last week was relatively quiet and this week is even quieter.  I am catching up on stuff all over the house and spending my days playing with a little girl who lives here.  And did I mention that it's 71 degrees right now and sunny???  Let me just tell you what no humidity and cooler temps do for this pregnant girl, they make EVERYTHING better!  I do love summer, I really do, and normally I'm savoring every hot day because we don't get a lot of them in Minnesota, but I think because I'm 8 months pregnant this year, I can't WAIT for Fall to get here!  Everything about it in fact.  I'm so ready.  Travis told me last night that he's ready for me to make a hearty vegetable & beef stew and I could have kissed him.  In fact, I think I did.  I'm kind of over the grill and ready to use my oven again.  I'm actually dreaming about sweatshirts, apple cider, COLLEGE FOOTBALL every weekend, pumpkins and a certain little guy joining our world.  I have about 8 weeks to go or so, but I know they are going to fly off the calendar and life will be different again before I know it.

(Here's a recent picture of Carter and I, at 32 weeks.  Not a great one, but recent!) 

And different is good.  I'm already gearing myself up for our routine to change, for my days to be full of new challenges and for my nights to be interrupted.  I've officially reached that stage in pregnancy where I'm up to go to the bathroom at least once, if not twice each night.  I'm not sleeping great, I'm very uncomfortable and sore when trying to roll over or move.  It was the exact same way with Ava, unfortunately much earlier with her, but I know that it will soon pass and in God's wisdom, He's really just helping me adjust to what lies ahead.  It will be a few months before we're back to "normal" nights and long periods of sleep :) Hopefully by Christmas.  That might be all that I want this year!

He's also really begun to change my heart and my outlook about having two little ones so close together.  When we discovered we were pregnant again, although we were thrilled and very shocked, I was a little sad too.  Not sad about the new baby, but sad for Ava.  I felt extremely guilty, like we were robbing her of time with us and our full attention.  I realized then and now that most of that was hormonally driven, but it's been great for me to really see how much she's going to love having a little brother around here.  What a blessing for HER!  I know we'll have some adjusting to do, some jealousy to get over, but all in all I think she's going to be tickled at someone else to watch, "play with", and enjoy.  She gets a kick out of other kids and is at the age where she's starting to want to play with them.  Just a little bit anyway :) She's still not thrilled about the idea of sharing!  I find myself daydreaming about what kind of siblings they'll be, it's certainly our prayer that they will be close all their days and (eventually) thankful for one another. God is so good and to see Him expand our family in His way and in His time, is amazing...

As you know, we're still digging out over here from all the upheaval and transition.  I'm in LOVE with our "new" home (praise the Lord!) and slowly accomplishing one thing after another.  But, as with all moves big and small, just when you tackle one thing it always leads to another!  I have "projects" in every room that have compounded from the "switch" and I'm fighting for the contentment and satisfaction to only do what we need and can afford right now.  It feels as if we are bleeding cash :) But truth be told, I could make you an instant list of everything I'd LIKE to do in each room if we could.  It's a hard thing to balance dreams with goals and priorities and budgets, when you have a mind like mine!  It's a good thing we're busy with other things because I think I could quickly blur that line if I'm not careful!

I think I hear my little sweetie, talking and playing in her crib.  She's handled this transition like a pro, sleeping so well in Carter's new "room."  Our plan is to move her to her big girl bed this weekend and see how it goes!  So far she loves to play on it and might be getting the idea that it's for "her."  We tell her constantly that it's "Ava's big girl bed" and she grins and then tries to climb up on it.  I'm close to letting you see some pictures, sorry for the delay but I just want to finish a few more things :)

I hope you have a blessed Tuesday, whatever it holds for you and whatever it leads to!  I've got laundry to tackle, bathrooms to clean and a kitchen that needs attention.  The beautiful thing about it is that I'm happy to be doing all of those things with my little helper at my side!  Happy Tuesday :)

In Transition...

It didn't take Ava long to realize that today was moving day and she needed to pull her weight around here to help us get stuff done!  

Actually, this is just one of the many phases she's currently in.  I'm calling it her "hoarding phase."  She LOVES to walk around the house, collecting "things" and taking them from one place to another.  It's no wonder I can't find anything at all, but oh well!  She has a blast doing it and it keeps her occupied for long periods of time :) While we were prepping for our big furniture swap this morning, Ava was just doing her part and cleaning out some of our bathroom drawers.  She's not only cute, but she's helpful too!  

 

Before we made the big switch, I got a little nostalgic about her nursery and took some final pictures of how it "used to look."  I always loved it, but I was excited to re-do it too!

 

All those little details that made this room hers.  

 

Travis's friend Kristian came over to help us, which was a wonderful blessing and in no time our living room was full of furniture!  Ava was a little stressed out by the whole thing I think. Poor baby...I don't think she could figure out what was happening to all of her "stuff!"  

See those little discs that Ava is playing with?  Travis used those carpet furniture gliders and they made moving the furniture around a total breeze!

Even Ava got in on the action!!  I couldn't grab my camera fast enough to get a good shot of this, but she was sooooo proud to be helping Daddy.  She loved it :) 

And then when the room was all empty, she just kept standing in the doorway and staring, trying to process the whole thing.  We just kept telling her, "Hang on baby, you're getting a big upgrade!!"  

A sneak peak at our "new" master bedroom.  There are a million details that still have to be taken care of, like the spackling on the wall that needs to be painted over, but we're in and it's not so bad!  It actually seems bigger than we prepped ourselves for and I think it's going to work out great.  I am rewarding us for downgrading with some new bedding, but I just haven't found the style that I want yet!  

And here is a sneak peak into the queen's new room :) Sorry, it's not photo worthy yet, but it is full of furniture now and we're making serious progress.  Now I get to enjoy the fun part and start buying the accessories and final touches to pull the whole thing together.  That's always my favorite stage!

As you can see, we painted it the same color as her previous bedroom, mostly for resale purposes when we want to move.  I do love it though, it's very calming and warm, and it's a good neutral background for whatever we add to it!  Plus it makes all of her white furniture really "pop" in the room.  

And although this is a horrible picture and it's terribly blurry, here is a little sneak peak into Carter's new room!  It's become our storage room for the last week, so I have lots of sorting and organizing to do, but the crib and changing table are in and it's already starting to look like a sweet little nursery!!  

I think we moved one more step forward in the big picture today and already I'm feeling like we definitely made the right decision to switch rooms.  The kids have twice as much space and I'm loving the new look!  But my work is far from over...  

Happy Weekend!!

Behind the Bubbles

Is it the weekend yet????  I don't think I can adequately describe the fatigue/frustration/work that I  alone we have been tackling over here for the past 7 months week .  This switching rooms thing is kicking our tails and attempting to take our names, but we will not be overcome!  Does that sound defiant??  Because I want it to, but I'm just so tired I don't know that I have it in me to actually pull defiant off.  One more hiccup in the road and I just may throw the towel in and take a nap.  All day.  Every day.  Ok, I kid, I kid. Sort of.  I'm (fairly) confident that at some point, we will win this war and I will sleep well once again.  (At least until October.  When all bets are off and my sleep is no longer defined as "well.") Anyway, to sum it all up, I feel as if my house, therefore my life, is in utter chaos right now.  In case you're newly reading this blog, you should know that despite my best efforts to be a woman who is well balanced, I really do love/need/obsess over things that are organized and tidy.  It's a fault, I'll admit it, but after 30 years I've just accepted it.  It's the way I'm wired.  There is a good reason why I carry a baggie of multi-colored, thin line sharpies where ever I go.  Heaven help me if I have to resort to ball-point.  You may think I'm kidding about that, but not really.  I suppose it's not a good reason, more like an obsessive compulsive reason.  Ok seriously, I digress...Back to my daily freakout project...

I'm sure it's the hormones, the intense nesting sensation and the fact that I feel as if I could deliver at any minute, but I am SO READY to get these rooms done!  In my head, this was supposed to take a long weekend, but in reality it's been more like weeks and I'd say we're at about step 6 of 10.  In other words, we have lots of work still to go.  Good things are happening, purging is taking place but I just might be dead by the time it's all done.  And that would be tragic if I couldn't enjoy the new "system", wouldn't it??  Just when I think I've got all my ducks in a row, one of them decides to jump ship.  Usually it's a little red head who goes by the name of "Ava." Yep, the cutes ones are often the naughty ones, aren't they??  I'm not sure I can hardly begin to describe the "stage" we're barely surviving working through right now.  Let's just say she's "all girl," therefore all emotion and strong will, mixed with highly  irrational and demanding behavior at any given time.  For no reason at all.  In other words, we've seen more foot stomping, lip pouting and hysterical crying than a bad episode of Jersey Shore.  I swear we went right from 15 months to 13 in about a week.  And I'm sure it has nothing to do with being at the tail end of a busy summer, her recent lack of schedule or the fact that her Mom is currently neurotic.  And eating oreos in order to cope at all hours of the day.  (Just to clarify, her Mom eats the oreos, not her.)  No, I'm sure that's not it....

Anyway, to say these last few days have been challenging is to grossly underscore the complexity of raising a daughter.  One minute I'm singing to her like Mary Poppins and she's reacting like a good Disney girl and then the next minute we've fast forwarded to junior high and we're waging the classic power struggle with one another.  Perhaps I'm overreacting, it is late and I have no business being up, let alone venting to the world wide web.  She's still delightful and darling and ours, but if I'm going to be honest, she's a lot more like me one of us than I was prepared for.  And that is a terrifying thought!

So, before I write a letter to dr. phil about the psychology of that, I'm leaving you with some sweet little pictures of a girl and her daddy, enjoying an early morning together, blowing bubbles.  Judging from the darling little smile on her face and her curious expressions, you'd never know that she'd just had an epic meltdown over the sight of the bubbles and the thought that we might not play with them, RIGHT THEN AND THERE, as she hoped.  You'd also never know that her Mother was inside, looking for the nearest exit and wondering what time would be an appropriate time for a mid-morning nap.  For everyone!  No, these are simply the shots of classic childhood moment...Enjoy :)

I'm going to bed, where I should have gone 2 hours ago...

Super sweet huh??  I suppose :)

You Can't Out-Give the Lord!

This is our latest toy around here and let me tell you the joy it is bringing my little girl!

She has been climbing in and out of it, reading her books and playing.  She loves it!

But let me tell you a little bit about  how it arrived in our living room...

This morning I am praising the Lord for answering me in a very tangible and clear way.  In the last 48 hours, He has demonstrated His attentive ways and I am awed at how He is reinforcing a common theme in our life.  I realize that's vague, but before I elaborate, let me back up and give you some context.

A few weeks ago, upon pondering the 7 years we recently celebrated of marriage, we were in bed one night having one of those conversations about the particular season of life we are in.  Mostly we were marveling at all that God has done for us in a short 7 years and how much our life has changed in those years.  We were also discussing our giving abilities and evaluating how we make those decisions.  We believe the Lord is very clear in the Word about tithing, and while our finances may not make sense according to the world's standards, we do our best to follow the guidelines God has given us and to remain obedient to Him.  We aren't perfect, but we are in total agreement about our priorities and I'll just leave it at that.

Anyway, over the weekend and during one of our date nights out, we were having dinner at a Japanese steakhouse that we love.  We were there early, like old-people early, and waiting for a few more people to show up so they could seat us around a hibachi table.  After a few minutes passed, they decided to seat us with only one other couple, which meant we were most likely going to get to know them a little bit.  We introduced ourselves, told them we were celebrating our 7 year anniversary and asked them a few questions too.  They were visiting from Kansas City, in town for a Pentecostal conference at a Church downtown.  It was apparent that they were also believers and we hit it off quickly.  As we listened to them, we learned that they had been married for 38 years and it was obvious that they were very much in love.  After we finished eating, Travis asked them if they could give us any advice about staying happily married for 38 years.  They smiled and looked at one another then gave us 3 things that have "worked" for them.

The wife told us to never go to bed angry.  As much as possible, resolve your issues as quickly as possible and don't start another day with division between you.  Great advice.  Her husband quoted a Bible verse, which escapes me at the moment, but basically reinforced the idea of always remaining patient with one another.  Staying calm and being slow to react, especially with your spouse.  Also great advice.  But then as they thought a little bit longer, they threw one more principle our way and I swear it was straight from the mouth of God, designed for our ears and to encourage our hearts.  I could tell they weren't sure if we believed this or not, but they asked if our Church taught tithing and we quickly said, absolutely.  They told us that one of the biggest blessings and reasons they have lasted 38 years is because they decided long ago that they would be faithful to give the Lord what they could, as everything they had was from Him anyway.  They told us example after example of their faithful giving, even when times were hard, and how God never failed to provide for them and take care of them.  It was such a surprising thing to hear from someone you don't know and yet, I know God put them at our table to encourage us in a season of life where quite honestly we are trusting Him with every penny. It was sweet and honest and full of wisdom.  We agreed wholeheartedly with them and offered a few examples of our own where God has prompted us to give and then provided above and beyond for us.  Tithing is never about an actual dollar amount, as if God "needs" our money, but always about being obedient to what He's said, making Him and His Church our first priority, and keeping the condition of our heart pure before Him.  We left that dinner, having gained great insight from people who have gone before us and had wisdom to share, but also feeling very affirmed about some things we had been discussing.  It was totally ordained by the Lord for us to be there that night, at a ridiculously early hour, so that we could sit with them and hear that word from God for our hearts and our marriage.  I thought about them a lot the rest of the night...

Fast forward to a few nights later and we found ourselves together (Travis and I) again, on our way somewhere.  As we were out, we encountered one of those situations where we both spotted a need and felt the Lord prompting us to do something.  Before you think I am blowing smoke up our own rear ends about how great we are, let me tell you that it wasn't some heroic thing and we didn't immediately pull our money out.  We quickly deliberated about whether we should or were even able, but in a quick minute we decided we should and that we would trust the Lord to take care of it.  We had no guarantee that it was the right thing, but we felt like He knew our hearts and our motive and that was that.

Hours later, when we had forgotten about the whole thing, God blew us away and gave us 2.5 times the money we had given, in a very unexpected way.  It was totally out of the blue and nothing we saw coming, but I immediately knew the Lord was reminding me, "When you obey me with all you have and you give to me, I will always take care of you."  Amazing.  We didn't give to receive, but He chose to bless us anyway.  We talked about it later and again decided that He was really using the last few days to impress something on us.

Now let me take you to the parking lot of Target, last night.  We made a quick run out before Ava went to bed, for some more storage bins...as I seem to be filling them up right and left.  As I was putting Ava in her car seat and Travis was loading up the car, a woman walked past us and then turned around and faced us.  She asked if we needed "any baby stuff?"  We both had no idea who she was or what she was talking about, so I asked her, "Well, what kind of stuff?"  She explained that the back of her minivan was all loaded up for a trip to Goodwill but she would love to give us anything she had if we were interested.  Travis nodded at me and I followed her across the lot to the back of her car.  I spotted the classic "Christian fish" symbol on the back of her car and she immediately put me at ease when she told us that she saw us with Ava and noticed that I was pregnant again, and she was hoping she could bless us like God had blessed them.

As I stood there with almost no words coming to mind, she gave us some things that we were lacking, all in excellent condition and worth hundreds of dollars, for nothing at all.  She would not let me give her any money.  We thanked her over and over again and as we drove off, we just kept saying, "I can't believe that just happened!"  On a random trip to Target, we were approached by a stranger in a minivan, and soon left with with some great things for our kids, for free.  Only the Lord could have done that...
 

And thus, the reason we now have this little play yard in our living room!

Again, the Lord just opened His hand and graced us with His generous heart.  As we were discussing it, Travis made the statement, "You can't out-give the Lord."  No matter what we're facing or how high the hurdles seem to be, when you trust Him and are obedient to Him, He is always faithful in return.  And generous in fact!  Let me end with this devotional I read today, that sums this whole thing up perfectly.  It's written by Pastor Greg Laurie....Obeying the Lord and striving to honor Him with all areas of our life, is not easy and not without sacrifice, and frankly we don't always do the right thing. But the peace and the provision and the blessing He has given us in return when we do, is well worth all of it!  I wanted to share this with you today because it's been a good reminder that God is still in the business of miracles and He longs to give His children good gifts.  Not "santa claus" kind of gifts that we demand or beg of Him, but things for our own good and for His glory.  He is the decider of that, not us. Maybe you needed to hear that today like I did.  Maybe you needed to be reminded of what He calls us to in obedience and how He promises to provide no matter what.  As I wait for another little life to join our family, our needs are great, but our God is greater still.  He sees everything we do and don't do and He longs to help us trust Him and obey Him all the time, in every season.  We don't do it so He'll give us stuff, we do it because He's worthy of our devotion and He died to secure our future with Him.  If He never gave us anything beyond salvation through Christ, it would still be the greatest gift we'd ever receive and the only thing we need.  But because He loves us so much, He also gives us so much more.  My prayer today is that I would trust Him more and obey Him sooner and without doubt.  He's proven Himself to me, over and over and in the most miraculous ways.  In fact, I have a Fisher Price tent in my living room to remind me of that all day today.  And I'm not sure who's happier about it, Ava or me!!

Enjoy this devotional about our God...

The Father's Delight

"If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!"

— Matthew 7:11

I have recently ventured into the mysterious pink aisles of the toy stores. I had never tried those aisles out before. Nothing there much interested me, because they were all for girls, and I have always shopped for boys. Shopping for my sons was easy, because I bought things for them that I liked, and they usually were happy with whatever I chose. But now with three granddaughters, I have discovered that shopping for girls is different. Girls like different things. But as I have begun to examine this world and learn more about it with my granddaughters, I am having fun with it. It is my joy. It is my delight. And if anything, I have to restrain myself because I don't want to spoil them.

When we put our faith in Jesus Christ, the Bible tells us that we are adopted into God's family. And we have a heavenly Father who loves to bless us. Jesus said, "Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom" (Luke 12:32). Our heavenly Father is not stingy; He is generous. He loves to lavish things on us. He loves to bless us. As Matthew 7:11 says, "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!"

Not only has God forgiven us and pardoned us and taken us out of the bondage to sin that we were in, but He has adopted us as His own sons and daughters. I find that amazing. And I stand in awe of a God who would have the power and the desire to do something like that for us.

Copyright © 2010 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved.

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Bible text from the New King James Version is not to be reproduced in copies or otherwise by any means except as permitted in writing by Thomas Nelson, Inc., Attn: Bible Rights and Permissions, P.O. Box 141000, Nashville, TN 37214-1000

Like the Old Days....

Travis and I have just wrapped up 4 (almost 5) days without our sweet little girl and we are more than ready to go pick her up tonight!!  She has had a big time with her Grandma and Grandpa, not to mention her aunt and uncle.  Every time I called or skyped, we could hear and see her living it up with her peeps!  She had a dance party almost every night, got to go on lots of little excursions around town, learned how to let herself out their back door, and discovered that she is in love with peaches!  We are so grateful to my parents for taking her for a few days and loving her up.  We missed her, but I'm not going to lie...being alone for a few days was kind of like "the old days" and we LOVED that too!

For instance...

-I haven't cut up anyone's food for days now or washed any sippy cups at night or taken my diaper bag out of the house.  Ahh, what a nice break!!

-We were able to sleep later than normal and lounge around at night, watching TV or a movie together almost every night.  Kind of fun :) 


-We made huge progress on the bedroom swap, although we have at least another few weeks of work before it's totally done.  We got both of the kids new rooms (i.e.-our master bedroom and closet) all painted and cleaned out.  They look great and we were pleasantly surprised by how big our closet became after we took all of our clothes and storage stuff out!  I think it's going to work perfectly for Carter!  


-I spent several days organizing and emptying 3 closets, going through all kinds of junk and sorting it into piles to keep, give away or throw away.  Today I have to get rid of all those piles before Ava can re-join us :) 


-We worked hard, but we also played hard for a few days!  The last 3 nights (and twice for lunch) we have eaten out, either by ourselves or with friends.  We had 3 great meals at 3 really unique and fun restaurants.  It was a splurge that we needed and in so many ways, it felt like those early years when we ate out a lot more!  We're ready to eat at home for awhile now, but it was certainly fun to be out too!  


-I got to go to Church yesterday, after waking up to a quiet house and taking time to get ready ALL BY MYSELF!  That was amazing.  Usually my Sunday mornings are rushed and stressful, but yesterday was peaceful and calm.  Gotta love that!

Our plan now is to finish painting our bathroom throughout the week, after Ava goes to bed, and then next weekend make the big swap between bedrooms with all of our furniture.  I've already swapped out our closets and I'm going to try and swap out the bathrooms during the afternoons this week.  It is so much work, but I just keep telling myself that when it is all done, it will be worth it!!  We're definitely going through the "it looks like a tornado hit" stage, knowing that it always gets worse before it gets better when you do this much cleaning and rearranging, but it's helping my nesting tendencies to get this done and Trav has been a great sport about it too, wanting to finish before soccer starts and the junior high fall kick-off begins.

So, all that to say that we miss Ava and can't wait to get our hands on her tonight, but we have totally enjoyed our days alone too!!  I worked on our fall calendar last night and I have to tell you, I'm very excited about the days ahead.  We will be gearing up for lots of soccer, as he is coaching a varsity boys team at a local high school here, and getting back into the swing of things at Church with Bible studies and retreats and just the weekly grind.  I'm totally looking forward to spending some quality days with Ava and sitting on the sidelines of lots of soccer games.  I think it's because we are enjoying a blissful cool snap right now that has the feel of fall in the air, but I just can't wait for all that the fall will bring!  College football starts soon and so does all the NFL madness around here with Bret Favre and the "will he or won't he" play for the Vikings???  It's crazy but fun too.  FYI, our waiter at one of the restaurants we went to, told us that Favre's wife and daughter had just been in a few days prior because they were in town to register her for school...hmm, the buzz about him coming back just keeps increasing!!  We're certain no one will know until the last possible second, because that seems to be how he rolls :)

I have lots to do today, so I need to get off of here and move on....

Hope you had a great weekend and are enjoying the start of your week!  Happy Monday everyone :)

Our Little Traveler

I just ran across this sweet picture of Ava from camp last week.  Isn't it hilarious??  It's also fitting.  As I type, we are on day 3 of our peanut being gone on her first big kid sleepover.  She left on Wednesday to go to my parents house and we are missing her big time!!  

Here she is, all packed up and ready to go!  My parents graciously offered to take her for a few days so that we could get some big projects done around here (painting, re-arranging, organizing, etc.) and because they were dying to see her again!

Look at that big girl!!  We were even able to pull off a little "whale spout" on her head :) Daddy came home for lunch and helped us pack up the car to get her on the road.  

She was ready to go, although I'm not sure we were ready to have her go!

I can't believe how old she is looking these days or that she is big enough to spend the night away from us!  

We met my parents half-way, near the border of Iowa and Minnesota.  She was beside herself when we pulled in the parking lot at our meeting place and she saw them!  She hardly wanted anything to do with me at that point :) However, I'm very thankful she loves her Grandma and Grandpa as much as she does!  Not to mention how much they love her :) 

Oh we miss you sweet girl!!  We can't wait to get you home again but we're so glad that you are having lots of adventures with Aunt Jennie, Uncle Dave and Grandma and Grandpa!!  

Travis and I are in the thick of tearing our house apart, while also trying to make some time for "us."  We've got 3 dates nights planned starting tonight, which is totally fun and just the break we need before life gets twice as busy.  I'm a little overwhelmed right now with all the work we have ahead of us in order to get the kids rooms put together and ours moved.  I am fighting lots of desires for a bigger house right now, as it seems we are having to make the most of every inch and it's still not enough!  I think I freaked Travis out last night when he came home from his meeting and saw Ava's room piled to the ceiling practically with storage bins, clothes, and baby stuff.  I am having to re-purpose every closet, every dresser, and every everything in order to make this work.  I'm realizing this is going to take weeks to get done.  Our big goal for the weekend is to at least get all of the painting done before Ava comes home.  That's the messiest part  :) I think it's going to be better when it's all said and done, but this 2 bedroom condo is currently bursting at the seams!!  

Although I'm a little sad about giving up my big closet and losing space that we once had plenty of, one thing that has put this project in perspective is the latest battle our friend Karen is facing.  I shared a few months ago about her recurrance of cancer and the less than favorable prognosis they had received.  We have been sick over the horrible roller coaster she has been on lately and the difficult time she has had with even the smallest of obstacles, like eating.  Two days ago her journey intensified and took another turn for the worse and just yesterday they learned that her tumor had grown, again.  It's heartbreaking on so many levels to wrestle with the ultimate direction this journey seems to be going and to factor in the faith and trust we are placing in the Lord.  Karen and Forrest have been a pillar of strength and resolute faith, but I know they are weary and desire nothing more than to see her healed and facing many years ahead with their boys.  At this very moment, they are seeking the Lord for peace and direction, concerning the decisions they need to make for the future and also for God's mercy on Karen.  She's been so sick.  This is terribly hard and we are so burdened by it for them and especially the boys.  I can hardly process it with years of maturity behind me and experience with loved ones who have walked a similar road.  I can't imagine the traumatic and devastating effect this must be taking on their young hearts and minds.  Daniel, Ben and Jonathan have been given incredible parents who have modeled exactly what they've preached for years and years and each of them have placed their trust in the Lord and are doing their best to trust Him with the life of their Mom.  But it's so hard and they are watching her suffer so much.  Please keep them in your prayers right now.  Daniel should be starting college in a matter of weeks and Ben and Jonathan should be heading back to school soon too.  Their childhood has been forever marked by this journey and we are begging the Lord to protect and preserve them through this.  We know He will use this journey to mark the men they will become and both Forrest and Karen will be proud parents as they watch their sweet boys put their faith to the fire and trust the Lord no matter what.  Of course we're also praying for Forrest and Karen and all that they are facing together.  They will be celebrating their anniversary in just a few more days and I know it will be bittersweet as they had hoped to have this part of their life behind them.  

Life is hard, but God is always good in His intentions, plans and love for us.  He is faithful to deliver on His promises and He holds Karen in his tight grip, even in this dark hour.  Even though we don't understand, we choose to put our trust in the one who is worthy of it.  

I hope you have a wonderful Friday!  I'm looking forward to an entire day with my man, working, playing and just enjoying one another.  We miss our baby girl but we know she's having a big adventure and getting all the love and attention she can handle!  

Just For Fun...

Just for fun, I thought I'd pull up few pictures from one exactly one year ago today and this is what I found:

Last year on August 9th this little nut was on her very first airplane ride!

Check out that dark, wild hair and those little legs!  She was so good on that flight, especially considering it was like 7 am or something horrible like that and we'd already been up for a couple of hours.  People all around us kept telling us how cute she was and what a good traveler she was.  We couldn't disagree :)

I remember that day like it was yesterday!  We were just coming off a week at camp and so excited to take Ava to Texas for the first time to meet lots of Trav's family.  It was a great trip!  But look how little she was!!

Now here we are, one year later...

No more little baby, instead she's a mischievious little toddler!! 

Who just discovered how to take her shirt off during her nap :)

And as you can see, is just as animated today as she was a year ago!

Last year we could lay her on a blanket and she wouldn't go anywhere. 

This year, she's into everything and can go just about everywhere. 

We thought she was the cutest thing we'd ever laid eyes on last year and this year we still think that's true! 

  

Travis and I watched her climb all over our furniture tonight, all the while talking and playing by herself.  It's amazing how quickly they grow right before your eyes.  Everyone told us that when we were waiting for Ava to arrive, but until that sweet baby is in your arms and you get to experience parenthood for the first time, you just never really realize how true that is!  

It's crazy that one year later, we are watching her climb the walls and repeat much of what we say while we count down the days until her new little brother arrives!  I can only imagine what one more year will bring :) 

Life is oh so fun these days and we can't wait to add another little Armstrong to the mix soon!  Will he be spunky like his sister??  Who knows!  If his activity level in the womb is any indication, we're in trouble :) Maybe next year I'll have 2 little munchkins sitting in those baskets??? 

This year we spent a quiet August 9th catching up on laundry and getting all of our bags unpacked. Trav was home with us and we all got to relax a little bit.  We are still getting over our busy week at camp and trying to get back to normal, but I'm so ready to focus on little Carter and get all of the projects done around here!  Finally our big summer commitments are over and now we can officially turn our focus to home.  That is a very good feeling, especially considering the heat wave we are experiencing right now in Minnesota.  We are breaking records for heat and I've never been happier to be home in my air conditioned house.  And speaking of my air conditioned house, I'm currently laying in bed, with my feet up (because I've been having contractions all day and my back is hurting) and I'm wonderfing if anyone would notice if I turn the thermostat down a little bit more??  I'm trying not to freeze Trav and Ava out, but seriously, no matter what I do right now, I'm still hot!  I've never been so ready for fall to get here!!