All Smiles......and Brotherly Love!!

The many smiles of my boys is the great thing about today! We took so many pictures last night of Luke as he stumbled around the house and today as I was to post them, I realized how much I love my boy's smiles!!

And the thing that makes me smile the most,

watching my boys play and love on each other!!

Zach is the best big brother.....today he told me, "Luke is my best friend"

Well, if that does not melt your heart, what will??

Big Boy Shoes.......

Luke has been wearing shoes, but struggling with the hard sole bottoms. He graduated to the one year old classroom at school and they MUST wear shoes here! Today, I went and purchased another pair of "big boy shoes" because the other pair we had with hard soles, he immediately took off in the car.

He liked wearing them with just diapers on......

And when daddy held him!

Then he began walking all over the place and had a ball!

And even had a smile when he fell down and went boom!

Trial-to-Fruit

I blog for multiple reasons, with one of those being expression of how I feel. In my line of work, I come home with so many stories I want to share to help me, but I am unable, to protect the people I work with. I get asked all the time, "How do you do your job?" The answer, "I don't know"., but the real answer is "Only by the Grace of God".

Recently I watched someone speak about losing two of the most powerful people in their lives wihtin months of each other. It STRUCK me! Sometimes these "stories" harden my heart, sometimes I want to sob with them, and sometimes I endure their pain physically, where the only thing I want to do is vomit.

Years ago, I endured a very painful loss and I spent over a year, all alone, driving many nights, long hours with my little toddler asleep in the back seat because I had no energy to take care of him. I would finally tire and find myself on the top of a hill, listening to Christian music, and hysterically sobbing. I was all alone, but was I? NO!! God has always been with me and continues to be with me. He never leaves me....if anyone leaves it is me.

I came across this daily devotional the other day:

[Every Christian is either learning, or getting ready to learn, through trials. Fortunately, when we experience difficult times, God says they will be used for good (Rom. 8:28). This is especially comforting when the problems encountered are no fault of our own. God is always in control of every situation and uses the more difficult ones to produce fruit in our lives: John 15:2 ". . . every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it, that it may bear more fruit."]

My point is that as I listened recently to this person's speak about their trial, I was able to reflect on my (above) past trial and see that God has been bearing fruit within me and teaching me. Although, I would rather take that trial away, God has used it for GOOD!

I had the opportunity to speak of God with this person and I long for the day when they can feel this peace in their soul with their trial.

Lord, please grant them peace this evening as I know their scab was ripped off and their wound exposed. Hold them in Your arms as they lay next to the grave, clinching the grass as the soil digs deep in their fingernails, body limp, almost lifeless, as they wish nothing more than to touch them again, smell them again, kiss them again, run their fingers through their hair again, taste their tears again, to be alive again.

Loss and trials mark an imprint in your life. Although life will never be the same again, God says He will prune our branches, so that we may bear more fruit.

God is Good,Grand, and Powerful!

That pretty much sum it up for me

20 Days.........

Holy Crud, I have NOT stopped since stepping foot back home! Literally, I thought I was going to have a breakdown yesterday (which is unlike me). The good news, we had a fabulous dinner with our best "couple friends", Kyle and Mandy last night (with little baby Ava, of course joining us).

I have been really hurt and saddened by some things in my life, nothing that I will go into detail about......and you see it was really GREAT to be with good friends. Friends that know us and consider us their family. No, we are not blood, we haven't even known each other our whole lives, but they understand us. I feel truly blessed to have such great friends. There are literally over 4 girlfriends in my life that I can count on NO MATTER WHAT!! This really makes me so happy and leaves me with the feeling of knowing I am blessed!

Anyway, 20 days is Mexico!! Chris and I tell each other every day......3 weeks until Mexico, and now we can take it down a notch to 2 weeks, 6 days!!

YAY!

Please pray for Stellan as he and his momma are not doing well.....

Back Home

We are back from Ohio. Thank you to my brother and Jenn opening their home for our family. Visiting was very nice and as always it is always nice to see our niece, Julianne and sister in law, Jenn. Zach had a blast with Soak City, seeing such a small town, Dennison that we stayed for a night, and last he cannot stop talking about his uncle Shaun at Swing and Things (Thanks for doing all the fun things he asked that day)!

I really miss my brother and am very saddened that I do not get to see him often. I know that is the last trip we will probably make to Ohio because he is so busy, works a lot, and will not live there much longer. My heart also breaks that we probably will not ever be close in vicinity.

As for home, stepping off the plane was quite a shock at 103 degrees and it got as high as 105 in places! For people reading in Arizona and Southern CA, I know I am complaining about something you would consider "No Big Deal", but it was smoking to me!!

Well, saw clients this afternoon, suitcases unpacked, clothes washing, and grocery shopping complete.......boy, I need two weeks off and then shortly thereafter, Beach with great friends and then MEXICO! Whoop, Whoop!

Flying on a Jet Plane...

We are on our last leg to Cleveland, OH to see my brother and his family! You can see on my sidebar that the ticker says, "Today I see Julianne"! This is our little niece who is 16 months old. Our little guy is 13 months old and I think I am more excited to watch them play together than anything else.

Anyway, this post is really to let you know that I am on the plane and have wifi access. What the heck? I have never heard of such a thing. I just traveled 4 months ago and did not know this! Maybe it is only with certain flights and size of planes, but I think it is the best thing since apple pie or maybe an apple martini????

If I did not have my boys with me, I would have some great music on (instead of my 13 month old talking VERY loudly and my oldest singing to his headphones), surfing the net away in my own little dream land!

Speaking of a dream, parts of the day today, I have pretended it was next month and I was flying alone with only my hubby and we were on our way to the quiteness of the waves crashing on the shore in Mexico.....Oh well, love my family and will be super excited to see them as well!

Sidebar reads: 28 days until I am laying on the beach!!