The Big Day!

As many of you know I had the privilege to take part in the wedding of one of my closest friends. We have been friends since nearly the first week of college and we've remained close ever since. She was there when I first met Dan and was there for my wedding day and also saw all 3 of our kids shortly after they were born. I was there during the college years, change of jobs, moving and all the days of Ryan and Siobhan and through the entire journey of their dating relationship. I look forward to seeing what God has in store for their marriage. I love you guys!

Siobhan with her mom and sister

Siobhan with the girlfriends in her wedding

Siobhan and her dad

getting ready for me to do her make-up...I also did her moms make-up, her sister Cassie's, Margeaux's and a little bit of Angie's...and of course my own. Fun!

Siobhan and I

watching the bride come down the aisle

my hubby and I

look at these handsome men!

my pretty girl and I...both in purple!

Siobhan's girlfriends in the wedding (Angie, Me and Margeaux)...we had a great time together!

Cassie, her sister was the maid of honor and I was the matron of honor

it was HOT during the dance and so Margeaux and I took an orange crush break!

It was supposed to be a rainy, cruddy day and it turned out to be sunny and warm...the perfect day for a wedding!

My Sweet Boys

These two are just too cute together. They have both grown to love sleeping next to each other each night even though we only have twin beds in their room.

*don't worry, no kids were woken up in order to take this picture. :)

The Letter "Y"

Tonight's verse was:

"Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path." Psalm 119:105

After memorizing the verse, we went upstairs. Mom and dad's room has great curtains that make it very dark even during the day. Dad hid 10 black checkers on the floor in plain sight. With all the lights off we sent one kid at a time in to see how many checkers each kid could find. Round one scores were:

Alayna = 0
Josiah = 2
Danny = 4 (he's a 7 yr old boy that lives down the street)
Danni = 1 (she's a 6 yr old girl who lives across the street)

After round one, the four kids and I discussed the verse. I asked them if they thought they might find more if they used a flashlight. They all agreed that it would help. Then, I asked them if they ever were confused about what to do. They admitted that sometimes it is hard to know what the right thing to do is. God's word tells us what to do so that we are not lost in the dark. His word is the light unto our path. I shared a quick Bible verse as an example. The Bible says "Children, obey your parents for this is right." Eph 6:1 If they are confused they said they could talk to their parents about what is right.

Then we started round 2. Each kid went in with a flashlight this time. Round two scores were:

Alayna = 6
Danny = 10
Danni = 9
Josiah = 0 (Josiah cheated by looking into the room while daddy was hiding them so he did not get to do the second round)

After each turn I asked the kids three questions:

1. What helped you do better the second time? (the flashlight!)
2. What is the light unto our path? (God's word!)
3. Where can we find God's word? (The Bible!)

It was fun and challenging to include a couple neighbor kids but the lesson was understood by all and hopefully the experience is memorable.

** During the reciting and memorization of the verse, Seth kept pretending to say the verse also...he plugged his nose when we said it that way and when each kid took a turn saying it themselves he wanted to try it too. He mumbled a bit and then clapped for himself because he was so proud. Anyway, it was HILARIOUS in the moment and so we captured a quick glimpse of trying to reenact the moment. The kids were more excited for him to say the verse again so they didn't participate much during their part in the video, but they sure were excited to hear Seth try again. It's fun (and often times funny) to see him get excited and try to be a part of our family time this year! **

Guess Who's Ready for School??

Today is the first day of preschool and she couldn't be more excited! She has been waiting to go to preschool now for over a year and today is the day she finally gets to go. This morning she was up, had breakfast, was dressed and had her shoes and backpack on by about 7:15. (she didn't get out of bed until a couple minutes before 7am either)....unfortunately for her, preschool doesn't start until 9am!! It's hard to believe my little girl is old enough to start preschool, but I couldn't be more excited for her.

The Letter "X"

We had family time but did not write the post right away. Sorry for the delay.

"Exalt the name of the LORD!" Isaiah 24:15

Because of our plan for this one we did not start with dancing. We started with verse memorization. Then we discussed the meaning of the verse. God has many names. These names teach us about His character. We exalt His name by speaking truth about Him and by trusting in His character. In order to learn some of His names we went on to YouTube and selected some songs that included names of the LORD. You can enjoy them if you would like.



The final song had no YouTube clip. The Lyrics are simple and each time they are repeated the song speeds up a little. Kids love it and mom and dad get tired out. :) It's called King of Kings, I think. Here are the lyrics:

King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Glory, Hallelujah
King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Glory, Hallelujah
Jesus, Prince of Peace, Glory, Hallelujah
Jesus, Prince of Peace, Glory, Hallelujah

As we went through each song, we asked the kids to see if they could find the names of God in the song. Then we briefly discussed the meaning of the name. It was great to hear from their little minds the truth about our great God! He was exalted!

"Dad-dy"

Much to his daddy's delight....he can now say "Dad-dy".

'Scriptures'

Ok...I'm not sure why, but Alayna has been very consistently referring to the bible all the time now as 'the scriptures'. She RARELY uses the word 'bible'. It's pretty adorable if you ask me...but maybe I'm a little bias! :)

Last weekend Dan and the kids (I was out of town) went to a family fun day put on by a local church and they gave each kid a Gideon Bible. Alayna has become very attached to her 'big kid' bible and I've even found her 'reading' it a few times (she doesn't know how to read yet.) Anyway, because I don't journal I wanted to write this down. As I was putting away clothes today she came up to me and said, "Mom, can you read to me from 'the scriptures'?"...how can any mom say no to that! So, I stopped and she found the 'right page' and I read to her from 'the scriptures'. I pray that her desire to know and read God's word continues and grows all throughout her life. I love you Miss. Alayna!