A Day in the Life...

When we were praying about whether or not to send Ellie on to preschool this year and I was feeling the leaning towards waiting another year, I was talking it through with a friend and mentor that reminded me again,

just take them with you everywhere you go, be with them...and disciple them along the way.

So we have done just that this year.

There are some days that I'm on my third or fourth errand and 

loading them into or out of their car seats for the third or fourth time

and I have to tell myself in that moment,

just take them with you everywhere you go, be with them...and disciple them along the way.

And I can say that I have not regretted it for a minute.

Our lives are very full...there's always a lot going on,

but I love that they are always in the mix.

And in the down times, they are with me.

Just me and them.

And I love it.

It won't be this way forever so I'm soaking it in,

even the hard days.

Some days are more scheduled than others,

and often the scheduled ones don't go as we planned...

but we just go with it!

So here's the joy of our life...

the mundane and the ordinary,

but I'm believing it's where their little lives are being forever shaped 

for the glory of God.

(sorry for the repeat pics if you're on instagram!)

the grocery

Target

Trader Joe's!

to the park

outreach at ASU

the zoo

"projects"...

if you'll notice the letter we're on, we don't get to this very often,

but she loves whatever we are able to do!

rest time

(I caught her reading to Kiki the Monkey)

nap time

(my little lover of books!)

dance class

a discipleship meeting while Ellie's in dance...

the little ones are quite creative with the things in my purse.

lifegroup worship

riding in the backyard

dr's office

children's museum

morning time...
pancakes!

"Jesus time"
(this is a rare moment where Emmy joined them)

fun times with Lauren

a little chick-fil-a

just hangin at home

life is sweet.

Restoration

He truly restores what is stolen from us.

Materially, emotionally...

whatever is taken, he will somehow in his glorious way,

restore.

And with us, he has done it again.

Almost three weeks since our car was stolen,

all has been restored,

and then some.

Ellie had a word from the Lord that it would be returned on "Thursday".
My mom had a picture from the Lord that the car was in Phoenix.
(not Mexico or the Indian Reservation like so many people were telling us)

Less than a week after it was stolen, our car was recovered.
On a Thursday in Phoenix.

But it was empty.

No bike.

No church equipment.

No catalytic converter.

(whatever that is)

Today, our car sits in our driveway restored to even better than it was when it was stolen.

Travis has a replacement bike sitting in the garage.

And the church equipment that was in the trunk has been replaced.

Over the past two weeks God has stirred family and friends to give and to bless us.
We received checks in the mail and phone calls of people wanting to help out
and before we knew it...all was completely restored. 

We are blown away at the goodness of God.

We are reminded again that material possessions don't really matter.

We have worshiped Him...all of us (even found Ellie on top of her Jeep worshiping!)
 because He's good 

and because there's no circumstance that will ever change that.

And in His goodness, 

He has lavished love back on us.

And all that was lost has been restored.

So as we enter into March,

we are trusting Him again.

For our family...

Our lease is up on our house on the 31st (of March!)

It's for sale and we've put an offer in but it wasn't accepted.

We'll have to move unless God opens a door for us to stay.

For our church...

We've outgrown our space.

So, again, we'll need to move.

Guess March could be an interesting month around here.

We're going to move forward in faith,

contend for all God has for our church and our family,

and try and just enjoy the ride!

Valentine's Day

Travis has early morning prayer on Tuesday mornings and we have Lifegroup at our house

on Tuesday nights, so our family Valentine's celebration happened at lunchtime!

It was "chilly" around here that day...

that means, low in the 40's (which is normal)

but it barely got to be 60.

So we had homemade broccoli cheddar soup (Pioneer Woman's recipe...really good!)
 in a bread bowl (aka, kaiser roll)

for lunch to keep us warm!

Then we opened cards from friends and family and a few little things

Trav and I got to celebrate them and remind them how much we love them.

These are the cards they got from our dear family friends, Dena and Baxter.
The kids love the cards they get from them every year.

The highlight was their "sticker wallet's"...
(I think it was a coupon organizer...gotta love the dollar spot at Target!)
They have been all about these.

Then Sonic was having free sundaes so we enjoyed those in the park
(because really almost 60 isn't that cold...and we are from Boston,
we should be able to handle it!)

Two other Valentine's notes:

1) We got sweet packages from our families...but they were lost in the mail for over a week.  Bummer.  The kids loved the belated packages though!  But we got one package a couple days early...which happened to come the same day our car got stolen.  It was a fun surprise package from the Littles!  A gift for everyone in the family...so sweet.  And so timely.  We are so thankful for such dear friends...even if they are 3,000 miles away.

And I just thought this was funny.
Emily sent each of the girls a picture of Lydia.
Ellie said she had a great place to put hers...
this is where I found it later,
on the shelf in their room, right by the picture of her.
(Gracie held hers in her hand for the next two hours, through snack, video, etc...
Baby Ydia she kept telling everyone.
The difference in a 2 1/2 yr old and a 4 yr old.)

2) Trav and I went out for a Valentine's date a few days later...I actually planned it all.  Trav always convinced me that Valentine's Day was a girl holiday.  Where the guy celebrates the girl.  So after our first Valentine's day I deemed the day after, Boy Valentine's Day.  Where I celebrate him.  This year it was...tennis, then tacos by the lake, then to Scottsdale for a personalized Paradise cookie cake, and a movie--his choice.  I love my Valentine! :)

ice skating, bowling, jack's birthday...

random post...but just a few fun things from the last few weeks...

Some college students went ice skating so Trav took Ellie

and she apparently loved it and really got the hang of it!

Then a bunch of us went bowling and the girls got to try it...

think they're not quite ready for rolling a huge heavy ball down a lane,

but how cute are these bowling shoes?!!

And our friend Jack's birthday at Chick-fil-a.

We missed his actually party so got to have our own little

celebration with his family and ours.

Gracie, Jack, Wade, and Ellie

Fun times with the Phillips!

ASU Baseball

We have loved living in a college town...

it's so fun to go to different sporting events with friends here! 

And the kids love supporting our new team!

Last Friday was the official opening of baseball season so we went to cheer them on!

Love this little two year old face!

Love these two.  So sweet...I have so many memories of sitting

side by side with my Daddy at Baylor sporting events.

I love that my girls are so close to their Daddy.

Emily is still our "baby" but she's growing up fast...

Kiki teaching her how to cheer...

SG loves to to feed her.

And that's not as much turkey as it looks like.  Promise!

So I think I introduced the sippy cup a little late with her,

so she sometimes hands the cup to us when she's thirsty 

so we can help her get a drink.

We're working on it!

In the 12th percentile?  Really?

Do you see my cheeks??

Fun times!

(not sure what Gracie's doing here!)

Gracie Goo...

I can't believe she's already 2 1/2.

There are moments that I really do just want to freeze time.
Her little voice.
Her sweet spirit.
The way she so carefully and clearly speaks every little word.

 Just a couple of Gracie stories that I don't want to forget.

The other day at lunch Ellie was talking about the guy that ate locust and honey.
I asked her if she remember the guys name that ate that.
At first she said, "Moses?"
No, Trav said, "John the Ba..."
And Gracie said, so sweet and confidently..."JOHN THE BATHTUB!!"

All laughed for a good 10 minutes...
and then got her to say it over and over again the rest of the day.

Finally she said, "I'm funny!"

We said, "Yes, Gracie, you are."

And creative.
Funny and creative.

Especially when she makes up songs.

They usually come to her in the car and we've spent a lot

of time there in the last couple of months so

here are a couple:
 

1) on the drive to Colorado after leaving the Nances after Christmas...

Ellie was singing "Sweet Caroline" (still a Red Sox fan at heart)

And Gracie decided to join in, 

"Sweet Claire, oh, oh, oh"

Their cousins are Caroline and Claire.

Guess it makes sense if Caroline has a song Claire should have on too.

2) leaving World Mandate Sunday afternoon...

long weekend, everyone hungry...after 3:00

Gracie starts singing: "Hungry, Hungry, Hungry, Lord God almighty.

Early in the morning, my song shall rise to thee..."

(Holy Holy Holy is one of her favorite songs right now)
And actually it was more like, "Hungy, Hungy, Hungy"...but we all knew what she meant!

Guess it was time for lunch! 

I love how she has such a strong sense of family.

She is always looking out for her older and younger sister.

If I (or anyone) gives her a treat or a snack, she always says, 

"I need one for Eyie (Ellie) too."

And will then carry it around with her (even if it's her favorite thing)

until she finds her.

And such a little momma with Emmy.

She will always start singing "Jesus Loves Me" whenever she 

hears her upset or crying.

Other things I love and know she won't say forever:

"I ate my cereal all."

or

"I picked the toys up all."

If I pick her up first from Bible Study she'll say,
"Let's go get my baby.  Let's go get my Eyie."

She has a lambie and a doggie that she sleeps with
(not at the same time...one of them is always "being washed")
She recently started having some issues with doggie.
One night after she had gone to bed she called out for me and
said, "this doggie being mean to me, take him away"
This went on for a couple of weeks so I had to be quick about
washing lambie and getting it back to her!

There's really a thousand little things...
even the most boring things sound so sweet from her little 2 year old voice.

But it never has the same affect when you just read it on a page...
So here she is, live and in person!