Fun in the Snow

SURPRISE!!!!

So my sister calls me yesterday to see if I wanted to have a play date today with our kids. We do this often so I didn't think anything of it. When I got home this morning I walked into the kitchen and saw a brand new stove waiting for me with red roses sitting on top. There was also a love letter from my husband. He bought me a stove as a surprise for no reason at all. Wow! I walked in and stood there stunned for a couple minutes. When I could finally talk I just cried. I have wanted a new stove for a long time. He set all of this up and I had no idea. What a man! I am so excited to cook dinner tonight. I better cook Dan's favorite meal to thank him for this surprise.

Rest

This weekend we have truly experienced what the Lord means by having a "day of rest." We actually have had two days of complete rest and relaxation. We didn't have any plans for Saturday and Sunday so we stayed home both days, which meant that the girls and their Daddy got great naps. I got an 8 mile run in, which felt great. On Saturday we took the girls to Mansfield just for something to do as a family. We were pretty excited because Dan got a new razor and I got a spice rack for my kitchen. I have wanted one of those for a very long time. It even came filled with all the spices. Yipee! Mya was even excited because she got a princess book at Target and a mommy and daddy doll at Toys R Us for her dollhouse. On the way home from Mansfield we picked up a pizza and spent the evening hanging out with the girls. The coolest part was watching Dan draw on a piece of paper with Mya. She is at the stage where she wants adults to draw things for her and then she tries to draw by scribbling. On her very own she asked Dan to write some of the bible verses that she has memorized from preschool. "Daddy, write Obey God." "Daddy, write Tell the Truth." It melted my heart.

On Sunday we went to church, came home and had lunch and then everyone napped. Now I am sitting in my bathrobe (which I have been in all day) and we are playing with the girls in their bedroom. Could life be any better? Dan and I feel rested, the girls are happy, and it has been a fun weekend. We are so grateful for our life. However, as I am writing this Dan is teaching Mya to make her dinosaurs fight. Oh boy! I didn't say that our life was perfect (hee hee).

On another note, I would love to have prayer for a 30 day challenge that I am going to try. Nancy Leigh DeMoss from Revive Our Hearts has a challenge for wives. For 30 days she will challenge me to not say anything negative to my spouse or about my spouse to anyone else. Each day has a little devotion/challenge and a scripture. I am really going to commit the time to do this so any prayers would be greatly appreciated. We all know that my husband is awesome, but has some faults like any other husband. I'll check back in on February 25th and we'll see how well I did.

Meekness

This week I am studying about meekness from a Kay Arthur study. She tells a story of a young couple who were newly married. The husband was tragically killed in a car accident. In response to this tragedy, the parents of this man didn't waver from the certainty that God operated according to His plans for their son. At one point the parents told Kay, "I'm all right, Kay. Everything I have learned from studying the Word of God has held me and prepared me for this moment. His word is true. God is good, and He is sovereign." And so I ask myself this question.....Do I exhibit meekness no matter the circumstance? Do I show true submission to God? I know that I fall short of this when times get tough. I feel so challenged to practice submission and let God's will be done in my life. In Galatians 5:22-23 we see that God blesses us with "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control" when we live in His will. I want all of those things in my life. I know that I have so much work to do to and I pray for a level of commitment that demonstrates a drive to know God better and better personally.

So Close

Sara is SO close to crawling. It will be any day now!

Sweet Dreams

I caught a glimpse of the girls sleeping during their naps today and they were adorable. Mya took her baby doll to bed and Hannah wanted to sleep with the turtle. So cute!

Sweet Moment

We took both of the girls to communion this morning. Since our church is so large and only does communion twice a year, our sunday school class leaders decided to have communion for our group many times throughout the year. It is really nice having it with a small group. When we got to the foot washing part, Mya really wanted to try it too. Dan washed my feet and then I washed his feet. We had the sweetest moment with Mya when she dipped her hands in the water and helped wash her Daddy's feet. She was so serious about it and loved that she was helping. Then Dan washed her feet and she thought it was so neat. When we were all done we stood up and all three hugged and said "I love you." It was an amazing time with her.

Family Vacation

We took the girls on a mini-vacation to Kalahari in Sandusky. This is a very very large indoor waterpark and resort. It was amazing! We left Sunday afternoon after the girls took their naps and arrived around 4:00. Once we checked in to our room we got our free pizza and enjoyed dinner together. Our room was beautiful. I booked the king suite so we had a kitchen, living room, fireplace, whirlpool bathtub, and king bed. Then we took the girls to the waterpark for the evening. They lasted about an hour because the water was chilly and Mya was scared of the kiddie slides so she didn't want to do much. I think the environment was pretty overwhelming for her at first. There was so much to see! Aside from the waterpark there are tons of places to eat, a big game room for kids, a tree house with slides, stores, and a candy store. Sara had fun too and loved sitting in the water at the wave pool. We took the girls back to the room and gave them baths to get them ready for bed. However, we experienced God's awesomeness because we ran into a family from our church at the waterpark. They offered to watch our children so Dan and I could ride the adult waterslides together. Wow! They kept the girls from 8-9 and Dan and I had a blast together. Whenever we don't have the girls we tend to get giddy and excited because we feel like we are dating again. We went from waterslide to waterslide and had so much fun! Our favorites were the roller coaster one where it shoots you up the hill really fast and we also liked the raft one that swirls you around and around the tunnel until you drop out the bottom. I have included some pictures of our favorite rides, but they are from the Kalahari website. Sadly, our camera broke today so we didn't get any pictures of the girls at the waterpark. I was so sad about that.

We ended the evening by sitting in the indoor/outdoor hot tub. We were actually outside when it was snowing. So cool! It was very romantic! We picked up the girls after our evening and put them to bed with no problems at all. Then we watched our free movie and went to bed.

In the morning we took the girls to the waterpark again and they seemed to enjoy it much better. The water was much warmer today. I think Mya felt more comfortable because everything wasn't new. She had fun in the wave pool and so did Sara. We had lunch at Olive Garden on the way home and enjoyed the rest of our Monday off at home. Of course as soon as we pulled into the driveway at home Mya said, "Mommy, watch Barbie?" She has such a good memory.

New Things

Sara has done a couple new things this week that I need to brag about. She cut her first tooth (FINALLY!) on the bottom. She is not quite as fussy this week, which I am thankful for. Last week she just couldn't get comfortable during the day. However, I am very grateful that she continues to sleep through the night with no problems. She also started eating cereal and fruit this week as well as taken some sips from her sippy cup. She continues to sit up very well and I am guessing that she will start experimenting with crawling some day soon.

I had my interview with the pregnancy center and it went very well. Basically I will be developing the parenting classes on my own. This will take some time because we need to research some curriculums that will be appropriate to the population that they work with. We are thinking that I will probably teach a class once a week in the evening. The director is going to contact other pregnancy centers in larger counties and see what curriculum they are using. Then I will try it out and see what kind of response I get. I am very excited to teach adults. I hope and pray that God will use me to His glory in this setting.

Prayer Request

Tomorrow (Tuesday) afternoon I will be meeting with the director of the Ashland Care Center. This is a christian pregnancy center in town. I felt the Lord nudge me to contact them and request information about volunteering for them. I am interested in teaching parenting classes for them. Please pray that the Lord shows me how I can serve the center best.

Race Day

I had a fun race on Saturday morning. It was incredibly cold, but I think that helped me run faster. I ran that 5K in 24:05, which is a personal record for me. I placed 51st overall, but 2nd in my age group. I ran with four other Movin' Mamas and they all did so well. I am very proud of the mommies who take the time to train and run races together.

In the evening, we had some friends over for dinner. We only get to see them once or twice a year because they live out of the country. It was wonderful to meet up with them. They have a beautiful daughter who is four months older than Mya so we enjoyed watching the girls play together.

Updates

Well, we made it through the holidays! The girls did very well, although we were all ready for some down time once all of our christmases were over. It has been very nice to sleep in a couple mornings this week, although sleeping in for us is 7:00 these days. We spent New Year's Eve at my Dad's house eating TONS of food. We had cheese fondue, fondue for our meat, and chocolate fondue for dessert. Wow! It was an evening full of eating and lots of fun. On New Year's Day we stayed home all day and stayed in our pajamas. Dan and I both were able to workout, he lifted weights and I ran 4 miles with a couple girls. I am getting ready for my 5K Saturday morning. Hopefully it isn't too cold for the race because I would like to try for some speed when I run the race. More updates on that tomorrow.

Sara is doing very well. Last night she actually ate all of her cereal. It was like she just decided that she was ready to eat. Up until now we have had difficulty getting her to eat anything from a spoon. She seemed to like it last night so that is encouraging. Dan and I are going to a marriage retreat at the end of March so we are praying that it won't be too miserable to leave Sara for two nights. I am hoping that she will be able to use a sippy cup by then. Sara also learned how to sit up all by herself. She is much happier sitting up and playing with her toys. She continues to grow and proves to be long and skinny just like her sister. She is in the 95th percentile for height. She is almost 7 months old and as beautiful as ever.

Mya continues to amaze us everyday. She is an energetic little girl with a lot of spirit. She is very curious and loves to explore her environment. Her vocabulary is growing rapidly and she surprises me all the time with sentences that I didn't know she could say. Just this morning she was playing with Hannah and Sara and I heard her say, "Sara, I said look at me. Stop it. No. That's 1, that's 2, that's 3. Time out Sara." Sara was trying to grab Hannah's coloring book so Mya decided that she could take care of disciplining a 7 month old. It goes to show that 2 year olds hear and repeat EVERYTHING! I really have to watch what I say and what she sees on television too. She is so smart!

Dan is doing well too. He enjoyed having the day yesterday to relax and recooperate from the holidays. He recently joined a new fitness club that allows him 24 hour access so that has given him more opportunities to lift weights. It works out best for both of us to exercise after the kids go to bed in the evening. I've been able to do late night runs with a friend and that has been great for me. In two weeks we will be taking the girls on a mini-vacation to Kalahari in Sandusky. We are very excited to have some fun on the water slides and get away as a family.