Justice is 2 (almost)!!!

My "baby" turns 2 tomorrow, and yes I am sitting here being sentimental. Oh how the time flies!  I adore this little boy.  He is such a true "redhead." He is a ball of fire, so much fun, temper, loves to giggle, & just enjoys life.  Someone once told me they just laugh at him, because he has 2 emotions....1) Happy/laughing 2) Angry.  Pretty true....he is one extreme or the other. I find myself worrying that something is wrong if he is somewhere in between the extremes. LOL He is the sweetest, orneriest guy I have EVER been around (or heard of for that matter). He constantly makes me laugh, sometimes makes me want to scream, but mostly just laugh!  I am so completely in love with him its insane!  He melts my heart 1000 times a day!  If he hasn't melted your heart yet, you need to come spend more time with us!  He is an amazing little person!

So.....that means, busy week for me!  Wednesday, we will do our typical trip to the donut shop to kick off the birthday celebration. Then the next few days will be spent cleaning & baking cakes!  I am going to attempt a full body Elmo cake (fingers crossed).  Mike has a cute idea (in his head, you'd think he would find me a picture), so hopefully it will work!  Also I will be making Elmo face cupcakes.  I LOVE BIRTHDAYS!!! So anyway, I should probably get busy doing something other than blogging!  Hopefully I will get pictures up on Saturday night.....or Sunday afternoon!

A little over a month ago, we announced that we would be resigning from the church & working at the Rock Christian Youth Center full time.  The thing is, the Rock doesn't have the budget to supply a salary for us.  So, we will be raising support for our family.  I'm so excited/scared for this opportunity!  

Yesterday, we took some family photos (thanks, Rachelle!).  We needed some current pics for our letterhead, prayer card etc.  We had a great time!  Pictures with a 3 & almost 2 years old is challenging & fun at the same time!  But we did happen to get a few shots that are PERFECT for what we needed.  We Mike chose the above picture for our prayer card, because it is so us!  This is like a fun evening at home playing with the boys.  Me- laughing, Lincoln- showing off, Justice- preoccupied, & Mike just loving us all!!!  So....with all that said I have a few prayer needs to share with you!

• Next week, Mike & I will be going to a conference to learn about raising support for our ministry.  I'm sure the learning curve is going to be well above my head, so please pray that I will be able to soak it all in, or at the very least take good notes that I can spend time mulling through later! 

• My mom & sister are traveling here to stay with our boys while we are gone!  Please pray for safe travel & good weather for their travel!

• Currently I have the responsibility to input names & addresses into our database system for mailings.  Please pray for me as I do this.  We  have a list of names of friends & family, and sometimes I wanna make the choice whether or not they will support us.  I try to over think their financial situation. Mostly, I don't want to send to people that I feel we would be a burden to.  I'm currently trying to work through these feelings & let God be in control.  Knowing that prayer support is a greater need than financial support.  Also, pray for those who will be receiving our mailing.  Pray that God would lead them in their commitment to be involved in the ministry at the Rock.

• My biggest concern right now is a house for us to live in.  Currently, we live in the church parsonage....so, we need to be finding something else.  I HAVE HUGE FEARS ABOUT THIS!!! We have  "our idea" of where/what type of house we would like to live in, but sometimes I feel like we are dreaming too big or asking for too much.  So I try to look for houses for sale/rent etc & I always find reasons why I don't wanna live there.  So on one hand I'm dreaming too big, on the other I just want a place to live, but I'm being too picky.  For example, I was driving to the store the other day, see houses for sale & the thoughts that race through my head are....it's on a busy street, there's not back yard for the boys, or its too small, it's so tiny, its too expensive etc.  One day while having these thoughts, I stopped & prayed.  I shared all of this with Jesus & I asked him to provide the house that he wants for us.  But the human side of me wants to just figure it out. Please pray for patience & wisdom. It is so hard to wait & to trust God!  

Well, thanks for reading & praying for us!  Love you all!