lots of smiles (& pics, too!)

1. God’s Word.  especially loving this today: “Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.”  -James 4:7-8

doesn’t it bring such a peace & comfort to know that when you draw near to God, he also draws near to you?!  and i don’t know about you, but i love that it says, “resist the devil and he WILL flee from you.” not he might, but he WILL.  so thankful i have the Lord on my side to help me resist the enemy!!

2. this cutie patootie who decided on her own that it would be fun to hang a spoon on her nose :)

3. dominoes fun!

4. this cute letter my 5 year old nephew daniel wrote to liberty a couple weeks ago…precious!

5. you can never have enough sleeping pictures of your kiddos…and i know i have tons of leila b/c she is always falling asleep in the most random places (notice the piece of cereal in her mouth when wearing the purple & pink shirt??). the last pic is nadia.

6. i finished knitting the cabled fingerless gloves.  they turned out to be too big for me, so i sent them to my mom for her birthday :) 

7. valentine’s puppies from great grandma (my dad’s mom)

8.  liberty fixing her own hair…and dressing herself (and yes, we did go out in public like that :)

9. celebrating 7 years of marriage to my hubby :)

10. celebrating 2 years of our precious, spunky girl nadia

11. reading this quote from bebo norman’s webpage, “But as I struggle to feel adequate enough to even approach Him, in some miraculous way I’m reminded that the God of the universe thinks my prayers are nothing less than stunning—simply because I am His.”  great reminder!!

12. friends.

13. bones…and the body.  liberty has been obsessed with bones and learning about the body lately.  she tells everyone she sees all she knows about bones and the body.  we got this book about the body from the library and she reads it every day. 

14. new yarn for new projects!  the pink yarn is for another pair of cabled fingerless gloves for myself :).  the brown yarn is for a cardigan for myself (as long as it fits me…i am following some size modifications and using a smaller needle and hoping it turns out ok!).

15. a pointy elf hat for liberty

16. making chocolate heart-shaped cookies for valentine’s day (leila was the only one who wanted to help!)

17. heart-shaped sandwiches for valentine’s day lunch

18. weather warm enough to play outside in :)

19. wyoming winters…they may be cold and windy, but they are mostly sunny…and we all know sunny days help you get through the winter and being stuck inside so much!!

20. the view from my backyard…beautiful!

21.  doggie doors…hahaha!

22. a couple more verses that have touched me recently:

“I will rejoice and be glad in Your lovingkindness, becasue You have seen my affliction; You have known the troubles of my soul, and You have have not given me over into the hand of the enemy; You have sent my feet in a large place.”  Psa. 31:7-8

“The steps of a man are established by the Lord, and He delights in his way. When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong, because the Lord is the One who holds his hand.” Psa. 37:23-24

so so thankful for God and his presence in my life…thankful for His Word…thankful for His blessings…and even trying to be thankful for the trials in life :)

two

somehow this tiny babe (born 2-10-09)

is now 2 years old!!!

i’m always amazed at how much more quickly time passes with each child you have.

so…what is this 2 year old nadia like?  well, i think she is a good combination of her older sisters.  she has lots of energy and spunk (daddy likes to call her spunky), but can be laid back and cuddly.  she talks a lot…she spews out these little sentences that constantly surprise us.  she loves her big sisters.  she knows what she wants and she will do everything in her power to get it, much to the chagrin of her sisters!  she’s a busy little girl, but she still needs some “hold me” time every day.  she likes to be held in the mornings for a while before she’s off & running.  i adore this time.  she loves babies…dolls or real ones!  she’s such a good little “mama” to her babies.  she likes to watch “dora” (much to mama’s chagrin…i find that show annoying!).  she’s a thumb-sucker, which i find so cute!  she’s the best sleeper out of all 3 girls.  she smiles a lot.  she loves shoes.  she likes getting dressed.  she’s generally not super shy (once at story time at the library, she got up on the stage in the room and hid behind the curtain and jumped out over and over yelling “surprise!”).  she’s still quite clingy to me…i like to call her my little cling-on.  she still will sometimes hold her breath until she can’t catch it when she’s upset or gets hurt, causing her to pass out.  she’s always happy in the mornings when she gets up…telling us “good morning” when we walk into the room.  she still sleeps in a crib (if she’s not in the crib, she just won’t let herself go to sleep)…why ruin a good thing?!  she’s so sweet and loving.  she can have quite the temper at times.  she’s sitting right next time right now as i type, sharing my  blanket and leaning her little head on my arm…sucking away on her thumb.  oh how i love this little girl!  we love her dearly and are so happy and thankful for her life!

nadia & i with the bear i made for her birthday

she got mrs. potato head from her sisters…she loves wearing the little glasses, haha!!

prayer for miranda & the cole family

***update***

precious miranda passed away last night. what an inspiration this family's faith is!! they have a long road ahead...please remember to keep them, especially chad, in your prayers!!

chad's blog

this is miranda:

she is in great need of our prayers today…as is her family. you can read more about it here.

i went to school with miranda’s uncle…this family is heavy on my heart right now. please pray!