Friday, November 18, 2011

Oh Baby!

I just love this little guy. He is my THIRD nephew! Boys run in the family. :) He's so precious.
I'm sure when he's a teenager,he'll love the fact that I took so many pictures of him nearly naked.
But,as his Aunt. I'm entitled to document his life. And, it's a pretty swell job! I love you Aiden! :)









Sunday, November 13, 2011

Best Friends...


Took Christmas Photo's for our dear friends the Hanlon Family this week...and I can't get a preview up on face book. So,for now this will have to do. I just had to post a few of my MANY favorites. Seriously,this family is so photogenic. They are a photographers dream come true! Not to mention,their girls are simply adorable. We love this family so much, and are so thankful God saw to it to bring them into our lives. And,they happen to have the same initials we do. ;) Thank you Ben and Becky, for being great friends, and trusting me to capture these precious moments in your lives!

























Monday, November 7, 2011

Real.Life.

I just had to post these pictures...mostly because they are our real life pictures. I don't want to paint a picture of us being something...that we,well,aren't. We don't have it all together.

My kids get annoyed with each other.

Not every picture turns out perfect.
Because we are not perfect.
But...We do love each other.
God has blessed us so much. And we are so thankful for each other.

No.Clara is not strangling her brother...but it sure looks like it.
This picture sums up our life right now. And that's why I like it.
Because it's real. No touch ups,no editing.Raw,right out of my camera.
We have had some beautiful days...and have loved playing in the many leaves around our house.
Hope you are enjoying real life days with your families!

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Clear.

Elliott's scans came back clear! We are praising God for the answered prayers! Now,we wait. He will go back on the 22nd. Until then I'm to keep a log of his temps and other symptoms. Of course if anything should change drastically, we will be going back sooner than that. But, we are praying and believing that he will continue to get better. Thank you for your prayers! I love this picture of him...being,well,himself. :) He was singing "my God is so GREAT so STRONG and so MIGHTY there's NOTHING my God can not DO!"...

Life.As we know it.

It's been a long month.


Our Elliott is still not himself. After many doctors appointments,tests,lab work,more doctors,x-rays,cultures,bone scans,chiropractor,etc. We have no answers...yet. He had bone scans on Tuesday....we should get the results tomorrow. The poor little guy is so strong one second...and weak the next. Exhausted,and complaining of pain. He turned five last week...but felt pretty horrible that day. It breaks my heart. He's such a trooper. The last visit to the hospital, we pulled into the parking lot, and I looked in my rear view mirror. I caught a glimpse of this little,very very little, blonde precious boy, with a tear forming in his eye. I could hardly keep it together. He knew where we were, we've been there so many times in the last month. The last time, was very traumatic, for both of us. It was all I could do not to break down as we checked in. Again. We had the same lady, and she recognized us. As we left, Elliott squeaked out..."I don't mind the pictures Momma....the pokes are what I don't like". I replied "Baby,I don't like any of it. It's okay to not like it!".


We covet your prayers,I've stopped researching, and am waiting for the results from the scans.

 Living in the moment,and enjoying the time together is most important right now. When a friend asked at church tonight how we are doing I simply said "We are here, present, in this moment". If this has taught me anything, it's taught me to be in the moment. Not take them for granted. To praise God through the storms, and ask Him for his strength....as mine gets depleted. And you know what? HE DOES IT!


My sweet husband, is still job searching. But, tonight. Tonight. God, yet again showed himself faithful. This afternoon he got a call for an interview,and went at 6pm. Interesting how God works....as I was keeping myself busy at home this afternoon....because if I don't my mind wanders. And that's just dangerous right now. Clara ran up to me and handed me a note,smiled,and ran back to her room. She loves writing precious notes to me. In it it simply stated:

"I love you Mom.....and GOD WILL!"~Love Clara


God Will. I stood there as tears streamed down my cheeks and I plopped into a puddle on my kitchen floor.
Amazing how God uses our children to remind us. He Will.


He will be faithful.
God will provide a job.
God will heal Elliott.
God will answer prayers.


The question is, will I believe.
And as I sat in a puddle on the kitchen floor...I told the Lord. I will believe, because I know You, my God Jehovah will provide. Little did I know at that time my husband was on the phone,scheduling an interview.
We won't know until Friday if he has the job. We are cautiously hopeful. It's been 18+months of no job. Just the fact he finally had an interview was so very encouraging.


To take my mind off of the test results,joblessness,and general stressful lives we lead right now. I decided,the day was beautiful,and we needed to sieze the day and take pictures. No.Not kidding. So, I picked out cute outfits for the kids, dragged out our old couch to the barn. And snapped away. Christmas Pictures are done! Amazing! This was a first for me, I used my tripod, and the timer delay, and took the pictures myself. Sure did get a work out!



So that's a glimpse into our life right now...Carpe Diem! Or...better yet. GOD WILL!

P.S. To our friends, family, and church family.Thank you. For loving us, praying over us, providing meals, dropping notes in the mail, giving gift cards, clothing for our kids, carting our other kids around, last minute babysitting, helping with household tasks, and most of all, being the hands and feet of our Savior in our time of need. Thank you. From the bottom of our hearts. Thank you!