Approach with confidence...

Today was one of those days I know I will never forget.

It was an amazing message from our pastor that started

things off for me - here's a little introspection...

He talked about having "rest" or "peace." His portion of

scripture that he drew from was Hebrews 4. My pastor

said something so profound, he said "our circumstances

should not affect whether we have rest." Our foundation

is secure - so when the winds and waves of life happen -

we should not be moved - we should not be shaken.

We should remain at peace in the midst of it all... This

reminds me of the passage of scripture when Jesus is in

the boat w/the disciples, and there is a huge storm. The

disciples are freaking out - and honestly just losing it.

All the while, the creator of the universe is sleeping

soundly at the back of the boat - not a care in the

world. He's not worried!!! The disciples wake him

up and say:

“Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”He replied,

“You of little faith, why are you so afraid?”

Then he got up and rebuked the winds and

the waves, and it was completely calm." (Matthew 8:24-25)

I want that kind of peace - that kind of rest. The kind

that when my circumstances are raging around me -

I can sleep through the night knowing that I serve the

God of the universe and there is nothing that He can't

do! And there's nothing that I could do that would

make him love me less...

**Here's the part that will stick in my memory forever...**

In our Sunday School class - right after church service - we

continued on with our discussion of our Pastor's sermon on

rest and peace.

Across the room from me was a married couple,

the husband wheelchair bound, living his last

days of this life - dying from Parkinson's Disease.

His only daughter is getting married in 5 weeks, and

he is literally "hanging on" to this life so that he can

be there to walk her down the aisle. When asked

"how can we be praying for you two?" they looked at

each other and said "we're actually doing really good!"

His wife said, "you know he is digressing quite a bit..."

and he interrupted her saying

"no, I'm not digressing... I'm progressing!"

Wheelchair bound, soon to have a feeding tube put in,

not able to sleep at night because of the complications

of his disease, and here was this man - giving glory to his

God for the joy that he has each day to live out the end

of his life looking forward to what lies ahead.

This hit me between the eyes.

What a testament of faith.

Looking into my heart - my circumstances - my trials -

my "boat moments" in the midst of life's raging storms...

I hope that from now on I will be able to say, with joy

overflowing, "I am not digressing in this life - I am

progressing or running to the finish line with arms open

wide to my sweet Savior."

Where are you with peace? Where are you with His rest?

Are you able to look at all that surrounds you and say that

He is your peace? That He is giving you rest? You know the

really cool thing? He's OK with you crying out to him

to calm the winds and the waves that threaten to over

take you! At the end of the chapter of Hebrews 4, verse

16 it says:

"Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with

confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find

grace to help us in our time of need."

My need is never too great that he doesn't either already

know it - or hasn't already answered it. I hope that you are

encouraged in your faith today - no matter what your

circumstances - God is able to give you "rest" and "peace"

in Him today.

Big Boy turns 6!

That's right folks - we officially have a 6 year old!

Doesn't he look SO old? Sheesh! Seriously!

When did this happen?

The whole family got to go to Big Boy's class and watch

him read his Birthday Book - and then answer questions

from all the kids in his class about his favorite things... :)

Cupcake icecream cones! Let's just say I had high hopes

and I will probably NEVER make them again :( I'll

explain later...

Had to put in a pick of our Girly Girl & her baby doll :)

Ok... Here's the skinny on these adorably aweful cupcakes!

They're really pretty simple... One box of cake mix -

24 - 26 icecream cones -

and a couple of cans of frosting...

Fill the cones 1/2 full with the batter - place in oven -

and voilà!

You'll pretty them up, and be super excited, and

BAM - they fall over like dominos. BOO.

Good thing Kindergarteners really don't care WHAT they

look like - they just see sugar. Plain ol' yummy sugar.

They'll eat just about everything!

And in other exciting news...

I have officially become a licensed hunter in the good

old state of Idaho :) Much to the delight of

my husband and Father-in-law who are

both avid hunters...

Oh boy.

All I know is that I scored a SWEET hat :)

Oh how they grow!

Today was Big Boy's 1st concert put

on by his school's Kindergarten program.

Exciting stuff!!!

He has been practicing his line FOR WEEKS!

It was so much fun to see him up there - no

hesitation - loving the spotlight!!

We may have a famous thespian on our hands!

I also came across another video of Big Boy

just a few short years ago - that I'm sure we'll

lovingly show on the Today show, or Regis

and Kelly when he's older and well established

in the film industry :) Or maybe just to his

girlfriends when they come over, and I become

"that mom" that can't stop talking about her

kids and all the silly things I kept of theirs when

they were little like their first tooth and their

little underoos...

No - I would never do that...

Enjoy!

What a cutie pie!! I love this kid :)

"Big Boy is the one that says 'Out came the sun, and melted all but 4..."

a much younger Big Boy

Easter 2011

Howdy folks!

Happy Easter to you all!

What a wonderful Easter weekend - full of remembrance of

what my Savior did so long ago for me! For us!! Our church

put on an amazing Good Friday service, that our sweet little

girl decided she wanted to be wiggly THE WHOLE TIME in

so we spent most of the service in the way back, while

Hubs held up the fort w/the boys all the way in the front

of the church... (where I found out later - that they too

had a bad case of the wiggles... hmmm... must be the Kinney

way!)

Anyways, we had an amazing - yet very somber Good Friday

service, then on to the Eggstravaganza that took place Sat

morning. It was a huge turnout of around 1000 people!

There was the egg hunt (of course!), 10 million bouncy-

houses, pony rides, train rides, and of course the DUNK TANK!!!

Hubs got volunteered for the dunk tank by our pastor -

and received the pleasure of being one of the early "dunkers"-

which meant the water was a wee bit chilly :) As you'll see

in the pic below - Big Boy had no problem takin' his pops DOWN!!

It was so fun! He was seriously dunked, no kidding, 20 times in

his 15 minute shift! BBRRRRR!!!!

We then did the typical hang out - paint Easter eggs - eat candy day

to gear up for Easter Sunday!

Easter Sunday was again an amazing service - and celebration of our

Risen Lord! And such a huge reminder for me that my chains are

gone! I've been set free by the love of my Jesus dying on the cross

for me!!! I am so humbled by that truth - and so undeserving...

Needless to say - we had an awesome Easter weekend! The weather

even cooperated for us, and it was so beautiful! Even for Idaho!!

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this crazy sunshine means spring

is finally here :)

P.S... Check out the link below of Carrie Underwood & Vince Gill singing

one of my favorite hymns. You will not be able to watch w/o crying!!!

Click here to watch!

God Bless!

The kiddos right before the big "hunt!"

Hubs and I striking a pose :)

Hubs right before Big Boy "dunked" him!

Big girl shoes

Our baby girl is finally walking! So fun...

Wait.

WHAT did I just say?

Fun - but T R O U B L E!!! She's also shown us

that she has something called "rhythm" a very

scary technique that Kinney's have not had in

perhaps GENERATIONS... That comes in the

form of a booty-shake/shoulder shake that

cracks me up EVERY TIME.

In other BIG news, our Big Boy is on to losing

his THIRD tooth in a matter of weeks... Actually

I'm considering pulling the silly thing out while

he sleeps because it is majorly crooked and hanging

on by a thread... Hubs and I have decided between

all 3 kids - we're going to need to sock away some

SERIOUS cashola for their orthodontist bill we'll

have in a matter of years... The Kinneys (aka Hubs

and I) have some pretty gigantic teeth - so our

kiddos really don't stand a chance... :)

Today was our kids first lesson in earning and spending

their money! I so wished I had thrown my camera in

my HUGE mom bag to capture the moment, it was

seriously the CUTEST thing! And seeing what both

boys decided was worth their hard earned money was

interesting too. I'm so proud of Hubs in his ability to

already be thinking of teaching them responsibility in

handling money - setting aside 10% for tithe, and 10%

for savings...

WHAT?

I think I'm still learning those lessons - so hopefully

our kids follow their father's path of business savy,

smart-minded thinking when it comes to money! I

definitely fall into the "retail therapy" or "spontaneous

shopper" category far too many times!

That's it for now!

Happy Saturday :)

What the hay?

So - I've debated for quite some time giving up the whole "blog" thing...

This may be obvious since my last post was August...

But, "what the hay?" AKA, "why not?" So - for all of

you holding your breath for the next Kinney Clan post

- HERE IT IS!!! So worth waiting for!!

Here's a rundown of the past 6 months - and what's

been keeping us so busy:

-Our show in Chicago was a success, or enough of a

success to proceed in getting ready for the January

Craft & Hobby Association show in LA... We had to

spend the last 6 months creating new product, figuring

out logistics, blah, blah, blah... See the pics below of

our booth! Travis and Wende came down with us for a

whirlwind trip!

-Our Big Girl just turned 1! Seriously - how did this

happen? She has been such a funny girl to watch! She is

going to have no problem bossing everyone around

(especially the boys!). I had no idea how different girls

would be from boys. NIGHT & DAY!

-Big Boy started Kindergarten this year... KINDERGARTEN!!

Seriously - I've had many mini-meltdowns at the thought of

my kids getting to0 old too fast! That has been a real joy to

watch him totally blossom in that environment. He doesn't

even notice that I stay and watch him until he disappears from

sight each day when I drop him off... He's just getting so big :( Sob!

-Our little peanut is not so little anymore too! He's doing

awesome in preschool and starting to read now - and get all

mature on me! He has also been such a blessing to watch grow

and see how God is going to do mighty things with this boy!

With all our kids! I often have to pinch myself... How did I get

so lucky?

-And last but not least, we recently got to go to DISNEYLAND!

I had forgotten what a magical place that is! It's only been 20

years since I've been there :) But, we went w/my folks and the

kids right after our show (since we were in the area) and had 3 full

days at the Magic Kingdom - and it was actually relaxing! So fun -

and the kids are at that age where they get into it completely, and

love every aspect of it, so you have no choice but to follow in the

magical footsteps of Disney...

Well - that about wraps it up for now! I've posted lots of pics below,

and will try most definitely to post again real soon!

Trav, Wende & Hubs setting up the booth...

Our Booth!

Skully & the Fam...

Big Girl schmoozin' at the camera :)

Practicing her Miss America wave!

The boys practicing w/the Incredibles!

Big Boy showing off his strength training :)

Goofy!

Peanut was a little star struck w/Handy Manny :)

Chicago!

Hubs and I just returned a few days ago from Chicago - and I must say

it was a pretty cool town! I had NO IDEA how HUGE the great lakes

were...

They were big.

I thought they were the ocean for a split second - ok I actually said

out loud "is that the ocean?" And had the Chicagoan next to us smiled

real big and gave me a look like "wow - there's your typical blonde!

She must not have gotten an A in geography...."

I kept my thoughts to myself from then on, to appear much smarter :)

Anyways, it was hubs, I and our baby girl while the boys stayed with

Grandma & Grandpa Haverfield, which was SUCH a blessing!

No one told me how HOT and HUMID Chicago is! Sheesh - I walked

off the plane and into a wall of sweat. Instant armpit and boob sweat

equals one miserable momma... :)

Just in case you're wondering WHY hubs and I would want to go into

the "windy city" we were there for the CHA show showcasing our new

business products - trying to get into the big time stores.

We had a fabulous time - and both really feel like the show was a success!

We took orders from all over the place, and talked with some really big

stores! Fun, fun.

You wouldn't believe how much money some of the larger companies spend

on their booths - and just to be there in general... Thousands of dollars for

sure! We just had a 10x10 booth, and some of the bigger companies had

20x60 booths no problem. Crazy I tel ya! But so cool to walk around and

see all of the artsy-craftsy stuff! Very inspiring.

So now we get to see the fallout from the show - and how it all pencils out

financially. It's kind of like a mountain top experience - followed by the

lows that come after months of preparation. But both Hubs and I feel so

very blessed to have had the opportunity to get to go! What a great

experience for sure.

We were also fortunate to get to spend a day site seeing the big city of

Chicago - and so I've posted a few pics below of some of the fun places we

visited! We even stumbled upon a scene being filmed for Transformers 3!

Chow for now!

The "Bean." It was HUGE!

Scene being filmed for "Transformers 3"

Me and our baby girl!

Hubs in front of one of the many "Great Lakes"

Takin' a breather at the Navy Pier

------------------------------

Pics from the show!

This is a gal from the company "graphics 45"

which is primarily a paper goods company -

anyways, they were all dressed up funky like

this adorned with "steam punk" jewelry

(aka old watch parts, and funky jewelry) So cool!

Our lovely model, and friend Missy! All of our

wonderful photography was done by our other

good friend Debbie with Brown Studios - check

her out, she's fabulous!

Baby girl waiting patiently while we wrap it up

Using my new camera phone, so sorry the pics are kinda blurry...

Hubs working hard!

Our little holiday to Maui & the coast

Beautiful Multnomah falls

on our way to see Grandma & Grandpa Kinney

Our little princess kickin' it island style!

We think our kids are pretty cute :)

Hugs!

Silly boys...

Funny faces! They LOVE the beach! Can you tell?

Anniversary night! Love you babe!

Sooooo........ Hubs and I and our little baby girl were able

to go on a fabulous, last minute trip to Maui! This was only

possible because of hubs parents taking our 2 little monkeys

for 6 DAYS!

Let's just say, I'm ready to go back! It was SOOOO relaxing!

(don't ask me why I just wrote sooooo twice! Seriously?)

Anyways, it really was a good time, and it just happened to

work out that we were in Maui on our anniversary! 8 years

ya'll! We made it this far - I can't wait to see what another

8 years looks like! Here's a brief rundown of what those

wonderful 8 years looked like for hubs and I....

-Year one- I'm still a college kid, & hubs is full on construction

guy building like crazy (the market WAS good back then!)

-Year two- I graduate from college, Hubs is still in construction,

and we feel called to go to Papua New Guinea for our first work

and witness trip together since we met in Venezuela the year

before we married. We return home from Papua New Guinea

and "Surprise!" We're pregnant :)

-Year three- I have "Big Boy" (even though we were on the 5-10

year plan for having kids...) we are living in our first house that

we have ever built together, and I'm in baby bliss....

-Year four- "Surprise!" We're pregnant again! 15 short little

months apart... Let's just say I'm still working off the baby weight!

But we are absolutely blessed by being given another beautiful,

healthy baby boy! Construction is still going great - and has us

living all over the place. We even lived with Hubs parents for awhile

while we were working up in the mountains. Let's just say that

I have an awesome labor story for when "Peanut" decided to come

3 WEEKS EARLY while we were up in said mountains... Hubs got

pulled over twice while racing down the mountain to get me to the

hospital in time to have our little Peanut 10 hours later :)

Good times!

-Year five- Work has slowed down tremendously for Hubs as the

market begins to fall out from underneath us. Our boys are growing

like weeds, and I'm adjusting to having 2 kiddos, both in diapers, and

both being VERY needy at the same time. BUT, God continued to

provide for our every needs daily. It was around this time that I

started experimenting with the idea of starting my own business...

-Year six- One of the TOUGHEST years of our married lives. We

are starting to realize at this point that our mortgage is upside down,

and the work that seemed to be never ending for Hubs company is

suddenly ending... We begin to wonder what God's plan is for us -

and how to stop drowning in debt. We both learned a new level of

trust and dependency on the Lord that will forever be a milestone

in our lives.

-Year seven- Maybe this is why they call them the "golden years?"

We have had our shares of ups and downs, but finally learn that we

will have to short sale our home, if not lose it all together, and

continue to trust that God has something planned for us... Our boys

are now in preschool together, continuing to grown and learn

everyday - and more than ever Hubs and I realize how impressionable

they are at such a young age. And more than ever we realize how

much they are watching us as we go through the trials of life that we

are going through and even more begin to depend on the Lord for

strength.

Oh, and "surprise" we're pregnant again :)

-Year eight- The little business I tinkered around with a few years

ago has suddenly taken on a new shape... The Lord decided that not

only was he going to work some pretty amazing miracles in our lives,

but He was going to shock Hubs and I completely by how He was going

to begin to help us dig out of debt. Through some amazing miracles, he

joined Hubs and I in a way of working together (that only He could do)

that has allowed my dinky little company to become "our" company

(meaning hubs and I and the Lord) And we are no longer in the

building business anymore. Yup - Hubs has taking to crafting! Well,

let's just call him Mr. Salesman!

Oh, and our little princess was born to us in this fine year of marriage!

And, if you've made it this long in my post, let's just say that if God

could maneuver this much fun in 8 whole years of life - goodness

gracious - what lies next?

I can't wait to find out!

Farewell Friends and Fun Projects

Last night I had the privilege to be a part of a going away

party for our dear friend Candee Marchant. Her and her
precious family are moving this weekend, and I will say
with a very sad heart that they will be missed tremendously!

We had a fun little fondue party full of girl talk, food, more
girl talk, and yup - a little more food! I'm a foodie girl, can
you tell? That is something that Hubs and I adore about the
Marchant fam - that they are "foodie" people too :) For those
of you wondering what in the world that means - well - let's
just say we revolve ALOT around eating out and enjoying good
food! Simple as that.

On another note, I've been playing around with some new fun
projects that may or may not end up in my Etsy shop... This
particular project has been very heartfelt in that I have been
pondering the thought of God being my "portion" quite a bit
lately. And what better representation of that than an old
vintage spoon? Curious to know what you think.....

Cheers!

Lovin' my girl!

Just for fun.......

I've recently said, quite a bit lately, that being the mother of a little girl
has definitely made me more "girly..."

I am LOVING being a bit more girly (if you couldn't already tell by the
painted toes picture!)

The Lord has blessed me indeed with 3 beautiful, wonderful kiddos!
To Him I am most grateful!