Valentine surprise

Just like when Jacob was in preschool, Samantha was a Valentine surprise for Shane and I today! The excitement is written all over her face!

Doing better...

Thanks to all of you for praying for me over the past week. I have felt the power of God lift my spirits and encourage me and I know that is because of so many prayers. After I read and reread my post last week it does sort of bring to light the undertone of selfishness and has helped me realize that my attitude needed to change. Prior to that post I had headaches for three weeks straight and finally caved, spent way too much money but went out and got a relaxing massage to help relieve the stress caffeine, sleep and drugs could not help. I felt so much better almost instantly. I have now been headache free for 9 days! I think the combination of that and finally getting out my feelings whether they made sense or not really helped dump the deep rooted stress I was carrying. I also realized that my blog is not the most appropriate place to vent these kinds of feelings with that degree of honesty. That should be saved for my journaling time. However, I want to make sure I ask more for prayers if I need it. Sometimes I can get so caught up in trying to do it all on my own when we are a "body" of believers and I need to remember it is ok to ask for help. You are all precious to me and I am humbled by the love that has been pured out...thank you.

Cabin trip overview

Fun and crazy times as always with the Self's! These all make me laugh so much and I am just so blessed by this family and the fun we have. Good times for sure!

Sledding before we left on Sunday!

Nathan and Jacob were eating bacon and started yelling and calling themselves "bacon monsters"! Hysterical!!! I was on the floor laughing so hard! I am still laughing at this picture...they sure have a great bond!

When it's cold outside, wrestling inside! When they play well together it is a great thing to watch.

Oh and I could not resist...this is what happens when we try to get off the bed from the side rather than the front. She was laughing and crying at the same time. She was trying to find a hiding place under the bed during hide and seek!

Amazing!

View from the hill behind the cabin on Sat. afternoon

We took another quick trip to the cabin this past weekend to fix the hot water heater. I had been checking the weather and we were expecting snow so the kids were very excited, but as the weekend ticked away and the clear blue skies shined on us, our hope was beginning to waiver. At dinner Sat. night, while we were praying, each kids prayed (or begged) God that is would snow. Shane and I thought it was cute, but we were convinced it would not. We even checked outside and had clear night skies even at 2:05am. I prayed in that moment that God would answer their prayers because their faith is so new and developing and what a testament to His power if He answered their prayer.

In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice;

in the morning I lay my requests before

you and wait in expectation. Psalm 5:3

How weak is the faith of their parents...we woke up to this amazing sight this morning! The kids jumped and screamed and thanked God for answering their prayers. Shane and I were humbled by this amazing sight and praise God fr His faithfulness!

By the way, it was about 6inches by the time we left at 8:30am. Yes, that is our suburban under all that snow! We barely made it out of the forest and drove home through all kinds of crazy weather...tons and tons of snow!! It was quite the adventure.

Grandparents Day at Preschool

Samantha's preschool had their special Grandparents Day today. They made homemade muffins and fresh squeezed oj. As you can see the smiles were in abundance! We all went out to lunch afterwards and had a wonderful day.

What a Rush!!!

That game was amazing and although they did not win how could you not walk away feeling satisfied? The aderenaline and anxiety rush was a wild ride but our QB loves Jesus and is proud of his relationship with God and that leaves me walking away from the season with a big smile on my face!

Do YOU believe?

We are still in a bit of shock around here that the Cardinals are in the Super Bowl, but even more importantly the kids are having a great time getting caught up in the hype. Jacob was just 1 month old when the Dbacks won the World Series and now, 7 years later he knows about how big this game is. Shane, our non-sports family member has even gotten into the spirit and played some football outside this afternoon. Hopefully this game will be exciting win or lose!

GO CARDS!!!