almost in april

ly

hi all.
we have spent the last two days at home.... it has been wonderful, slow -er and wonderful.

the sun is out, cheery and welcoming- but the temp is still 35. come on spring- we are soooo ready for you!

here are two pix of my weekend getaway to stl. it was a super great time and i simply did a lousy job on taking pix. =) it was sweet with my soul to be with these girls.....






if y'all read this AND pray for us... thank you. and if you don't mind, please do some double duty for us this month. =) there is just alot going on and alot we want to pour our time into.... please pray for wisdom and energy and that we would be pleasing God in all that we do.
thanks.

on the kiddo front...

sally has been running around quoting movie lines. (don't stress, they only watch one show a day =) but i guess she has the SKILL like her daddy. =) it's adorable.
we have also been blessed to see her doing/saying some super kind things with daisy.

as for dk- she is wearing pig tails, currently conquering the threat of pink eye and cracking me up whenever we are cleaning up anything as she says "clean uck, clean uck" . she also tries to sing along with me when i am singing songs.... even though she only has about 50 words in her vocab. =)

a tour of our house

after spending a SWEET weekend with kotter, mulks and even popping in to visit with ruthie and japes - i realized that i have not "shared" our home with you guys. i kept waiting until things were decorated or finished... and i think if i waited for it all to be done- then i would never post. =) so here's a virtual tour...

welcome to our home!




the entry way - coming in the front door



living room



the dining area/a peek at the kitchen



kitchen (table to right)



the porch that runs the side of the dining room and living room



looking off the porch to our back yard



the girls' bathroom - tub to the right



daisy kate guiding us down the hallway- back to the living room



looking into our bedroom from the hallway (our bath is to the right)



our bathroom



our bedroom looking out towards the hallway



Gow's office from the hallway - you can see the edge of his window that looks out onto the driveway



the girls room - Sally's bed and Dk's is to the right



the girls' dressers



basement- this is the youth group corner, you can see the bar to the left and the eliptical to the right



our fake room (there is no window) in the basement



our guest bedroom- that is waiting and ready for y'all to visit!



the play part of the basement - laundry and bathroom is to the left, bedrooms are behind me as i take the pix

there you have it folks! a virtual peek at our home.
we are BLESSED beyond words to have our own space.... and LOTS of space to run, twirl, skip, play puppy, dress up, hide n seek and all the other activities! there hasn't been a day this winter that i didn't literally thank God for the space. God blew us away with this.....

k- gonna go take out the "moon dough" for the girls... (fyi, if you are thinking about buying moon dough.. DON"T! it's more mess then it's worth. )) =)

gow is in milw.... and i think DK has pink eye. i started giving her left over antibiotic drops from last time.... and it's 28 and cold again this week.
toodles.

content

content.

i just now was resting in bed - thinking how wonderfully blessed i am.

yes, life is too full, a bit nutso and i have issues saying no to good things. yes our girls have tantrums sometimes and are more than a handful. yes, our house has a million projects to be done and our savings is not as it should be.

even including all of that - our life is amazing. wonderful. and sooo many of my dreams come true.

our little fam of four, our extended fam here and all over, our friends (also here and all over), our sweet and quirkey little church body.......

God has given us the big blessing of true friendships (with friends AND our families)- that are rooted Him.

God is good. in the middle of the whirlwind of activity.... He is soo sweetly good.

possible art work?

in my water color painting class - our next assignment is "Spring".

i love these three pix and am contemplating one of them, or maybe altering one of them....
(Auntie Karen, what do you think about these three?)

well.
what to report ...

- gow went to a church planting confr with Neal and Bruce in LA this week. he got to see Kat, Greg and Taylor. and was inspired by much that he heard/learned.

- i went to a hearts at home- mom's confr with Cyndie and Amy this weekend- also inspired by all the teaching and had a sweet time just being with them.

- the girls went to a train show with Hannah, who took care of the girls while we were gone.

- daisy is taking her first nap without four walls. =) she is in a toddler bed!

- spring is officially here and wonderful! not a single complaint outta me on the sunshine and warmer days! wahoo.

tonight our friends Jeannine and Peter, who are YWAM missionaries in Nashville are coming over to hang out, catch up and let our girlies (they also have 2) play.

we have yet to have time to check out the Accord battery, so as gow is in Milw. the girls and are staying put. and blessed by a diaper run to target by grandma and grandpa. =)

that's it for today.
sunshine to you where ever you are!

nemo - i spy book

ut





gow said he has an ocean view from his hotel window and it's 70 degrees.
i am soaking it up via cell phone. =) my whole soul cries out for some beach-ness.

i am encouraged by some of the choices that Sally is making lately... handling things more like a "big kid" and with less tantrums. it is super fun to see and SUCH a blessing. (notice, i did not she she is done with tantrums... but making progress) =)

daisy kate is currently passionate about a Disney - seek book. It has 6 pages packed with characters from Jungle Book, Nemo, Lady & the Tramp.... and she can pick out all the items/animals you are suppose to find. i think in the past two days, we have read that book about 27 times. literally.

another change- they girls are going to bed at the same time now. the past few nights have been a success... so we will continue to see.

SJ has been back in pull up since our Chicago trip and has been dry every night except one.
random.

k. i am off to switch laundry, work out, vacuum and hopefully clean the bathrooms before naps are over. =)

word.

airport run

daisy representing all of the gowanitas feelings - that daddy left this morning.

We took neal and gow to the airport this mornin.- they are both pumped to be heading to So Cali for a church planting confr with the Covenant, our pastor Bruce and 75 degree weather!

yesterday the girls and i drew 4 rainbows, 2 butterflies, a sunshine, a purple heart, the letter "D" ad "S" all in chalk on our dry driveway. we spent a blissful 2 1/2 hours outside as it was springy and 35 degree-ish. today.... a beautiful blanket of fresh snow with some of the biggest flakes i have ever seen.
but it's already melting... spring is here! woot woot.

both girls seem to be "growing" up a little bit right now.... and that is super encouraging.
i wish i could post some videos for you all to see.... if any of you know a super easy way to do that that we are not aware of- please email me. currently we have to convert all of our videos before i can blog them and we just haven't had the time....

k. gonna go and tackle some desperately needed cleaning and make a grocery list.

cheers!

another fulllll week ahead

i love dk in all her spring time gear here!



and this is Sally at the top of our drive way....

gow's in milw. today, i had art class this mornin ( am inking a barrel ridin' cowgirl!) and tonight i have a finale for our ladies bible study while gow plans worship for next sunday.

tomorrow is trying to get the accord jumped, to be worked on. hopefully an oil change and dropping off gow's guitar to be fixed and then our friends the Holtes for supper.

wed- gow's off to LA to go to a church planting confr with Neal and our Pastor

thurs - it's suppose to snow again and we have MOPs leadership.

friday- i am off to a Mom's Confr with Cyndie and Amy while Hannah comes to stay with the girlies.

so this nap time consists of a workout, cleaning the kitchen and then trying to get some things accomplished for youth group. we will see how far i get.... cleaning the house will have to wait another week. =) or month. =)

weekend

so thankful for the weekend- so thankful to have daddy WITH us for the WHOLE day.
so thankful that God designed there to be TWO parents.

not so stoked to see a new layer of thin snow AND our porch door open 2 inches this morning.... NIIIIIIIIIIIIIICE.

looking forward to breakfast with gow and the girls.

thinking that Daisy's about ready for a bed she can get in and out of on her own.
pumped that Sally has been dry every night since our Chicago trip.

missing our friends and fam this morning that live in other parts of the country/guate/afgan

happy for a new day.

TGIF

eph 4:29

daisy kate peekin out of one of our "caves"



a kodak smile from sally jane for you



some of the kiddos at our church sharing some songs in "big church"
(gow's on guitar, mom is leading and emma and timmers are both singing.)



and Sally brushing Daisy's hair for her one night after a bath.


feels great to be back on the treadmill! thank you Lord for a healthy bod, an indoor exercise machine and nap time!

and the thought for the day...

²⁹ Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

eph 4:29 NIV

so- gow and i have been talking about this verse a lot lately. if you read this blog and have time to respond.... i would love to hear some of ya'll's thoughts, feelings and ideas on this verse.

hope to hear from ya!

spring

this pix from a few weeks ago on our back porch.


spring is here! we had another beautiful day of sunshine. COLD, but sunshine. halelujah.

my one goal for the morning was to clean the kitchen floor (yes, i literally try to accomplish one task each morning) and i conquered it. =)

the girls and i also went outside on a walk... sally was hysterical on the toddler scooters. she went up and down our drive way and across the street a few times and then declared "mom, i need something faster" .

so we pulled out the tricycle (that has a handle for me to push- thank you sooo much Dave) so we cruised up and down our street with one girl on the trike and the other in the wagon. it is WONDERFUL to be outside in the sunshine.

our accord won't start again. we are hoping it is just the cold temps.... will wait for a warmer day and try one more time to jump it... please pray... it would be sooo wonderful to keep that gem around



sally and our friends Hannah and Hannah making sugar cookies with purple frosting and sprinkles. =)

awana and marriage class today..... and a whole lot of giggles with the girls. we just really like them both.

tomorrow- gow heads to Milw. and the girls and i to MOPs in the mornin....

i am thinking that sally's gonna lose one of her front teeth. about 3 or 4 weeks ago she got nailed in the mouth by a swing..... she got a minor black eye, bruise by her nose and the inside of her lips/gums were purple. and it looks now like maybe her tooth is darkening.... am bummed for her... and i think i will make her a dentist appointment soon...


at Ruth's Chris on our anni/bday/vday getaway.

we are off to watch "our show... Parenthood.

night!

sunshiney day

I am praising God for the sunshine!
It's March and though it may snow a few more times... we are on the road to Spring, sunshine and be able to be outside more.



a few pix with Felipe!!!! it was so so great to see him, hear about life for the Paynes in the past few years, and to intro him to sj and dk.



yup, he bonded with dk.... ice cream and electronics. =)



our girls are growing up.
it's crazy to think that Sally will be three in April and Daisy is doing so many "grown up" things - it blows us away.

we have three new teddy bears in our home, hear the names that Sally gave them...
a dark brown one = "Brownie"
a light tan one = "Pan" (bread in spanish)
and a bright red one = "Blood"

ha ha... our girlies crack us up!

we have a calm-ish week/weekend a head... Praise the Lord.



Auntie Jane is here to stay!!! and this is her first day of work- pray for her as she learns a new job/place.


happy March 1st to ya'll - hope spring is blessing you today.