My mom...

Such a shining example of strength, love and grace in our home. I think of my mother's faithfulness, she laid the foundation of a spiritual heritage through braving it with two rowdy kids on Sunday mornings. I remember the sweet way she smelled when she picked us up after school and how happy I was to be with her. I could and still can always tell her anything without fear of her thinking any less of me, although I wouldn't be surprised if she's thought I was losing my mind sometimes. I love her laugh...she makes me laugh. Her actions scream love, the importance of family, doing what's right, and taking care of each other. I love my mom and all the little things that make her who she is.

For Your Splendor Christy Nockels

Time has flown

And I realize it's been since Christmas that I've posted anything....so with that said, I guess it's time to catch up. In case you've missed seeing these smiling faces, here are a few recent pics.

 Can't believe one is 8 and the other 4...

First trip to the beach this year and she wasn't so sure about it which surprised me a lot. She hung out at the shoreline jumping in VERY shallow water. She's not a fan of waves but still had a lot of fun!

 

Emma has been playing soccer on Saturdays and we have enjoyed cheering her on :)

Lili had a pretty memorable egg hunt this year. She ran a train on those eggs!

About to end her 2nd grade year, she is growing into such a precious and tender hearted girl. 

I love the family that God gave me. 

Cookie Ornaments

I guess about 5 years ago, my aunt told me about a special tradition that her and her daughter do every Christmas, they make cookie dough ornaments, paint them and hang them on a tree. I loved the idea and set out to start that tradition with my family. Our first cookie ornament tree was in 2007 but the past three years we haven't done one.....I guess we were in transition for about that long and our tree was in storage. Anywho, we got our tree out, dusted off the "cobwebs" (not really) and continued the tradition. This was Lili's first time to do the ornaments. She had so much fun and did such a great job! Emma really enjoyed taking her time paying attention to detail. She painted some great ornaments!

Just out of the oven and ready to paint!

Emma's peace ornament that she worked very hard on.

Our finished tree! I've saved all of the ornaments from previous years so I hung them too!

Girls just wanna have fun!

And boy are they good at it!

Catching up

We are loving the beautiful fall weather we have been having. Today was a rainy day though, so we decided to make the most of it and make some yummy marshmallow treats! We made it extra fun by adding food coloring so that the marshmallow was orange. The girls had a lot of fun with it.

At home

We've been so busy settling in to our new "old" home that it's been hard to post anything lately. We love being home and are slowly but surely making our way down that to-do list. We have been working on various projects around the house as well as beginning new friendships with our neighbors. We are so excited to have such friendly neighbors both right across the street and to the left of us. I'm praying God will open doors for opportunities for us to share His story through ours. I would love for you to pray with us. We do not want to set our eyes on anything else but His cause. And though I love renovating and remodeling an old home, I know that He has us here for something much greater than that.

And I've been at war within myself, this flesh that I fight... but God is so good. I've been reading about Paul's conversion in Acts 9 and Paul's words in 1 Timothy say that God set him apart before he was born to be an instrument of God's grace, to show Jesus' perfect patience (the whole of His long-suffering). I'm so thankful for His perfect patience in my life.

We are learning so much through this season of our life. God has brought us down an interesting road. One that when we set out we didn't realize would be as winding and rocky and long. I have had to depend on the Lord for strength when I've just felt I couldn't do it anymore, faith when I've questioned why if it's the Lord's will does it have to be so hard, patience when it seemed there were so many obstacles in front of us, constancy when it seemed our feet were not planted in one place very long, contentment when the walls of our apartment seemed to be closing in on us, and grace when it all got the best of me. And His grace is sufficient, His mercies are new every morning. And even though we may be hard pressed, we are not crushed. He works all things for the good!!

These pictures are very special. One night a couple of weeks back Emma and Lili asked if we would like to go to a dance after dinner was over. After we said yes they went into our closet and picked out outfits for both Mike and I, we were all very dressed up for the special dance that was to take place. Lili had on her princess dress and spent most of the time in her daddy's arms just as in one of the pictures. They both love to dance with their daddy.

This was just the first of many precious memories to be made in our new home.