"Everything happens for a reason....."

How many times have we heard this said to us? When something horribe, out of our control and sad happens... people often say, "well, everything happens for a reason..." or "God has a plan, and it all happened for a reason." But when you are in the moment... doesn't that just feel like something people say? To me it does... Even though I am guilty of saying it as well. I think sometimes people just don't know what to say so that is what comes out.

Most recently I was thinking back to some (at the time) sad things that had happened in my life. Things that were out of my control and were devistating to me. My heart was broken, my life was changed and I thought at the time that there was no good reason for why this was happening to me and to my little guy Jake. But its amazing how God changes your heart. How He has already planned out how it will all come together.

There was a reason, and that reason has been revealed to me recently. As I sat in church on Sunday night, it was the most interesting thing. To my right was the man that I love more than any other human, EVER. My wonderful husband. He has truly been the biggest blesssing in my life. His gentle spirit, his tender heart, his sense of humor, ( I could go on and on.... really I could.. ) He is amazing. Then to my left, there sat a woman with whom my past has been rocky. She is currently married to my ex-husband (Jake's dad). While things have been really rough the past three years, God has slowly healed my heart and allowed a type of friendship to grow there. With her sat my ex-husband. As I sat inbetween my past and my present/future God spoke amazing things to my heart.

Sunday night I learned the reason that "everything happens for a reason". Its because the past to my left could not and would not have been able to cope with the things that God has chosen for my life. The challenges and struggles that have been and the ones to come, God knew I needed Ricky. He knew I needed him. Not only that, but God knew that for whatever reason, the people to my left would not have been there, that night, listening to that service unless, "everything happens for a reason". Its amazing the peace that comes with clarity.

I am thankful formost for my God, who has a plan. I am thankful for the man that God has placed by my side forever. Ricky is truly something to be thankful for. I am even thankful for how my past has come full circle and through the grace of God we are able to share Jesus' love with two very important people in my son's life.

So....

Since its 2:10am and I can't sleep.... I thought I would upload more pictures for everyone to look at of my kiddos! I am really camera happy right now....

Jake kickin' it with Momman Penguin watching the Olympics! He loves the beach Volleyball cause if the player from the USA, his name is Jake too!
Carter's MySpace Photo.... LOL.. I laughed so hard when this came out!

My Little Noah... Smiling... makes mommy smile too!

Looking forward to this weekend...

I really need a weekend of relaxing! So this weekend we are just hanging out. We are going to our good friends for a late lunch on Saturday and Sunday we are just hanging out at my parents! Should be a good, relaxing time. We all need some time to just hang out and be with eachother!!

As I look forward to what next week holds, it only makes me charish this weekend of relaxing more.

Monday- Shots and Check up for Noah

Tuesday- Shots and Check up for Carter, dinner with friends

Wednesday- Small Group

Thursday- I have a hair appointment (yay!!)

Friday- Thinking of taking off for the weekend with the kids.... maybe to the beach!

Busy, crazy week!

Some new Pictures!!

Carter "trapped" and Jake helping!

A little outdoor time with daddy in the POOL!

Mr. Noah... getting to be so BIG!! Already 3 months old and lots of smiles for mommy!

The weekend...

So on Saturday, I got to hang out with Mom. Since Ricky and my Dad went to CORE racing in Pomona we decide to have a girls day. We went down to Victoria Gardens and had lunch then did some shopping. Nothing crazy since I had the two smaller boys with me.

Carter was such a trooper in the heat, he loves his stroller and I am so proud of him.
He makes me laugh the way he loves to people watch. He would rather do that than play with a toy or anything else while we out. He just loves to watch what people are doing!

Noah does not care for the heat at all so that was a little harder. He does not sleep well in the car seat so I held him until he fell asleep and then put him in the stroller. That worked for about 30 min then he was up and wanted to be held again. Silly little guy!

I exchanged a dress that I bought that was too big and got two shirts instead. I really love one but I am going to take the other one back.. it fits weird! With two kids its hard to try on at the store so I just normally get my size and go. Lucky for me my mom works close so she can take it back again for me.... huh... shopping.. is that really all that fun??

I loved hanging out with my mom! It was such a nice time of talking and hanging out. We should try to make time for that more often. Both of us are so busy that often times special times like that get pushed aside but they are important to me and mean so much. We talked about lots of fun stuff! So naturally when Ricky got home I asked him how his time with my dad was, and what they talked about? He looked at my funny. And this is how our conversation went....

"What did you and my dad talk about?"

'What do you mean?"

'I mean WHAT DID YOU TALK ABOUT? Did you talk about my sister's new boyfriend? How does he feel about that? What about my sister moving to Thailand? Did he say how he felt about that?"

"Well I guess we talked about that. We talked about mom's new job...."

"Oh ya? How does he feel about that???"

"My goodness, we are not girls! You are asking me questions like we sat there and had a conversation like two women.... I did not ask him how he felt about it all. It was more like. Oh hey do you like Geoff? ya I do. Cool. Julie has been working down the hill now cause her new job.... Oh ya? what kind of gas mileage is her car getting now?"

I guess their time was a little different then mine and mom's but still they had a good day and so did we. Guys and girls are so different it makes me laugh!

How to do... is there a google search for this??

How to?? How to?? This is the question that rolled through my mind last night at 7 over and over... How to raise the Godly man Tom is talking about? With three boys, last nights message on being Masculine, truly Masculine, according to how God designed men, was by far one of the most interesting and captivating messages I have heard, EVER. I know he kept saying he was talking to the men... not the ladies. But I was listening. With three boys 3 and under, my heart is continually longing to know how to raise them to be Godly men. How do I instill in them the desire to be all that God created them to be?

This is something that continually is on my heart... the unknown of being a parent is amazing. God gives you these little humans and in return He wants you to mold them and shape them into what He has already pre-wired them to be. But at the same time allowing them to grow, make mistakes, get hurt, etc. HOW TO??

I thought last night was great... but it still leaves me with questions?? When Tom was talking about Drew and how he knew not to make him docile and meek... how did he know that? Who told him that? What is the balance? Between fighting all the time, everything is a weapon and raising a warrior who will fight the enemy and protect his family?

I feel like this is going to be my quest.... to figure out the HOW TO?? and do it!! Please pray for me as a mom and a wife. That God would show me HOW TO and I would be able to thrive in that, thus my boys thriving in their God designed Masculinity.

Saturday at the lake...

Since my in-laws live in Spring Valley Lake, we have a guest pass to the lake and parks which I use during the week a lot with the kids. But this morning I thought it would be a fun thing for us to take the kids over and BBQ on one of the pits they have there and play! So we got all our chores done this morning, kids took a good nap and then about 4:00pm we headed over to the park/beach area at the lake. Ricky's parents came, it was nice to visit with them and as always they played lots with the boys!

Getting the grill going in that wind was such an adventure! We had brought the coal, which was match light, but not any lighter fluid since you are not suppose to need any! Well with the wind going the matches would just blow out before Ricky could get the coal's going. Not sure how, but we ended up talking to a guy who was just finishing grilling at another pit about our troubles and he offered us his fuel! So in an attempt not to move all our picnic stuff, I downed a Pepsi, Ricky cut off the top of the can, loaded it up with HOT coal's from the other pit and walked them across the park to ours. I think he did this like 4our 5 times until we had enough hot coal's burning and it eventually got the grill going... such an adventure and my thrifty and creative hubby was the hero of dinner!

Jake had his first hot dog on a BUN, with mustard and ketchup which he only ate about half of, thank goodness for my little garage pit Carter, he came right in behind him and finished it off! Jake got to play paddle ball with Ricky and Grandpa, and also go and put his feet in the water down on the beach. I had forgotten his suit so just feet today!

Carter decided he wanted to teach himself how to climb up onto the picnic table... and by the end of the afternoon he had done it! I think I felt actually sick to my stomach knowing he could get up on that and still he does not have good balance even on his feet! He is a climber though... in the past week he has really decided that is the favorite thing to do so he is climbing up onto the couch, standing on chairs, walking across the ottoman... its really scary for me! Carter also played in the sand which mostly ended up in his blonde little hair but he had a good time. I don't think he has ever been more dirty that he was when we got home! Carter also learned a new word today... He can clearly say "Bubble" which was fun to hear over and over and over!

Noah did good considering the wind. Between me and Grandma Jean he ate good and slept most of the time. We even got a little free time when we were able to come up with a tent like spot for him to lay down on the blanket and be blocked from the wind while he slept for about 30 min. He is cat napper not a real napper so 30 was good!

All in all it was a fun time! Good time with the kids, good time with Ricky's parents and a great time with my hubby! Something so cute about his standing over a fire pit BBQing...

Oh did I mention that Ricky and I played a form of paddle ball too... but this was the parent version. Dodging Jake with his paddle and Ricky holding Carter in one arm... it was so fun!

I really want to do more things like this with our boys! I want to create memories for them of times that we took them places and hung out. Taught them new things, ate new things, talked about new thing. It is something that I think about a lot... wanting to make sure that we are creating memories with our kids that will last them a lifetime! I can't wait until the babies are just a little older and outings are not as much work for us and more fun for them! I think the Zoo is next. Jake loves the animals and Carter has not been since he was a little guy so it should be fun!

What are some of your favorite things to do with your family?

Date night... with my honey!

So on Friday night we had a a wonderful evening planned. Ricky had bought me tickets to see Les Miserables In Concert at the Hollywood Bowl. For those of you who have not been to this venue, its amazing. The atmosphere here is like non other. The bowl was built all the way back in 1922, but still has a sophisticated feel that is not matched by another venue locally.

Here is the view from the seats of the main stage, at night this is amazing looking. But the best part is by far the seating arrangement. It is not the most comfortable seating, by far. Wooden benches in the top three sections. Box seating has chairs, with padding (next time honey!!)

Here is the view of the Bowl from the air! Its amazing! It is very steep which is hard to get into

the picture. I would recommend everyone see something at this venue at least once, just because! And one of the best parts is you can bring in any food or beverages that you would like. All over you will see people with picnic baskets and wine, while they do sell some snack items there, it is so much fun to pack up all your favorites and enjoy them during the show.

Back to our date night.... so last year for our 1st anniversary we went to see John Williams (Star Wars, Indiana Joans, etc. composer) conduct the LA Phil at the Hollywood Bowl and before hand we went to eat at an amazing little place in Burbank. Chadaka Thai has to be my favorite food and place to eat all in one. The atmosphere is so hip and fun, but the food is matched by no other place I have ever eaten. So all year I had been craving and trying to re-create Chadaka Thai in my kitchen. Last night my sweet husband treated me to another dinner date before the show at Chadaka Thai. Its so much fun to hang out with him. He is so thoughtful and caring and always is thinking about what I would like to do, see, or experience. He really made it an amazing night for me!

We had the pleasure of having my sister-in-law and her new hubby come with us to both dinner and the show, which was a special surprise and treat! They are so much fun and its such a blessing to see them loving being married and loving each other. The two of them are so funny too, so it keeps the laughs coming non-stop. Example: We are on the bus (remote parking for the bowl is way better than the stacked parking at the venue) to take us over to the bowl and they had decided that the floor of the bus was lava.. you know like you use to do when you were a kid... and you could not touch it or your would melt? Anyway, they held their feet up the entire ride and were in competition to see who would last longer. So as we pulled into the Bowl, neither had touched. Wanting to win Melissa jumps onto Ricky's back and he carries her off the bus. ALSO not wanting to melt... Macha holds onto the polls and climbs on the seats from the back of the bus to the front and jumps off like he does it everyday! It was so funny to watch them be silly and having a great time! Thanks for your amazing company, Mr & Mrs Suzuki! We love you both... see you Wednesday!

Honey, thank you for my amazing birthday present! By far the best part of the evening was just being together. Thank you for making that happen! And for the Pineapple Shrimp Fried Rice... WOW!

Making babies....?!?!

I had to laugh out loud today when my mother-in-law sent me this email about why Grandparents love grandkids so much... here is what one of the cute stories said

A second grader came home from school and said to her
grandmother, 'Grandma, guess what? We learned how to make babies
today.' The grandmother, more than a little surprised, tried
to keep
her cool. 'That's interesting,' she said, 'how do you make babies?''It's
simple,' replied the girl. 'You just change 'y' to 'i' and add 'es'.'

Hope you all enjoyed that as much as me!!

Books...

I am so excited! Yesterday I got two new books... (thanks Bubba)! Reforming Marriage by Douglas Wilson and The Measure of a Woman by Gene and Elaine Getz.

Ricky and I are both going to read Reforming Marriage.... Our really good friends the Giles recommended it to us... so far so good! And my friend Cassie and I are going to read through The Measure of a Woman together... kind of like two chapters a week and talk about it. I am really excited!

There have been so many times in my life, in my marriage, being a parent, a friend, a woman in general that I have thought "Am I doing this right? Is this what God meant?" I am excited to read some people's perspective on these issues and gain insight from them. I am excited to learn. I think that is something I really enjoy... learning. Learning without the writting of papers or exams... but just good ol' learning. Maybe I will take a class non-credit... just to learn. Something that I am really interested in... maybe child development or something like that... hum?? Idea!!!

Anyway, just wanted to share what was on the night stand right now! Going to go watch So You Think You Can Dance with my hubby.... LOL... I LOVE THAT SHOW!!!

Good NIGHT!