New Year, New Word

 Last year my friend Jill told me about a traditon that the women in her family practice. Each year they select a word that they will focus on the next year. I love this. Last year I picked grace. I feel like I grew in my grace towards others and myself, but that will always be something that I need to grow in and will always be a life goal (how could it not be if I am trying to become more like Jesus)

This year I wanted my word to be very focused and I thought a lot about what I would choose. I made lists of words that described my vision for the next year of my life and looked for themes. One of my biggest problems is that I feel like I am a very passive participant in my life. I let things happen and react. I want to be a more active particpant in my life, shaping the future that I want for myself and my family. This takes a lot of thought, intentionallity, and effort. I have been thinking about the words of Jesus in John 10:10, "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly" What does abundant like look like? There are some very obvious implications of what this verse means but I wanted to dig deeper into what abundance looked like in my life. One of the definitions of abundance is an overflowing fullness. I desire to have an overflowing fullness in many areas of my life but abudance wasn't quite the word I was looking for. I looked up similar words that led me to my word for the year--> Thrive. I feel like thrive captures my desire to to live an abudant, active life.

One defintion of thrive is to grow or develop vigorously; to flourish. A word picture that kept coming to mind was a rose growing from the concrete. A great example of flourishing where you are. I want to flourish in my relationship with my kids and husband. In my relationship with God. In my work. In my health. In my finances.In my circumstances.Where I am at.

A Shamu Christmas

One of my favorite things about having our own family now is creating traditions for our kids. After Moses' first Christmas, Jarrell and I had several conversations about what we wanted Christmas to be like for our children. One of the things that was important to us was the aspect of family and creating memories and formative experiences during the Christmas season. The idea that we came up with was instead of doing a lot of presents we would take a trip each year as a family and do something together. Last year we went to the San Diego Zoo and this year we visited Sea World. Some of our close friends gave us annual passes as Christmas presents and went with us. We were extremely blessed to spend our Christmas with our good friends the Escobedos. 

We stayed in Old Town San Diego which was extremely beautiful. It was the location of the first European settlement on the West Coast of the present day United States. There were a lot of little shops, outdoor markets, Mexican restaurants with women making tortillas right in front of you, and live mariachi music. We ate at a Mexican restaurant that had a balloon man in it and he recreated Moses' Mickey Mouse.

We visited Sea World on Christmas Eve Day and Christmas Day. There were so many fun shows to go to and there was a whole Seasame Street themed area for the kids. The highlight of the trip for Emery was meeting Elmo. She was so excited, we went back three times :) There are some pictures below highlighting the time spent. 

Emery putting on her glasses for the 4D Showing of Polar Express. It snowed inside the theater. Definitely the only snow San Diego will see.

Emery loved the starfish. She wasn't suppose to pull them out of the water though and we couldn't get her to stop!

Our friend bought some fish so that Moses could feed the sea lions but he was too grossed out. I was holding out the fish and trying to show Moses it was okay and a bird came by and stole it.

All of the shows were amazing but the Killer Whales were my favorite. They were so beautiful and entertaining to watch. We saw them up close and I couldn't believe how big they were.

We were really only there to see Elmo but Grover hopped in the picture too.

The babies playing together in Elmo's Bay of Play. They had so much fun throwing these cubes at each other. 

Now that we have done the San Diego Zoo and Sea World, what should we do next Christmas? What are some of the traditions that you do as a family?

Brother+Sister=Best Friends

Now that Emery is older it is so fun to watch her and Moses interact. For the most part, they are the best of friends {until it involves a toy or snack that the other wants}. Emery absolutely adores Moses and wants to be a part of whatever he is doing, which can be quite entertaining since she isn't as developed as he is. I think Moses realizes the power of being a big other and uses it to his advantage. When something is broke, "Mimi did it." When Moses scales to the top of the pantry to get the good snacks it is always because, "Mimi wanted it." It isn't all bad though because Moses feels like he is responsible for Emery and taking care of her which shows me how much that he loves her.

The other night Emery had fallen asleep in the car but we needed to change her diaper. We laid her on the couch while we taking care of a few things around the house. I sat down for a minute and witnessed the sweetest thing in the world. Moses walked by Emery and looked at her sleeping on the couch. Within a few seconds he had a super concerned look on his face and walked away. He came back with Emery's favorite blanket and covered her up. The amount of love in that small, single moment will warm my heart for a long time. My prayer is those acts of love and concern will transfer out of our home and follow him throughout his life to all types of people.

One thing Moses loves to do is boss people around. We lovingly refer to him as the family policeman. This can be good at times because he really helps teach Emery right from wrong, but other times it can cause problems. Yesterday on the way home from Disneyland Moses and Emery were sharing a bag of pretzels. Every time that Emery wanted another pretzel Moses would say, "Say please Mimi." "Mimi, you are not saying please." "MIMI, you can't have a pretzel until you say please." You could see and hear his frustration growing. We tried explaining to him that Emery still doesn't understand certain things because she is little, but he wasn't having it. He moved on from the please but followed it with Emery not saying, "Thank you."

I am so thankful for my two beautiful kids and the things that I can learn from them and that they can learn from each other. 

Big Brother

Little Sister

Recent Fun-Sponsored by the Letter "C"

Crowns, Cookies & Caps

Lately I have been trying to do more intentional projects with Moses that are fun, but also educational. The other day we decided to make crowns out of paper and some elastic. We practiced cutting, taping, and coloring the crown. He did such a great job and loved running around the house pretending to be "King Moses"

A friend from work was selling some items as a fundraiser for her kids for sports, so I wanted to support her in this endeavor. I was really excited because they sold sugar cookie dough that looks like play dough. You can make your creations, bake them and eat them. I knew Moses would be really into this because he loves baking. It came in yesterday and I couldn't wait to bring it  home what Moses wanted to make. Much to my dismay, he said "Mickey's Spaceship" (I am not artistic so I was really worried about how this was going to turn out)

Here was our inspiration:

We got to work and I must say, I was really proud of how it turned out...

This activity was also extremely educational because we were able to talk about colors and shapes. As you can tell, we made Mickey's Spaceship, Mickey, and a couple of stars. 

Emery is turning into such a little Daddy's Girl. Whenever he goes somewhere, she walks into every room in the house calling for him to make sure that he is really gone. Jarrell almost always wears a baseball cap so whenever she sees it, and it isn't on his head she gets worried. She picks it up and says dada and tries to find him to give it to him. I snapped a few pictures of her putting it on though and she looks so cute.

The Best Part of My Day

The best part of my day comes when I walk in the door after work. Moses and Emery are both super excited to see Jarrell and I. Both of them run towards the door (Side Note: Emery running is the cutest thing ever. She can't keep up with herself so she ends up on her tippy toes and eventually falls flat on the floor where she bursts out in laughter) laughing and screaming. Moses usually jumps into my arms and says, "I love you, I love you." Emery says, "My Daddy!" and then we switch. It feels so wonderful to know our kids love us, miss us, and are excited to be with us. 

There is something so comforting about being home. It feels safe and secure here, in the midst of the craziness of life. At times, it can be chaotic and noisy but I wouldn't have it any other way. It means there is life happening here. 

Brother and Sister time. Moses was explaining to Emery about rain and singing
"If All the Raindrops." It is my prayer that they will continue to be good friends
throughout their entire lives.

 

A Good Reminder

As I have mentioned in some previous posts, my health is not great right now. I was feeling worse then normal the other day, so I decided to go to the emergency room. Normally I wouldn't take such drastic measures but it was going to be awhile until I was able to get into a doctor. I knew that I was having problems with my ovaries and I was right. The lady doing the sonogram said a couple times, "I can't believe that you were able to have children."

I didn't think about it too much at the time, but as I drove home those words kept echoing in my head. From the time I was a teenager, I was told I wouldn't be able to have children. Obviously at that time in my life, having kids was the furthest thing from my mind, so it never really bothered me. When my relationship with Jarrell got serious, and I realized how badly he wanted to be a father, I was worried. For the first time in my life, it sank in that more than likely that I wouldn't be able to have his children. I was scared that he wouldn't want to be with me, but we decided that if we couldn't have kids we would adopt. That was our plan, but God's plan was much different. 

A couple of months after having a really discouraging doctor's appointment (once again confirming that I probably wouldn't be able to get pregnant) I became pregnant with Moses. I didn't even know that I was pregnant until 13 weeks because in my mind it wasn't even a possibility. The timing wasn't great, we didn't have the financial situation that we wanted, and we weren't sure that we were "ready" for kids, but none of those things mattered to us because we were so overjoyed with the news that we were going to have a baby! Literally this was the most amazing, life changing news I probably have ever received. 

The sad thing is, I forget too easily how much God blessed us with the ability to have children. I take it for granted and am not thankful enough. I get overwhelmed with the busyness of life that comes with having two babies. I know a lot of people, who's stories don't end the way that mine did and I can only imagine the pain and the sadness that they experience and my heart and prayers go out to them. So, even in the midst of health problems, I was reminded of the amazing miracle that God did in my life. I hope that I continue to remember that woman's words, "It can't believe that you were able to have children" because those words humble me and create a deep gratefulness in me. I can't even imagine what my life would be like without these two amazing blessings:

Keeping It Real

You would think that by now I would know myself pretty well, but I am constantly learning about who I am. Some of the things are really important and are deep into the core of who I am as a person, while other things are small. The small things don't really define me as a person, but are preferences. I have been doing a lot of reflecting lately

We will start with the small things first because they are less personal.

I am a Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf kind of girl. I just wish that hey had a drive thru because it is more convenient with two small children.

I really enjoy reading and wish that I had more time to devote to it.

Coke Zero >Diet Coke. Frozen Yogurt >Ice Cream. Iced Coffee>Hot Coffee.

Now that you are aware of a bunch of useless information regarding me, lets move on to the bigger things. I care deeply about all the people in my life whether they are supporting roles, minor roles, or extras that were in a couple of scenes and never show up again. It was not a surprise to me when I took the Strength Finders Test and got a result of Individualization. You can read more about it with the link, but in a nutshell it means that I love and have the ability to spot the differences in people. They inspire me and motivate me. For each person in my life, this is very true. Each unique print that you have left on my life is invaluable.

At this point and time you may wonder where I am going with this... I have known for awhile, but have recently learned to a greater extent, that I am incapable of adequately expressing my love for people.  I wish that all the people in my life could tap into the part of my heart that is represented by them and see that love, so that I did not have to try to communicate it or try to show it. At times, I fear what this may do to my marriage or to my relationships with my babies as they get older. It is my prayer that God changes my heart and teaches me to articulate my love and gratitude for others in real, beautiful, tangible ways. I hope as time passes, that you all will see a transformation in my life regarding this and will be blessed by it.