A Place that I Love

 There is a place I love down a small country road filled with love and memories...this is the home of my Oma and Opa. This visit everything was blanketed in thick white sparkling snow. Grady and I had the chance for a visit to Michigan with my mom and we took it! It was a precious time of snuggling grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles and passing Grady from one sweet set of arms to the next.

 Right next to my grandparents' home live my aunt and uncle who so graciously hosted the babe and I, and back when I was a tot, my family lived on the other side of the grandparents...these next pics were from our old back yard. The sunset was breathtaking that night and the pictures don't do it justice.

 Our old home

 My sweet Oma and Opa have not been feeling well lately, so it was a special treat to have them healthy and able to love on us all.

 One of the days Oma taught us how to make her famous Streusal Kuchen-Here she is with her two daughters

 My Opa loved to talk to Grady each day and was eager for "that baby" to come over every morning after breakfast :)

 The cake cooling in the sewing room where Oma has always stashed her treats. As you can see we couldn't resist eating it straight from the oven!

 The negative temps couldn't keep me from tasting a few snowflakes

 First time meeting Grady- the 9th great grandson ( no great granddaughters!)

1st Trip to the Beach

A couple weekends ago we had the privilege of going to San Diego with a group from our church, and Andrew was the speaker for the weekend. It was gorgeous, as has been this entire "winter" here...this week the weather is finally acting like it should and we are praising God for the much needed rain! But we took advantage of the day and gave Grady his first taste of the sand and sea. He was a tad tired so didn't get too many pics of him, but it's documented anyways :)

Quiet moments

"Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves,but our adequacy is from God." 2 Corinthians 3:5

How humbling and encouraging at the same time. I feel I either swing from one extreme to the other-meaning in one moment I am filled with prideful confidence and then the next with crippling insecurity.

But anything good in me is given from The Lord and everything unlovely and sinful he uses to draw me to Him. How wonderful that Christ's forgiving work is complete through the cross and resurrection ..."it is finished!" We are adequate for the jobs He's given us because Jesus took on our sin and inadequacy and erased it for us if we repent and believe in Him alone!

I'm thankful for the reminder that as His child I have everything I need for life and godliness. His work is sufficient, His Word is complete and His Spirit is with us every step of every day.

3 Months

 Well our littlest guy is already 3 months! He has grown and changed so much in the past month. First of all he has the sweetest personality and a smile big enough to light up a room! He is now sleeping 8-10 hours a night which makes everyone a bit happier around here as well :) Grady is my first snuggley guy so I'm soaking up the extra cuddles with this little one. His brothers love to help give him his paci, stroke his head or hands and sing to him often. We just can't get enough of this squishy little face!

Fam Photos

The Talented Whitney Lucas took our family photos a couple weeks after Grady was born and there were too many favorites...so be prepared for the deluge!

It is so fun to have these little people captured so sweetly. Our last family shoot was before Gabe could even walk. I am not great at taking pictures so it is such a treat to have such beautiful photos for our memories :)

:)