Aunie Melissa and Uncle Chacha Get HITCHED!!

Most of you know already that Ricky's sister and her wonderful fiance' tied the knot on the 19th of July... but I did not have my camera so there were no photo's from me! Anyway, we just got the almost 700 that were taken at the wedding. While I have yet to make it through them all... here are a couple of Jake, Ricky, and some of the bridal party which I love. There are some really sweet ones of Melissa and Macha alone.. but I wanted to ask before I shared those with everyone!

Hope you enjoy!

Ps. Besides Ricky and I's wedding... this one was at the top of my list... we danced and had a blast but better than that... I have never seen Melissa or Macha so excited and happy. It truly blessed me to be able to be a part of it!

Marriage....

Last night at 7 was amazing!! Tom did an amazing job of being direct and honest about how God designed marriage. I loved it! What are the roles, how that play into our society's view on marriage and especially woman, and how to fulfill our roles the way God designed them. It was eye opening. It sparked great conversation between Ricky and I last night.. I think we talked until he fell alsleep...lol...which sounds funny... but it was a good long time past our bedtime!

I whispered to Ricky during the service, I wish the couple's retreat was more like this message! It was soo goooood! I wanted more.. .more info.. more of what a Godly marriage looks like. More of how to be a Godly wife. I am looking forward to the rest of the series, but to be honest, my heart longs for a branch off... I know it would be hard considering not everyone is married at 7 but it would really cool for all the young married couples to have some clarity!

Anyway, it was really great. It will be available to listen to online at 2:00pm today... here is the link... just in case you missed it! What a great service!

Making me WHOLE

This morning was one of those mornings for me. Seems like everyone woke up in a bad mood.... Noah was fussy, Carter was whinning about everything, daddy was frustrated.... which in turn always make me a little on edge. Know we have a full day ahead of us, Birthday parties and church + BBQ after... I needed more morning coffee and some quiet time. I am lucky to get an email devotional every morning... this works out good for me since I am an email junkie!

Anyway, this morning it was about the woman who touched Jesus' garmet and was made clean. She was healed. And she was healed because she believed and professed her faith by coming out of the home she was banished to, into a crowd of people who had called her "unclean" and shunned her for over 12 years. You can read the entire story in Luke 8... short but meaningful and for some reason hit me hard this morning.

Maybe I need healing? Over the past couple of days... well mostlty this week each one of the email devotions and my email from The Generous Wife lady has all been to me in some way or another about healing. I have been praying for healing this week.

It seems weird to share such personal information on such a public forum but if I am honest... I need this outlet. I need to be able to share without feeling like I even care if someone thinks I am weird or wants to tell me how to fix me... Only God can fix me and I am so thankful for that! But for some reason I do want to share. If only to be completely honest... to be able to real.

I think for quite some time I have felt like I am not good enough to be blessed with such an amazing husband and family. I know that it is Satan trying to mess with my head... and honestly he has gotten to me. For sometime now I have felt unworthy of the love that I receive from Ricky and the kids. My heart has been burdened by that. It has been a real thing for me, Satan bringing up things from the past, mistakes that I have made, people that I have hurt, lives that I have impacted, people I have judged, etc. And for the most part, makes me feel really lousy about myself. This is something that I am truly striving to change. But I have realized this week that this is not something I can change alone... I need my God. I need Him to make me Whole. I need his healing, I need his forgiveness, I need his love, only HE can change my heart.

So I guess I am stepping out, into the crowd, and touching Jesus' garmet. In hopes that he will make me Whole. - Funny, that song, by Hillsong, "From the Inside Out" just came into my mind.

A thousand times I've failed- Still Your mercy remains- And should I stumble again- I'm caught in Your grace- Everlasting Your light will shine when all else fades- Never ending Your glory goes beyond all fame

My amazing husband!!!

There are so many wonderful things about my husband.... I am not sure where to start. When I think about how much he does for me, for our boys, for his family, for his friends and for my family. As I sit here, I wish the words would come, but to be honest, I am not sure there are words to describe how much he means to the people around him.

To me, he is my best friend. The love of my life. He has the most tender, loving, forgiving heart. He is a provider, a leader, and I could not love another person more.

To our boys, he is what I want them to be when they are men. He shows them how to love with all their hearts, to love the Lord with all they have, and to be respectful of others. If our boys turn out like him I will be the luckiest person in the world.

I am so thankful for the love he shows me on a daily basis.... so thankful that I don't know if there are words to describe how I feel.

Truly, the Lord has blessed me beyond any expectation.

Stop and Smell the Roses.....

This morning I have been thinking about fast life can move and how hard it is to enjoy the moments that we are given. It seems like with the warm weather comes a crazy schedule for us and most of the people that we know... I know that for me, when this happens, I tend to buckle down and be extremely focused... but I also know that when I do this... I miss some of the small things that happen. I know in my own life this can happen with God too.. I get so busy worrying about how the house looks, what we are having for dinner, are the kids dressed nicely, am I giving enough to my husband, my family, and my friends... and I often get so distracted that I don't focus on God and what he has for me today. Am I taking the time to pray? To praise him for what he has blessed me with?

AM I TAKING THE TIME TO JUST PRAISE HIM FOR WHO HE IS???

Most likely not... I am going to do my very best to focus on God this week... To stop and smell the roses that God has placed in my life for a reason...

Thank you lord.... thank you for the small things... Thank you for the look on my husbands face when his sister walked down the isle, thank you for the blessing of a new brother in law... thank you for the blessing that we are allowed to go to church with our families. Thank you for my children, thank you for their health, thank you for all the small things that mean the world to me! Help me to be able to slow down and enjoy them more!

Wedding...Wedding...Wedding....

So we are in full wedding mode! With only THREE more days until my amazing sister-in-law ties the knot... we are in full swing... last min everything! The flowers came yesterday just in time for us to be able to swing up to Lake Arrowhead and ready the cabin for their first couple days as husby and wifey! That was so much fun to spend the day with my mother in law Jean and the bride herself! So this morning after I finish the sequence of events... I am finally getting to use my wedding coordination certificate.... we are going to get a mani/pedi and a body scrub! I got a body scrub when I was getting married and I felt like butter for days... so I wanted her to have the same...!!

Anyway, I better be off to get the house cleaned up since its going to be a busy weekend and it gets out of control so FAST!!!

PS... this picture is so funny to me! They took them we took our Huff family pictures but its SSOOOOO not them... they are so fun loving and not cookie cutter at all this super traditional picture makes me laugh every time I see it! LOL!

Mornings....

I guess you could say that I am not a morinng person. I would love to sleep until 9:00am every morning... with three little ones that has become something of the past. Anyway, this morning was so sweet... Jake came and got in bed with me when I was feeding Noah... I got up for a second and when I came back... they were laying together and Noah was smiling at his big brother. It was so sweet....made being up way to early worth it!

MIA.... Sorry

So the last couple of days I have been MIA because Noah was admitted to the hospital for a fever.... on Saturday night we noticed he felt warm so we took his temp and it was 100.4, which was right at the limit for his age. So to be on the safe side we took him to the ER at St. Mary' Medical Center. They saw us right away and by the time we got there his temp was up to 100.8F. They ran some tests and started and IV with antibiotics. This is where mommy lost it... not because we have not been through this all before, and some worse, but because the nurse that was starting his IV... well lets just say... I was not happy. She smelled like smoke... she was not very nice and when she went to start the IV should would not stop poking him. In and out she pulled the needle... his heart rate was over 220 and he was turning purple from not breathing. We asked her to stop several times and she completely ignored us. We started nice and then got more and more stern with our requests for her to stop poking him. I was very angry and upset. As soon as she left the room I walked over to the charge nurse and told him that we did not want her to come back in the room, we wanted a new nurse and we did not her to touch our son again. From then on it was ok. We got the NICU nurse to come down and start the IV and take blood. Then we were admitted to the pediatric unit where everyone was amazing. Dr. Sharma came to see him on a regular basis and we were very pleased with the level of his care and could not have asked for anything else.

Some it comes down to it and it is just a fever, not anything else to worry about and we got to come home this morning. He is sleeping and eating good so we are all happy! Mommy stayed around the clock with Noah as he does not yet know how to take a bottle. I am happy to be home with my other boys!

Thanks to Mindy and Marcos for lunch yesterday!!! Love you guys!!!

Smiles....

Noah Grayson is 8 weeks old today... and this morning he melted my heart. I had just finished feeding him, so we cuddled into bed like we do every morning... for a little snuggle time before the other kids get up. Anyway, I was talking to him and he was looking right at me with those big dark blue eyes. His nick name is "puppy" because when he cries he sounds like a newborn puppy... its so cute! Anyway, I told him he was my favorite "puppy" and he looked right at me and smiled! I know... I know... its just a smile... but when each of the other boys started smiling it melted my heart too.... there is something about those first couple of smiles. So here is a picture of my beautiful baby boy... I am so blessed!

PICTURES!!!!

So since my camera has been broken we have been behind on pictures... BUT.... Grandma Jean got a new Camera and has been picture happy... so she burned me what she had so far... mostly of the kids... lol... and I wanted to share some of them!










This is Carter when he was really sick... mostly he just layed on daddy!









Mommy and Daddy on Father's Day!! He is so cute!









This is so funny.... Jake Eating the FISH

..... The fish eating JAKE!

I will try to post some more later... hope you enjoy!