{Thank You}

::Thank you to the brave men and women of America that faithfully and sacrificially serve her people::

::Thank you to row upon row of faceless white headstones; that represent our past::

::Thank you to so many of our friends and family TODAY that don't have this day off of work and are separated from their families::

::May the Lord continue to watch over us and guide us and allow us to keep our freedom::

Gifts #43-58

43.  Blonde curls blowing in the wind
44.  Bumping into a friend at thrift store and an unplanned visit afterward
45.  Forgiveness of sin
46.  The remembrance of the Lord's Supper
47.  Faithful Sunday School teachers
48.  A break from teaching Sunday School for a quarter
49.  Seeing children grow and graduate to the next grade
50.  All church lunch
51.  The spreading of graduating seminary students
52.  Lots of new faces at church
53.  A rainy, wintry day in May
54.  Hubby going off to hit golf balls
55.  Dinner and fellowship with fellow deacon families
56.  Children squealing and jumping on the couch
57.  Sangria
58.  Restful Sunday afternoons

Gifts #21-42

21.  Bright blue, cloudless sky

22.  Sweet fragrance of neighbor's blooms

23.  Web chatting with cousins

24.  Cleaning dirty toys for a new life in the nursery at church

25.  Stopping to read to little one instead of rushing to next thing

26.  Quick hot dog lunches

27.  An hour of sweating at the gym while Chase gets to play

28.  Finishing up One Thousand Gifts

29.  Sparkling water

30.  Coffee and milk in bed while watching the morning news
31.  Sweet prayers already at age 2
32.  Brownies baking in the oven
33.  Husband cooking dinner
34.  Pretty cake pops
35.  Weekend help
36.  Laying in bed on a Saturday morning watching the blinds gently blow in the cool breeze
37.  Smelling the coffee waft up the stairs
38.  Daddy daughter date at swimming lessons and a bagel afterward
39.  Clean laundry washed in machines
40.  Emails from friends
41.  Phone fellowship
42.  Not much on the weekend agenda

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. 

A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

One Thousand Gifts

1. The swirl of steam from coffee cup
2. Early morning sun through blinds
3. Quiet wee morning hours
4. Late sleeping baby
5. Girls night out
6. Friendship
7. Anticipating 3 day weekend
8. Surprise employee for happy husband
9. Seeing people using their good for the world
10. Beautiful sunshine weather
11. Bumping into friends out to dinner
12. Changed plans
13. Sitting outside and reading new library books while eating lunch
14. New flowers in the pots
15. A little bit of time to relax during naptime
16. Fun morning poolside with friends
17. Hearing voices say they have the strength to make it today
18. Musical talent
19. Church family that offered to keep Chase
20. Health

{::Most Embarrassing Moments::}

I have taken a bit of a mental vacation for the past week and a half.

My parents came for a visit and it was short, so I was busy running around and enjoying some alone time while Chase had some much loved time with Mimi and "Bampa".

It was nice to have them here and Chase loved every single minute of it!  We will see them again in the Midwest in about one month.

It is the countdown to Summer!!  Hard to believe.  Only about 3 weeks of school left. 

All in this house will be sad to see school come to an end.  It was such a great experience for Chase.  We are happy to be staying at the same preschool next year and are hoping to be in the classroom with a couple of our new friends.

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Here are only a few pictures that I've taken in the past two weeks...sadly, if I don't force myself to take pictures, weeks can pass. 

But you will see why I entitled this post

 "Most Embarrassing Moments"



Don't you hate when that happens???





Doesn't that sweet face make you smile??



{Happy Mother's Day}

I am a lame daughter...I lapsed on posting on Mother's Day.  I'll just blame it on all the relaxing I was doing since I am now a mom!!

I'm thankful for the two Mom's in my life!  

The Lord was good to me when he gave me my mom.  I think of all the kids out there with really terrible moms, and that makes me sad.  But I am so thankful for who I was given!

{this is one of my all time fave photos}

And the Lord was good to me when he gave me my mother-in-love 

(the term I've so often heard her use) 

Not many say that they love their mother-in-law, but I do, and am so thankful for her great job in raising my husband

Thanks for loving me even with all of my flaws!!  Where would this world be without each of you?

And thank you for impacting my life so that I am able to be a blessing to my daughter...I hope!!

::Happy Mother's Day::

5 Conversations You Have to Have with your Child

If there's one thing I've learned since October 2008, it's that parenting is H*A*R*D!

I've surrounded myself with other moms so that I can feel supported and encouraged.  One of those venues that I've really appreciated the last two years is being involved with Mothers of Preschoolers( MOPS).  I've not made the deepest of friendships there, but I've really enjoyed the speakers.  I'm amazed at the wealth of good, christian speakers that live in the Southern California region.

Yesterday, our speaker was Pastor Jack Hawkins from Canyon Springs church.  His talk was entitled
"5 Conversations you have to have with your Child".  I found it very encouraging and it was just a good reminder to me of what is important.

1.  I accept you for who you are
"You created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.  My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place.  When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."  Psalm 139:13-16

He reminded us to love the distinctness of our children.  How many of us have kids that make us crazy with such different personalities than we have?  But that little "tick" in them that drives us nuts, was put there especially from the Lord, for them and for our growth!

2.  It's not all about you
"The greatest among you will be your servant.  For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted."  Matthew 23: 11, 12

For some reason we, as Americans, especially, put such a great amount of time and effort into making our kids "successful".  But how many successful Americans do you know that are happy?  Instead we should be impressing upon our kids to be servants.  Teach them to get beyond themselves.  When is the last time you drove by a homeless person and offered to buy them lunch?

3.  Make wise decisions with your sexuality

Talk with them often about this; what if we as parents had the "big" clean up your bedroom talk once and then never mentioned it again?  Or one time talked to them about brushing their teeth?

4.  You don't have to be perfect
"If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand?  But with you there is forgiveness."
Psalm 130:3, 4

Perfectionism is becoming epidemic.  As parents, we worry so much about what others think of our kids- we need to GIVE THAT UP!  And then get new friends!  We need to teach our kids that their mistakes are usually not that big of a deal.

5.  Put God at the center of your life
"These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.  Impress them on your children.  Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.  Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.  Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates."  Deuteronomy 6:6-9

In the small moments of life, we can share stories about God.  When we're putting them to bed, when better to sit and just be with them, and as they get older, kids are often trying to stall going to bed, so this is a great opportunity to have quiet teaching moments with them.

Good-Bye, Again

If there's one thing we're really good at, it's saying good-bye to friends.  We've realized over the past couple of years that we are saying good-bye more often than not.  And I'm actually not that good at it because I still get rather emotional and sad.

We had the joy of getting reacquainted with a college friend and her new hubby in the last two years.  It was fun because John and I both knew her but did not know each other at the time.  I think that was funny to her too as she hung out with us.  When they moved out here (to the LA area) they were fairly newly married, then she got pregnant with her first baby, and we watched that baby come to fruition.  

They are now moving back to the East Coast, so they came down Easter weekend to say good bye and return some borrowed baby items.  We had a great time with them, with deep conversation and a lot of laughs.  

Chase had fun with their sweet little "E".  I loved E's smiles.  So toothy and happy!

Good Bye sweet Smith family.  May the Lord watch over you as you travel and help you get settled quickly, and bring refreshing new friendships your way!

Enjoying the Outdoors

We experienced something new this weekend :: neighbors!!


We found ourselves two nights this weekend, outside, before dinner, but actually getting close to 8:00, just having fun.  We visited with some of our neighbors, like most neighborhoods do...for some reason, not so much in our neighborhood.  


These neighbors have 2 girls, and the younger one plays really well with Chase, but we found out last night that the older one plays equally as well!  It was fun to bring out our beach chairs, read a book, drink a glass of wine and watch the kids play.  It was also a great opportunity to get to know this family better.

There were so many things to do and play, like::

{Ride bikes} 

(note Chase's new garage sale helmet)

{Jump rope}

{Play Restaurant}

{Play hide and seek}

{Sit and read a book}

{Be flung around in a wagon by your daddy}

{paying their tickets}

As you can see, the weather was delightful and the sun was shining.

For those of you that live in different parts of the country where land does not cost so much, yes, our front yard is a driveway, and not even our own!!! 

 But, we can still have lots of fun in it!

I can tell that we are going to have many more evenings like this.

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As an aside, I too, had a great chance to enjoy the outdoors this weekend.

I got to don a pretty dress and head to La Jolla, which is the gorgeous coastal region west of us, and have fun for charity.  I am in the Junior League of San Diego and we had our big yearly wine and food tasting fundraiser.  Most of the money is raised from a silent auction and ticket sales.  My sweet friend Stephanie, whom I actually met through JLSD, went as my date.

We had a blast!!