Goings On

I just don't have the time to get on here like I would like right now! Here's the lastest from our house.

Alexa is now up on all fours. No sitting yet (she refuses) but she's trying to crawl so we're not concerned. She has her first tooth and just continues to charm us. ;)

This handsome boy is letting you know how old he is. It's so hard to believe he's 2 1/2 already! Just the other day at lunch he told me to talk to him. When I asked him what about he just repeated "talk to me!". So I had to come up with random subjects that I could ask him questions about. We are actually having conversations together which is surreal at times!

He is doling out the hugs and kisses quite a bit and we just continue to eat them up. He acts so grown up most of the time that I don't always remember he's only two. Then, he does something like hiding his #2 accident in the ac vent of his room and I remember...

H O P E

I don't quite know what to title this entry. I hope you will bear with me (Sarah) while I step up on my soapbox for a little while and share some things a little more personal to my heart.

We are studying "Strengthen Yourself in the Lord" by Bill Johnson, at church. It is an awesome book. It is challenging every "comfort" zone I've ever known in my Christian walk and causing me to re-examine my walk with the Lord.

I started looking back through some old journals the other day and was amazed at the fire and passion I had as a young teenager. God was doing so much in my heart and life and in those around me. I was ignited and burning for Him. Somewhere in my older teens I grew frustrated with the way life was going and the fire in me began to die out. I didn't know what to do and in some ways I rebelled.

Thank goodness He loves me too much to leave me alone! The last few years have been very difficult for me as I have struggled to hold on to what I KNOW is true without being able to reconcile everything happening around me.

Our church has been going through a united desire for change and new life. We all recognize we need to move in unity and we need more than what we have. We were meant to have so much more in Christ! I am in agreement with all that but find that with my excitement for more also comes frustration that I don't know how to get there.

Last night the Lord spoke so clearly to me about what he wants from me. Once again it is so simple. He just wants relationship. Not desperate prayers when things are bad, not memorized lines at mealtimes, H e w a n t s m e . My focus needs to be always on how good and great is our God. No matter what's falling to pieces around me I need to see Him. My burdens weren't meant for me to carry alone. I'm to drop them at His feet and then I have to let them go and start worshipping, again, and again, and again, the God who takes them for me.

Sounds a little too positive for you? It is! Life in Christ was meant to be alive, exciting and new every morning! Everything about God is good ALL THE TIME! The devil will do everything he can to distract us from God's goodness because if he can do that he can undermine our confidence and hope. When we are so focused on God that we lay what's happening at His feet and choose to praise the Creator in the midst of the storm, the devil loses, God wins and we win with Him because we are heirs of every promise the Bible speaks about.

So this is where I am. The pessimist in me is being overtaken by the optimist. My hunger is to be worshipping daily, anywhere, anytime. Because all that matters is that He created me, loved me, died for me, redeemed me and has offered me all the promises of heaven, even as I walk here on earth.

There is more to come but this is what I have to share at this moment.

Potty Training 102?

The day after my last blog our little man pulled off his first #2 in the potty!!! I knew he had to go that day so I told him he could look at one of my Parents magazines while he was on the potty. I guess that and a promise of a piece of chocolate if he went were too much to resist!

He spent half an hour on his potty looking through the magazine (I could hear the pages turning). I kept checking him and when he finally called me he had done it! When we got out into the kitchen we did a happy dance together because we both were so excited! Since then, Chase only uses a diaper at bedtime (and usually wakes up dry) and has only had a problem with an accident once or twice at naptime. Totally understandable!!! We are so psyched for our little guy! (Not to mention how much money we now save on diapers! Yay!) The most amazing thing? Chase accomplished this in less than a weeks time! Can you tell that we're beaming?! We're so proud of him!

Potty Training 101

I find it hard to believe that the time has come for me to even say that we are potty training Chase! He seemed ready the last week or so and it led me to decide that this past Saturday was the BIG day; thirteen pairs of underwear and about the same amount of shorts later we have had no "accidents" of the number one kind. We can't get it through Chase's head yet that number twos also belong in the potty! All-in-all he has done great up to this point. Chase has earned himself quite a few stickers for all the success, of which he is very proud! We're proud of our "little man" too. Way to go buddy!

Six Months

It is so hard to believe that our little peanut is six months old! She is still our little sunshine as you can tell by the pictures. She just lights up at attention! Her growth is right on track. She's in the 50th percentile for height and 25th for weight. We know she's fine but it's always nice to have a professional agree. :)

She's also extremely photogenic. That, or I just happen to have the camera in her face more often than not since I am obsessed with capturing every moment!

Like most kids, Alexa adores the cat. She grabs huge clumps of fur and happily pulls away. I guess she's not strong enough yet because Smokey will purr like crazy and plunk his head as close to her hands as he can get. She might be a "cat whisperer" for all we know because Smokey doesn't like kids!

Memorial Day '09

I am running so behind in posting this picture! This is my (Sarah's) family on Memorial Day. We had a great time. A family whiffle ball game, croquet, pinochle and good food. :)

NASCAR Race at the Monster Mile

The "Monster"

If you aren't a NASCAR fan you may want to tune out now because this entire post is about the NASCAR race we attended at Dover International Speedway on Sunday.



As a Father's Day gift from me and the kids we bought Howard tickets to the race at Dover. Kendal bought tickets for her and Peter as a gift as well. Howard and Peter have wanted us girls to go with them ever since they first attended a race at Dover, so Kendal and I went along for the experience.

A little NASCAR trivia. It is called the Monster Mile because the race track is infamous for chewing up the tires on the race cars.

For the record, we are Jeff Gordon fans and cheer for the Hendrick Motorsports team (except Earnhardt Jr.). We watch these guys on tv everyweek but it was surreal to watch them walking past us in person.

There is all this talk about fans not liking Jeff Gordon but what I saw in reality was just the opposite. There were tons of people walking around with Gordon hats, shirts, etc. Our seats were right in the middle of a bunch of Jeff Gordon/Jimmie Johnson fans and a lot of people all over the track were rooting for him.

Jeff Gordon walking to his car after driver introductions

Jeff Gordon and his wife Ingrid during interviews

Opening Ceremonies

This was incredible! The little black specks above the American flag were four Air Force jets that flew overhead. We saw them well before we heard them. I kept thinking "they're not as loud as everyone said to expect them to be". Right after they went directly over us the sound hit and it was incredible! There is no way to describe the sound decibel those four planes hit! I stopped taking pictures after this one because I wanted to be able to enjoy the moment.

A pit stop in action

Jimmie Johnson's pit stall was right in front of us!

And Jimmie won the race!

We were sunburned and tired at the end of the day but it was a good time. I have a new apprectiation for what we watch on tv. The best part was getting to spend a day with Howard and two of our closest friends.