Praises....

We've been looking for a job for Josh for the past couple months and his old employment working for cell towers enabled him to come back. However, the shop here by my mom's didn't have any hours for him to work so he was relocated about 4 hours east of us. Because they have a 5 months of work available we were just going to move over there for a couple months while Josh worked. Well we called a few places through word of mouth, including the apartment complex (yes only one, it is a tiny town) and there was just nothing! Well I was planning on going there today and so packed everything up, only to find out that it didn't work out. I thought it would be a long week without Josh again. But tonight a miracle happened! Someone we know told us of a couple who goes away for the winter to a warmer spot. And we can rent their place for really cheap while they're gone!!! I am so excited!!! Praise God. Nothing worked out previously because He had something even better in store for us. Cheaper rent and it's furnished cause they're only gone part of the year (I was hoping for furnished because we don't have much in terms of furniture). God is so good!! We're leaving Tuesday, and have just one prayer request, and that is that our van will ,ake it. It really has been through a lot of driving.

Time to Get Dirty

The kids love helping me in the garden, especially if I make little pools of water for them to splash in...

Two Peas in a Pod

I have been blessed with two healthy, beautiful babies!

Daily...

Josh, I and the kids are still living at my moms, which comes with challenges every single day. God is definitely stretching me during my time here. I'm learning (uh actually relearning, or maybe I should say, still learning) to not look to my circumstances and be frustrated or irritated by them, but rather focus on Christ and who He is in spite of everything going on around me. I seem to get so caught up in the work that needs to be done that I forget what's important, like my husband, kids, and resting in Christ. It's seems to be a daily struggle...

In spite of the all I am learning to walk away from not important things and focus my time and energy on my kids, and find that when I make the conscience decision to do so, I end up really enjoying it.

Boys to go to school

Another blessing has come our way! My two youngest brothers have been given a free year at a christian school. Praise God! My mom has been so busy with paperwork, gardening, and everything else it takes to run this place, that having to homeschool again would have been too much. We are beyond thankful that this opportunity has been given to them. I think they may start on Monday.

Back Home in Lakebay

I think I inherited my dads love for gardening. I feel like I could just be outside in the dirt all day long. I absolutely love planting, weeding, and everything else that gardening entails. Not only is it relaxing it's my time to talk with God. So today I was able to spend some time doing just that. Because my mom has a community supported agriculture system going we constantly need to be on top of rotating crops. My dad had so much knowledge on planting, fertilizing, hydroponics, where to plant, when to plant, and so on, that I wish I would have tapped into it more. There is so much to do when you have a huge garden. I don't know how things will go next year, but right now we're keeping things going. Needless to say, Josh and I have been super busy since we've back! There is so much to do around here that it can sometimes be overwhelming, but we're taking it one day at a time. In spite of all our busy times, we are astounded at the blessings that we have received since my dad passed away. My mom wrote down everything and put them on the fridge, and the list keeps growing. In the midst of everything we are constantly reminded of God's grace and love. Thank you everyone!

Jeremiah's Finally Walking!

Well, Josh and I are back at New Tribes for another semester. We weren't sure if we'd make it, but God graciously provided through Josh's grandpa (Thank you!) We had an awesome time back home during Christmas break with family, but as we expected, it flew by. We're planning on coming back home this May after the semester ends, but not sure if we're flying or driving, probably leaning toward the latter. Although traveling a couple days with kids isn't exactly what we'd call fun. We may brave traveling through the night while the kids sleep to get there sooner!
Jeremiah is starting to walk! He's so adorable! He's getting better every day. And he loves to look at books...like his sister Jordan.
Jordan....my little girl is getting so big! She has a new routine every morning of waking me up and asking to watch either Mulan, or Hercules. I of course go back to bed until she wakes me again asking for her doll or blanket or something else that my sleepy self can't understand. She occasionally has nightmares about her stuffed dog Hup-Dup biting her on the arm, elbow, or butt. And yes, she says the dogggy bites her in those places. She also askes to go swimming every day, as we have a pool here on campus. She adores swimming with Josh.
Today both kids were sitting in the computer chair watching the Backyardigans "super spy" and I was singing and dancing along for the kids, and Jeremiah smiles and leans over on his sister, and Jordan responded by leaning on him. Oh, it was so cute! I love having two little kids! Hehe!

October Pictures Of the Kids

Pictures Galore....

Here's some more pictures of my kids.

Simply Pictures

I haven't written for awhile cause things have been so busy. And I haven't really had a desire to write recently. But here are some cute pictures of the kids! And yeah, I know they're getting huge! If you have any 9-12 month boy clothes, feel free to send them my way :)
Enjoy the pictures guys!

Day Of Prayer

Today we had a day of prayer. It began with praise songs to God in the auditorium, followed by an inspiring sermon on prayer. Personally, I've known that prayer is important, but it never went beyond that. Daily (and honestly, not even daily sometimes) my prayers have been hey God please help ME with this, or God please help ME with that. Oh God I need something, or wow Jesus I need to grow in this area. And so on. Sure, I appreciate God and give thanks for the amazing things that He has blessed me with. But more often than not, the prayers have been centered around me! Uggg, how disgusting. Here I am praying the to God of the universe, and I'm talking about what I need. The pastor that spoke this morning challenged us to pray a whole week and not ask for anything from God; simply praise Him for who He is, and what He's done. Wow! Both Josh and I were definitely challenged. I'll let you know how it goes. For you that are reading this I challenge you to do the same thing, and let me know how it goes.
As a wife and a mom I am constantly busy. I get so caught up in the things that need to get done, distracted by the laundry and dishes that pile up, the dinner that I need to cook, the diapers that need changing, the kids that need to be cared for (and the guilt for not spending time with them), and now the homework that needs tending to; you moms know exactly what I'm talking about. Auuughh, just looking at that endless list I feel exhausted! This morning though, I was convicted when he talked about being distracted by the thousands of unimportant things, and the excuses you make for not praying or spending time in Gods word, which, when everything else is stripped away, are essentially the fundamentals of the ministry. I have to fight for that time with God. It won't come easily, as you can see by the long list of daily distractions, but it is fundamental to everything in this life.
Another thing that, yes convicted me again, was the time spent in prayer is so minimal...does this sound familiar? "Oh God thank you so much for everything, you are so amazing! Lord thank you for providing us with that couch that we'd been praying for. Shoot, I have to paint my toenails again, they're already wearing out. I pray that you would just help my kids to get over this cold Lord, it's hard taking care of them when they're really cranky God. I need to call my mom and ask her something, but what was it? I pray that you would just give me the strength to have patience with them though cause they drive me crazy sometimes."
I get distracted so easily, and not only that my prayers only last 5 minutes. How am I suppossed to spend time with God in 5 minutes? it doesn't happen. When we pray we shouldn't rush God, but give Him time to speak to us. We should simply listen, and actually tune the world out (sometimes there are so many things to distract us that we can't hear what He is saying). Also, when we go to God in prayer, we should go expectant that God will here us, otherwise we shouldn't be praying at all.
I always thought I went before God openly and honestly, but I think I fall short of this as well. Through my prayers I haven't been getting to know God on a deep and personal level. They been rushed and shallow. I've hardly gone before God literally on my face before Him. Please pray for me guys, that I will open up before our loving, caring, magnificent God who listens and cares about all of us!

Jeremiahs 2nd Haircut

I gave Jeremiah his 2nd haircut....

Yeah, 2nd haircut in 5 months.
This kid has a lot of hair.
Oh but what a cutie.
He didn't exactly hold still for me,
but it turned out okay. Not too
choppy.

Labor day weekend we went with our two neighbors, the May family

Rodney, Deanna, River (3 yrs), and Laike (Jordans age), and the Kloosterhuis family, Russell, and Carley and a little baby on the way, to a small lake. The May's knew a family there from their church so we got to use a pontoon boat. So much fun! They even had a little carnival for little kids, but I think Jordan may have been a little young for it. Regardless, she got a flower balloon, as well as a flower drawn on her arm.

This is Laike, trying on her life jacket!

Here is Rodney and River swimming in lake. River was a little apprehensive about jumping in, but he eventually warmed up to the idea

Jordan stole Jeremiah's hat, and is expression is so adorable!

And here's Jordan enjoying her 12th piece of watermelon:

Deanna and River
were checking
out the different booths
at the kids carnival

This was a really cool wooden train that kids were climbing all over. So I of course had to get a couple of pictures.

We got to see a blue heron, which Josh took some awesome pictures of.

And, I know you guys will love this one...we also got to see a big nasty spider (which the guys said was a wolf spider, blech!). Yeah, check out how big that is! Yuck! Nasty!

It has been super hot here in Michigan, definitely more humid than us Washingtonians are used to. We've been swimming every day in the pool they have here. So thankful for it too. It's an indoor pool, so we're not red lobsters from being outside in the sun all the time. Jordan has found another way to stay cool. She just opens the fridge and chills out. It's so funny!

Jeremiah's Rolling

As of August 20th, Jeremiah can officially roll from back to front.
Yes, grandma's you heard right.
You're cute little grandbaby is growing up so fast.