eighteen with an 'always remember'

I have refrained from blogging much this month because I am processing....processing that by tomorrow morning at 4:39 a.m. (May 17) I will have an 18 year old
Processing that in 2 weeks my 18 year old will graduate from high school.
Processing that Matt and my season of raising our Eli is over.

What a blessing it has been to see our son grow into a man
but this mom is sad (like crying even as I write this post)
so so happy for our Eli but so sad to move on from this season.

Eli Ben, your dad and I are so grateful for you- That God has allowed us to be your parents.  As you start out your adult life may you always remember this:

• Life will get hard- it always does sweetie.....when it does DO NOT GIVE UP- You are more than a conquer in Christ....pray for wisdom and strength and He will faithfully see you through WHATEVER hard time comes your way.
• You will have opportunities to loose your integrity- your integrity is your honesty, morals, principles. Usually these opportunities come with promises that nobody will know what you have done- or maybe it will seem that everybody is doing this 'something'.  It may promise lots of money or make you look super good- It may promise a 'great time'.....ALWAYS CHOOSE TO UPHOLD YOUR INTEGRITY- Proverbs 10:9 promises that 'Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out.'
• Be careful of Pride- Pride is when you think your way (or you) is better than others.  When you look down on or put down people and build yourself up....Pride will always go before a fall- PRACTICE HUMILITY.  It's so hard and against everything you may feel like doing but so worth it- Let God build you up- let it be Him who defines the worth of what and who you are.
• When you fail (not if) YOU TRY AGAIN. and again. and again....there is not a great man or woman out there who has not had to try again after failure- It's the ones that have stopped trying that have missed great opportunity.

You've got this thing called 'grown up life' Eli Ben.....you've got it because you know and love Jesus.
It also helps that here on earth you have a dad that adores you and a mom that will stalk your every adult move and make sure you know my thoughts on certain things....smile :) :) :)

Happy 18th

All my love,
Mom

And after burning his brother with his own 18th birthday candle Eli broke out into a fit of laughter...this pretty much sums up this boys life- pester then laugh then pester than laugh- this is a trait he has learned from his dad :) :) :)

family time funnies :)

We've gone through 'family time' phases....

• Watching the whole series of Bonanza
• Trying to watch 24 until we realized it was a minute by minute show....bleh....MOVE FASTER- seriously we don't want a minute by minute- (month by month or year by year would be fine!!) (and we stopped watching)
• UNO
• Skip Bo......lots of lots of Skip Bo has been played at our house
• Eating at a local Buffet...like over and over again until all the food started tasting the same- the last visit the gentleman behind us had a chest cold....he hawked up a lugie....the moist kind that you can hear gurgle right out of the lung....I set my fork down mid meal looked at Matt, both of us completely grossed out....with food left on our plates, we all headed for the door.....to never return again
• Eating at Costco every Sunday after Church when we lived on Kauai.....we never did get tired of this
• Bike riding- it came down to spending more money on a seat than on the bike- a bad seat on a long bike ride will do you in for a good long while.....on a side note the boys would always ride behind and hit my tire with their tire...complete obnoxiousness
• Currently, it's looking at funny sayings on the Internet and reading them out loud to each other..............we all then bust up laughing in unison :)

love me some family time

p.s. Eli turns 18 in 3 days
      Ry turns 15 in 3 weeks
      Ellie turns 3 in a month

p.s.s. Eli graduates in 3 weeks
         Ry graduates in 3 years
         Ellie graduates in 15 years

p.s.s.s. By the time Ellie graduates we will have had a child in school for 27 years.........wow!


Below are some of our laughs from tonight

Happy Mother's Day

I love my kids-
I love that my boys took the time to write cards and give their mommy some fabulous gift cards
I love that the teachers at Elle's school were so thoughtful in having the kids make cards

I love my mom.....a woman who has poured her heart into both her children and grandchildren-
I love Matt's mom...a woman who is incredibly strong and gifted in so many areas
I love my step mom Debbie...a woman who has a tender sweet heart that loves her family....
I love and am so grateful for Ellie's Birth Mom Heather...I see her everyday when I look at our Ellie

I love being a mother- a gift the Lord granted me the August before my 20th birthday...
it is the hardest, most demanding blessing I have ever been bestowed....

Thank you Lord Jesus for the gift of Motherhood....it is breath takingly hands down AMAZING!

Happy Mother's Day

sippy cup spill on the card :)

Kidnapped, Starved, Widowed....The Gracia Burnham Story

Our family had a full day on Saturday- A mother/daughter tea in the morning for Ellie and I (enjoyed hearing my Aunt Petra speak at it),  then off to a baseball game to watch one of Eli's good friends play (Awesome job T.), and dinner at my parents house....Sandwiched between the baseball game and dinner was The Voice of the Martyrs Conference at our Church.  It had started earlier in the morning but because of our commitments we were not able to attend until just after One in the afternoon.

For those who have not attended a conference, the main focus is to bring awareness to the persecuted church around the world.  This is done by the testimony of several Christians who had undergone significant persecution- Men and Women who have suffered torture, starvation, and other atrocities and have lived to tell....not only lived to tell, but lived to tell it through the breath of forgiveness for their captors. 

One of the special afternoon speakers was a woman by the name of Gracia Burnham.  Gracia and her husband Martin were aviation missionaries in the Philippians.  On a whim, she decided to book a one night stay at a nice resort in the Southern Philippians so she and her husband could celebrate their 18th wedding anniversary.  At 4 a.m. during this one night stay they heard a loud knock on their door- It was a group of terrorists coming to kidnap them and several others....this began a 1 year 11 day captivity that would separate them from their 3 young children.  Tragically, on the last day of their captivity a gun battle broke out that would take the life of Martin (Gracia was shot in the leg during the battle) and release Gracia.

While Gracia spoke on Saturday, to the packed out Sanctuary of people at my home church, we learned about the hard times she and Martin went through during their one year captivity.  We learned about the forgiveness she has extended to her captors, about the Organization she started after getting home- to bring Jesus to people she was treated so wrong by, and most astonishingly we learned about the passionate love she has for the Lord- How the Lord has allowed her, in His strength, to take all of her hard experiences and present them in a light that gives hope- Hope that no matter what we go through in life God is with us and will give us strength .......

I have a small list of Hero's in the Christian Faith- People that have walked our earth in recent generations who have been more than 'faith' conquers in Jesus Christ... Corrie Ten Boom is on my list among a few others....Gracia is also on that list-
A woman who has been kidnapped, starved, emotionally battered by her captors, widowed, and left to be a single mom to 3 children
A woman who through all of the above did not let her Faith fall away and become bitter, angry, and isolated
A woman who has allowed the Lord to heal her, comfort her, restore her
A woman who has also allowed the Lord to fill her with forgiveness for the ones that persecuted her and has brought this forgiveness story to thousands and thousands around the world.

Thank you Gracia.

Gracia has written a book about her experience while in Captivity (In the Presence of My Enemies)- A book that has made the New York Times Best Seller list....

It's a must read!!

P.S. Here is a comment (facebook) from my sister Jodi:
What ministered to me the most was what Martin told her while in captivity when she asked him why the Lord would allow them to go through this to only die in the end. Martin's response was that it was their captors day of grace. Each day that they were in captivity was the Lord's extended grace to their captors. What an amazing revelation. We get so bogged down in our trial that to see what the Lord may be doing in the life of the one hurting us and to realize that your testimony during that trial may be what turns the heart of your enemy to Him. That just hit me like a ton of bricks b/c I'm the one plotting revenge when I get through the trial. My "persecutor" will wish he/she never messed with me. To look through the lens of Christ is such a gift.

Martin and Gracia during their captivity

marriage encouragement.....MAKE OUT!!

Last night I was telling my boys how hot I think their daddy is- It went something like this:
'Your daddy's HOT!'
'That's disquesting!!'
'Someday when your married you will appreciate me telling you how HOT I think your daddy is- you'll appreciate that after close to 20 years of marriage we still have passion for each other!'
'YUCK!'

I busted up laughing and they both sat looking at me with cringed up faces...........

Life get's busy- kids, work, school, sports...
Marriage can get messy- unresolved arguments, irritations......
Combine those two year after year and it's a recipe for marriage distance and indifference.

When Matt got home I'm like:
'Wanna make out?'
He smiled and was like 'YEAH!!!'

and we did....
kissed for a good 5 minutes.....
it was wonderful....

Ladies, when your husband get's home today- no matter how long of a day you've had- no matter if your kids are watching- no matter if you are mad at him- no matter if you don't feel like it.....

MAKE OUT WITH YOUR MAN :)
if he is out of town send him a text telling him how hot you think he is- how much you love him- how much you appreciate him....

HAPPY MAKE OUT WEDNESDAY!!

Toddler Selfie's

Not even three years old and already taking Selfie's :)

Didn't even know she had taken these until downloading pictures this afternoon.....

My daughter is so stinkin cute!!

 

 

the thing about mother's day is this....(by michelle)

My dear friend Michelle is our guest Blogger this morning-  Michelle and her husband Jake know the heartache of infertility and the joy of adoption- She speaks candidly from her heart about celebrating Mother's Day.

May you be as encouraged as I was after reading- Thank you for sharing Michelle and love you!

For many years Mother’s Day was the hardest day of the year for me. While I watched all of the moms in church stand up to receive a rose, I remained seated, crying inside and begging God to bless us with a child. Years of unanswered prayers left my heart longing for the peace that only God could offer. I recently ran across an old journal entry that read, “Lord, please place your loving hands around my breaking heart.”

The thing about Mother’s Day is this…

Not everyone who prays for children is blessed with them. Not everyone who carries a child has the opportunity to raise them. Not everyone who raises a child watches them live a long full life. Some are never able to conceive. Some conceive and are faced with the reality that they do not have the resources to care for a child. Some raise a child, only to watch them go to Heaven far too soon. 

Mother’s Day is precious, but Mother’s Day can be tough. It may remind us of women who are no longer with us or of broken relationships that have yet to be healed. It may bring reality to our emptiness or even bring to mind past regret.

I am so blessed by the relationship I have with my Mom, Mother-in-law, and Grandmas. They poured into my life which helped me become the woman I am today. However, for me, Mother’s Day has changed. Now I can stand in church to receive a rose, but I do so in honor of the women who helped me become a mother. These are the three special women who carried my children in their womb, but placed them in my arms. God used their love and sacrifice to build my family. They chose us to raise these miracles and entrusted me to be the Mother they could not be.

As you reflect on the precious women in your life, give thanks to God for both the women who have impacted you as well as those He wants you to pour into.  And if you are sitting in church broken hearted on Mother’s Day, take a look around. There are many women willing to share a hug and grieve with you over yet to be answered prayers.

Michelle

Jake and Michelle with their children Brady, Josiah, and Jaylee