Something to say

The Littles have something that they want to share!

At first Little lady had to explain it to Little dude, he didn't quite understand. But once she told him all the details...

He wasn't sure it was good news!

But sissy gave him a hug and kiss and told him it is good news!

And he eventually warmed up to the idea!

We are so excited to be adding baby #3 in spring 2012!!!!

Swim Lessons

Little Lady had her first 'swim lesson' on Saturday! She is doing them with her daddy and so far she is loving the water! I really want our littles to love the water and to feel confident in and around it. I have had a great fear about water and drowning since I was a little girl and if it can be avoided with our kids I would be so grateful! It helps my anxiety with the kids near the water too, if I know they are good swimmers. Plus it's a great way for the two of them to have daddy-daughter time together!

We could have put Little dude in the same class with his sister but we decided he would probably get more out of it next year. He and I tagged along this week so we could get pictures of the exciting event!

Her hair is getting long again!

She was cold by the time they were done, but she didn't even complain! 

So far she loves to "sim!"

Father's Day

To the best daddy my babies could ever have, want or need...

thank you for loving us and leading us,

and having fun and playing with us,

and for stopping to smell the roses dandilions with us!

We hope that you know how appreciated you are on this Father's Day!

We LOVE you!!

Little Lady {23 months}

Dear, sweet princess-

You are quite the princess these days! You are enthralled with all things beautiful and love to 'oooh' and 'ahh' over things you find to be precious. It's pretty much the most adorable thing I have ever seen. You are so loving, hugging and kissing all the time. And you still have no social fears. You say hello to everyone and love when anyone stops to talk to you. Which is often. I hear 'She is so adorable' all day long. As if I didn't already know! :D

You even have a couple of friends that you refer to by name and love to talk about. You are even more excited when we have play dates and you get to see those friends! But you just love friends. On Sunday mornings when we tell you we are going to church, you always light up and say 'Pay wif fwends!' I love that you are excited about going to church and that it is an enjoyable place for you to go. And yes baby girl, we see our friends at church, including our best friend, Jesus!! What a friend we have in Jesus!! I admire your love for people and pray the Lord uses that to draw people to Himself through that quality in you someday.

You are talking all the time and putting phrases together better and better each day. I've had several people tell me that you talk so well and so clearly for not even being 2 yet! I agree. You are really getting great at verbal communication! This morning you even started to play the copy cat game with daddy by repeating everything he said while he changed your diaper: "Lay still" "yay still" "Evalyn" "Eva-yin"... You can be a little stinker! And when you are trying to talk to me but I'm not giving you the full attention you are wanting, you climb up in my lap and put your hands on both sides of my face and turn my face so I'm practically nose to nose with you. I know you need me to stop what I'm doing and pay you some attention. Of course, if you were to interrupt mama and be disrespectful, that wouldn't be ok. But this is usually when I'm dividing my attention that should be directed at you to begin with.

Your understanding of concepts is growing at a rapid pace and somedays it just down right blows my mind what you understand! The hard part is keeping that in mind when I am trying to discipline you and it would be so much easier to excuse things to you not understanding. Most of the time that isn't true. You are testing the boundaries all the time. Over and over again. You do something you know is wrong, you are disciplined and then go do it again! It's very trying and draining, but I just keep reminding myself that these are the most foundational and crucial times for our future in teaching you obedience to us and to your Heavenly Father. We are teaching you that there are consequences for all your actions. And they are immediate. It can be the most difficult thing I do all week, but it's probably the most important thing too.

I can honestly say that you are relatively obedient. I've heard stories of how things could be so much worse. But even with that being said, no 'good' behavior meets the standard of God. So we can rejoice and be grateful for the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ. That is the only way any of us can be righteous!

Your doing your first swimming lessons class this summer with daddy! It actually starts today. It's important to me that you and Little dude know how to swim and are comfortable with the water. I grew up with a fear of water and still have it with you kids around the water. I hope that you grow to love the water, and you do so far! You ask to go swimming often and are so excited when I get your swim suit out. We usually spend time at splash parks since I don't feel comfortable taking you and your brother to the pool by myself. You love to run through the sprinklers too.

I just can't believe you will be 2 in 30 days...

You will always be my baby girl but you are looking and acting much less like a baby and more like a big girl every day!

I love you so much, sweet princess!

One year ago...

Little Dude {8 Months}

It's really hard to believe it. But it's true. You are growing up right before my eyes! If it's even possible, it seems that your first year is going by faster than your sisters! I'm falling more in love with you everyday, my little man. I see so much of your daddy in you and it warms my heart. Your daddy is a wonderful, godly man. We like to call him our hero!

Getting sunscreened at the water park! Love your little swim trunks!

You are getting busy by the day and yet you are taking your sweet time in going any where! Finally, you are getting your balance when you are sitting. But if sissy or something else startles you or you get over zealous and try to get something a little out of your reach, you usually fall over. And then you cry, not because you are hurt really, but just because you want to sit up again, but can't get there on your own! So mommy comes in and props you back up and then you are perfectly content!

You love just watching your sissy play! And when she acknowledges you or brings you a toy or sits down by you to read you a book, you grin so big. And your arms and legs stiffen and your just so happy to have her company. It just warms my heart!

You reach for everything you see and your strong little grip still catches me off guard! Especially when it's my plate full of food you grab while sitting in my lap! You are still mainly nursing and that is my fault. I just haven't made it a priority to feed you solids in our day. I have a plan to help remedy that. I'm sure you will just love food when you get to start gumming it. And gum it you will because we have no signs of teeth yet. At least not to the surface. Although you chew, chew, chew and drool, drool, drool all day long and there are days that you just seem uncomfortable and want to be held that I'm sure some day soon we will see little white spots on those gums!

You have such a sweet disposition and are just a joy to be around all the time. You go to sleep easy, it's the staying asleep that we have a little problem with. Usually I can get you back to sleep quick if I nurse you but I'm thinking that it might be a habit instead of a necessity. Don't worry though, I don't have any plans for to break that habit anytime soon. You won't be my baby for ever and I'm convinced that one day you will not need to be nursed back to sleep. When that day comes, I'm going to miss these days when we cuddled and snuggled in your rocker...

You LOVE the swing!!

You are discovering your voice and have a shrill scream most of the day. I remember your sister going through a similar phase but I really think you hit a higher pitch than she ever did!! You love to blow raspberries and will play games with us. If we blow you raspberry you will respond with one back! It's so cute, our first communication.

You are extremely ticklish, we can tickle you anywhere and you just laugh! I love your laugh. And your toothless grin. And your chubby feet and toes. And the rolls that are growing on your thighs and arms. You are one sweet boy. And I'm so grateful that God chose for me to be your mama!

Daddy's little buddy! :)

We sure do love you, Little Dude!

Family Photoshoot

At the end of May our family had pictures taken at the Botanical Gardens! An other blogger I follow, MckMama, came to our city took photographs! Hubby surprised me on Mother's Day with a paid session with her.

MckMama posted a sneak peek on her blog today! I was so excited to see that she got a picture with all of us looking at the camera. No small feet these days...

I am so excited to see how the rest turned out!!

Summer nights

I look forward to the summertime. But really it's the summer nights I love.

The last three summers I've realized that we do more family things. Maybe it's the longer days, but I don't mind the kiddos staying up later and there are many spontaneous outings as a family!

Sometimes we go to the park or just for a walk through our neighborhood. Sometimes there is a detour stop at the Dairy Queen. Saturday night, though, it was the new self serve frozen yogurt (aka fryo!) place near our house! We will probably be frequent visitors all summer. Yum!

My personal favorite is any chocolate froyo with all the different Chocolate toppings! I may have a slight problem. :/

Little lady could care less about the frozen yogurt. She is much more entertained by the game they have for the kids. Basically it's a video game projected on the floor and you move around and use your feet to play. Saturday night she was the entertainment of 4 junior high school girls. They laughed and encouraged her silliness and she was in heaven with all the attention!

Have you tried self-serve froyo yet?! If not, what are you waiting for? It's soooo good!

What's you and/or your family's favorite part about summertime?

Garage sale

Friday and Saturday was our first time doing a garage sale since being married. It went really well too! It mostly consisted of baby gadgets the kids had out grown and we found to not be necessities. We sold a lot of Little lady's clothes (her closet was ridiculously busting at the seams!) And some other odds and ends I purged through out the house in the last couple of weeks. Hubby even got motivated, after seeing stuff actually sell, and started purging the garage of the unnecessary!

We both loved how good it felt to just get rid of stuff!

There is no doubt how our culture puts such an emphasis on stuff, but I find it interesting to think of how little we actually need! And I've even witnessed first hand how my family actually thrives when we simplify, even the kids and their toys. Little lady is so much more creative when she has fewer toys out and to choose from. It's amazing really!

Ok, off my soap box and back to the garage...

Our neighborhood was having a community garage sale weekend so I decided to break away from our sale and go treasure hunting. I brought a friend for accountaability! What's the point in getting rid of stuff just to buy more! But I did have a few things I was looking for specifically!

I found a couple of great deals:

.50

This apothecary jar to hold all my buttons. :) I'm a sucker for cute and practical!

$10

A mirror I plan to turn into a prop for abundant Sonshine product photos. With a little paint and tweaking it'll have the perfect unique look I'm looking for!

$10

I think this is my favorite find of the day!! I love toys that are made all from wood! They are sturdy and durable, but they are really pricy too. This was so worth the ten bucks. It has 4 sides plus the top can be removed to storage space inside the box! Each side has a different activity to include a white board and a felt board. On the felt board side I think I'm going to make those story board characters from the bible I remember from VBS when I was a kid. We can act out bible stories on it. :) I'm so excited for the use we will get put of this wooden toy!

That was our garage sale weekend. It was a lot of work but a lot of fun too!

Cardboard Testimonies

A group from our church did a presentation of their testimonies on a piece of cardboard during worship today.

Have you seen this before? Here is a video of another church doing it.



On the front side they wrote what their life was before and without Jesus. On the back they wrote what their life is with Jesus! So powerful!

My heart couldn't help but be filled with the hope and the joy of the Lord. And eyes filled with tears seeing the Lord moving in the lives of the believers who shared at my church this morning. Just seeing how God has done incredible things!

I was so inspired to share what my cardboard would have said.

Front:

Searching for acceptance in guys & 

giving myself to them physically. 

Depressed & hopeless.

Back:

Pursued & redeemed 

by true love, Jesus! 

Filled with hope & purpose!

What would yours say? How does your life reflect God's love and grace?

If you haven't experienced the love and grace of God in your life, if you only have one side of your cardboard filled out, I urge you to seek Jesus! Let Him write the otherside, let Him redeem you!

God's heart is for adoption.

When the Lord put the idea of abundant Sonshine boutique on my heart, He simultaneously laid it on my heart to use this business to support and help pay for adoptions. I've had a heart for adoptions since I was in high school and it was just in the last year that hubby and I have been seeking the Lord in His will in adoption for our family!

The expenses to adopt a child, domestic or international, can be enough to keep a willing family from even pursuing the possibility. I do believe that God is able to provide for any calling He places in someone's heart. And just maybe this business will be the way He provides for a family to adopt a child! All for His glory!

God's heart is for adoption.

"God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, so He might redeem those under the law, that we might recieve the adoption as sons."

Galations 4:4-5

"as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God."

John 1:12

Jesus said, "I will not leave you as orphans..."

John 14:18

God has set the example of adoption through His Son, Jesus Christ. It is through His death and His resurrection that we can be called His child, His son or daughter, and receive the inheritance due a child of God, eternal life! We are redeemed through the blood of Christ! And when an orphaned child is adopted in to a loving family, this is an example of what God has done for all of us, if we choose to accept Christ as Lord.

I am praying that God would direct me specifically where to give the funds made through my boutique, and if a specific family is ever in need and the Lord confirms it, then that is where I will give! I know God wants to use each of us in the community around us to reach out and support one another. That really is what the church is all about, how God intended it to be. We are supposed to be His hands and His feet. He desires to reach everyone, every single person. And we have the privilege of being a part of reaching out to others and touching their lives, if we are willing and available!

With that being said, if you or another family is seeking to adopt and looking for a way to pay for an adoption, please contact us! Hubby and I would love to meet you, pray with you, support and encourage you in any way we can. If the Lord's will is for us to support financially then we will. Our heart's desire is to make the expense part of the adoption process less of a burden. So that the family and the child can focus on the transition and everything else that goes along with it.