eek! Sorry for inappropriate music on my blog!! I must not check my blog enough b/c I had no idea there was even a playlist on there, suddenly music was filling our hotel room with lyrics about getting drunk and I had no clue where it was coming from. how embarrassing.

forgive me.

have a great week!!

happy 30th birthday!!

So many great people born in 1982!! The following dear friends have celebrated their 30th so far in 2012:

Matt & Steve, born 2 weeks apart :) SO beautiful to see how the Lord has worked in and through them. Born within weeks of eachother, grew up together, studied together, graduated together, and ordained into the ministry less than a month apart. We are praying for you both!!

my dear friend Andrea, also in January - we celebrated with dinner out with the Hope ladies :)
Feb 5, today, sweet Rachel. We celebrated it last night with a gourmetten (we surprised her).

it was SO. FUN.
and SO yummy!!

and Victoria, beautiful inside and out - her 30th is next month!!

Happy birthday to all our 30 year old friends!! We are so thankful to God for the gift of good, godly friendships - old and young. :) (I don't know which category we fall into anymore...?)

have a great week, all!!

Welcome Baby Matthew Josiah

We're welcoming this adorable new nephew to our family, and so thankful that all is well.

New life...such a miracle!!

wise words from Randy Alcorn

Advocates of small families often cite1 Timothy 5:7 (“If a man fails to provide for his own household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever”), believing that the more kids we have, the harder it is to provide for them and the greater danger we will disobey this command.
However, in what is by far the most affluent society in human history—and with one of the lowest birth rates in history—we have to wonder if that really is a danger. Or are we thinking that “providing” means lavishing on children material wealth that doesn’t just meet basic needs but provides for extravagant wants?
Ironically, while undercutting the value of children on the one hand, we pamper and spoil them on the other. Our children don’t have too little material things; they have way too much already. That’s one reason children from large families tend to be more responsible, harder-working, and less spoiled and selfish. They also know how to relate to small children because they’ve been around them and helped care for them. Perhaps that’s one of the results of decreased family size—more spoiled children who get everything they want (as they couldn’t with more siblings) and have no responsibilities (as they would with more siblings).

Read the whole article here http://www.epm.org/blog/2012/Jan/30/duggar-family-open-receive-whatever-gifts-god-want

Sweet Baby

"The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away;

Blessed be the name of the LORD."

Sweet baby, we already miss you.

For You formed my inward parts;

You covered me in my mother’s womb.

I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

Marvelous are Your works,

And that my soul knows very well.

My frame was not hidden from You,

When I was made in secret,

And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.

And in Your book they all were written,

The days fashioned for me,

When as yet there were none of them.

Psalm 139:13-16

Thank you for your love & prayers.