We Believe

Words just don't express how much we love this body of believers!

Some guys in the church made this promotional video. They did a GREAT job! We are praying it gives people a clear perception of our church - what we believe and who we are! We pray it bears fruit!

Spooky

What's in a name? Why did I name Noah, well, Noah? I think we all wonder sometimes why we were named what we are named!

Why Noah? Well, names were not coming to us - we had read that silly names books over and over again and we didn't like hardly anything. We both wanted to use James (b/c it's my dad's name) but I didn't want that to be his first name. I wanted him to have something all his own.

My parents have a HUGE Noah's ark picture in their living room and it's absolutely beautiful - (Mom - I want it when you are done with it ;) )...anyway, Jason looked at it and said, "What about Noah?" - me, I said, "NO ABSOLUTELY NOT! All I can think of is an OLD man - I can't see it being a cute little boys name!" I didn't know any Noah's at the time - I'd heard of Noah Wyle from ER - but even Jason had to remind me that was his real name. I had no idea! Anyway, I was somewhat against it, but then it started to grow on me.

Noah's name means comforter (Gen. 5:29), he was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God (Gen.6:9) - I would love that to be the description of my little man. And Jason's personal favorite is when the earth was flooded for 150 days..."But God remembered Noah" and all the animals and sent a strong wind and the water receded (Gen. 8:1). The Lord kept his promise to Noah! Those were the reasons we named him "Noah."

Yesterday, after church he came up to me pretty excited and said, "Mom, I know exactly why you named me Noah!" I said, "Oh really, Why?" He said he was reading the story (during church) and he said the Flood actually happened on his birthday! He said, "It said on the second month and the seventeenth day the flood started." I said, "that's really not the reason we named you Noah - I don't think we could have planned something like that (and to tell the truth I didn't quiet believe him)! But sure enough, Gen. 7:11 reads, "In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, on the seventeenth day of the second month—on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened." THAT'S NOAH'S BIRTHDAY! Feb. 17 - and before all you scholars tell me it wasn't Feb. I realize that - but it sure is neat that it reads to us like it was in Feb.



I think I could have read that my whole life and never put two and two together - unless it said, "Feb. 17th - on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened." - So, I'm not very observant!



NEAT!! I love that Noah!

Mary Sweet Mary...

Mary sweet Mary - where did the time go?

Our sweetest little Mary turned 2 Sunday! She has grown up so much this year! This past year she learned to walk and talk, not to mention she cut her first teeth - you know all those things you do before you turn one!! She also became a BIG SISTER!! Man, if we thought she was cute then - wow, she has only gotten cuter! Her personality is the best! She is pleasant and loving. I absolutely love her accent and voice and the things she comes up with are priceless. She has stolen everyone's heart that she comes in contact with. You can't not love Mary and I can't image life without her! She truly is a blessing!

So, what did we do? How did we celebrate? This year her birthday was on a Sunday, which I thought was so fun! It's fun to have somewhere to go on your birthday. Somewhere to go where you are surrounded by love!! We put her in a dress I got when Anna was 2 - and Mary was just as cute in it. It's a big princess spin dress! ADORABLE. We were having a lunch at church anyway so Delilah made her a cake to eat - so she would know it was her birthday. She LOVED people singing to her! She just smiled in amazement. Then to see those candles made her day! She didn't know about blowing out the candles so all the kids at church helped her blow them out. SHE LOVED THE CAKE! She was so sweet feeding it to Isaac too! She's a GREAT big sister!

This is how we started the day! In a fit about - well, I'm not sure what!?!

But like they say...Cake makes everything better! She didn't know how to blow out her candles. She's asking me if I'm doing it right! This by the way is my FAVORITE picture!

Amazed!


They are all gone!! YAY! That was fun!

YUMMY! I love her face! She looks amazed at how good it was!

BUBBA!!! Practicing for his big day! Sweet Mary fed him her cake!

He appreciated it!


Mary was being so silly making faces for the camera!

And this is how we ended the day! In the arms of her beloved By-an! CHILLIN'

Pictures from the past...She has changed so much!! See...

Waiting...Boy or Girl?!?

It's a GIRL!! Isn't she SO CUTE!! I could eat her up!

One years old - Still adorable!

2 years old! BEAUTIFUL BABY! Trying to be so grown up!

We plan on having her a Minnie Mouse Pool Party when the pool opens at our house! I've found precious invitations and a cake for Delilah to make! It's going to be so much fun! I just have to set a date and get busy on the those invites! It's kinda hard to have a birthday around Easter! But we're gonna make it happen - better late than never!!

Dance...

Shalita called Wednesday afternoon and asked me to get my creative juices flowing. FYI, they only flow at a LAST MINUTES NOTICE - apparently she knows this about me!

It's DANCE time - and she was putting a picture of Jacey Grace and Anna in the recital book (which I do not have the picture she is using b/c it would be illegal to post - so I took my own - BUT WOW, their pictures were SO CUTE!) So, of course...I stalled and put it off and Jason gave me a start on the way home from church Wednesday and I went with it! It gets on my nerves sometimes how much I underestimate myself. So they flowed. And it's my FIRST POEM EVER!! I hope you enjoy!

Orphans Anna and Jacey Grace
Clean that room and wash your face!

It's time to dance
It's time to shine
Get your costumes
They're on the clothesline

The Dollars and Clarks are in the crowd
We'll adopt IF you make us proud!

I thought it was cute and funny!! And Danay it was not just "WE LOVE YOU!" though I was tempted - trust me! And of course the "juices" flowed alittle too much! It was too long to print, so we went with bits and pieces of it. SO, since it wasn't being published in it's original state - I had to share it with someone - YOU!


They really are sweet friends and I hate they don't get to spend much time together anymore! But I think it makes their time together sweeter! I really do love you two girls!!

9 Months

Steal my Heart!

Here we are again and I'm about to say it one more time...WOW, It's hard to believe Isaac is 9 months old! He's definitely cute as pie and ENORMOUSLY ADORABLE (that's what his shirt says). He's a mess though. He is still around 22 pounds - so he is somewhat growing into his fat (ha ha). His smile is irresistible and melts your heart and his yells will make you want to lose your mind! Apparently he loves attention (like his momma). He doesn't have to be held, but looked at - ABSOLUTELY! He is really starting to do many things.

He sits and claps, he loves blowing those spit bubbles (once he gets going he can't stop - which could be because the makes massive amounts of slobber!), he enjoys playing with (and by that I mean chewing on) toys. He has 2 teeth on the bottom and the upper two JUST broke through (so they are teenie tiny). He loves to eat and just recently we've been giving him some table food - he can handle it - look at him! Mary and him are starting to play together and that is so sweet to watch (except they have started fighting - which is NOT sweet - he will take her passie and pull her hair and she will say "NO I-ZEEK").

He says: momma, dada, buhbuh, and when you ask for a kiss he will (must be prompted) say MMMMMAAAAHHHH (that's how we give kisses). He will hug the fire out of you - I love that he will just SQUEEZE you! Jason has been referring to him as velcro since he was born - he will grab hold of you - even if all he can get is skin and won't let go!

Sally this is for you - we've taught him the "bump my head" and he thinks that's funny. I love his little laugh - he has somewhat of a giggle that shakes his whole body! He makes a silly face and "Ooohhh" through it!

He's pulling up on everything, and CRAWLING! I knew he would be on the go ASAP - the day he was born he was going somewhere! HE LOVES TO BE ON THE GO!! When we are home he will turn into a monster! Mary gave me all the baby and snuggling and Isaac is growing up WAY too fast. He's a sweet bubba!! We love him! So, I guess we'll keep him *wink*

Pulling up!

Loving! He can take her down!

Sharing...

This is is silly "oohhh" face he makes!

Chewing on toys!

Look at the face...He knows he's not supposed to be doing that!

Trying to keep up with Mary

Notice the drool!! YUM!

There he goes...

And, sometimes he like to crawl like this!

Praying for Kevin

Hey friends! Some of you have helped bring this sweet little boy home to his forever family, some of you have prayed him here!

Kevin was brought home from China maybe a month or so ago - he is a special needs (doesn't look like it though) child with a very complicated heart issue. A couple of weeks ago the Dr. gave my friends Rob and Laine "NO HOPE" after an evaluation of his condition. Rob and Laine asked everyone to pray that the Dr. would formulate a "hopeful" plan or that they would see something "hopeful" on the next visit they had planned. And I prayed, but it felt weird. Praying against what a Dr. said was hopeless - and this isn't the first time I've done this - Remember Josiah - those prayers felt very similar. Somewhat of a lack of faith (b/c the "Dr said") but with hope believing that God was as big as you KNOW He is. Times like these have been so worshipful to me. So, last week she blogged and said the Dr. just called and he was "hopeful" - they were going to put in a shunt! Well, today is the day that is all happening. He will be on the by pass machine and will probably be in ICU for about 4 days.

Pray for Laine and Rob as they have stepped out on faith and dared to love this child whose future looks to us "scary" - which by the way, it's not hard to love him but they have given themselves to an unknown future! A future that looks scary, a future that looks painful, a future that only the Lord knows. Pray that the surgery goes smooth without complications. Pray the stint will help recover his lung damage. Pray the Lord HEALS!

This family is amazing and they are trusting the Lord when it is VERY hard to trust Him. You can't help but love this sweet little boy. And I honestly feel very confident that the Lord is going to show Himself to all of us that call upon His name on behalf of Kevin.

Thanks for your prayers!