Ethan the hero!

Ethan looks like an aloof "cool" guy in this picture, but don't let the exterior fool you... this boy is a hero!

Two weeks ago as we were going to school I was praying over my boys and sensed it was going to be an especially important day for them. I felt the urgency to specifically pray that they would make wise decisions and be life giving individuals for their school instead of just taking up space. Little did I know how wonderfully the Lord would move that day.

Ethan was playing at recess when one of the girls in his class he didn't know very well ran up to him asking for help. She said that there were boys chasing her trying to beat her up. Ethan instantly ran to tell the teacher. Since there hadn't been any real incident yet, she didn't take action to avert a possible situation, she told Ethan that she couldn't do anything yet.... Now, if you had told me that as a year old and you were a teacher, I would have shrugged my shoulders thinking they knew best and would have just walked away. Not my boy. The urgency to go thwart a problem rose inside of him and he ran over to the girl who was now being confronted by the three boys.

The details aren't super clear, but his teacher said that the boys spit in her face and started throwing punches when Ethan stepped in. The girls other friend went and told the teacher who THEN jumped into action. All the kids went to the principles office and Ethan got to tell his story. The three boys were suspended for 2 days and Ethan was hailed a hero.

When I went to talk to his teacher about it she said, with tears in her eyes, that she was so grateful for Ethan because if it hadn't been for him she would have been hurt so much more. The girl had had a brain tumor a few years ago and she went from being a bright energetic girl to a somber girl that struggles in school and spends time staring off into space. These boys thought she was staring at them and wanted to "teach her a lesson". They didn't know about her past medical issues, but assumed the worst and decided to be cruel beyond reason.

Needless to say I haven't been this proud of my boy ever! My prayer for Ethan has been that he would increase in compassion which hasn't seemed to come real naturally for him. However, he shines in the setting of school and really does rise to the occasion. There are few things more satisfying to a parent than to see your kids actually doing what you know they can do and making decisions that help others when you aren't there to remind them to do it!

One proud mama!

11 amazing years!!!

Here we are!!! 11 Years and counting! November 6th was our anniversary and we were so blessed to be given 2 nights at a little vacation home about a half hour from here. We had Gracie with us but our boys went to stay with my brother's family and we had about 48 hours of doing mostly whatever we wanted to do. Bliss.

The Bible says that we will go through trials of many kinds, but He promises to keep us through them all.... I am convinced that life isn't about IF you will see troubles, but Who you will turn to when they come. If someone had told me 11 years ago that our first decade of years would be filled with all the stuff we dealt with I think I would have fainted from fear and then spent days in depression.... God knows when to tell us things and when to just give us the strength to stand in the face of great trials. Thankfully He gives us times of joy to outweigh the times of heaviness and restores our souls in the midst of being depleted. We are in a wonderfully restoring time right now. It's been almost 2 years since we moved here to Bend and Daniel and I are just now beginning to feel like we are "waking up" and coming out of the cloud of heaviness and intensity of our first 10 years.

Here we are though, stronger, wiser, better people and instead of shaking and breaking our marriage, those years cemented us together like nothing else could have!! For that alone I am more than grateful for such a tough season. I look back with great peace and overwhelming gratefulness that He knit us together in that tough season.

My husband is amazing. My best friend, and truly the completion of who I am! I couldn't ask for a more wonderful partner.

Looking forward to many decades of wedded bliss to come!

Fall, miracles and milestones

My favorite time of year for sure! Even with our short summer, our fall is a welcome sight. Beautiful in so many ways. Here we get all 4 seasons, which makes me especially happy! The colors these last 3 weeks have been brilliant! We are drawing to the end of the beauty and each day the weather gets more and more sketchy and uncertain. Still, it's beautiful!

Dad is officially cancer free!!! Praise the Lord! This coming holiday season is the first time we have had a holiday without some sort of "cloud" hanging over our heads, either cancer, brain tumors, recent deaths etc.. in the last 5 years!!! THAT is something to celebrate.

My darling children are growing and thriving.

Ethan is literally growing before our eyes. He has grown about 2 inches in the last 2 months since school started. He is by far the tallest 3rd grader in his school and comes up past my chin now! UGH! He is going to pass me up by 5th grade I'm sure. His love of music and desire to play absolutely every instrument he sees is fascinating. He wants to explore the electric guitar and other guitars and his love of drums is unquenchable. I am quite excited to see where he goes with all this talent.

My Micah is a budding artist! Since school has started and his days are filled with "busy work" he is starving for some artistic time, so today he is home from school just drinking in the hours of endless artistic genius he gets to pour over. I wish I could post on here his book that he made, but it was quite amazing and one his mommy will treasure for years to come. I can't wait to see what comes of this passion of his.

As for my baby, she is as amazing as ever. 7 months and she is brilliantly smart. She seems to know and understand a lot more than she lets on and I'm fascinated by her ability to communicate already. We are teaching her a few words in sign language to limit the frustration especially at meal time, but her main form of communication is grunting and growling... funny for such a cutie pie, but when you hear it it is really astounding. I will post a short video we took of her eating at the end of this post and you will see the intensity she takes with eating.

A true Burgess.

In 4 short days my husband and I will celebrate 11 blissful years of marriage. Seems like such a small number for all that we have experienced in those years, and yet I can't remember much before we were married.... I think marriage is an amazing invention and I'm so glad God thought of it. When you are married to your best friend like I am, there truly is nothing sweeter!

Looking forward to 100 more years of wedded bliss.

Ethan is 9

My big guy turned 9 a couple days ago! Truly seems impossible that Ethan is 9 now.

This is him on the first day of 3rd grade. He loves being in school, he is my social butterfly, loves people, loves life. He is a clown and enjoys being center stage but he is also extremely sweet and enjoys his friends and family. He is especially taken with his new sister. She lights up when he comes in the room and begs for his attention with squeaks and grunts and then when he gives her his attention he is greatly rewarded with smiles.

Being a mommy has never been more of a joy. I couldn't have anticipated the journey it's been. 9 years ago I received one of the greatest commissions of my life, to see children raised up to be Godly, loving, amazing additions to society. I was created for this! This is the only job I ever wanted and I love it!

Ethan's birthday is also a bittersweet anniversary for me personally. His 6th birthday was the day I was officially diagnosed with the brain tumor. To see where I am 3 amazing years later, to see all that God has done, has delivered me from and taught me is astounding to say the least! What a treasure this journey has been.

Learning more everyday and loving life! I am truly so blessed!

Living in true riches!

We're back

Not sure if anyone is even out there still. I've missed blogging terribly. I think I felt like I didn't have much to blog about anymore... our lives have calmed down so much and fallen into a beautiful lull of sweet simplicity.

I haven't blogged for 8 months so I had better begin with some pretty major updating.

First and most importantly we have added our newest addition. Grace Elizabeth Burgess. Born March 12, 2010. The sweetest most perfect little bundle of love. She is now 5 months and full of more joy and peace than any lovely bundle could possibly be. She has a quiet personality, loves to sit and observe life, especially her brothers who absolutely adore her. When she wakes up from sleep they are the first ones there saying "Good Morning cutie"! Oh how my heart swells with joy at their love for their sweet sister.

Daniel is working like crazy. He is still painting for my dad's business and he is holding up the business for the summer for my dad.

Which brings me to his situation. Dad has bravely fought and won a battle with cancer!!! He began having some recurring pain from a tumor that he was diagnosed with 4 years ago, when he had another MRI in May it showed that the tumor had grown and needed to come out. Since they don't do surgery on the tailbone they decided radiation was the best way to get rid of it. In the process Dad continued to work like a dog. He is now on the other side of the radiation and we are praising the Lord because the cancer had not progressed into the bone marrow!!! So amazing considering the tailbone where the cancerous tumor was located is one of the places that bone marrow is manufactured! The Dr. was astounded that there was no cancer in the bone and we know it was miraculous!! God is so profoundly good.

In exactly 2 weeks from today my boys will be heading off to school. Last year was Ethan's first year in public school and I continued to homeschool Micah. This year we felt like both we to be in public school, so on Sept. 7th Ethan will be going into the 3rd grade and Micah into the 2nd grade!!! They are beside themselves with excitement. I have mixed feelings. I have loved having them home this summer, and I have enjoyed homeschooling, but they need more than I can give them here at home and we live in such an amazing school district that I felt it was time.

With the changing of this schedule I am having to reinvent myself. I haven't been a stay at home mom of a preschooler in many years and it will be so fun having her all to myself and actually getting to do things like clean my house and go shopping without lots of little ones to undo or make harder those jobs!

As for my health I am finally feeling 100%. I had to deliver Gracie cesarian section so the recovery from that was overwhelmingly hard. I tell everyone that brain surgery was a piece of cake compared to that!! But I am finally recovered and my body has rejuvenated from morning sickness and brain surgery... I feel better than I have felt in about 3 years!!! I have energy and stamina and a desire for life again. God has truly restored and I can't imagine having faced all that we faced without his amazing Grace.

So here we are. Truly truly enjoying the beautiful mercies he has given us every morning. Life is so good.

Life

We are literally days away from meeting our baby girl. I have more joy and anticipation daily as I feel her movements getting slower as she gets more crowded in there. It's amazing to me how the Lord so perfectly designed this season, how we get so uncomfortable as moms that we welcome every twinge of pain, any form of discomfort that would mean the anticipated moment is just around the corner. I don't like pain, but only this kind of awkward discomfort would make me anticipate that kind of pain, to bring about that kind of unspeakable joy!

One year and counting!

Well, an update is definitely in order.... I feel so bad that it's been so long since I've updated this blog, but posting everyday stuff just isn't that exciting.

Yesterday marked the one year anniversary of my surgery. I was quite sober all day yesterday. It was an amazing anniversary, one that I am so thankful to remember and never to experience again!!

So many things have happened this year and I am just in awe of God's great goodness. First of all, and most amazing of all is that the Dr's made no guarantees about our ability to be able to have more children. They said that because of where the tumor was and the way it manifested, it might be very likely that we could never conceive again. HOWEVER, God had different ideas. The whole time we were contending for my healing we would regularly receive a word from other people or from the Lord that we were going to have more children and that we would have a girl! Here we are just 8 weeks away from meeting our little miracle...

I have had so many people receive hope from our story when they are going thru something health wise that they never imagined they would have to go thru. We are so grateful to get to be witnesses of God's great goodness in the midst of trial and see Him proven faithful time and time again.

We are so excited about this new year!! With a new year always comes new life, new promises, new joys and new hopes. We pray that you will find everything the Lord has for you this coming year!

We'll keep you posted as the due date draws closer.

Happy New Year!

Heather and family

Sugar and Spice and Everything nice....

We are so happy to announce that our newest member due to arrive in March is going to be a beautiful baby girl. We are so excited.

While I was ready for another boy (which would have been a wonderful blessing, I adore my boys) my husband was sure this one was a girl and he is reveling in the fact that he was right.

Sometimes when you face a season of one disappointment after another it doesn't seem real when there is finally joy without measure. We have had to make a decision several times to agree with the joy of the season and not try to put a damper on it in any way. It's just joyful, joy upon joy!

Amazing

So the boys are getting used to the idea as well. Ethan was sure he wanted another brother, to keep the boys dominant in our family, but he has a twinkle in his eye when he thinks of all the ways she will adore and look up to him and Micah. Micah is sure we need to buy every pink girly toy we see right now.... when I assure him she won't be here for a while, and when she does get here it will be a while until she plays with toys he isn't quite ready for the wait.

We are still trying to settle on a name, but I think this time is different because there are so many that we do like. I guess we may just have to wait until we meet her to know who she really is.

One of my girlfriends put it best when she rejoiced with us and said "Beauty for Ashes".

Indeed!

In love with fall!!

Here we are at the beginning of fall and I am soo happy. I heard that fall in Central Oregon can be crazy, but I had no idea! Yesterday was 70 something and hazy from a near by fire, but today is lower 50's and hailing!!! Wow, here comes winter? or maybe this is fall....

Whatever it is I love it. Sunday was my amazing Ethan's 8th birthday. He celebrated and celebrated and celebrated some more. I love that my son has such a healthy self image. He really loves celebrating himself. So much like his mommy :o) It was also the anniversary of my original MRI and diagnosis of the brain tumor. To see how far we had come in 2 years, from devastation, having our feet knocked out from underneath us and not knowing what the future would hold, to a brand new start, a baby on the way and more joy than we thought possible. Amazing, simply amazing.

So much has happened in the last month since my previous post. I'll try to sum it all up.

• Ethan started 2nd grade in the public school system. Except for one day of tears, he is in heaven, absolutely LOVES school. We prayed that the Lord would give him the best teacher, and He certainly did! Mrs. Lence has been an answer to prayer in everyway for our Ethan.
• Daniel's cousin Paul got married. What a happy occasion that brought great great joy to all of the family. Paul married Fenny a wonderful woman from our church here in Bend. With the happy occasion brought lots of family.
• Which leads me here, Daniel's family all came in for the wedding. His parents were here along with his brother and family. We had a very very full house, but it was amazing. So much fun to finally meet Levi, the young man Neal and Diane (Daniel's parents) are foster caring for, and to finally meet Jon and Cyndi's twins. Justice and Jaxon are almost 8 months old and just a ton of fun.
• Micah and I began homeschooling again. He is doing just wonderfully.
• Daniel and Dad are still painting houses, even though work has slowed, God is so faithful and we are seeing amazing answers to prayer in our finances every single month.
• Had our second and third Dr. appointments. Saw the baby on the ultrasound, lots of wiggling and moving and then heard the heartbeat nice and strong. I'm beginning to feel movement and the majority of the morning sickness is over!!! God is so good.

So on we go with a new season literally. Looking forward to fall and all the joy this season brings. Praying your family finds great joy in this season as well.

First glance

We had our first glimpse of our little bundle this week. I was thrilled because Daniel got to be there and when they put the monitor on my belly to take a peek the baby just started dancing around. He/She moved almost the whole time she was monitoring... something I hadn't see with my other two. We just might have a wild child on our hands, at least a groove machine.

My morning sickness has been unrelenting. It "switched" off with my others at 12 weeks, but here we are almost to week 13 and I am still dealing with quite a bit of nausea all day long. It's been 6 very long weeks and I can't wait till this part is over. Seeing the baby was so helpful though because it really does give you a visual for all the problems that I'm having to endure. Soon we'll be able to feel the movement and I love that stage.

Our lives are constantly changing and "morphing" it's exciting but exhausting too. We've decided to put Ethan in public school for the first time this year. He is so thrilled and so am I. He is going into 2nd grade and he really thrives on interaction with others, I just know this setting will be perfect for him. I will have Micah home with me again this year and I'm looking forward to some one on one time with him that we've never really had. So in two weeks we'll be sending Ethan off and beginning a new school year.

Daniel's cousin Paul also gets married in about 2 weeks so we have a bunch of family coming in for that amazing event which is such a thrill. We'll have a very full house for a few days, but there is nothing more fun.

And to top it all off Fall is in the air, my favorite time of year. We are just counting all of our many amazing blessings, ones that seemed lightyears away this time last year. It's amazing how God truly does make all things beautiful in His time!!

We're grateful to be on the beautiful side of things now.

Good news

Well here we are in August already and I'm realizing how long it's been since I last posted.

We are pregnant again and life is good. All the signs are good. I'm tremendously sick with morning sickness that lasts all day long, which I wasn't with any of the miscarriages. The boys are so excited for their new brother or sister and are enjoying tracking the progress of the baby's growth on the internet.

I had my first Doctor appt. yesterday. It was just preliminary to establish care, we didn't get any information on the baby, but at the end of the month we will have another appointment that will give us the opportunity to see and hear the heartbeat.

The due date is March 8, my birthday.... very fun.

Joy is returning in measure to us all and we are just thrilled!

Good sign

I wanted to update everyone who is praying for us especially. I got a call from my Dr.'s office yesterday. They received the labs back from my blood test. Everything looks very very very normal! I didn't know how much I really wanted to be normal until I wasn't for so long, and now, the word normal sounds amazing.

Daniel and I are just rejoicing because when you have something like a brain tumor and they tell you it could come back and then you have headaches and achy eyes every little thing kind of makes your heart jump and you begin wondering if things are getting bad again. Sooo, to get a blood test and have them test all the hormones produced by the pituitary and have it come back totally normal is such a relief. We are so excited.

Thank you all for praying for us and holding up our arms thru all this. Looking forward to more victories to come.

Growing up

This is a particularly exciting weekend for us. Last night we celebrated the graduation of Ethan from 1st grade and Micah from Kindergarten. Our tradition is to go bowling for their party and we had a great time. Micah outscored all of us... something he was quite thrilled about. 

Homeschooling has been so rewarding. To look at my kids and see the progress they have made from this time last year is astounding. In so many ways they are little sponges that soak up whatever you give them to learn. But with teaching our kids the progress is line upon line and precept upon precept so it isn't always measurable, but then when you finish a whole year and look back there is much satisfaction in what has been accomplished.

We are praying and asking the Lord for wisdom for next year. I want to homeschool but am asking the Lord what He has for my kids. For now I'm super happy to not have to do school everyday. I'm ready for a break.

Our second celebration is Micah. He turns 6 on Monday!!! I can hardly believe he is 6. He is such a joy. Hungry for knowledge, loves to learn, is compassionate at his core and the most devoted little guy I've ever met. He is still in love with his VeggieTales, at this point he claims he will love them until he is a daddy and can pass the love on to his children. I hope he isn't disappointed :o)

We are so blessed to have two amazingly healthy boys that are great buddies. It's times like these that I feel like I'm overflowing with gifts from the Lord. So so good to me!

Only He knows and that's ok.

Romans 15:13 

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."

I think we have already established the true meaning of hope but let me remind anyone who forgot or hasn't heard......

HOPE is the JOYFUL anticipation of GOOD

Now I'm reminding you as well as me because living on earth usually means we get curve balls thrown our way and we have to remember that it isn't the end of the world, but it can become something beautiful if we let Him use it.

John 16:33

"....I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

With that in mind we read the scripture again.... He is the God of hope (the joyful anticipation of good) and he wants to fill me with joy and peace (the first two things to go when crisis hits) because as we trust in him (picture yourself standing under the downpour of His hope getting filled up with joy and peace, trust keeps you there, fear takes you away from there) but if you stay there long enough you will OVERFLOW with what..... HOPE!!!! (the joyful anticipation of good) Amazing!!! 

It's like this awesome cycle of going to the source of hope and all good things and saying "wow, I sure need some hope, things look bleak" and he says, "here stand under my downpour for a bit, you'll get some joy and some peace" and you say "I don't need joy or peace, I need hope! I told you things look stinkin bleak!!!" and he says "relax, this will work I promise, you just have stay there for a while" So you decide to try it out and sure enough as soon as you step under that downpour you've got all this joy and peace and you forget about the circumstances that are screaming at you to freak out and give up..... Pretty soon before you know it you are overflowing with hope, the very thing you were looking for, and when you come out your situation always looks different.

The Lord downloaded this scripture to me this morning. I needed it. We had a doozy of a week.

Actually it started last week. Our housing hunt ended for various reasons, all out of our control. We have so much peace though. We thought we'd look for a house and pursue it as far as we could, but we hit a closed door and so we stop and instead of trying to make something happen that isn't supposed to happen we step back and say, "ok, we know you've got something awesome for us, just bring it in your timing"

We got hope.

Then Monday hit. I started spotting. The familiar scenario that left my heart sick. It's happened two times before and I knew exactly what was happening. Daniel and I prayed and waited, but Tuesday I lost the baby.

I was numb.

In fact I stayed numb for a few days, I had to in order to still function as a mom to my two other guys. I went thru the motions, did what I needed to do, but I just couldn't believe it happened again. I thought we had left all this heartache stuff back in California. This was our new land, our promised land, not that everything would be fairy-tale-ish, but we thought at least things would improve....

Wednesday my sister in law came and got the boys. I didn't think I needed a break, I'm ok, I'm dealing with it, strong.... when they left I just stopped, breathed and cried. I couldn't believe another baby was gone. 

Daniel and I took advantage of the time. We went on a much needed date to Baja Fresh, one of our favorites. We cried together, we went to the top of the hill in the middle of Bend called Pilot Butte. It was a beautiful evening and watched a storm roll in, complete with thunder and lightning, it was awesome. We cried and prayed some more. Emptied out. It literally downpoured on us while we were out there. We came home and read all the promises the Lord has given us over the years. We keep a journal of the specific promises he gives us either thru our personal times with him or from other people. You can't believe what a strength that is in times like these. 

Had all day Thursday to myself, another date night with my hubby, this time at home watching Return of the King, the third movie of the Lord of the Rings series. It was amazing. Then we had a quiet day home together today, just resting, worshipping, and enjoying the peace and joy of his downpour. I thought it was interesting that it literally downpoured here the last 3 days. First time it's done that since we moved here. It was magnificent.

This morning was when the Lord spoke to me thru the scripture in Romans. It is always a choice though. Choosing to allow him to fill us and give us a piece of him as the God of hope. Or staying in self pity and depression and wasting so much of what he is giving away freely. I choose life, and I choose hope.

We have hope again. It feels amazing.

God makes all things beautiful in it's time.

I waited paitently for the Lord and He inclined to me, and heard my cry. 

He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, 

Out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps. 

He has put a new song in my mouth - praise to our God; 

Many will see it and fear, and put their trust in the Lord. 

Psalm 40: 1-3

The Lord gave me this scripture several years ago when we were here on vacation praying about a possible move here for a pastor position. I was basically begging God to say "yes" so I wouldn't have to go back to Santa Ynez. He gave me this scripture and I just saw myself up to my waist in the miry clay and asking the Lord how he was going to free me.

Over the years and months I've gone back to that scripture and prayed it back to the Lord. Everytime I see myself in that horrible pit and unable to free myself but just proclaiming that I won't be there forever, somehow, someday I will be out of the horrible pit, but practicing singing that new song so that I don't stay stuck.

This morning I read that amazing Psalm and for the first time in 4 years since I got that scripture I realized I was reading it on the other side. I was reading it with my feet firmly planted on the rock, with a new song in my mouth!!! Oh it felt so amazing.

We have reached some major milestones here in Bend. 

1- We've been pre-approved for  a home loan so we can begin looking for that house of our dreams for the first time in our married lives.

2- We are enjoying the weather, friends, family and home the Lord has blessed us with.

3- This week we found out we are pregnant with baby #3.

This last one was especially pivotal for us because we have been wanting another baby for many many years. Our youngest Micah will be 6 in a few weeks and since his birth we have had two devastating miscarriages and then countless disappointments with the tumor rendering my body unable to get pregnant. In fact at one of my appointments before surgery my endocrinologist said that he wasn't even sure that I would ever be able to conceive. After that Dr. appointment I was sitting in the waiting room and just breaking off those words, declaring that the Lord has made my womb fruitful and I looked at my phone and the date was 11-11-08 and it was 11:11am. I asked the Lord for the significance and He told me to look up Hebrews 11:11 So I did. It said "Abraham..... considered Him faithful who made the promise" Then the Lord said "you can't listen to the limited knowledge of the Dr. you have to listen to what I say because I am outside of time and I know today from tomorrow". 

So here we are. We've come full circle. The amazing thing is I have no sign of any kind of morning sickness, and I'm full of energy, all of which is miraculous. 

The fact that the Lord would redeem this week for my family the week that my dad was diagnosed with cancer 3 years ago... turning our mourning into dancing, our weeping into laughter.

We are rejoicing.

What a year

It was one year ago that I began this blog... what a year!!!

My Lord is so good to us and we are forever grateful for this past year, but I'm especially grateful that IT'S OVER!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

My dad was diagnosed with cancer 3 years ago this week.

Now he is cancer free and pain free!!!

He works more than full time 

He and mom bought a beautiful home this year. 

My mom's birthday is Sunday.

She has been such a strength to all of us who have fallen apart around her

She stays very busy with grandchildren and children

She is loving her new home.

God is soo good. Our family has so much to be grateful.

Life is ever changing

Well, life continues to be one dynamic change after another. We've been loving Oregon. It feels like home. It has been so much like home that we have gotten busy and had a hard time writing updates here. So here is a rare moment of peace where I will try to update our lives.

- School is almost over we have 3 more weeks of homeschooling and then we will be done for the summer. Ethan is looking forward to being in "public" school next year. We are praying for the right school with the perfect teacher for his needs and the best surroundings. My mama's heart doesn't want to send him off, but he is sooo ready to be with friends, to learn from another voice and to be in a school setting. I'm excited but sad. I will keep Micah home for another year of homeschooling.  Looking forward to some one on one with him.

-We've been pre-approved for a home loan. We are super excited about this because the housing market is so amazing that we could actually get into a home and have the mortgage payment be less that our rent payment is right now. We are actively searching for the perfect place. Praying for lots of wisdom.

- Daniel is leading worship a few times a month at church and also teaching the harp and bowl model to the church every other Friday night. I've never seen him so alive. He is such a gifted teacher and when it is on something he is passionate about like worship, he just soars.

- We are looking forward to a trip to Seattle in June for a family wedding and seeing lots of family and friends up there. We are really looking forward to seeing Jon and Cyndi (Daniel's brother and wife) along with there boys which include our new twin nephews. 

- We've been loving our new church family. So many amazing people we are enjoying getting to know. Had lots of dinner invitations and just enjoying a healthy church family. Our pastors are amazing and truly spiritual parents.

We will try to update more often, but for now we are just enjoying life to the fullest.

Family

I have to say the best thing about living in Oregon is being near family. This is my family.... our crazy picture. It's tradition to take a crazy picture as well as a good one when we do these photo shoots. This was taken last Sunday and usually when we take them it is because we are only here for a few days and then are heading back to sunny Cali. and we have to get the picture, but this time it was a much much happier day. My brother Peter and family were here for the weekend and were visiting us! 

We love it here. Last week it was 80 degrees and beautiful... today it snowed. God was showing me how He is so surprising just like the weather of Central Oregon. It's all good, it's all needed, the snow, the rain, the sun, but it's all so unpredictable.  I love it!

I have to admit, I'm rather ready for the sun to come out and stay out and for the snow to be put away until next winter, but for now it is an adventure.

We are pursuing a couple of things and would love prayer. We are really considering buying a house and need favor as well as wisdom for that crazy adventure. The housing market is incredible right now and we are in a place that this would be a wise decision, just one we've never done before so it leaves us quite overwhelmed.

We are also making decisions concerning our next school year for the boys, the House of Prayer we are called to start here as well as other major decisions... all of them good for once. It feels so good to have all this anticipation and it is all exciting. 

We'll keep you all posted!!!

Pink eye!!!

So my poor Ethan woke up a couple of mornings ago sick. I thought it was just a nasty cold or the flu but its mutated into pink eye. Although he feels mostly good he looks like he lost a fight with a heavy weight.

Anyway, desperate to get a remedy and not wanting to take him to the Dr. mostly because I just heard a few weeks ago about how European countries treat pink eye like a cold and we Americans treat it like the plague, I thought I'd calmly go about trying to remedy the situation.

I'm blogging at this early hour on a Tuesday because I was laughing so hard I had to share it....

For a good laugh go to your google browser and type in "natural remedy for pink eye". Some of the suggestions we legit and totally could work, I'm looking forward to trying them today, but some of them were hilarious!!! This particular website has people write in and give their experience and remedy and then people and say if it helped them or not. A lot of them were things like salt water, green tea bags, breast milk...... you know weird natural things that people might have (although we are fresh out of breast milk around here). My humor was engaged though at a couple of entries. One was from a guy who claims duct tape worked for him..... go figure! Another was from an "energy healer" who gets chronic pink eye and "visualizes" the pink eye burning up. This person claims you have to close your eyes and picture you eye ball catching on fire, but it isn't the eye ball that is on fire, just the infection (nice of them to clarify that one) and then picture different colors etc.

Great for a laugh if anyone wants one :o) 

It is slooooowly turning into spring here. We had a beautiful 70+ degree day last week and were dreamily soaking it in as there is no place more beautiful than Central Oregon in that kind of weather, and then yesterday it turned cold again and was spitting snow. I guess this is normal, but it leaves a person feeling a bit perplexed. I'm ready for spring!!!

It's a new day

So, it's a brand new day. I wanted to share my news with the world. I got my ring back from the jewelers today and it is stunning!!!! It was a bit more $ than we thought it would cost, but he sized it, put it back together and polished and cleaned it and it looks like it did 10 years ago when my sweet husband asked me to marry him.

The most important thing is that ..... IT FITS!!!!!!!!!!! The boys were with me when I picked it up and they wanted to take turns putting it on and pulling it off. They loved it, and so did I. It's actually a bit big because my finger is so small down where it sits from all the months where it was squeezed onto my finger, but I'm just thrilled that it's back and looks so beautiful.

We just spent 3 days at the Oregon coast with my sister in law Tricia and her 2 foster kids and my mom. It was really nice to get a break from the routine of life and to bond a bit more with her and the kids.

We are so excited about what is next for us, although we don't know all that is in store, we do know that it's good whatever it is! God is amazingly good.