Some family faves: Henderson~Ziel~Shiach

It is always sweet to look back upon years of relationships with people from various times & places. Over the course of a couple months we were able to spend time with some very special people. 

Graeme & Anita are the couple that Rob lived with when he was in Australia, he proposed to me in their home, they have prayed for us & love us. The feeling is mutual. They usually make it over to the US once every 2-3 years & we are always excited for their arrival! This visit was a quick one & they stayed with Bob & Jeannine which I am positive was much more restful than sleeping here ; ) The four of them spent an entire day & evening with us & we had a wonderful time. It took about 3 seconds for the girls to remember how much they loved their Aussie "grandparents" & they quickly convinced them for a cuddle on the couch. They got their blankets & were cozy in no time at all! The girls were in charge of picking a movie & chose The Rescuers Down Under....perfectly appropriate. 

We took a walk down to the creek & I will say five adults on four kids is so easy!

I had to include a picture of the boys with Grammy & Papa.

We cooked a delicious Tex-Mex meal & ate with Rob when he got home from work that afternoon followed by a quick photoshoot on the front lawn.

They always come bearing gifts that we love including little Uggies for the kiddos, Aussie stuffed animals & various other items. This time was no different! One special gift this time was for Arlo. Anita came across a large piece of cowboy fabric that is just darling & will fit right into the corral for the buckaroos. I hope to make a quilt or blanket or some swaddling clothes....that might be the easiest ; ) Speaking of those stuffed animals, our collection includes a koala, kangaroo, wombat, emu & a kookaburra. I love them all but this morning around 5:45am, two little guys hopped in my bed & I was too tired to take them back. I told them if they made any noise they would be headed back to their beds. They took my advice & were quiet but little did I know, the kookaburra had hitched a ride & was soon making his presence known. Taken from the San Diego Zoo website page about kookaburras..."The call sounds like a variety of trills, chortles, belly laughs, and hoots. It starts and ends with a low chuckle and has a shrieking "laugh" in the middle." Isn't that exactly what you want to hear when you are attempting to sleep after having already been awakened twice in the past 5 hours? I was soooooo irritated & actually threw that kookaburra across the room setting off one more "shrieking laugh." Anson was deeply offended & went to retrieve him right away. He is hidden tonight : )  We love all their gifts, even the kookaburra ; )  The countdown is on until they buy another set of plane tickets!

The next family that we were able to catch up with are the Ziels.  Words cannot describe how special this family is to us. We knew them for all but 3 months of our time in Orlando & spent oodles of time together. They moved from Orlando to Colorado in early June & planned their route to stay at the Nest partway through the drive. The girls just about died when we told them who would be sleeping over! Anna & Clara were just 4 & 2 when we met them & Alex was about a month away from being born. What a crazy time for our lives to intersect! Cathy was my go-to mama for questions or a shoulder to cry on, a major encouragement to me & wife to a husband that was a good friend to Rob. We were sooooo sad to say farewell when we left Orlando & had not seen them in a year until their van pulled up! Happy Day for all involved!

One extra sweet thing regarding this family. A few months ago I was talking to the girls about how you can call families by their last name such as "the Valentines"  & I mentioned that this family is called "the Ziels." Eloise looked completely shocked & said "Their last name isn't Valentine? But they are our family so we should all have the same name!" She was actually a little aggravated by this point in the conversation. What a wonderful thing to remember though for a little one that moved just before her third birthday! They did feel like our family & as I shared with the girls, they are our family in Christ that we will someday spend an eternity with. A quick visit was so refreshing & made me miss them even more than I did before. Colorado is definitely on the list for a family trip!

Last but certainly not least is my friend of nearly 25 years & my maid of honor who now lives within 15 minutes of our home! Lisa & her husband Euan welcomed a precious baby boy named Liam in April. I had a doctors appointment the morning that we expected she would be in labor & planned to swing by for a quick visit. I texted to ask which room she was in & received a picture of a beautiful baby boy with a message that said "Can't wait for you to meet Liam!" I about fell out of my chair & could hardly wait to leave my appointment. I raced up to Mother-Baby & walked into a moment that will forever be special to me. I got to meet Liam when he was only a couple hours old which is something I never imagined would happen after all the years we have spent living in different cities. My heart felt so full snuggling this baby boy & watching a friend I have known since I was eight enjoying her first few hours of motherhood. Euan took the picture below & I love that you can see my mini baby bump. We didn't even know it was Arlo yet, Liam's buddy come October!

Their family of three joined us for an evening in June. The guys watched the Stanley Cup Final & you can guess who Euan was rooting for. Those two acted like Liam was the youngest of five kids & let all four of ours take turns getting snuggles. The boys talk about Liam often especially when we talk about Arlo being born & they will say "so yittle, yike Yiam!" Precious!

You would think it would have been easy to catch the gorgeous mommy of "yittle Yiam" but apparently she was good at avoiding the lens ; )

We look back over years of forming friendships, the addition of children, moves, tears, celebrations & everything in between. We look back & are thankful, we look forward knowing that God's story isn't over yet & we are thankful still.

LOVE the Boyers!

You know how it goes with us & visitors.  One checks out of The Valentine Hotel & another checks in! Sometimes this happens on the same day : ) I took Gaga & G. Gran to the airport around 9am, tidied up the guestroom, put fresh linens in the bathroom & made a quick trip to the grocery store.  Around 3pm, there was a knock on my door & I opened it to find none other than the BOYER FAMILY! They squeezed us in between a cousins wedding in Tampa & a visit with Philip's grandmother in Miami. We had two nights together to catch up & it was wonderful. 

There have been various posts about this family over the course of my blogging days but quick recap... Jocelyn & I lived across the hall from each other freshman year at Texas Tech. We are both Labor & Delivery nurses, have been pregnant together & are married to men that have so many similar interests  it's laughable. Bottom line, I love this woman. She is such a dear friend to me & one that I miss terribly. 48 hours of togetherness was something to be thankful for but definitely not enough to make up for the full year between our last two visits! I sent Jocelyn the email following our ultrasound on September 27th, just a week before their scheduled arrival.  She quickly replied with what felt like a huge hug & a good cry via email. She said to let them know if we needed them to stay somewhere else with all that was going on.  We said The Valentine Hotel was open for business! I was thankful to have close friends in our home to share life with in the midst of some uncertainty. Just another bit of seeing God provide everything that we needed while waiting to hear test results.  Here we are at the park with Philip the photographer making us laugh. 

And onto those adorable kiddos....

Levi & Charlotte are 10 days apart while Joel & Eloise are almost 4 weeks apart. I do find it strange that Charlotte & Levi were born on the 13th & 23rd of July with Joel & Eloise being born on the 3rd & 30th of May : ) My husband thinks I am weird for even noticing things like that or that it just about killed me that Eloise ended up with an even number in her birthday while the rest of us are all odd numbers ; ) Anyway, all that to say, the kids are VERY close in age & after spending a few days with what might as well be two sets of twins, I'm a little nervous about what's ahead! Maybe nervous isn't the right word. I think I experienced a slight reality check & was made aware of how busy (and loud) our home is going to be with 4 kids under 4. It will be crazy & it will be a blast.  I have been around some little boys but we are mainly surrounded by girls in our neighborhood.  I must say I was shocked to see how differently they play.  Philip & Jocelyn do a great job correcting those sweet boys who are mostly obedient but they are BOYS! I was just laughing watching Charlotte quietly set up her tea party & Levi dumping a whole container of play food on the top while Charlotte looked at me sadly & said "Mommy, he is making a mess!" They were so noisy & so fun.  I love their little voices & their obsession with lizards & frogs. Between the four kids it looked like a bomb went off in the playroom after just 15 minutes.  

Eloise & Joel, oh my, these two are so ridiculously cute with their dimples.  I think they might be a perfect match for each other ; )

Charlotte & Levi were quick to buddy up & have a great time. There was a lot of chasing, laughing, yelling & even some tackling.

oh yeah, and lots of silliness...

They watched some frogs on the screen...

and Toy Story....

The Boyer's left the day before Jocelyn's 30th birthday so we HAD to celebrate. We decided on Indian Food which we all love & were not aware of how much the other couple enjoyed it until it was brought up by the hungry husbands. Philip reviewed the menu online about 100 times before making his selection of multiple entree's, multiple side dishes & LOTS of spiciness! We fed the kids while the boys went to pick up our dinner thinking we could have some uninterrupted visiting. Haha....might have been a good reminder as well that I can pretty much count on being interrupted for a long time ; ) Char & Levi watched their movie while Joel & Elo insisted on being held.  They are the babies & were pretty cute. Our feast was amazing & we packed up some leftovers for a repeat lunch the next day.

Once the babes decided they could walk around while we finished up, they did some hugging...

What a cute little pair, they were happy to climb up on the step stool in the bathroom together when it was tooth brushin' time. 

When we had a little bit more room in our bellies, we moved onto dessert to officially celebrate the big 3-0 for Jocelyn.  She & I share a love for the combination of chocolate & peanut butter so it was an easy decision to make these cupcakes with mini Reese's on top.  I had flashbacks to one of her birthdays in college where me & Cheryl made a cake & thought it would be a good idea to dump a bag of Reese's Pieces into the mix.  Who knew they would sink to the bottom & burn? This years dessert was much less of a flop  : )  Once we finished that, we got the kiddos in bed, the boys moved out to the porch for a little cigar smoking & the girls got snuggled up on the couch to watch The Business of Being Born & get into our Labor & Delivery mode of chatter.  It was quite relaxing.

What a sweet family.  We were sad to say farewell as usual but were reminded of the depth of the friendship we share that seems to be unaffected by the miles between us.  The boys are already planning a hunting trip in December & while us girls are thinking about how fun it would be for a weekend away someday when we can time having/nursing babies right. It may be a long time before we can be free at the same time but wow, that will be an amazing trip!

Beautiful Wedding, Beautiful Story

As I continue to play catch up on the past month of life, I want to share the photos I took at the wedding of two very special people, Corey & Lorraine.  This is a couple who along with their children all came to faith in Christ within the last year & because of their desire to be obedient to His word joined their life together as husband & wife. They are close friends of our friends Emily & Dave which is how we ended up getting to be a part of their special day.  I am NO professional in the photography arena especially in the wedding department but, they needed someone who was inexpensive (ie free on this occasion) to take photos of their wedding day. I actually did not officially meet them until a week prior to the wedding yet I was just taken with their story & was delighted to serve them. It was a joy to be a part of such a monumental day in their life.

Onto the beautiful couple....and their family....

Here is a photo of Dave & Emily, a couple who has been one who has spoken the truth of the gospel into Corey & Lorraine's lives for a long time.  They lead a Life Group at CCC & are an incredible pair. We are thankful to have them in our life & I am confident that the Kimbell family would say the same thing.

Corey & Lorraine, Thank you for letting me in on such a special occasion.  We are rejoicing with you as you experience the love of Christ & embark on this new journey as husband and wife. Congratulations!

the bird ladies

One afternoon last week Juanita called to see if we would like to join them in feeding some birds. I just assumed we would be at the pond behind their house feeding a few ducks or something....boy was I wrong!

We loaded up in the stroller then met Juanita & Matilda on the sidewalk.  The girls were SO excited to see each other.  They ask daily to play with each other so it is always fun to be able to answer the request with a "yes!" Mati is a pro at riding her tricycle & we are hoping that she will fill Char in on the secret to get it to move in a forward direction : ) Charlotte ran as fast as her little legs would carry her all the way to our destination.

Take notice, Mati has her bread stored in the back of her tricycle....how handy!

Our destination was an area of land in our neighborhood that has been cleared for more houses to be built. It was COVERED in seagulls! The girls started throwing pieces of bread up into the sky & attracted a few of the birdies.

Here they are staring into the largest gathering of seagulls I have EVER seen. 

We were debating on whether or not we should let the girls get closer then we thought, "why not?" We hoisted them over the fence & they took off running full speed into the birds...

 Here is a video clip so you can really experience the moment...

Charlotte is usually the ring leader as you can see in the video above. Not much scares her these days other than those chickens, owls & now monkeys that she swears reside in her room at bedtime. I wonder if she will add seagulls in there ; ) I might have nightmares about these birds.  I ended up having to chase Charlotte for quite some time through a lot of dirt & not to mention seagull poop.  I would love to say that Char is an excellent listener & responds with immediate obedience to her calm mother but that would be a lie. I was screaming at the top of my lungs for her to turn around & come back but what do you know, she kept running...and running...and running AWAY from me. I was out of breath from screaming and running simultaneously when I finally caught her. (I only lasted two days back with my trainer Jillian Michaels, she is tough!).  As far as the disobedience goes, I am going to place blame on the deafening sound of flapping wings belonging to 2000 seagulls flying overhead being too distracting for an over stimulated two year old that was having the time of her life.

The Bird Ladies....

Matilda

Charlotte

Once they were captured & lifted back over the fence they were immediately requesting to go back.  The photo above was taken when I told them "no mas!" I think Mati looks seriously angry about my answer ; )

After they accepted the fact that they were no longer going to be running amongst the birds they watched from behind the fence.  I snapped this picture of Charlotte....

I just think she looks so beautiful with her wild hair.  Ooooo I love her! I have asked my mom if it is normal to just look at your children every day & think "Wow, you are so beautiful! How do you belong to me?" She said she still thinks that about the three of us so at least it is normal within our immediate family ; ) 

Eloise was fully entertained watching from the comfort of the stroller with her chubby little leg propped up on the bar. She actually had on some 12-18 month denim shorts on that fit quite snugly for only being 8 months old. This girl has some kissable, squeezable thighs...yum!

She even grinned & squealed when the birdies would get close....

Thanks to Juanita & Matilda for inviting us on such a simple yet fun adventure in the neighborhood! And thanks to Christi for letting me borrow her lovely telephoto lens this week : )