No More Caffeine!

I am pregnant. I love coffee. Particularly I love my grande white chocolate americano with a little non fat milk. I would also like that iced.

Did I mention I am pregnant. Some articles say A pregnant lady can have 2 cups of coffee no problem. I have also read that even a little caffeine can give a lady a 50% higher chance of miscarrying.

When I read that, I was done with caffeine. I don't care which side is true......caffeine can't help my baby, so I'm not drinking it.

I am proud of myself because I have gone 5 days without caffeine!

Baker Ezra

Ezra loves to help me in the kitchen. I made sugar cookies last night and Ezra got to bake up his own! He cut his own with cookie cutters, frosted them, and decorated them! He also of course ate them! (Not all at once!)

Julius- 12 weeks

Julius is growing! He gained 2lbs in 1.5 weeks!!!

My 2 Little Boys

I have two toddlers now...Ezra and Julius, the dog. Life with a puppy and a two year old is a little crazy....housebreaking them both at the same time.=) They are bestfriends already though.....well it is more of a love/hate relationship. Oh fun times here.=)

By the way....Ezra is getting tested for dog allergy next Thursday. He has been getting more rashes/hives than usual. I'll let you know how it goes....if he is allergic we'll be calling the newspaper about a puppy for sale!

Blog Pregnancy Counter?

Do any of you know where I can get a blog pregnancy counter/ticker that would fit on the side of my blog?

Thank-you!

Angel

Tested POSITIVE for BABY!

Yes, yes that is right, we are having a BABY! The baby is due December 30th! YAY! We are so excited! Please keep us in prayer though. We lost a baby in January, so I am a little apprehensive, but I know that the Lord is good and prayer works! So, please please be praying for our little baby!!
Thanks!

Blessings From My Mom

Mother's Day is around the corner. It is Sunday, May 11th. I love this day. Not because I am also a mother and I get celebrated on this day, but because I get to celebrate my mom. She is wonderful. She has always been committed to her family like no other. She ran a tight household full of discipline and love. I knew I was blessed growing up having her, but recently I was reminded again how great she is.
My mom flew down to WA to stay with Ezra while Ross and I went to L.A. She was so excited to do it. I was thankful for her enthusiasm since a week with Ezra and not knowing her way around this area could be stressful. Ezra had the time of his life alone with his grandma. They spend hours at Chucky Cheese, planted flowers together, went for walks, played with Ezra's new sandbox, etc. etc.
So the above was a blessing....but what I am about to write goes far and beyond.....
I came home from L.A. with a completely organized house! Now, please don't take that last sentence lightly.....My huge pantry was organized (I wish I had a before picture...it was awful because my mom got her hands on it.) The pantry now has baskets for pasta, basket for bread, basket for baking supplies....you get the point! All of our laundry was done and folded, my kitchen was shiny, floors cleaned, my van was vacuumed and washed! She even put a car organizer in it! She bought and planted flowers around our house! My laundry room has an organization station it it! WOW! I am telling you...my mom is the best house/kid sitter EVER!

I love you Mom! Thank-you so much for helping me organize my home. I have a lot to learn from you! You bless Ross and I so much. We can't thank-you enough!

p.s. I will post pictures of all that she did....especially the flowers....the thing is that it is snowing HARD right now, so you can't see the flowers. I hope they survive this late April snow!

Pictures of Our L.A. Trip

Humbled Once Again

On our first day of service with the L.A. Dream Center we did the food truck where we went to poor neighborhoods and handed out groceries to families. A homeless lady came up with her grocery cart was signing her name on the list of people to get food. It asked what her address was. Well, she didn’t know what to put since she didn’t have an address. The Dream Center worker told her to just right “street” as her address.
As I over heard this conversation it made me think what her life must be like living on the street. I complain at times because our home isn’t very large, and how I would love to have a family room and an extra bedroom….but I have an address right? I need to be thankful for that. I also have two cars. I have a garage and storage space. All this lady had was a grocery cart to haul all of her belongings in.
She needed help carrying her bags of groceries to her cart, so I helped her. We stepped away from the group to bring her groceries to the cart. After I was done she reached out her hands towards me and asked if I would pray for her. She wanted me to hold her hands while we prayed. I looked at her dirty hands and I started to pull my sweatshirt over my hands so that I wouldn’t have to touch her skin. Quickly, I became ashamed of my reaction. In a split second I started think about how Jesus served the poorest street people. He embraced them. Here I was asked to simply pray with her while holding her hands. How long had it been since she had someone touch her lovingly? I reached out my hands and grabbed her dirty hands with my bare clean hands. I squeezed her hands and prayed with her. I prayed that she should feel God’s presence in her life, I prayed for her safety, and I prayed for her health. I am so humbled by my initial reaction in not want to touch her. How could I be showing Christ’s love to her when I wouldn’t even touch her?
Sometimes God wants us to get our hands dirty, take that chance and reach out to people we would turn our eyes from. We have to do WHATEVER IT TAKES to serve God’s people. He created each of us and he loves each of us. As Christians we must start serving our community. It will take sacrifices. It will be uncomfortable. It will take away from our time. But it WILL Glorify God, and that is reason enough to do WHATEVER IT TAKES!

Happy and Mad Ezra

Julius- 10 weeks old

Julius is here! He is such a sweet and mellow pup. He loves to cuddle. He gets hyper for about 15 minutes after naps, but besides that he is very mellow. He is eager to please and is doing great so far with housebreaking. We love him so much!

I love you, Oreck.

Wow, I am in love. After 5 years, and 5 different vacuums...I found the one. I bought an Oreck yesterday and I LOVE it! If you are in need of a good vacuum..I suggest Oreck! It should last a good 20 years or more! I am now addicted to vacuuming.

Shiny Sinks w/ FlyLady

We love having company over. So often we want to invite people over on the fly, but the whisper I say to Ross is, "The house is a wreck....let's have them over in a couple days so the house is clean." We do have people over every Sunday evening for small group. It is always a huge rush to get home after church, meetings, lunch etc and clean like a maniac trying to get ready!

I am sick and tired of not having a company ready house at all times!

I was re-introduced to flylady.net this past weekend. I had heard of her from a friend a couple years ago, but seemed to forget about her. If you haven't heard of this super woman go to flylady.net

She'll help you turn your chaotic and cluttered home into a sanctuary that is ready for the unexpected knock on the door! Of course she just gives you the structure of how to do it, and you (I) actually have to take action and apply it to life!

So, she gives you baby steps to start on a life-long routine of organization!

Baby step #1- Shine Your Sink. I have now completed step #1!