New Blog...

Okay...I am sad to report that I think I will be switching blogs :( I really want to be able to keep blogging from Haiti this summer (it was one of the reasons I got my new phone!) and blogger is not very mobile blogging friendly. I've tried all of my options for keeping this one...and who knows...maybe after the trip I'll use this one more steadily instead...but for now please go here for my new blog... ayitilove.tumblr.com

Thank you :)

Trying...

I've been trying to stay better about posting! For some reason every time I tried last week it didn't work or something happened and I'd give up before it actually posted soooo...here we go again!

I've been trying to post pictures of Molly all week. She's gotten so big over the last few months! She's talking up a storm all the time and starting to stand while holding onto things. She's not even mine and I am marveling (and sad) at how fast she's growing up!

Distractions

These past couple months have all been a blur, and I can't really look back to find the exact point where the craziness all began. The only thing I can see is how much certain areas of my life have started to be impacted by my busyness. My relationship with Christ is definitely one of them. Satan's really good at putting distractions in your life that don't first come across as things that will hinder your walk with Christ, or at least he's good at doing that to me. In all my busyness of life and trying to keep on top of the too many things I'm involved in, my relationship with Christ somehow gets pushed to the back burner. It's amazing how unaware you can be about it too for so long. This is where I feel I am right now...starting to become aware of how long I've been blind to my distractions.

God's been knocking on my heart this past week really hard. Trying to remind me that He's still here, He's just waiting for me to come back home again. Monday morning on my way to work this song came on the radio. It's called "Again" by one of my favorite groups, Flyleaf. It brought me to tears as I listened to the lyrics and realized that I need to be "down on my knees again". Music is a huge part of my life, and I usually find that I can express what's going on with me and things in my life best through songs. This song definitely speaks to me and where I feel I am at right now. Just thought I would share it...
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Here are the lyrics too...
I love the way that your heart breaks
with every injustice and deadly fate
Praying it all be new
and living like it all depends on you

Here you are down on your knees again
trying to find air to breathe again
Only surrender will help you now
I love you please see and believe again

I love that you’re never satisfied
with face value wisdom and happy lies
you take what they say and go back and cry
you’re so close to me that you nearly died

Here you are down on your knees again
trying to find air to breathe again
Only surrender will help you now
I love you please see and believe again

they don’t have to understand you
be still
wait and know I understand you
be still
be still

Here you are down on your knees again
trying to find air to breathe again
Only surrender will help you now
The floodgates are breaking
and pouring out

Here you are down on your knees
trying to find air to breathe
right where I want you to be again
i love you please see and believe again

Here you are down on your knees again
trying to find air to breathe again
Right where I want you to be again
See and believe!
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Dear Heavenly Father I thank you for your never ending grace and mercy. I thank you so much for your unfailing love, and that somehow you love me even when I'm dripping with muck and mire. I pray, Lord, that you will help me to place my life in your hands again. That every minute of everyday I will surrender it all to you. Lord I pray that I will not be so selfish with my thoughts and time. Thank you for sending your Son for me. Thank you for never giving up on me. Thank you for being all of my strength. I love you. In Jesus name, Amen.

Back in Business!

It's been a while now! But at least this reason I kind of have a good reason ;) lol. The day after Thanksgiving our house in Grand Rapids was broken into, and they took all of our computers along with many other of our valuables and some priceless things. It's a feeling I've never experienced before, and definitely not one anyone enjoys. But, God is good, and thankfully it was only material things that they took. One of my roommates actually came home while the thieves were still in our house. We're so thankful that she is okay. That being said it took a little while for me to replace my computer, and now we're back in the "blogging game" :)

Hmm....

Walking Outside

Last week the weather was so beautiful Lilly and I took a lot of walks! This time I took my camera and we had a lot of fun being silly and taking pictures :)

Beautiful Sunset :)

We were on 28th Street the other night when we saw this beautiful sunset! Too pretty not to share :)

Falling on the Floor Laughing! :)

This picture cracks me up every time I see it! Lilly, Molly and I were playing downstairs when I snapped this picture by accident! I made Lilly and I laugh so hard we were both crying :) lol Hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Fruit Snacks

Lilly loooooves fruit snacks! I try to limit her intake to a few times a week, but if she had her way she'd eat them 3 times a day everyday. Last week she was being so good that she asked for fruit snacks and I decided it was a good special treat! These pictures I took just messing around with my camera settings. I thought they were kinda cool so I posted them :)

Crayon Lessons

My friend Tori just send me this quote and I thought it was really cute!

"we could learn a lesson from crayons. sometimes theyre sharp and sometimes theyre beautiful. some have weird names and they are all different colors. and they all live in the same box."

Who knew you could learn from crayons? ;)

It is well...

These last few weeks have been very...stressful? Even though I love my new job, it's hard being away from my kids at Bear Hugs. And hard switching to something unfamiliar after almost 5 years! The Behl's are great. I really mean it, I couldn't have asked for a better family to nanny for! They have made this transition great. It's just still hard!

Something else that's not making this transition an easy one is "re-entry stress". It's one thing that I (and others who go on mission's trips) always struggle with when coming back from a trip. It's effected me differently every time I've gone to Haiti. Sometimes it lasts longer, sometimes it hits later. This time it hit much later. I'm dealing with a lot of it now. I hate it, I really do. But I wouldn't stop going on the trips because of it. Basically it's just a way that Satan tries to use the trip and take the glory of everything God did, and turn it sour. You have an overwhelming sense of feeling like an alien walking around in a foreign land. Not enjoying what you're doing here, because often times it feels so pointless. You feel disconnected from people that you love that don't get why you went or what you did, or the importance of it. I don't think I can properly explain it, and I don't think that I would get it unless I had experienced it myself. But I always find that in that time this song is so comforting! I love it. It completely and 100% humbles me, and comforts me. Brings me to my knees and God gives me such peace through it. I've been listening to it a lot lately :) lol.






"When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

* Refrain:
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
If Jordan above me shall roll,
No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life
Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.

But, Lord, ’tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,
The sky, not the grave, is our goal;
Oh, trump of the angel! Oh, voice of the Lord!
Blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul!

And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul."

Going Batty!

Hey everyone! I hope that your weekends were wonderfully relaxing! These pictures are from last Friday. I wanted to post these sooner, but the weekend was crazy! Lilly and I made "Bat Hats" :) Her's was so cute that we also decided to make one for Molly! lol. They turned out pretty cute!

Both girls in their hats! Too cute!

Lilly and her hat... :)



Lilly checkin' herself out in the mirror ;) haha...



Molls and her hat...



I thought that they were cute! I promise I'll be posting more than just kid pics :) lol These are just easy! Hope everyone is well :) Have a blessed night!

Lilly's Many Faces! :)

This is a fun video I took last Friday of Lilly and I being silly! She's a very sweet little girl!



p.s.-don't mind my annoying voice in the background! lol :)

My New "Job"

Some of you know...not all of you...that I just recently quit my job at Bear Hugs. It's still crazy to think about! I was there just shy of 5 years. Those kids were like my kids. I miss not seeing them everyday!

Buuuuttt....I have a great new job :) I take care of these two lovely ladies! They are both dolls and we have a lot of fun together.

Molly is the easiest baby in the world! She is just about three months old and is just started to laugh and coo! This is Miss Molly...


Her favorite thing to do is sleep ;) hehe...I love, love this picture!


Lilly is fun and energetic and loves to giggle! Her and I have a lot of fun being silly and doing art projects together. She's quite hilarious :) This is Miss Lilly...

This is one of her various silly faces :)


The Behl's are a great family! I feel really blessed to have been given the opportunity to "work" for them (I don't feel like it's work lol) during this transition time in my life.

Oye...It's been a while!

I realized today that it's been a very long time since I've posted anything. I didn't realize how LONG it actually had been until I logged on. Holy smokes! A lot has happened since July 25th! A trip to Haiti, a wedding, a move and a new job. Guess I have lots of material for the next few days :) Anyway...hope everyone is well! I will be posting more tomorrow :)

Forever

My dad showed me this video last night and I thought it was awesome! Being in a wedding this summer and going to several more makes me think about how I want my wedding to be someday. I definitely want it to be fun like this! So creative! Hope you enjoy it like I do :)

Dirty Dancing?! :)

This weekend has been so busy, but so much fun! I went right from work on Friday to stay with my lovely friend Tori!

We had a girls night, and just hung low! It was a lot of fun! She's currently got a really bad case of poison oak so I opted to not take pictures for her sake (not that she's not just as beautiful now) :)

From there on Saturday we had a baby shower to go to and then to a Graduation party....and here is where this post gets fun... :) haha

Meet my dear friend Brenda! Brenda and her husband Nate are one of the reasons I haven't lost my sanity over this last year or so. They are amazing friends and people. I really admire the ways that they allow God to use them. They are both so fun, and we get along so well :) But...enough bragging up my great friends ;D At the graduation party the graduate had been given this dancing grad bear that danced to music. Meet said bear...


While we were watching it and laughing at it Brenda did her own version of the dance! It was hilarious to say the least!!! Here is her version of the dance caught on camera (I have permission to post this by the way ;) lol)...



Quite funny...made us all laugh really hard :)

Weekend Visit!

Last weekend my aunt (who lives in North Carolina) surprised my mom by flying up to spend the weekend! She's like a big sister and a close friend of mine. I'm not sure I would have survived the last few years without her! Anyway, we were all very happy she flew up! If you know me, you know that I'm usually permanently attached to my camera! But I failed in that department this past weekend and didn't take hardly any pictures...I was bummed! Anyway, here's some pics of our fun :)

Hangin' Out! My Grandma, Aunt, & Mom

My cousin Ally! She loves trying on Aunt Debbie's Shoes ;) lol

Youngest cousin Abigail! :)

Then we all went down to my aunt and uncle's cabin in Hastings. We got rained out most of the weekend, but we still had fun playing games and hanging out!

Aunt Dawn, Doreen, and my Mamma
My Aunt Doreen was talking lol

Dawn and my Mom

My brother ran out of the cabin for a minute and got soaked! Tryin to dry off his sweatshirt!

hahaha!! No words! :) He was really wet! lol

...the little children...

"Red and Yellow, Black and White..."

Lazy Kitty Days

Meet "Kitty" :) She is an outdoor cat that was actually born in our barn. She's adopted us, and lives under our front porch. I'm really not a cat person at all, I much prefer dogs. However, this cat I don't mind for some reason.

Since it's started to warm up she's been spending a lot of time on the deck. It always cracks me up to see her lazying around (yes that's a word :P lol). Today I caught some of her laziness on camera. I thought it was kinda comical lol.