Last Friday we went to a local farm as a preschool. Outside of the raging allergies that occurred we had a wonderful time! The kids chased sheep in the pasture (aka diarrhea field as Mason called it. nice), fed horses, carried eggs from the chicken coop around, yelled at the cows and climbed fences. We ended our time at farm with a picnic. What a great way to start the weekend. More fun memories with our preschool co-op and friends!
And even on the farm, we still go potty…
1.Last weekend as I mentioned was our marathon weekend of celebration: time in Chico with our family pictures, bridal showers, baby showers, special time with friends and students. Whew! It was fun but we were tired at the end. I think it took us till Tuesday to recover. I wanted to share a recipe I made for the baby shower. They are called Oreo bon bons. They are yummy, simple and a hit with everyone.
2. Our family pictures went great! Our photographer was Kimberly Stone who is new to Chico. She was fun, easy going and very creative. We loved her and can’t wait to see our pictures, hopefully next week. Here is a sneak peek!
3. Last week I made a purchase that was out of necessity. A sober reality. A sign of the times I guess. I am getting older. *sigh* Out of nowhere a couple weeks ago my left heel started bothering me, to the point where I couldn’t walk without limping badly. Running was out the door. I concluded that I have plantar fascitis. Basically it’s just inflammation from over use, going barefoot a lot and wearing super cute non supportive shoes. Guilty as charged. With the hot weather approaching I new I wasn’t going to be wanting to wear supportive shoes like my running shoes everywhere so I purchased a nice, supportive pair of flip flops. To be honest they aren’t the most attractive, trendy pair of shoes. But they do the job and I’m able to run again. I wear them in the house all the time and occasionally out and about. I figure if I do this then when the time comes for a cute pair of shoes my feet can handle it. That’s my story of my body getting older and my “orthopedic” flip flops:)
4. After 5 years of giving talks on many Wednesday nights at Chico Cru Brian gave his final talk. It was a bittersweet time. Tears of joy in what God has done and tears of sadness in what we are leaving were shed. It is an amazing experience leaving somewhere we feel so loved and where God is working in great ways! I had the privilege of being there as he spoke for the the last time. He delivered it very well. With much grace, humor and wisdom. I must say over the past 5 years my husband has become quite the speaker. He really is enjoyable to listen to. I walked away being challenged myself to look up and forward. When so often our tendency is to look down and back. I am so proud of Brian.
5. Dare I say it? The girl are potty trained. They haven’t been in diapers (excluding nights) in the last 2 weeks and have had few accidents. We’ve even had several days of NO accidents! Wow. I’m still holding my breath, waiting for a backslide but I think we are over the major hump. Whew! sigh of relief:) Now I’m either toting a portable pink potty with us in our car or noting where the bathrooms are in each store!
This just makes me smile.
Here’s a fun video from our time at Disneyland!
We are studying the farm the next 2 weeks in preschool. This evening we happened to be having dinner with friends who live out in the country. On our drive to their house we passed a lot of cows and horses. Perfect to go with our farm theme! As we were sharing with Daddy all that we learned about the farm, Mason informed us that if he was a cow we wouldn’t have to go the store anymore for milk. We could just squish his udders. And we wouldn’t have to mow the grass anymore because he would eat it. Him being a cow would save us a lot of time!
Yes Mason, this sounds like a great. Do you think you could be a cow/chicken hybrid? Because eggs would be awesome!
Mason, you make me laugh.
We have a busy but fun weekend ahead of us. Here is what we will be up to…
1. Tomorrow morning we are getting family pictures taken out and about in Chico. This is something we knew we wanted to do before we left to capture some of our favorite spots on film. Our staff team graciously gave us a photo session with a professional photographer as a going away gift! We are really excited for tomorrow, we have some fun ideas that hopefully we turn out!
2. Tomorrow afternoon I have a bridal shower for one of our students. We have known her and her fiance since they came to Chico State as freshman. They are graduating in a couple weeks and getting married at the end of the month. It’s been sweet to watch their relationship develop and grow over the last 4 years. This definitely is a perk being in college ministry!
3. We are having a date night with some friends Saturday evening. Literally we have been trying to coordinate schedules since the end of January! Crazy. I’m looking forward to spending an evening of adult conversation. There are 5 kids between our 2 families so usually there isn’t much adult conversation going on. I’m thankful to have sweet times like this with friends before we leave.
4. Sunday I’m helping with a baby shower for our friends who had their daughter a month ago. I love being a part of the planning process of a party. It makes me happy. Also, she is a dear friend and I’m happy to serve her in this way. And her daughter is the sweetest little peanut!
5. Lastly, Sunday night we are celebrating with our student leadership team in all that God has done this school year. This is by far my favorite meeting of the year. I love hearing how students saw God working in their own lives, through them and in others lives. It also gives me great joy and motivation to hear the excitement and anticipation for what they are trusting God will do next year.
So here is to a fun filled weekend! Hope yours is too!
Wow! What a whirlwind of a trip we had in SoCal last week! We went from one thing to the next, traveled ALOT of miles, saw lots of people, did many fun things and I am happy to report we had a great, refreshing time! The kids were troopers with all the transitions of activities and beds they slept in. They LOVED Disneyland. Mason’s highlight by far was being trained as a Jedi and getting to fight Darth Vader. Check out the video below. He jumped right into character and took his training very seriously.
Theia was a big fan of Buzz Light Year ride and still cried when we said she was done after going on 6 times in a row. Kaia loved the It’s a Small World ride. She smiled and laughed and just kept hugging me throughout the whole ride. Pure JOY! I love how each of the rides that they loved fits their personalities:) This picture is one my favorites:)
We loved having quality time with Brian’s parents. It was relaxing getting to spend time at the pool with them and the kids soaked in every moment with Grandma and Grandpa. We are thankful for this time and the new memories we’ve created. It was definitely hard saying goodbye to them. But hoping it won’t be for too long!
Our last leg of the trip was in the mountains with our fellow staff members. Our speakers for the weekend were Dennis Rainey the director of Family Life Ministry and his son Samuel. Both speakers we encouraging and had some good one-liners that got me thinking. Again, we said goodbye to lots of good friends whom we share a unique bond with…staff life. I’m so thankful for the PSW region and it’s here we got our start in staff life. We’ve gained so much and will be forever grateful.
While we were away it hit me what a gift this week was for us. It was a time to get away from life in Chico where we are packing, planning, organizing, making big decisions, stressing and feeling overwhelmed. Stepping away from it all gave us a chance to catch our breaths before we dive in for one last time. I truly came away from this road trip refreshed. Thanks God!
We are in the midst of a whirlwind tour of SoCal. We are doing some fun things, seeing family and friends and attending our regional conference one last time. It feels good to take a step away from a crazy and overwhelming life in Chico right now. This trip as been unexpectedly so enjoyable and relaxing as a family and personally. Let’s face it a week long road trip with 3 small kids that includes 4 different adventures doesn’t really spell out relaxing but so far it has been. This trip also includes saying our first goodbyes starting tomorrow with Brian’s family. I’m thankful for the special time we’ve had with them but still sad to say goodbye. I pray it isn’t long before they make their visit:)
Tomorrow we go from 85 degrees poolside to 6 inches of snow in the mountains for our conference. Let the fun continue!
Here’s 5 on Friday picture style.
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It’s been a very full week here at our house with early mornings and late nights so I’m gonna make this quick.
1. The RE-Think blogference was a huge hit this year! Thanks to all who checked it out and participated. Overall there were more than 1300 “attenders” to the conference that made comments, representing 41 different countries. I know I was encouraged myself through the wives/moms/women section. I am “re-thinking” my call as a mom. What a high call it is friends! Oh yea, and did I mention I was proud of my husband? Well, I am. Very.
2. Brian and Mason had a Daddy date this week. Mason thrives off of one on one time so we are trying to be more proactive about scheduling this in. The boys went bike riding in Lower Park and had a great time! Can they look anymore alike?!? I love my boys!
3.The outside of our house is being painted right now. It’s looking really different, but a good different. I can’t say I was ever really fond of the white house with pink accents that our house had before. Our kids are enthralled with the older gentlemen that is doing the painting. Often these days Mason has sneaked out of the house and I find him asking Mr. Monty 20 questions about what he is doing. The new colors give me a weird feeling though. Our house is being prepared for next renters. Sad.
4. The girls are proud new owners of bed rails and a gate. All efforts to keep them contained and in hopes we can regain some sort of nap again. Right now they are fascinated with these new additions to their room. It’s only been 2 days though and I am positive this excitement will be wearing off very soon.
5. Tonight we invited Mason’s best friend and our neighbor to dinner with us. They are 2 peas in a pod and crack us up the way they interact with each other. Almost like an old married couple. It’s super cute. We will miss little Miss Kaitlyn dearly.
That has been our word since we officially made the decision to move to Indy.
Savor our favorite moments that define “home” as we know it now.
Savor the routines that are so familiar and loved.
Savor our favorite spots downtown.
Savor that the candy store owners and bakery/cafe owners know us.
Savor the love our kids get from our neighbors.
Savor the friends that have helped make this home.
Savor the campus that we saw God do amazing things on.
Savor the students’ lives we saw change for Him, students who have become our friends, who adore our kids.
Savor a staff team who have become family.
Savor the place we became a family of 3, then of 5.
I know God has big plans to do the same and immeasurably more in our next home. I believe this and trust this. Right now though I’m holding on to these moments here. They are getting fewer and fewer and I want to savor.