ryan's birthday

ryan turned 31 this past weekend - i am very thankful for him and what an amazing guy he is. he blesses us and others so much with his time and talent and just being who he is.

pirate festival

ely really liked the rat


buried treasure

we went to a pirate festival a couple weeks ago in long beach - malachi was very excited because he loves pirates right now. he has 1 pirate shirt that he asks to wear every day - thankfully its in the wash is something he understands... the pirate festival was interesting to be honest, they had a little village on the beach and a lot of stands selling pirate stuff. amazing how much the adults got in to it more so than the kids that were there. the boys did like it, although malachi didn't want his picture taken with a "real" pirate.

swimming

we have done a lot of swimming this summer - one its been hot and two malachi took swimming lessons a couple weeks ago. we would go 3 times a week for 20 minutes each time. he loved it and his wonderful teacher abby taught him well. he is now swimming on his own and the biggest hurdle was to get him to come up for breaths. he has amazing lung capacity. we are very thankful for our neighbors, the dykstras, who let us come over to swim all the time - they have a great pool. abram didn't take swimming lessons but we would play in the pool while malachi did. he became more comfortable with his swimming vest and now jumps off the diving board just like his big brother. i have boys who are fearless in the water! the boys also got to share their swim skills with my dad last week while he stayed with us on a business trip - loved having him here with us for a few days. the boys enjoyed their time with opa, i liked going out to dinner every night and all the guys went on a run together while i got a pedicure on saturday. hmmm how do we get our parents to live closer...

camping kind of

we went camping a couple weekends ago due to the generousity of the fieldhouse family. i'm not sure if you can call is camping - i don't think we ate one meal outside of the camper. but it was my kind of camping - because i had a bed, bathroom, electricity, microwave... we stayed one night with our friends and then spent a couple days by ourselves. the boys loved it and we enjoyed having a little break before a new little one joins the family.

camping

prayer is good

sometimes it is so clear to me that God has heard me and other days not so much. this week though is one of clarity. its amazing to think about prayer, that a God who is all powerful and all knowing asks us to pray. its a mystery and my head hurts when i think about it too much... so 2 life happenings that ryan and i have been praying about are affordable housing and a charter school. these are dreams that have been on our hearts for a long time. we can look back over the last few years and recall conversations about kingdom causes' owning property in some way to bless a family with a home. we also look back and see how my involvement in urban schools in st. louis, grand rapids, chicago and los angeles led us to dream about a charter school in bellflower.

so you pray and doors close and they open and you wait and you question and you wonder and you keep on praying. then this week we both experienced how God's timing is perfect and he answers.
on monday night i met with a group of about 10 Bellflower community members: social workers, pastor, teachers, moms, psychologist, business owners, city employee...to write a mission for a new charter school. amazing to me the talented and invested people God has put together into a team to start a new school. so we pray that in the fall of 2010 there will be a new k-6 school a few blocks away from our house. a place where kids from bellflower will discover an amazing educational experience and be nurtured to their full potential in all areas of life. still a lot ahead but the dream is becoming reality.
on tuesday ryan went to court with our friend and Kingdom Causes/Our Place Housing Solutions realtor Ioana to bid on a house. the house was in probate court (the owner died didn't have a will...). so they bid against 4 other parties and they got the house below what their highest bid could be. so now there is this run down, needs A LOT of TLC, house in Bellflower that will be made into a home for a family. amazing! it's also on a block with 2 families that are already connect with Kingdom Causes.
prayer is good and we are thankful.

mud bath

i was taking a nap yesterday when my husband and son worked on the prep for the foundation. when i got up i could hear squeals of delight coming from the backyard and laughter from both boys. malachi was playing in the mud and loving it. he would run across the dirt and jump in the little hole, over and over. i've acutally paid to be at a spa and get covered in mud but now i have my own mud pit in the backyard...

abram

tonight we put abram to bed in a big boy bed. out of the crib that keeps him in and unable to get out at his leisure... not sure i was ready for this yet but we were given bunk beds by our friends (they are seperated still) and we decided we would make the move. he actually stayed in the bed after we put him down and is now sleeping soundly. abram is a little boy with few words and lots of gestures and he "told" me in his own way that he didn't even want the crib quilt but the new big duvet cover for his blanket.

he is almost 21 months old and quite the little malachi follower. he loves his big brother and tries to do everything he does - which doesn't always work out so well. he can't quite jump off things as well or run as fast...but he tries.
he has a sweet spirit and has started to reason with me using his head motions. like i said he doesn't say many words but somehow he communicates with me that he is displeased with a request and explains why. he kind of tilts his head and gives me a look. sometimes i have to look away so i don't laugh because he is so serious about what he is trying to communicate and i want to be serious about what i have asked him to do.

he loves coloring, especially with markers. he is getting really good at car noises and making his airplanes fly through the sky. he is always concerned when he hears the dogs barking in the neighborhood or our dog barking at something. his sweet tooth is coming out more and more because if something sweet is offered or in sight he gets very excited. yesterday he got into a bag and found the tic tacs and showed me his mouth full and had this look of great pleasure in his eyes. its really hard to get a 20 month old to give up candy once its already in.

i'm excited for him to become a big brother and look forward to seeing him grow into a new role in our family. and praying he likes his new bed so much he stays in it all night long and still calls for me to get him in the morning!