A little girl with a big heart!

     Emma decided a couple of months ago that she wanted to do "Locks of Love".  She heard about a friend that was doing it, and she decided that she wanted to do it too.  Brad's aunt came to stay with us in April and she had just gone through chemo, so she had a few wigs with her while she was here.  Emma thought they were so cool.  So, this made her even more excited that she would be helping someone just like Aunt Cindy.
     Emma has never really had her hair cut...only trimmed.  So, it's been long all of her life.  I've loved braiding it, putting it in piggy tails and pony tails.  It's really been long enough to cut for about a month now, but I've had a hard time actually letting her do it.  She's begged me almost every day to measure it, so she could go get it cut.  I'm not sure why I've had such a hard time letting her do it.  I'm not quite sure what I'm trying to hold onto.  I know it's hair, and it will grow back.  Maybe it's that she's getting bigger and making big girl decisions that I'm not ready for.  I'm not really sure.
     But she has been so excited about doing it, so on Friday it was just time.  We went and she had 8 inches cut off for Pantene's Beautiful Lengths.  We got it all packaged up tonight, and it's ready to be mailed tomorrow.

 Before...so excited!

 1st cut.

 After.

    I have to admit that I shed a tear when it was cut.  Not just because I love her hair, but because of the self-less choice she was making.  It never once bothered her that she was cutting off all of her hair.  She was beaming the entire time we were there.  I think it all hit me that she's growing up, and growing into this amazing little girl that puts others above herself.  She truly does have such a servant's heart. I am one proud mama!

More Milestones...

Liam started Pre-K last week.  Somehow it didn't hit me as hard as I thought it would.  Although, the thought of him going to Kindergarten next year is hard for me to bear.  This little boy holds my heart like none other.  I often think of him as still being so little, but he's not.  Yes, he's only 4...but somehow that feels so old sometimes. 

He was pretty excited the first day of school, although that excitement as faded some.  The second day of school after breakfast I said, "Ok.  Let's get dressed for school. " and he said, "School? Do I do that every day?"  And yesterday he said, "I don't want to go to school.  I never get to stay home to just be with you, Mommy."  Melts my heart.

 I pray that I slow down every single day and cherish these moments.  The last few years have gone by so quickly.  I know I don't always sit down and enjoy my kids as much as I need to.  It's so easy to get caught up in the "everyday" and schedules.  But I don't want to miss one sweet hug or kiss or cute story that my kids tell me.  I mostly just want to hold them in my arms and keep them little forever somehow.

Last week was also my Dad's birthday (think he loves his grandkids a little?)  I'm not sure I could ever put into words how much my Dad means to me.  I am so incredibly thankful that God chose him to be my father.  He is such a wonderful example of who our Heavenly Father is.  His unconditional love and support are such an amazing blessing to me and my family.  He is always giving of himself and putting everyone else's needs before his own.  He is a man who loves the Lord and everyone around him.  And he is an amazing father.  Happy Birthday, Dad!

On last Liam quote of the day:

(We were all outside and Liam was left inside alone.  He walked outside and said), "Since I'm the only one inside, I guess I'm in charge of everything in here now!"

The end of summer...or at least the beginning of school

Emma started 1st grade on Monday.  I don't know which is harder to believe...that Emma is in 1st grade or that school started on August 1st.  She has loved it so far!  

Summer went by way too quickly, but we were able to take some really fun trips and we soaked it up the best we could.

Brad and I were blessed to spend 10 days in Colorado at Frontier Ranch with our high school friends.

We spent time tubing on the lake.

We took a surprise trip to the beach with sweet friends (definitely one of the highlights of the summer).

We had a sleepover at a friend's house that included a lot of fishing and playing. (A great way to have a mini-vacation without going far or spending much money).

We took a family beach trip to Santa Rosa.  We had a great week, and it was made even better because 8 of our high school friends came with us for a few days.

It's really  hard to say goodbye to summer, especially since it's still 100 degrees outside and only August 4th.  But we definitely had some sweet time together as a family and with friends.  We are very blessed!

Planting seeds

    Brad and I have been doing ministry for over 12 years.  We've spent a lot of time hanging out with highschoolers, going to football games, going to lunch, going on trips...just trying to walk alongside our high school friends while they figure out this thing called "life".  And hoping that through our relationship with them, they will come to know our Savior and start a lifelong friendship with Him.
   It can be really difficult at times, because we often watch our high school friends choose the wrong path and make decisions that aren't always the best.  We see a lot of pain, hurt, loneliness and confusion.  And we do our best to let them know that we love them no matter what and so does Christ.
   We've seen hundreds of kids graduate and go off to college.  Some are even married and have kids now. We try our best to stay in contact with them.  It's always so fun to see where their life has taken them.  Some are still searching.  Well, a lot of them are still searching.  But every now and then, we hear from one of them who has fallen deeply in love with Christ.  I had the privilege of getting a letter from one of them recently.
   I've been friends with her since she was a sophomore in high school.  She's always been a great girl, but she has had some bumps in the road as she has grown up.  She just graduated from college in May.  During college she fell in love with Christ and is now seeking to live her life for Him.  It's just so cool to see how God has been working in her life, and that He choose to use me a little a long the way.  It makes spending hours hanging out with friends that are almost half our age now even more worth it....praying that we continue to plant seeds that we will one day see grow.

Philosophy with a 4 year old

Liam has become very philosophical lately.  He has so many questions all day long.  I know this is pretty common for a 4 year old, but some of them are very difficult to answer.  Here are just a few:
-When will we see God face-to-face?
-Why did God make villians?
-Does God decide which babies will be bad?
-Will heaven be just like this world?
-When God comes will He do a magic show?
-If God is with me all of the time, why can't I see him?
-What is Belle (our dog that died) doing now?

And of course some lighthearted questions, such as...
-Can a giant pick up something heavier than a giant?

When Brad and I were on Young Life Staff and we found out we were pregnant, all we could think about was how amazing it was going to be to raise our kids around Young Life...especially taking them to Young Life camps.  Then God changed our plans and sent us back to my hometown...which meant leaving YL Staff.  Thankfully, we have been able to continue doing ministry through YL, but now we are just volunteers.  Our kids know that Friday nights are usually going to be spent at a high school football game or basketball game (or some sort of sport). They know that there will always be highschoolers at our house.  And they know that Mommy and Daddy will be headed to YL club on Mondays to be with our high school friends.  So, not too much as changed between being on YL Staff and serving as a volunteer...except for the amount of time our kids get to spend at YL Camps.

Most YL staff kids get to spend a month of the summer at a YL Camp while their mom or dad is serving there.  Our kids just know that mommy and daddy will be leaving them for 10 days to take our high school friends to camp to hear the Gospel.  But this last weekend...we got to take Emma and Liam with us to camp!!! We took a group of our  high school friends to Sharptop Cove to serve on Work Crew (serving, cleaning, etc.), and Emma and Liam went with us.

It was such a blessing!  I can hardly even put it into words.  They had so much fun running around camp, playing on the playground and they both even hiked to the top of Sharptop Mountain with us.
But the most incredible blessing was having them serve with us.  Emma was amazing!! It meant so much to see her servant's heart all weekend.  She cleaned tables, set tables, vacuumed, anything she could help do.  And Liam did a great job, too.

Young Life has always been a huge part of Brad and mine's lives.  And we want our kids to be a part of that too.  Mostly, we want our kids to know what it means to put God first, to serve and love others and to follow Christ.  I think they both saw that this weekend.

Emma working so hard!

Liam setting tables

On top of Sharptop Mountain

The whole group

Prayers...sort of

Me: (as Liam is outside playing) "What are you yelling about out there?"
Liam: "I just asked God to get the toots out of me."