Peach blossoms…
Blooming trees…
Making wishes…
“This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”
~Psalm 118:24
March 17, 2008
Today is my parents’ 35th Wedding Anniversary! I am so thankful for them and for the godly example they have given to my sister and me of what a loving and committed marriage should be like. It is a wonderful gift to have parents that are so in love after so many years!
Mom and Dad, I love you and I thank you…
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for raising me to believe that marriage is a covenant between God and husband and wife that is to be taken seriously and lasts a lifetime.
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for giving me and Heidi a loving home to grow up in.
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for your commitment to each other and to your family.
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for always being there for us.
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for showing us what it means to serve and follow Christ, for praying for us as we grew, and praying for our children so that they may grow to serve and follow our precious Lord.
Have a wonderful day together!
On Saturday there was another anniversary to celebrate. Eleven years ago, on March 15, 1997, David and I were married! It is so hard to believe that it has already been 11 years. There have been moves, some across town and others half way across the country! There have been three lovely additions to our family. There have been many changes, some we planned and some we didn’t. But we have walked through it all together, with God as our anchor, and I am so thankful that He brought us together!
Our Wedding Vows
March 15, 1997
As God gives me the strength,
I promise to love you, as Christ loved the church.
I promise to look to God’s Word,
And seek His face in prayer,
To determine His will, for our lives together.
I promise to protect you, provide for you,
And to place your needs above my own.
And leaving all others, I pledge my love to you.
Love, David
As God gives me the strength,
I promise to respect, and honor you.
I promise to submit to you,
As I have learned to submit to the Lord.
I promise to trust in the leadership God has given you,
And be supportive of your life choices.
I promise to live with you,
In faith and tenderness,
And leaving all others, I pledge my love to you.
Love, Meagan
March 11, 2008
This is the third and final interview of our kids! In the first interview we were introduced to Isabel and a few days later we learned all about Abigail. Now let’s meet…
Micah James
Age: almost 8 (on April 18th)
His name means: Who is like Jehovah?
Some of his favorite things:
Book: any animal book
Bible Story: Joshua and the wall at Jericho (For school this week Micah’s journal topic for handwriting was about what Bible character he would like to be. This is what he wrote: “If I could be a Bible person, I would have been…Joshua because…He fought many battles. He destryed Jarico. He destryed another. He was cool. He died at the age of 110.”)
Color: Green
Toy: Green Transformer from his friend Charles
Song: “Lord, I Lift Your Name on High”
T.V. Show: “Teen Titans”
Movie: “Star Wars”
Animal: “That’s a hard one. Spiders.” (I was a little surprised he said spiders! But Micah loves animals and is a walking encyclopedia when it comes to his knowledge of all kinds of animals and insects.)
Snack: Granola Bars
Food: Chicken and Bow Tie Pasta
Subject in School: “I have a lot! History, Literature, Lunch (gotta love that!), Math.”
Superhero: Spiderman
If you could go anywhere in the world, where would it be? Australia and China
What do you want to be when you grow up? Police Officer
Up until recently Micah wanted to be a Crocodile Hunter like Steve Irwin (which means he wanted to protect and rescue animals, not actually hunt them). I still see him working with animals someday, but we’ll see. He has lots of time to get that all figured out! Micah is definitely our animal lover and has an extensive knowledge of many types of animals. I know some of you have heard this story before, but I get a kick out of it everytime I think about it. When Micah was about four years old he was talking about an aye-aye. I asked him what that was and he said, and I quote, “It is a nocturnal lemur that lives on the island of Madagascar.” It’s always fun when the mom gets to learn something from her four year old!
Micah the Meerkat…
Micah is our imaginative child. He loves to act things out and is extremely creative at finding props for his adventures. The warrior with his sword and shield…
He is interested in history and enjoys reading. Every night when he gets into bed we allow him to read for a while and on non-school nights sometimes he will read for 2-3 hours in bed, often falling asleep with an open book across his chest.
Micah also loves baseball, both to play and to watch. Next week he begins his second season playing for the Rangers. No, not THE Rangers, but maybe someday!
Micah brings us such joy and amusement. He is beginning (too quickly for me at times) to transition from little boy to young man and although it is sometimes hard to see him leave behind little boy things, it will be exciting to see what kind of young man he becomes. David and I pray that as he continues to grow that he would grow in his knowledge of and relationship with our Lord.
Perfect words for our Micah from the prophet Micah:
He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? ~ Micah 6:8 (ESV)
March 7, 2008
Even though it has not felt like winter lately, we certainly had a taste of it this week! Monday a winter “storm” rolled through, leaving some areas blanketed in several inches of fresh, white snow. We however, were not one of those areas. Round two hit yesterday, quite a bit heavier than the first, but alas, again no snow; we saw rain most of the day. I was slightly surprised by my disappointment since I am not a cold weather person, but my Pacific Northwest roots run deep and part of me can still appreciate the beauty of fresh fallen snow…at least in small amounts! What should await us this morning, but a lovely, light dusting of pure white snow (that was gone by about 11 am so that made it even more enjoyable)! You can imagine the delight of our children when they looked out the windows. They immediately began scurrying about the house in search of appropriate winterwear.
It’s fun to watch our kids in the snow; they are never quite sure what to do with it! I guess that comes with living in the South, but it didn’t take them too long and soon Micah was throwing snowballs at his sisters (I use the term snowballs loosely as the snow was quite dry and not great for that sort of thing).
Our little snow angels!
They had a great time…for about 10 minutes! Then it was in to the house for hot chocolate. And what did Mommy do to warm up? I went to Starbucks, of course!
March 3, 2008
Yesterday after church David was making some comments on the passage we discussed in our Sunday School class (Acts 7–Stephen’s speech just before he was stoned). He commented that Stephen was Greek and Micah asked, “Are you talking about Homer?” For those of you who do not remember your ancient Greek literature, Homer wrote the epic poems the Iliad and the Odessey. How many seven (well, almost eight but still…) year olds do you know who would ask that question…and not mean Homer Simpson?
March 1, 2008
Here is the next interview of one of our kiddos (sorry it took so long, Mom and Dad)! We introduced Isabel a few days ago, now let’s learn all about…
Abigail Grace
Age: 5
Her name means: My Father Rejoiced
Some of her favorite things:
Book: “Strawberry Shortcake” (we have many of these around the house!)
Bible Story: Moses
Color: Pink
Toy: Barbie
Song: The song from “The Twelve Dancing Princesses” (a Barbie princess movie)
Movie: “Barbie Nutcracker” (are we seeing a pattern here?) – Mommy side note: I must admit (although I don’t like to) that many of these Barbie movies are pretty good. This version of “The Nutcracker” has the actual music from the ballet and follows the story fairly well.
T.V. Show: “Clifford” and “Super Why”
Game: Zingo
Animal: Strawberry the Pony (this is her Webkinz)
Real Animal: “A real horsey”
Snack: Green Apples, Grapes
Food: Chicken
What do you want to be when you grow up? A Princess : )
These next two categories she came up with:
Clothes: Dresses, Princess Shirt, Rainbow Pants (I’m not quite sure what she is thinking about here!), Pink Skirt (I think Abigail would wear a dress or skirt every day of the year if she could)
Place: Washington (State. She didn’t actually say Washington but she pointed to it on the map. She knows this is where her cousins-in particular Caleb who she talks about all the time-aunts, uncles, and Grandma and Papa live!)
Abigail is our creative and artistic child. She loves to draw and color and is quite particular about how it looks. Don’t let her fool you…even though she said her favorite snacks are apples and grapes, this girl has a sweet tooth! We regularly hear, “What is for dessert?” If not during the meal, then immediately following.
One of her other favorite delights is taking sips of Mommy’s coffee, especially if it is a Frappacino (and trust me, they are not all that sweet…I like them strong)! And once in a while she gets her own little latte, decaf of course, at grandma’s house!
A girl after my own heart! I forsee many fun days of sipping coffee together while we shop or just sit and chat.
Abigail is a quick and eager learner and is looking forward to Kindergarten. Almost daily she asks if she can “do her homework.” She has learned to write her letters, her name, and can read a few simple words. She is definitely a mama’s girl these days. Wherever I am, there she is!
Although she may never grow up to be a princess, she is our little princess and we are so proud of and thankful for her!
February 27, 2008
I just couldn’t resist playing with the look of this blog again! Don’t be surprised if there are more changes in the near future. I liked the look of the last theme, but I wanted a header that I could change. Eventually I will probably put a picture of the kids, but I couldn’t find one that fit in this header. In the meantime, enjoy the current picture…David took it during his last trip to Africa.
Later today or tomorrow I will post the next installment of the kids’ interviews…All About Abigail!
February 25, 2008
I thought it would be fun to “interview” each one of the kids, so you can learn a little more about their interests and personalities. Since it seems she hasn’t had as much “face time” on the blog, let’s begin with Isabel!
Name: Isabel Faith
Age: 3 1/2
Her name means: Consecrated to God
Some of her favorite things:
Book: “Marlin” (I had no idea what she was talking about, so I asked again a little later and she said “There’s a Cat in God’s Tree.”)
Bible Story: Jesus
Color: Purple and Pink
Toy: Pig, Little People, Pony
Song: “Wake Up, Isabel” (This is from a CD of songs her grandparents gave her for her third birthday. Each song has her name in it…very cute!)
T.V. Show: ”Arthur because he has one girl in the house. D.W., that’s her name.”
Movie: “Marla” (Again…have no idea what she is talking about.)
Game: Candy Land
Food: Animal Crackers (she happened to be eating these at the time I asked the question!)
Snack: Cereal
Dinner: Kiki (what?); after giving a few suggestions she came up with Noodles and Pizza (I don’t think she means together!)
“Talk about breakfast”: (this category was her idea) waffles
What do you want to be when you grow up? A make. (What’s a make?) You know, like you and daddy make. (Make what?) Pizza. (Oh, do you mean you want to be a cook or a chef?) A cook.
Isabel does love to be in the kitchen. I’m sure someday she will become an excellent “Make!” Anytime I am doing something in the kitchen she grabs a chair or the step stool and brings it over to see what I am doing. Here are some pictures of her on Christmas day. David’s mom found this adorable chef’s hat and apron and bought a set for each of the girls along with cookie mix, a little rolling pin, wooden spoon, and cookie cutters. Isabel made some sugar cookies while the older kids went out to try Micah’s new tennis racket. She was right in her element!
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Ah…sweet success!!!
Isabel is our fun-loving child, full of life and drama! She loves to be silly and uses funny voices, faces, and hand gestures when she talks. Even though she didn’t mention it, she likes to watch Barbie movies and Mickey’s Twice Upon a Christmas (much to her siblings’ dismay). She enjoys books, puzzles, and playing games. And, of course, she loves to do anything her big brother or big sissy are doing.
Our sweet girl…
February 21, 2008
So, a couple weeks ago our washing machine died. It was not completely unexpected since it had been making some strange noises and slowly dancing it’s way across the floor during the spin cycle. Finally, on Tuesday, our new front loading (yea!) washing machine was delivered. Just in time too…we had piles of laundry, which was becoming an issue (Micah kept telling me all he had to wear was his swim trunks, although it wasn’t quite that bad) but also gave us the opportunity to put the new machine to the test! During one of the loads the kids were looking through the glass watching the clothes get washed and the next thing I know Micah and Isabel were gathering chairs to do this…
Soon Abigail joined in the fun (Micah is looking a little too mesmerized)!
Well, we have been trying to cut down on the TV watching…
February 20, 2008
Yesterday Abigail was gathering up her markers to color and she asked me:
A: “Is this real or is someone telling a story?”
Mom: “Is what real?”
A: “Us. Or is someone just telling a story about us? That would be weird.”
Mom: “Uh yeah, that would be weird.” (That was about the extent of my philosophical response.)
Whoa…where did that come from?
