it's all fun and games: August 2014

snuggle baby

life is rough

must nap now

ok, if i must, ill hold you

sigh

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Posted by mel at 11:22 AM

late night snuggles after burning a fever sunday night. i love her and im definitely enjoying this time!

wed night nate and i hit up the park for an elevate youth out reach. in the middle of the tug of war, the skies opened and soak us! i was wet and cold and spent the remainder shivering under the tent. the kids? well, they played in the rain....

packed the kids up and hit mcdees this morning
i said to chris "high 5 dude! we have a lot of kids!" ha

i asked ellie to wipe her mouth
she did

by stuffing the paper towel in her mouth then she rolled it up and threw it at chris. ha

ellies new thing?

ill say "ellie, do you want to take a bath?"
she says "ummm.....noooooooo" in a soft cute voice. then laughs
its like shes thinking about it and says ummm noooooo.....wonder where she gets it? ha me! i do it when nate asks redic things....like can we go to disney? i say "ummm nooooooo"
cute kids 0 comments

Posted by mel at 11:21 AM

water park!

it was SO hot on tues that i took the 2 older ones to cool off
ellie has such a zest for life and loving, well, everything!
its fun just to watch her
she LOVES the water park!

waiting for the big bucket, she did it at least 10 times. it took nate 6 YRS to do it.ha

waiting and waiting! ha

drying off before we went home
its nice to have a few hot days at the end of summer! 0 comments

Posted by mel at 11:16 AM

baby jo's shower! details

the hours they spent making this shower. so thankful!

johana's sign

amazing decorations

words of wisdom were written and hung up

the food!! AMAZING!!

the cake!!! seriously amazing! made by alicia check out her business called sugar fix in moncton.!!!

the diaper cake, made from diapers, clothing and toys. i havent taken it a part yet! too cute to do that! made my alicia and mrs hiedi! 0 comments

Posted by mel at 11:33 AM

the people

hopey and jo jo

mrs carla and jo jo

beautiful victoria!

us with the cake and jo jo

chris with the food

shannon and jo jo
shannon is the next mom in our church
her shower will require the coliseum
god has not forgotten her

snuggly jo jo

i know moms eyes are closed but i had to post, typical crystal...on her phone. ha
there are no pics of my mom/dad bec every. single. one of them mom is looking down or her eyes are closed! 1 comments

Posted by mel at 11:32 AM

more ppl

love the hanging umbrellas, made with love, the details in everything was amazing and time consuming to make!

to me, this is what a church family is all about. see we dont have family here in moncton. but we do have a church family. over the years, ive been blessed over and over with amazing friends, coffee dates, walks, get togethers. ive been encouraged, strengthened and have leaned on them when times were tough. when an emergency comes up and i need to go to the hospital at 1 am, i have ppl i can call to help. ive had meals show up, dropped off, ive had flowers delivered just because, garden bounties have been tasted, swimming at the camp, etc...the list goes on and on....love, support, good times and bad. this is what a church family is all about. i can not imagine going through life with out back up support from those who share and strength your faith....

the kids dug for worms and played while the adults were in side

sigh

i was showered with the most amazing gift that touched my heart in so many ways. i have friends for seasons, reasons and life. this gift was given to me from a strong, amazing woman who knows the pain and heart ache of wanting a child. we first connected over the undesirable sorrow of wanting a child, waiting, month after month, year after year while watching everyone else pop babies out...but the friendship went deeper, we were and are able to understand each other, with out words, cry with out fear and share our heart with each other while encouraging each other at the same time. this lady helped me so much and had the strength to put this shower together for me. i pray for her constantly, her name is written down where i can see it and each time i see it i believe god for her. she is not alone, not forgotten, she will have her own family. will you believe with us?

reading the card and trying not to do the ugly cry

but i did. i don't think ive cried so much at a shower...i get the pain and at the same time you are truly happy for someone else, but your heart still hurts. its so bizarre

i was given a set of baby booties and hat, hand knitted by her grandmother, who just passed away. most ppl would find this treasure and keep it for yourself, for your own kids but not her, she gave them to me. the value is priceless

and she gave me a hand knitted blanket. i can only imagine what she felt and thought while she took the time to knit this for me.

yep, i bawled. such a selfless act. i will treasure them and save them. thank you so much!

this lovely lady, mrs rose has touched my life with out even knowing it. her husband passed away a few months ago, it was unexpected and truly stopped me in my tracks. i have thought about her a lot. esp knowing the shower was coming up. why? you see, 2 yrs ago for eliana's shower my parents were unable to attend, and ill be honest, i was sad about it. when i sat down to open the gifts at ellie's shower, i looked over to see where my baby was and there she was all snuggled in doug's arms, rose sat beside him. such a big man, holding a tiny baby girl. he reminded me of my dad. i sat and watched as he held my precious baby for the remainder of the shower. i never forgot that. on sunday i opened the card from mrs rose and there on the bottom it was signed " rose davis" there was no doug written beside her name. i cried. again. i took the card home and read it alone and cried some more. i cant imagine the pain of losing your spouse. and yet this strong lady has not wavered, shes living life with a smile. this is what a church family is all about. growing together, sharing life.

mrs evelyn. dear mrs evelyn! (pic down below) this lady, was the first person 11 yrs ago to introduce herself to us when we first started attending the church, she made a point to come over and chat with us every single time she saw us. but 7 yrs ago she did something so powerful that i never told anyone about it

7 yrs ago, i had just had nate, i just dropped him off in the nursery, with 2 ppl i didnt know and left him to teach upstairs with chris. i will never forget closing the nursery door and head down i walked away. i was feeling discouraged, insecure and the weight of being alone, parenting a child wore very heavy on me. i felt scared and afraid of being a mom. i felt so alone. so insecure, was i doing anything right? i was sleep deprived, emotional and to be honest. i was in a dark and scary place. fear and burdened was my clothing.

i started walking away, and mrs Evelyn walked by me, then she stopped and turned around and came over to me. she put her hands on my shoulders and looked me in the eye and said "mom, you are doing a great job"

then she put her arms around me and hugged me. i literally fought the tears. then she told me that everything was going to be ok, i was doing a great job, i wasnt alone and i never will be.

i went to the bathroom and bawled...but i left the bathroom feeling like the weights were gone. and everything was going to be ok. i could do this

i joined the ladies ministry that month, knowing i needed wise been there before me moms in my life. i sat meeting after meeting with a new lady each time, making new relationships, asking questions from those with older kids, i sat and took in what they shared. they had no clue why i was asking, sitting and listening, i wanted what wisdom and life experience they had gone through. to help me along my journey

all because of mrs evelyn. all because she listened to the gentle tug of her heart, backed up and gave me a hug and encouragement. and she never knew the impact she made on my life

and here i am 7 yrs later, having my precious baby jo's shower in her house, because once again she gave herself to others

she is an example of living your life for others. such value she has, such wisdom and its an honor to have her in my life

us moms with young kids, we need those who have been here before. the lessons they have, the stories the offer the life experience makes their value priceless and most important encouragement! we need it so much!

the value of a church family

i was blown away sun night and spent a lot of time thinking and praying. the importance of a church family is something that i cant describe. its like knowing you have back up. each member has a story, each person brings so much with them.

churches are not perfect and have problems for sure! but ill be honest ive grown and became stronger by belonging and staying in one place

its nice knowing you belong. good and bad. we are still here until god leads us on 1 comments

Posted by mel at 11:32 AM

nature study!

last week during a bike ride we stopped at a park and nate was asking his 10,000,000 questions about the trees and the leaves and the flowers and the weeds and i said "i dont know. ask your dad" about 10,000 times. ha then i came up with a great idea. we will come back, with a bag and collect the specimens of wonder and questions and take them home and use my handy handbook to answer the 10,000,000 questions

this morning, i took n and e on a bike ride and we did just that. we stopped at the park and collected the plants in question...

while ellie played

and swang with her awesome bike helmet
then came home and studied them

i looked them up and he wrote what they are

yes, i am smarter now than i was when i woke up. ha

this book was worth the money. love it!

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Posted by mel at 11:12 AM

park and play!

took the older kids to the park yesterday. in the middle of the afternoon. in the intense heat. it was SO hot. i should have taken them to the water park....oh well...they had fun!

nate helped ellie down the slide. not that she needed help, but good on him. ha

then we hit the duck pond up and found the ducks under the trees, in the shade. smart ducks! we had 4 pcs of bread. we should have brought a loaf. poor hungry crazy ducks. i have never seen anything like it. they were literally attacking us for food!