Down on the Farm

Today the Lord gave us a very special playdate! We got to spend the morning with Ms. Crystal and Hope, some of our friends from church. It was so much fun and we made lots of wonderful memories!
Wubs and Hope were reaching in those hanging feeders to get food for the chickens. I couldn't believe how much Wubs loved jumping in and becoming a little farm hand!


Here Wubs is holding an egg that had just been laid. She got to feel its warmth, and then place it in the bucket.Here are the two donkeys. Molly is the mommy donkey but she was the smallest. We thought that was funny!

Ms. Crystal was so kind- she even allowed the girls to pick daffodils from her garden.
Here the girls are eating some yummy cookies! Playing on a farm makes those tummies hungry!
This is Hope's playhouse. Her 'real' house is a farmhouse originally built in the 1800's. Everything on this farm was absolutely beautiful.
Dress up time! Wubs first selected the horse costume. Yee Haw!Bella, the fairest of them all. wink.
Wubs decided being a poodle would be more fun!
Mommy and Bella, as a baby chicken. (Bella was a little nervous. The roosters kept saying,
"Cockle Doodle Doo!!!". I thought they only did that early in the morning. Apparently, they also make that sound when they get frightened as well.)

Hope the bumble bee and Bella the chicken- that's quite a duo!The girls loved gathering the fresh eggs from the chicken coop. Ms. Crystal allowed us to bring home some of the eggs, too! The girls have been talking about our time at the farm all afternoon. God has certainly blessed us with many beautiful friendships!

"A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed."
- Proverbs 11:25

Happy (belated) Valentine's Day!

"For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust."- Psalm 103:11-14 (This is my favorite psalm... well, okay, one of my favorites! Isn't God's word amazing?)

Homemade Jumpin' Beans

Our girls love to go to the inflatables playground, Jumpin' Beans, in Wake Forest. Last Friday, as I was washing dishes, I realized I hadn't heard a peep from Wubs or Bella in about 10 minutes. I was drying my hands to go check on them when Wubs ran into the kitchen and said, "Mommy, I want to show you something and it's dangerous but please don't say no, okay?"( Hmmmmm... ) Wubs took my hand and we walked to the living room, where the girls had put every single couch and loveseat pillow on the floor. "Can we jump, Mommy? Pleeeease?" I thought they were so creative, to make a homemade Jumpin' Beans, I just couldn't say no! wink.

"Test me, O Lord, and try me, examine my heart and my mind, for your love is ever before me, and I walk continually in your truth." - Psalm 26:2-3

Snow!

God gave us a beautiful snowy weekend! Wubs and Bella were absolutely thrilled as they watched the snow begin to fall on Friday night. Wubs ran into our kitchen, chanting "Oh the joy! Oh the life!" We laughed and laughed... where does she get this stuff? wink! We have enjoyed being 'snowed in' and we've made lots of memories! Here are some pictures of the fun we've had over the last few days:


Sweet Wubs! She would never admit to being cold because she didn't want to go inside!

Whee! Daddy and Bella went down our slide together. (Bella wasn't as enthusiastic about the snow as her big sister. She preferred to be held while we were outside.)

We walked over to our neighbor's house to go sledding and we snapped a family photo! Just look at Wub's rosy cheeks!
We have been keeping busy with fun little indoor activities, too! The girls love to sort and count Skittles because then they get to eat all their hard work!
After playing with Playdough at the table, we made 'bowling balls' and used the empty containers as our 'pins'. The girls loved this game!
Early in the mornings (when it was still waaaay to cold to go out) we brought the snow inside! Below, Bella was showing me that the snow melts in her mouth. Wubs helped me bake cookies on Saturday afternoon. When we were done, she really wanted to feed daddy. He's such a good sport! There are so many more pictures, but these were just a few of my favorites! I realized (luckily) that I didn't take a picture when we made a little frozen treat. Since we didn't have any evaporated milk to make snow ice-cream, I thought it would be fun to make some slushies with soda. Unfortunately, the soda we had in our refridgerator was Diet Mountain Dew. Diet Mountian Dew poured on top of snow makes... you guessed it... yellow snow! Eeeeeew!

"We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts."- 1 Thessalonians 2:4b

Gumballs vs. Diapers

We are very excited about Bella's newest adventure- potty training! Bella absolutely loves gumballs, so we decided that every time Bella goes potty in the toilet, she recieves two pennies for our gumball machine. Wubs wanted to get some delicious gumballs too, and I realized I had a win-win situation on my hands. I told Wubs that she could get two pennies each time Bella earned them. So now Wubs is Bella's biggest advocate for potty training! She is always asking Bella if she needs to go potty, and Wubs cheers the loudest when her little sister earns them some pennies! I'm hopeful that by next week, we can say good-bye to those diapers. (And we'll be able to say hello to that $30 we will be saving on our grocery bill each month! Hooray for gumballs!)

"Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."- Romans 5:7-8

Catching Up

My goodness, it's been so long since our last post... I almost don't know where to begin! We had a wonderful Christmas, celebrating the birth of our Savior. After the Christmas Eve service, many of the families in our homegroup came to our house for snacks and a birthday party for Jesus. On Christmas day, we woke up (to the footsteps and shrieks of two very excited little girls) and we found our special gifts from Santa. That evening, three families came over for dinner and again we celebrated baby Jesus! The day after Christmas, we traveled to South Carolina to spend time with our extended families. We returned to North Carolina just in time to ring in the New Year at home! Things didn't slow down, though. David left the second week in January for a mission trip in Costa Rica. We missed Daddy a lot, but we were able to talk to him and see him nearly every day on Skype! David has the most amazing stories about how God is moving in Costa Rica! He had the opportunity to share the gospel (with an interpretor... however, his Spanish vocabulary is now muy grande) , invite people to come to a local park to watch a video and a live drama presentation about Jesus, and share the hope found in God's love and Truth. Over 500 people heard the Good News during that week, and many of them have already accepted Jesus!
Here we are standing outside Grandma and Grandpa's house with the big snowman!
We went to the Wake Forest Christmas parade. However, the Grinch was the parade coordinator this year and he insisted that no candy be passed out. (wink. Okay, that last sentence is only partly true...)


A typical home in Costa Rica. David and the mission team would knock on the gates so the people would come out from their house for a conversation about Jesus!
Several of the mission team members, taking a quick break.
I had to include this one! David took this snapshot of a lemon tree growing in Costa Rica, and I just love this picture!
Precious photo- this man and his family just accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior. He's giving us the thumbs up!
What a great way to start off 2010! We pray this entire year will be filled with opportunities to share the Truth found in God's word! Happy New Year!

"For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;"- Psalm 103:11-13

"Mama, are you Santa?"

Yesterday, while we were driving in the car, the song Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer came on the radio. Wubs and Bella did their best to sing along, and it was so fun to hear their sweet little voices. We were driving to pick up some poinsettias that David had ordered for the YMCA, and I wasn't exactly sure if I was on the correct street. At the redlight, I picked up the email David had printed out for me with the directions, and I was trying to read it when Wubs asked me a question. "I'm sorry Wubs, what did you say?" She repeated her question, "Mama, are you Santa?" *gulp...* My mind was swirling, my heart was racing- what should I say??? I decided to just answer her exact question, and say no more. " Well, I'm your mommy." I looked at Wubs in the rearview mirror. "Nooo! I'm being Rudolph, Mama! Are you Santa?"

"The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love."- Psalm 145:8

Hamsters

Early Saturday morning, we went to Breakfast with Santa at the YMCA. Wubs loved sitting on Santa's lap and telling him about her special Christmas wishes, but Bella refused Santa's warm attempts for a hug. wink. After breakfast, we stopped for David to get a haircut. There was a line at Sports Clips, so to entertain the girls during the wait, we all walked next door to Pet Smart. Oooooh, what a treat for Wubs and Bella! Bella liked the fish and cats. Wubs enjoyed watching the dogs getting groomed at the ' salon'. As we were leaving, we saw them. The hamsters. Wubs loved those furry little fellas! She had her face pressed up to the glass to watch them run on their little wheels, eat their seeds, and drink from their bottles. Today, as I was cooking dinner, Wubs drew me this picture. She said, "Mommy, look! I made you some hamsters! Aren't they adorable?"

"Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips."- Psalm 141:3

Forgiveness

This morning, as I was loading the girls into the car to run a few errands, Wubs made a confession. Apparently she was feeling a little convicted about an incident that happened in her Wednesday night discipleship class. "Mama, when we were supposed to do our craft at church last night, I didn't go to the table when my teacher told me to." "Why didn't you obey your teacher's words, Wubs?" "Well, I was making a tower." "Hmmmm. Do you think you could have made a tower after you went to the table to make your craft?" "*sigh* Yeah. Do you forgive me?" "Of course, I forgive you Wubs! Do you know why Mommy will always, always, always forgive you?" "Why?" "Because Jesus taught me how to forgive. He will always forgive me, and I need to forgive others."
"Jesus will ALWAYS always forgive you?!? That's really cool, mama."

Sweet Wubs. We are praying that one day, both of our girls will understand just how 'cool' Jesus really is! It still amazes me that He loves me, and He forgives me. Always.

"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete."- John 15:9-11

A Texas Thanksgiving

We enjoyed a very special holiday treat this Thanksgiving! We got to travel to Texas to spend time with our precious friends, the King family. We drove (17 hours, whew!) across North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana to reach Beaumont, Texas. The Lord blessed us with a wonderful vacation, filled with great conversations, laughter, and lots of delicious food! Wubs and Bella loved playing with Sarah, Andrew, and Ellie. When it was time to leave, Wubs said, "Mommy, I wish Jesus would give our house to someone else and we could just live in Texas!"


Ellie and Bella squealed with delight each time Bryan would jump out to catch them!

Andrew + Wubs = A perfect match!

Bella shows us her super strength!

Best of friends.

Ellie and Bella loved having tubby time together!

Bryan and Jamie- We love you!!!

"Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long."- Psalm 25:5