God's Grace in a Lost Binki, Found

Judson's binky obsession has been both a blessing and a curse.

The boy can be in a full on melt down but give him his binky and his Mama and all is right in the world. 

BUT, when it's not there....

When we loose it or forget it...

It's not good news.

 

Before I go on, I must use this disclaimer...

I am aware of binky leashes.  They just don't work for him...he pulls them off.

Ok, that's said. 

 

So, over the last two days I have noticed that we are down to one binky in the house.

I knew that the moment was coming when it would mysteriously disappear and we would be in trouble until someone ran out to Babies R Us to purchase some more.

So today was that day.

 

When I loaded him in the car after picking up Ava from therapy, it was in his mouth.

When we got home, it was GONE.  

Gone gone gone.

Nap time quickly came around and the fussiness began.

I was close to loading up the kids in the car and heading to the store when I stopped to pray.

Ever felt so silly about a prayer?  

Yea, this was one of those times.

But I did and then I checked in a bag that I'd looked in a million time and there it was.

A beautiful blue binky (in need of a quick rinse but beautiful none the less).

He sucked on it happily and then I went to pick him up so I could rock him to sleep.

BINKY GONE!

I turned over tables looking for this thing.

Again, I prayed.

Looked in another bag (again, this is a bag that I have searched over many many times) and there it was!

Another binky!

Thank you Lord.

This one wasn't going anywhere.

I was making sure of that.

The point is that God cares.

He is big enough to save my soul from death and he is small enough to lead me to lost binkies.

He cares about ever detail of our lives.

"The Lord directs the steps of the godly.
    He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will never fall,
    for the Lord holds them by the hand."

~Psalms 37:23-24

"Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you."
~1 Peter 5:7

 

Happy Things

Some things that are making Mama smile today...

Disney passes back in action!!!

You can tell that Ava is not excited at all about being back at Disneyland.

Ava's stick on earrings.

She loves them.

They are so sweet.  

The best part is, I don't have to clean them or turn them or worry about infections.

She does look so grown up in them though.

That, I do not like. 

Judson's shoes

He just got his first pair of shoes!  

He pulls on them and is not too fond of them most of the time.

It is darling to watch him explore them. 

Wrestling

Can't wait till Judson is old enough to jump in there.

Ava could do this all day long.

We love our weekends with Dada.

Skyping with our cousins and Grandma.

Ava loves them so much.  

"A happy heart makes the face cheerful..."

Proverbs 15:13a

Loud and Clear

We haven't even been home from vacation for a week but I feel like so much has happened. 

There's been some real highs and real lows over the past few days.

But one MAJOR high has been the amazing growth we've seen in Ava's communication.

Just this week Ava and I were studying Penguins.

We learned that adult penguins know their children by the sound of their voice.

Mother's understand their children.  

They just do.

I have always felt this way about my babies as well.  

I pick up easily on Ava's non-verbal ques, I understand every variation of her signing.

BUT, there are limits to what she can communicate to us.  

She is growing up.  

She wants to communicate more than just her needs and wants.

She wants to share ideas, memories, feelings.

So we are so thankful that FINALLY she is figuring out her talker and using it like crazy.

The talker was something that I didn't want to push on her. 

I never knew if I was doing the right thing of not.

I am confident now that we did the right thing in giving her time.

God is so amazing in his timing as well.

The new school year is about to begin and my anxiety levels rise whenever it's time to send Ava into a new environment.

But this year she will go into school with a new voice.

Her voice.

  

We have always heard you sweet Ava girl.  

We are so grateful that we can now hear MORE of your beautiful heart. 

 "He has made everything beautiful in its time."

~Ecclesiastes 3:11

Adventures in Washington Part III (final vacation post)

A glimpse into our last two days in Washington.

Day 6:  Grandma's House...

 It was great to have a day at home. 

Jud needed a day with normal naps.

Mama and Dada needed that too.

Then he went ahead and started taking little steps.  

Look!  No hands!

Day 7:  Kids Museum and River Front Park...

 We woke up early to a major thunder storm.

We started looking into some indoor activities and found a children's museum down in Spokane. 

It turned out to be a lovely day after all and so we walked from the museum down to River Front Park where the kids rode rides, played chase with James, and argued over which of them got the second seat in our double stroller.

 

I thought I had forgotten my camera, hence the I-phone pictures.

I realized that I had it on our way to the park.

This is called the trash eating goat.  

It sucks up your garbage.  

It's pretty hilarious.

We heart Grandma and our cousins.

We will miss you!  

Thanks for a great vacation. 

Adventures in Washington Part II

The fun continues here in Washington.  

 Today there is nothing on the schedule.

This is really the first down day.

The kids are playing Candyland and the baby is borderline content with his toys on the floor.

So, as usual, this will probably be written in several different sittings.

Excuse the choppiness.

Day 4: Swimming, Driving, and Boardgames...

No pictures from Day 4 :-( 

After spending the day in Richland, we stayed the night in a hotel there.  

We woke up, had breakfast, and walked by the gorgeous river.

The kids swam in the hotel pool for about an hour (Hotel pools are such a thrill for kids...love that.)

Then we drove back and spent the rest of the day playing boardgames and teaching Ava about cheating.

I guess Mommy was a little too lacks on rule following when the two of us play at home.  

That doesn't fly when other children are involved.  

Oops :-/

Day 5:  Cousin Photo Shoot and Post Falls Idaho...

 It is rare that Grandma has all 4 or her Grandchildren in the same place so we took a few pictures outside the house.

My big camera is not working and I was worried that I wouldn't get any keepers but we did.  

I guess it's because we have some pretty good looking models. 

After an eventful trip to church we headed to Post Falls Idaho to visit James' sister Nicole and her boyfriend Dan.

We met up at the river near there house and swam for hours.

Then it was back to their house for some hamburgers and hot dogs.

 It totally looks like fall in their backyard.  

It made me happy.

Check out this amazing sunset.

Vacations with littles is not what "vacation" used to mean.  It's more hectic and can be stressful when the kids are out of their routine.  

But somehow it better.  

Better than it ever was without them.  

I love our little family and I love that they will have these memories forever.

Two more days here.  

More updates to come.  

Adventures in Washington

Family Vacation time!

James' family lives in East Washington and we haven't been to visit them in many years.

We actually haven't attempted traveling anywhere too far since we became parents.

Our trip is about half way over now.

We are having a great time with family.

Ava is loving playing with her cousins and Judson is having fun exploring a new place and keeping us up at night :-)

Day 1:  Flying and Nature Hike...

Our travel day was long but it was pretty easy considering what it could have been.  

Is a plane ride ever fun??  Even when you just have yourself to worry about, it's tight and awkward and stuffy.  

So, I can't complain.  

The kids were great.

And since kids don't understand the meaning of down time and definitely don't understand all that goes in to preparing for a trip, we went on a nature walk soon after arriving.

2

 There was only one minor accident.

Kyleigh feel off the log and scraped her leg.

We thought it would be best if the 5 and 6 year old dealt with bandaging her up.

Day 2:  Boat and Beach...

Kyleigh and Kale's Daddy has an awesome boat which we enjoyed on Thursday.

We let the big kids (Daddy) go out before us so he could wake board.  

He is still sore.

We played on the beach with the little ones. 

There were water snakes.

And yes, I swam in this snake infested water :-)

We thought they would never come back for us but they finally did and it was our turn to enjoy the boat too.  

We went tubing, swimming and cruised around enjoying the beautiful lake and the beautiful weather.

Day 3: Judson's Birthday and a trip to Richland...

Our cutie man turned one!!!  

Mama hung the happy birthday banner and he opened a few presents.

Then we all got in the car and headed a couple hours west to my Aunt's home.

My Aunt just happens to live in Washington too and we really wanted to see her, my uncle, and my cousin's family since we were so close.

Aunt Jan is the awesome!  

She made the day so special.  

Balloons, party hats, and cupcakes.

It was a wonderful way to spend Judson's first birthday.

 We have a few days left before we head home.

Lots of fun to be had and memories to be made.