Isla Hope Turns 3~

Isla Hope turned three on December 6. We had a small party with Alex's parents and sister and our family.  It was fun, and I have no doubt Isla felt special.  She was her wild and happy little self as we ate cake and opened presents.  She is currently obsessed with Hello Kitty, so we followed the trend to celebrate the day.  

Love her~

Just call her Miss Personality~

Daddy made cupcakes.

So old with the 3 on the cupcake~

Yum!

Hello Kitty slippers!

Grandma helping Isla open her gift~

Looking intelligent with Aunt Reesa~

Working on her selfies~

Isla is still relatively easy.  She is a night owl now, and she will sing and chit chat well past her bedtime.  She loves the color pink, shoes, books, Pinkalicious, Hello Kitty, and putting on makeup.  There is not a doubt in my mind that I am going to have a girly girl, and I'm okay with it.  Isla approaches each day and moment with an exuberance I only wish I had.  She is quick to share her mind and fight for what she believes is rightfully hers;-)  She and Rowan are buddies, and they will play for great lengths of time together now.  We are moving on to the 3s!

Heifer International

I have been behind almost the entire Christmas season.  I'm usually finished shopping weeks before the season, and the Christmas cards are out right after Thanksgiving.  There are a multitude of reasons why this hasn't happened this year, and I have just come to peace with it.

Alex and I sat down at the beginning of the advent season and outlined one of the charities we really wanted to support this giving season.  We identified Heifer International.  Heifer International donates livestock to those who need them as well as education to the recipients with the hope of creating self-sustaining families in some of the most remote areas of this Earth.  A simple gift of a goat can provide a family with milk, or a hive of bees can provide a family an opportunity to generate revenue.  The goal of the organization is to empower women and families to utilize their resources as well as share the offspring of their gifts!

We set the amount of money we wanted to contribute.  Alex then made a chart with "shares" on it up to our dollar amount.  He also sized the animals according to their price and made manipulatives.  We then had the kids piece together the animals into our chart to determine which animals we would be donating.

It was fun to hear the kids say, "Should we give 2 bunnies or a beehive?"  They were meticulous and really thoughtful about which animals we would include in our menagerie.  Once they were satisfied with their choices, we made our purchase.  

My heart aches that there are moms who can't provide their children clothing, clean drinking water, or even food.  My hope is to instill compassion in my own children and share the resources God has given to us with those who so desperately need it~ 

Fall 2013 Kid Pictures~

My regular photographer couldn't take our pics this fall, so I shot a few of the kids myself one day.  They were cooperative, and they were real;-)

The Plan~

Thanksgiving was fantastic as we headed out to my roots for 3 days with the kids.  The kids loved the farm, and my mom, as always, fed us until we were stuffed to the gills!  I am thankful for the quiet and the down time the break has given me.

Tomorrow starts Advent, and thus, our Bible in 365 Days Challenge.  Alex and I have both taken the challenge.  I'm not going to lie, I'm dreading this.  I think it will be sad, and I hate that it is "assigned."  I don't do well with assigned readings, but I'm hoping this will be so life changing that I will have no problem reading it nightly;-)

I'm posting our plan so that you can join me if you'd like.  It will be fun;-)

Day 1: Psalms 148, Genesis 1-2, Ephesians 1
Day 2: Genesis 3-4, Ephesians 2
Day 3: Genesis 5-6, Psalms 12, Ephesians 3
Day 4: Genesis 7-8, Ephesians 4
Day 5: Psalms 8, Genesis 9-10, Ephesians 5
Day 6: Genesis 11-13,  Ephesians 6
Day 7: Psalms 47, Genesis 14-15, Matthew 1
Day 8: Genesis 16-18, Matthew 2
Day 9: Psalms 11, Genesis 19-20, Matthew 3
Day 10: Genesis 21-23, Matthew 4
Day 11: Genesis 24, Matthew 5
Day 12: Genesis 25, Matthew 6, Psalms 127
Day 13: Genesis 26-27, Matthew 7
Day 14: Genesis 28-29, Matthew 8
Day 15: Genesis 30, Matthew 9
Day 16: Genesis 31, Matthew 10
Day 17: Genesis 32-33, Matthew 11, Psalms 131
Day 18: Genesis 34, Matthew 12, Psalms 64
Day 19: Genesis 35, Matthew 13
Day 20: Genesis 36, Matthew 14
Day 21: Genesis 37-38, Matthew 15
Day 22: Genesis 39-40, Matthew 16
Day 23: Genesis 41, Psalms 40, Matthew 17
Day 24: Genesis 42, Matthew 18
Day 25: Genesis 43-44, Matthew 19
Day 26: Genesis 45-46, Matthew 20
Day 27: Genesis 47, Matthew 21
Day 28: Genesis 48-49, Matthew 22
Day 29: Genesis 50, Exodus 1, Matthew 23
Day 30: Exodus 2-3; Matthew 24
Day 31: Exodus 4, Matthew 25

I'll check back with a followup on how it is going as well as the next month of reading.  That's the plan at least;-)

The Bible in 365 Days~

Our church, SWUMC, has placed a new challenge.  The task is to read the Bible in 365 days-seems lofty, huh?

I grew up a devout Catholic who attended Church every Sunday and prayed the rosary on many occasions, but a Bible reader, I was not.  It was simply never a major component of our religion or our daily life through my beginnings.

Now, at the age of 31 and a Methodist, I am still not a regular Bible reader.  I will pick it up off and on and skim through the parts I know about, but I know there is a great deal of this story that I have no clue about!  I blame time for part of the problem for why I don't read the Bible, but I also blame the story itself.  You see, I really prefer to surround myself with stories of inspiration and happy endings.  I have a feeling over the next 365 days, I am going to read more than one story that does not leave me feeling good about it.   But I may be wrong.  I hope I am surprised;-)

Pastor Maria has created a guide, and it seems manageable, so I'm excited to see what I have been missing out on. Alex signed up too, so I'm hoping the accountability between the two of us will really help us both, and I will be able to say, "I've read the Bible!"

The Getaway~

Life has been hectic, hurried, busy, crazy, exhausting. The list could go on.  We survived the first quarter of school, volleyball, and parent-teacher conferences.  Can I get an "Amen" to this one.

There has been little done to rest the mind and enjoy the family, so we decided to get the heck out of Topeka, and head to the world of somewhere else with no house to clean;-)  Little did we know when we planned this trip, I would have no voice and feel like crud, but we had already planned it, so we went.

We drove up on Friday morning.  Alex was on the phone off and on taking care of some earth shattering matter at work, and I was leaned over in the seat thinking I was drunk for a great deal of the trip. It wasn't until we were almost there that I realized I had clearly over medicated myself or mixed things that didn't play nice with each other which had left me really not remembering the trip up there.  I was at least coherent at this point, so let the vacation begin.

We took the kids to Coco Key which is a large waterpark.  I had literally lost most of my voice, so I wasn't much of a conversationalist with anyone, but the kids adored it.  I thought it was chilly outside of the water, but as long as you stayed in the water, it was good.  I even braved a waterslide, but there will be no pictures on here to document that.  I really hate adventure....

Then we headed to the fantastic zoo in Omaha.  It is amazing, and the kids enjoyed all 6 hours of it.  We walked, rode the Sky Safari, and just enjoyed the fall weather.

The weekend was restful and just what the heart needed after a busy quarter.  Here's to a refreshed spirit!

A Humbling Week~

It seems like mere survival of a week is success at this point in the school year.  I love what I do, but it is just exhausting to keep up this schedule.  

With that said, we sang this song today in church, 10,000 Reasons. I've heard it before, I know I have, but there was just no stopping the tears from flowing during service.  This week we learned a friend had discovered a serious medical issue.  It is so hard to understand why we must go through such trials in this world.  I feel helpless and like I have no idea what to do to make her world easier.

The truth is, there are no answers.  There is no reason, nothing she did to deserve this, and really just no answers to arrive at.  That is really hard for a fixer like myself, and I don't like it.  This is not in my control, though, and I feel like all I really have is prayer right now.  So that's what I'm going to do.

So in the hustle and bustle of your week this week, take a minute to be thankful for all you have been given.  At the top of my list this week is my health and my family's health.  Seems so simple, but it could be so different.