takin' a beach day...

who doesn't like a great day at the beach in summertime?

perfect temperatures... sunshine... family... sand... and water.

these are recipes for FUN!

but no one said going to the beach was easy... especially not with 6 adults and 7 kids!

it's WORK!

lookie here...

our awesome spot that my dad jimmy-rigged up with a tarp.

 these two girls have been spending the past 3 days together... and couldn't have been happier about it!

 sand play...

my omi and my littlest... 80 years between these two.
love both of them so much!
my omi was such a trooper at the beach... in the water... splashing with the kids... playing in the sand.
she's 83 years old!
it was awesome!
my kids and their cousins call her omi-omi to differentiate between my mom and her.  ;)

this rock went all over with her.

i also stubbed my toe on it.
ouch.

she's so cute and yummy!

i just have to hug and squeeze her every chance i can!

there were seagulls... lots of them.
no surprise there.

jumping over the waves with omi.
so. much. fun.

the whole family!
feeling toasty and crisp!
ha ha!

all three of my chicas!
do you know how hard it is to get a picture of all three of them?
ay yi yi!
"NO mommy... i'm digging a hole!"
"i'm SWIMMING mommy!!"
jeez, come on!
just one picture!!
that's all i ask of you!
ha ha ha!

them... and me!
also a very hard picture to get.
clearly baby h wasn't getting the memo to smile and look at the camera.

just one more...

for my phone!!!

ha ha ha ha ha!

man, do i torture these girls, huh?

payback for when my dad did it with us!

eyelashes for miles...

and one silly one from where we had supper.
nice bodies, girls!!!!

another GRAND day at the beach!
we are a little lobster'esque today... but it was fun!

words...

confession... i have fear about what's in the future.
i have fear that some terrible thing is going to happen.
i have fear that there will be something that is horrible that i can't control.
that i can't take away.
i have fear that someone in my life that i love will become very sick.
God forbid... i have fear that someone i love dearly might die.

i don't want to say i'm obsessed with these fears, but the fact is, they're there.
i was browsing the interwebs this afternoon and stumbled upon this blog.
and i came to this post.
and the line that struck the hardest chord in me... sorta rocked me to the core was this:


Grief births joy in God’s economy.


wow!
there it is.
and i knew, without a doubt, that i should not have fear.
i need to give those fears to God because He's in the business of dealing with those fears.
i shouldn't be.

besides we all know that worrying does nothing to help anything.
what's the point?
it just comes back to trusting the one who has my life in His hands.
whatever is coming or not coming...
for some strange reason i feel like i need to keep these words printed on a piece of paper and stick them in my back pocket.
a reminder.
God is in control.
He writes the story for us.
isn't there comfort in that?
that's what i'm holding on to... trying to let go of the fear.

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!  :)