Lion..ROAR

Sorry the video is a little dark as it was early morning and dad was still sleeping.

Kaitlyn was so excited about going to the zoo.

We worked for weeks for her to learn all the animals and what noises they make.

I think we got our ROAR down pretty good :)

San Diego Vacation

We had lots of firsts this week for Baby K.

First airplane ride, first time to the ocean, first time to see a horse (her favorite animal to say), first time to San Diego...whew!

We had such a great time on vacation that I did not want it to end!

Building sand castles with Dad

Dancing in the sand

San Diego Zoo!

My sweet little one and precious husband watching the animals!

Petting Zoo with Papa
The Lion (I have to post a video..Kaitlyn learned to say ROAR and it was cracking us up! )

The Elephants! Kaitlyn enjoyed them so much Grandma bought her a stuffed one to take home!
Boat Ride/Sea Lion Tour

Vacation!!

Greetings from the most relaxing 5 days with my family. There is nothing like going to sleep to the sound of crashing waves, spending quality time with your little one, and even getting grandma and Papa to babysit for date night here in Cali!! Pics to come soon, now the dreaded travel home and back to reality. Just wish I could live everyday " on vacation"!!!

Tuesdays Treasure: Investing in the Heart

Blessed Tuesday friends, hope this finds you well...

We are still working on the house, and the bookcases for the office finally came in last week. I spent most of the weekend trying to fill 15 shelves full of goodies. So much harder than I thought!
I scavenged the house looking for books and nick-knacks and came across a stack of my old journals. Oh did I have fun reminiscing!! I laughed at how insecure I was as a teenager, how much I was in love with my sweetheart Chris, how hurt my heart was when I lost my family, and how hungry I was for God's word.

Junior High and High School honestly does not seem that distant from me, but I will be celebrating my 10 year reunion next year! (yikes) As I read through pages and pages of the "me of 10-15 years ago" I was reminded just how important it is for me to be striving to be the Titus 2 Woman.

Titus 2: 4-5 says that by looking at older women. "the younger women will know how to love their husbands and children, be virtuous and pure, keep a good house, be good wives."

I am so thankful for the women of faith God has put into my life that have showed me how to be a Godly woman, many of you are reading this right now. Even more of you are in the same walk of life and age as I am, or even younger, yet you are teaching me to be more like Him everyday. And trust me...... I have my moments where I hope that no one is watching me, but what a great reminder of God's instruction.

In 2 weeks I will begin my 3rd year as an E-Teen Community Bible Study leader. From September to March I shepard ten to twelve 7th & 8th grade girls for the school year. I am so thankful for God allowing me to be apart of young girls lives when they are most willing to listen about God's plan for them. In such an awkward and adventurous stage of life, God loves on them through me.

(2008-2009 CBS) Aren't they precious?


Just wanted to share a little something I had found jotted in one of my journals from yesteryear's. I don't remember writing this one, and honestly I am not even sure if it came from me. I googled the words and it looks like parts of it were taken from a Mariah Carey song :)

You look at me and see the girl
Who lives inside this golden world
She smiles through a thousand tears
And harbors adolescent fears
She dreams of all she can never be
She wades in her own insecurity
And hides herself inside of me.

Wow, life can be tough, especially to young girls who are trying to look like they have it all together....(ouch Lord, wrote this over the weekend-it's early Tuesday morning and I am proofreading- and you are speaking to me. Its' not just young girls. It's young mom's, young wives, trying to keep all the balls in the air to look like we have it all. And yet we have nothing without you...somedays Lord it's me that has forgotten who I am in you)
Lord, thank you for reminding me of your instruction to shepard younger women. It is a special gift to view the world through the eyes of a teenager; thank you for taking me back to those emotions as I prepare to get new faces to love on this year.

Forgive me of losing sight of where you have brought me from.; a scared, skinny, insecure, brace-faced girl ....... to a woman who has found her identity in You Lord. May my daily words and actions of chasing after You show them how to someday "love their husbands and children, be virtuous and pure, keep a good house, and be good wives".

And Lord may I not forget that those same insecurities and feelings of emptiness easily enter the scene of my marriage and my role as a mother. Forgive me for trying to have it all, do it all, and forgetting the most important part...You.

San Diego..Trip Ideas??

We are leaving Thursday for 4 nights to San Diego with my parents. We haven't really made any plans for our trip (besides the zoo), so if you have any suggestions of fun things to do, let us know!

Entertaining the Neighborhood

I am not sure why Kaitlyn thinks we need sunglasses, a purse, a necklace, and her lunch box when we go for our morning walks...but boy is she styling!!

Tuesday's Treasure: A Life With No Regrets

I just finished a life changing book: "One Month to Live " Thirty days to a No-Regrets Life by Kerry & Chris Shook. What a challenging read! The premise of the book is to consider how your perspective would change if you found out that you had 30 days to live.

Just wanted to share a few treasures from my read.

• We all have the same amount of minutes in the day-there is nothing you can do to increase the length of a day
• 2 Corinthians 6:1 tells us not to squander one bit of this marvelous life
• With each tick of the clock, a moment of life is behind you......(chew on this one for a bit). Even as you read this paragraph, seconds passed that you can never regain.
• If I had 30 days to live, I would be more authentic about who I am and more deliberate about how I spent my time
• Am I living a legacy that will endure? Would Kaitlyn know who I am as a person by the treasures I have left in others.
• Psalm 90:12-Teach us to number our days Lord
• My life's purpose: To know and experience His love, to serve those around me, and to live passionately the life He has made for me
• "This is your life, are you who you want to be?' -Switchfoot
• Love this quote- "My children will not remember the words of wisdom I've passed along over the years, nor will yours remember the good advice you've given. However, etched in their minds and planted in their hearts is a permanent picture of who you are and how you've lived before them." - Dorothy Kelley Patterson
• God has an intricately designed grand plan for my life...but so does Satan (John 10:10) 'the thief comes to steal and destroy
• When all is said and done relationships are all that matter-not money or our collections of stuff. None of these comfort, or console our cry, or love us. Our investment in people we care about is the only legacy that has the power to endure beyond our lifetime.
• Ephesians 5:15-17 tells us to make the most of every opportunity for doing good

Lord, my prayer this week is to learn how to unwrap this gift of life. I want to use all that I've been given in pursuit of what matters most-Loving You Lord, and loving other people. Help me to leave those that matter most to me, a personal investment that will linger long after I am gone. Oh, and thank you for sending me an example of how a legacy endures. I sure miss him, miss the moments that I can not share with him, but will never forget that his life's passion was to love You Lord with all of his heart, to love my mom and brothers, and to love daddy's little girl.

My BFF's Birthday

Just a couple pics of Kaitlyn's BFF Ellery turning 1 year old!

Ellery had a circus themed party that was super fun!

Playdate Fun

Friday, we met our friends Price & Braxton at the children's

museum for playdate fun!

We mom's agreed that $6 bucks was worth the 1 1/2 hours of fun!

Playing with the cash register
Feeding the baby pizza
Braxton-Not sure what he is thinking in this picture...
Price & Kaitlyn bouncing around

Our little news anchors :)

All That Hair!!

I finally got her still enough to do little pig tails. They aren't perfect and she has already taken the bows out...but she's still a cutie! And looks so BIG!! I love the curls!!

Tuesdays Treasure: The Heart of The Home

Recently I have been a little (my friends would call obsessed) with finding something to hang on this enormous wall in our living room. I am loving our new house, but getting it "just right" has taken longer than I had expected, and I am...well frustrated. It's not so much about having the cutest house on the block, I think a lot about making my home a welcoming place. It is important to me that my family feels safe, that the rooms are filled with love, that in a rough world-our house feels like a retreat-a peaceful place for my family. I want the heart of our home.....you know, the place where we share laughs over dinner, where daddy dances with Kaitlyn, where we snuggle and watch movies under one blanket, the place where all our memories are made....to be just perfect.


But...then...God sort of...you know how He does...started pulling on my heart. Finding the perfect picture for my living room is not going to miraculously make our house a fairyland filled with days without me burning dinner! HA!
I've come to realize that I am the heart of our home. Last summer my girlfriends and I read "The Power of a Praying Wife". Stormie says "the husband is the head of the home, but the wife is the heart. I find such power in that. I am the heartbeat of our home! If my heart is cold and angry, than the house will be as well. If my heart is warm and loving, our house will be filled with love. Maybe I've grown a little chilly in my attitude towards all the blessings God has given me. Maybe our house doesn't feel like a home yet because I am not cultivating a spirit of LOVE. Lord, my prayer is that Your presence fills my home as I invite others within its walls. May it be evident that You are the Great Host within who permeates every nook and cranny with Your grace and love. May it be known to my dear husband and sweet little one that my heartbeat is to be a woman who "who's husband trusts her, who does him good and not harm all the days of her life, who works with willing hands, who rises before everyone else to take care of needs like clothing and food, a woman who dresses herself with strength physically and spiritually, one who works until the work is done, the one who keeps things steady, who helps the needy, who makes herself appealing for her husband, one who is proud of her husband and lets people know it, who has much dignity, one who overflows with wisdom and has a kind tongue, one who is not lazy, a woman who's children call her blessed and her husband praises her, one who remembers that charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised! (Proverbs 31:10-31)

SummerTime Fun!

Just a couple of pictures taken recently of me and my sweet friends!

Allison, Me & Victoria
Mary Helen, Wynne, Abby, Jordan, & Me

Wynne, Me, Victoria, Jordan
Me & Amanda

Jennifer, Brooke, & Terri

Jordan & Wynne (My sweeties!!!)

Tuesdays Treasure: Esther

I just completed a 9 week study with the most precious women! Before I even get to what God has spoken to me about during my time spent studying Esther, I have to praise Him for surrounding me with such beautiful sisters in Christ that "spur me one" that "sharpen" my spirit and make me a better...ME! Oh it's "tough be a wo-man" as Beth would say, but it is also the most precious gift....the gift of friendship.

There is something so refreshing about being gathered in the heart of someones home and discussing scripture. This summer, 12 or so girls started an adventure..and I mean Beth Moore took us on an adventure..into the study of Esther. I learned that God's love is not based on beauty or position, though Esther had both of those. His love is not based on performance or abilities. Instead, His love for me is complete today..just as I am. I am the object of His heart.

Esther was a woman, just like me with hopes, dreams, imperfections, and fears. Yet God chose her "for such a time as this" It took me weeks to wrap my head and my heart that I am in the family, in this era of time, in my work, in my circle of friends all for His glory to be displayed in my life. I am here "for such a time as this"...God chose me..and the only explanation is grace. Lord may others examine my life and see that the only possible explanation is you. May they see that because of grace, I am the daughter of a King!

"God rewrote the text of my life when

I opened the book of my heart to His eyes"

Ps. 18:24, The Message

Thanks Dad!!

Chris finished the play-set Papa Harper bought Kaitlyn! I must say, I am very much impressed with my handy husband who put it all together by himself!

I think Kaitlyn enjoys it...what do you think??