Beautiful

For Labor Day weekend we took a spontaneous family vacation to Glacier Park. To put it simply, it was beautiful. Beautiful because we were able to have some sweet time as a family. Beautiful because we were able to relax and recharge just as we were hoping to. Beautiful because we were able to inhale God's glorious creation & be held in awe by His majesty all around us. Beautiful because His abundant blessings to our family continue to be absolutely tangible.

I must confess that as a native Montanan, the "Montana Pride" runs deep within me. With that said, there are many beautiful places my little eyes have yet to behold but Montana, my state, my home, is stunning! I am regularly humbled & grateful for the many luxuries we have in this country & when I take a moment to lift my eyes as I walk out my back door & behold the beauty of God's creation, my breath is taken away. What did I do to deserve such a life? To have such an amazing family? To have such a lovely home? To have the privilege to worship my God freely without fear of persecution? Nothing! Absolutely nothing! I DO NOT deserve a single ounce of any of it!! Why are my children so blessed to have both a Mom & a Dad who love them & sacrifice themselves for them daily? Why do they get to feast on fresh homemade bread & warm chocolate chip cookies? Why do they get to pick through their toys & choose which ones to give away because they have way too many? I don't know. As children of Adam they most certainly DO NOT deserve any of it either. But I guess that's the point. That's the gospel being played out in our lives. We do not deserve these comforts & luxuries. I may even go so far as to say that we do not deserve to feel our lungs expand with that life sustaining air even one more time. All we deserve is death. Cold, black, death. It is only through Christ & His incomprehensible sacrifice & love for us that we are blessed. And because of this reality I am regularly convicted of my pride, my self righteousness, & selfishness. Throughout day to day life it's so easy to forget how very fortunate we are and how good we really have it. I start feeling sorry for myself because "I work so hard & never get a break" or "if I could only have more time to myself I would be so much more 'put together' " (& the list goes on). But those are all lies! Lies! LIES!! And praise be to my kind & merciful God, He does not let me carry on like that for too long before He opens my eyes to His truth & goodness & sets me straight again. Sometimes all it takes is lifting my eyes to the glory of His creation around me in this beautiful state of mine to see that I have it SOOO good. My God loves me & for whatever reason has chosen me & my family to be His faithful servants. And I am reminded of the promises He has given us... & filled with gratitude, I rest. 

"For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord.

"They are plans for good & not disaster, to give you a future & a hope."

Jeremiah 29:11

Our time at Glacier:

On our way up to Kalispel we stopped at Seeley Lake for a picnic lunch a refreshing swim. The kids had a ball!

This little squirrel found a little snack in Ben's Cheeto bag!

Next we stopped at some kind of "fun center" that had a huge maze made out of wooden fence. There were 4 different towers that you had to make it to in order to complete the maze. It was a lot of fun but at the end we were rushing around as quickly as we could "frantic" to find our way to the last tower before a huge storm hit in full force. We never did make it to the last tower before we had to quit due to heavy wind, lightening, & pouring rain. It was quite traumatic, & fun, & wet!

Just as we were getting started.

This was taken just as we safely arrived at our hotel.
The rain had stopped & everyone was calm, composed, & still rather wet!

The following day we spent in Glacier Park. We did lots of driving & some hiking.

Trail of the Cedars:

Ben's shorts had lost the adjustable elastic waistband & thus were too big & kept falling down throughout the hike. At one point as he started to run toward Brian in excitement, his drawers dropped completely to his ankles! Poor kid. A lady walking past him thought it was the funniest thing in the world... & so did I! He didn't seem to notice a wink. Just pulled them right back up & kept on going. After the hike we stopped for a picnic lunch & I let him take off his shorts because he was tired of the hassle. Oh to be little again!

Logan Pass:

 Apgar Village

We stopped at Apgar Village to stretch the legs but more importantly to get us some huckleberry ice cream!
Yum! Yum!

As I said before, STUNNING!

All the kids did great in the car!

Some of our stuff as we were packing up to head home.
Evie was a big helper!

We stopped at Woodland Park in Kalispel for yet another picnic lunch & to let the kids play a bit. It is a beautiful park & quite the surprise right in the middle of town!

On our last day in the area, we took a cruise around Flathead Lake. It was nice but perhaps a bit long for the kids. They really enjoyed it at first but toward the end all they wanted to do was get off the boat!

Our boat.

Ben got to drive the boat! He thought it was pretty cool.
Ricky had a chance to as well but the moment his butt hit the captain's chair he bolted off as fast as he could.  Was a little intimidated I think.

At this point, Ben was over it.
Not throwing a fit but completely pouty because he was "SO bored!". 

Life is pretty good, isn't it?!

On a Roll!

This past weekend Brian & his dad brewed a couple batches of beer destined for a wedding so the rest of us decided to have some fun of our own & went to the fair in town. We all had a great time, especially the kids. I was so proud of how brave the boys were on the rides. They just hopped right on even when they rode all by themselves! And Evie just had fun watching all the brightly colored moving things everywhere around her! 

The Motley Crew!

Ben, Ricky, & Grandma on the Ferris Wheel - first ride of the day

"Wow! That is really high!"

"Alright... I'm ready! What are we waiting for?!"

Ben loved the roller coaster.
It's a bit blurry but if you look closely you can see the big grin that was plastered onto his face!

Ricky riding the truck train.... SOOO solemn!

Woohoo!

"Mmmm. Yummy!"

Recently, Evie has started to feed herself with a utensil of some kind at mealtime. Yesterday morning I was apparently not awake enough to any sort of sound judgement residing in my brain & decided it would be ok for her to feed herself oatmeal. She sure had fun and I sure had a decent mess to clean up!

And finally, I've said it before & will say it again... my husband spoils me incredibly! He's just recently completely decked me out with new golf gear... all the way down to new golf balls & tees! We've not been able to do much golfing having little ones attached to our hips, but we are hoping for this to become a new family hobby/activity that we can all enjoy together. So now Momma is set & ready to go! I'm quite anxious to get out & swing them around. Aren't they purdy?!

Out of the Mouths of Babes

Ben randomly at the dinner table:  "I'm getting SO smart, Mom!"

Me:  "Yes you are! But you have a lot left to learn still."

Ben:  "Yeah. Way back in the old days maybe I didn't know that anything was a picture."

In Recent Days

As I start this post, I'd like you all to join me in sending great thanks & praise to our kind & merciful God who has blessed our family & above all has blessed our little Evelyn beyond imagining. We are humbled & grateful beyond measure for His goodness, compassion, & faithfulness to us. Each day, in each new step taken with our beautiful girl, God's kindness is absolutely tangible. We can see it & feel it & touch it! Evelyn continues to astound us (& her doctors) in her strength & health & we pray that she will continue to be a beam of Christ's miraculous light into this dark world. There are MANY babies out there with complex congenital heart defects who have died or are struggling to survive. Now granted, our baby has done her fair share of fighting, but every day I am dumb-founded at the amazing grace she has been given. 

Praise God from whom all blessings flows.

Praise Him all creatures here below.

Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts.

Praise Father, Son, & Holy Ghost.

Amen.

Evie in January (9 months old)

In recent days, Evelyn has been completely & successfully weaned off of her anti-seizure medicine & has also been freed of her feeding tube! So now she only takes 2 meds a day & the hole in her stomach is healing & closing beautifully. We were told to expect a decent amount of leakage from her tube sight for 2 days & to expect it to leak up to 4 weeks... well... it has hardly leaked at all & even though it's only been out for 4 days, it's already pretty well closed!! Yet another example of God's kindness in our lives.

And now for some pictures (& a video) of other sweet happenings in recent days:

Still not walking (though completely capable of doing so).
Although I have to admit that much of me is just fine with her inability to get anywhere very fast! 

As stated before, Evie LOVES water.
Thought these were really sweet pics of her playing in the pool in our front yard.

She is SO funny!
She doesn't like to crawl in the grass on her knees so does a bear crawl instead!

The boys like to ride with Papa on the new riding lawn mower & one afternoon Ricky completely zonked out on his lap! As I lifted him to take him into the house to rest, he woke up frustrated at me for moving him. I told him he'd fallen asleep & he said, "NO I didn't! I was just resting." 

Ben learning to ride the petal bike!

The Crazy Hair Superhero!

Reading stories with Papa.

Brothers

Cross legged Evie watching a movie with Papa (for a few seconds anyway!)

Precious!

And now a little fun in the sun:

Out of the Mouths of Babes

Last night as we were driving home from T-ball we saw one of those quad side by side 4-wheeler off road things (I don't know what they're called) driving down the road with two car seats with kids in the back. Brian started teasing with the kids about how maybe for our next car we should just get one of those & was saying how we could definitely take a road trip in one. This conversation followed:

boys: "No Dad! We couldn't do that."
Brian: "What are you talking about?! Sure we could! You gotta dream big!"
boys: "What?"
Brian: "I said, You gotta dream big."
Ricky laughing: "NOOO Papa!"
Brian: "Yeah you do!"
Ricky still laughing: "NO Papa. We don't have a pig!"

Brian & I both busted out laughing. I love our kids so much!

T-Ball

At the request of a certain Auntie, here are some pics & a couple videos of the boys playing t-ball last week. As mentioned before, Brian is their coach & although it can be challenging trying to hold the attention of twelve 3-4 years olds & getting them to cooperate all together, he has done a really great job. He affectionately describes the task as 'herding cats' & that is quite what it is like! But I must say, they are darn cute & fun to watch. So here's for you, Auntie! ;)

The handsome coach!

Running bases for fun before the game.

Stretching before the game...
Perhaps the funniest part to watch!

Stretching

Stretching

Having fun!

Evie on the sidelines enjoying a cracker.

"Home plate, here I come!"

"Hmmm... which direction am I supposed to run again?"

Snacks after the game.

Some of the team.

And now a little batting & outfield for your viewing pleasure.