Our Journey Home

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Wordless Wednesday: First powdered sugar donut

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."- Romans 8:28

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Reason # 1,379...

...why I love my husband. (First of all, let me just say that we had a non-stop weekend. We had dear friends over on Friday night, church commitments on Saturday morning, a birthday party on Saturday night, church on Sunday morning, and our first VBS leadership meeting on Sunday night. It's not always like that, but it just so happened that our weekend slipped away! wink.)Last night, David came home from work and we all had dinner together. Then David played with our children and read our Bible story. We prayed and put the children to bed, and David was just about to go start studying but our doorbell rang. It was one of our neighbors, needing a jump for his car because his battery had died. David didn't miss a beat. He went to help and serve. Oh, how I love my husband! I am so thankful for his passion to serve the Lord, serve our family, and serve others. He is an amazing man and I am so incredibly blessed!
Below are a few pictures of the girls, eating a new favorite treat. Wubs and Bella were amazed when I let them have a popsicle with their breakfast! It was only frozen apple juice but they thought it was a.w.e.s.o.m.e! "The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The ordianances of the Lord are sure and altogether righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pur gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb."- Psalm 19:9-10

Monday, February 27, 2012

The beauty of a gentle heart

I love this picture of Wubs. I love those sweet hands holding dandelions; I love that little mouth softly blowing; I love her eyes fixated on her goal. Emma Grace is growing into a beautiful young lady, but please don't misunderstand... I'm not talking about her outward appearance. No, I think Wubs is beautiful because God has given her a gentle heart. She is easily brought to tears with compassion for others. I am praying that the Lord will continue to guide us as we parent and minister to this precious little girl.
1 Samuel 16:7 "Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."

Friday, February 24, 2012

Easter is just around the corner!

Every year at Easter, our church hosts an egg hunt for our community. The Easter egg hunt is one of my favorite annual events because it is such a joy to see so many families come to hear the good news of the gospel, sing, and hunt for candy-filled eggs! We try to recycle the plastic eggs, however, this isn't quite as easy as it sounds. The eggs need to be matched back up with the correct halves and let me just say, there are literally thousands of pieces. (Last year, the egg hunt included eight thousand eggs, spread out among the various age groups!) Everyone on our children's ministry team took home several large bags of eggs; we are all working over the next few weeks to put the eggs back together so they'll be ready to be filled. Our family been chipping away at our project... it's the ultimate sorting and matching activity! The girls LOVE helping and it's fun to watch a movie and put eggs back together! It was bright and early we had already finished one hundred eggs. The picture below makes me laugh. Bella was digging deep for an egg!During a playdate earlier this week, Bella and her friend Gracie asked me if they could 'play the egg matching game'. I eagerly agreed to this SUPER idea and offered them a giant pile to complete! wink! I hope you have an eggceptional weekend!
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."- Matthew 11:28

Thursday, February 23, 2012

I could just gobble him up!

I could just gobble up this baby boy up, I love him so much! And JJ could just gobble up...well, anything we put in front of him! wink. It is so so wonderful to have two little girls and a little boy. I thank God every day for the privilege of being a mommy.I made red velvet cupcakes and JJ approved of my new recipe!Bella was sniffing JJ's head while he was eating and he was cracking up! Too cute!Pop-tarts... a breakfast favorite among our children. I know, I know, super nutritious, huh? wink! Nuggets! Yum!




"Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always."- Psalm 105:4

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Wordless Wednesday: Play Doh Masterpieces


"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."- Hebrews 11:1

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Ice skating

We had a special adventure this past weekend; we went ice skating! We've had a gift card for the Polar Ice House in Wake Forest for over a year now, and we decided to finally use it.
It was a real treat! We have been trying to do something special as a family each week, whether it is a movie night, playing games, eating at a new restaurant, or simply doing something out of the ordinary. The times we share as family are treasured times because this is a busy season in our life. David is a seminary student (he is working on a masters degree in divinity) and in addition to working full time at our church, he is taking three classes. David does an amazing job of carving out time each day to spend with our family, and then on the weekend, we have one special family activity! God has really been blessing our time together in amazing ways. We are so thankful that the Lord orchestrates all the details!Mommy and her little man! That smile melts my heart!Daddy and his girls... so sweet!I skated backwards so I could pull Wubs around the rink. She loved it and she did a great job!Daddy and Bella took a self portrait. Bella didn't like the ice skating, but she loved watching the other skaters. I was so surprised because she is usually our 'daring' child, but she made it very clear that she did not like ice skating. I don't think she liked the slippery feeling under her feet. JJ got sleepy and decided that he'd dream about ice skating.David got more and more confident about his skating after some practice! We want to go skating again sometime for a date night. That would be SO fun! It was such a wonderful memory!
"I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life."- John 6:47

Monday, February 20, 2012

The 100th day of school!

Last week, we celebrated our 100th day of school! We don't actually have to record our homeschool days this year since Wubs is not seven years old yet, but I thought it would be good practice for next year. The girls have colored one square on their hundred charts since we started the school year, back in August. (Honestly, I think we may have technically passed our '100th day of school' a week or so back because we didn't color the hundred charts on the days we had a field trips, went to the library, etc, but the girls didn't seem to mind. wink.) In celebration of our big day, we had a treasure hunt! Bella was the first child to wake up on the 100th day of school, but she quickly climbed up the ladder of the bunk bed to wake her sister. Here are a few pictures from the big day! Glasses on! Time to read the treasure map. It was supposed to take the girls one hundred steps to reach their treasure, but in all the excitement, I don't think anyone was really counting! wink!First stop was out the front door and onto the front porch! However, it had rained really hard the night before so I had to go to Plan B when designing the treasure map. I had wanted the hunt to be held outside but it was just too wet. Maybe next year!Scrambling in and out of rooms...This picture of Bella is too funny! She was really on the look out!Finally the girls looked in daddy and mommy's bedroom! I hid the treasure behind our bedroom door, where our hamper usually sits. I had removed the hamper and filled the spot with 100 pieces of TREASURE! Hooray!Treasure, treasure, treasure! Cotton candy, grow capsules filled with animal shapes, candy, glow sticks, chocolate coins, dinosaurs, and fun eraser toys! (The erasers have been an item the girls have been begging to get every time we go to Target. I have no idea why, but they think they are so cool! ha ha! So you can only imagine their delight...)The girls sat and sat in this corner of our bedroom, just enjoying all the loot! The girls enjoyed playing all morning long with their new toys. Then we had a special lunch! I told Wubs and Bella that I was making them 100 nuggets, and they gasped. They thought that would be waaaay too many; we all laughed when they saw their plates! It was a happy, happy day!
"Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you."- Psalm 9:10

Friday, February 17, 2012

Are you afraid?

What makes you feel afraid? When are you fearful? What little lies creep into your thoughts? These are the questions I've been asking myself this week. I have been meditating on a scripture in 2 Timothy and I wanted to journal (well, blog... wink) about what the Lord has shown me in His Word.
"Therefore, I remind you to keep ablaze the gift of God that is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fearfulness, but one of power, love, and sound judgement."- 2 Timothy 1:6-7
I have read this scripture many times over the last few days and over and over again, I keep coming back to the Truth that 'God does not give us a spirit of fearfulness'. Yet, there are many times in my Christian walk when I have felt afraid. Afraid of the uncertainties of life, afraid of my own shortfalls, even afraid of change. But if a spirit of fear doesn't come from God, where does it come from? Then I remembered... that's one of the very oldest tricks in The Book. In the beginning, Satan used his craftiness to tempt Eve into sinning against God by lying to her about the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. Eve ate the fruit and invited Adam to join her in this sin. Adam and Eve had never felt afraid or fearful until after they had sinned, because up until that point, they had enjoyed a perfect, beautiful relationship with the Lord. But after Adam and Eve had sinned, they felt afraid when God came into the garden looking for them, and they hid. Satan knew if he could cast even a little doubt into Eve's thoughts, he could cause her to sin. Satan hates God and he hates God's people. Satan enjoys distracting us from God's perfect love, and he will use any tactic possible to do so, including casting the shadows of fear and doubt. I believe fearfulness came into the world due to the fall of man.
What can I do when I feel afraid, when the shadows of doubt or fear begin to creep into my thoughts? Well, 2 Timothy 1:6-7 reminds me that the Lord has equipt me with 'power, love, and sound judgement'. I have power by the Holy Spirit within me and the Truth of God's word; I do not need to allow myself to be decieved by the lies of this world. I have the love of Jesus, a love that cannot be broken, a love that is unstoppable, unchanging, and forever. And, I have been given a spirit of sound judgement; I can prayerfully consider the circumstances and seek guidance from the Lord, and I can also seek Godly counsel.
Sometimes I when I blog, I like to write stories about our children that I don't want to forget, sometimes I enjoy writing about our family adventures, and other times, I write about something that the Lord has put on my heart. Today, friends, I am writing to share with you about the lesson God has shown to me through this passage of scripture; I am blogging all of this because I just can't seem to shake the idea that I need to write specifically about these verses. If you are reading this post and you have seeds of fear or doubt within your thoughts, I pray that you will be encouraged by God's Truth.
Have a great weekend!

The girls got their first set of legos this year for Christmas. Lots of fun!!!Bella completed this Miss Spider puzzle all by herself! She was SO excited about this accomplishment! She worked very,very hard.

A homeschool picture. Bella doing her 'work' and Wubs is deep in thought. wink.


"The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him."- Nahum 1:7

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Photojournal: Valentine's Day 2012

We had a wonderful Valentine's Day! We made homemade Valentines, we delivered cookies to our neighbors, we completed our special activities, we ate lots of treats, and we enjoyed our traditional date night with daddy to Chic-fil-a! It was a day filled with blessings. Here are just a few pictures of our day:


Sweet sisters! They really are the best of friends.The girls with little man. We love these precious children so much!I tried a new hairstyle on the girls for Valentine's Day. I watched a tutorial on-line about 'heart hair' and we tried it out! It was an inverted french braid with a lacing technique. The girls loved it!Date night! David is the absolute best husband and father. I love, love, love this amazing man.

"Therefore, I remind you to keep ablaze the gift of God that is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fearfulness, but one of power, love, and sound judgement."- 1 Timothy 1:6-7