Sweet Friends

A few weeks back I took pictures for a dear friend, and her darling boys. I'm blessed to have so many friends,that go way back. And this is one of them. She is a huge blessing to me. And I just love her boys. They were so smiley and joyfilled. No doubt a reflection of their precious Mom! I just had to share a  few of my favorite shots...Enjoy!

Fur Babies...

I would like to introduce you to our new additions at our house...Meet Ricky and Lucy.

These adorable little pups, were dumped in a retention ditch behind my husband's, cousin's, in-laws house. How anyone could leave these sweet pups is beyond me. They were in really bad shape,coat wise. The matting was horrible. Thankfully a dear friend helped me clean them up. Seven hours later, they looked like little dogs again. No, I'm not kidding. The little dear's were that badly neglected. Both need to put on some weight, and we are working on doing just that. They are probably around 1 and a half to two years old. Ricky thinks he's big stuff, but weighs in at about three pounds (lost weight from removing all the mats on his little body!) And Lucy is about five pounds. Lucy loves to be close to you, and is my little shadow. Anytime I sit down, she is on my lap. Ricky loves to be perched high where he can look down at everything. And he'll bark at just about everything, Lucy will bark if she feels the need to. But I honestly think she's just happy with leaving that to Ricky! We are so thankful for these two precious fur babies. Our children adore them, and they have fit right into our family. Lucy is much more timid, and was afraid of the shutter noise on my camera. Hence why there's not as many pictures of her. We are not finished grooming them, still have more work to do. But they were so scared we decided to do the grooming in stages. Believe me, there will be more pictures. We just have to get them used to the camera. ;)

Crazy?

Wow!We have had a CRAZY two weeks! I am at the hospital now with Elliott he is having a consult with a GI. I just had to Get on here and thank our precious church family for the love, support prayers, and meals! Also to our family. We could not go through this season of unemployment and health struggles without you! We have SOOOOO MANY PRAISES! YAY! FINALLY!
As I was driving to the hospital I was flooded with tears (thankyou local Christian radio station for playing tear jerkers!) And I was overwhelmed with Gratitude for all God has blessed us with.
THANKYOU FRIENDS AND FAMILY!

SO I though I would list all the praises we have!
1.) BRANDON WAS OFFERED A JOB! He starts Monday!
2.)I am starting a Bible Study at my home, but had no Tv to play the video lessons. God provided through sweet friends who gave us a Tv. The biggest Tv we've ever owned!
3.)God is giving us so much peace and clarity for our future! We are excited about it!
4.)Elliott is in a new therapy twice a week. Its a drive (and with gas prices we had no idea how we'd make it work) but God has provided! He LOVES it! And we are seeing GOOD things come from it!
5.) WE HAVE TWO NEW PRECIOUS ADDITIONS TO OUR FAMILY!!! They are furry little yorkie's that were dumped behind an extended family members, inlaws home. We are in love with them! We will introduce them properly one they are groomed today. They are about a year and a half old maybe even two. One is 3lbs one is 5lbs. Yes. They are darling and we adore them. :)pictures to come!
6.) I have felt so overwhelmed with meal planning. And a precious lady at our church has offered to bring us a meal a week!!!! SERIOUSLY BLESSES ME!

There is a few of our HUGE praises! Can I get a "Praise Jesus!!!"
I also need to appologize to my photography clients waiting for pictures! I will be getting your pictures edited and ready by this weekend.

An announcement...

So, I ended my last post sharing that I have an announcement. Sorry for the delay, it's hard to get on a computer when you don't own one. (Thank-you unwanted visitors, aka:robbers!) We've been borrowing a laptop from my parents, but it's unbelievably slow and old. (for the record, I loathe Acer computers!!!) But, if anyone broke in to steal this computer...I'm pretty sure they'd just turn around and leave. Yes. It's that bad.

But, I turned it on, and waited twenty minutes for it to warm up to get on here and update my blog. I've been busy the last week. To say it was a rough week, is putting it mildly. I've had no less than five places I had to be daily. And usually one was a Dr. or therapists office. We did have some relaxed moments where we got to catch up with friends at a park. Those were much needed, for the kids, and I! We had a lovely Easter, celebrating Christ's Resurrection at church, then spending the afternoon with family having the traditional Easter Egg Hunt. I HAD intended to get a picture of all of us in our duds. But, that did not happen. Oh well, this weekend we will be having Easter with my side of the family, and hopefully I can get some pictures as a family then!

I am SO excited about what God is doing and showing us in our family. Last week God once again proved his faithfulness to us. In SO many little details, that could only be His doing! For that, we are ever so thankful.
I've been so challenged over the last few weeks in my walk of faith. Worrying about details, of how we will make it, or what I should do if we don't. Then God shows up in a little detail as if to say to me "HEY! I got this!"....or "You SAY you Believe Me, LIVE IT!".

 I've also felt like a total failure. And just at that moment, God points me to another Mom, who I thought must have an extra ten hours a day she's tapped into, that I'd yet to discover, because she seemed to "do it all".  I She shared that she in fact, does not. And suddenly this huge weight of comparison, failure, etc, was lifted. What I'm dealing with daily. Isn't what your dealing with. I won't judge you, please don't judge me. All we can do is our best. And ask God for mercy and grace when we don't.

 I was reminded to "pick yourself up and move on" last week. Watching the kids play on the playground, and their little friend fell down. Clara ran up and say "oops, go boom!" and reached down patted the dirt of his little hands, held his hand, and walked away saying "All better". I did this to her when she was little. Kids fall, we all fall. But, do we sit there and and feel sorry for our self? Or do we brush off and say All Better? I mean do we see how we are better for it.  That through that fall in our life, we are being shaped into the likeness of Christ. Getting a little glimpse of the suffering He went through on the Cross, for us. When that tomb was empty, it was God saying "All better". Brush off, and follow Him.

Know I am writing this to myself, as much as I'm writing to you. Life is hard, and there are MANY times when I just want to wallow in that very fact. But this week has been evidence that yes, Life is hard. But God is Good. So. Very. Good. Continue to cast your cares on Him, because He REALLY does care for You.

So that announcement. I have decided to start vlogging. What is that? It's like a blog, but done through video.
I've already been toying around with different topics, some things in the works:
Spring trends, Dressing on a dime, Park play and exercise, Good food that's good for you, and many more!
  I will be posting a link to my you-tube channel soon! Make sure you subscribe!
 Hope you all had a blessed Easter! These pictures were taken a few weeks ago,it was hot, and Jackson was not having it. There's always one. So,we took this series of pictures in about fifteen minutes. I love the way they turned out, real life for sure. No time for editing, so these are right out of my camera.

Messy Monday...

This post will be all over the place. I'm so behind on blogging, and so here's pictures from a few weeks ago. First random...is my pink salt. I love it. Not only is it good for you (REALLY good!) it's pretty too!

And it adds amazing flavor to your food!

 Playdough guy on a can opener...err I mean skate board.Elliott's creation.

 Rare when I get a picture of this cutie,looking at the camera,and smiling. Very.Rare.

 I'm babysitting this little cutie three days a week. He's fun.

 This picture is hands down one of my favorites of Ry. I told him to "pose" one morning while eating breakfast...and he gives me this. LOVE!

 Playing with play dough while wearing a cowboy hat with a feather in it...is how he rolls.

You know you want one!

 This just makes my heart happy...fresh herbs. In my kitchen window. Found the little pots at goodwill for a dollar for all three! Herbs were three dollars....it's the little things that make me SO happy!

 And this sits in my window sill too. A great reminder from Gods word, from a precious friend. So thankful.

 Strawberries from my home state. Delish!

 Snack of hummas and crackers. Another one of my favorites!

 This cheeky smile. Such a ham. And he ALWAYS has a dirty face.

 Goofy happy moment. Rare also. Had to take a picture!

 Clara, practicing her Piano. Unprompted. Picture Required.

 Micah helping her....another picture required. Love chubby hands!

 Finding a family photo...from church directory. Brings back SO many memories,of a not so great summer in our lives. We are not the same people we were in this picture. Our babies have grown so much! I was pregnant with Riley in this photo too. Elliott covers the baby bump. :)

And there you have it. Random Messy Monday. My children are unusually cranky today, Micah's not too thrilled about taking a nap. The dog is being BAD. Yay! for Monday's! On a brighter note, I've got a shoot this afternoon with a client, and we are having dinner at a friends house. This day WILL get better! :) More pictures tomorrow...and an announcement. No. I'm not pregnant. Though my husband wanted to announce that on FB yesterday to freak people out on April Fools. I told him no way...cause with our luck...we'd end up actually being pregnant! Hope your Monday's grand!