Memorial Weekend

We had a wonderful weekend celebrating and remembering loved ones with family. Trayjan is at an age that he is so very curious about what we do and why we do things we do. We explained many times throughout the weekend what it meant. These conversations went from family members who have passed to our fallen soldiers from different time periods. He not only wanted to know how many soldiers have sacrificed their lives for our freedom, he had to know all about when and where it occured. We also added to his prayers for God to watch over the men and women protecting our freedom every day. I believe he has a great understanding of what it meant. Jie really isn't ready for all of the information, so she just played and swam all weekend with family.

We are praying for families this memorial day as they remember their loved ones.

TURKEY RUN

We have been caught up in the things in life that are not significant to our happiness. It seems that the more we want, the more we buy, then the more we realize all this "stuff" can not and is not meant to bring long term happiness to our hearts. It is so fun to buy new things, but minutes or hours later the feeling of unhappiness is still there. We see it in ourselves and in our children. Mostly Trayjan because he's so used to getting new things. He'll be so happy for an hour or so, then he moves onto one of his old things or wants us to play something with him. The stress build up from all the wants, just is not healthy for any of us.

We woke up on Sunday and knew we needed to spend some true family time together, so we had lunch and headed to one of Indiana's state parks, Turky Run State Park. I remembered going years ago with my best friend from school, I think we were about 12 years old when her family took us. We spent a few hours walking trails, climbing rocks, walking through streams, balancing on logs and climbing so many stairs, it felt like we were on the Great Wall again. Needless to say, we had the most amazing time. Trayjan continued to say how cool it was. He loved all of it, but said trampling through the mudd and climbing the rocks were the best. He even found a bright emerald bug (not sure what it was), but it was so bright, it took many minutes of our time staring at it's beautiful color.

The entire day was quite an event for Jie, she started strong, but had to be carried many times by daddy. Her little legs were getting so worn out from the climbing and constant walking. She began to ask for water not long into the adventure. She acted as though she hadn't drank for days. However, she was able to pull through and did a wonderful job keeping up and enjoying herself.

Trayjan was a such a joy to watch. He truly enjoyed every minute and never complained once. He actually went so fast through things, we had to slow him down. He was like "Bear" on Man Vs. Wild....one of he and his daddy's favorite shows. The amazing thing is he was pointing out things we could eat and ways we could gather water if we were lost. It was precious to watch and listen to him.

The entire day was amazing and such a beatiful blessing for all of us. It was exactly what we needed to put us back on God's path for us. He intends for us to enjoy eachother and live life to the fullest. We already have many plans ahead of us, that are far more important then shopping and wasting our time on non essentials. We had a day of focusing on all the blessings we are so fortunate to have been given to us.

For us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things come for whome we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things come and through whom we live. I CORINTHIANS 8:6

The Kids Hugging: Thankful Thursday

I am constantly reading many of the wonderful family blog sights I follow about what they are Thankful for. It has been given the title of Thankful Thursday. I have been so inspired by these wonderful families who seem to have so much love for their children and are dedicated to the Lord.

I am thankful this Thursday and every Thurday for:

1. My daughter who looks at me and mimics everything I do each day, the sweetest is when we are setting at the dinner table and she tries so hard to bend her arms in front of her body just as mommy is.

2. My sweet boy, who gives everything 100%. I'm so proud of him, he is the only Kindergartener to make it to level 11 Math Challenge. He is doing problems in the 60's both plus and minus.

3. For the wonderful sunshine given to us for free.

4. My awesome Wii workout video that I was given for Mother's Day and have been dedicated everyday to accomplish.

5. My precious parents, who light up when they see their grandkids

6. The air that I'm so blessed to breath each day.

7. Being a mom.....oh how I love being a Christian Mom!

8. Listening to the same beautiful bird sing outside my window every morning.

9. The inner peace I feel at this very moment.

10. My husband who works so hard to give me the opportunity to stay home with our children.

MOTHER'S DAY BLESSINGS

I can remember my 1st Mother's Day with Trayjan and this year is my 1st Mother's Day with Jiesue. I am so thankful for the gift of motherhood. Travis and I have been married for almost 17 years and to think we never felt like we wanted children. I am so thankful to our Heavenly Father for guilding me to the most amazing place in my life. I remember it perfectly, when I was about 27 years old, I began to feel like I needed and wanted more from my life. It wasn't until I was 29 that I was blessed with this amazing beautiful little boy. The boy who changed my life forever. I have never been able to get enough of him. I fell completely in love with him and my life was changed forever. I tried so many careers in my life and was never happy and it wasn't until I found Motherhood, that I knew where I was supposed to be. The completeness that I feel from being a mom and raising my children....there is nothing like it. I can not even begin to imagine what is in store for my family. God has given us so much. When we made the decision to add to our family and had multiple miscarriages after Trayjan was 2, we felt a strong presense guiding us to Jiesue. The most amazing thing that I will never forget is when I had my last miscarriage, Jiesue's wonderful mother was pregnant with her and gave birth the same time I would have been giving birth had we not lost the baby. Even though it was difficult to lose something so precious, God knew exactly where he wanted us to be. Our daughter was so far away waiting for us. Now I have two of the most precious children whom I could not imagine my life without. They are the air that I breath each day and I am so thankful for the little things each day. Like when Jie tells me "I love you soooo much", and when Trayj tells me "Your the best mom in the world". Trayjan told me yesturday that he loved me so much because I make him laugh and play with him. Their laughs are my strength, their happiness is my life. I'm so grateful to celebrate Mother's Day, each and everyday! Thank you to my beautiful amazing children and to my wonderful, rock of a husband. My cup runneth over.

Beautiful Zoo Day

We decided to enjoy a beautiful day at the Zoo on Sunday. The kids were excited and the day was perfect to spend it outdoors. Trayjan loved seeing the Monkey's, Sharks and Snakes, while Jie enjoyed the Elephants, Monkey's and Big Kitty's (Lions). It is amazing how much more comfortable she is with animals. I think as she has watched Trayjan snuggle with our big St. Bernard, Tiko, it has truly influenced her being so comfortable with animals both big and small. It was a fun day and the kids really had a wonderful time.