Update...

I KNOW! I KNOW! It's been forever! I need to get back to my blogs.

But alas, laundry and diapers,

Dirty dishes and kitchen floors,

Unmade beds and husband's socks

ALL BECKON ME! LOUDLY!

(not to mention Connections duties)

Relationships? Friends? I think I have some of those...

Let me just... crawl... through... the... mound of... breakfast crumbs...

Ahhhh, there.

Well, I'll have to post pics another time. But here's what's new...

Dax started kindergarten - he's really enjoying it. We miss him, but it's only a couple hours :). He is my ever-drawing, building and inventing man. Everything is his new invention, or a magic trick. He's so much fun! And he loves his family - forever drawing pictures of us all or writing all our names with hearts to show how we all love each other.

Draes... has a new vocabulary every day! His favorite phrases are... 

"MOMMY COME NOW!" 

"Hyuss, NO!" (Hyuss is Dax... not sure how that evolved?) and 

"DAAEEE (daddy - which is either mommy OR daddy), I WANT!"

MY favorite phrases are...

"Mommy, keece" (kiss)

"Mommy, hoc" (hug)

"Iee uh oo" (I love you) AND

"mmmmmaaa" (mmmwaaa)

He's still getting into everything, but he's also GREAT at cleaning up after himself. I'm pretty impressed!

Dez is threatening to be as ambitious as Draes. No walking yet, but we crawl fast and get into anything left accessible to us. Already opening cupboards and drawers... He's a joy. A love. He's still a very happy, easy going guy and greets everyone with a smile. He's got 4 teeth now, which have changed his "look" considerably. He's just fun!

So, there's the info. I'll post pics later :) hopefully not months... later :)

Draes

June 21st was a big day at our house! (Yes, it's taken me a month to get this posted :) Father's Day, Draes's birthday and my birthday (which is conveniently forgotten due to Drae's birthday, therefore I have ceased to age! LOL :)

Considering Drae was 2 months old the first time we visited Boise and wasn't walking when we moved here, it seems like his 2 years have just flown by!

He's ALL boy - climbing everything possible (no longer matters that we removed the bottom rung from the bunkbed ladder, he climbs it anyway) and fashions EVERY toy into a weapon of some sort.

His vocabulary is exploding! Recently, I guess we've eaten hot dogs too frequently because now EVERY entree I make (literally) is called "ot-doc?" "No, honey, it's chicken." "Si, hot-doc!" (No, we haven't taught him Spanish, that's just how he says "yes"). And the other day a car with a dog inside was pulling by and Draes hollered, "Bu-bye, ot doc!" 

He's a lover AND a fighter! Overall, an absolute joy! Enjoy the vid; ignore the annoying narrator :)

Dezdin at 6 months

Hey all...Dezdin turned 6 months last week. I took some video on Dax's little super camera. The background noise is annoying, but I thought those of you, especially family, who are far away would enjoy seeing what he's up to.

Dez is our little joy. He's still always happy. He goes with the flow and is smiley for everyone. 

Lately he's rolling over and over like a champ, pushing up on all fours, and even moving his knees separately. He's pushing up on his elbows while on his side. He just started FLYING through some of these things - but it helps when we put him on the floor, which we hadn't been doing as much as we could have. 

He's a "talker" :). We'll see if it follows through. 

We thank God daily for our little surprise. He's such joy!

Update on the kiddos

Well, being as Mother's day is this Saturday, I figured I'd gift myself by getting this off my list of "mommy guilt" :) and updating the interested parties on what's new with the boys. I feel better already :)

Dezdin - by far the over-achiever of the crew. He's babbling, blowing bubbles, rolling over like a champ, pushing up on his arms, and, most recently, pushing up on his knees and scooting backwards. I'll leave the room for a minute and come back to find he's turned 180 degrees. He's an extremely happy and easy baby. He's sweet and cuddly - weighing 16 plus pounds and 29 inches. He's a family favorite.

Draes - is super fun! He's talking more and more; he loves to play and dance. His newest joy is jumping. He works really hard to get that whole body off the ground. He's still my super-sleeper. He actually asks to be put in his crib! Woohoo :) He is the purveyor of justice in our house. Any attempt at unfairness will be met with the a hair-raising scream, tears and "ma nib na mabu nagdu NO NO." It's cute and painful all at the same time. We're working on the screaming aspect. He loves to put on and take off his shoes. I hear him singing random little songs, when he thinks no one is looking. And his new favorite thing is "tickle" - he loves it when Daddy tickles him. However, "tickle" also refers to just about ANYthing that makes him laugh.

Daxton - is Mommy's SUPER HELPER! He's always helping to get me a diaper, play with the baby, give a bottle, fold laundry, clean up toys, set the table, clear the table... he has even "made" breakfast for Draes (which consists of a bowl of dry cereal) when they wake up super early. He's growing up so fast. He gets up every day, makes his own bed, gets dressed and brushes his hair... and you've seen his hair, right? lol! He's SO excited to go to kindergarten; he's learning all the time. Today he was excited to tell me he'd counted by 10's to 100 all on his own. He's mastering simple math and reading.  He has a heart for others and is newly concerned with sin. It's fun to walk those avenues with him and see his heart and mind grow.

We couldn't be more proud of our boys. They're crazy and fun and they keep us laughing. God is meeting our needs, and we're so grateful to Him for this time in our lives. Love to all of you.

One Year

It's crazy to think... one year ago today I arrived in Boise to my new home. 

One year ago we began a life on this new terrain. We wondered what would happen, who we'd meet, what God would do.

Tonight I was in the nursery with 8 little ones. Each one a picture of what God is doing here - what God is doing at Connections. One year ago, some of them weren't even walking. One year ago I'd never met some of them. Now they are dear to us, a part of our lives.

One year ago I was a mother of two. Now I'm a mother of three. 

I keep finding myself wondering what God is going to do next. SO much has happened in one year. There has been so much uncertainty and so much blessing. I know many of you are there too, in this economy, wondering where the next paycheck will come from... and yet I find myself in giddy, anticipation, trying to peer around the corner of divinity to see the next little miracle. I don't understand it; I cannot explain it. All I know is God is doing cool things. 

One year ago, my life went from certain to spontaneous. I'm ready for His next amazing move.

"To be certain of God means that we are uncertain in all our ways, not knowing what tomorrow may bring." Oswald Chambers

5 reasons it's a good thing we're not God (well... me specifically)

I sometimes wonder why God called me into ministry. Let's face it, I'm not the poster child for pastor's wives, ya know? I speak when propriety would hush me. I get emotional when others would say I should be clinical. Not saying I'm proud or ashamed of that... it's just true. 

But there is this... between loving people through ministry and loving my kids, God keeps me always at His knee. Humanity is such a mystery sometimes -  the way we walk into something knowing the pain will come, but wanting the rush badly enough? The way we hurt each other... the way we get stupid? I'm often asking God, "How do you put up with it? WHY do you put up with it? with me? with us? with this mess we're creating/have created?" LOL and in that mental abyss I sometimes think about what I would do if I had the power. Scary thought huh? Yah. I know you're frightened :) Me too, AND, to keep perspective, I thought I'd note just a FEW of the reasons HE'S the guy... and I'm not.

5. I  have a shorter fuse.  - Yes, I try... and I do marvel at the level of my own patience sometimes, but there's no WAY I would withhold my vengeance for generations while people spat in my face.

4. I think I'd prefer robots.  - Sure choice is a great thing to you and me. But if you were the ruler of all these crazy beings running around shooting themselves and each other (figuratively AND literally), would you rethink free will? 

3. I'm a stinkin' elephant! - I remember the craziest details! Especially how I was wronged, by whom, in what season, location, date and time... you get the point. If I were a deity there would be no "hurling your sins into the depths of the sea."

2. I'm a justice girl. - I'm all for mercy, but I'd make you pay SOME restitution first. Purgatory might be real if I were almighty.

And number 1? NO WAY!!! It's possible I might sacrifice my son's EGO for your salvation, but that'd be about it. Lay down my sons innocent life for the sins of a bunch of people who are just going to be unfaithful and sinful anyway? Probably not gonna happen...

When I step back and think on those things, I am SO, SO, SO thankful that HE is God and I am not - that He is complete in all His being, His justice and His mercy. I am speechlessly grateful for the sacrifice He made in Jesus, because without it, I, you, we... would be utterly hopeless. 

Joy in Unlikely Places

I hate receipts. Being vocational ministers, we keep every receipt because anything ministry related can be a deduction. So, I categorize and keep all these annoying pieces of tree waste, just to keep the IRS at bay. BLECH!

But this year, as I organized and entered them into mind-numbing spreadsheets, God began to minister to my spirit.

"Wow, this time last year, we were on the road to Boise, screaming Draes in the back seat (he had only been 2-months-old when we made our first Boise trip), to look at housing and connect more with the area and people." I remember looking at the very house we're now living in, for the first time. Dax ran in stocking feet from room to room saying, "Mommy, look at this hooj one!" with his usual enthusiasm. How could we have known, then, how much love and joy we would share in this space? That this would be HOME?

Just a month later Dusty and I would venture up again, to finalize things. It would be that week I would know, beyond doubt, that we were pregnant again, against our meticulous plans. :) I would fear and fret and be sad - little knowing how much joy little Dezdin would bring to our home and how much God would teach me through him.

I can't believe it's not even been a year since we arrived here. God has done SO many amazing things, in our lives, in the lives of those with whom we're connected. I'm flooded with joy and gratitude, amazement and hope. There's an anticipation in my Spirit. If God has blown things up like this... what does he have planned for the next 11 months?

Maybe tax receipts won't be such a drudgery next year :)