God IS AWESOME!!!!

What more can you say about someone Who IS: Good ALL the time, Faithful to His EVERY Word, Love itself, Always for you and Never against you, Who has already Won Every battle and only asks you to just stand your ground, Who gives liberally and does not withhold ANY GOOD thing, Who sacrificed His Son to die for you, even if you were the only person on the earth!

Wow! His greatness is unmatched and He has proven His love for little ole me in many big and little ways. I am so reminded of that love as we have just moved into our house this past weekend. After a year and a half of looking for a house that met our needs and that we could actually afford on one income, I'll admit there were days I thought it not possible. I loved our little, cozy, cottagey home that we brought our two babies to and enjoyed watching them grow, but for the last few years felt so cramped and claustrophobic.

Even once we found a home we felt we could afford, there was the task of selling our existing house in the weird market funk that took place this past fall. But God is NOT subject to the weirdness of this earthly realm. He supersedes the markets of this world and brings our vision (which is REALLY His vision) to pass in our lives.

I have realized even more just how much He loves ME and wants me to have every desire of my heart. He has placed those desires in there in the first place. It is not selfish to want or to enjoy nice things. He LOVES to see His children blessed. What He despises is greedy children who do not give Him the glory for their blessings and do not share those blessings with others.

So, this new home will not only be a more spacious haven for our little family, but we endeavor to give God all the glory for it and will enjoy having the room to be a blessing to all of our friends and family.

We have much updating to do, as the decor is currently a blast from the past! But that is the fun part of making it your own. Lots of before and after photos to come. Until then bloggy friends, remain blessed and KNOW how much He Loves You!

Oh My Love...

Because we are moving today and tomorrow I haven't had much time to blog. But as tomorrow is Valentine's Day, one of my favorite days of the year, I wanted to dedicate this post to my husband, Chad. Valentine's Day has always been special to us, as it is the anniversary of our first date! 16 years ago tomorrow, it all began. No longer me and you, but forevermore, WE, began.

I can honestly say that it has been nothing but sweetness each and every day with this man. He is so good to me and where I am weak, he has strength. Chad is the most loving, compassionate, caring man I know. Watching daily how he tries so hard to BE a blessing to all those around him, blesses me just as much as if he were doing something nice for me.

There's just something about Chad, aside from his handsome looks, that is attractive. Before we even started our courtship, I only wished I could find someone just like him! Everyone in his family was crazy about him and I soon learned why. He's fun and silly, likes to play and sometimes just relax. I love it when he's adventurous, which is often! And when we we go on a vacation he LOVES exploring and traveling. He turns into this different person when he is free of responsibilities. I LOVE it and call his alter ego "Vacation Chad". How I love Vacation Chad! We went to Italy a few years back for our tenth anniversary and he dragged me, on foot, throughout the entire city of Florence, everyday! We couldn't possibly leave until he was satisfied he had scoured every last inch of that magical place and memorized it, until we return one day! He does the same at Disney World. He can tell you ANYTHING you'd ever want to know about that place and every ride.

I love to hear him preach God's Word! The last message he spoke on was about LOVE! And I still have so much to learn! I also love to hear him worship. He rocks it out and when we were first married I never knew that my husband loved to rock! I learn new things about him everyday. He's one of those people that is always acquiring new interests and usually masters them. He dedicates himself until he is really good at it!

I especially love the Dad that he has become to our children. He has SO much patience with them! He is tender and compassionate to their needs and does not shy away from the hard parts of parenting them. I see the Father God in him when he has so much fun blessing them with something they want, for no reason other than he wants to see them enjoy it!

As you can probably tell, I'm a little bit crazy about this man! He is my true love and handsome prince and I pray a very special Valentine's Day for us this year! Earlier in the week, when we found out our actual moving day was on Valentine's, he said, "Will you like the Valentine gift I got you this year?" I said, "The house? Yep! But you're really gonna have to work hard at topping that next year!"

Sleepless in Rochester!

My Sweet Pea has never been known to be a good sleeper. This came as quite a shock to us because big brother slept through the night at 12 weeks and unless ill, never wakes up in the night. Even as an infant, if he woke up to nurse in the night, I would try to keep him in bed with me to snuggle a bit. He would toss and turn until I got up and put him back in his bassinet.

Sweet Pea was a different baby all together. She had colic for the first 3-4 months of her life and from day one slept with me. I'd do anything to keep her from crying all day and night and waking everyone else up. This method has backfired on Mama, as she still prefers to sleep with me. But hey, she's not going to do this when she's grown up, so I enjoy her snuggles while I can. At least I don't think she will?! :)

The last few weeks her sleeping habits have become even more strange as she has been having weird dreams and sleep walking. She has freaked us out on occasion with her wide-eyed look as she saunters into the living room where we are hanging out before bed and we try our best to make heads or tails of the nonsensical gibberish that comes forth from her lips.

The other night I was awakened to hear crying and more gibberish about not wanting to be "chubby"anymore. I tried to wake her and assure her she is not chubby in any way! I tried to fix her bed and make her more comfy. When she rolled over her belly looked huge! Inside her one-piece jammies were a lot of stuffed animals she must have put in there before she fell asleep! Oh my silly girl! No wonder she was dreaming of feeling chubby!