eighteen

i've fallen victim to some sort of freakish time-travel incident. i've heard about this sort of thing before...only now it's happened to me.  an abnormal and inexplicable phenomenon where i blinked and my firstborn went from infant car seat to driver's seat,

 from nursery school to contemplating post-secondary, from adorable to beautiful, and taller than her mama...

she doesn't love the mushy side of me (although maybe really deep down it resonates with her a bit), but i can't help but remember this day eighteen years ago when i realized i'd finally be welcoming my first child.  a full twelve days late (rascal)~ she was making her grand entrance on her terms only~ i sat there in my hospital room cradling a precious bundle that i already loved sooooo fiercely...and so my transition to parenthood began.  it's been a wild ride....yet i can honestly say i'm so thankful for all the highs and lows, because i know without a doubt that i'm being shaped and stretched and changed simply because of this role i have as mom to this bunch.  

love you Joelle~ to the moon and back.  i hope and pray this is your best year ever!

twelve

miss Layla, or Lolita as we've affectionately called her since birth, has hit her twelfth birthday....crazy to us that she is officially this number.  the last year before her teen years.....heaven help us...actually....
she spent the day with two crazy twins who share her energy level and match her sweetness.  we visited a trampoline park in Michigan, and came home convinced we must open such a place here in this city.  still trying to locate the million or so we'd need to get it off the ground....stay tuned.

Layla is a girl who thinks and feels deeply.  her emotions are out there in a refreshing way that leaves little room for guessing.  she processes her world around her actively and intentionally.  can't wait to see God's divine purpose and plan continue to be lived out through her life.  today i admit, i do miss her crazy baby hair and her sweet baby skin...

.  still~ her feistiness remains with her giant love of life.

 keep shining my dear....love you lots....

fourteen

 notice the series of number titles i've used in the previous few weeks?  it's become a bit of an unintended theme, but i think i'll go with it!  we are, after all, just into the long run of summer birthdays.  yesterday Adam celebrated his. 

  

he is officially fourteen, and on the brink of a pretty huge year.  we love this guy for his dry wit, his sense of adventure, and his love of children....

 

 

he is becoming a "mini-Jeff" in many ways.  brace yourselves! :)

Adam....i love you beyond simple words on a blog.  praying for you through the coming year.

wishing you God's very best as you live out "14"...

twenty one

this picture has always been unique to me.  not because we look like kids.  no, not that...it was at the end of our wedding ceremony during the recessional, and i was finally married to my favourite guy.  the joy is written all over my face.  and his too~ let's be honest! :)  but that's a given, right?!?  hahaha.....

 

 

Seven thousand, six hundred and seventy days later it is still a ride filled with such joy.  here's to another twenty one years if God blesses us so!

love you, Jeffrey!

sixteen

this baby girl...

 

 

is now sixteen. 

 

 

i'm still trying to figure out how that happened.  sigh...

we love you, sweet Hannah!! 

cool links

it isn't very often in this space that i veer too far from our own family happenings.  cuz' all of that is just so riveting all by itself that it's hard to detour. right?  wrong...but still....

there is this organization in Haiti, however, that has me doing just that on this particular week.  Heartline Ministries is doing so much right there within that country that we love...  i wish i had piles and piles of money to write them one of those big ol' checks you see people standing with when they've received a large sum of money....Heartline is true and effective orphan care in the sense that it strives to prevent an orphan crisis from happening in the first place.  it is educating, training, supporting, empowering woman to love and care for themselves and their babies both in utero and once born.  it is coming along side a pregnant woman before, during and after birth.  plus, it is so much more, and it is changing lives for many who may have experienced an entirely different outcome if not for Heartline's loving investment.  cool to see and read about them and the work they do....
anyway, the Livesay's are a family i don't really know personally, but feel like i do.  i've read their blog for years.  (i'd be that creepy person who'd recognize them at a mall one day and run up and hug them, without them having any clue who i was.  for their sake, i hope it never happens...) back to their blog~ i love following their open and honest conversations about life in Haiti and parenting many kids and being followers of Christ....they are slogging it out in Haiti at Heartline Ministries, doing the day-in-day-out hard stuff that is making a real difference~ a difference that is not always easy to measure or see.  this two-part story i've linked to below is a small window into their experiences there, and it moved me.  hope it does you as well...

Part 1

Part 2

summer lovin'

a few summertime favourites.  morsels and moments that make me smile.  thankful for lavish blessings...

fresh strawberry pie.  definitely on my top ten list...

snakes~ not so much.  but AJ's reaction was pretty priceless...

fireworks in July...

ice cream runs....oh how i love my moosetracks in a waffle cone....bring along these six and it's extra fun. 

garden beauty...

pool antics with cherished friends....

ahhh, yes....so far so good...