Storms the word

It seems like our area has been hit super hard over the last several weeks with rain, thunder, lightening, wind, tornado watches and warnings, which resulted in a few tornadoes around here. The winds have taken down limbs, power lines,trees which have closed streets....you name it. We have also had some flash flooding I am sure.
Around our home we have been lucky enough to only have a few down limbs and leaves which have caused me to have to clean the yard both Monday and yesterday so that I could mow. I don't ever remember a season quite like this one. We have had our friends staying with us over the last 2 storms because each storm has left them without power and water. The first storm hit Friday, the second one Wednesday evening. It was amazing standing at the window and watching how the sky line changed and how the storm blew in. The trees were waving with some definite madness. Its been crazy.
Yesterday I spent some time with a friend driving around and looking at all the damage we had around town. So here are a few pictures of what our area has looked like over the last couple of days. Downed trees on power lines.

Many, many uprooted trees causing some major damage. This is just one of the many.



Part of a barn that ended up in someone else's yard during one of 4 tornado touchdowns in our county.

Here is what remains of the barn and all the debris around it after the tornado struck.

And finally here is a tree that came to rest on what looked like it was a fairly new vehicle.

As this weekend comes, we are heading out of town for a family reunion and they are calling for more storms. Guess we will see what comes.

A Bike Ride in the Rain....

A week ago Saturday our neighbors and our family took a bike ride on the pumpkin vine trail in Goshen. It started out nice, sunny, and beautiful. We biked from Goshen to Middlebury. We took the developed trail as far as it went and then hit the country roads on into Middlebury. We went and got ice cream at Mancino's/Ice Cream joint. It was a good break. By the time we got there it had started to cloud over a bit. We thought we would just wait out the storm, until it became clear to us that if were going to make it home in time we were gonna have to ride it out in the rain.
We packed the kids away in their bike cart that is equipped with a nice rain cover thankfully and set out for the ride home. I was wearing shorts and a tank top cause it was a hot sticky day. Let me tell you it was freezing ride on the way home with the rain coming down on us and the wind blowing around us. We took all the same country roads back to the developed trail and road the rest of the way back into Goshen. By the time we got home we were completely drenched, muddy, and my teeth were chattering because I was so cold. We had mud all the up the back of our shirts and into our hair. I thought it was quite disgusting but I didn't want to lose the look we had up our backs. So we stayed outdoors after we got home for a bit while Edwin came in and grabbed the camera for some quick shots.











All the while, the boys had fallen asleep in the cart on the way home and were crying their little eyes out. So we quickly took the shots, came inside and took showers and put the boys to bed. We finished our evening with a movie, "The Incredible's." I actually fell asleep in the middle of the movie and went to bed before it was over.
All in all it was a great time. I don't know that I would ever be willing to bike in the rain again like we did and get so nasty muddy and wet but it was fun while it lasted. I would bike to Middlebury again no problem though. That was a blast. Our round trip ended up being somewhere around 22.6 miles. It was a good ride and the next day I felt amazing.

A Matter Of The Heart

This year I have been working on reading through the Bible with a group of ladies holding each other accountable on Facebook. One of the challenges we were given during this time by one of the ladies was to not just read but to really let the words we are reading penetrate our heart. I know that are still many times I just read for the sake of getting caught up and getting my reading done but every once in a while I kind of get smacked up side the head. Several weeks ago was one of those times.
I was reading in 1 Chronicles 21 where it is talking about how David took the census and how this was a sin. At first I didn't really understand why taking a census was such a big deal. I even asked my husband about it cause it was really on my heart. Why would God get so angry at a man for counting his people. What was wrong with that.
So went back and reread the section and then talked about it. It says "Satan rose up against Israel and caused David to take a census of the people of Israel. " 1 Chron 21:1. I still wasn't understanding why a census in this situation was such a bad thing. Then my husband talked to me about David's heart behind the matter. He was taking a census cause he was wanting to know how great his numbers were so that he could brag about how great his army was. David's heart was taking pride in his numbers and starting to trust in numbers instead of Christ. Taking the census in itself wasn't the sin but it was the motivation of his heart behind it. It was his motivation for greed, arrogance, and selfishness that caused the census to be a sin.
How often are we moved my greed and selfishness to get what we want? I was just reminded here how important it is for us to check our heart motive behind what we are doing. A super huge challenge for me. I hope this also is a challenge to you.

A 10 Month old, a 4 year old, a 29 year old and a surgery...

Every now and again I get away from posting on my blog just because I feel like I really don't have anything to blog about or simply don't take the time required to blog! I get so caught up in the craziness of life and forget to stop and think. I sometimes think about the past when I first had Jabez and how much "time" I had to do the things I wanted to do even though I had a baby. It was because I was home all the time and had more time to get things done around the house. Now I think I have just gotten so use to being home that I fill my time with so many things! I hate how busy I am sometimes and really just wished I knew how to say no more often.
So what's new you might ask....
My baby is 10 months old. Where or where has the time gone.
1. He is moving and cruising everywhere.2.He is getting in to everything.
3.In the last month and a half he has pushed through 6 teeth and I think he has more coming through. Needless to say our nights have been a little more than crazy at times.
4. He says "mama" all the time. I absolutely love it.
5. He is a very brave little boy by climbing up onto everything in the last couple of days. Talk about giving a mama a heart attack as I watch him do these crazy things.
6. I gave him his first official haircut last week because his hair was down into his eyes and beyond his ears. It was a hard thing to do because I always think haircuts make them look so different and so much older.
7. He absolutely loves to crawl through the grass and be outside in the beautiful weather.
My best friend's daughter turned 4 on Saturday. Crazy!
I remember the day she told me she was pregnant. I was astonished because she was told she would never be able to get pregnant because of a health issue called poly-cystic ovarian syndrome(PCOS). The fact that she got pregnant was an absolute miracle. Her pregnancy going pretty much normal was also amazing. So we celebrated her little girl's 4th birthday with a party in her back yard and a pink Walle cake. It was fun to do yet another cake.
My husband turned 29. Yup that is right we will both be 30 next year. Enough said. We celebrated by going out to lunch with friends. He really seemed to enjoy his lunch.

And finally we are inching every close to surgery day for Dakota. I think the closer we are getting the more I have been feeling a little apprehension. I know that he will be taken care of. I just don't like the thought of my baby going through something like this. I want to and am trying to come to a place where I have fully placed my baby in God's arms. Please pray with me my friends that I do this. It is a very scary thing for me as his mommy to think about a surgery for my baby. I know some of you have been here and maybe you can give me some insight on how to remain calm, cool, and collected. That is my prayer.

Dakota is 9 months........

Well Dakota turned nine months on Monday and life just seems like it stays super busy with two little ones, both now mobile. Dakota has been crawling now for about 3-4 weeks I think. He is also pulling up on everything and getting into everything. So if you see my baby around with bruises its because he is trying to be a big boy.
Yesterday he did something that was really really scary. Jabez left the door open to our stairwell and I didn't know it. Dakota was crawling all over and I was working on laundry in my bedroom. The next thing I heard was a bang, bang, and then a loud scream and cry. I rushed to the kitchen to find my baby at the bottom of the stairs. I just have to say I know that God has his hand on my little guy cause all you can physically see on his little body is a little rug burn on his chin. We had him checked out and we have been told that he is totally ok. I can't thank God enough for watching out for my baby boy.
Today we returned to Ft. Wayne for an appointment with his plastic surgeon. It was a pretty open meeting. We talked about his past medical history and through any questions that we had. I feel pretty confident that this doctor will do an excellent job on our baby boy. We are looking at surgery for around the end of June, or that is what we know as of know. We will know more specifically in a few days I would hope.
On a different note, it is so fun to see Dakota trying all these new things he is doing but it is also hard. It seems like babies just grow up so fast that they are getting into everything before you can blink an eye. A friend of mine mentioned the other day that Dakota has been out as long as he was in. In a way that kind of makes me sad, not because I want another baby right now, but because of how fast time goes.
Then I think of the responsibility God has placed on our lives to nurture these little ones to become like him. So often I am in tears at this because so often I fail to show Christ and his love in the right way. I just keep praying that God would continue to help me grow in mothering my 2 wonderfully precious little souls to become more like him.

A Year Has Come Full Circle

A year ago I set out to do something that I never have done before. It was fun to try and figure out a cake for my son's 2nd birthday just because. So I set out at decorating my first cake by myself. My son was really enjoying turtles at this time last year so I got online and looked up a recipe for making a turtle cake.










So I was talking to a friend about how much I enjoyed making my first cake, since then we have joined forces in making cakes for different things. This was Dora we made for her daughter's 3rd birthday.




Cake # 3 was of a princess cake. We used a little Tinker Bell doll for this little princess cake. This cake was quite the trip. We had a lot of fun trying to figure out how to keep her standing up in the middle. We tried frosting, tin foil, tooth picks, and then I think we finally settled using a baby food jar lid with the doll wrapped in tin foil. The unfortunate part of this process was that every time we had to get her out of the cake it caused the cake to separate. This little lady is held together with a lot of tin foil believe it or not.

We had a creative food contest for a church at the park day last fall. So we decided to take a picture of the man behind the inspiration for the contest and put him on the cake. So my friend's husband took a picture that we printed off and then drew a larger picture on a piece of paper and then he took it and used a tooth pick and sketched it onto the cake. We then just filled it in with frosting. And there you have it, "the Keis" cake.







This cake you are looking at is what we call a
rainbow cake. We took 2 cake mixes and split
it into 6 different cakes for the different colors of the rainbow. In between each layer was frosting. So the picture to the left is what the cake looked like once it was cut open. It was a lot of fun.





So now we have finally come back to my son's birthday. He turned 3 on April 4th but we didn't actually celebrate it with a party until this past Sunday with friends and family. Saturday my friend and I spent the day making a Thomas the train cake for my son. He is completely and totally enthralled with Thomas. It was a lot of fun.













I don't know what it is about cake decorating, but I have really come to enjoy it. It is a place where I can be creative. It is a good thing cause being creative is something I don't feel I am really good at.

Karston Lukas

Last Saturday, (because I have been so busy and not been able to get to writing this) my husband and I took the opportunity to go see our precious new nephew who at that point was still in the hospital trying to recover from the meconium he had aspirated into his lungs before birth. It was a really great time with my husband's sister and husband and their baby, Karston Lukas. When we were there they had just moved from an incubator to a crib. That is huge progress meaning he was being given less oxygen then before. He was still under the oxygen tent and had a nasal cannula.
It was a good time of talking, loving, and sharing. />We also took the time to pray for him and them. I just can't imagine how stressful a time like that would be on your marriage and family life.
This morning I am happy to share that little man Karston is now resting safely at home with his family. They released him from the hospital on Friday afternoon with an oxygen tank at low dose at home for the next 3 weeks. He has come a long way but he still has a distance to go. Please join us as we continue to pray for complete healing in his little body. May God completely and totally restore health to his little body.

God loves You!

This week has kind of been a rough one with everything that has been going on around me. Our nephew was born last Saturday with some complications do to swallowing meconium before birth so he is in a bigger hospital about an hour from home. At home there are 4 older children with 2 younger. So all in all this is taking a lot out of the family right now.
I also have a friend from high school who continues to fight for her life after some health complications. She is in the ICU while others take care of her two children also.
All this has come after a week ago talking about eternal perspective at church as I had posted before. Wow! I have just come to see how hard it is to keep an eternal perspective when so many things are going on.
The other night I was having a conversation on Facebook with another high school friend of mine about our friend who was struggling to stay alive. She was telling me about her day that day how she had been taking time to cry out to God for the sake of her friend and that He would let her live. This is direct from our conversation the other night ""i was just basically yelling at God,demanding that Brandi lives...
and how she cant die and finally after exhausting every possible plea....i just asked God to speak to me and it was at compassion pregnancy center there where i looked up and saw a statue of Jesus holding a baby and I just wept because at that moment God spoke to me and told me that He loved Brandi......
its because of prayer...and faith....and God loves Brandi more than we ever could.thats what I forgot and thats what God spoke to me.." These are taken directly from my conversation with my friend.
The huge part in this conversation was that "God loves Brandi more than anyone here on earth ever could." I was having a hard time feeling loved that night and this was all I needed to be reminded of. God loves Me more than anyone else ever could. I am still trying to completely wrap my head around that. GOD LOVES ME!
I just encourage you that if you are having a hard time just remember that God loves you more than any physical person on earth ever could!

Keeping an Eternal Perspective

I am going to be honest. I am struggling with this. Today we were challenged at church to maintain an eternal perspective with things in life. It has been a difficult day.
We were given an opportunity to pray for each other this morning. It was a great time of bonding between women with prayer, hugs, and tears.
It is so hard to see my best friends continuing to struggle throughout life. It just seems they can't catch a break, and to be honest it makes me angry to see them continue to be hit up one side and then down the other. First their car breaks down, then he gets laid off again, then there is constant sickness, and then guess what their new car they just bought breaks down again. My husband and our friend worked on it afternoon trying to figure it out. No luck, no ideas. It stinks!
We also received a call from my husband's sister who had her baby last night. The baby was born with complications. He has pneumonia because he had ingested meconium (newborn poop) into his lungs. Hard to hear, but I am going to believe that God will take care of him and heal him.
There were other things with today but mostly just struggling with how to keep an eternal perspective. I mean what does it mean to keep an eternal perspective. My heart hurts for all that has happened today. I pray that as I continue on through this week I could try to keep my eyes on Jesus and have more of an eternal perspective!

Dakota Update

Well on Thursday morning we headed to Ft. Wayne for Dakota's appointment with his specialist regarding his cleft palate. The doctor we saw was very informative and helpful. He was an ENT so he took a good look at Dakota's ears and saw that there is quite a bit of fluid on his ears, he says because of the large opening in his mouth keeps constant fluid build up that. I guess that would definitely explain the numerous ear infections we have been fighting in the last several months. So he told us that when the surgery is done to repair his palate he would suggest also doing tubes for his ears because of the fluid build up that is there.
We are being referred to a plastic surgeon who will look at Dakota and then do the surgery to fix his palate. We still do not have an appointment with this specialist but I would look for it to be soon. So for now we are in the waiting game once again.

I am Challenged......

This year I have been reading through the Bible chronologically. I have just recently started doing it during my baby's earlier morning feeding. Its a time that all is quiet and a time I know I will get it done. The other day I was challenged by a friend who is also reading through the Bible in a year, actually that is the reason I am doing it. She started a facebook group and we are all holding each other accountable to reading through it in a year. Anyway, so I have been really trying to focus on the words not just for mere reading sake but to also take it to heart.So I was reading this morning in Deuteronomy chapters 6-9, but I only made it through 6 and 7 before my heart started to be challenged.
First of all, in Deuteronomy 6:4-9 is says.
"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates."

This section of scripture has always been a challenge to me. I just didn't remember where to find it until now. We are to love God with all that we have. He has given his Word to be written on our hearts. The only way to write God's Word on our hearts is really to take time and KNOW his Words. To know his Words we need to spend quality time in it. I read most of the time for the sake of reading it, but this morning I allowed myself to be challenged. Here we are challenged to have God's Word/laws living through every facet of our lives. We are to teach our children about God throughout our everyday life. He is suppose to be present at all times. We are to take it with us wherever we go.
I am going to be blunt and honest, I do not live by this standard that God wants us to live by. It is not a choice that I have personally made. I know that it is a choice I should make. But to be honest I know that as hard as I tried I wouldn't be faithful to doing it all the time. So I guess the challenge in this for me is to learn how to instill more of God in my everyday life so that it spills over into my boys' life. I want this, I just don't know how to do it. One of the ways I am starting to teach my oldest is by starting to teach him Bible verses and read his children's Bible. That is some ways that I can be faithful to teaching him.

Take me forward to my reading in Deuteronomy 7 and there was again another verse that stuck out to me. Deut. 7:6 says "For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession. " The part in this verse that really sticks out to me is that we are "his treasured possession." I have so often beaten myself down in the past and still do to this day. I know that it is talking about the Israelites here but we can definitely apply this to our own lives. I am chosen by God because He loves me. I am his treasured possession. I have such joy at this moment in time knowing that I am his and his alone! This too is often hard for me to constantly remember in my life but I am also up for continued challenge and growth in this area of my life.
So know that you know what my thoughts were from my reading this morning I hope it can be a bit of challenge to you. When you get in the Word to read it, try to dig deep into it and see what God has for you in it!

Sunshine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today was another one of those beautiful days we have been having here in Indiana. It is amazing to me how March has hit and we have had nothing but sunshine. I have completely and totally loved all the sunshine over the past couple of days, well lets see six days! There is something about seeing the sunshine days in a row after having the dark gloom of winter that does something for your spirit and soul.
Today we has the opportunity to go take some of that sunshine in at the park with my boys. We parked at a place we don't usually park because the road to go to the park is closed right now due to construction. So we walked across a little foot bridge over the river and onto a muddy, muddy path to get to the park. It was so fun to watch my boys play, especially my oldest who was willing to go about the play area by himself to find the slide and come down himself. I was standing there with my baby in his stroller and my two almost 3 year old seeming so independent. I can't explain to you what this did to me. The tears came to my eyes to see his independence. My big boy is really, really growing up. He is becoming more and more independent everyday. It is fun to watch but also has me realizing how quickly this will past.
I also had the opportunity to put my 7 month old in a baby swing and let him swing away. The smile on his face was beautiful. I was once again reminded how quickly they grow up and how quickly they change.
So as I draw this day to a close I am so grateful for the time I had with my family enjoying the sunshine and seeing my babies growing up so quickly. I was just reminded once again how quickly time passes and I don't want to take one moment for granted that I have with them.

The Innocence of a Child

I meant to write about this earlier, like last week when it happened, but I didn't get a chance to.
I was putting my 2 almost 3 year old to bed the other night and we usually pray with him before we say our final good-night. So he has a routine things he likes to pray for, you know his mommy and daddy, his little brother, his best friend, and her family and the children of the world (still not sure how to totally foster the children of the world for a toddler). So I asked after we were done praying if there was something else he wanted me to pray for. He looks at me and says "walls mommy, pray for walls." At first I looked at him and laughed and immediately I was filled with this feeling of what are you doing. I felt God convicting my heart about this. I looked at Jabez and I told him "yes we can pray for walls because God has given them to us as protection."
I am amazed at how God uses a child to remind you of things that we so often take for granted. I love my son, I thank God for his innocence in this time in his life. I pray that as his life and heart continue to be formed that God will continue to keep my eyes open to opportunities to pour into his life.

Dakota Update

Well I know that it has been awhile since I have written about my little guy and all that is going on with his cleft palate. First of all, we have received some funding that will help pay for whatever medical things we need to do to take care of Dakota's cleft palate.
We also have an appointment set for March 18 with his specialist in Ft. Wayne. I think it will probably be just a consultation and figure out where we go from there. As I look to this appointment my mind and heart are a bit uneasy. I am trying to chose to trust God through this time in our lives. I know that he will take care of us through this time its just the thought of everything that is on my mind and heart.