Easter

Many, almost ALL my friends and family that i grew up with celebrated Easter in SOME way. The Easter bunny, church with white gloves and new shoes, an egg shaped kegger, picnics, cooked ham, and of course CHOCOLATE... lots n lots of chocolate... I think i can even remember selling Niagara chocolate as a fund raiser around Easter every year as a kid in elementary school! ..weird... But, in all those Easter Tradition memories i dont reallllly remember anything that stands out.. nothing that shaped my life into what it is now... Of course growing up in a believing Christian home we talked about what Easter truly means, and we knew even as little kids it was NOT about a big dumb bunny.. but... there was never really a STAND OUT, miracle took place, SHOUT IT TO THE WORLD, kind-of Easter Sunday... And ya know.. i dont even think i know how to make it that for my family today! And as hard as i could try, i cant make it "special." Nothing i do can make it more 'stand out' more amazing, or more true than it already is. And maybe it just takes that ONE time, when we become a believer, for that awe struck experience of what our Lord did for us! After that revelation, i guess it doesn't need to be over the top, we just have to accept that love, that truth and believe.

And when you know of what belief and believing is, its ALL or NOTHING. right?

Soo, isnt that (believing) all out already?? isnt your belief already an action??

...maybe it is... maybe it is... got ya thinking.. right?? :) ...jjjjust what i wanted...

THE WIGGLES!!!

We did it, we went to our first kid's concert and SURVIVED!!!

....welllllll, sort of... LET me tell you our story.... frommm the beginning....

We woke up bright and early, and mommy, thats me!, had a "greattttt" idea we should go out to breakfast before our show, it was at 10am... As we were getting ready to leave, my right eye in a matter of seconds lost its sight.... it was not blurry, it was gone, only the edges of the "picture" i could see. When i would take my hand and slowly bring it up towards my face i could see it completely disappear... This had happened about a month ago, and it was followed by a huge headache, SO instantly when it happened i took some Advil... Well, we were on our way to Denny's, and by 20mins the sight had restored itself. BUT, now, as i thought, i was left with a huge headache. We got to Denny's... yayyyy.... and now we had to entertain 2 very excited little boys while we waited for the longest breakfast everr. haha. I had, i think, 2 bites of my breakfast and we left in a hurry b4 mommy gave the nice Denny's their breakfast back....... I decided i would sit in the last row of the van so i could lay down and rest... hahaha, what was i thinking?? It was rockin and rollin back there, and welllllll, it did not spare my breakfast from.... wellll..... "returning".... AS, i was "returning" Miles kept asking me, not being able to see me, if i was "ok," WHILE he snickered... yes, my boy was laughing at me while i was "returning.." WELLL, we got to the concert with time to spare... It was loud, it was bright, it was a headaches worst nightmare, BUT, i had waited for this day, and i was NOT gonna let anything stop us from having the time of our life! So, we went in, wayyyyyy up to our row, and squeeeezed into our seats. The view was actually really good, for how high we were, that i was really impressed with that! As you can see from the pictures, i dont look my best, a little fever sweat and a ginormous pimple that made the day even better!! haha, BUT we had a great time at The Wiggles concert. Miles was into every song, doing all the motions, and singing at the top of his lungs. We did have almost a melt down when Miles kept asking me if he could go onstage and i kept saying, "NO." He didnt like that we could not play games with them either.... dear oh dear. 2hrs later, we were back in the car, with 2 little tiried children, 2 tired parents, 1 sicky, and 1 Henry the Octopus. All in all it was a success!!!

But sadly the adventure did not stop there.... no..... When we got home i went straight to bed, woke up with a worse headache, numb hand, and uncontrollable spontaneous twitching in my head and wrist.... I also could not communicate to Bryce very well with my speech, and i was definitely out of it.... Soooooo, Bryce said "ok, NOW its time to go see a Dr!" Sooo, we went, they saw and they sent me to the Hospital... oh joy, right? Did i mention i had to "return again," and in the car!! aweee man! sorry bout the details... After 3 hrs of waiting in the ER, they had NO idea what was wrong other than my nervous system was reacting in unusual ways. They kept me over night to have a MRI in the morning. HOLD ON: Have you ever been in a NZ hospital over night? Have you ever been in a NZ hospital where you are placed in the worst possible wing, where Mr and Mrs Frankenstein are your nurses during the night? And your window is broken? And there is NO TV! AND NO MAGAZINES?! ..... i have... and i NEVER want to go back!!! ha. SO, the Neurologist came and saw me in the morning, and by this time i am basically normal. I am slightly jolly, and my headache is just barley there. He does all his body tests, and then tells me.... "I don't think we will do an MRI, b/c i think you just had a classic migraine.. other than the wrist and head twitching, that we cant explain. Different parts of your nervous in your head were effected, and if i did an MRI i wouldn't be able to tell where to look, or to see what was going on. So it was just a migraine." Ooooh, ok.... I think if i was still lying in bed, somber looking, i might have gotten that MRI. Honestly it would have put me at ease a little more that just saying i had a headache. Praise God though it was nothing complicated! Soooo, that was our Wiggles day extravaganza!!!!! Any takers for our next trip????

....i didn't think so.....

"Jesus LOVES the world..."

Sometimes at 10:30am Bryce has about an hour off between dishes, office work, and more dishes. Well, today i got the kids and myself dressed and ready to "spring" Bryce to see if he would quickly run to the grocery store with us. I JUST ran out of rice flour, the key ingredient in almost ALL gluten free cooking. Because we live in such an Asian influenced area, we have a great Asian grocery store, where MORE than half the products are written in Chinese or something with little sticks crossing, BUT they have rice flour!!! We quickly went, and on our drive Miles started singing his own song: "Jesus loves the world, Jesus loves the world, Jesus loves the world, and i know He's gonna make it, i know he's gonna make it, Jesus loves the world, Jesus really loves the world!" It was adorable, and so sweet as he sang his heart song. We came up to a stop sign, and Miles insisted we put his window down so the world could hear his song... it was priceless... Yes little kids make up songs all the time, but you KNOW when something this precious is written on their hearts. I wanna be like that, to have my heart song always ready, singing out about my Saviour's love!! AND, Miles didn't even keep that heart song that the Lord gave him to himself, no, he completed the circle, he let the "whole world know..." How often do we receive a heart song from the Lord, whether in music, writings, a word of encouragement, something, anything, and we lock it up keeping it "special" and only for "me." We all do it.... but i want to learn to roll down my window and sing it to the "world," completing the circle of a gift... given, received, and to give again...

"Jesus loves the world, Jesus LOVES the world..."

baby #3!

(i thought the picture of the little feet was cute! You can see littlr toes!!)

Here our little one is! Baby is measuring at about 13wks, soo we are due around the end of September!! The ultra sound technician gave us about a 75% guess on what the babies sex is.. BUT, we wont know "for sure" until our 18wk scan... Our little one is very very active, and healthy. We couldn't ask for more... seeing our baby for the first time gave us such a feeling of relief! We are so excited... and Miles was thrilled seeing the baby on the screen. We are a family of five... i can not believe it.

...letting go

There are countless things in our life where we have to "let go.." Either physically, emotionally, or mentally... I dont know which one i struggle with more... Maybe being a woman the emotional part can be the hardest. Its how we as females tie emotions to EVERYTHING... think i am crazy saying everything?.... let me give you some examples, of this emotional ridden female. As we were packing up our lives in VA, i had to purge almost everything... purge everything that would not fit into several suitcases. Ya know that half empty box of q-tips, or the "special" half used bottle of body wash your friend gave you for Christmas about 5yrs ago, that lives under the bathroom sink?? Welll, i had hard times parting with these things... Do they have any eternal value....no.... are they REALLLY worth anything???...no... Its little things like the shower curtain i left in our bathroom... it was zebra printed and ordered online from Target..... its still in our unsold house.... probly frozen, or nearly thawed, hanging there pitifully... I STILL will think of that STUPID curtain!! Why!??!!? Because somehow i have tied an emotion to that piece of fabric... to those silly wasted box of q-tips, to the very old, never to be used body wash. I did have to let go of things that i think are OK, to be a sad about... Our first home, our cat Jason, Miles first big boy bed, the special baby items i thought i'd use for all my babies, special pieces of my childhood that held no purpose but held a memory, the baby swing in the backyard, the flower beds planted by my dad and i, the knowing that any more memories wont be made at that home... the chapter is closed, its over. Looking at that list, i think its fare to say i am effected by all the ways of letting go... all of them are hard, not one worse or better than the other. I am blessed. I did NOT have to "let go" of something that could not be replaced, i didn't lose a child, i simply just said goodbye to "things.." How sad it is when we let "things" take over our minds, winning the battle in our lives through regret and complacency... not willing to let go, and see where, and what God can do with our lives... arnt we just surrounded by things?? And arnt we promised that we will always be looked after? Just as the birds of the land?? Ya know... i have NEVER seen a bird dragging its nest from place to place... and still its tummy is full, and it is fulfilling its life given purpose given by the Creator. I can choose to mourn over my things left behind, or i can choose to live out my God given purpose..

We need to get bold, live with an eternal viewpoint, and let go...

Matthew 6:25

"For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? "Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to to his life?"

if you have a son...

Who knew having little boys would be so much fun?.. Somehow deep in our growing up years the world implants this idea that, "girls are more fun..." NOW, it might have something to do with some songs we have heard over the years, "Girls just wanna have funnnn!" and "Get away Jack, and dont come back no more no more no more nooo more!" I am NOT pointing any fingers, WAL*MART or TARGET, or to any other place affordable to Americans, WHY their little kids clothing section cater to the girls, while boys are left with stripes and sweat pants. I have not put some deep thought into WHY we put bows and ribbons onto our little sweet girls heads, like a perfect present to bless the world with... while boys on the other hand, have an option of a hat... think about it... is this meant to hide and disguise? haha, I'M JUST SAYING!! I have NEVER seen a little boy "present" walking around with his bow!! Just "cap" ridden male children... Now, i'm NOT gonna lie, sweat pants are easy and hats ARE great cover ups, and ya know, boys are loud, and they push the envelope, their boundaries, and their siblings.... they are messy, and rough and tough... BUT! No one ever prepares you for the things little boys do the best... love their momma's... In the midst of the day, when "Toys-R-Us on drugs" takes over your house, and the kitchen is unrecognisable with the "orders" of the day, in the middle of the storm, those little bug pickers, dirt investigators, boogy eater, (yeah thats right, i said boogy!)will run up, and say "momma, i have a surprise for you..(pulls out flowered weed)... for you! Because your special..." Or, and when you've slacked on dinner, and your son says "Momma..... best... dinner... EVER!!" -as he is saying this, his eyes are closed and he has a slight smirk on his face, with arms getting higher and higher until the climax of "EVER!!" I LOVE MY BOYS... I love the sweet heart melting, little man statements that escape their mouths with NO warning and NO explanation and always just what you needed...

((if you have a girl, she may be just like what i have described as a boy, that is OK, and normal, this post was meant for laughter and the truth of every day with children, especially boys, thank you!!))

just write about it!

With nothing to really report i have decided that when there IS nothing new to report on, i will look in my pictures and find something to spur a blog. I am trying to keep in the spirit of writing, cuz once ya stop, its so hard to get back into it again!!

~Levi, Oceana, Miles~

Wellll, this picture, really does say it all, children eating yummmy stickyyy marshmallows by the fire. Dirty, dirty children enjoying no baths and filthy feet that will last all night, and well into the next day. Levi, as you can see, enjoys stuffing his face with as many marshmallows as humanly possible, with possibly entering a new world record. His diabetic brother on the other hand, saviors and enjoys every precious bite, HOPING against all hope, that mom will let him go crazy and eat the entire bag. ((butttt we all know that is not likly)) As always the rose does sit between 2 thorns, haha, just kidding, its more like a crazy PB&J sandwich, OR something at least sticky! We had a great time camping with Susie and her two girls. It was wet, it was wild, and it was awesome. Sometimes when i hold my pillow just right, i can still smell a little of our wonderful campfire, and i go back to what life must have been like much simpler. Cooking over a camp fire, water from the creek, the dirt under our feet.... and in our hair and nails and in our living quarters.... and then i wake up and say "thank Heaven for homes with showers!!" Yesss, i might love camping but knowing you can always come home and get clean and microwave something in 10seconds or less and have a complete family meal, is something truly magical....