Elias dancing the night away....

Now that Elias can walk he has started to venture into other physical activities. One of his new favorite things to do is dance. He typically does this just about any time there some sort of music or rythem within his hearing range. Here are a couple videos taken of his dancing antics here recently. This past weekend we went to Rushville to meet up with some of Trisha's family. On Saturday night we went to a wedding, which is where one of the videos was taken. Elias owned the dance floor and stole the attention of the all the guests, including some wierdo that we don't even know who was taking pictures of him like he was a runway model or something. Maybe he was related to Kelly. Who knows. We have a had a ton of stuff going on the past week or so and as soon as we catch our breath there will be more posts featuring Elias and his cuz, a visit from the Hodges, and more on an interesting trip to Rushtucky.

 

 

 

Todd and Elias' debut in local Newspaper

I recently sent in some pictures to our local newspaper for a summer photo contest they are currently doing. We thought it would be fun and an added bonus--the top 3 photos will get tickets to the zoo and a gift card. We will find out at the end of the summer who wins. I don't have a scanner, but took pictures of the paper. Enjoy.

 

 

Great Weekend!

On Friday Elias and I went to a nearby waterpark with some other mom's and thier kids. Elias LOVED it and had so much fun! We are looking foward to taking him lots more this summer. I had no idea how much he would love it. He was running around like a "big kid" getting into all kinds of water while laughing and sqealing. It was so funny.

Then on Saturday Todd and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary. It was such a wonderful day together. Todd made me a nice breakfast, took me to the Easely Winery downtown, and then to Bucca's for dinner. Lastly we went to our church to be apart of the Great Banquet Retreat. It was a nice way to end the day by reminding us of our first focus--God. Elias enjoyed his day with grandparents doing all lots of fun things too.

Here are some pictures of Elias enjoying the waterpark. I am excited to take Todd with us next time, so he can see how much fun he had.





running into a bunch of water and loving it!

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I love his face in this picture. He cannot beleive what he is seeing! :)



If you haven't checked out my other blog check it out sometime. raisinghealthychildren.blogspot.com

Let Me Hear Your Loving Kindness in the Morning...

An update for my morning quiet time. Let me first say it continues to not be easy, but very rewarding. I have heard that breaking a bad habbit takes 21 days. I hope that also starting a good habbit will happen after 21 days. I want for it to not be hard, but a part of my daily life and schedule that I love to do. I wanted to share a few things God has been showing me and confirming my desire for this queit time with Him.

One of my favorite chapters in the Bible is Pslam 143. If you haven't read it, take the time to read it sometime. I trust it will be a blessing to your life as it continually is to me. For a while I have been trying to read it every morning as a prayer for my day. A new verse jumped out to me since I made this committment to do my quiet time in the morning. Isn't it neat how God can speak to you in a different way even in verses you have read many times before?

"Let me hear your lovingkindness in the morning; for I trust in you; Teach me the way in which I should walk; For I lift my soul to you." Psalm 143:8.

God was confirming that I must hear his lovingkindness in the morning and trust in him for my day. The committment I have made is exactly what I need to be doing. I know that if I don't focus on him at the start of my day, I will live for myself and my selfish desires. I must put my focus on Him and trust that He will teach me the way in which I should walk for my day. For I must lift my soul to Him to be able to live for him and His desires instead of my own. I struggle many times trying to live my story and not God's story for my life. I can be very sefish sometimes, but I know it is wrong. Instead I knew must be humble enough to allow God to be first over my desires.

This brought me to 1 Peter 5:14. "Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exhalt you at the proper time, casting your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you." So many times I am not humble enough to allow for God to be in control of my life. I find myself being too proud and thinking that in some way I can solve my problems and decisions on my own. Through this verse God has taught me that in every situation I need to humble myself under God and have my first response at all times be to lean and trust God.

This past Satueday Todd and I helped out at Men's the Great Banquet at our church. On our way home we were talking about how we attended this retreat last year and our experience. I also must put in a small plug---If you haven't ever gone or heard of this retreat, I would highly recommend looking into it. They happen all over the country at different times throughout the year. It is a lifechaning 3 days retreat. It was such a great experience for both Todd and I. I told Todd that I really enjoyed it, but there was one thing I didn't like. The hardest part was being away from each other and not having any communication for 3 days. It was hard--especially for the one left at home. Todd said, "But, it is ONLY for 3 days to leave your spouse and have a time to fully focus on God alone." He reminded me that our first relationship is God, and ultimitely it should be before each other or our family and friends. WOW!! That can be hard! It reminded me that when I think about my love for my family and friends, and that I love to spend time with them as much as I can. That is great and brings me such joy, but I must love God FIRST--and MORE then anything else in my life. God reminded me again of my committment. How can I put him first without spending time with Him? How can I show God's love to my child, family, and friends without spending time with Him and getting my focus straight. How can I expect to have a strong and healthy family without His help and guidance? He must be first. I am thankful that even though I have had struggles with my committment, I must make it habbit and the most important thing I do each day. I will press on with my committment as I aim for God to show me His lovingkindness each morning.


I decided to start adding pictures to my entires. I think it is too boring with just words. :)

Summer Fun...

Elias is really enjoying playing outside! We are spending most of our days outside and we love it! He especially loves pushing his lawnmower around and walking up and down the sidewalk. Every time we go out this is one of the first things he grabs to start playing with. Thanks Brendan! Todd took these pictures of him the other day. It looks as if he is trying to be like his daddy in two ways. Cutting the grass and without a shirt on! :)

Elias is at such a fun age right now. He is really starting to let us know he understands things. He runs to the door when we say outside or that we are going bye bye. If we tell him to get his shoes he goes and gets them and then sits on our lap for us to put them on. So cute!! He has also learned where his food is in the kitchen nd continually goes to to it pointing to food he wants. At times it is also frustrating because he can't always communicate what he wants. We are really working on trying to teach him basic words so this will not frustrate him so much. He also loves to wave at everybody he sees when we are out. Today it was really cute. UPS came to drop off a package and after the guy rung the doorbell Elias went running to the door. By the time we got outside the UPS guy was already in his truck starting to drive away. Elias stood on the porch waving to him. It is cute that he knows to wave at such the appropriate times. It is so fun watching the new things he does each day.

There is also a picture from when we visited with my cousin and her kids from Maryland last week. Elias enjoyed playing with his second cousin Josie. It was so fun to watch them interact as they are only a few weeks apart.

Elias

 

 

 

Quiet Time with God

Do you have issues with being consistent with quiet times? After struggling to consistently find time to spend with my God each day I have decided I going to make a change. I am finally going to try and get up early and start my day out right. I know this might seem silly to some of you, but I am not a morning person. Up until this point I have chosen to do my quiet time at other times throughout the day. It seems that far to often other things have gotten in the way and that idea is put aside. I also think there is real value in making a committment to do this every morning. I know for me it is going to be hard to get up when I would rather spend my quiet time in my dreams. But, I want to make sure I start my day out right and have my quiet times be more consistent. So, for the next week I am going to try and wake up at 6:30 and have a quiet time. This should give me plenty of time before I start my day as a stay at home mom. If you have a hard time keeping a quiet time then I urge you to also take a step to make it better. I will let you know how it goes. It won't be easy, but I know it will be well worth the effort.

A Mother's Guide to Raising Healthy Children

I have started another blog that I wanted to pass along. Check it out and I hope it is a blessing to your life!

raisinghealthychildren.blogspot.com

My first aim and prayer is that through this blog I will honor and glorify the Divine Creator and giver of our lives. Hosea 4:6 says, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge." May this be a place where we gain knowledge. I will be very vulnerabe as I share my life and personal experiences of being a holisitic mom and raising a family in today's world. I will also spend time writing about other various topics such as principles of being a Godly mother, wife, disipline issues, the joys and struggles of raising children in a Christian home, and ultimitely learning how to direct my children to know and love God as thier personal Savior.