A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

There have been so many posts that I have wanted to write but I have been so busy lately. Luckily Winter Camp will be over next week and that means Jarrell and I should have a little more time on our hands. I just wanted to give everyone a quick update on the babies through some pictures.

Moses loves to put on my shoes to the dismay of his father...

Emmy playing with her puppy

Moses loves to play with Mimi and recently he decided that it would be fun to pick her up and carry her around. The funny part is that they weigh almost the same amount so Moses can't take her very far.

Emmy all bundled up. Moses thought she looked like Mickey Mouse :)

The packaging is always better then the toy at this age.

Mimi at 9 months old.

Party Time

I still am going to do the follow up post to Sara June but I wanted to talk about Moses' birthday first. Two came so fast and for a couple of days I would love time to slow down!

We went to see Mickey Mouse at Disneyland. It was a beautiful day out and the park was pretty empty so we were able to do a lot of things. Some of the highlights are below:

Moses met Mickey Mouse

Got a hug from Goofy

Moses and Mimi's first ride on Dumbo

We spun around in the teacups and Moses laughed the whole time

Moses ate his first ice cream cone

On our way out of Disneyland we stopped in Downtown Disney and Moses picked out his birthday present. We left with a giant stuffed Mickey who has been doing everything with Moses. Mickey wore a party hat, ate cup

cakes, shares food with Moses, goes in the swing, and sleeps with Moses.

Our friends threw a little birthday party for Moses so we drove to their house right after Disney. It was Toy Story themed and super cute because Liz made kid size everything. We had blueberries, nuggets, mini tacos, mini pizzas, goldfish, fruit snacks, and some other things.

The Yummy Food

Moses in his party hat

A comparison of his first birthday and second. I can't believe how much he has grown!

Dear Moses,

I am so thankful that God chose me to be your mama. You are a precious little boy and are so full of life. You bring me so much joy and challenge me to be a better person. I pray that as you grow that you won't lose your joy, your determination, your love for your sister, your humor, your sense of adventure, or your desire to learn. I love you more then you will ever know.

Sara June

Over time God has been working out a beautiful word picture of who He is in my life. I want to share more of this with you but I feel like the history of where it started is extremely important.

I'll never forget the day. It was just after lunch and we were heading into the auditorium at SpringHill Camps to start another week of summer camp. My phone rang and I vaguely remember the voice on the other end tell me that my dear friend Sara had died. I dropped to the ground and started sobbing. So many thoughts were running through my head and I didn't want to believe that it was true.

I am not really sure when or how Sara and I became friends. To the best of my knowledge it would have been our senior year of high school during tennis season. What I do remember though is the quality of friend that Sara was. My life was really messy but Sara didn't seem to notice (or if she did, she never commented). She loved me and accepted me as I was and was always ready to drive around town and listen to music, talk about boy drama, shop, eat, and just hang out. She was the first person that came and visited me when I moved to New York and the only person that made an effort to hang out with me every time I came home to visit. When she couldn't come to my wedding she sent a huge box of meaningful gifts and remembered to call the day of. This short list doesn't do justice to describe who Sara was but they are the things that stick out in my mind.

When Sara's life turned messy, I was determined to be the type of friend she was to me. I didn't agree with her choices, I was worried for her, and I knew that she was headed down the wrong path but I chose to take the stance that she did for me, and loved her despite it all. I didn't talk to Sara much (I think that she was afraid that I would judge her choices) but I called and left her a message almost everyday letting her know that I was thinking of her, that I loved her, and when she was ready to talk I would be there for her. I kept in contact with her mom and believed and prayed that her life would turn around eventually. Unfortunately, her life was cut short.

This is where God began to reveal Himself to me in a way that I will never forget. I was sitting in the gazebo staring off into the distance and praying for God to give me some kind of peace in the situation. I looked down and the necklace that I was wearing really spoke to me. It was blue leather and had a bunch of anchors knotted on to it. I felt prompted to explore the word anchor and found this verse in the Bible, "This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both steadfast and sure and one which enters in within the veil." Hebrews 6:19

At this point and time I realized that Jesus (the hope that I had) was the anchor of my soul. I will expand more in the next post.

I want to leave you with this thought for the evening--> Love those around you and love them well because you never know when they will be gone. Life is short so live each day to the fullest and strive each day to know and love God better.