Daddy coming home!!

Once again, my little photo journalist - miss Logan- caught such a great memory! She was taking videos on her Itouch of the girls singing, and she taped this candid moment of Todd coming home. I just love how happy the girls are when they see him walk through the door.

Who wouldn't want a greeting like this??

Prayer Request

Blogging truly makes the world seem like such a smaller, more familiar place. Since I've been a part of the blog world, I have read about so many heartbreaking stories which have truly touched my heart.

Here is Kate:



 Kate was diagnosed with a very malignant, aggressive brain tumor called a supratentorial primitive neuroectodermal tumor or sPNET on JUne 29th 2009. Since then, she has undergone a years worth of chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and countless tests. At the end of their treatment plan, Kate was deemed "cancer free" which was such welcome news for her family. It truly was an answered prayer!!

Yesterday she had a routine MRI and they found additional spots on her brain that seem likely to be cancerous. As you can imagine, the news has been devastating for this family. Kate has one sister and one brother, and they too have been so affected throughout this family's ordeal.

My heart sank when I read those words last night since I have following their story from the beginning and have often prayed for healing for little Kate. I can not even begin to imagine the pain and fear this family is going through. They have a very tough road ahead and most likely tough decisions to make. Please, if you feel lead, join with me in prayer for this family.

As Kate's mom put it last night, "We are crushed. Kate is heartbroken. And we need God's miraculous intervention. Please pray. Please ask others to pray for our sweet baby. I know she is one child among many battling. But she is our daughter, and she is a sister, and a niece, and a granddaugther. Please pray that God would spare her from this disease. Please. Please pray that after further investigation they would determine it not to be tumor. We understand the likelyhood of that is slim. But please pray. Please intercede on our behalf. "

If you'd like to learn more about Kate's story or how you can possibly help, here is her Caring bridge link:
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/mcraekate/journal


***As a side note, and just to be clear, I do not know this family and have never met them. I have only read about their story. However, I do know that as a mom, if this were one of my daughters, I would absolutely ask anyone and everyone who would listen if they could pray! So that is why I have chosen to post about this :)

Kingdom Seekers!!

At our church, I  am lucky enough to be involved in leadership with the children's program, called Kingdom Seekers.

Kingdom Seekers is described as this:

Teaching 1st through 6th graders to seek first the kingdom of God while providing an opportunity for them to

•Deepen their FAITH through Bible Study

•Strengthen their CHARACTER by practicing a Godly code of chivalry

•Develop an attitude of SERVICE by completing projects to benefit others

Over the past few weeks, our themes have been integrity and honor. In order to display these characteristics, the team organized an event at a Challenge course in Long Beach. I have never done something like that before and it was such an amazing blessing to watch our kids learn to communicate, encourage, and trust one another.

Here are some highlights!!

The tire crossing!

Helping each other swing over.

I loved how all of the kids really worked on encouraging one another!

Next up, was the Stepping Stones activity. The goal was to put one stone down at a time in order to get all children across walking only on the stones. The catch was that someone had to have contact with each stone at all time. This seemed difficult but the kids did great. Through communication and team work, they did better than most adults!

 THEY DID IT!!!

Here are the kids getting harnessed for the rock climbing wall!

Baylee and Jacob are excited to go first

Woo-Hoo!!!

Here goes Logan! I was so proud of her, because I know she's not too fond of heights. She totally conquered her fear with the support from her friends :)



YAY TEAM!!!!!!

Hayden's Moppets debut!

One of the benefits of being a MOPS mom, is that my preschoolers get to be a part of the Moppets ministry. This ministry is such a blessing! The teachers are loving, supportive, and encouraging with all the kids. And at the same time, they are teaching our children the foundations of our Christ-centered faith.

Today was the last day of our first semester, and to celebrate, the Moppets gave the moms an adorable performance.

This morning before we left the house, Hayden calmly explained to me that she did not want to sing, but she would be willing to stand there, smile, and maybe even give a wave. As you can see in this cute little video, my girl stayed true to her word!

Grandpa's still got it!!

My dad and Cheryl came over last night for a visit with the family. I talked my dad into trying their new "Just Dance" game on the Wii! They had such a great time watching their Bebop be silly with them. He has some cool moves!

Brenna's "Photo shoot"

For some reason, I can never get a good picture of my little Brenna. I always assumed she just didn't like having her picture taken, but I think I was wrong. Logan has been increasingly interested in photography lately, and she has proven her skills on our little Brenna! Look at how great these shots came out!! I think she did such a great job at capturing her silly personality.Thank you Logan!!!

Forts, Dress-up clothes, and static cling!!

Today was one of those days that I hope I can store in my memory for years to come. I had a slow schedule for work, and nowhere to be, so the little girls and I stayed in and played all day long. We had so much fun!! I got the idea last night to build a fort, after I had hung up a blanket to dry on their playhouse upstairs. So first thing this morning we got to work building :)

Here we are on the inside. Hayden was soooo excited, she started singing!

Even though we were having a great time, Brenna decided she would rather play dress- up and play it safe "outside".

But we kept on playing and realized something even COOLER about our fort! It came completely stocked with static!!

HAHAHA!! Hayden thought this was just about the best thing she had ever seen!

So we tried to coax Brenna back inside....she didn't really agree....



But that didn't deter Hayden. She decided she was going to stay up there all day and enjoy her new hair do!