we bought a mini van

happy rainy mornin to yall.

we woke up today to another beautiful thunder n lightening storm.
i absolutely love a summer storm.
it's powerful and peaceful all mixed into one.
cleansing and life giving..... and i love that it makes one slow down and just be a bit.

i am wiped out today.
not sure if its just the toll of running around or if simply this lil babe inside of me wants to have some more growing time. =) so this morning... we are staying put.
the girls are still in their jammies and playing house.

first big praise... we bought a van on friday night!
God's provision plus His blessings as it has "bells and whistles" that are just super fun to have.... all in our price range.
Thank you God for providing our needs- and then even blessing us on top of that.

it's a 2005 Honda Odyssey. charcol exterior, tan interior... has an 8th seat belt- which we have already been blessed to use (cousin trip to the jelly belly factory with 2 aunties!). i will post a pix soon.
now to fix the funky sound our CRV is making and then sell that one.

on the car front- the accord is still in the shop. sigh. =) we are hoping and praying to have 2 reliable cars again (after selling the CRV to cover the cost of the Odyssey).




here is a pix from dad's 70th bday party! oh poppi- we all love you sooo sooo very much!



this is sally- cracking me up. she does funny mouth things while using scissors. =) it looks like she is talking or singing.. but really she is silent, just does funny things with her mouth.

yesterday in the pool daisy was getting in the deep end of the pool on her own! with her floaties of course.... and she did her first back float with kicking on her own too! she is independant and brave.

gow continues to have work this week- thank you all for praying and praise God for providing the mana.

k. that's it for today... will have a at home morning, long movie after lunch and then either a pool party or just a pizza party with our friends Andrew, Marieke, Noah, Uliana and their foster twins (teeny 5 pounders) tonight.

happy wednesday to y'all.

some work! God knows!

hi guys.

gow has had 2 days of work! Praise the Lord!
and it is planned that he will have work all next week- Wahoo! God is good.

also, we have picked up our CRV - so we are no longer carless- but they never "heard" the prob so they couldn't fix anything. God knows!

we are also looking at checking out 2 more mini vans... God knows! again! =)

yes- we have a theme here... God knows! =)

meanwhile.. the girls are amazing. cracking us up with the goofy things they say/do...
they were having a "bible study" with a nemo book this morning. =)

last night we were leaving auntie jane's house... both girls wiped out and in tears cuz i wouldn't let them out of the car to play with auntie jane... i was telling them how loving and kind auntie jane is with us.. and sally's response with big croc tears sliding down her cheeks was "mom, usually i am kind, but right now, i am not. i am just too tired to be kind." =)

love our girls.
we are truly blessed.

more from james

³ because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.

⁴ Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

⁵ If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. james 1:3-5







our adorable, love-able, healthy God given gifts.. our girls. =) pretending they are prego. =)

in May we starting praying that God would change Gow's work situation... either improving it so that he could enjoy it more and carry less stress on his shoulders or change it.

well, God is answering our prayers. in the past 4 weeks gow had only had about 3-4 days of work. He surely is working on SOMETHING. He is definately working on us- as the James verse says above.... please pray for us. to keep holding on to His promises as we wait and let Him work on us as we wait for Him to provide.

also- we picked up the accord from the shop today- dropping off our CRV (our car with AC and it's 100 this week). so the accord was fixed and now we wait on the CRV to have its brakes "re-fixed" (cause something messed up the first time they were fixing them) and as i was driving the girls and i home tonight... the accord died three times. it restarted and sally and i both prayed to make it back to where gow, jane, neal and cyndie were having a softball team bbq... we made it back. but somethings clearly not right.

please be praying with us- and for us. and may be shaping, changing and growing us in the process of if all.......

friday, boats, tangled and the porch.

be bold and strong, banish fear and doubt.
remember God is with you... EVERY where you go!

Joshua 1:9



4th of july early mornin on the boat.... there is nothing like the sun coming up over a calm and still lake.











ahhh..... i close my eyes and am almost back on the boat. =)


i think we found daisy kate sleep walking last night. i don't think she was awake, but we found her in the other corner of their room - and sort of crying. she's just adorable.

sally and gow went on a daddy -daughter special date yesterday. super fun for them both and sally picked out mint n chip ice cream!



doing a play "Repunzle meets Tangled" with Ems and Tim.
Em's is calling for Sal to put down her long hair... you can see it beginning to descend...



Tim is the prince/robber trying to call Sal to put down her long hair.... and Daisy is just playing. =)



just rocking on the porch... summer style. =)

draw near to Him...

some nuggets that I am currently learning, relearning and holding on tight to....


- Draw near to God and He will draw near to you James 4:8

- Our whole life is a path of obedience. We don't "arrive", we continue to take steps... it is a PATH of obedience.

- the truth that I learned as a child, the Sunday school songs/lessons. verses... are some of the very foundational truths that are carrying me thru this time of my life. What is truly written/hidden in my heart are the truths that are sustaining me, filling me with hope and helping me be who I am today.

those are a peek into my deep thoughts..... kept simple and short. =)

and now some pix from part 1 of dad's 70th bday celebration!









my dad's shirt says it all!



Sally and Ela at Nora's princess bday party...



Queen Cherith and bday girl/princess Nora!

gow's just wonderful

so i woke up the other morning to gow saying "breakfast's in 15 minutes".
i got up to find a sweet spread on our back porch complete with flowers and my fave person in the world.



i am truly blessed.



gow had a short day project yesterday, and is back to no work. please keep praying for him, that, us, finances and just work in general for gow.

our accord that broke down this weekend turned out to need a muffler... $225 to fix.

my fave daisy kate word at the moment is "DEEEE" - that is "seeee" - said in a super duper high pitch when she is excited for us to see something that she has or is doing. she has begun to say 2 or 3 words together and is just communicating on a whole new level.
it's super fun.


oh, i am 4 months prego today. 16 weeks. my legs are at an all time high of pain and veins. so i am back to wearing my tights - which definately make a huge difference. i am thankful for them- but they are HOT. feels like i am wearing snow pants. lovely way to spend the summer. oh well. only 6 more weeks till fall.

right now the girls are in their room, door shut, playing house. =)
i think i will go get some cafe con leche to start this day.

how cute they sleep

l



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sally has swim lessons at the lake twice a week... so we have been spending lots of time at the beach. =)


i just went to peek on the girls asleep...

check out sally's sleeping buddies for tonight...
- plum pudding, her pillow pet from Fancy Nancy
- freckles, he was a puppy I used to sleep with as a kid
- a McDonalds "my little pony"
- and..... a Guatamalan pot holder that I got from Sharon for Christmas years ago.
=)

daisy is sleeping in the toddler bed.
this happens 1/27 nights as we put her in it to go to bed and if she gets out of bed once, she i put back to bed in the pack n play... where she is contained. =)

gow and i have been sick this week... yuck head cold stuff (i can't take any dicongestants)
the girls are showing some signs of the same thing today... we have been laying low.

gow still doesn't have work... please keep praying on that.

and tomorrow we are headed out camping with 5 students from the youth group. it is hot here... so will prob spend most of our time in the lake. =)
the girls are having a slumber party at auntie janes.

good night all

trusting God with work and stuff

so gow has had 2 days off this week and will have next week off.... turns out that the Big Idea project fell thru this time.... please be praying for steady work and for PEACE for all of us, specially gow as each day with no work = a day with no income. surrender. that's what we are striving to do each day.... surrender and trust.
thanks!

here are some more peeks into the day and life...





the girls in our kitch.... sally is looking a little middle eastern as she and her buddy Madison applied their own makeup (which we was washed "off" right before this pix) =)



helping me water the flowerbed in our front yard



pix taken on a Tuesday when it's daddy's game days. =) hence the matching softball shirts.



Sally, Daisy and Tim at a parade...


we had a fun sleep over at Neal and Cyndie's last night to watch 24 season 8 shows 1-4! super fun- i am really excited about watching this last season!

also had a fun get together with childhood friends from AK Heather (Peterson) Larson and her fam this morning as she was picking up her son from Covenant Harbor Camp, across the street.

we were settling in for a fun family night at home, when, while in the basement and cleaning up toys from this morning..... we noticed that the carpet was wet.
B U M M E R
there was a leak on something that had been patched on our AC.
Today is the first day we have really run the AC... humid and around 89ish degrees....

sigh. so, gow pulled up the carpet enough to put three fans blowing under the carpet, he and the girls are off to buy some sealant and we are wondering how long our house will stay cool before we opt to open the windows. =)

we decided if it's hot, we will just sleep in the basement as it stays WONDERFULLY cool down there.

so- we are off to have supper with our buddies Brad, Sarah, Ela bella and Ben at "nana and popa's" house who are saving us from the heat =). (that's ela's grandparents which sally and daisy believe are their personal nana and popa too. ) =)


please pray for wisdom for gow as he deals with it, a NOT PRICEY fix and for our carpet/padding to dry completely. thanks all.

thought you'd like to check out our Youth Group (YG) webpage as it has some pix of our activities over the past 2 months......