Why There's Not Any Posts This Week

I'm fasting the internet. Why? Well, because Jon has asked me to do some crazy hard praying for some answers to some questions we have about life and where we are headed as a family and since it's all pretty heavy stuff, I've decided to fast to go along with the praying. When I look back into history, alot of people's prayers and stuff where really helped along by fasting. Now, I know they fasted FOOD....but I can't fast food while nursing. So, I chose something almost as important to me as food. The internet. Most of you know that I am online as much as three to five times a day....checking my facebook, seeing if anyone has posted anything on their blogs, checking email....(for all the time I spend online, I sure don't seem to really accomplish much, excepting this blog.)

So. I am fasting the internet. For at least one week, possibly two.

That means no "Make Me Laugh Monday." No "ABC Wednesday". No "Feet Friday." This part was especially hard for me, because blogger has this lovely option of future-dating a post and I WAS going to get all my lovely posts written tonight and future dated for the appropriate day. But I feel very much convicted that this needs to be a FULL fast....no "cheating" with future dating allowed.

So, I am very sorry to all of you who enjoy reading my posts. I'll be back in a week or two!

(if you want to be praying for us that these answers come quick and obvious, that would be awesome!)

Feet Friday---foot prints in the rug

I was looking through all the wonderful pictures that our friend Kris recovered for me from my broken computer and I ran across this darling picture of Liam's foot prints, fresh on the rug after a bath:

ABC Wednesdays---I

Oh "I". How I have waited for you. How excited I am to share my "I" with everyone.

"I" is for Ireland.

Why? You may ask. Well, I will tell you. Because I spent almost three months there and had a wonderful time. Ireland was where I figured out some things (and possibly forgot some others).

I was in Ireland from september 2000 to november 2000, while on outreach for Youth With A Mission's discipleship training school (or DTS). At the begining of our 5 month DTS, they had announced that we would be going to Ireland, which I was totally excited about, to participate in a prayer walk around Northern Ireland. (Wait. Did you just say prayer WALK AROUND Northern Ireland?!? I was NOT excited about this part).

Well....we spent the first 10 days in Ireland training for said prayer walk, and then 5 weeks literally WALKING around Northern Ireland. Those who managed to walk the whole way (some people couldn't because of injuries or health issues, and we also had alternating teams taking care of our belongings and food and stuff) walked a total of 371 miles. I was not among that group. I think I probably managed about 250-300, give or take!
(the pen marks are the route of our walk...the circles are the cities where we stopped):
After the walk, we broke up into groups and each group did a different sort of outreach for a couple weeks. My group stayed in a little town called Limavady and worked with a young man from the Salvation Army. At the end of that time, our whole team came back together and had about a weeks worth of debriefing before we all went home.

I saw amazing things in Ireland, like Giants Causeway and amazing churches/cathedrals and towns like Belfast and Dublin. I also saw God work in miraculous ways, not only in how He provided for our team and those we worked with, but how He touched peoples lives and our lives in the process. Just about every day of that prayer walk, we trudged through the rain at some point, but then again, just about every day we got to see a rainbow too.
The Irish people are welcoming, friendly and just amazing people. I would go back in a heartbeat…and someday I hope to!

(now go see other ABC Wednesday posts!)

Make Me Laugh Monday---sleep positions

I was thinking about my MMLM post today and I thought of a picture of my Liam that has always made me laugh. I am fairly impressed that I was even able to GET this picture, because my boy is not a still sleeper.

YES, he IS asleep. And NO, I did not put him in the position....I found him that way!

(more mmlm at jenny on the spot!)

Feet Friday---barefoot in the snow

It snowed this past weekend, which although I am quite ready for spring and a bit more warmth than snow allows, it's always fun to watch snow fall and laugh with my boys as they play in it.

Here is my little Davey-Boy, experiencing snow with his toes:
He was actually quite thrilled with it and didn't like it when I brought him inside and put a couple pairs of socks on his feet and a fleecey vest on his top!

ABC Wednesdays---H

Before we get to my "H", I want to share with you all a picture I made in honor of ABC Wednesdays. I took a picture of the boys' alphabet blankie and then played around with it in picnik. Here's the end result (let me know what you think!):

Okay, and now for my "H"

"H" is for Helpers.

There were many options again this week. I could write about Health and how much it means to me after this last crazy year. Good idea, but kind of a morose topic. I could talk about Home and the joys therein. "Home is where the heart is" and all that. Or, I could talk about haircuts...how much I enjoy a new haircut, or that we just cut David's hair for the first time. But, I already blogged about David's haircut.

So, we're going with "Helpers" because I know I can find a couple great pictures of my boys "helping" me around the house.

And there's the fact that I just plain old LOVE helpers. This last summer and all it's particulars has left me with a great appreciation for having help. For those who are willing to help. And also, to be able to help those around me, or even help myself. Help is a great H.

David, helping me vacuum:

Liam, helping his Nana load the dishwasher:

David, helping do laundry:

Liam, helping me make cookies:

There's my H for this week. Come back next week for "I" and in the meantime, vist the rest of the ABC Wednesday group!

Fun Times At The Zoo

So, like I said in my feet friday post, my friend Pamela took us to the zoo. We went to the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium and had a blast! Here are just a few (I took about a hundred total) pictures from the day (edited using Picnik, my favorite online photo editting site):

Polar Bear Fun...there is a polar bear statue right at the entrance to the zoo and the kids immediately climbed it. And at the polar bear exhibit is a cool wall mural depicting a male polar bears height with instructions to stand next to it and compare the difference! The kids had a lot of fun, although I think they would have rathered not pose for a picture....

Of course we HAD to get a group shot. From left to right: Wes, Liam, Josh, Pam, Natalie, David, me)

The special kids play area had Meerkats, Lemurs and a fun "spider web" hammock.

The Penguins were exceptionally fun, as they mimiced the sounds we made at them.

Liam, Wes and Josh taking a look through a window at a walloby.

Pictures with monkeys are definitely fun!

A few animals we saw; a beautiful duck, a hungry tiger, a playful baluga and the sweet but stinky penguins!

Views at the aquarium:

As you can see, it was a very fun day! The kiddos enjoyed themselves and us mommies did too!

Feet Friday----Group At The Zoo

My dear friend Pamela has season tickets to the Zoo, and she took the boys and I along with her three kids on Wednesday. We had a marvelous time and I even thought to get a group foot picture for feet friday! More zoo pictures to come in a later post!

ABC Wednesdays---G

G is for Grandparents.
I had a few choices this week. I could go with "God" and talk about my faith. That would be good, except that I'd like to put some thought into that topic, and thinking-time is something I don't have a whole lot of today.
So, then there was "Games". OOOoooooh! That's a GOOD one! I LOVE Games. Board Games in particular. Oh, and card games! And "Duck, Duck, Goose"!!! But then, I don't have any pictures of any games, so I'd either have to snag someone else's off the internet (which I'd rather NOT do) or go take one of the games we have. But Liam's napping, so it would have to wait, and well, I don't want to.
So, we're going with GRANDPARENTS. And, ultimately, even though I just did “Family” last week, I think it's the perfect choice.

My Grandparents are very special to me. I have fond memories of all of my grandparents. I remember sitting on the back of my Grandpa Russel's motorcycle and getting a picture, but not wanting to ride the bike around the block (SOOOO wishing now that I had!). I remember making cookies with my Grandma Helen, and all the wonderful things she would make us for Christmas. I remember the delicious food my Grandma Mardi made and still makes (just thinking about some of it makes my mouth water, oh my!). I remember going and spending a week with my Grandpa and Grandma Emory....just for fun, or when my Grandma broke her ankle and I went to help out.

And now that I have children, I get the added pleasure of watching my parents be Grandparents, and let me tell you, they do an awesome job at it! I am grateful that God has us here, nearby to both sets of Grandparents for the boys.

So, here are a couple pictures...

Grandma Mardi with Liam: Grandpa John with Liam:
Grandma Mardi, Mom and David:
Grandma John and David:

"G" can also stand for "Generations". Here are two pictures of four generations...

Grandma Mardi, Mom, Me, Liam:
Grandpa John, Mom, Me and Liam:


For more ABC Wednesdays, check out the ABC Wednesday List!

First Haircut

I don't know how many of you know this, but we're not cutting Liam's hair. It's part of the way we dedicated him as a first born to the Lord.
Well, David is a different story, and I've been nagging asking Jon if I could cut David's bangs. As you can see, they'd gotten quite long:
Well, on Sunday, Jon FINALLY said yes, and I didn't waste any time! My mom and I whisked David into the bathroom and pulled out mom's hair scissors. David wasn't very cooperative-he kept wiggling and trying to figure out how he could get everything on the counter (in the picture, he's trying to arch his back and get away!), so it's not as good a cut-job as it could have been:

All in all, I think it looks pretty good. It really makes David look older:

Birthday Party

Sunday afternoon was Liam's birthday party. As per his request, we had it at my parents house. He HAD asked to have "all" his friends come too, including those at church, but I carefully explained to him the fact that the kids' parents probably wouldn't want to pay for the ferry, but that we'd have the family and Pam and her kids come, and that pacified him.

My mom asked him what kind of cake he wanted, expecting an answer such as "chocolate" or "vanilla". Liam's answer? "Zebra!" Well, when you ask my mom for something specific, she delivers! Take a look at this awesome Zebra cake she ordered from Albertsons (and then completed with a zebra figure):

there were presents to open as well:

Liam, Natalie and Wesley spent a bunch of time playing outside as well. It was great fun to have all my in laws come to my childhood home, and help us celebrate Liam's 4th birthday. All in all, I think it was a smashing success!

Make Me Laugh Monday

We keep the baby gate in the bathroom door cuz otherwise, David goes in there and eats cat food (at least it's not whats in the cat pan...)
Well, the other day, I was moving laundry over while Liam was going to the bathroom. David was standing at the baby gate, "talking" to Liam.
And then, I glanced over to check on him, and he was CLIMBING the baby gate! I grabbed him right away and then thought, "I really should get a picture of this, because it's WAY funnier to see it then just hear about it!", so I grabbed my camera and let him climb away...just long enough to snap a couple pictures.
So, take a look and enjoy a giggle...

(more MMLM at Jenny On The Spot.)