Photo 61: Messes!

Oh, Alex!

Photo 60: One last chat

Photo 59: bikes

My uncle was given this bike and had no need for it so passed it on to us...even though it will still be a couple years before we need it! thank goodness... Alex growing up that fast! He can test it out though!

Photo 58: Raspberries and Bees

A trip to my grandma's wouldn't be complete without checking out the raspberries on the side of their house!  I picked and he fed them to me! :) He also enjoyed watching the bees buzzing around the plants. 
I love sharing my childhood memories with Alex! :)

Photo 57: Happy Olympic Games!

I am with most of my family today so we are having a little opening ceremonies party!
I made some Olympic rings mary had an amazing map on her wall for me to hang them up.
Then we awarded gold to Japan, silver to the USA and Bronze to Italy.
Two weeks of such fun as we cheer for our favorite teams (the country we cheer for depends on the sport!)

Photo 56: West Virginia

This is my general experience of West Virginia! I need some better experiences!

Photo 55: How to pack a box

And we can't forget step 4:
Break to read favorite books! :)

Photo 54: Alex and Dante

"Da, Da," Alex called out and wave his hand for Dante to join him outside.
Dante kindly followed.
And they had a grand time.

Photo 53: Through the Window

He spent most of the morning perched right here.
Staring at the workers take down the old roof shingles and put up new ones.
He also took some time to pick the leaves off of my plant.
Oh, Alex.

Photo 52: Crazy Praise

Do you ever listen to one of those messages that its like you are punched in the stomach, 

but in the end if feels so much better that you were?

My church has been doing a series on Habakkuk...

Haba...what?! you ask. Yes, Habakkuk. pages1413-1417 in my NIV Study Bible. 

A little, 3 chapter book stuck between Nahum and Zephaniah. 

A little book with a HUGE punch! 

In the last couple of months I have been learning some AMAZING things from the Lord...

things like...

Life with God is not supposed to be easy.

Being blessed by God does not mean having wealth or health.

Stuff is stuff. you don't really need it!

Trials = greater trust. 

Just to name a few. 

The sermons on Habakkuk kind of brought it all home for me. Especially this week's message. 

OH MY GOODNESS!

In verse 17 EVERYTHING is going to go wrong for the people in Judah. Literally, everything.

YET. (vs. 18) Habakkuk realizes he still needs to praise the Lord because He is all we need.

Basically Habakkuk realized:

"In the midst of                                     (you name that trial/hardship you are facing)

WORSHIP GOD. Find JOY in Him. 

He is big enough to sustain you, and He is worthy of your praise.

(and really, when it comes down to it, someone else is going to be going through a bigger trial then you are, and God's in control of their crisis too.)

Our sermon was titled Crazy Praise. 

The world may think you are crazy to praise the Lord instead of complain

but it is the best thing I can do.

Looking back over the last months of my life I have realized that it is in my worship of God and time in His word that has given me the strength to endure the hardships.

Fixing it by myself won't help.

Worshiping God may not make my trials go away, 

but they grow dim in light of who God is, 

and therefore I can endure them.

(Here is a peek at my playlist that has developed over the months :) )

I love it. Such good songs. All about how great God is! If you have any other suggestions let me know! :)

Isn't it refreshing to know that God has it all figured out and I don't need to worry. Just praise. 

Thanks for reading my long ramblings to day. God is so good. I just had to share!

*If you want to listen to the Habakkuk series (which I highly recommend you do) you can find a link to the sermons here http://standrews.columbiacrossroads.org/sermons.

Also they have a podcast on itunes. just search for Columbia Crossroads St. Andrew's campus.

Photo 51: What is wrong?

Alex loves to ride on Will's shoulders. At some point during the ride he likes to fall back and hang upside down!
This boy trusts his daddy, he knows that Will is always hanging on tight to his legs and will never let him fall!
But I would still love to convince him not to keep doing that. :)

my crazy boy!

Photo 50: Train Ride

At first he was more interested in the little brook that ran under the bridge. Then he noticed it.
The Train.
He couldn't take his eyes off of it.
Then we RODE it.

He started with a a gleeful grin, which slowly turned into the proud look he gets when he knows he is doing something exciting. His eyes darted this way and that as we rode around the track.

Then we had to get off. Which is devastating to a 19 month old, who has just discovered the joys of riding a train. So we hopped back in line because it was so short.

We watched the train go around twice before Alex could get on it again. Each time it rounded the corner out of sight, he was so worried he wouldn't see it again. Then his face brightened into a huge smile when it came back into view (relief!).

His second time he rode with Will, and this time he sat like he knew what to do (because, of course, after riding the train once makes toddlers experts in such things). And thanks to no line waiting, they went around the track twice. Alex was one happy fellow.

So thankful for a fun impromptu trip to the zoo, in which we didn't spend any time looking at animals, but had fun doing other things because they were cheap or free! :) And thankful that it wore Alex out enough that he fell asleep on the way home!

Photo 49: Mac and Cheese vs Edamame

Alex finished up his edamame so reached to get some off of my plate!

really?! edamame over mac and cheese?

He finally realized that the noodles tasted good too so ate his up,

but I think he ate more edamame then Will and I combined!

This was a homemade macaroni and cheese recipe from Will's mom. She has an Italian and American version...this is the American one!

you need:

1 1/2 cup macaroni

1/4 cup butter

salt and pepper

1/4 cup flour

1 3/4 cup milk

2-3 cups of cheese (i used a mix of cheddar and mozzarella

optional: 1/2 lb ground beef or another meat of your choice

• brown beef and put to the side
• boil macaroni noodles
• in a small pot melt butter. add some salt and pepper
• blend in flour on low heat, stir constantly until mixture is smooth and bubbly
• Remove from heat and add milk.
• put back on heat and heat until boiling. 
• Remove from heat and stir in cheese
• put beef, noodles, and cheese sauce in a casserole dish.
• heat in oven at 375 for 30 minutes.

enjoy! :)

Photo 48: Bubbles

Will helped Alex figure out how to use the Japanese bubble wand. Alex had a great time.

Photo 47: Like Father, Like Son

don't these boys look just like their dads!

Photo 46: Smithsonian

We visited the Natural History Museum today.

I am taller than an Elephant leg.

Alex reaches the knee.

Photo 45: The Price of Freedom

I went to Washington DC on Sunday unsure about how I would feel. There were so many things to see and visit, but as I continued to walk around I was always taken aback by the memorials of the many who had given their lives during the wars. 

They served as reminders of the tremendous sacrifice of people who paid a high price for the freedoms that we have today. 

 I stared at the stars. Each one of them represents 100 people and there are over 4000 stars.

Then the wall of names.

And the haunting faces.

I wondered if those people would be satisfied with how we are living out our freedom. 

Instead of living as people who are free we become bound to possessions, our wants, and our desires. 

All of us may not be called to take up arms and sacrifice our lives for our country, but we can do a better job putting others before ourselves. 

Live like people who are free.

Love.

Give.

Serve. 

Eph 5:13 You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.  

Photo 44: Hello Mr. and Mrs. Schaeffer!

Today was a special day.

Alex got a new Aunt! 

We were so happy to celebrate Don and Rachel's wedding day!

Donnie had grown into an amazing guy 

(I think the Lord knew we had put up with enough when he was little! haha!)

and Rachel is a wonderful girl

(she has to be to love donnie... just kidding!)

Alex loves them both so much! This was their group fist bump. 

Alex was their ring bearer.

He had to ride the wagon down the isle 

and was willing to oblige thanks to the huge amount of snacks we placed in there!

Next month they will head to Japan for two years. 

We will miss them very much but we are thankful to have been able to celebrate this special day! 

Photo 43: Kiddie Photo take 2

the dads were going to hold them until the minute we took the picture...yeah. that didn't work so well!
hopefully tomorrow at the wedding we will get some good ones!

Photo 42: Popsicles in the Pool

question: how do you keep 3 toddlers happy?

answer: pool time and popsicles

we are thankful they have smart dads who know how to keep them busy while the moms get ready for the rehearsal dinner tomorrow! :) of course dads would not worry about swim suits, but what baby needs one when there are swim diapers around!

Photo 41: Kiddie Picture

We were attempting a cute picture of the 3 kids sitting together...

yeah.  that didn't really happen.

(we are still having fun though!)

Photo 40: road trip

How to survive a 10 hour car trip with a toddler:

eat grapes and apples out of a coffee cup.
read books (this especially made my day--how much he enjoyed reading this trip! :) )
play with other toys: magnets, cars, little people.
stop for lunch, run around... ALOT (on several occasions!)
turn on kids music and laugh at your mom who is trying to entertain you...

once again Alex amazes me with doing so well in the car! which restores my faith in the fact that we have the trip home and another trip to ohio still planned!

Photo 39: A boy's best friend...

right now we get to enjoy OTHER people's dogs and cats (which is the way I prefer it!)

but why do I have this feeling that in the not too distant future the boys in my life are going to
start ganging up on me 

asking for a dog?

Photo 38: Good Morning

he finally realized that he was strong enough to knock this down.
he really thinks the world is his playground.
we had a good lesson in cleaning up! :)

Photo 37: playing

its a little tight.

Photo 36: Pop, Pop, Pop, eat

everyday he brings us the popcorn bowl.

everyday we get the air popper and the popcorn.

everyday he holds the popcorn jar and shakes it on the way to the counter.

everyday he helps us pour in some kernels into the popper.

everyday he gleefully watches the kernels pop up and white popcorn overflow into the bowl.

often he gets his own bowl.

often he dumps it out and eats from the big bowl instead.

often he "helps" feed us the popcorn.

everyday there is a big mess on the carpet.

everyday I am thankful for the laughs.

everyday I am thankful for the little memories we make everyday.

Photo 35: Busy Day

and it is not even 10 o'clock.

photo 34: fourth of july

Some scenes in the States I don't think I will ever get quite use to, like the little metal boxes that pop up all over before the 4th. Fireworks have such a different meaning to me. Will too. He thinks that fireworks here are so small compared to what they can get in Italy. Plus for him fireworks and New Years go hand in hand. The stories he and his brothers tell about what they had there are not ones that I wish my own son would ever repeat!
For me fireworks came in big flat packages with colorful sticks. They were in stores all summer long and we would enjoy them normally while we were on vacation by the beach. Pretty much they were sparklers, but they were so pretty. Thanks to the summer matsuris, we also enjoyed beautiful firework displays often. In Japan firework displays are an art, with the variety of colors and patterns...
I don't know, I have just never seen firework displays here that match the beauty of what I saw in Japan.
Well, Happy fourth.
have fun with your fireworks...just don't wake my child! :)

Photo 33: Who needs toys?

When you could play in the dryer

or with a cooler

or on a wheelbarrow!

Photo 32: Alex loves...

CHEESE!

we were making tacos and someone grabbed the block of cheese off the counter and decided to dig in!

Photo 31: Storm

we waited until the rain had slowed down and the hail had stopped. It was time to go home.
10 minutes down the road and we had the worst hail I had seen
(which is not saying a lot because I don't remember the last time I had seen hail)
pounding on our car.
the windshield wipers swishing at full speed.
i turned to check on Alex to make sure he was okay, and there he , staring at the window, his face serious and eyes had that worried look.
The light turned green and we slowly moved forward.
5 more minutes down the road and it had slowed up a bit.
we made it home to flickering power.
happy to be home
happy to have the temperature drop from 115 to 87 in an hour.
happy to not feel oppressed by the air.
hello summer thunderstorms!