31 May 2011

88 new reasons to write a song!!!

88 new keys grace my living room wall!!!






this was something I have wanted for a long time!!
I played piano for 11 years, but I have basically taken the last 15 years off. so I am not sure now I am eligible to count the previous! I had a wonderful teacher who gave me a hard time for playing by ear...well in hindsight, she was so right. i can sight read a little here and there, but its lame. its not like riding a bike, after so long away it really is like learning all over again!!

It was a partial surprise, in the works; i knew about it. just didn't know it was something Andy had been stewing on for a while. It was to be a tiny#4 "push-birthday" gift for later this fall!!! This was my mother's day present this year!!!

We had mentioned to my dad that we were on the lookout for one, and if you know him he has a knack for stumbling across great finds....even pianos!

Well, its still a push gift, even though we're only 1/2 way to meeting our newest addition.

Worship has been a huge part of my life for the last 10+years. well really longer than that. I grew up in a home full of life and music; with a dad who played the guitar, banjo...led worship and a mom who gave joy and encouragement to settling in our passions, and a deep love for the arts!!!

Andy and I led worship as college students at UT, before we were engaged, then newlyweds! Its a huge part of the way God drew us together and was a sweet preview of serving together!!! In worship there is communion with the Spirit for me, like nothing else. Its the sweet spot. That thing, that place that I know I can count on the Lord meeting me. Where most everything else that seems to creep in and bother me, is immune! I am prayerful as years pass and I play again that these moments become closer together. not just slices i have to steal here and there!

for now, and the foreseeable future, I don't and won't have many quiet moments to sit down along and play, its like a moth to a flame when I hit the first key . . . tinys come running. which has been fun to begin teaching Lillian along with myself, just basic scales!!

I like looking to things on the horizon! Its not always a healthy outlook. I don't want to be in a posture of always looking to that next thing..missing the now; but for this it's hopeful in what's to come. when i walk in my living room i can't help but smile at this instrument that I have hope for. Hope for the curiosity and anticipation it brings me. hope for moments of intimate worship, that I can't help be selfish with! hope that when my fingers hit those keys I am reminded of how life-giving music can be!!!

30 May 2011

bday recap : all things transportation!!

we went into today with a 'plan' to open gifts after lunch...yeah right. that didn't hold for very long.
this is the 'try to be shy-look'

"a garbage truck, this is what i wanted!"

even better, a fire truck from the same fleet!!!

what transportation bday isn't complete without a train!!


i love how he just sat and looked at the cake!!!

this is called, can i go play with my trucks now-look

since preschool is done, I am pretty sure i will be waking to the sound of 'heavy machinery' via Liam's new arsenal of trucks!!

spring has gone!

House on the market, school programs, soccer, a train ride, libraries, playgrounds....
it was a fun start to spring!! which clearly with 90+ degree weather has come and gone already!

Lillian is finishing kindergarten.
its been a fun year!!! i will be retiring my no-really-i-can-do-it-all Cape in a couple weeks as i surrender my duties as room mom to the next naive soul that walks into that classroom!! wow.

what an undertaking. i'm the first to say i have to work really really hard to be organized. its not something that just flows naturally for me. i need tools. like lots of them. and sticky notes to keep things 'fresh' on the brain!
Its something i have always felt has been a short-coming; blame it on the artist in me or the lazy. I just don't do organization well. most things never get put in the same place more than twice. i horizontally file. its really ok. i can function. there is a rhythm and routine to our life that allows me the freedom and grace to not drive myself bonkers at not mastering organization.
i am a mess. its ok. just as long as the mess gets hidden a little when potential buyer walk thru our house!!!

hard to believe she goes into 1st grade in the fall!!!

lost tooth #2 today!!!!

sweet bff the bean!! came for a quick visit! i can't handle how big they are!!!

THE TINYS!!!
with some new digs!


the foose and her puppy!! on the light rail headed uptown!!
Lucy is recently attached to 'puppy'. he actually is on loan from big sister . . a treasure from her disney trip! we don't go anywhere without puppy. i have to sneak him out of bed at night to wash him. i love this stage with her, especially around Lillian and Liam she just seems so small and still 'baby' to me. yet i know at this stage Lillian felt so grown up!!

we're in the midst of our lovely approaching 3s. a rough spot for the tinys. history serves as a great reminder having experienced two already through this stage. thankfully third time around you find a little more humor in the drama filled meltdowns..
we're a bit attached to the movie Tangled, and in the heat of the moment when she doesn't get what she wants lately, she tells me to go away, that this is her tower!! yeah, good one!

Liam was just a little excited to ride the light rail!!
he hasn't really stopped talking about the 'subway' train that took us to have ice cream!!!

outside imaginon uptown!



liam's best pirate impression!!



we did a soccer clinic with the Y. liam loved it. the coach was amazing!!

four4FOUR4FoUR!!!!

happy 4th birthday LIAM boy!!!!

my first glimpse of this boy :: I never imagined how many times my heart would melt, how hard i would laugh, how much i would feel like i am fighting my self in a tiny version, how much i would wonder if we were parenting right, how many tears i would shed and how hard i would pray for your him. . . in just 4 years! only a preview of what i am sure to come as we watch God shape this little man!!

There is something about the arrival of our tiny#2. I was more calm. anticipating sniffing and snuggling and kissing this boys face off! It was gonna be different. It was a BOY! our first was a girl. I was nervous, what do you do with a boy? would I love him the same? how was I gonna juggle two tinys? :: all totally normal 2nd time mommy thoughts. but pointless worry.

there is something supernatural when it comes to the capacity to love another baby, exactly the same, but different! There is so much that Liam has added to our family! I can't imagine not having the rowdy wild boy nature a part of our every day life.

Liam, at 4
I love how intense and fierce you are!
I love that this passion is something God has gifted you!
I love that there is never a question on how you feel about something, from your passionate expression of opinion to the gentleness your show with your sisters!!
I love that in that fierce spirit you are equally as tender hearted.
i love that you want to be a garbage man when you grow up.
I love that you can rock a pony tail!
i love how excited you are that we have another tiny on the way; and that you ask everyday if we can go get our baby!!
today; i loved the expression on your face as you opened your very own garbage truck!!!
i love the tenderness in your eyes right before you fall asleep, and ask if jesus wants to get out
of your heart so he could go down the slide at the pool!!
(You ask him where Jesus lives, he points to his armpit!! really i think he's just confused on where his heart is!!)
i love most that you know how loved you are!!!

looking for approval to commence the present opening!!

rockin a new pair of specs (thanks gaffer & gigi)

it was a special day. gaffter & gigi were here to celebrate, yaya and roo were here to celebrate . . big sister lillian said today it was the best day of her life...then she said, no, the 2nd best, the first was going to Disney...but this was a very close 2nd! From waking up with balloons all over our living room, to HUGE marshmallows with a candle in it to sing brother happy birthday, to lunch at our favorite cheeseburger spot, to the pool, another marshmallow.....my mommy cup was full today watching Lillian celebrate her sweet brother and her excitement for his birthday!

change :: full of surprises!!

Take into account the amount of fluctuation life has had the last several months :: you'll forgive no new blog posts!! and forgive only a photo on this one. i will catch up on each tiny in future posts!!

since Lillian's 6th birthday this past February we found out we were expecting TINY #4, not even 12 hours later Andy was offered a campus pastor role with our church which inevitably means a move. we looked at each other and took a deep breath . . while each thing is an amazing blessing we felt as though we needed to have a helmet on, anticipating being shot straight out of cannon at 100+mph. no looking back.

THE NEWEST TINY :
We've been prayerful about adding to our family for the last 2+ years. There we moments when it was no, then yes, then no way, then absolutely; how could we not. The amazing part to me was God's total control and orchestration of our conversations; we were ALWAYS on the same page. Clearly the answer ended being yes, that we were peaceful and excited about the possibility of another tiny!
We are due late October 2011!!!

THE JOB :
The job change is another answer to prayer. Being in full time ministry is a daily blessing for us; but it is also a daily challenge. To honor God in all you do, in work and life is a passionate pursuit with us sitting at the foot of the cross. There are sweet amazing moments where you feel God pouring out His favor; and moments of silence, where you cannot ignore his presence but feel alone. Long periods of waiting, and trusting, sharpening those deep parts of your soul and strengthening our faith.

THE MOVE
means we will be moving just about 40 miles south of where we live now. Our house has been on the market almost 70 days. The stress of keeping it clean with 3 tinys, a dog, a tiny on the way, school year finishing up.....I don't even know where to start with how difficult its been.

The depth of trust and faith this has beckoned from me to really believe it will all fall into place has been a more difficult challenge than I expected. It has shown me areas of sin and prompted confession of my desire for control. I have great days, then terrible ones. I wake each morning more and more grateful that HIS mercies are new each day! another opportunity to trust in crazy circumstances for HIM to show himself faithful!

I wake expectant that He is the one leading us. HE has orchestrated all this. HE knows we have a baby on the way, and a child entering 1st grade, and that i am a crazy hormonal nesting mess!! HE knows all that, HE has ALWAYS known all that and knows the outcome!!! so, in our daily tornado of chaos, I am peaceful. I am trusting. and I am constantly confessing when that bit of anxiousness creeps in!

updated posts about 3 tinys & liam boys bday coming!!!