Her Daddy's Birthday

Since Lauren just finished a cake decorating class she was very eager to make Daddy's birthday cake last week. We enjoyed yummy carrot cake. She also decorated the dining room for the party. It is nice to have an older daughter to take over some of the party preparations these days.

Glimpses of our Valentine's Day 2012

7 "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us." I John 4:7-12

I went to bed so stressed last night. We have had ongoing illnesses and trips to the ER with croup, etc. Now our precious Lilly Faith has an ear infection. So, I went to bed thinking about all the chaos, the loads of laundry, the school work that needed attending to today, the fact that the whole house needed straightening, and the fact that I really had not planned out our Valentine's day very well.....as well as everything else on our plate for this week. Well, I prayed and asked the Lord to quiet my heart and grant me sleep. "For he grants sleep to those he loves." - Ps 127:2 Sleep finally came, but not uninterrupted as the baby was wrestles and fussy. Regardless, we got up this morning, and I asked the Lord to please help me accomplish all I should today and to help me to make Valentine's as special as I could for my family. Even Annagrace came down and asked why the table wasn't like Valentine's? Well, that did not make me feel like MOM OF THE YEAR, but I assured the children that I did know it was Valentine's, the day was not over, and Mama was going to try to do some fun things with them. Honestly, it is frustrating to me that I did not have a fun filled, special day all planned out, but we have been trying to squeeze fun into all the other chaos swarming around us today. Here are some of the things we did:

*Most of us wore red or pink

*Lauren made her first ever Whoopie Pies (from a cake mix)

*Play Dough hearts

*The littles made Lady Bug Valentine's frames (Kits from Hobby Lobby)

*We did also do some school and some cleaning up, and I browned a huge thing of beef before it went bad in the fridge.

So, praise the Lord His mercies are new every morning.

The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
23 they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
24 “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.”
Lamentations 3:22-24

I am thankful He has helped me with our "not so perfectly planned out" Valentine's Day. It really is not about perfection at all, but I tend to forget that sometimes. Later today Daddy and I are going to give each of our little Valentines a small gift and maybe read a story about love. Perhaps "Guess How Much I Love You?" or something similar. Happy Valentine's Day, Everyone!

p.s. Also, the beautiful roses are from my WONDERFUL VALENTINE SWEETHEART who is at work right now. :)

Cousin Faith's Wedding!

Two of our girls had the joy of participating in their cousin Faith's wedding. I first met Faith when she was a toddler and enjoyed watching her grow up in the church my dad pastored. I taught her Sunday school, piano lessons, children's choir, etc. One of my sweet memories of her is when she sang a solo of Happy Birthday Jesus in the church children's choir program at Christmas. She could really sing and still can! Well, fast forward a few years, and her Uncle Matt moved in with her and her family. He was moving to Houston to go to University of Houston. He was going to live with their family. Since they attended the church my dad pastored Matt began attending too. Well, if you haven't put the pieces together yet, Mat became my Dear husband several years later. :) My little student Faith became my niece Faith!
I have to say I am encouraged by Faith's godly example. She has served the Lord and grown in grace and character. She was home schooled and developed many skills in home making, music, crafts, etc. Our Lilly Faith is named after her. Faith also has a sister, Heather, who is also a lovely lady. Heather is a little older and was my friend who became my niece. :) Both Heather and Faith are precious to Matt and I. It was a joy for our girls to be included in Faith's special day. Here are some pictures from the big day.

The Whole Family on Easter

To add to my last post here is a picture of our whole family including my brother and his wife and my parents. We are all standing inside the new building where my dad is the pastor of Fellowship Bible Church. My dad moved our family to Houston when I was eight and a half years old. I have watched him and my mom faithfully serve the Lord all these years. The whole time the church has either met in our home, rented rental spaces, or met in schools, etc. The Lord has blessed these many years of labor in ministry and provided for a beautiful new building. I am so happy for them!

"I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble hear and be glad." - Psalm 34:1-2

Easter Sunday

Here is a picture of us right before we left for church on Easter Sunday. We ended up going to my parent's church and meeting my brother and his wife there. It was a planned surprise that we all show up and surprise my parents. It was our first time to see the new church building that Fellowship Bible Church just moved into. We were so happy to see the way the Lord has blessed the church with a beautiful facility after many years of meeting in rented spaces. It was good to see family and see how the Lord is blessing and growing Fellowship Bible Church.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's to you from the Adams family!

We had a Valentine's breakfast complete with blueberry heart muffins and fruit

Our daddy made the muffins for us and did a great job!

Gabriel was excited to receive a new Star Wars color book.

Miss Annagrace was given a new Miss Patty Cake video; look at her smile!

Abbie Joy is trying to be a big kid too. :) I was proud of the children for waiting patiently to open their gifts.

I have working on memorizing I Corinthians 13 this month. This chapter sets the bar high for what true, Christ like love looks like. I realize I often times do not love the way God wants me to love. I need the Lord to continue growing me to love as He loves. I think some of the most convicting parts of the passage for me are where it talks about love not being irritable and bearing all things patiently. Here is a little bit from the chapter:

"Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." I Corinthians 13:4

Our Christmas 2009

Four very excited children on Christmas morning!

Annagrace holding a precious little book she received about how a girl can be a little girl after God's own heart. The book goes through the fruits of the Spirit using beautifully illustrated pictures.

We have a family tradition of serving cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning. The recipe for these scrumtious rolls is called Pillsbury. ;)

Lauren's big gift was an Elsie Dinsmore doll. She is so excited!

My sweet Lauren crocheted this bag for me, and picked out Palmer's pregnancy lotion to put inside it. What a thoughtful and creative gift! Lauren has always loved to give to others.

On Christmas Eve we have a tradition of giving the kids new pajamas. They now know to expect new pajamas which is fun. Here is the group pajama picture. :)

Here we all are right before the Christmas Eve service.

It is hard to believe another year has almost come and gone. I think each year goes faster. We are thankful for the gift of Jesus and what He means to us. He is the giver of every good gift, and He is our real reason for celebration. I pray that we will love Him more faithfully in the year to come. He has been so faithful to us and is worthy of all of our heart's love and devotion.

A Very Rare Occasion

You will seldom see Matt and I all dressed up and heading out by ourselves like this. However, we recently had an evening out and the opportunity to get dressed up. We were dressed up in this picture to go to his work party at a restaurant. Just dressing up and going out alone with Matt is a rare treat. :)

Snow!

Well, I did not believe the weather forecasters when they said we had a good chance of snow, but they were right! I have very seldom ever seen snow fall like it did yesterday. It was early on in December for such a snowfall too. It was exciting; the kids were so eager to get out in it. Our family walked around the water retention area in our neighborhood. It was a cold walk but magical to see everything covered in white. I told the children that the Lord blessed us with a special gift yesterday. It was also great that Daddy got to come home early from work. We just spent the day in the house with the fireplace going and watched Old Yeller as a family after dinner. It was a cozy kind of a day. What an unexpected blessing!

Ten Years of Marriage and Ten Things I Love About Being Married to Matt

As I shared in the last post, October the ninth marked our ten year wedding anniversary. We did not get to go anywhere that weekend, however, the next weekend we were able to drive to South Padre Island. We went to attend a Family Life Weekend to Remember. It was a fabulous conference sharing Biblical truth for marriage. We felt so encouraged to see where the Lord has brought us over the past ten years and to see what He may want to do through us in the years to come. We were reminded that the Lord brought us together not just for our own happiness but also to use us as a team to impact His kingdom. The Lord brought us together and has given us children that He might use our family to reflect Him. I will also say that marriage and children are also ways the Lord matures us and prunes us of selfishness. :) Anyway, hopefully my point is being made here. Often times people get married purely for their own happiness, but God has a much, much bigger plan in mind. You see He knew that Matt has gaps, and I have gaps. When we join as a team we fill each other's gaps and can do more together than alone. Of course joy and happiness are gifts from the Lord that He gives us through our spouses, but sometimes marriage is hard work and takes commitment to the purposes and plans God has for our lives. It was good to reflect upon ten years of marriage and see God's faithfulness as we talked about our vision and goals for the future. So, that just skims the surface of the great things we took away from the conference, however, my real motive in writing this post is to post ten things I love about being married to Matt. One for each year of our marriage. I'm not posting in any certain order but just as some things come to mind. One of the things the conference spoke to me on is how much of a ministry wives have to their husbands in honoring, respecting, and encouraging them. My list of ten things is one way I want to honor my husband for all He does for me and our children. I love you, Matt!

1. Matt is a man who Loves God and studies to keep growing and learning more. I love it that we can talk about what we are learning and spur one another on.

2. Matt is nurturing, affectionate, and caring towards me.

3. Matt is a good daddy and plays well with the children.

4. Matt has a servant's heart and helps me a LOT around the house and with the children.

5. Matt works hard and is dependable.

6. Matt is fun loving.

7. Matt is teachable. He studies and is always trying to continue learning. He is a lifelong learner.

8. I love Matt's blue eyes.

9. I love how Matt is still a gentleman towards me and takes good care of me. I love the way he leads our family selflessly. He is always willing to do anything that needs to be done.

10. I love how Matt talks to me. Sometimes the sweetest times are simple things like talking on the front porch eating ice cream.

I guess I could publish a book if I kept going with this list. Can you tell I love my husband and am so very thankful for him? Thank you, Matt for all you are and all you do. You are the best.

Flag Waving Americans

My mom bought the kids these matching shirts for the fourth of July. We had fun going to the Aquarium downtown and meeting Matt's sister, her husband and children. The kids enjoyed our ride on the ferris wheel and the train. Afterwards we came back to Katy and watched fire works being set off near Katy Mills Mall.

Abbie Joy's Dedication

I am late in posting this, but I still want to put it on the blog. On Mother's Day Matt and I participated in the baby dedication service at our church. It was a time for us to commit to raising Abbie Joy in the ways of the Lord. Our pastor read the following verse over her:
Zephaniah 3:17(NIV) The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.

My Three Fishies

Well, I've spent less time blogging lately, and a big part of the reason is that I've spent five days a week for the last month taking Lauren, Gabriel, and Annagrace to swim lessons at the Housoton Swim Club. It has been a big time commitment, but I am very happy with how well they are doing. It brings joy to me to know that they are becoming stronger swimmers as I want them to be as safe as possible in water settings. They have worked hard and made a lot of progress. BTW I highly recommend the Houston Swim Club. This is our third spring with them, and we have always been pleased.

We Hope Your Easter Was Blessed

Here is a picture of our family before church yesterday.  We seldom take pictures with all of us together because it is not an easy task.  :)  

  We had an encouraging day at church and enjoyed having Lauren and Gabriel worship with us.  They normally go to their own classes, but yesterday we all went to the service together.  It was sweet to see Lauren trying to sing along even on songs that she did not know.  She also drew me a picture  that said, "Happy Easter; He is risen."  In synopsis our pastor reminded us that we have hope in any trial because He has risen!