Just a little bit of sunshine

Had to share this shot I got the other day :-)
Hope everyone has a bright sunny day today!

Baby on the way....

nope not me... my brother & sister- in- law are expecting!
You can see the announcement here.

I have to say I knew even before Danae did. She took the test at my house and had me read the results... she of course knew herself the minute she saw my face :-)
Ryan and Danae, I'm so excited to be an Aunt for the first time on the Jones side!

Reaping What You Sow

I've been dwelling a lot lately on the Proverb, "Train a child in the way he should go and when he is older he shall not depart from it." It's one thing to read this and believe its' truth but another thing to put it into action. Training lately for me on good days is exhausting. Although I'm thankful for the wisdom I've received in picking my battles, there are days when I'm tempted to just not pick any battle. What dangerous ground I'm treading on! For I know that anger unchecked will lead to rage, strong wills will lead to rebellion and lack of self control will make for one lead by self, not God's word.

Recently I've been experiencing back pain. It began about four months ago and has worsened over time. I've wondered if it's just the result of overdoing it or something that happens to all moms with small children. Last week it began affecting my sleep and well sleep is something I take seriously :-) So I scheduled an appointment with a chiropractor from our church. After a set of x-rays he confirmed that things are indeed not normal and I have some definite disc degeneration. Over the course of two appts. he'd would ask me if I had experienced some sort of trauma in my teen years. A car accident, fall? I told him nothing came to mind, maybe it was the result of my competitive softball days. Ya know one to many slides into home base. After going over my x-rays with Chris & I he again said he believed my problems first began with a serious fall about ten years ago and has worsened over time. At that moment I knew exactly what he was talking about. The memory was triggered. 16 years old, Pinetop AZ. I was climbing a tree, hoping impress a guy I liked. (don't ask... now you know why I tried to repress this memory) Well I got pretty high, branch snapped and BAM! I fell hard. Right on my tail bone. I gave everyone a good scare but I was fine, embarrassed, but still in one piece. Driving home from this recent Dr's appointment I was struck with how I could possibly be paying the price from this silly fall that happened over ten years ago.

Where will my children be in ten years? What price will they paying? Or better yet what will they be reaping due to my parenting? It's sobering for sure. I've been re-reading JC Ryle, The Duties of Parents and my soul has been stirred to more diligently train my children. To pick these battles now even though I'm tired and just want to turn a deaf ear.

XVI Train them remembering continually the promises of scripture.

You have a plain promise on your side, "Train up your child in the way he should go, and when he is old he shall not depart from it" (Prov. 22:6) Think what it is to have a promise like this. Fathers and mother, when your hearts are failing and ready to halt, look at the word of this text and take comfort.

Think, too, what the promise contains, before you refuse to take comfort from it. It speaks of a certain time when good training shall especially bear fruit- when a child is old. Surely there is comfort in this. You may not see with your own eyes the result of careful training, but you know not what blessed fruits may not spring from it, long after you are dead and gone. It is not God's way to give everything at once. Afterward is the time when He often chooses to work, both in the things of nature and in the things of grace. Afterward is the season when affliction bears the peaceable fruit of righteousness (Heb 12:11). Afterward was the time when the son who refused to work in his father's vineyard repented and went (Matt 21:29). And afterward is the time to which parents must look forward if they see not success at once- you must sow in hope and plant in hope."


Chris & I are blessed to be around beautiful families that are reaping the hard work that they sowed when younger. Families that still enjoy being together making memories even though the children are off and married. Daughters who go on trips to Europe with their mom. Sons still golf and eat wings with Dad. I see this and most definitely want it now. Particularly when Chris is home. I can be tempted to think why can't everyone just get along and be one big happy family? Not to say we don't have moments that we treasure and love now as a family but the afterward has not yet come for us and well there is A LOT more work to do!

So moms do not grow weary with your constant sowing into your young children. For we have the promise of scripture on our side! And teenagers.... don't be silly and climb trees :-)

Birthday Review

Phew were we tired this morning! Not only did we throw a big birthday bash for Trevor yesterday but Chris also preached the Sunday morning message. It's no wonder we both woke up this morning hung over on fun :-) We had such a great weekend. On Saturday night we were invited by our friends the Hansen's to go to a pizza joint. Here's a picture of Abby & our two.


On Sunday we went to a park by our house for another train themed party. Trevor did great and had such a wonderful attitude during his party. I was very blessed by that considering that wasn't the case for most of the morning. He loved opening presents and said a cute thank you, next present please after each one. Too funny. Thanks to all who were able to come out and celebrate. We are truly blessed to have such amazing family and group of friends!

And now for a slew of pictures... sorry there were just too many good ones!

My friend Ruth made this amazing cake. Thanks so much Ruth. Trevor, as you know, loved it!


Spidey-man, Trev's new love, superheroes! The party was close to being a superhero theme but trains still won out in the end.


Rylee had a great time. She was quite the busy body. I was thankful for all who helped keep an eye on her!




These three play almost every day. Even though Lauren is mostly Taylor's friend, trevor just loves playing with her too!









This wasn't a party just for kids... the adults enjoyed themselves quite a bit too. I wonder who will e-mail me first making me take this picture off ;-)


Ah, one tired birthday boy. Snuggled up in his new PJ's from Gram Russo, new robe from tay,tay and a brand new blanket made by nana jones!

Happy 3rd Birthday Trevor!

My little man turns three today! Wow I can hardly believe it. He has turned into such an adorable little boy. We have the best conversations together that usually end in "Mommy, your my bestest friend" Or "Mommy, I just love you". He loves to give kisses and hugs and then when your least expecting it he'll run up and tackle you. He especially loves playing tackle the giant with Daddy. He keeps us laughing, crying and of course on our toes. Just recently he sneaked into the kitchen when I wasn't looking and proceeded to grab flour from the counter and my spoon...

Thankfully I caught him before he actually did anything to my dinner. It all just landed on the floor and himself. He loves his sister's and makes sure they know he is a tough boy! He actually is tough too, and fearless! I think sports might be in his future. Trev we love you so much and are looking forward to celebrating your life this weekend!

Goats, horses and more

Last night we were invited, along with my parents to the Lassiter's house. They are a wonderful family from our church and live on a large lot of land that has horses and goats. The kids enjoyed seeing these animals up close and personal.






Trevor got bold and feed the horse some hay. He also picked up some poop and asked what's this but that's another story...



After visiting their animals we went inside and were treated to some amazing dinner & fellowship. Thanks guys for having us all over, it was a blast!

Rainy days, strep throat and a promise in the midst of it all

Well it's been a crazy week, again. The goal for us is continuing forward in getting our house on the market. And although we've made amazing progress there have been some hurdles that you just can't help. Like rain, pouring rain, on a scheduled shovel rock day. But we made up for lost time this weekend with some help from friends. One thing we've needed to do was fix our floors. We put in pergo flooring a few years ago and over time, as this type of flooring is known to do, it began to separate in a few places. Well for us the one place it choose to separate was smack dab in the middle of the kitchen walkway. NO, it did not chose some unnoticeable place off in the corner, it has made itself known. So Chris and some guys pulled up the floors this weekend and hammered that part back together. The scary thing was that they no longer make our color flooring. So if something went wrong in the pulling up or putting back together we'd be in trouble. Thankfully it all went very smoothly and looks great!

On my end I'm finding getting the house ready and as clean as it can be feeds into a natural idol of mine. The "wanting things clean and organized all the time" idol. Which really comes in handy at times like these but I've seen the effect on my soul and it's not good. So I'm eager to again trust the Lord with the selling of our house and to devote more time to him and not my house. Not every baseboard, door and smudge on the floor has to be wiped clean all the time. It's an exhausting idol to keep up with for sure... especially with little idol killers running around all day.

Two Missing Teeth Taylor stayed home from school with a sore throat on Thursday. She improved as the day went on and said she felt better. I sent her off to school on Friday and she came home completely covered with a rash. A strep throat rash. You may not have known that such a rash exists but I did, as she's had this before. Dr. confirmed my suspicion and we stayed home and indoors for 48 hrs. We'll we were back to the Dr. again today with Rylee. She's got another double ear infection and possible strep. He didn't test her because she already needed antibiotics. So the rest of us are just waiting to see what God has in store for our health. Hopefully we can escape this mess free and clear :-)

Today ended beautifully. After a long, dreary, rainy day (in more ways than one) God blessed us with a double rainbow! The kids were super excited, thanks mom for the call! It is nice to be reminded of God's love and care for his children and that his presence is ever near in the midst of a storm.

"Bring here your empty pitcher! Surely this well will fill it. Hurry, gather up your wants, and bring them here- your emptiness, your woes, your needs. Behold, this river of God is full for your supply; what else can you desire? Go forth, my soul, in this your might. The Eternal God is your helper!" spurgeon, m&e


*for an even cooler photo of today's rainbow check out my very talented friend Luz.