Love this girl!

Merry Christmas!

Snowball fight with dad

The chain of pictures, too much fun in the snow -

Thanksgiving at the Lake.

We had a blast at the lake, I could have picked out tons of pictures... but here is a small glimpse of the week.

Gigi, Emma, and Mom

Aunt Shana and Emma, she loved doing the gingerbread house!

It was cold, but we still had fun!

Thanksgiving meal

The crew - Thanks Pops and Susu for letting us come, all we needed was you two and the Raymicks to make it complete, love you all!

Say "Cheese"

Letting you in the back room...

There is a room in our house that many people do not see... "The Hole" as we like to call it. It is a room of storage, projects, books, and for the past several months - my husband. I want to take this post to brag on him. What an amazing man! Matt is almost halfway through getting his masters in Non-Profit Management right now and, to say the least, it has been a challenge. Only through the Lord's strength have I gotten through long nights and days of being mom and upkeeper of the house, but more impressive is Matt. He somehow is balancing being husband, dad, full-time employee (and many of you know ministry is not 8-5) and student. There are more nights than not that I do not know what time he stays up till, he is usually brewing coffee while I am sliding into bed. I am so proud of him and his hard work! This week is finals week, two papers due and he has been in "the Hole" all of the time... as you can see by the picture, it is his position. But somehow, he finds the time to go on adventures with Emma and has yet to miss a single bedtime story reading, what a man! It will be worth it, we are halfway through, and what a blessing from the Lord to allow Matt to get this degree. We only pray that it will help use Matt to further His kingdom in the future.

Matt and Emma exploring.

The Hole.

Happy Halloween!

This year we headed to the "Trunk or Treat" where we:

saw a lot of friends.

had a blast on TBarM's obstacle course.

rocked it in her clown costume.

And had such a blast. She had a smile all night!

Emma's new friend

Lately as we have been outside Emma has talked about "little be". Today I finally discovered what little boy she was talking about. This is her new friend and their game that the played for so long today... they pass things back and forth through the fence and Emma loves him! When I told her it was time to go inside she turned around, said "Bye-bye Little Be", blew him a kiss and walked inside. Too stinking cute!

Wedding Pictures

I was so blessed to be in my dear friends wedding a few weeks back. It was a beautiful wedding and Naomi was the most gorgeous bride ever. More than that though, her and her new husband love each other and are living a life serving the Lord. The wedding was such a testimony to their lives and their families, it was perfect! Here are a few pics from the fun day!

The beautiful Bride

Us Girls

On the Dugout

Love this man.

5.

Here's to another 5 - Love you Matt!!

There's nothing better than -

A tea party with Dad!

Seeking Him Daily

This weekend we finished up Family Camp here at TBarM, and what a great week it was! We were so blessed this year to have my cousin, Dana as our camp coach to love on Emma, and just to hang out with us. Dana is precious in every way and it was so great to get to know her better this summer as she worked under Matt!

We were so challenged this week, in a good way, to live sold out for Christ, in our everyday lives. I want to try and share a little of this, but I do not know where to begin. So here are a few things I walked away with. God is our one Hope! That means in everything that I do through out my day, I need to live like that. What does that mean in my life personally... loving on our neighbors, loving on the people that we see at the store, at the park, not being afraid to Talk to others about Him, actually trusting in His plan for my life. So much more, but it really really hit home. Many of you know our struggles with growing our family lately. It has been a struggle spiritually for me more than anything, "Why not us, why would this happen to us, are we not supposed to have more kids..." You know how it goes. I completely forgot that He knows! Things are happening just as He knew it would and He has such a plan to bless us and use us! I truly feel as though these struggles are bringing me closer to Christ and forcing a dependence on Him - which I did not always have before. I was in control, I decided what happened. Now I am fully aware that He is in control and wants to use me for so much more than simple birthing more children. Don't get me wrong, I still pray for it and long for it - but not more than longing for God. It has been such a growing time for our family, I am reminded of the verse in Romans 8 "We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose." So my prayer is this - that if you are in a place of wondering or confusing or hurting, know that He loves you and has such a perfect plan. Glorify Him - focus on Him - He is our One Hope, which is so great since that Hope is perfect in every way!

Sorry I wrote a lot, as you can tell, He has tugged hard lately and we are ready to pull others along.

May you seek Him and find Him today.

What a Week!

Last week Jen and Emma got to hang out in Houston with Gigi & Paka while Matt was in Colorado doing some training for staff. We had a great time, lots of playing and lots of spoiling! Jen was mainly in town to help out and do a lot of events for a dear friend getting married. It was so helpful to have my parents there to watch Emma so that I could fulfill my matron of honor duties! The wedding was absolutely beautiful and I was blessed to be a part of it! Matt got to come for a few days and hang out and come to the wedding. Here are just a few pictures from last week.

18 Months old, what a big girl!

Emma's new BFF, her Paka

Running in the sprinkler park with cousin Anna, she loved it!

Somehow the only picture we left with, taken by a guest at the wedding on their phone and emailed to us, sad I know! I will have to get more than just us tying cans on the back of the car... like the ones of us on top of the dugout at Minute Maid Park!

29!

On Tuesday Matt turned 29! I am so blessed to have an amazing husband and father to our Emma. We got to celebrate, just the three of us with dinner at home and a quiet night.

We love you Matt,

Happy Birthday!!

The 4th.

I know its a little late, but I could not resist putting fun pictures up from our weekend at the lake celebrating the 4th. Matt's parents were there and Jen's mom was there (Paka was in Guatemala and was missed!). Here are a few pictures from our weekend.

Emma had a blast at the parade...

Well - looks like the grandparents had fun too.

We even had time to throw Matt an early birthday party.

She absolutely loved playing with the pots and pans, sat here cooking her fish for hours.

So silly

I love this picture - so typical....

Asheville!

Last week was such a busy fun-filled week. Jen's family was in town and we got to hang out all week until we went to Asheville for a family wedding. Both plane rides went great, Emma was a gem during all the crazy moving around and tons of people in her space, and there was lots of pool time. What fun - here are a few pics from the trip to North Carolina.

Talking and Walking.

Emma turned 16 months a few days ago and is just learning so much. I think her biggest learning has been in vocabulary.

I think her speaking vocab is around 30, some new ones are: belly, strawberry, girl, flower, eye, bite. No - they don't all sound perfect!

We have been working on animal noises a lot and it has been so cute, we need to get a video... she can do: elephant, dog, giraffe, lion, gorilla (does the fists on the chest), sheep, bear, duck, rooster, horse, cow, turkey (my fav by far, so cute)

And body parts that she knows: eyes, mouth, teeth, tongue, ears, toes, fingers, back, belly button, knees, and elbows (which is again, my fav watching her fold those arms and touch her elbows!)

Let's admit, she's pretty much genius :) or just a girl who likes to talk.

Also, we finally got a video of Emma walking. She has been getting more and more confident and it is just so cute. Yesterday she took a few steps backwards which was fun to watch her figure that out. So - not the best video, its hard to do it with just you and the kid, but you can get the point.

Having a sick day.

Well, I guess we were due a sick day, I can't remember the last time Emma was sick. Last night she woke up with a 102 temp and just crying. It has stayed in the 102-103 all day and she has just been so tired, but so cuddly. I don't mind. I decided to put a video in for some relax sick time:

This is how she started out (notice the bottle of tylenol, ha)

And this is how she looked the next time I walked past, too tired to even sit up.

And here she is waiting at the doctors office - poor thing.

Turns out she has a pretty bad ear infection in both ears so I am glad we decided to take her in and not wait this one out. Good thing because Morgan and Bobby are coming to visit tomorrow! We can't wait.

Well, its nap time again!