Crocus!

"The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it." John 1:5

Water!!!

Okay so snow is really frozen water but how cute is my little 

boy-o shoveling the snow like his Daddy?  He felt SO big and 

was so proud.

But let's talk about the kind of water that you drink. 

Do you remember the past two Marches when we've raised money in partnership with The Adventure Project to not only provide CLEAN WATER to communities that desperately need it but also to provide JOBS and lots and lots of HOPE!!!

This is SUCH an exciting thing to me.  We have all been blessed so very richly and the opportunity to bring Heaven to earth is such a privilege!! 

Once again, my friend Mandy Houle is hosting a world water day raffle.  You can read all about this year's project (and see all of the fun raffle prizes up for grabs!) here but here is a little excerpt.  

"by investing in existing wells, we have the opportunity to 

employ entrepreneurs to become well mechanics, while 

simultaneously providing clean water.  i've always loved 

multi-tasking.

diana keesiga works with water for people.  they believe that 

it is possible for everyone to always have access to clean 

water.  their slogan says it all.

"everyone, forever.""

UM . . . YES!!! 

Last year readers of this blog donated $150 to The Adventure Project to help provide water, jobs and HOPE.

Can we do at least that much or MORE this year???

I would LOVE that!  

Consider it your birthday present to me 3 months early.  :)

Any questions, please feel free to ask.  

Oh and hey, don't bid on the same thing I did.  :)  JUST KIDDING.  You are welcome to!  

AND you don't have to live in Colorado Springs to participate in the raffle.  Many of the prizes can be shipped.

Especially if you have Easter/birthday/graduation/Mother's/Father's Day gifts to buy coming up anyway, what about entering the raffle to win a present to give?  Just a thought.  

Kelly

six years ago . . .

photo by Rachel Debell

This wonderful man asked me to be his wife!

I am so thankful!  It is a wonderful adventure and there is no one I would rather be doing life with.  

Kelly

ten on ten March 2014

flowers left over from the birthday dinner we hosted the night before

kept company by a little lamb from my Mama

I love when I see these trucks around town!  I love the colors and graphics.

Fresh new haircut

All by myself in the car!  Thanks, Mom!

Only 8 more days with the cast (7 now!)

This sweet girl is so ready!  She WANTS TO MOVE!!!

Brother likes to wear his jammies (preferably footie jammies) all day everyday.  They are warm he says.  Clothes are not warm he says.  I've stopped fighting the battle.

He likes to read with me and I like to read with him.

Dinner

This sweetie *loved* her baked beans and pulled pork!  

And is just basically all around a charmer.  

ten on ten March 2013

ten on ten March 2012

ten on ten March 2011

post from March 10, 2010

post from March 10, 2009

more ten on tens from other bloggers here

10 days

Hopefully, we only have 10 days left of this cast.  

I am trying to prepare myself for the possibility that at our appt. on the 18th they will say that the x-rays don't look good enough for it to come off but honestly, if that happens it is going to be a huge blow!

We are all really, really ready.

I wake up in the mornings having dreamt about her crawling and rolling around and being so super happy doing it.  

We are so ready to cuddle her not trying to hug and snuggle around a huge, heavy, uncomfortable cast.

We are thankful, so very thankful that she can be treated and that this cast is making that possible but oh how ready we are to be done with it.

On the 18th we will hopefully/most likely get this spica cast off and also find out if the next step is a "long leg cast" or a brace and what either one of those entails.  We feel like we can only go up from here but neither of those will be a walk in the park either.

I needed a way to process today so I decided to look through photos so here you go . . . 

(these are not in order because I am not in the mood to fight with blogger)

These next photos were all taken 10 days before we found out that we were expecting David!

Our friend Betty and I on a hike in Sitka, Alaska

Soon to be Mama and Daddy

One of my very favorite places, Herring Cove

celebrating Betty's birthday!

This photo of Adrian with one of his nephews was taken 10 days before he came to Dallas to visit me for the first time when we were dating long distance.  Ironically it was also taken 6 years to the day before his daughter was born and 3 years to the day before another nephew was born.

we had been married 10 days and were still receiving wedding gifts in the mail!  Such fun!

This photo was taken 10 days before 2014.  

in this photo David was 10 days old!

This photo was taken 10 days before we moved away from Dallas at our wonderful church there AND the outfit on David's sweet little friend now has been handed down to Cora!

These Easter pictures were taken 10 days before David turned two years old.  

Okay, this is a stretch but I ran across this picture and it is so cute to me.  This was taken 10 days and 2 years before Cora was born.  :) 

This photo was taken the same day and that was also right before we moved to Colorado AND I get to see this sweet friend next to me in just 20 days!!  That is exciting!! 

These two photos were taken 10 days ago!

These two photos were taken 10 days before David's first birthday and 10 days before we found our house in Colorado!

It's funny looking at the moving van photo.  I can spy at least three things we don't own anymore, one that's been painted, etc.  :) 

Once again taken in Alaska, these photos were taken ten days before we would find out that this little boy was going to be a big brother!

10 days before his first haircut

10 days before our first married Christmas

So there you have it.  Major props if you actually made it this far.  This post was really for me to help me get some good perspective and have a way of reflecting.

I am thankful for a beautiful day today. 

I am thankful for sweet parents who baby-sat our kids so that Adrian and I could go on a little lunch date and try out a new spot for lunch as well as a new coffee shop.

I am thankful that both kids are asleep right now (just being honest).  :)

I am thankful that by now when I'm done writing this the day is done and now we only have 9 days left!  Single digits!!  Hallelujah!!  

I hope you've had a good day!  

Kelly

Cora - eleven months

This was a hard month and yet a month filled with blessings.  People took good, good care of us as we navigated life with the cast.  

Many people brought us delicious dinners and our sweet friend from Texas, Mrs. Julie, sent us a box filled with paper plates and things so we wouldn't have to worry about dishes.  

Look at those wonderful curls you're getting as your hair gets longer!

After not leaving the house at all the whole first week after your surgery, we finally got a carseat from the hospital that you could fit in with your cast!  It was great to be able to be a little more "normal".  

You are amazing at drinking out of an open cup!  You do such a good job.  You also have really turned into a solid food eater all of a sudden!  You love beans and beef especially!

Nana came over to help me clean the house and take care of you one day and it was COLD.  She told me to go and take a shower and she would tidy up the sunroom.  I accidentally locked her in the sunroom!!!  The sunroom with no heat!!  Thankfully Daddy was working from home and let her out!  

You have started sleeping pretty well during the night but you like to wake up really early!!

Mama hosted a girls' weekend at our house to participate in the If:Gathering.  You were soo good!  You hung out with all of the ladies and when we were worshipping you would "sing" like crazy!  It was so cute.  I loved it!

Aunt Gail made custom bloomers for you to help cover the cast!  Here are some shots of us measuring you and also tracing the outline of the cast onto wrapping paper to send to her to make a pattern! Soo thankful for these! 

Nana and Mrs. Betty both made fun aprons for you to wear - vintage Raggedy Ann and Andy and pom pom fringe!  We would tie aprons around your waist above the cast when you ate to try to keep food from going down the cast and to keep the outside of it clean too.

The dreaded day arrived on Valentine's Day - giant poop explosion inside the cast - it stunk so bad and I had to try to figure out how to clean it all out of the inside of the cast (with a very active three year old running around wanting my attention because it was Valentine's Day afterall and I had promised him special Valentine's Day pancakes for breakfast - little did I know I had four hours of cast clean up ahead of me) and try to get us to a state that I could live with for over a month more - I was having a really hard time and sent many desperate texts asking friends and family to pray.

We did finally get to make and eat some fun pancakes for Valentine's Day!

You have been super content with this whole cast business.  You are an amazing baby and people have even told us that you are an inspiration.  We are so proud of you and so, so thankful that you're ours.  God is seeing all of us through this time in amazing ways.  He has given you a spirit of contentment and joy that is so wonderful!

You love the phone and love to push the buttons and hear the sounds.

You also love to watch our robot vacuum cleaner!

You do not like going to bed at night and protest to anyone who will listen.

We didn't go a whole lot of places because it was hard to carry you in the cast and you couldn't fit in a stroller and stuff.  Some grocery carts worked with the cast and one day I took you with me to Albertson's.  You got so much attention and people hardly noticed the cast.  It was really nice.

Books are one of your favorite things.  You are really good at turning the pages even of paper pages rather than board books.  You are really gentle.  

You are a dainty eater in a way.  You pick up everything with your pincer grasp but you also eat a TON!

You say "DaDaDaDaDaDa" a lot!

You got lots of fun mail from friends and family near and far, cards, gift cards for meals and packages with toys and things.  We are spoiled!

Soooo many people were praying for you and for us and even praying at a set time every night.  What a blessing!!!

We love you, precious girl!  

Mama