Dedication...

"Bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord."

Ephesians 6:4

 On October 17th, we dedicated Eva to the Lord.  Trusting in God FULLY is something I have always struggled with.  I have recited Proverbs 3:5-6 numerous times to count...."Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding and in all your ways acknowledge HIM and He will make your path straight".  You see, I just want to partially trust God with our children. I often think "Ok, God...I trust you with their life as long as you promise to  __________ (fill in the blank)."  To publicly dedicate Eva's life to the Lord, choosing to FULLY trust God while raising her with open hands, was a step of faith as it was with all the girls.  And I know I will continue to try to hang on even when I know that our children are much better off in God's hands than in our own.  I know I can't raise her on my own strength alone or protect her like God can...so WHY is it SO HARD to trust?  After all, we know our Heavenly Father loves us perfectly and has great plans for us, plans to prosper us and not to harm us, plans to give us a HOPE and a future? (Jeremiah 29:11)  These children are HIS and SUCH a blessing from HIM.  I know in my head I can trust HIM but my heart fails to believe otherwise.

Thanks so much Grandmas' and Papas' for coming to share in this very special day in Eva's life.

We chose Mark 12:30 for Eva's life verse:

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." 

This verse is one that I have prayed over all the girls during my pregnancies...that while God was forming their hearts, that he would give them hearts that love Him and long to know Him.

  And I continue to pray...because most days, that is all I can do.

Christmas Cards...

...yep, it's that time of year again. Thank GOODNESS family pics are done. Now it's time to create that card. So many choices...decisions, decisions. There are SO many places to choose from, then SO many options when you finally choose a place to get them printed. My favorite is Shutterfly. I chose to write a blurb about how great I think they are, and in exchange I get 50 free cards! You know how much I love FREE and the word "SALE" and that is just one of the things I love about this company! I have been a customer for a LONG time and have always just been SO impressed with not only their special offers but also with the quality of their pictures, cards and photo books. They are so easy to make too and I have always loved their designs. I'm really into the vintage designs (they have SO many cool ones!) and plan to use a card from their new Holiday collection. Check out their goods HERE

Can you guess which one I'm going to choose?

And finally, can you guess which picture I'm going to use?

Theme 1:  "You better not pout, you better not cry..."

 Theme 2: Hope your Christmas is buckets full of fun!

Theme 3:  Using the above picture on our blog, fully dressed as the Wizard of Oz Crew..."Merry Christmas, from the land of Ahhh's"

Ok, I better stop here.  I'm pretty sure Shutterfly didn't make this the "Who can make the dorkiest Christmas card? contest.