This months amusements

Curio Cafe

a sweet little family friendly cafe that Elly's Kindergarten teacher met us at. Great kids menu!

Elly and Lucy had breakfast for lunch, Atticus had pancakes and whip cream and I had a yummy veggie goat cheese sandwich:)

Yummy Recipe!!

Nigella Lawson's Butterflied Chicken with Lemon and Rosemary

Family Bike rides

So after a long awaited time of finally getting my bike fixed and finding a baby seat for a good price on one of my new obsessions (craigslist) we can finally go on family bike rides!!!! And what fun they are! I highly recommend this when your children are big enough. We ride to the park, friends houses, to get ice cream and just for sheer amusement. It is fantastic! Oh and the picture of the kids and i was taken by my sweet Josh with his iphone, over his shoulder, while riding his bike:)

My son and the Robot

So, i am still waiting to have my photo editing software installed so i can't publish my, "Atticus and the Robot" post i wanted to do this month- so ya'll are just gonna have to enjoy the cuteness in the next post!

My kids faces

One of many faces Atticus' makes when he is trying to make me laugh!

The girls and I were listening to a reggae/hop hop sounding song on the radio when i took this pict:)

Lucy likes to smother

This is lucy with my brother's dog Daisy when we visited them in California a few months ago. She loves her, she follows her and picks her up as much as she can with out getting in trouble.....that poor dog.
Her smothering compulsion carries over into other areas too. When she sees something cute, an irresistible urge overwhelms her and she can not control herself. She will squeeze the person, animal, toy out of sheer selfish pleasure without a thought to the object being squeezed.....i think i use to do that when i was her age. I find myself battling the same urge with the cheeks on their faces, and sometimes the other cheeks too;)

ELAmomma begins!

This is thouroughly intimidating THE FIRST POST!!!!! I think this is as nerve racking as going out onto the stage in the ONE play i was in. It was a Christmas play our church put on and i was 10?!?! My role was "The Inn Keeper" and i had like 3 lines...shaking like a leaf, mind clouded and bejumbled, tummy churrning, words said a couple MPH faster then was planned-but i did it! Was it an Emmy winning performance- definitly not- but the purpose was accomplished. So, hopefully the outcome of this blog will be the same and maybe even better:) 
I have no idea what to start this out with, no wity and charming thing to say or some deep thought to pull you into this blog. Just simply, I am the mother of 3 beautiful children and have a fantastic husband. 
I wanted to do a blog for sometime, yet have been overwhelmed a bit at the thought. I have a feeling this is going to be a somewhat eclectic blog. So here it goes.....enjoy!

BACKWASHING!

Every night my husband has been regularly reading this AMAZING book "The Jesus Storybook Bible" by Sally Lloyd-Jones. This book shows how Jesus and God's ultimate plan to save His creation is intertwined throughout the entire Bible in all the stories. It is pretty pretty amazing i must say!

After they finished reading my husband was explaining to them that he was doing a baptism on Sunday in the beautiful and yet freezing Lake Michigan. My 5 year old ran over to me and said, "Did you know Papa is backwashing people tomorrow?!?!?! Isn't that amazing?!" and proceeded to give me a ravenous Lucy hug with her teeth clinched.  Of course their inquisitive minds had many questions. We explained to them that people were getting baptized to represent there decision to follow Jesus. They go under the water to show their old life washed away and coming up a new creation, ready to follow where ever Jesus may lead! Our eldest daughter Elly said she wanted to follow Jesus and be baptized. Lucy followed with her desire, but being afraid of the coooold water. I explained "If you want to do this for Jesus the cold water won't matter." My husband explained "Well, there are still fears when do things in obedience". God gives a good balance between the 2 of us;)
So, that night (being the pessimist i am -but i like to look at it as "being prepared") i figured i had to prepare for some disastrous thing to happen on the way to church the next morning. Knowing that my girls were making a big spiritual decision and there would be something

trying to hinder that from happening. Thus, i woke up and had a pretty typical morning, a bit more rushed, do to the sunblock, snack, towels, bathing suits etc. i needed to pack. So we were a few minutes late to church, but WE MADE IT! Beautiful sermon, great people, good conversation and off to the lake for baptism.

We had about an hour before I had to be there so I drove around so my 1 yr old could squeeze in a quick nap before our long afternoon- and what do you know....

hungry bickering children + hungry momma + mom saying "please be nice to your sister! talk nice, say sorry" 50x's = momma meltdown!! 

I tell the Lord "Help me not to strangle these children on the way to their baptism!!"

As i am yelling "talk nice to your sister" as i am not talking so nice! this is greaaaaat!

So i am bumming out because "how can i say= yay we follow Jesus! after i just blew up at my kids?!"

We get there and my friend comes over and says, "Hey, we were driving and saw you. We were trying to get your attention and couldn't so we drove up next to you and....". I finished her sentence, "I was yelling at my kids!" Yes! Fantastic! So we joked around and laughed about it....but inside i was like "i am such a LOSER!"

We gather at the lake and i am standing with my sweet girls and have my camera READY! The wind is blowing, they are FREEZING, but still determined- they are so amazing!

They are last to go after about 8 others. My eldest goes first- she doesn't want to be carried to the water- she wants to walk...her papa reaches out his hand and picks her up to carry her over the waves (yes waves!).

Then little Lucy's turn- her little body shivering in her smiling papas arms!

YAY! they are baptized! AMAZING!

I chatted with/texted my girlfriend afterward because i was so bummed and felt like such a failure and she encouraged me with many words. One of the many things she said that got my eyes refocused was "let's not let the enemy shift our focus from this beautiful thing that your children just experienced and be thankful!!" As soon as i read that text the entire reason we get baptized is slammed in my face! We need Jesus and come to Him in our imperfections and because of our imperfections. He gives us new life AND forgiveness and grace. His mercies are new EVERY morning!! He is faithful to show His love and goodness to our children despite and even THRU our imperfections! That is what GRACE is all about and why He came in the first place! My children can see my flaws AND my desire and need for Jesus everyday!

These are the rocks they got after they were baptized- we painted them when we got home:)