Ain't no such thing as coincidence!

Do you ever wonder what God may want to say to you at a particular moment? Tonight I sat here feeling just that, so I looked up the first passage that came to my mind. Here it was.

Psalm 68:4
Sing to God, sing praise to his name,
extol him who rides on the clouds—
his name is the LORD—
and rejoice before him.

Wow! This verse is awesome! Sing to God!!! Extol (lift up) him who rides on the clouds. What a word picture! Rejoice before Him.

Thank you Lord that my 'random choosing' of this verse was exactly what you wanted me to hear and meditate on tonight. I must always remind myself that 'to rejoice is a choice.' It is easy to be swayed by circumstances and to dwell in self pity. But if I take myself out of the picture, I can see Christ fully and I can rejoice!

Coincidence? No...it's called sovereignty and divinity. God has a purpose for everything. His word is living and active and speaks directly to our hearts. Thank you Lord!

Double take!

The other night Tyler and I watched Todd and Steph's boys while they attended a wedding shower. It was such a nice evening, so we took a picnic to the park and ate and played. It was super fun and the kids had a great time together. The little boys spent most of the time in the baby swings while the toddlers ran around climbing and sliding. We even got a few questions from other families as to whether all four kids were ours! It would be pretty much like having two sets of twins! :)

By the end of the evening the kiddos were all dirty and sweaty, so after heading home in the stroller and wagon, everyone got baths! A little taste of Jon and Kate Plus 8 divided by 2! :) Fun times!!!!

Here's a pic---

Disciplining an 8 month old...

Caught in the act! Can't you just tell on his face how much desire he has for that cable box?!? With Camden on the move - and very curious - we are consistently steering him away from certain places and beginning to instruct him on what he can and cannot do. It is, however, sometimes quite comical to see his response when he is being firmly told not to touch something. At his young age of 8 months, he inevitably does not completely understand, so he just smiles at me and gives me that typical "Camden ham" look and chuckles... which causes me to practically fall on the floor laughing! I love my little man!

Cousin time!

This week my sister in law, ReNae, (Tyler's sister) and her two precious girls stayed with us for a few days. Lainy is 6 months younger than Savannah, and Libby is 5 months younger than Camden, so our kids mesh well together!

I am so grateful for the fun we can have and that God chose to put us together as family. We enjoyed some good play time, some good mommy discussion, and it is always a nice change of pace to have visitors. Come back anytime gals!!! :)

Here is a picture of the little girls enjoying their ice cream sundaes (which the moms enjoyed too I must add!) and a picture of the babes!




Thanks for spending the week with us! I love you!

Go Green!

I love the color green! Two rooms in our home are painted green. Tyler and I both own many green shirts. I love green grass! But I also love the reason for the term GO GREEN! Our family has just started recycling!

Many of you have probably been doing this for years, and I wish we were one of them, but it's never too late to start. I recently found out from my brother in law that near Super Saver at 27th and Pine Lake there is a huge recycling center, so we started collecting our cardboards, plastics, paper, etc. Last week the kids and I loaded up our stash and took it to the bins. Call me crazy, but I was pumped! How cool to help save our environment of bulky trash and to allow our stuff to be used again!

So if you aren't already among team green, start separating out your recyclables and make it a family activity to fill the bins at 27th and Pine Lake! You will leave feeling refreshed! :)

To be or not to be...a GERM-A-PHOB!

So the positive to having the stomach flu run its course in our home (without affecting Camden thankfully!) is that I joyfully disinfect each and every possible thing touched, from toys to light switches to door knobs, to...no end. :) And I have finally concluded the washing of load upon load upon load of bedding and blankets. Sure, it takes some serious time, lots of disinfectant, and probably instantly begins growing new and interesting bacteria, but it is just something that I have to do--you see, I am a self admitted germ-a-phob! :)


I have a small container of Purell in the van that I use after things like getting gas, groceries, etc. The funny thing is, every time I reach for it, my 2 year old daughter asks "mommy, can I have some sanitizing lotion too?" LOL!

Some good family bonding

I am happy to report that we are back to normal! Our family was hit with a stomach virus/flu early Sunday morning through Monday, but I wouldn’t want to endure those difficult times with anyone other than my loving family. Prior to Tyler coming down with it himself, he selflessly served the rest of us by taking excellent care of Savannah while I was down and out. Definitely would win “daddy of the year” in my book!!! Despite the aches and lack of appetites, we truly had some good simple family bonding time. Praise God for that opportunity in the midst of sickness! And a special thanks to my awesome friend Steph for dropping off chicken noodle soup and Gatorade which clearly helped us regain our strength! (don’t worry, we told her to leave it on the porch so we wouldn’t pass our yuck onto the Hohlen fam!)