micah's birthday

I'm finally getting around to posting the pictures of Micah's birthday celebration at Cuppies & Joe. If you live in Oklahoma City and you haven't been there... you must go now! If you live somewhere other than Oklahoma City, well you should go too. And come say hi to us when you're there!! It's the cutest, sweetest little coffee shop with AMAZING cupcakes. (I don't work for them- I promise!)

Anyway, we met some friends there for cupcakes and coffee. It was such a fun time. There were lots of kiddos running around, so it was a little crazy... but definitely a good time. Here are the pictures!

um... i want that cupcake

he's so grown up!

my sweet niece, elliana

a glimpse into their future perhaps?

seriously- i love this girl!

"ca-line, urs my best friend"

sweet baby logan came to micah's birthday

work buddies

jamie sat on wehunt's cupcake...

don't worry- he ate it anyway

i love these girls!

race day

Today was the OKC Memorial Marathon. I ended up running on a relay team with an awesome group of women from my church. I did the final leg- 10K, or 6 miles- thinking I would just take it easy and not have to push myself too hard. Plus I wanted to try and improve my 10K time. Once I realized that my leg of the relay was entirely uphill, I wasn't as hopeful for my goal time of 9:00 miles. But then I had to run INTO the wind. For those of you not in Oklahoma today- let me just tell you- it was crazy windy!! There were points in the race when I literally felt like I wasn't moving because the wind was pushing on me so hard. But I finished in just over an hour, so slower than I had hoped, but still finishing.

I've been a little mopey about running since I decided not to do the full, but my sweet friend Natalie gave me an attitude check tonight. So I leave you with the fact that 6 miles is still good, and I will hold my head up high and stop saying I "just did 6 miles..."

PS- I'm sorry for my lack of updates. I have a ton of pictures and cute stories to post. I'm off work tomorrow, so I will have a whole new blog hopefully sometime tomorrow afternoon!

my love

"For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up His life for her..." Ephesians 5:25

When I was younger, I remember dreaming about my future husband...
would he be loud? funny? shy?
would he love sports? fishing? books?
would he be tall? short? blonde?

But I never wondered if he would love me. In my mind, that seemed like a given- of course husbands always love their wives- that's what they do, right?

As time went on, I watched many marriages crumble around me. I saw husbands no longer love their wives. Marriage vows forsaken, I started to question if a sacrificial love was truly possible anymore.

Then true love walked into my life. In all my dreaming of the man I would some day marry, I could never have dreamed of someone so kind, steadfast, wise, and yes- LOVING.

My precious husband has showed me Christ's love. He has spent the past 5 years painting a beautiful picture of Christ and the church in the life that he lives with me.

His is a true love that gives more than it takes, is patient, kind and selfless... it's a jealous love without being jealous. And while I know he is proud of me as his wife, his love is never arrogant or rude. His is a love that never fails.

I am so blessed to have married you, Micah.
I can only pray that I can love you each day as wonderfully as you love me.

Happy birthday, honey. I love you!

cardboard testimonies

Here is a video from our church services over Easter weekend. These testimonies are so powerful. Try to watch them without crying. I dare you!

melts a mommy's heart

Today we were eating lunch after church.
Out of the blue, John Mark looked at me & Micah and said:
"Jesus died on the cross.
He loves us very much."

Oh my gracious.
I started crying right there.
Oh, how I long for him to know this...
to hear the Savior call His name...
to follow after Him all of His days.

my sin

My sins are the nails
that held His sinless body
to that cross of wood.

My hands are the ones
that drove the nails
into His spotless flesh.

My selfishness pierced His side,
as blood and water poured out.

I am the one who mocked.
betrayed.
abandoned.

But the sweetest words ever spoken-
"Father, forgive them"

The veil was torn.
Christ rose from the dead.

I believe.
I believe.
I believe.

I am forgiven.
I am free.
I am Yours.

"He made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him." 2 Corinthians 5:21

a puke story

My poor baby is sick. It all started on Sunday night. When we came home from church, he told me that his tummy hurt. I just figured that it was because he was hungry. I fixed him lemonade in his rocket cup (his newest obsession, both the lemonade and the cup) and turned back to the kitchen to find something for Micah and I to eat.

I heard John Mark crying from the playroom. When I turned around his shirt was all pink and he was crying. He said "sorry i spilled my juice my mom." I looked at his cup, which was still basically full, but I could tell from the spot on his shirt and the floor that SOMETHING was there.

And then... he just started puking. Oh, poor baby- it was so sad. He hasn't thrown up at all since he was a baby, so he just kept telling me that he was sorry for spilling his juice. After that he acted much better, so I thought that maybe that he had just eaten too much candy this weekend. We put him to bed and he started to go to sleep. But then I heard him say "my tummy hurts" from the other room.

Let's just say we had a long night of cleaning up... him, the bed, his sheets, every single old towel in our house... Monday he laid on the couch all day and was just so pitiful. He wouldn't even laugh at his cartoons.

Anyway, it's been a sad couple of days. But I do have to mention that I have the BEST husband in the whole world. He mopped up pink puke and cleaned carpet while I was taking care of John Mark.

i love...

Tonight we were all laying on the floor in the living room watching the OU women play basketball. Totally out of the blue, John Mark sat up and said:

"I love my daddy."
"I love my mommy."
"I love my playroom."
"I love robot John Mark."

And laid back down to snuggle.

I love that kid.

a day in my life

Since I am always sharing funny stories about John Mark, I decided to share my own embarassing story that happened yesterday.

I guess I should start with the background. A couple of Saturdays ago, I was looking around on ebay, you know- just for fun. This is when I always get myself in trouble... I found a place selling brand new Toms, and the starting bid was $15. Always one for a good bargain, I put a bid in. I set my "high" bid at $20, thinking there was no way on earth I would win. Then last Thursday, Micah informed me that I had won!! Sweet- $25 Toms are quite the deal! So my new shoes got here Monday and I was super pumped to wear them yesterday.

Now... on to what happened yesterday. If you have Toms, then you probably know this already. If you don't- consider this your warning. The bottoms of those puppies are SLICK! I'm not talking "heels you haven't scuffed yet"... I'm talking "falling on the ice" kind of slick!

Yeah, you know where this is going.

So yesterday, I ran to target after work to pick up some frozen waffles for John Mark (that's all he wants for breakfast these days. well, that and sausage, but that's a different story for a different day) because we were out. Having almost fallen several times in the office, I was being quite careful as I walked through the tile floors of target. I was fairly proud of myself for not sleeping.

But you know what they say... Pride goes before the fall.
In my case- literally.

I was standing in line. STANDING IN LINE. Not even walking down an aisle... standing there, when Leanne Rimes on the cover of US Weekly caught me eye. I always knew gossip magazines were trouble... anyway, I stepped over to grab the magazine and read while I was waiting when it happened.

My right foot didn't have traction and I felt myself falling, so I tried to catch myself with my left foot. Unfortunately, I had Toms on both feet and that shoe was no better equipped for catching a falling girl than the other. So I crashed into the checkout counter and landed flat on my bottom- right in the middle of the checkout line at Target.

And that my friends, is the story of my life- right there.

for such a time as this

A lot has been going on lately-
not only in my busy, busy life,
but in my mind and in my heart.

Two weeks ago while I was out for my run,
I had a little talk with Jesus.
I realized that I just couldn't go to TN for my race.
I probably looked like a crazy-
running, crying, singing...
but I didn't care.
The greatest peace washed over me.

Little did I know, life was going to get hectic.
I need to be here...
I need to be focused...
and my focus can't be running.

But you know what?
It's good.
I'm right where God wants me.
I've been put in this position-
"for such a time as this."

"It's all about you, Jesus
and all this is for you..."

please pray!

A dear, dear friend of mine is in a horrible place right now.
Her son and his wife were in a terrible car accident yesterday on their way to California.
She and her husband flew to arizona yesterday to be with them.
Her son has multiple, very serious injuries.
Please pray for this precious family.

a laugh a day

Seriously- I think I could post a funny story about John Mark every single day. We live in our very own comedy show!

Here are the stories from the weekend.

Penguin Shoes

Friday evening we were getting ready to head to our usual Friday afternoon spot- Cuppies & Joe. I told JM to get his shoes from his bedroom and he said "new shoes?" I replied yes and walked into the kitchen. I heard something about "penguin shoes" and then nothing for about 10 minutes. I called to the back of the house where he was and he said "just a second... i puttin' on my penguin shoes." Having no clue what he was talking about, I got the camera because I knew the was going to be good. This is what I saw when he came into the kitchen. Don't worry- the cup of pens, that's his cup of "coffee."

Robot John Mark

A sweet friend of ours was cleaning out her toy room and gave us a little tikes police car. John Mark has spent everyday for the past two weeks playing in that car. This past Wednesday Kristen brought the matching gas pump to the office. You would have thought the thing gave out candy or something as excited as John Mark was about it.

But that's not the best part of the story. Thursday evening he carried the gas pump into the living room from his playroom and sat it down on the couch. This was our conversation:

JM: "My friend John Mark wants to snuggle you just a little bit, my mom."

(he refers to Micah and I as "my mom" and "my dad"... who knows why!)

Me: "Oh.. okay... so now the gas pump is your friend?"

JM: "yeah, my mom- he's robot John Mark."

(said like it was the most OBVIOUS thing in the world)

So for the rest of the weekend, when we would eat, "Robot John Mark" would sit at JM's little table with fake food from his kitchen. He would get "milk" at night and JM puts him to bed each evening in the playroom before he goes to bed.

What a beautiful friendship. :o)

"the apple of His pie"

A sweet friend of mine gave me a set of bible verse cards for kids who can't read when I was pregnant with John Mark. We've been learning a verse every couple of weeks for the past several months. I finally got video of John Mark saying his verses to us. Enjoy!


PS- friends with babies/or babies on the way, let me know if you'd like a set!! i would LOVE to make you a set!

a john mark story & video

Last night we were reading about how God made the world. Before I got to the part where he made Adam & Eve, I asked John Mark if he remembered who the first people God created were.
He looked at me and said: "uh... Jesus and.... Sissy Bird. yep!"

(sissy bird is my friend lesley...
don't ask why she is sissy bird...)

And here is another funny video of John Mark showing off his "slam dunk" dance to mom & dad.

first date

John Mark and Caroline had their first Cuppies & Joe date a couple of weeks ago. Here are their pictures.

sitting at their "little table"

this is my girl!

so studious


a glimpse into their future, perhaps?

seriously- how cute are they?

preschool... really?

Can I just tell you how big my baby is getting? Too big... that's for sure! I enrolled him in preschool today... PRESCHOOL. Now granted, this is pending him ever cooperating and ACTUALLY being potty trained... Otherwise he'll end up in the big kids class wearing pull-ups. And that my friends will be a sad day.

busy little bees

Oh my word- where did February go?

And March is flying by just as quickly...

I can't even believe it!

I apologize for my lack of updates-

we have been so busy I've barely had time to think!

Let's see... 2 weekends ago was Big Weekend.

This is our annual event with over 600 students from all across Edmond.

It's so much fun, but man does it wipe me out!

Last weekend we had the Ladies Retreat at church.

Nat was in town from Houston,

and we had a fabulous weekend.

I learned a ton and had a great time.

Micah has been busy gearing up for summer.

MS Camp... 8th Grade Trip... VBS...

I can't believe all of this is coming so soon!

He is also busy planning his annual guys only camping trip.

John Mark is busy just being silly.

I'm posting a video of him at the end of this.

He is spinning and singing "How Great Is Our God."

At the end of the video he tells us to "clap guys"...

Enjoy!

things i'm lovin' right now...

I eat these everyday for lunch with laughing cow swiss cheese and an apple.

I eat this yummy combo for breakfast each morning.

This is hands down the best chapstick I have EVER used!

(Nivea A kiss of Moisture)

When I'm not eating crackers and cheese for lunch, I'm probably having a yard bird from this yummy restaurant!

And I for sure can't get enough of this CD...

What are your favorite things?

vote for kyle!

My sister's husband has applied for the opportunity to live in Australia for 6 months and work on the Great Barrier Reef. He is one of 34,000 applicants and they are chosen according to votes each participant receives. Would you please go to HERE and give him a quick vote? All you have to do is watch the video and then rate it with the stars on the sides! Thanks!

running

"One thing that I desire
This will I seek after
To dwell in Your house forevermore
Now I'm running after
The thing that really matters
You've become my joy & song...

I am running, running after You
You've become my soul's delight
I am running, running after You
Here with You I find my life..."
--kari jobe