Let's start at the beginning...

Here we go Lord...reading through your Word starting in Genesis...
The last time I read through the Bible I did it chronologically...and have to admit I got lost in the Psalms...
What's my best excuse? Life Happened??
This time, no excuses - it might take 2 years, but I'm committing to make it through this time!!
Would you like to join me?

Boo at the Zoo

 Went to the John Ball Zoo Boo in Grand Rapids and had a great time!
Lot's of animals were up and moving around. The bears were the boys' favorite.

Isn't Judah SO cute?!

Nottawa Fruit Farm

Family picture on the hayride at the Nottawa Fruit Farm. It was HOT and we had a great time!

Mark 1:35-37

"It was very early in the morning and still dark.  Jesus got up and left the house.  He went to a place where he could be alone. There he prayed.  Simon and his friends went to look for Jesus. When they found him, they called out, 'Everyone is looking for you!'" - Mark 1:35-37

During Beth Moore's study at 6:30 this morning (alone and in the dark) she encouraged me to read this passage, then she asks: "What thoughts or activities interrupt your ability to escape the way Jesus did, intent on spending time with the Father, desiring Him more than anything else?" JUST THEN, Malachi turned the corner and said "Can you find my bus?". Awake already? I normally get 7:00, so thinking getting up at 6:30 to have 30 minutes with the Lord just wasn't going to pan out this morning. So I asked him to sit quietly while I prayed and I had a whole 5 minutes with God this morning.

Lord I pray that you'll help me find more time to hear what you are telling me. I know your hand is gracious to all who seek You. Help me seek You while You may be found and call on You while You are near. Help me abandon my wicked, sinful thoughts, and let me return to You, Lord, so that I may know Your heart and receive Your compassion. (Isa. 55:6-7)

I love what PG had us envision in church yesterday - that we are laying back and resting our heads on God. Help me to be able to close my eyes (even if it's in snippits throughout the day) and rest in the arms of my loving Lord, calling out to Him and listening to Him.

Beek!!

I forgot to share about Malachi's "Beek"!! This is his blue blanket that if you knew him at all this last year, you knew about this blanket! He "needed" it to sleep with by putting it in his mouth and sucking...this was his pacifier...it was a horrible habit and just downright gross!! We had I think 6 of these blankets at one point - you see, he wasn't too picky...as long as it was blue and had the cotton/shiny sides he was happy to shove it in his mouth and start sucking away!!

Well, a couple months ago we sent beek away to the beek fairy. We boxed all of them up and left them for her. She then left him a fun new elephant to sleep with. This was a long week to 2 weeks afterwards as he would cry and cry and stay up until midnight sometimes wanting beek back. But Isaac and I held firm and we made it through. NO MORE BEEK!!! I will never forget that blanket and of course still have them, so I'll bring them out at his high school open house! :)

My middle guy is 3 today!

Crazy how time flys..."They" warned me, but you just can't comprehend how fast the years go until you have children and watch them count away their precious years (in my 5 1/2 year olds case, almost daily as he approaches 6). SO Malachi is 3 today. WOW, I feel like I "missed" this last year of his life with having a baby at the start of it. I had Josiah all to myself when he was 2 going on 3....a very wild year...so different did Malachi have it sharing with older brother AND younger brother. But we made it!! Let's see, can I recap his last year? Right at the start of it he got glasses. 2 weeks into it, he had a little brother born. What a way to start! Then he lost his room and started sharing with Big brother. That was a challenge!! He still at this point couldn't have milk, dairy, egg or peanut, so basically, he couldn't eat anything "fun". What a trooper!! Some fun things happend in the spring though! He was then able to eat ANYTHING - had no reactions to ANYTHING! That was huge and we probably hit the ice cream place a little bit too often, but we had to make up for it!! Then on June 1st, he let me know that he wasn't going to wear diapers anymore. He really didn't want to wear underware either, but I talked him into it. He basically potty trained that very week...there were accidents of course, but boy was that easy!!  He had a great summer playing outside alot with Josiah and finding his place in "the middle". He started "tot" school in September where he gets to be with other friends his age and we celebrated with them as well as lifegroup friends at Chuck E Cheese for his birthday. He loves Doc Hudson, Buses, animals (Loves his pillow pet), reading books and singing. He moved up to the 3's room at church and LOVES song time.  His loves playing with Josh at MOPS setup and talks about Marshall all the time (although when they are together they don't really play together!) He loves going to the farm and playing with Gramma and Papa. He loves his brothers - playing with Josiah is probably the best part of his day - too bad fighting with him is probably the biggest part of his day! He tries to tackle Judah quite a bit (Judah's going to be one tough kid!). He loves wrestling with Dad and brothers and watching football with all the guys! What an amazing little man - we love him so much and pray the best for this next year!

Bumps in my socks...

Why do they put "bumps" in your socks? It's been sock weather now for a few weeks and EVERY morning I get a whining almost 6 year old complaining about the bumps. I've searched and bought several different socks for him - finally broke down and had him come with me and we opened the packages and tried them on...you see, he also likes "slippery" socks, so they can't be the ones with traction on the bottom....picky...picky!!! We ended up with what I thought was a winner, but alas, there are still bumps... Finally this morning I whipped out my foot and showed him that "look, even mine have bumps....everyone's socks have bumps"!! He felt my bumps to make sure I was telling him the truth and then just looked at me like, huh... I guess it's just something that I'm going to have to deal with. Then he put his shoes on and didn't complain again. Strange how showing him that he's not alone in this "trial" put him at ease with it. This made me think of MOPS. That is what MOPS is all about - showing moms that they are not alone in their trials, that we all share similar "bumps". And isn't it a nice feeling to know that we are not alone? To then know that God is with us is the icing on the cake! We actually prayed this morning about the bumps in his socks!!