A healthy Dose of Perspective

Many of you know Aron & I are like the only 2 people in the world who don't have cable. It started out as a financial decision while we were paying off our student loan debt. But the absence of the boob tube in our world has created space for other really great fillers of our time.

At least once a week we'll catch an online worship service from some of our favorite pastors of churches that we are following. It may sound wierd that we "follow" churches...but by that I mean, that we are staying connected to the amazing things God is doing through these groups of believers.

So one of those churches is Newspring Church in South Carolina. We just watched the first week of their current sermon series last night: How to Survive the End of the World.

I needed to hear exactly what Pastor Perry Noble had to say. It is so easy to get caught up in the day to day trivial issues in our lives that we forget or become blind to the big picture. And when we lose sight of that, we lose purpose, perspective, and passion. 

If you have a spare hour this week, grab a hot cup of tea and watch. (We usually skip through the worship portion straight to the teaching...just for time sake). To watch, click HERE.

This is the trailer for the series:

Thank you God for awakening my heart through this. God, forgive us for our negligence - for sleeping and pursuing comfort after comfort while the broken wander aimlessly and tragedies go on unnoticed. Show us how to love, show us how to walk in justice.

ejk

home and back

We made a quick trip home this weekend. We wanted to meet our new nephew, Isaiah Matthew. Here are the two cousins together: Judah & Isaiah.

Belle devoured every minute of cousin time. I am kicking myself for not taking more pictures. She spent hours playing with Chloe & Grace.
Speaking of cousin time...the boys played horseshoes.
And as you can see from the Bengals and OSU gear, we did get to watch some great football games too.

Judah got to spend some precious moments with both sets of Grandparents. I thought this was a good shot of him...he is soooo awake and alert now. He loves to sit up and is constantly trying to hold his head up and look around.
We made it home Monday night just in time for some quiet moments and bedtime stories with daddy.
ejk

time away

We're off for a quick trip to O-H-I-O; I like to spell it like that during college football season.

Aron's sis, Kara, and her husband, Brian, delivered their first child, Isaiah Matthew, last weekend, so we've got to go meet our newest nephew.

See ya Monday night!

ejk

We've had a lot of family time lately. 

It feels like we can't get enough of one another. I hope that never changes.
My sweet princess and handsome little baby
My boys...they seem to be doing a lot of this lately. 

And big sis too...guess we're all a little worn out.

And Belle's magic glasses finally arrived yesterday. 

She is such a good girl. Several times yesterday she asked me, "Mommy, I don't want to wear them. Should I take them off?"

This broke my heart. I hate that a 3 year old has to deal with this. I told her, "No, baby. You have to leave them on to make your eye all better."

She simply said, "Okay," and made the best of it. I am so proud of her for how strong she is being.  It amazes me the amount of trust she is exhibiting. The glasses are uncomfortable and cumbersome to a busy little girl, but mommy and daddy say she needs them. She doesn't understand, but she knows we love her and that is enough for her. I could definately take some lessons from her on trust as it pertains to my heavenly Father.

We are off to Isabelle's first dance class. She is sooooo excited. The little thing is constantly dancing around the house, and when I suggested the idea of taking dance lessons to her, she lit up! We'll see how she does as she is shy in new situations.

ejk

Happy 3rd Birthday, Isabelle Rose

(You can click on this photo to enlarge and read the invitation)

Precious Isabelle,

Indeed, you are a Princess. A daughter of the Most High King, and we hope you never, ever forget your true identity. He is a Good King and a Good Father, and you are His. He has crafted your heart after his own. Filled you with mystery, beauty, compassion, love. It is our great privilege as your daddy & mommy to help you understand this as we raise you.

You are loved extravagently, sweet girl, not only by us, but by God. He moved heaven and earth to love you, to call you His own child. We hope we have given you a glimpse of this Love. You don't understand now, but one day you will. You may only be 3, but indeed He has written eternity on your young heart as you are already enchanted by princesses and kings and adventures bigger than yourself. One day you will understand that your life is a small piece of an epic story our King is telling. But what a story to be swept into!

We love you & Happy Birthday Sweet Fairy Princess Isabelle Rose,

Daddy & Mommy

Bernadette holding Judah. Thank you so much Bernie for helping me with Judah and the food! You were a life-saver!
And THANK YOU to this crew for all of your help setting up, cleaning up, & holding Judah!!! Aaron D., Shauna, & Amanda, you guys rock! 

The Royal Lineup: Rachel, Marissa, Brooke, Samantha, Isabelle, Evelyn, & HattieBig Sisters Julia & Nicole - such beautiful girls inside & out!Fairy Princesses Rachel, Hattie, & Sophie enjoying the fine cuisine!

Big Brothers Kyle & Brayden (who later played the roll of Trolls for us) & Fairy Princesses Brooke & Rachel enjoying their dinner.Simply divine! (Isabelle wanted a blue princess party...so I did my best to incorporate 'blue' touches wherever I could)

An absolutely perfect night for a bonfire

Belle roasting her first weiner

Opening gifts from all the sweet fairies.

Round the fire we gathered...
Fairy Princess Freeze Tag...with magic pixy dust to 'unfreeze' the fairies that the big ugly trolls (the boys) had frozen.
The Fairies decided to take the offensive approah and attack the trolls with their fairy dust. Here is one troll "melting" from all of the fairy dust!

Princess Rachel, Belle, & Marissa have a dance party under the canopy of lights!

Princess Belle is distorted by the heat waves from the fire...the science nerd in me loves that you can capture pure energy on film.

Fairy Princesses Belle and Brooke roasting marshmallows
Thank you everyone for joining us in celebrating our baby girl! We love you!

ejk

The Secret Garden in the Enchanted Forest

What a magical time we had tonight! I cannot wait to share it with you, but for tonight...just one photo. There is much clean-up work to be done before I can work on this post.

Fairy Princess Belle is awaiting the arrival of her fairy princess guests.

absolutely exhausted...but so worth every ounce of energy,

ejk

Belle's 3rd birthday party is this evening, and she is beyond excited. She's got a bit of her father in her...shaking her gifts and trying to figure out what's inside. Here's a little clip...

ejk

Speaking of freezing time, here's a little video of Judah for the fam since they change oh so quickly!

sometime tell me how to freeze time...

We are prepping for Belle's 3rd birthday party this weekend. She's invited the finest fairy princesses (at least a few of her closest 3 & 4 year old fairy friends) to a celebration in a secret garden in an enchanted forest. Tonight we go to prep the secret garden.

I saw this pic on my facebook and I almost started crying. This was Belle exactly one year ago: September 2008. She has grown and changed so much in one year. 

...transformed from a baby to a little girl right before my eyes.

So I know we raise our children to leave...

But for right now, can someone tell me how to freeze time?

ejk

blessings

We are thanking our Father for so many blessings this week. Among them:

*Simply delicious meals brought to our home by some very fabulous families. We have felt so loved and cared for by this.

*We found a pair of magic glasses to suite our girl...and our friend, Jan, even gave us a gift certificate to cover most of the cost!

*An unforgetable experience at a local coffee house open mic nite...ask us sometime and we'll share the story!

*And always a highlight...

Josh and Kim drove up to meet baby Judah. They were literally here 24 hours, but it meant so much that they'd drive so far just to meet our little Judah...even if they could only stay a day!
*And we celebrated the fact that this time last fall when they visited, Kim and I joked and dreamed of planning pregnancies within the year. Little did we know we'd be having 2 little boys only a year later. The cool thing? Aron is four months older than his cousin, Josh. And Judah will be four months older than his cousin, (insert name here...yet to be determined).

*And finally, we're anticipating the birth of a new nephew this week. Aron's sister, Kara, will be having baby Isaiah any day now (baby is due on Belle's birthday..9.19!)

ejk

Lots of picture posts lately...bare with me!

I snapped one this morning of Isabelle gently rocking brother in his seat as she ate her breakfast. She is so protective and just dotes over him.

Aron is so amused by the constant noices Judah makes. "He is the most noisy sleeper and eater I have ever heard!!" he constantly says. Yesterday at Bible Study my friend Kelly looked over her shoulder and grinned as she heard him nursing over Beth Moore's dramatic speaking. I caught a few seconds of him sleeping to show you what I mean..

My sister used to get so mad at me because she said I would sigh in my sleep, and the "singing sighing" would keep her awake a room away. Aron testifies to this. But I really don't think I ever squeak like he does...perhaps he gets it from his mommy though.

blessings...

ejk

Judah needs a break

Belle is a little bit...shall we say, smothering? If he's awake, she wants to hold him, touch him, kiss him.

Tonight he had to sit by her. "He wants to watch a movie with me!"

If he makes a squeak or begins to fuss, she jumps up and runs to find where he is to check on him. "Momma, something's wrong with brother. Help him!" she'll exclaim.
Yes, these picts are all from today. I'm telling you...poor judah needs a little breather!
Well..this one is from yesterday. But its the same story!
She really is an awesome big sis.