wordless wednesday

Worth watching!!

Gianna Jessen from LMF CAM on Vimeo.

wordless wednesday

fall

I absolutely love this new season of autumn.  just recently we took our youngest ones for a lovely walk up some trails and waterfalls.

our mini fam-jam!

The crisp fall air was so refreshing and the red and orange colored leaves were simply gorgeous.

Even little Miss Zionnah had her own spectacular view of  everything

The bridge that has a fantastic view of the rushin water below

Elijahs favorite part!

The falls....

h

hand in hand

I have a feeling that many more hikes at this spot will be a must this fall, especially before all the leaves fall to the ground.....

A Poem I came across......

To my grown-up Son 

My hands were busy through the day

I didn’t have much time to play

The little games you asked me to.

I didn’t have much time for you.

I’d wash your clothes; I’d sew and cook,

But when you’d bring your picture book

And asked me please to share your fun,

I’d say “A little later, son.”

I’d tuck you in all safe at night

And hear your prayers, turn out the light,

Then tiptoe softly to the door…

I wish I’d stayed a minute more.

For life is short, the years rush past…

A little boy grows up so fast.

No longer is he at your side,

His precious secrets to confide.

The picture books are put away;

There are no longer games to play.

No good-night kiss, no prayers to hear,

That all belongs to yesteryear.

My hands, once busy, now are still.

The days are long and hard to fill.

I wish I could go back and do

The little things you asked me to! 

spiritual pride

"Proud people tend to speak of other's sins, the miserable delusion of hypocrites, the deadness of some saints with bitterness, or the opposition to holiness of many believers. Pure Christian humility, however, is silent about the sins of others, or speaks of them with grief and pity.

The spiritually proud person finds fault with other saints for their lack of progress in grace, while the humble Christian sees so much evil in his own heart, and is so concerned about it, that he is not apt to be very busy with other hearts.


He complains most of himself and his own spiritual coldness and readily hopes that most everybody has more love and thankfulness to God than he."


"One under the influence of spiritual pride is more apt to instruct others than to ask questions. Such a person naturally puts on the airs of a master. The eminently humble Christian thinks he needs help from everybody, whereas the spiritually proud person thinks everybody needs his help. Christian humility, under a sense of others’ misery, entreats and beseeches, but spiritual pride commands and warns with authority."





~Written by Jonathan Edwards

Wordless Wednesday

3 months old!

Zionnah...you are three months old now!

We can hardly believe it...

You weigh around 11 pounds and have gotten longer too

You are wearing a few newborn sized onesies and mostly 3-6 month clothing

We love putting you in cloth diaper prefolds/covers and you have almost outgrown the prefolds, you are moving onto Small sized Fuzzi Bunz now...

(did I mention how Sweet you look in them?!)

You are eating every 3 hours, almost on the dot! you start to smack your lips and stick your tongue out to show us you're hungry and you love to nurse.

I am so impressed with you because of how well you sleep. You are on a great schedule and you thrive on it. I bathe you every night with lullabies, baby massage with softly scented cream, and then swaddle you tight. If we dont swaddle you , we can count on you waking every 1/2 hour so Mommy and Daddy have learned the trick and make sure we have lots of blankets around. ha!

You are in your crib at 9pm latest and are asleep till 4 a.m...which is amazing!

The minute you stir, I hear you and jump up to rock you and "dream-feed" you and then voila!~ back to sleep you go, until 8 a.m

When you wake up you greet us with the biggest grins! It melts my heart everytime and you especially love to watch your siblings and have such big smiles for them.

Little Zionnah you are such a blessing to us! We thinks its so cute how you are simply fascinated with your hands, since  you have just discovered them...we watch you as a hand in your face keeps you occupied for 10 minutes or so!

Everyone comments how much dark hair you have and how curly it is, (especially after a bath) I can't wait to see if your curls stay as you get older and grow

You are getting so bored of your babyswing and mommy is thinking of getting rid of it. We are just starting to have scheduled "tummy-time" for you and you get frustrated quickly on your belly.

Your favorite thing right now is being carried by Daddy in the MobyWrap, it calms you and I think you like being able to watch everyone .

You are such a social baby so far and so content!

We enjoy watching you grow and develop more of your muscles.

We thank God for your life and so thankful He has entrusted us to be your parents.

Happy 3 Months Baby "Zionnah Hope"!

graduation

Today was "Graduation" day for our little Lidiyah. She is in senior kindergarten and they had a ceremony and presentation that she eagerly participated in. She was so cute as she performed some songs with her classmates and every parent/grandparent there was gushing with tears, laughter and pride.  What is it about little ones and the funny ways they dance and react to a crowd? Some get shy and barely move, while others are confident and show off their moves..lol...

It was so sweet to watch her recieve her graduation certificate from her lovely teachers...it made me so proud.

After they had time to take pictures and that was followed by a reception with Cake, snacks and fruit trays.

We are so proud of all our children but especially today we were so happy for Lidiyah.

Congratulations Lidiyah! We can't wait to see how you will grow and change in the years ahead!!

Mail!

Its Monday! and the SuN is shining...
our two littlest girls have been so patient with me today, as all morning I've been on the phone with business calls, it's one of those Monday's where I like to get all my stuff done so I can go on and enjoy the week. One of those calls was to the "Above Rubies" office and I was blessed to chat with Nancy Campbell (again!) and she told me our package was in the mail! I'm pretty excited as we've had a mail strike and now these should be coming soon.

These are the aprons that are on their way!

If you know our family, you will know that the girls of the house, well we all love pretty things and Aprons happens to be one of the "lovely" things we collect. It all started when our firstborn daughter was a toddler and I bought her her very first apron at a craft sale. She and I spent so much time together in the kitchen that her first apron had so many washings and was getting worn so we found her another one and here we are a decade later with more little girls in our family who have their own aprons too! Oh- and of course mommy didn't miss out on those craft sales and Etsy sales either..lol..I have some sweet aprons of my own too.

Anyhow, back to these gorgeous aprons in the mail. They are made from the lovely ladies and daughters from Above Rubies. I want to support this amazing ministry and what better way. Above Rubies has blessed my life and many of my friends lives not only through their website, but through their incredible magazine and awesome retreats. I have been so refreshed to attend one of their Mother's retreats and still have fond memories and spiritual moments from it.

Another website to find beautiful handmade things is Etsy. Now be careful, because it can be hard to get off that site! It's basically like Ebay but its pretty much ALL handmade. I have bought baby blankets, cloth diapers, pillowcase dresses, soft cloth playbooks, and cute baby toys off there. ~happy sigh*

 
Well that is all for today, I have some laundry to do, and then I need to pack our cooler to meet dear hubby on his lunch at the waterfront. Have a Blessed Monday!

new book!

We went to Chapters and bought some new books. Chapters is a weakness for me, as I always find sooo much I want to buy and have to use self-control to narrow my choices down. I could spend so much money at that store!-just thankful we dont have one here in our city but have to travel out of town to visit one.

I found this book by an amazing Christian Lady author which many of you will know by the name of "Nancy Rue". I have bought a few books by her for our 10 year old daughter which she has really enjoyed. To my delight, I came across this one for mothers...

Nancy Rue has a way of using humour and I have been diving into this one at night. She has very practical applications and lots of wisdom. Here is an excerpt from the back of the book:

"this equips you as a mom with comprehensive, expert, and encouraging guidance for helping your daughter's cross the bridge between girlhood and the teenage years...every mom faces that time when her daughter is no longer a little girl but not yet a teen. She's a "tween", trying to figure out how to deal with her increasingly complex world.."

that pretty much sums it up well. We have such a sweet spirited daughter, but I do see some mood changes and other fun things in her that I would love to understand and this book seemed appropriate for such a time as this!

More from the book.....

You know you have a tween in the house when:

- one day she wants no part of your advice , and the next she's in your lap begging for help

- one hour she's playing dress-up with her little sister, and the next she has a sign on the door that reads NO SIBLINGS ALLOWED?

-one minute she wants to operate the stove or the ATV or the chain saw, and the next she's afraid to ask a waiter for a glass of water

-one second she's asking you to drop her at the corner so her friends wont see what you're wearing and the next she wants to borrow that cool necklace you just bought..?

These made me laugh...

Wordless Wednesday

beach bum

So we had the most amazing weekend! the weather was so beautiful and warm, and it really felt like summer. We spent most of our time outside, visited the "nutty chocoaltier" for their "sunday scoop " deal, and visited the park.



I'm kind of bummed out for our older  children as their school year is actually longer this year- and they will miss trips to the beach this month of June. I am just hoping our weekends continue to be hot!

I think tonight we'll head out to the mall and get some new beach toys/gear.  I need to get some more pails, shovels and water wings for our toddlers. The children were eyeing up some floaty toys there that some other children were using... so maybe we'll get them some of those too. Oh-we need to get some stronger sunscreen too, right now we have SPF 30, but I would feel better if we had SPF 45!

Welcome SUMMER! (though not official yet)

more pics

Our sweet newborn sleeping...so precious!

Celebration cake Daddy went out and bought to welcome baby Zionnah

Zionnah nurses like a champ and is gaining her weight beautifully! This is our midwife using her scale to weigh her

Love this!

 

Introducing....

I am so excited to introduce our newest addition to the family! (Long Overdue I know, it's taken a bit to get our groove back after enjoying time with a new babe in the house and savoring every moment)

We had a different birth again this time in that my water broke the Friday before our "sweetpea's" due date and then we waited to go into labor, but as it has happened before, my body took a bit to kick into high gear of what would be called active labor. It wasn't until the actual due date that things progressed and when they did, it went so fast. Very fast and intense.

We were so excited that indeed our 7th Blessing was a GIRL!!

Our SweetPea arrived and the second I saw her and she was placed upon my chest I wept, She was so beautiful, soft and tiny...

Here she is, seconds old!

We named her "Zionnah Hope"

We chose "Zionnah" as it is a Hebrew name which means "One of true Goodness" (...it is pronounced "Zie-on-uh")

Her middle we chose for very specific reasons and felt it was very fitting to call her Hope , mainly due to some amazing things that played out during my pregnancy with her and some things dear hubby and I were learning through certain circumstances. I can still say her name over and over again, and I fall in love with it everytime. It is so "her"

She weiged in at 6 lbs 8 oz and 47 cm which is 18.5 inches

born on her due date Saturday April 30 at 5:50 p.m

She's a Beauty and such a Miracle!!

She is adored by all her siblings....

Each morning the children want to hold her and are so good now at taking turns

We are so blessed to have another little one in our lives to raise and nurture!

Now that little Zionnah is here, we can't imagine life without her! She fits so well into our family and we are so thankful for her LIFE!! Thank you God for the sweetness of a newborn in the house...

Here is our first official family pic with all our Blessings!!