My family

My family
Child of God, Mother, Wife, Sister, Daughter, Aunt, and friend

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Love song for HIM

I was blessed this morning to look back at this beautiful and pure worship song that my dear friend Dori had posted on her blog quite a while ago. I read the post, and the lyrics when she posted it, but never got around to watching the video that went with it. PLEASE....if you have just 5 min, watch it! It truly blessed me this morning. It is the ultimate love song for HIM who is all deserving of it. How beautiful, pure, and simple....but oh so powerful!

Here are the Lyrics:

"The More I seek You
The More I find you
the more I find you
The more I love you

I want to sit at you feet
drink from the cup in your hands
lay back against you and breath
feel your heartbeat
this love is so deep
it's more than I can stand
I melt in your peace
it's overwhelming"










Blessings,


Ali

Good Morning Glory

Ever wake up and just think to yourself (or shout out loud for that matter), GOD IS GOOD! This morning I woke up to find my precious little Kayla, an almost 3 year old, just sitting on the couch watching cartoons all by herself. I mean, where did the time go? This is the 4th day in a row that she hasn't come to get me when she wakes up, which has usually been around 6:30. She wakes up, quiet as a mouse, comes out into the living room, grabs a blanket from the couch and cuddles up, all the time making sure to be quiet. Is this something I've "trained" her to do, you may ask? Not at all! She started doing it on her own, and I'm certainly not going to argue or dispute it. Anna usually gets up around 7:30 or so, so at that point Kayla has already been up for an hour. It just boggles my brain sometimes at the things these little ones do. When I ask her how long she's been up and if she wants to come get me she can, she just looks at me with her big doe eyes and says, "Mommy...I wake up early and wanted to come out here on the couch and cuddle." What a precious little gift children are. I have learned more about innocence, and other life lessons from them then I ever thought possible. Today, and everyday, I have a very thankful heart to my Lord for blessing me with the gift of children.

Friday, January 18, 2008

Chicken finger?


This is purely a silly post...

The other night I was cookin' up the usual gourmet menu for the girls: Chicken fingers and mac n' cheese, and as I poured the chicken onto the cookie sheet, this is what I saw. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't they called chicken FINGERS? This looks more like a chicken FOOT to me! It was a little on the creepy side to me, but nevertheless, we ate it. Just thought I'd share it for a laugh or two...

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Great Quotes

I have this little flip calendar that my mom gave me called, "Everyday Thoughts." I must admit, I am horrible at flipping it everyday to read each day's little sayings. Today as I was passing by it, I decided to flip through and read a couple of the days I had missed. I loved both of these, so I wanted to share them.

"True happiness consists of making others happy." ~Author unknown

"May you have the courage to go after the things you want and the perseverance to keep working until you get them."~Author unknown

Have a Blessed Day!!!!

~Ali

Friday, January 11, 2008

Photo Friday

Ok...so really I just wanted an excuse to show a couple of pretty funny shots of my girls. How on earth did they get to be such hams? Gee....maybe they got it from their wacko mommy!

First theirs nut ball Kayla. She came out of her room yesterday with her bunny costume on with some combat boots. "Combat Bunny" I called her. I told her to make a bunny face at me, and this is what I got.



Then there's my petite little flower Anna. This was at lunch, and she was literally shoveling her noodles in her mouth. It's a wonder how she was even able to breathe!




Hope you all have a blessed weekend!

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Unanswered Prayers


Amazing how our Sovereign Lord works in our lives, isn't it? Today I was desperately wanting nothing more then a long, hot bubble bath all to myself. As a stay at home mommy, and one that doesn't even have the option of getting "me" time when the hubby is home, as he rarely is, I have to squeeze this time into nap times usually. The problem is, with a very active 1 year old, and a 3 year old that likes to bully her sister while I'm not looking, I usually just end up catching up on housework that I wasn't able to get done while they were awake during the nap times. Today, I thought, I'll reward myself for being so productive in the earlier part of the day and just relax in my bath. It sounds silly to say, but I even said a little prayer that they would get extra long naps. I put the girls down, changed out the laundry, called my sweet sister, and ran the bath water. It had probably only been about 30 min, and I heard Anna on the monitor. My heart sunk. I was desperate for this bath, and she was not having the nap today that I longed for. After waiting it out for a few minutes to see if she might fall asleep and realizing that it just wasn't going to happen, I decided that I better go and get her. As I put on my robe, God whispered in my ear, "This is an unanswered prayer. Use this opportunity for My glory." As it turns out, having my sweet Anna in the bath with me was absolutely a wonderful thing and I am so glad God didn't answer my prayer so that I could have "me" time. It was such a sweet moment between us, and because she wasn't my first child, I haven't had as many intimate moments like this with her as I did with Kayla. As I held her sweet little chubby body to mine, I thanked God for opening my eyes to such a precious experience, and for allowing me to use it for HIS glory.

Showing off my precious new Niece


Little girls are the BEST aren't they? My sister Lauren had her precious baby girl Ruby Jane on December 26th, and her very talented photographer friend was right there to snap a few very special moments the day they brought her home. I got to look at this yesterday, and was instantly in tears. What a treasure she is!
You can view these amazing shots here:

http://www.mintandsage.blogspot.com/

Monday, January 7, 2008

Precious prayers


There's nothing quite like the innocence of a child. Before having children I certainly encountered such innocence, but never have I had the wonderful opportunities to see it so closely as I do now that I have my very own children.

Kayla has started praying on her own, without prompt from us. It's such an amazing thing to witness. Sometimes I'll crack an eye open, just to catch a glimpse of her sweet face, hands clasped in front of her and eyes tightly shut. You can see the sincerity in her sweet little expression. What a gift it is for a parent to see their child growing such a heart for the Lord.

As we sat down for dinner tonight, she asked me if she could pray. Of course, I said yes, and this was her prayer,

"Dear Jesus,
Jesus, I want to make you happy.
Thank you for my family.
Thank you for my friends.
Thank you for my many, many blessings.
In Jesus' name I pray, AMEN!"

I picked up my fork, ready to eat, but she looked at me and said, "Mommy, I want to pray again." She must have forgot something, I thought. "Ok baby, go ahead."

"Dear Jesus,
Thank you for this food.
Lord, please bring daddy home safe.
In Jesus' name, AMEN!"

My heart was swelling with pride for my precious little Kayla. My, what a gift she truly is!