Thomas Trains

I am just hosting these here to get some advice from some friends. =)

Praying for a baby.

Giving God the glory. Would God get more glory if I were real and open and allowed friends to share with me in my journey, all the ups and downs and triumphs of Faith and all of the ways that God shows Himself faithful, or if I keep everything inside - because it is safer that way?

We are wanting another baby. We have been for a long time. Wanting, praying, aching, hoping, wishing, desiring, begging, longing. We are trusting God, trusting Him completely.

For those that are close to us, you know we would love to have a large family. We see children as a blessing from the Lord and would like to have as many as He blesses us with. This has been our desire since the beginning. Abigail is 18 months old this month. I am ready and wanting to be welcoming another baby into our family.

We are open to adoption, but don't feel God leading us in that direction at this point. I am just rambling here, but as I was talking with the Lord today, I felt a nudging to make this known. To make it known, so as to make Him known as we trust and follow Him. We praise Him if He chooses to bless us with another baby, we praise Him if He chooses not to. We pray that He would give us another child. We pray for His will to be done. I ask for you to pray along with us.

We have peace, contentment, and trust. Yet we have longing. I am thankful for this time, as it is causing me to draw closer to the Lord, and to have a bit of increased empathy for others who have heartaches, pain or longings. In the scheme of things my ache is so small. We are so very blessed. I am thankful beyond measure for my two beautiful children. They are a delight.

I am laying my desires at the feet of Jesus. Sitting at His feet. Praying for less of me, and more of Him. That's all for now.

*Please know that if you are expecting, or just had a baby, I am thrilled for you. No need to feel awkward or walk on egg shells here. Our family rejoices with you.*

Hi Ho Cherry-O

Noah and Abigail playing Hi Ho Cherry-O.

Abigail video - signing bird, dog, cat

Abigail is really enjoying us reading to her. She loves books and will bring them to us to read to her. Her favorites currently seem to be books with animals in them, and she will make the different signs for each animal as that page comes, and say her version of the word. Here is a little video clip or her "talking". She is such a sweetie.

Water fountain and pigtails

Anatomy

After Noah got out of the bath this morning he pointed to his right nip*le and asked me: "Mommy, what is this bump?" I asked him back: "What do you think it is?" He said he didn't know and asked me again. I was really curious as to what he might think it was so I replied "Guess. What do you think it is?" He looked at me quizically and responded: "It is a kiss?" (He has a little brown birth mark on his tummy that we told him is where Jesus kissed him). So then I told him: "No, it is called a nipp*le" and then "you actually have two of them". So, then he asked me where the other one was. I told him to look for it. Pretty funny, he started looking all over, in his armpit etc. until he found the other one on the left side of his chest. Such a sweet boy.

Abigail is 11 months old, standing up

Abigail is 11 months now and such a sweetie. She LOVES to pull herself up to a standing position and then she will let go and balance. That has gone from 1 second of balancing to know she will sometimes do 10-15 seconds or more. She loves to pull herself up on the little bumbo chair we have for her, and then she will get herself in and out of it. A few times she has gotten herself to a standing position without using anything. I am guessing she will be taking a few steps before she turns 1! I can't believe that will be this month!!!

She just discovered the stairs, and would probably climb up the whole flight if we would let her. She seems to really like her new found independence of crawling and getting around. Although she is also learning that she doesn't always get her way - and she is having to submit her little will. We are training her and she is already learning to be obedient, she knows the word no, and she won't put something in her month if we say no - she won't touch something if we tell her not to. We are currently working on"Come here", and she has that down about 50% of the time. :-)

She plays little games with herself now. She will take a ball and roll it away from herself, crawl the few feet and get it and roll it again. She likes to put little things in cups or containers and then take them out again. She will stand up at the train table and take a train or a book or whatever and put it on the floor, then bend over and pick it up and put it back on the train table - over and over again.

She is definintly a people person and likes to be in on all the action. She is very verbal as well - she talks a lot. She is doing well with her sign langauge, although we sometimes tease that she is just a princess waving her hands (because many of her signs look similiar.) There is no mistaking when she makes the sign for milk.

She is becoming very much like her brother and likes to play outside in the dirt. Papa and Noah have affectionatly nicknamed her "The Dirt Girl". We need to get a set or two of play clothes designed for outside because all of her clothes are getting dirty.

Abigail is a really good eater. Everyone who sees her eat comments on how well and how much she eats. Honestly, she will shovel in the food just about as fast as I can cut it up and put it on her plate. Her current favorites are chicken, eggplant, and strawberries.

OK, that turned from a mini post - into all of what is new with Abigail. It is such a wonderful and humbling blessing to get to parent our children.

Thanks for reading!!

1 funny thing

OK, I need to get back in the habit of blogging. Noah has said a couple of funny things lately - but I can only remember one of them... :-( so I had better write it down before I forget that one to. We went to the Dr. today for Abigail - thinking that maybe she had an ear infection. Noah told the nurse and the Dr. that Abigail had an ear confection. (Turns out her ears were just fine).

More to come

Southwest chicken salad with cilantro-lime dressing

We keep getting asked for the recipe for the Southwest chicken salad we make and the yummy cilantro-lime dressing.

First off, I have to give my Dad the credit for "inventing" this salad. When he was on a business trip last year he ordered this salad at the hotel restaurant and he really liked it. So, being my Dad, he went back the next 3 nights and ordered the exact same thing and took notes on what was in it. With that being said there is no EXACT recipe, I have just played with it until the amounts seemed right for our taste. You can't mess it up! When my Dad makes it, he makes it different each time, so it is always an adventure. (If you know my Dad you know this to be true with everything he does).

OK, so this is to make a large salad. Think enough to feed 8 if it was the main dish. You should cut it in 1/2 if it is just for a small family dinner.

1 1/2 -2 large heads of green leaf or romaine lettuce. (I put this in last, enough to fill up a large bowl almost to the top)
3 cans black beans rinsed.
3 cobs of raw white corn - just cut the kernels off the cob with a knife.
1 small red onion chopped
1 bunch of cilantro chopped
4 grilled chicken breasts
1 tub of shredded Parmesan cheese
2 tomatoes diced
Tortilla Chips

Chop the lettuce, chicken, cilantro, onions and tomatoes, and put everything (except chips) together in a large bowl and toss. You can crunch the chips and add them just before serving, or even better you can have people add their own chips. We have also added avocado, but with that I would toss it in at the very end so things don't get mushy. We've also added 1 can of red kidney beans and that is good. (Sometimes I will use the frozen grilled chicken strips from Costco, or you could just shred pieces off of a rotisserie chicken - this makes it one step easier).

Now for the dressing: (This is a double batch, which I make for the salad above, again you can/should 1/2 it)

• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and coarsely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 1/2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger root
• 1/2 cup lime juice
• 1/2 cup honey
• 4 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
• 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
• 1/2 cup packed cilantro leaves
• 1 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Place the jalapeno pepper, garlic clove, and ginger into a food processor or blender; pulse until the jalapeno and garlic are finely chopped. Pour in the lime juice, honey, balsamic vinegar, and salt, add the cilantro leaves; pulse a few times to blend. Turn the food processor or blender on, and slowly drizzle in the olive oil until incorporated into the dressing. Season to taste with salt before serving. I leave the dressing on the side so people can add their own.

If you want it to have more of a vinaigrette taste you can just add more vinegar. (Found that out on accident)


If you have any questions please feel free to ask - and please let me know how yours turns out!

The Bible in the morning

I had a very Godly and wonderful mom friend share with me that she likes to keep her Bible at the kitchen table so she can sneak in little times of reading the Word here and there with her family though out the day.

I have been doing this the last couple of months and really enjoying it. I have made it a habit to always read it at least during breakfast, and I make it a point to read it BEFORE I turn on my computer and check email, or anything like that. It has been really good. I will just read a section out loud and then discuss it with Noah while Abigail listens in. (Of course Doug does it with us if he is home at that time).

The last week or two, I have brought one of Noah's "Bibles" to the table, and we will read a couple of stories out of there. It has 100 different stories, which are basically just a verse and the story of 100 different Bible characters. He will always ask for "just one more please?" So precious!!!

At the park

Tried to catch Noah on an "up-swing". He is starting to like to go HIGH!!!

She is starting to really like the swings!



Trying to get a picture of us.



Abigail wasn't cooperating!

Happy Birthday with Sarah!!

Birthday lunch with my dear friend Sarah - we went to Cheesecake Factory.

Abigail LOVED the bread!!


Getting Noah a toy or something.


Cheese!!


At the water fountain.


Smile!


Noah took this picture himself!!!

Why we homeschool

I came across this blog post that expresses 8 reasons why one mom decided to homeschool. She writes in a clear, compelling and beautiful way. Please check it out if you are considering homeschooling, would like some encouragement in your journey, or just want to know why we do what we do! :-)

Click Here

Birthday dinner at Sakura Chaya's

My mother-in-law Marcie and I have the same birthday - March 4th. How fun!! So, this weekend we went out for a little birthday dinner at one of our favorite places - Sakura Chaya (Japanese food). We were wanting to do the Teppenyaki (where they cook in front of you), but they weren't going to be able to get us in until 8 o clock, so we had a very nice dinner in the regular dinning. Here are a few pictures.

Happy Birthday!!

Checking out the fish tank.

Noah is sucha good eater, both kids loved the miso soup.

Abigail was clapping the whole evening. She was also chowing down (shoveling in) all of that yummy food.

Our lovely parking lot shot! :-)

Pump it up fun

Prayers for Eli

Please continue to pray for Baby Eli. In case you don't know the background the Wedehase family blog is www.wedehase.blogspot.com. In short, their son Eli was born with a serious heart condition. He has open heart surgery two days after he was born. He is now almost a week old and he is recovering well, but is still very fragile. The Wedehase's our dear friends of ours, and they continue to amaze us as they put their faith in our mighty God and seek Him in the midst of all of this.

Thank you for the prayers!

Valentine's Day!

What a wonderful Valentine's Day! Doug and I actually celebrated yesterday. My Dad came over after we put the kids to bed and we went out to dinner at Tony Roma's. It is one of Doug's favorites, and we haven't been in a long time. Doug loves the onion loaf thing, and I love that they have mini deserts! Which means I got to get two! Red Velvet Cake and Warm Brownies with Vanilla Ice Cream. Yummo! We had some great conversation and reminiscing about our 5 1/2 years of marriage. I am married to such a wonderful man!

This evening we went to dinner with my parents and my Grandma VeVe. We were going to go to Cheesecake Factory, but that was a BAD idea. The wait was 1 1/2 - 2 hours. Crazy. We ended up going back to my San Joaquin Gardens and having a really nice dinner there. They had it all decorated for Valentine's Day, and even a dance floor with a band playing. Doug and I danced for the first time in...??

Noah enjoyed handing out his Valentines that he made earlier today. Abigail was happy and enjoyed eating little bites of everything. Well, not everything, she TRIED to get her hands on my ice cream. Not till you are 1 little girl!

Here are a few pictures.

Noah making his Valentines. He loved putting they googly eyes on the heart frogs.


Sweet boy.


Abigail ENJOYING her food. She is such a loud eater!!


Doug enjoying HIS treat.




Noah showing Papa his card

. Noah giving Grandma her card.



Grandma VeVe's heart and pom-pom card.


My beautiful card from Doug.

Abigail crawling - Noah encouraging

Here is a little clip of Abigail crawling... in this one she is still kind of dragging her leg, but she seems to have it pretty even now. It is cute, you can hear Noah saying "I am racing you Abigail", thinking that will encourage her to go for it!


Abigail crawling to Mama.

Crawling!!!

Abigail is crawling!!! She officially began on Wednesday night. 2/11/09. So 9 1/2 months old. She had been on the verge for quite a while, she could pivot herself around on her bottom, but then when she would get on her knees she would just fall to her tummy and get frustrated and kick her little legs like she was doing the frog stroke. My friend suggested taking her clothes off, that naked babies crawl better. So I took everything but her diaper off, and sure enough - that night she figured out how to crawl. Here is a picture from that night. She wasn't very happy about the whole thing, she was frustrated that we kept taking the phone away and putting it just out of her reach. Now though, she is really liking her new found independence! She is such a little sweetheart. Noah has been great with her also, he has taken on the roll of coach, and had been trying to teach her and is always cheering her on.

World Ag Expo

Today we went to the World Ag Expo in Tulare as part of Noah's Birthday present. He will be 3 in one week! He loves tractors, farm equipment, construction equipment etc. , so he was in heaven. I think some of the Reps were impressed when he was "talking shop" with them. It was so cute, when we would tell him he could he would run as fast as his little legs would carry him (which isn't very fast) to the next piece of equipment. We got there about 10:30 and stayed for 2 3/4 hours. We checked out all the equipment, watched some different exhibits, walked through all the booths and of course ate a tri-tip sandwhich, a corn-dog, and some ice cream. Abigail had a fun time too. She was a trooper the whole time, and just took a little nap on the way home. We thought for sure Noah would zonk out too, but he made it the whole way home. It must have been the adrenaline rush from all of the heavy equipment.