From Muddy Puddles to Streams of Living Water

Farewell

2013-12-02T08:49:00.000-06:00

It was a quiet and slow drive home last night, after an unexpected late Thanksgiving with friends, through dense fog and as Nathan concentrated on getting us home safely, I sat quietly with tears streaming down my face with thoughts and emotions flooding my mind and heart.

It's beginning to hit, like a ton of bricks... We are leaving.

We are leaving our family.

They may not be blood related, but our friends here have become our family. And now we have to say good-bye.

Good-bye to friends who have watched our children grow up from infancy. Who have walked with us through so many changes and growth. Friends who loved our family and encouraged us in our walk with the Lord. Friends who were there when we moved from our home just prior to the flood and then tirelessly and selflessly helped us when we began the venture of building our house. And now the Lord has called us somewhere new, to new beginnings and it's time to say good-bye to our friends... our family, here in North Dakota.

This weekend we watched the Lord work all things together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. Our little Elijah got sick two days prior to Thanksgiving which made us cancel our plans last minute to head to Minnesota for a couple days to spend with extended family. With our kitchen almost fully packed and no plans we spent a quiet Thanksgiving home alone as a family.

It was hard. And I wondered why. Why did Elijah have to get sick now when we want to make the most of our time with friends and family here before we leave?

But then we got a call Saturday morning, an offer to join some friends for a late Thanksgiving get-together. So we headed out to their home for the afternoon and were so blessed by the opportunity for one more evening spent together.

And as we drove home that night I knew I had just witnessed some "lasts". You see, things change. And while change is a good thing, it can also be very hard and very sad. And while I know our friends here will be lifetime friends, the dynamic of our relationship will change. Especially for my children. And I think that's where my heart begins to hurt the most. Because I know they won't remember after time has passed.

It was the last time McKenzie would run into Marissa's arms and follow her wherever she goes, a precious young lady who loved my daughter and showed her such kindness. It was the last time my kids would jabber with excitement the whole hours drive on our way to see the Morrows and Nelsons. It was the last time my kids got a chance to play with all their friends whom they have made their first memories with. And for them, being so young, time will steal those memories and fade their love for our precious friends. And while they may not forget completely things will not be the same and that is where change can be so hard.

My heart is filled with so much love and gratitude towards all the families we have come to know and love here in Minot.

I am learning that it is hard for me to say good-bye. To express to each of you just how much I truly love you and how thankful I am to the Lord for bringing each of you into our lives. The love you all have shown our family here has blown us away. We were without family and you became our family, took us in and loved us and our kids unconditionally.

We are eternally grateful to each and every one of you! We love you all so much and will miss you terribly! (and truly hope to see you all again!)

So we leave you with this, and ask the Lord to bless you far beyond what we could ever do!

“The Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.”
Numbers 6: 24-26

Revamped Household Binder

2013-11-07T16:39:00.004-06:00

There were a couple of you who asked to see inside my revamped household binder, and I would love to share with you the pages I've added, and how I use it.

This time around I decided that time is money in this case and went ahead and purchased the "Personalized Household Binder" from iHeartOrganizing's Etsy shop. She had a lot of pintables that I loved and worked for what I wanted in our household binder.
You can check it out HERE.

Also check out this link HERE, which she shares on her Etsy shop at the bottom of the Household Binder page, which shows a complete image gallery of the pages offered in her binder. You can refer to this link when I talk about her pages that I use in my Household Binder.

Everyone runs their household differently. So everyone's household binder would likely look a little different. There are a lot of options out there for household binders and many people offer their pintables for free as well. Check out Pinterest!

Anyways, I debated making all my own pages. I've done it before for my Daily Planner, but the amount of pages I wanted for our binder would have taken more time than I wanted to spend. So when I found iHeartOrganizing's binder I fell in love with it. It's beautiful! And I love things to match and look pretty. It inspires me to actually use it as well. I'm just weird like that. So I went ahead and purchased it.

There was one more purchase I made and that one is for our Homeschool Section. I wanted a Homeschool Planner and Confessions of a Homeschooler has a couple of awesome planners! I know she also has one right now that you can download for free!

These pintables that I purchased are downloadable PDF files and what is so fabulous about that is you pay for it once and have the pintables forever. So you can constantly reuse and reprint the pages you need. I won't ever need to get another homeschool planner because this one is reusable and I would just have to print out a new one for each following years.

So enough talking, let me get on to showing you all the added pages that I personally made to add to my binder!

I have 10 Sections in my binder. They are: Schedules, Homeschool, Home Maintenance, Menu Planning, Kiddos, Ministry, Travel, Important Info, Finance/ Medical, and Projects/ Holidays.

In the first section, Schedules, opens up my binder with my Daily Goals sheet that I made. I also chose to laminate this page so I didn't have to constantly reprint it for each week. I use this page as a weekly form but it could easily work to be filled out for each day. My days are much the same right now and pretty simple with all little ones around so it works well for a weekly page for me.

I have it as an open spread with our "Family Schedule" page that I also made, which is a schedule of our basic Monday through Friday week. I originally read the book "Managers of Their Homes" by Steven and Teri Maxwell, and that is where I learned how to make a family schedule and use it. Now that I know how to put one together for our family it's a synch to change it when our family routine changes. Which is pretty often with the addition of babies who grow into toddlers quickly. Now this is by no means a 'law' in our home, and to be honest a lot of days don't necessarily look like this. It's a goal. Something to fall back on if things start to get out of hand. It's definitely helpful to have a bit of a routine, but there can be much freedom with one as well. We only have 24 hours in a day. And if we are not purposeful with our time, it will slip away and we will likely not do what is most important. A friend recently shared with me a worksheet entitled "Twenty-Four Hours Is All You Get" by Susan Bradrick. I would highly encourage any mom looking to be wise with her time to go through this 5 page worksheet. It's A-mazing! It makes you really think about what is most important and how to manage your time accordingly. (there is a provided link to download the worksheets for free under the 'Description' section.)

Right behind my Family Schedule page I have a "Family Routines" Page. You will notice on our Family Schedule that I have listed 'Morning Routines' or 'Morning Chores' and this page spells out what those routines are.

This next page I have used in the past and look forward to when I get back into this routine. Right now things are not normal by any means. We're in the process of trying to sell our house and packing and hoping to move soon so it just isn't worth trying to keep this routine right now. A personal choice. But I made this schedule with the use of "Managers of Their Homes and "Large Family Logistics" by Kim Brenneman which can I say I would highly recommend buying or borrowing this book and reading it! It's a fabulous book with a totally different outlook on how to manage your days! In a nutshell you manage your major tasks into days. A Laundry Day, a Kitchen Day, a Town Day, etc. This page is also laminated to easily re-use each week. Another idea would be to put it in a picture frame and use a dry erase marker to mark off what you've done.

Then the final pages in this section are the 'Monthly Calendar Pages' from iHeartOrganizing's Household Binder.
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The next Section is our "Homeschool Section". The only personal added page to this section is my Scope and Sequence. I've decided to mix and match our homeschool to put together what we feel is best for our kiddos, so I made my own Scope and Sequence page that I can fill in as time goes on and we decide which curriculum to use for each subject in each grade. Every other page comes from Confessions of a Homeschooler Colorful Lesson Planner. I didn't use all of the pages she offers, just the ones that applied to us right now. But I just love this cute, fun and colorful planner that will work for years to come. I also keep any Book Lists or any other homeschool related papers in this section.

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The 3rd section is our "Home Maintenance Section". Again I only added one page to this section of my own, the rest are pintables from the iHeartOrganizing Pintables. I made up a Laundry Protocol sheet, in case someone comes to help out after a baby is born or for some reason Nathan needs to fill in on laundry help or whatever the case may be. The rest of the pages are yet to be seen how I will use. I really like iHeartOrganizing's 'home maintenance checklist' as a go to for making sure you stay up on your major home appliances etc. And I'll have to see if/ how I will use her 'cleaning checklist'. I like the idea, I just need to figure out how to fill it out with what works best for our family routine right now. I might revisit this page once we are moved and settled again (whenever that might be) since everything is crazy on the home front. With the constant cleaning of the house for being able to show it on a whim and packing up much of the rest of the house I'm just not in a spot to use this right now.

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The 4th section is the "Menu Planning" section. There are some pretty complex menu planning pintables and options out there. I'm not very complex in this area. I just need a shopping list and a Meal Planning Calendar. So I'm just using iHeartOrganizing Pintables here. And I laminated her Meal Planning Calendar to avoid having to constantly reprint this page. Also I chose to only use her Freezer Inventory page since we have a deep freeze and things tend to get lost in there. And it's helpful to know when we are running out of meat or a stock item that we keep in there. I did add a "Favorite Recipes" page of my own. We all have our favorite meals that we like, so this is where I keep a list to go back to. Sometimes you come across a meal that everyone loves so it will go on that list. Other times we get stuck in a rut and need to be reminded of other ideas, or I may just need a quick meal idea for the night, I can check this sheet for that purpose.

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The 5th section in my revamped Household Binder is my "Kiddos Section"! This section is totally my own. And I am so happy to have this place two keep ideas Nathan and I have in ways we want to grow as parents and ways we want to serve our kids and grow as a family. We want to pour into our children, they are precious gifts from the Lord and we want to make the most of the time we have with them, we are entrusted with their care for a short amount of time, we need to be seeking the Lord for His help and wisdom and we train and instruct our kiddos. Here are a few pages I have in this section:

A Family Rules page, qualities and things we want to remember are important in our family life.

Also a list of positive character qualities and personality traits we see right now in each of our kids. We want to be aware of their God-given gifts and strengths and encourage them in who they are in the Lord.

Then there is our "Hope List for our Children". As parents we often say, we should do this with our kids. Lets try this idea in training them, etc. This is a place we can list those ideas to help us make it happen. Some ideas right now are personal 'dates' with each of our older kids so we can have one-on-one time with them. Also this Christmas we want to get a couple gifts for Gospel for Asia, so we want to earn money as a family to provide these gifts to people in need. Things like this get written on thing list.

I have a list of Character Qualities that I downloaded and printed from the Duggar Family website. You can check it our HERE. I also have a few other lists (I'm not sure where I got them) of Character Qualities with definitions and Bible verses for each quality. This is an area we want to strive to grow and nurture in our kids. Speaking the qualities and encourage our children, and ourselves for that matter, to grow in these areas.

I Heart Organizing has a few Free Printables on her website that I've used as well. One of those is her "Size Detail" page for keeping track of what size clothes and shoes my kids and in. This is a totally awesome chart because there are times I just can't remember where each of my 4 kids are at, and when my mom calls to double check their currents sizes I can simply flip open to this page and let her know.

We also keep an "If / Then chart to reference for consequences so we stay consistent as parents when it comes to that part of training.

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Section 6 is our "Ministry Section", another section I constructed on my own. This is along the same lines as our Kiddos section. Sometimes life can get the best of you and hospitality can get thrown to the wind. It's times when we say," It's been awhile since we've had such-and-such family over for dinner, or "I need to get our neighbor who just had a baby a new mother care package", etc. This "Hospitality List" is the place it gets written down and not forgotten!

We also have a "Hope List" for our family, a list of things we want to do, maybe as a family or as a couple or whatever might fit to be written down so it's not forgotten and planned to be accomplished.

I also put the "Our Commitments Worksheet" from Confessions of a Homeschooler's Homeschool Planner here. It's a list of our family commitments and it asks the question 'does this benefit our family?'. It's a good way to evaluate what we are doing with our time.

I also keep a "Prayer Journal" pages here, to write down prayer requests we are praying for as a family, for others, to remember to continue to pray. And a way to look back and see how the Lord answered prayer requests.

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This 7th section is a real time saver to our family. This is the "Travel Section". There are a few key pages in this section that are awesome to pull out when our family is about to head out on a vacation or a babysitter is coming over for the evening.
First is iHeartOrganizing's "Outing Ideas" page, a great place to write down places you want to visit or things you want to do as a family, or even date night ideas!
Then her "Babysitter Notes" page is next, and I totally love this page, great just to pull out and fill in for the evening when you are headed out on a date and couple's weekend getaway.
She also offers a "Travel Checklist" which works great for our day trips when I just need to write down some items we'll need for that day.
But I made two "Packing Lists" for our family a while back. One for a regular trip and one for when we go camping. I just grab out these pages and check off the items as they get packed and ready for our trip. Absolutely love these and it saves me so much time when getting ready for a vacation as I don't have to re-write a packing list each time!
Our Camping Packing List:

Our Regular Vacation Packing List:

I Heart Organizing also has a super cute "Our Family Funcation" Kids Travel Pack as free downloadable pintables for the kids while you travel in the car. I keep these handy as well to grab if we head off on a long car ride!
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This next section of "Important Information" are all from iHeartOrganizing's Household Binder Pack. I thought a lot were a good idea to have and fill out. There is an "Important Home Info", "Important Auto Info" etc. Also a page for "Important Dates" by month, where I write down birthdays, anniversaries and special holidays to remember on a yearly basis. She has a form for "Contacts" which I chose not to use since we have another system in place for keeping that info. But another awesome page she offers is a "Checkout System" form for if you loan out a book or item you can write down who you loaned it to and when so you can track it back down. And the final page is a "Password Log" to remember all those passwords and usernames for all those sites we log onto. :)
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The 9th section is for "Finance and Medical" info. Right now Nathan is in charge of keeping our finances in order and he has his own system, but I like the pages she offers. We'll see if we incorporate them eventually. And I also put our "Medical" info here since our medical provider will be changing soon and we will have more responsibility in keeping track of everything. So that will evolve to fit our new way as time goes on.
My only added addition is a "Doctors Log" to keep track of our doctors visits since, like I already mentioned, it will be more our responsibility in this area.

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The final section is our "Projects/ Holiday Section" This section also contains all pintables from iHeartOrganizing. Some come from her purchased Household Binder Set and a few she offers for free from her website under Free Pintables tab.. When we move I'll have a whole new set of projects lined up to make our new house a home. These pintables are awesome to keep everything in order. She also offers a Paint Project Reference Sheet to keep track of all your used paint colors. Awesome!

So there you have it. My Updated Household Binder! I hope this helps. It's a great system and helps keep track of some important info. But by no means does anyone need one to have a well run home. I just like organization and work best with tools like this to help me. Not every mom is the same, nor do any of us run our household in the same manner. And how awesome is that, there should be no comparison of each other, just encouragement that we are each loving our husbands and our children and serving the Lord in running our home. I hope this is only encouraging to any of you who read this post. If this system in no way would benefit you, don't feel like you need it. Just thought I'd share in case it might be helpful to some.

You all are doing a great job, mom's! Keep on serving the Lord in all you do!

On the Market

2013-10-05T16:07:00.000-05:00

This past month in a half has been crazy. Crazy as in getting back to the good ol' days of building the house crazy. Once we got home from Idaho and made the decision to move as soon as possible, life jumped into full swing with finishing up everything on the house that needed to be done before we could sell it. It's amazing what you can live with when you are living in a house, and quite frankly just don't want to take the time to do it, especially after two and a half years of work that was already done on the house. I could care less that all my interior doors were just primed and not painted white to match the trim and the rest of the house! But to sell, it had to be done. Along with hooking up our in floor heating, and putting metal siding all along the outside bottom of our house to cover the last of the showing house wrap, and caulking ALL the trim! Ugh, talk about not a very fun job!. We put the trim on our kitchen cabinets and painted the backsplash. Our original plan was to tile the backsplash in the kitchen but that was nixed once we decided to sell. Also, our garage doors that looked like they were on and worked from the outside, were actually just nailed up from the inside. So those had to get installed correctly, and can I just say that it is one of the most awesome things to have a working garage!! Oh man! That was a little treat. After 6 and a half years of living in freezing cold and muddy Minot, ND with 4 little kids we now have a garage to park in and we're moving! I may or may not have considered not moving for a split second. :) And many, many other big and little projects were completed as Nate worked tirelessly finishing up the house to get it ready to sell. And I just have to mention that one of those jobs that needed to be done was mowing down our 7 foot weeded lawn. Yep, that's right folks, you read that correctly, our whole front yard was consumed with 7 ft. weeds. Thanks to Dwight and Nate, I'm sure our neighbors are SO happy we finally did something to our yard. And while I know no one will be buying our home for its amazing looking yard, it looks a hundred times better than it did! The Lord thankfully sustained us as we worked on the house non stop and dealt with a terrible "week long" flu bug that plagued our family soon after returning home from our trip to Idaho and Canada. Like I said, it was crazy and rough, but we've made it! We are on the other side.

Our house is FINISHED!!!

It's quite an amazing feeling. To not have to worry about it any more. Well, okay, any homeowner knows that statement isn't exactly true but we are glad that it's ready to be put on the market.

Which is exactly what happened at the beginning of this week.

Our house is officially on the market!

And our hope and desire is that the Lord would chose to sell it quickly, but we are also putting our trust in Him that His timing is perfect and whatever He sees fit for the selling of this house we are okay with.

Please join us in prayer that the Lord would allow our house to sell quickly. His timing is perfect and that we would trust Him in this process and have the peace and joy of the Lord amidst it all.

Also, if you know anyone looking for a home to buy in Minot, ND, pass along our listing to them because we have a house for sale with a pretty incredible view and we would love someone or some family to enjoy it as much as we have!!

Here is the link to our listing: http://www.minothomes.com/cgi-bin/property.pl?action=details&property_id=14175

Here are some random photos of some of the projects that have been worked on and completed this past month.

Preparing to Move

2013-09-10T19:34:00.000-05:00

Yes, you read that correctly.

We, the Mudd family, are preparing to move.

As soon as possible.

As in selling our house.

Yep, the one we just spent the last two years of our lives building.

That one is getting ready to be put on the market.

And we are heading out of North Dakota.

For some this may came as a bit of a shock. For others, who received our prayer letter we recently sent out, this is a result of many prayers on our behalf. We have our direction from the Lord and we could not be more excited for what is in store for our family.

Big changes again, that is for sure! But we're good at those apparently.

So, a little back ground. We have been feeling unsettled over the last many months. There have been times in the past 6 years of wondering and even wishing we could move from North Dakota. But it was never the right time, at least in the Lord's eyes. But recently we began having new desires put on our hearts and along with those desires an unsettled feeling. So we began to pray, and we also sent out a prayer letter and asked for you to join us in praying, that we would know what the Lord was doing and how He was directing our family. We also began to write a list of the desires that were on our heart and began to ask the Lord if they were our (personal/ fleshly) desires or if they were desires that He had put on our heart. Over time and through prayer we had our list that we knew were desires from Him. But there was still the big question of WHERE? Where did we belong that all those desires would be fulfilled?

Well some of you may have noticed, if you are friends with us on facebook, that we took a little road trip recently to Idaho and Canada. Along with the desire to visit friends, that trip was a loaded one. It was a trip to check out a place that had been on our hearts, to see if maybe that was where the Lord was directing our family. We prayed that He would make it clear, and open or shut the doors while we were there. And if the doors closed, then at least we got to see many friends and visit some beautiful places!

Well, our time there was incredible blessed, from friends, to time with the Lord and other believers, by the community, and especially watching the Lord put all the puzzle pieces together and reveal to us His new plan for our family. It was amazing to say the least!

So where is this place. The Mudd family is packing up and moving almost halfway across the country to make our new home in Idaho! Amidst the beautiful mountains but more importantly to join in service of the Lord in a beautiful community.

As we spent time checking the area out and seeking the Lord's direction we found that every item on our written list of desires that we had been praying over the last few months was fulfilled there!

So where are we right now? Up to our nose, or maybe in over our heads, with work that needs to be done on our house before we can sell it. Without even finishing the basement, the list of things to do is very long. At this point, due to lack of time, we will most likely not finish our basement and sell it as is. Except for the things that have to be done so it passes inspection and can be sold.

Our hope is to have it on the market by the end of the month of September. Yep, within the next few weeks. Lord, help us please!

To say everything has been wonderful would be a lie, this has been very stressful for our family. Really pushing to get the work done again is not easy on anyone, and amidst the work we have had a flu bug pass through our family.... But we also know that we are moving forward in the direction the Lord has been showing us. And He has great plans for our family. The devil doesn't want a family to walk in the ways of the Lord and he will try to war against those who seek to live their lives for the Lord. There is a great spiritual battle that rages, that we don't even see. But ultimately we know the Lord has the victory! And we are choosing to follow Him, wherever He leads us!

Please pray for our family. Our list is long of things that need to be finished on the house, and although each item on the list may not be a huge job, they each are time consuming. Our hope is to have our house on the market by the end of the month. Please pray for His strength for each of us, and that we would impart much grace to one another through this stressful time.

Also, please join us in prayer that the Lord would, even now, be providing a buyer for just the right time who would purchase our home! Our hope is that it would happen right after being ready to be sold. But we know the Lord's timing is perfect, and that truly is what we desire.

And for the transition we face ahead. We will likely rent initially while we seek the Lord on further direction for our family once we are in Idaho. Without going into much detail we are praying about whether we should buy a house, or if we should start our own home business of building and selling homes come Spring.

Those prayer requests are just to name a few.

And we can't thank you enough for joining us in prayer, this is an answer to those prayers and we are blessed, thankful and excited about the Lord's leading in our lives!

Instagram Recap { June }

2013-08-13T09:43:00.001-05:00

1. A bird flew into our house and it was pretty entertaining trying to get him out!

2. Beautiful morning sunrise on June 2nd.

3. Always fun when I get the chance to do my hair!

4. Flooding again.

5. Finally able to have the windows open and a gentle breeze blowing my curtains.

6. A "just because" gift now that we finally both drink coffee together. It only took me 7 years to convert him!

7. Saturday morning reading. I love that my kids love books!

8. Janessa Belle rocking my sunglasses.

9. $4 score for this big bag from Hobby Lobby.

10. Absolutely adore this little guy. He melts my heart!

11. Most adorable baby card ever!

12. Making faces.

13. "Take our picture because we are cute too!" Why, yes! Yes you are!

14. 'Belly Button Barf' Yep, he's a spitter.

15. June 14. 10:50 PM Summers in the North.

16. Happy Father's Day/ Birthday weekend. First camping trip of the year was a success!

17. Happy Father's Day to such an incredible Dad!

18. Night time Father and son snuggles and chats.

19. Happy Birthday Nathan!

20. Revamped swing set with a pretty awesome view!

21. This happened without him being asked, just a willing heart to serve.

22. Janessa Belle's favorite sitting position.

23. Love this little girl who is growing up right before my eyes. My sweet little Jewel!

24. Family camp at the Sips Farm!

25. June 24th, first night sleeping in his big baby bed... the crib.

26. Tornado warning. Severe thunderstorm warning. Flash flood watch. And a river flood warning. North Dakota weather...

27. A little 'Father Abraham' dancing and singing with Daddy.

28. Awesome helpers on laundry day.

29. Papa and Grandma arrived and it's like Christmas!

30. June 29th, Elijah got his first haircut.

Janessa Turns Two: A Day at the Lake

2013-08-09T10:00:00.000-05:00

June ended with an early celebration for Janessa Belle's second birthday!

My baby girl is two!

Could someone please just stop that darn clock.

Enough is enough with my kiddos growing up so fast.

But I do love it, I love watching them grow and learn and see their little personalities develop.

And now our sweet, full of life, exuberant little girl is two.

Tear. Smile.

We celebrated her birthday with Papa and Grandma who drove up to visit us for a week. The day after they arrived we headed to Lake Sakakawea, rented a boat for the day and celebrated Janessa's birthday out on the lake. The kids had a blast playing in the water, riding on the pontoon boat and spending time with their best buddies, Papa and Grandma.

Outtakes

2013-08-07T11:01:00.002-05:00

If you have the misconception that I get great photos of my kids and that my kids are just fabulous models all the time, this post is to prove that misconception wrong!

I take hundreds of photos most every time I get my camera out, literally!

And I take hundreds in hopes that there are one or two good ones in the mix.

Then there's the dynamic of my models, the kiddos.

My explanation... they are kids.

End of story.

Oh, right, and we bribe them with treats when I really, really want a "cute" photo of them.

There. I said it. I'm glad I got that off my chest.

And to fill in for the rest there are blurry photos, awkward photos, silly photos, photo bombers and random photos that make you wonder what you were doing when you pushed the shutter button.

Most are deleted, and some I save and never edit and they are not really usable, and I have no idea why I still save them. Probably because they are still pictures of my kids, precious memories, but ones I chose not to share.

And sometimes I share photos that aren't great but when it comes down to it who cares if the composition of a photo is perfect. If it shares a story of my family then it's worthwhile to me.

Sooo, here are some recent outtakes. Enjoy!

What Happened to June?

2013-08-05T09:01:00.000-05:00

I know I went missing in action for the month of June. But I just couldn't write after my Grandma passed away. And as Nathan and I looked back we realized that not only could I not write for a time, I didn't even pick up the camera to take pictures. It seemed like it all was just put on hold during my time of grieving. Thankfully I joined Instagram shortly after my Grandma's memorial service and it filled in a little where I totally lacked in pictures from my regular camera. But I also missed capturing a lot of fun memories along the way. Like our first camping trip of the year which included out sweet little Elijah who was only 3 months old. The kids had a blast, and I did as well but I don't have pictures to show for it. It was Nathan's birthday and Father's Day celebration after all.

Boo!

Complete fail!

For Nathan's birthday, which also turned out to be Father's Day weekend, we decided to head back down to Bismarck and camp in our tent for the first time this year. We also spent the day at their outdoor water park and had a great time! The kids had a blast camping and we couldn't have asked for a better weekend.

We also took a trip to Minnesota for a family camp. I happened to grab my camera and snap a couple pictures as an afterthought. Again, it was another great weekend. My Zeke was totally in his element, with lots of people and kids to play with. It was a wonderful weekend filled with lots of fellowship and fun.

There were a couple little projects worked on around the house but mostly life was just happening.

And the last weekend of June my parents arrived after two long days of driving to get here and we filled our time with lots of celebrations, fun and projects.

So the month flew by and before we knew it, it was over. With few pictures to show for it. And that makes me sad. But thankful for all the fun we enjoyed together!

Instagram Recap { May }

2013-08-02T08:59:00.003-05:00

Welcome to my monthly Instagram Recap! These pictures tend to fill in the blanks when I don't pick up the big girl camera to capture some of those everyday moments. Check out the corresponding picture with the number and click on the underlined link to get more of the story.

1. Welcome to Instagram. My precious Janessa 'reading' a Bible story.
2. Yawn! How we were all feeling after a crazy night.
3. Apparently Mother Nature thought our house should be brown instead of yellow. One crazy thunderstorm.
4. Laundry Day with a sweet little helper!
5. Sometimes you turn around to an unexpected sight.
6. While driving home in the rain Zeke asked if I could turn off the music so we could listen to the rain. It made me think of Psalm 46:10 "Be still and know that I am God." and how (awe)some His creation is!
7. Precious smiles from my little guys. He absolutely melts my heart!
8. Someone got a haircut!
9. Father and son fighting the blowing rain to trench out the yard. Just another thunderstorm passing through again.
10. Date Night/ Date Morning thanks to our wonderful friends, the Josts, who came to visit us and blessed us with a night out!
11. Finished with an MRI for a 10 cm mass on my liver.
12. Praise the Lord for His complete healing!
13. First mini vacation as a family of six!
14. Enjoying the Bismarck Zoo.
15. All snuggled in their beds at the hotel.
16. Yummy shakes at Krolls Diner.
17. Spent a beautiful day at Ft. Lincoln as a family!
18. A little girl who is head over heals for her brother. The more kids you have the more the little ones get loved on!

Memorial Day Weekend Part 3 { the Park }

2013-07-29T09:41:00.000-05:00

If you missed the first part of our mini weekend trip to Bismarck, you can check out Part 1 here when we headed to the Zoo and then Part 2 when we headed to Ft. Lincoln for the day.

On our way home Monday we decided to stop and let the kids play in the park and eat a picnic lunch before our drive home. A lot of our parks around Minot are still trying to get to a somewhat usable state since our 2011 flood , so it was a lot of fun to run around a lush green park for the morning! I also tried to get a head shot of each of the kids. Stay tuned for 'outtakes' if you think my kids allow me to get great pictures of them all the time. That would be far from the truth. And although it was too bright for Elijah to open his eyes and after much persuasion and bribing Janessa, I did get a few great shots.

Memorial Day Weekend Part 2 { Ft. Lincoln }

2013-07-25T09:54:00.000-05:00

If you missed part 1 of our first mini vacation as a family of 6 you can check it out here. We decided to head to the great town of Bismarck, ND for Memorial Day weekend this year. We headed out early Saturday morning and spent the day at the Bismarck Zoo.

Sunday dawned a beautiful warm and sunny day so we decided to check out Fort Lincoln. We had been there once before a few years ago and thought the kids would enjoy checking the place out. It's beautiful and open with plenty of space to run and play. The day was perfect enjoying the scenery and having fun as a family.

Memorial Day Weekend Part 1 { ZOO }

2013-07-23T11:23:00.000-05:00

Memorial Weekend we decided to venture out on our first family mini vacation with all 6 of us! After our long winter and brutal spring I was really looking forward to getting out. The weather was still a little too unpredictable for camping in a tent so we decided to get a hotel and enjoy a weekend in Bismarck. Our first stop was the Bismarck Zoo. Our zoo in Minot finally opened this year, the first time since the 2011 flood, but it still hadn't opened as of Memorial weekend. So a trip to the Bismarck zoo sounded like fun for everyone.

Right after we got there and had a little picnic lunch it started to rain. And not just a light rain, we had a nice little rain shower pass through. We debated on leaving and decided to stick it out and we sure were glad we did. After the cloud passed it turned into a beautiful afternoon! It was a great time to visit as there were lots of new baby animals to look at and the kids had a great time running all around!

A Special Mother's Day with Friends

2013-07-19T11:04:00.000-05:00

It was an extra special Mother's Day this year as I got to spend it with a very precious friend and her family!

I wanted to do something a little different this year for Mother's Day so we started making plans to head to Bismarck for the weekend. Thankfully we didn't go through with any of those plans since I got a call from my friend Sharla asking if they could stay with us for a couple nights on their way to a family event in Minnesota. Their time with us happened to fall on Mother's Day! Best Mother's Day gift ever!

We had such a wonderful day together catching up and watching our kids play. They have 4 little ones all close to the same age as ours so the kids had a blast together!

We headed to the park for the afternoon to let the kids run around and enjoy the beautiful weather and had fun roasting marshmallows in the evening.

Talk about a couple who knows what we've been through, as they are in the process of building their own home up in Canada, aside from the fact that our similarities are numerous! We love them so much and even though our visits are few and far between it's a sweet friendship that just picks up where it left off, plus a few more kids each time!

Papa and Grandma Visit to Meet Elijah

2013-07-17T10:17:00.000-05:00

So you might think this post would be filled with photos of Grandma and Papa holding Elijah and ooing and aweing over him. Well you would be wrong.

That's how we thought it would work out too. But life seems to have a way of happening unlike how you planned it. Funny.

Nathan's mom and sister and family were the first to visit after Elijah was born. And my parents were scheduled to come almost two weeks later to meet him and help out. Then my Grandma passed away. The Lord's hand was upon the whole situation as the timing worked out just right for me to be able to go to the memorial service between visits.

And because I flew to California with Elijah, who was only 5 weeks old, before my parents made it out to North Dakota, they met him in the midst of the memorial service for my Grandma.

The timing was perfect as I just scheduled my return flight home on my parents flight, and the Thursday after the memorial service we all flew back to North Dakota.

Now let me just interject here and say that this past winter was brutal with a capital B! It was long and bitter cold and long and horrid and l-o-n-g! I was done with it! I was desperate for a change in weather. I was desperate for California. The trip, though very bitter sweet, was a blessing for me as well in the fact that I desperately needed a break from our harsh, lingering winter weather and I got it. The weather in California was beautiful while we were there, although that doesn't even need to be said as their weather is almost always beautiful. The break was wonderful. But then I had to come back home. I think if someone would have offered Nathan a job while I was down there I would have solidified his position and planted myself put and made Nathan come and join me with the rest of the family. I wasn't ready to come back.... to snow. That's right, it was April 25th and there was still snow on the ground with no hope of it leaving anytime soon. Nooooo! At least my parents were coming back with me.

Thankfully while they were visiting our weather decided to finally warm up for the first time this year. And even though it was much cooler than California, it felt incredibly warm compared to the temperature it had been just days before. So while my parents were visiting we made it a point to get outside and play.

That's why this post is filled with pictures of us playing at the park in the snow in short sleeve shirts. You do what you gotta do when you live in the North.

And when my parents visit there never seems to be a shortage of craziness in this town. Not only did it warm up, but the swing in weather was sudden and quick which resulted in flooding, again. The flooding resulted in the loss of water to the house. Go figure. But we made an adventure out of it and headed to a hotel for the night where the kids enjoyed playing in the pool.

I know I'm in total catch up mode and these pictures are from quite a while ago but I hope you enjoy!

A Memorial Service

2013-07-15T08:54:00.000-05:00

Like I mentioned in my previous post, life has had it's ups and downs this year. And it didn't end with Nathan's family visiting.

Near the end of their trip I got the call that my Grandma was back in the hospital, but this time no one thought she would be going home.

A few days later I got another call from my mom. Her kidneys had shut down, it was only a matter of time.

I began working on a plan to try and make it out to California for my Grandma's memorial service. Thankfully the Paulson's were willing to watch my three older kids during the week while Nathan was at work and I had a wonderful friend who was able to book me a standby ticket on a minutes notice when we gave the word that it was time to go. So I packed my bags for Elijah and myself and waited. And waited. And waited. The week of April 14th was the longest week of our lives, especially for those who sat by my Grandma's side and watched her suffer and slip away slowly and in pain. No one could believe how she could possibly keep going as long as she did with her kidney failure. It was devastating and heart wrenching and yet the Lord used it to prepare the hearts of those who loved her to be willing and able to let her go. No one ever wants to watch their loved one suffer. Through the pain she hung in there, taking every moment to be with her family and friends who she loved so dearly. Listening to memories of the years gone by and being held and loved on by her devoted husband, children and grandchildren. I was the only one of her immediate family who was not able to be there in person to say goodbye and I know that was hard for her. It was for me as well. She was unable to talk in her final days, so we truly won't know why she held on but we do know that the Lord knows our days and He had an appointed time for her to go home, where she is now made whole and perfect and is praising Jesus for all eternity.

April 16th was that day.

Had you been with her while she suffered and slowly slipped away, and did not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and then you were with her when the Lord took her home, I'm pretty sure you would have chosen to put your faith in the Lord. I was not there but I was told from family who was blessed to be with her when she left this fallen world and entered her heavenly home that it was a moment they will never forget. For the last 4 days of her life she had become completely unresponsive. She was unable to talk or move or even open her eyes. In her final moments, with many friends and family standing near her and as her breathing became extremely labored, all of a sudden a huge smile overwhelmed her face, she lifted up her arms and opened her eyes as wide as she could and she uttered unknown words as she "flew away" into the arms of her Savior.

Once she passed, the days were busy for the family as they began to make all the necessary arrangements. I got on a flight Saturday afternoon, flew into Vegas where my Dad met Elijah (who was 5 weeks old) and I and then we drove to California to be with my family. I am grateful beyond words that I was able to be with everyone during that time, that we could all be together in honor of my Grandma and be there to support my Grandpa.

The week was filled with its fare share of bitter sweet moments. My Grandpa was already experiencing his "firsts" without my Grandma as he and the rest of the family met Elijah for the first time. Even my parents were meeting him for the first time. It was so joyful and yet so heartbreaking. And my Grandma's memorial service was set for April 22, on Nathan and my 7 year anniversary. The memorial service reception took place in the same back yard where we had said our vows to one another just 7 years prior. Nathan and I were apart that day. And while, I must admit, it seemed strange at first, we will now have a precious date set aside to always remember the life of my Grandmother, and to think of an amazing and beautiful couple who loved each other unconditionally and left their family with the most precious legacy of love. April 22 will be a day to celebrate our love, the life of my Grandma and to be reminded of the incredibly blessed 61 years of marriage that my Grandma and Grandpa shared.

The days were filled and passed quickly as family and friends flew and drove in from all around the country to join in the 'celebration of life' of my Grandma. Sunday evening there was a viewing and Monday, April 22 was her memorial service with a reception that followed at my Aunt and Uncle's house. It was a blessed time of sweet fellowship with family and friends gathered around, supporting my Grandpa and family and reminiscing about Jean Messner. Tuesday morning the immediate family headed to Riverside National Cemetery for her burial service. It was an emotional time as we grieved in the finality of it all. It began to finally hit home that she was truly gone.

Although the moments were tough and tears flowed freely over our loss here on earth, we celebrated the life of my Grandma and rejoiced that she is now in heaven!

~Until we meet again on the other side of the river~

You can read my tribute to my Grandma here.

Some of the cousins at the Burial Service.

The viewing.

The Reception.

3 Generations: My Grammy (my Dad's mom) My Dad and Elijah

Watching the video of memories that my cousin Scotty made.

Standing where I stood 7 years ago saying our vows.

Looking Back to a Family Visit

2013-07-12T09:00:00.000-05:00

What a year it has been, we've definitely had our ups and downs.

My most recent pregnancy had it's downs then praise to the Lord, He healed my baby and made everything beautiful.

The winds were changing in many areas right when Elijah was due to be born, and amidst an exciting birth story, Nathan received news just two weeks after Eli was born that he needed to find a new job. Praise the Lord, He provided a new job for Nathan without so much as a day missed.

For a couple weeks, since Elijah was born two weeks early, we had time to adjust to becoming a family of 6.

Then the first visitors came at the beginning of April! We were so excited to have Nathan's mom, his sister Misty and her husband Sean and their little guy Amos come and stay with us for a week to meet Elijah and help out.

My kids were so excited to have one of their cousins come to their own home and play.

Everyone had such a wonderful week together and it was such a blessing to have the extra hands to help, and a friend to play with my older kids.

On the Other Side of the River: A Tribute

2013-07-10T09:05:00.002-05:00

M. Jean Messner
1931-2013

I haven’t been able to write since my Grandma passed away a few months ago. I miss her so much and don’t know where to begin. How can I possibly put into words all that she meant to me, to everyone. When I sit and think about what to write there’s such a big hole in my heart.

I’ve written this blog for my family, especially for my Grandma who I know was constantly worried and concerned for me and my family, always wanting the best for us and wishing we could be closer. ( We are the only ones who live far away) Now when I sit to write, I know that my loving and precious Grandma is no longer on the other side of the computer screen catching up on our family 'going ons' and ooing and aweing over the pictures of my sweet kiddos. Praise the Lord she is with Him in her heavenly home. But she is greatly missed here.

My Grandma left a beautiful legacy that will continue on. We have an incredible family who loves the Lord and loves one another and that came from the wonderful example of my Grandma and Grandpa. I am truly blessed and thankful to be a part of this family, to have had such an amazing Grandma who loved me and everyone around her unconditionally.

My Grandma loved the Lord. She loved life. And she always looked on the bright side and found true joy no matter what. My Grandma and Grandpa, like Jesus, loved people just the way they were and that is the best legacy they could have ever left, to live a life of love, of loving others, and 61 years of a beautiful marriage and family. My Grandma was so very generous, she loved to give though she never had much she gave from her heart and gave of herself. She was kind and encouraging and always looked on the bright side of things. And she always had fun and made sure you had fun as well! There was no way you couldn’t have a smile on your face when you were around her. She brought the love and joy of Jesus to anyone around her.

I have the most precious memories that will stay with me always, from camping to Christmas to summers spent at their home, of stories of days gone by and poems to treasure and share. But most of all we have our family who embody precious bits and pieces of her, of her sweet character. She will never be forgotten.

I love you and miss you Grandma and I look forward to the day when ‘we’ll meet again on the other side of the river’.

Some of my cousins.

My amazing Grandpa who misses her the most.

My Grandma was an extremely talented poet and writer and I want to share with you a few poems she wrote.

FOREVER

We whispered, "Forever" while the candle lights were glowing

As the organ played our wedding song and as we knelt to pray

And as we danced together, we promised we would never

Forget the word "Forever", whispered on our wedding day

We remembered "Forever" as our children played around us

As we taught them how to laugh & love & knelt with them to pray

Thru all those lean and teen years, we promised we would never

Forget the word "Forever", whispered on our wedding day

On our silver anniversary with our friends & family round us

We renewed our precious wedding vows and bowed our heads to pray

Holding hands we said "Forever, we will always stay together

And I love you more than ever "Forever", every day

On our golden anniversary - with our kids & grandkids round us

With our arms around eachother, we bowed our heads to pray

Thanking God we're still together, that we weathered stormy weather

That we meant the word "Forever", whispered on our wedding day

by: Jean Messner

I DARE YOU TO BE STRONG

To my family, I dare you to be strong

In a world that's topsy tervy sing a song

Keep a smile on your face

Make your world a happy place

Be a leader, be a friend

Someone strong who will not bend

To the pressures of the crowd

With their voices strong and loud

Keep your head up high and go

Down the straight and narrow road

Dear Family I dare you to be strong

To my Grandchildren, I dare you to say no

Be the spark that makes a thousand candles glow

Be the light that leads the way

So your friends don't go astray

Be a leader, be a friend

Someone strong who will not bend

Love yourself and leave no doubt

That no one can buy you out

Stand your ground when the goings rough

Don't give up when life gets tough

I love you and I dare you to say no

To all my friends

You were there when I really needed you

You helped me out when I didn't have a clue

I'm so glad you came along

With your laughter and your song

You'll find directions by God's throne

To my eternal heavenly home

And I hope to see you there very soon

But not too soon

by: Jean Messner

LIFE IS A WONDERFUL THING

Run, skip and jump down your yellow brick road

Take somebody's hand and carry their load

Smile, laugh and giggle & put on a wiggle