Best moment of the day! (and probably any day)

I love my boys!

Today during worship, our song leader (Jeremie) was talking during a break in one of the songs. He was talking about how much God loves us & how that His love is so much bigger than all of our sin!  At that moment a tiny 3 year old hand reached up, clasped mine, and a cute little blond haired, blue eyed, boy looked at me and said "Mom, I LOVE Jesus!"  Lincoln melts my heart once again!

My challenge is to remember these most precious moments during the trying times.  I will spare the details of the not so good parts of my day.  Sometimes I wonder, "Why do I constantly have to remind myself that I love these boys so much?" I feel like a bad mom at those times. But I feel like a good mom when I always remember to act out of love first.

Praying that I will act out of LOVE towards others more often.

Birthday!

So...last week I had a birthday!  I LOVE MY BIRTHDAY & I'm not afraid to tell each of you that I am now 32!  I almost feel like an adult when I admit that I am 32...THIRTY-TWO!!!! Anyway, the main reason I LOVE my birthday is because my AMAZING husband (of almost 12 years) ALWAYS spoils me rotten!  Ever since we were dating he has made a big deal about my birthday er....should I say WEEK!  Since my big day is the 18th...he starts celebrating me on Valentine's day & goes through my birthday!  Yep...I'm spoiled...and I LOVE IT!  This year, he admittedly said he was struggling with what to do for the celebration.  So he asked me about some ideas & we decided that we would go to Omaha as a family, hang out & have fun!!! So, we made hotel reservations & Mike told me to make the plan!  HA!!!  This wasn't the fun part....I hate being in charge of planning stuff like this...especially with 2 young boys.  I am a no plans kinda girl.  So, that's kinda what we did...kinda.  I did make some plans. Mostly we just spent time together! THE BEST!  Oh & we stopped to see our friends Austin & Amanda....and their sweet 2 week old little girl!  (I want one).  So precious!!!

I ALWAYS want to eat Olive Garden for my birthday, but it is a struggle, because I know Mike does not LOVE like it at all! For one, his choices are limited due to his onion allergy & 2 he just doesn't care for pasta that much. Sooo.....my friend Jacob told me about Grisanti's.  A nice Italian place (very similar to OG) that also has STEAK!!!! It's like the perfect place for couples...I can have pasta & he can have steak (prime rib to be exact). So that's what we did on Thursday night. We went to Grisanti's with our awesome friends Cody & Meghan.  We had a great time.  My supper was sooo yummy. I shared with Justice & also got to enjoy my leftovers a few days later at home!  Mmmmmm!

On Friday, we woke up & decided to take the boys to get donuts (Krispy Kreme of course).  If you have never had a Krispy Kreme original glazed donut hot off the line...YOU ARE MISSING OUT!!!  PLUS, (Lincoln's favorite part) you can see the donuts be made.  They have a huge assembly line machine that you watch the dough drop onto the tray, go through the proofer, drop into the hot oil, flip over in the oil, go through the waterfall of frosting & then around the train!  Lincoln stood forever & watched the process.  Justice was intrigued, but was much more interested in the yummy frosted goodness!!! No surprise here!

When we could finally drag Lincoln away, we decided to head to the mall to do some shopping.  So we got the boys in the stroller & off we went to shop.  They are true men, shopping is just not their thing, they get bored with it rather quickly.  Lucky for me, the mall has the most amazing play place.  It's sooo cool!  Super soft floor (no ouchies if they fall), fun things to play & climb on (also soft). It was the best.  So Mike & I sat & watched the boys play for awhile, then we took turns going & getting a chair massage from the massage place!  YAY for a birthday massage!!! Then we watched them play more!

After our time at the mall, we went to CHIPOTLE for lunch!  So yummy! Justice loved it...Lincoln wasn't sure about his taco, but he liked the chips!







Some silly glasses I put on...they said Happy Birthday on them!

So, our shopping was kinda not shopping.  BUT....I had so much fun watching my little guys just enjoy life!  They are such a joy to me. I am so blessed to get to celebrate everyday with them, especially my birthday. Justice fell asleep in the van before we could get back to the hotel, so we decided to do a little more shopping & let him sleep in the van.  We took turns going into various places!  I didn't buy hardly anything!  But it was still fun! After they woke up we went to another mall, same story as the last!  Great play place & also a train! The boys could have stayed & watched Thomas for hours!  We didn't want to keep feeding Thomas our money though, so sadly we left!

We did have supper plans with Cody & Meghan again!  We grilled steaks @ Meghan's apartment and she made yummy baked asparagus & I made fried potatoes!  It was a great birthday supper!  Later, Cody & Meghan played Mario Kart with Lincoln....he had so much fun!  Best part of my day though was at bedtime, Lincoln was sad because my birthday was over & we didn't go to my party.  So he sang Happy Birthday to me like 5 times!!! THE BEST EVER!!!!!!!

Saturday morning we repeated the trip to Krispy Kreme (Meghan had never been there).  After we said our goodbyes, we went back to the mall for a couple of things I needed!  Mike & the boys stayed in the van & watched Peter Pan for the 50th time on the trip (new fave movie).  Then we met up with Mike's mom & dad for lunch & then went to a 50th wedding anniversary party!  50 years...so AWESOME!!  I can't wait for 38 more birthdays with my hubby & we will be at 50 years!!! WOW!!!!

So, probably the most unique birthday celebration I've ever had, but one of the best!  I love my 3 boys so much & can't imagine life without them! They definitely take my mind off of turning "older."

Changes.....

Sooo....you may or may not have heard about our exciting new adventure that God has called us to, but here it is!  Instead of try to explain it myself....check out Mike's Blog below!!!!!

http://stepup2themike.wordpress.com/2011/01/27/flux/



Please pray for us!