Catching up...

So Thanksgiving came and went - and now we're just a
few short weeks away from Christmas! Seriously -
where have the past few months gone? So in order to catch
you up-to-date on our holiday time, I have just a few pics
to share that are so much fun to look through already!
Our boys had their Thanksgiving Feast Party at school
right before we took off for our trip to the coast - and
although my attempts failed miserably on getting good
video footage, I did manage a few cute pictures of their
program...And then threw in a few pics of our trip to the
coast for Thanksgiving. What a blessed time!
Big Boy took his job very seriously of leading us all in the pledge of allegiance...
I love the look on Big boy's face as Peanut leads us in prayer...So cute!
My awesome 3 guys!
Boys :)
Me and my babies walkin' on the beach
4 Kinney men looking for crows/geese/some kind of bird to hunt on one of our days at the Kinney Ranch...
And the poor "crow-bird" (as Big Boy calls them) that was met his untimely demise due to those 4 Kinney guys... Can you see the look on Peanut's face of "either mom is going to think this is cool like us, OR.... we're in BIG trouble!"

Thankful

I had a wonderful Birthday weekend, thanks to
the wonderful 3 guys in my life and my wonderful
family and friends. It's so nice to feel cherished
and loved, isn't it? I think I really take that for
granted sometimes. So one more year as a "twenty-
something" and then comes the thirties...

At least I have one more year to prepare!

So I went to pick up the boys from preschool
today, to have their teacher tell me a very funny
story about Big Boy. Apparently they were going
around the circle saying what they were thankful
for.

It went something like this:

Teacher: "so what are you guys thankful for?"

Big Boy: "I'm thankful for my mommy."

Teacher: "oh, that's nice."

Big Boy: "But she's not thankful for me!"

Teacher: (knowing there was a story behind this,
she probed further)
"I'm sure your mommy is thankful for you.
Why would you think she wasn't thankful?"

Big Boy: "Well...........She's mad at me because I
pushed my brother and made him cry.
I guess I wasn't using good self-control."
(they have been learning the fruits of the
spirit - Big Boy's most challenging has been
self-control, so he knew this was an area to work on!)

Teacher: "So, maybe if we use good self control, and DON'T push our
brother we will give mommy more things to be thankful for, huh?"

Big Boy: "Ya, I guess so."

Oh, boy. I love this kid - and his heart. Just had to share!

Fall...

These pics were taken at night, thus the blurry edges!

I love fall.

Our beautiful maple tree out front has within a week's time, dumped all her beautiful orange and yellow leaves on the ground
for our boys to jump, roll and play in. *sigh*

I feel so completely, abundantly, full. To overflowing. Full.

I have so much, and yet I feel that within the last few weeks, God has revealed to me a glimpse of His mighty hand at work.

Within my family, within our finances, and within me spiritually.

I have mentioned before the journey our family has been on the last few years in previous posts. Through this journey, I have truly felt like one of those poor wandering Israelites, kicking around the dust and grumbling that I have nothing good to eat and that there seems to be no end in sight to the constant waiting. And wandering.

But amazing things happen when you crack open God's alive and powerful word! I have recently started (for the 2nd time) a Beth Moore devotional called "Living Beyond Yourself." Pretty fitting for a girl who's constant struggle has been to do just that - live beyond my comprehension, and trust that God has bigger plans for me than what I can see.

I started opening my heart to Jesus, and He started showing me where he was going to work. First was with Hubs. We haven't been on the same page financially - well, probably EVER. But through God's gentle nudging and softening of both of our hearts, He's shown us a way to compliment each other and understand each other so much better than we ever have. I'd have to say finances has been one of our major irritations since we've been married. So I guess 7 years isn't bad in resolving a few things??? Ahem... Anyways~

Through the last few weeks, I have felt an indescribable peace that could only come from above. A peace that calmed my heart and assured me that everything was going to work out - and be OK. But in a very real way - not a fleeting moment kind of thing.

It has been almost a year that our home has been on the market. And we have not gotten an offer on our home until just recently, and it was a very humble offer at that. But when I would normally get angry and defeated at our current circumstance, I felt safe - secure - sure of really nothing. Except that God was still in control.

This weekend, we received 2 new offers on our home. On the same day. Coincidence?

Not only did that jump our chances of actually selling our house (instead of giving it back to the bank) but we may actually see a glimmer of hope that our financial burden of a mortgage is soon to be over.

God is good. All the time! No matter what.

I will never forget His faithfulness to me, even when I am so quick to doubt.

Hyde Park & Other Fun Things

So, last weekend I had the opportunity to participate with a group of
other lady artists, like myself, at an event called "Hyde Park Street Fair."
It started on Friday and went through Sunday at Hyde Park in Boise.
I had never been before, so I was looking forward to the exposure
and the experience. We were by far one of the biggest booths there!
Our space was 24 feet by 48 feet!

I always tend to stress out last minute with these kinds of things -
scrambling to get my stuff "ready" and always feeling like I could
have created one-last-thing...

Needless to say- the hard work paid off (literally-ha!) and it was a
great weekend not only financially but socially as well. I love the
networking that comes with being a part of a group of creative
individuals and seeing what inspires them - and the gifts God
has given them that are so different from mine.

I also must give MAJOR kudos to my husband who allows me to
do these crazy ventures - and whether or not he knows it, is
allowing me to fuel my creative fire by participating but that is
only because of his support. Otherwise there is NO WAY I could
possibly do any event! Can you imagine me carting around my
two monkeys to one of these things? They would get tired and
antsy the moment we arrived... So thanks hubs! I love you!!

On a completely seperate note: my boys are LOVING preschool
this year! I am hardly surprised, as their teacher is SUCH a gift -
and has been blessing me with her ability to get my boys to
learn and mature into such wonderful young men.

So on Tuesday of this past week, the letter of the day was "b"
and so when I came to pick them up they had these rolled up
papers that were as tall as them with a life-size picture of
themselves.

Just too cute, so I had to share...

I can't believe how big they are! And learning so much each day.

Oh - and if you've made it this far.... We find out in 2 weeks!

And I hardly can stand it :)
A view of our tents from a distance
My booth is on the right (crummy picture, I know!)
Big Boy's drawing
Peanut's drawing
My belly shot at 16 weeks

A day of 1sts

Today marked the first day of preschool for BOTH of my kiddos.

*sigh*

They both ran to the door with such confidence and glee that I
was almost too clumsy with my camera to get a good shot of
the historical moment. How did they get so big so fast?

It's amazing to see the difference in Big Boy from his first year
last year to now, and I really can't wrap my mind around how
much they will both change in the coming year.

I am realizing more and more lately that we only have them
in this sweet, innocent stage for but a moment or a breath,
and then they are gone - and no longer need our help with
the everyday things.

Here's to bittersweet moments!

What a precious gift these two are to us. We are so proud of them!

5 stones...

So, as summer winds down I find that I'm looking forward to a lot of things.

-Fall; cooler weather; the leaves turning...
-Both kiddos in preschool - WHAT? (Actually I'm not sure if I'm ready for that one!)
-Anticipation as to what the end of this year will bring for our family - and what next year holds...
-My 20 week ultrasound in Oct. to find out if we're going to have a football team, or another player for the "girl's team..."
-Did I mention fall?

Anyways, you're probably wondering what my title means. Let's just say this past Sunday's sermon, mixed with an insightful Sunday school class led to some really good discussion between Hubs and I about where we're at.

Even though we have yet to see anything major happening in our lives in the areas of finance, and work for Cornerstone, we are
still facing each new day with the expectation of great things. But 2 + years of this can get weary. Lately, Hubs and his partner have been taking on a lot of remodeling jobs which have brought a lot of work - but a lot more stress - because we still have SO much debt.

We thought it would be easy.

Put the house up for sale, start getting creative with jobs, cut back on our budget...

We didn't expect things like: the market to be flooded in our area with close to 700 homes and bare land for sale
Oh, and getting pregnant...

But, in the midst of all of this - we had a light shine on our circumstance in the form of some wise council. A friend of ours asked Hubs what his "5 stones" were. Hubs started to correlate this analogy with one of his favorite Bible stories about David and Goliath and the 5 stones he gathered before facing the giant.

Our friend continued to elaborate on what he meant by his question, and proceeded to say that even though David had the courage and strength of the Lord on his side, and he knew God was going to be victorious, he still gathered 5 stones. In his mind he must have thought that there is no harm in being prepared. Maybe he even thought it could take all 5 stones to kill Goliath. But with and intense faith, he picked those stones and looked at this "giant" of a situation, and what did he do next?

He ran. Full speed. At the giant.

And God was victorious! And it only took one stone.

To wrap this all up for you - I just feel like no matter what our circumstances, God has called us to be obedient and to sometimes just wait on Him. But that doesn't mean that we can't be prepared when he calls us forward to face our giant to be able to reach into our pocket and feel the smoothness of those stones and to know that no matter what happens, we are the vessel and God will be victorious through our sufferings if we allow His hand to lead us.

What are your 5 stones?

Peanut turns 3!

Well, after a LONG, but good week of VBS (vacation bible school) at our church, we wrapped up the weekend with Peanut's 3rd birthday party! We've been talking for about the last month on what kind of cake he wanted to have, and all he would say was "fireman" or "firetruck"... So I opted for the firetruck cake - since it seemed a wee bit easier to me than trying to make a person out of a cake! Sheesh!

So, I must say, Peanut was a hoot. He reacted to opening his gifts and cards like you would hope any little kid would (but usually doesn't) in that every single thing held the same exact excitement in his mind and he LOVED everything! All of the grandmas and aunts had HUGE success with the cards they gave - in fact he could have been completely satisfied by the cards alone! He loved them!!

He's an easy-to-please kid right now and I love it!! It was so fun to watch him in the moment.

Let's just say the highs of yesterday's events took their toll today, in that we had a few too many meltdowns for no reason whatsoever. It was when we realized he wasn't getting his way today, like he did yesterday, that things started to turn ugly. We have an unsaid rule on birthdays that typically you can get away with a lot by just saying, "but it's my birthday" or in Peanut's case "it's mine and I don't want to share" and for one whole day we allowed it.

So really don't feel too bad for us! By allowing the "it's your birthday rule" -a.k.a. "you don't have to share with your brother," we unknowingly set ourselves up for a VERY emotional day today! AND it didn't help that my husband also called me "hormonal" today - but that's another story entirely...

Anywho - here's some pics from the big day!
Madagascar 2!
The cake...
Our b-day boy!
Blowing out the candles
Cake time!