summer in photos...

we've been busy this summer...
it's been exhausting, but don't get me wrong, it's been awesome too!
i've taken hundreds... probably a couple of thousand pictures in the past couple of weeks.
enjoy these summer collages to see what we've been up to...

little k's bday party... all about OWLS!!!

CAMPING!!!!!
we love everything about camping.
especially this year since we upgraded to a 23' hard top trailer.
nothing is better than good quality camping time!

big k went to camp... for the first time ever!
i can hardly believe i have a child old enough to attend camp!
i have so very many fond memories of attending bible camp and now she gets to create her own.
i was mildly jealous... but more happy.
the best part?
reading in her journal, "i love camp so much that i want to come back next year!  i've been learning about God and Jesus and i've been doing some fun activities... i love Jesus and he loves me!"
seriously?!
awesome stuff!
she had a wonderful time with one of her best buds!

small group BBQ!
get 10 kids together and they're bound to have a blast!
and all us serious parents enjoyed the shade!
love these people!!!

and a whole bunch of summer goodness right up in here...
randomness... but awesomeness!
this is what summer is ALL about!

and the Lord works...

just in case you had any doubt...
He DOES still work!
it was so evidenced while i was working at VBS this past week.

hearing the kids glorifying God in the music...
seeing the kids enthusiastically lifting their little hands in praise...
watching their eyes like saucers listening to the power in the bible stories...
and praying alongside a young boy that asked Jesus into his heart.

yup!
i got that amazing privilege this past week.
wow... still gives me shivers when i think about it.
God is good...

and He does still work.
He works in my life...
He is working in the life of all these kids...
and He can work in yours too!
will you let Him?

(he even received a brand new bible!!)


Jesus said,
"Let the children come to me and do not stop them, because the Kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."

Matthew 19:14 (GLT)

thoughts at vbs...

i'm teaching and helping out at VBS at a local church this week.
it's been fantastic!
and they use such awesome curriculum.
here's some info on it here.
this is the second year i've helped and i cannot say anything bad about the program at this local church (not my home church).
the music is incredible... the games are super fun... the people are all enthusiastic!
and best of all... they invite anyone to come... they do not close the doors to any children.
the first night we already had over 350 kids...
tonight, the 3rd night, i think we were closer to 400.
it's amazing!

(not our VBS group... just found this photo online of another church group doing the same program)


and i have to stop and pinch myself and remember that there are so many unchurched kids here.
so many of them have never been able to hear the gospel before.
i just take for granted that my children know the story of Jesus and His death and resurrection.
i tend to forget that a lot of children have never in their lives heard it.
and that just blows me away!
blows me away that they can come to VBS for fun and games...
and leave with the best news and hear the most amazing true story...
they can leave knowing Jesus!
tonight in the bible story time, they acted out the story of when Jesus prayed in the garden of gethsemane and then was arrested.
it was powerful.
the lights were low, it was quiet, serious.
all week long the kids learn of some thing that we shouldn't worry about... and "TRUST GOD" is added to the end of it.
the main message of tonight's theme, "no matter what people do... TRUST GOD!"
the bible story teachers were asking the children to think about people they've been hurt by.
and then saying that Jesus was hurt by people too... just like them.
the kids were impacted, i could tell.
to tell you the truth... i was impacted!
this story isn't just for the kids... it's for everyone.
we all need the precious grace of Jesus!

(not our group)

it's like i know this story so well that i forget how incredible it really truly is!
i kept thinking to myself, what if everyone i knew and loved...
everyone that i come into contact with every day.
even people i don't know that well but live in my community, go to my church, kids go to school together with mine...
what if all these people suddenly turned on me?
what if i was truly ALL alone?
no one was there for me.
i just kept thinking about Jesus... and everything He went through.
can you imagine being whipped in front of everyone you know?
spat on?
a thorny crown shoved on your head 'til you bled?
and you were completely alone... no one there to help you.
no one there to give you a hand.
i don't have that... thank goodness.
i do have great and amazing and supportive people in my lives.
but when i do feel pain from people...
when i feel rejected and scorned...
when i'm let down...
i know that my saviour felt the same thing.
He felt it tenfold.
He can identify with me.
i can feel confident that He knows exactly what i'm feeling.

(again... not our group... just another church online that did the same SKY vbs program)

and here's the great part...
i can go to Him with this pain in my life and know that He will NEVER let me down.
He went through all that pain for ME!
for YOU!
how amazing!
i cannot WAIT to share the rest of the story with the kids tomorrow night!!
one little girl in our group came up to myself and my co-teacher and said that the story was sad and sorta scary.
it gave both the co-teacher and me an opportunity to say, "you know what? there is the happiest of endings to this story!!  just you wait!  come back tomorrow and you'll see!"
God is writing the story to these childrens' lives and i'm honoured to be a tiny part of it this week.
who knows what God will do with the seeds that are planted at VBS.
there's just one thing we need to do... TRUST GOD!

happy birthday, dear middle child!

today marks the day my middle baby girl turns 6!
SIX!!!!
oh gosh!
can she really be that old?

(me, in labour at the hospital... probably close to 9 cm at this point... and i'm STILL laughing and smiling!)

i remember her birth like it was yesterday.
i basically just leisurely spent the day breathing through light contractions, from mid morning to mid afternoon.
anticipating another long haul, i kept waiting for the "real" stuff to kick in.
only to be checked and announced that i was 8 cm dilated!!
you can imagine our surprise!
plus, we were at home (and not planning a home birth)!

(this picture speaks a thousand words! 3 minutes after birth.)

so we shot off to the hospital with our midwife shouting directions at my husband to pull over if i started to involuntarily push!
ha ha ha ha!
i'll never forget that.
i was so calm, cool and collected...

(my sweet little newborn! only hours old.)

big M on the other hand?!
freaking out and speeding through town!!
we got stopped by a red light and i was thinking aloud about baby names.
my honey?
he was white knuckling the steering wheel waiting for the green!
we arrived at the hospital and the nurses laughed and thought there was no way i was already 8!
then all hell broke loose... for about an hour.
crazy, intense, searing white hot pain.
but then it was over!

(1 year old... loving that ice cream has been added to the diet!)

and then there was my new baby girl!!!
she was beautiful.
she was pink, screaming her lungs out.
she was perfect!

(2 years old... i thought she was such a big girl... but look, she's just a baby!)

and i felt like a million bucks!!
i just birthed out a baby with no drugs.
it was amazing... empowering... so overwhelming.
one of the best moments in my life.
what a joy it was to finally meet her.

(3 years old... proper princess in pink!)

and fittingly, we gave her the middle name joy!
and she still is an absolute joy!
she is feisty, and emotional too, don't get me wrong.
she is all kinds of crazy as well.
she's a girl, of course.
but she is also the biggest cuddlebug you'll ever meet... never holds a grudge... and wears her heart on her sleeve.

(4 years old... those big blue eyes get me every time!)

she teaches me so much!
i'm not sure i can imagine my life without her.
yesterday was her last day of kindergarten.
today, she turns 6 years old.
she's growing up right before my eyes!
and i just wanna hold on tight and never let her go!

(5 years old, stylish and sweet!)

thank you little k... for your spirit... your love... your zest for life!
i promise to always be there for you... show you the love of Jesus... and pray with you and for you every day.
i love you, my little honey-pie!!

 (still 5 years old... but taken just a couple of months ago... therefore, closer to 6.)

one at a time?

ok, instead of feeling overwhelmingly overwhelmed...
i thought i'd just start posting random pics of our trip every so often.
with a little blurb...
so here goes:

this is a random street in florence...
and just a fact, most of the streets looked exactly like this.
exactly what you think they'd look like.
so quaint and cute!
and there were always a TON of scooters and bicycles!
not every road was accessible by car, i think they have a lot of strict rules about cars in certain areas.
but if you saw a car, it was most likely very small in size.
and if it was driving by you... it was going fast.
very fast.
oh, and honking.

bikes were EVERYWHERE.
i know this is just a european thing but i'm serious.
there were hoards of bikes... and they all looked so cute too.
so i just started to snap pictures of them.
this is just one shot of probably a hundred.
i'm hoping to make a little collage of all the bicycle pics i took.
this one was pretty... a nice shade of blue similar to my cruiser bike here at home.
now i just need a little old basket on the front of mine to match!

ooooh... the gelati!
seriously... every block there was a little gelati shop.
you'd always see people walking around with those little cups and eating from a tiny spoon.
amazing!
and no lie, it tasted just as beautiful as it looked.
my favorite flavors... coconut and lemon!

that's all for now, folks!  :)

for my daddy-o

my childhood was wonderful.

i have a multitude of great memories.

my dad is in a whole lot of them!

we went on amazing family vacations.

we had lots of fun as a family, playing games, watching movies, eating yummy food.

my dad was always the cornerstone of these fabulous family memories.

just a few tidbits from my childhood specific to me growing up:

being the baby of the family (or let's call it what it is... the favorite!) i got to spend lots of one on one time with both my parents.

my dad owned a large greenhouse operation and so i spent my days there while my brother and sister were at school.

my dad used to have to do errands during the day.

i was a regular tagalong on these trips.

i remember fondly going to the bank with him and loved being spoiled by the tellers there because my dad would make sure of it!

i even used to be able to go behind the teller desks, play with their bank "stuff" and visit with those ladies.

i think i was even in their coffee room!

ha ha ha!

could you imagine that happening now?

when i was in high school i played every sport available.

my dad often had to work late nights so he didn't always make my games...

but guaranteed if he was there, he was wearing his awesome ZUBAZ pants!

oh, did that embarrass me!

in hindsight i kill myself laughing at that!

i hope to embarrass my girls like that too one day.

(although daddy-o... you weren't trying to be funny, were you?!?)

another fond memory, my dad being my awesome wedding planner extraordinaire.

honestly, i was young and immature and my dad asked what i wanted and just took the reigns and went with it.

biggest project that he did... he went to the bush and chopped down two fairly big trees and spray painted them all white.

they looked absolutely gorgeous at the front of the church!

my dad, making his little girl's dreams come true!

i have so many other special memories... too numerous to recount here but saved well in my heart and my mind.

my dad...

he's a great man!
a faithful husband, a loving father and a loyal friend.
he's awesome, he's protective over his family, he's madly in love with his wife, he's passionate about Jesus, he works so very hard at his job, he's a people person to the core.
he's also wildly opinionated, fiercely republican, incredibly stubborn and has a bit of a big mouth...
and some of these traits can get him into trouble.
and yes, some of these traits he's passed down to his children.
can you guess which ones?
ha ha ha!
but these are some of the things that i absolutely love about him!

he's not afraid to be real.

with my dad, the old saying is true...
"what you see, is what you get".
i admire this about him.
he's unapologetic about his faith and this helps me in my own faith.
he's taught me from a young age to love Jesus and help others.
was he perfect... definitely not.
did he make mistakes... yes.
but i know he tried hard and kept praying.

i love him dearly and i'm SO thankful that he was my father growing up.

the best earthly father i could have asked for.

happy father's day, daddy-o!!!!

I LOVE YOU!

yeah, remember that day...

that i was feeling down?
well, God knew what He was doing.
(like He obviously always does!)
He used some special people in my life to encourage me.
i was in a funk for a couple of days, a few other things were thrown my way to drag me down.
but then, unexpectedly, i saw God's love for me, SO evident in those around me.
came home after dropping kids off at school friday morning and my dear friend came to see me.
she's keenly aware of my mood, almost eerily she knows when something's not right.
she knows me too well!
that... or maybe i just give it away too easily?
ha ha!
anyway, she dropped by... knew i needed a hug and some words.
they were salve to me.
ointment to my bruised soul.
ah yes... those helped.
they helped a lot!

then i get inside my house... go to get ready for the day.
i open up my bathroom cabinet, only to find a lovely and unexpected hand written note from my main squeeze.
so sweet and thoughtful... he didn't even know what i had been dealing with that morning.
he wrote it out before i even woke for the day.
isn't God amazing like that?
i wept and thanked God for those two reminders.
He is good.

you see... i don't show my emotions too often.
i like to bottle them up... put on a chipper face and press forward.
i mean really... do all my problems even equal out to what other's are dealing with?
maybe not in our own minds.
but that's not fair to God.
He cares about everything in our lives.
from the tiniest detail, to the biggest crisis.
He wants to know about us.
He wants to heal our hearts.
He wants to dry our tears... simply said, He wants us to let our tears out!
He cares about each one.

so why do we put Him in a box thinking He doesn't care about the little stuff?
He does... and He wants to show you He does.
and lucky us... He often uses the people around us to show us His never-ending, unconditional love and care.
He comes alongside us and loves us just like we need to be loved.
i feel so incredibly blessed when He does do that.

thank you Jesus!