Thankful

Bless the Lord, O my soul,

and all that is within me,

bless his holy name!

Bless the Lord, O my soul,

and forget not all his benefits,

who forgives all your iniquity,

who heals all your diseases,

who redeems your life from the pit,

who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,

who satisfies you with good

so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

 Psalm 103:1-5

We started a new November tradition this year- the "Thankful Tree" and I have to say we are loving it! Remembering the Lord's blessings from best friends to balloons has been a great way to start each day. Most mornings Adalai has multiple things she wants to write down and I am reminded just how kind the Lord has been to us.
Below are a handful of ways the Lord has been good to us. I know these are very "ordinary" things to be thankful for... at least in our circles... but they are anything but "common" and I know our cross country move has accentuated just how special and dear to my heart each one of these blessings are.  



So, I will try to keep it brief but this post could have easily been 10 or more posts! So, just think of it as 5 posts/updates within 1. :)

1- God and the gift of His grace 

As I continue in faith, by God's grace, I have come to a greater love of Him and a greater awareness of His grace. It's something that I hope that I never get over and that the hearing of it will always soften my heart, give me great joy, and stir my heart to thankfulness and worship. I love Psalm 103 (above) God is the forgiver of my iniquity the redeemer of my life, and then Psalm 103 goes on to say: 

He does not deal with us according to our sins,

nor repay us according to our iniquities.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth,

so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;

as far as the east is from the west,

so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

As a father shows compassion to his children,

so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.

For he knows our frame;

he remembers that we are dust. (Psalm 103:10-14, ESV)

So so thankful for the Lord's compassion and grace!

2- Traever

It's hard to believe that it will be 9 years tomorrow since we said "I do"! And it has gotten better and better each year... the beginning years were actually quite painful. However because of that darker time in our lives I think the grace and loving kindness of the Lord, who brought us out of that place, is all the more obvious... and for that we are both so thankful!!! So, I'm thankful for the work that God has done in our marriage and the work that He continues to do!

I am so blessed to be married to an amazing man who loves the Lord, loves the word of God, loves the Church, loves the gospel, loves me, and our children. And I find him quite lovable too. Late the other night (like 12:30am) he was studying and I was preparing finger paint for a play date the following day when the bottle of paint that I was squeezing exploded all over the kitchen into a massive mess- on the blinds, on the floor, on the fridge, on the counter, on the walls, on my purse, etc. he came to my rescue and gave up an hour of precious study or sleeping time to help me with the clean up and of course made me laugh (mainly at myself) through it all.

3- The Munchkins

There's nothing quite like scooping up one of these little ones in your arms. Recently I've gotten to have some sweet time with these 3 little squirts. 

We spent sometime at the park by our place last week trying to get a pic worthy of a Christmas card. Thatch had a horrible time, he was either shoving leaves in his mouth or having a melt down but the girls had a genuinely good time. I left with zero pics of them all smiling but a lot of pictures that captured what life looks like right now including a lot of sweet and a lot of silly moments. Thankful to be a mom to these 3.

Even his grumpy faces are somehow a bit cute.

Once he was in my lap he was fine... total momma's boy.

4- Family

The older that I get the more I realize how good God has been to Traever and I in placing us in the families that He did. Thankful for parents who love us and love the Lord. And there are few things in this world that compare to the love between sibs... I can not imagine life without them! So so thankful for the gift of brothers and sisters.

Speaking of family :) my parents recently came to visit!! It was their first time visiting us since our move and so we tried to hit up a few of the local attractions. The first day we went to the San Diego Zoo and of course the kids loved it.

And no visit here would be complete without some beach and pool time. 

Having Mamaw and Papaw here felt like a mini vacation.

The last night my parents were here we got to eat at the restaurant on the end of this pier and watch the sun go down.

It was so good to see them! They spoiled me with so much help and the kids loved their time exploring San Diego, swimming, playing games and watching movies with the Grandparents!

5- Friends

We are so thankful for the friends that God has given us! They are like family to us and our kids- our best buds, babysitters and each other's burden bearers who make life just better in about every way.

These 2 have been known to celebrate their friend-iversary. I think they are 10 years strong now.

The posse kids- Always a crazy good time.

Livie is the 1st thing Adalai wrote on the Thankful Tree, and the 2nd thing she wrote was "sleepovers with Livie" and the 3rd "riding roller coasters with Livie" so... Liverbugs definitely holds a special spot in her heart.

We miss our friends back "home" but we are so glad that friendships are forming here! It was exciting to me that a few of Adalai's new friends from PreK also made their way onto the Thankful Tree. I'm so thankful for the people that God has provided for us to walk with during the coming years here in CA.

I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Make a Memory

A dear friend of mine frequently gives the advice to "Make a memory". So Cher Bear :) this post is for you- we're throwing ourselves into this California thing and trying to make the moments count.  Here are the top 10 memories of the past couple weeks.


It seems that kids are experts at making most things "fun" and memorable. When you're a kid bathtubs turn into oceans, carpet into lava, and piles of laundry foam pits. The world is a giant playground until reality hits... right in the face... poor Rem.


#1: Hitting the coffee table head-on and a trip to the ER

Thankfully there were no stitches the Dr. decided to just use glue.

#2: Sharing a stroller and a safari ride

We were blessed by sweet friends last week that let us tag along with them to the Safari Park. We all had so much fun!! Thank you Hoffman's!

 

#3: Distracting Dad

Traever had midterms last week and so as always the kiddos provided ample study breaks for him. Impromptu dance parties:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yibUWxTd85Y&feature=youtu.be  and sharing the study with Thatchman:

#4: Meeting a Movie Star

The kids got to go to the local Children's Museum to play drums with none other then Curious George... sorry no picture. All that to say the kids didn't seem too interested in him they had way more fun playing pirates.

#5: A special visitor

The kids were beyond excited to have one of their favorite people from Illinois, Becky, come spend an evening with them! Sweet Becky watched the kids for us so that we could go on a date- which was much appreciated and it was so good to see her!!

#6: Baby bubble beard

Even Thatch likes playing bathtub barbershop.

#7: Farm Days

The kids have loved the couple of trips that we have taken to Bates Nut Farm. About a year ago the girls would have clung to me and cried like a baby at the site of most of these creatures and the last time we were there they were contemplating feeding them so we are definitely taking strides in the right direction.

#8: Thatch's first Fall

He loved crunching the leaves... sorry to say this may be all of autumn that you see this year :(

#9: Quiet mornings

I was blessed to have a few quiet mornings the past few weeks. Thatch has very recently started sleeping through the night more regularly and so it makes getting up a bit less painful :). I had a few mornings where I got out for a jog and I got to see the mountains and talk to the one who made them. A pretty great way to start the day.

#10: Shaking the sillies out and wiggling the waggles away

Thanks to Becky's visit we've had some Raffi songs stuck in our heads :) Here's a few more pics of the silliness that goes on here.