Monday, August 27, 2012

A Prayer for a Daughter

by Ann Voskamp

Father who breathed into this daughter...
I pray for this girl formed into eternity...

May the wind always be in her hair.
May the sky always be wide with hope above her. 
And may all the hills be an exhilaration, 
the trails but a trail. 
all the stones but stairs to God.

God, clothes this girl in a gown of grace
Grace, the only dress that makes beautiful, 
the style of Your spirit.

Nourish her on the comfort food of the Word, 
Word, that makes her crave more of Christ, 
have hunger pangs for Him. 

Enclose her in communion with You
You, Love who makes her love, who folds her heart into a roof
that absorbs storms for souls, 
that makes her tongue speak only the words that make souls stronger. 

May her vocation in his world simply be translation

Translating every enemy into esteemed guest
Translating every countenance into the face of Christ
Translating every burden into blessing

When it's hard to be patient...make her willing to suffer
When it's ridiculous to be thankful...make her see all is grace
When it's radical to forgive...maker her live the foundation of our faith
And when it's time to work..make her a holy wonder.

May she be bread and feed many with her life and her laughter
May she be thread and mend brokenness and knit hearts
May she be dead to all ladders & never go higher, only lower to the 
lonely, the least & the longing
her lead of the Spirit to lead many to the Cross
that leads to the tomb wildly empty. 

Oh, and raise me, Lord from the deadness of my own sins to love this 
beautiful girl like You do...

In the name of Christ who rose and appeared first to one of His daughters...

Amen...


Falling Apart

Things have been falling apart around here lately.. Bryant's car, our front door, our bathroom floor, and now this weekend...the sewer/plumbing.. All together, it has been a little stressful..just thinking about depleting our emergency fund and some! But at church we are studying the book of Philippians...and Paul, with all the craziness he went through, still praised God.. In the midst of the "falling apart", I too want to praise God and be thankful for His goodness and faithfulness. He will provide and take care of us. I believe this.

On another note, I have started Crossfit. Some hardcore exercise people probably know what this is..and most likely doing it on their own at home. I am not one of those people. I have never been a hardcore exercise person... But when I realized that I am the heaviest that I've ever been (minus when I was pregnant)... I knew I had to do something about it.. and I needed someone to yell at me for me to accomplish it.  So Crossfit it is... and it is actually FUN. I already feel like I'm in such better shape..and stronger too! I'm planning to just join for a few months until I'm fit and can keep up the exercise on my own... But for now, I'm having them keep me accountable. ;)

Here is a video of Crossfit Tustin. :)

Sunday, August 19, 2012

What's Working... What's New.

I want to remember to do this... 


"By focusing on the ways our family works right now, we’ve been able to unearth powerful anchors in our days and weeks from which to build new behaviors and routines upon."
-Hillary Boucher

Friday, August 17, 2012

Birthday Cards and Hot Days.

It has been HOT here... the two window A/C we own have helped... but still HOT.. The girls have been playing in the water a lot..by running through sprinklers, playing in our small plastic pool, going to the beach, going to a friend's pool... whatever it takes to keep us cool.  This afternoon, we just sat in the shade in our front yard and I let them watch something on my laptop.. only because it was too hot to be running around (plus Big Sister is fighting a cold)..




We are invited to three birthday parties this weekend... and I don't know who in our house will be well enough to go..but we made birthday cards for all celebrations anyway.  Big Sister surprised me with her card... She wrote all our family members' names (including our dog's).. and a few other sentences about our family in general... Of course I helped her with the spelling, but she thought of the sentences and wrote them all out herself! So fun watching these girls learn to read and write!




Sunday, August 12, 2012

Family Beach Day and Backyard Movie Night!

It has been HOT here lately..and we've been doing everything we can to stay cool (especially because we don't have central A/C in our home).  Bryant decided last week to take Friday off so we can all go to the beach together.  We visited one of the prettiest beaches in the area..and it was just so relaxing to get our feet wet in the cold water on a hot summer day!  I am loving that the girls are not afraid of the waves and love running and splashing in the water!! 











We had also been wanting to do a PJ/backyard/movie night with our friends/neighbors this summer... and we were finally able to get together and have a family dinner/movie night! Such a fun day!  So thankful for good health, wonderful neighbors and great weather! :)






Sunday, August 5, 2012

High School Reunion

We went to Bryant's 20th high school reunion last night at a hotel in downtown San Diego.  The whole experience was a little strange to me... mainly because I don't know any of his high school friends.. but it was also very interesting hearing stories about what he did with his buddies back then.

The best part was stopping by one of our favorite cafes in downtown La Jolla afterward and hanging out. ;)



This is where it all happened... where he asked me to be "his girlfriend". ;)

Friday, August 3, 2012

Avocados and Teeth

So..this afternoon the girls went outside to the backyard and saw that a large branch had fallen off the avocado tree...then started picking off the avocados off of it! There was a total of 24 large avocados and about 14 baby ones! Couldn't believe it! Hope they are yummy!!




Also...I don't think I've mentioned that Biggest Sister's teeth are falling out! She has lost two on the bottom already and the top ones are loose too! Another sign that she is getting so much older!!