Easter!

For Easter this year, we went to church and then to the Pagel's house for brunch! Jace was able to nap there, which was great. They bought a big floaty tube for the pool this summer, and we were able to sit in it and put our legs in the water without getting all the way wet. It was a lot of fun. We then went to my family's house to spend the afternoon and evening there. It was a packed day, but a lot of fun. Jace did very well for being on the go all day. At my parent's house, we had an egg hunt for the boys. Surprisingly, Jace was all about it! He would pick up the eggs and put them in his basket. He loved banging them together and then throwing them. He would take them all out of his basket and put them back in. It was really cute to watch! 

April 6th

April 6th is such a special day for Matt and I. It was the day we started dating and the day he proposed. Every April 6th we go back to the same Starbacks that it all happened at. This year, Barb and Denny watched Jace and we had a little date day after church. We went to lunch, and then played some cards at Starbucks! It's such a fun tradition and we plan to keep the tradition going! :)

Pagel Wedding 2014

I officially have a new sister!!! Sam and Ashley got married on March 21st. It was such a sweet ceremony and awesome to see the testimony of God's grace in their lives! I just love Ashley and am so excited to have another sister! :) Here are a few pictures from her Bachelorette Party, Rehearsal dinner, and the wedding!

Faithful God

I'm not sure if any of you have a song that you listen to that just speaks truth about God's character when you are just down or discouraged. Well I have one. "Faithful God" by Shai Linne. It is one of those songs that just has me shaking my head in total agreement with the words he speaks/sings. 

Faithful God (Hopefully the link works--it has the lyrics too so you can follow along)

My favorite part of the song is

 "From the things You say, You don’t budge

You’re faithful to save and You’re faithful to judge
The God who is just is not one of us
The faithful God is the God we can trust
We can’t trust us, on You we rely
Everything we need, Lord, You will supply
Even when we’re faithless, You remain faithful
You cannot deny Yourself" 

This song seriously just slaps me across the face and gets me out of the slump I'm in. Today is one of those days, but as I sit here listening to this song I'm reminded about God's character. He is faithful. His ways aren't my ways. I can be so faithless, especially during trials. But I'm thankful for trials because it's during those times that I am being refined. One of the verses hanging on my fridge is Psalm 66:10-12. "For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried. You brought us into the net; you laid a crushing burden on our backs; you let men ride over our heads; we went through water; yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance." Trials are temporary. As it also says later in Psalms, He remembers our frame and remembers that we are but dust. Praise God for momentary trials. And even if they last a lifetime, they truly are only momentary in the grand scheme of eternity. 

Anyways, those are my random thoughts for today. The last 6 months have been so good for my heart--difficult to swallow, but good in the aspect that God is faithful to reveal sin in my life and through this trial, He has been sanctifying me greatly. 

With all this said, I really need to post some pictures from Easter. Jace was all about looking for eggs, which I wasn't sure if he would even care. I'll get them off my phone this week and post again. 

Just some thoughts...

So I've decided that I want to periodically post about what God is teaching me. I'm always encouraged and challenged to hear how God is working in other believer's lives, and so here are some ways God has been challenging me lately.

I've been reminded lately how different head knowledge is from heart knowledge. It is so easy to KNOW the characteristics of God. But where is faith in knowledge? Everyone KNOWS there is a God (Romans 1).  It's not enough to simply know. Faith is believing and trusting and practicing that knowledge!

I've been convicted a lot about this in my own life recently. When rubber meets the road and it's time to believe that God's plans and timing are better than mine, I find myself struggling. I KNOW His plans are better than mine, but when I see myself becoming discouraged over His timing, I'm humbled to see that I'm not truly BELIEVING it by practicing it. I have to ask myself, "When has God ever been unfaithful?" Never! He's blessed me beyond anything I could ever deserve. I have salvation through His Son, and therefore I possess everything!

I had to remind myself today that God is in fact hearing my prayers. I feel like I’ve spent the last 5 months praying the same thing daily. And what I have to tell myself is that it's not that He isn’t hearing my prayers. It isn’t that He is choosing to give me no answer to these prayers. He answers each one of my prayers. His answer has simply been no. What looks like no answer or indifference is in fact just my faulty perception of how He is answering my prayers. It’s not the answer that I want and so I perceive it as an unanswered prayer. But no prayer has ever gone unanswered. He is faithful. I need to praise Him when his answer to me is no or not yet. I need to see AND believe that His answers are perfect and timely. It doesn't mean that His answer will always be no. But today it is. And that's good. 

Anyways, I'm thankful for moments when I feel helpless. It humbles me and gives me a better perspective of myself. I need to decrease so He can increase. This life is not about me. It isn't about my wants. It isn't about my plans. It's about Him. When I remember these things, I feel such peace. My anxiety goes away and I'm content. He is SO good. I'm blown away with His willingness to shower grace and love on me. It's an undeserved blessing. His plans truly are good and His timing really is perfect. And when I step outside of myself, it's so much easier to practice that knowledge and believe it. :)

I'm so blessed with my little family! So thankful for them! 

 

Catching up!

Since I am so awful at remembering to update my blog, here's a collage of the last 2 months or so. :) Not a whole lot going on. My Brother-In-Law gets married in less than 2 weeks, so we've been busy with Bridal Showers, Bachelor Parties, etc. I'll have to update the blog with pictures from the wedding in a couple of weeks!

 Jace has his own cabinet that I let him play in while I'm in the kitchen. He isn't allowed to play in most of the cabinets, but having ones that he can play in has been great for while I'm doing dishes, cooking, etc. He loves playing with the tuppawear. And playing IN the cabinet is fun too. 

My MIL is amazing! She watches Jace for me at various points in the week and he just loves her! 

We've been trying to get outside and play while the weather is so great! 

When things are quiet, I know something's up. I even hid the Kleenex box in the wicker basket and he still managed to pull them through the hole. 

Playing at the park! 

He LOVES to do pull ups. He saw Matt and I doing some while we were working out at home with our door pull up bar, and he always lifts his hands up so that he can do his pull ups too. 

I pulled out the white table that we have just been storing in the extra room because I found him wanting to sit on the chair. He LOVES this. He eats his snacks now at the table (better then when I used to throw them around the room and he would find them. That used to buy me a good 10 minutes.) The chairs are still a little big for him and falls off them quiet a bit. But I'm shocked at this kid's pain tolerance. Shocked. He's learning though how to get off the chair and on without falling. 

Jace has no fear. And standing on the chairs (or climbing onto the table) are exciting to him. It's one of the things we are working on--SITTING on chairs. He's getting better. 

He loves my head bands. He wears them through out the day. As I am typing this comment, Jace decided standing on his chair was fun again. #workinprogress 

Jave loves music. Playing the piano is his new favorite thing! There is a song called "Say Something" (so beautiful!) that for some reason he LOVES. I sing it to him and he just smiles and tries to sing along. It's such a slow song that it surprises me that he loves it so much. But every time I play it he runs over to me and smiles. 

Family pic at the park!

Jace found a straw wrapper at the park. He carried it around with him everywhere.

He even let it go down the slide.

My sister and my mom planned a last minute trip to Cali to go to Disneyland. It was such a fun, quick trip. I missed my boys terribly, so I was definitely ready to come home, but it was such a nice time with my mom and sister. 

Apparently Jace knows how to climb ladders. Like I mentioned before, NO fear. I'm just glad I catch him doing these things and can get him down safely. 

Brush brush brush. Brushing our almost 8 teeth! 

We've been taking advantage of this weather. While I let Jace play outside in the backyard, I laid out to get a tan. In March! That's just too early for it to be tanning weather. 

He's my little ham!! 

This is Jace's new room! We finally finished it up in mid January. 

Pinetop with my family!

From January 10th-13th, we went to Pinetop with the Ross family and my parents! It was Jace's first time seeing snow, and he LOVED walking around in it. It was his first time really walking in shoes, and surprisingly, he did really well. He had gotten a pair of Toms at his baby shower that were fuzzy on the inside, so they were perfect for this weather--nice and warm! And oh so cute. :) On one of the days, Matt, Jenn, my Matt, and I went snow boarding while my parents watched the boys. After not boarding in 3 years, it was a little rough to get back into it. My hubby was so patient with me and tried to teach me to carve. I was starting to get it by the end of the day, but my legs were so sore from riding heel side most of the morning that it was hard to keep going. But it was a lot of fun! 

 Our attempt at a picture of the boys!

 This has got to be one of my favorite pictures. I just love how much Jace loves his daddy. 

 I sure do love him.

 Playing super baby!!!

 Boarding!!!

Loved pushing the stroller instead of sitting in it. I wish we could switch. I'd gladly let him push me in the stroller instead.