I love that, right now, Isabel is a girly girl. I pulled out the dress up clothes for the first time today. Thank goodness for older, girly cousins! She loves wearing her tutus, and have I mentioned that this girl loves shoes? She exclaimed, "Pink shoes!" when I brought out the Sleeping Beauty princess shoes. She now calls them "fancy". Cute little chubby feet in her "fancy" shoes. Definitely a fancy girl. Just a little video of my cute girl in her dress ups. I love how she says, "ballerina". :)
Here I go, sharing some more music with you all! I shared this with my Facebook friends, and I'm sure most of you are on there with me, but I wanted to post it here as well. We sang this song in church this morning, and we've sung it a dozen times before, but it is one of those that always hits me like a ton of bricks. The words to this song paint such a vivid picture for me, of the sacrifice that was made for me, for all of us, so that we do not need to die, but that we can live, "Bought with the precious blood of Christ."
"If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”" Romans 10:9-13
It is only through Christ that we can "live", and once we are His, nothing can "pluck us from His hand."
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Ephesians 2:8-9
"For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:38-39
In Christ Alone In Christ alone my hope is found, He is my light, my strength, my song; this Cornerstone, this solid Ground, firm through the fiercest drought and storm. What heights of love, what depths of peace, when fears are stilled, when strivings cease! My Comforter, my All in All, here in the love of Christ I stand.
In Christ alone! who took on flesh Fulness of God in helpless babe! This gift of love and righteousness Scorned by the ones he came to save: Till on that cross as Jesus died, The wrath of God was satisfied - For every sin on Him was laid; Here in the death of Christ I live.
There in the ground His body lay Light of the world by darkness slain: Then bursting forth in glorious Day Up from the grave he rose again! And as He stands in victory Sin's curse has lost its grip on me, For I am His and He is mine - Bought with the precious blood of Christ.
No guilt in life, no fear in death, This is the power of Christ in me; From life's first cry to final breath. Jesus commands my destiny. No power of hell, no scheme of man, Can ever pluck me from His hand; Till He returns or calls me home, Here in the power of Christ I'll stand.
I love Colorado weather. Wintertime brings with it snowing, cold days, followed by a few of these beautiful, 65 degree days. The kids have loved playing outside, going for walks and playing on their cousin's swingset without having to freeze their little derriere's off! I've only documented one of those days, but we are relishing the nice weather since Colorado, is once again, calling for snow!
In honor of National Pancake Day, we had pancakes for dinner. I actually wasn't really thinking about it, and was trying to decide what to make for dinner, when my friend, Alyson, turned me on to this blog. They had a post today on pancakes! And not just any pancakes, but a plethora of pancake recipes from your every day "fluffiest" pancakes to some pretty gourmet-sounding pancakes. They all looked and sounded delicious!! I decided we would try the cinnamon bun pancakes with icing "syrup". They were pretty darned tasty. I didn't take a picture as I was too involved in the making of this sweet dinner, and the serving of it to my hungry children. Just check out The Pioneer Woman's Tasty Kitchen Pancakes blog post, and you will see all of the mouth-watering pictures there!
We were finally able to have Powell's birthday party! We were initially set to go on his actual birthday (Jan. 30th), but then, as we know, the kids got sick. Ugh. The morning of the party was a Sunday morning, so we still headed to church in the a.m. I had decorated the night before, so when Powell came downstairs, he saw the silver, swirly stars hanging from the ceiling. He gasped and said, "Oh, thank you, mom!" It was pretty sweet. The little things in life... Powell was so excited about his cake, and I was pretty happy with the way it turned out, too. Everything was from scratch, except for the cake mixes. They were Duncan Hines. ;) Did you know that marshmallow, homemade fondant tastes sooooo much better than the premade fondant you can buy at the store? And it's so incredibly easy to make! Moving right along....Powell really loved his cake, and he is probably the only kid I know of who has to be threatened in order to open his birthday presents. lol All-in-all, I'm pretty sure everyone had a good time, and it was nice that my parents were in town to celebrate with us as well.
The only thing on the cake that was not edible were the fins of the rocket ship. The planets, stars and astronaut were made of the marshmallow fondant. Needless to say, we had kids picking off the stars all afternoon. hehe Had to get that cute astronaut waving to us. Powell was pretty excited to have everybody singing "Happy Birthday" to him. G'ma and Isabel. I thought it was pretty funny how they were matching, and not on purpose. :) As you can tell from his face, Powell wasn't too into opening the presents, but he did love them all!
We finally got to throw a baby shower for our sweet Andrea! She has been waiting for this day for a long time, and we wanted to make it extra special for her. The food was delicious. My favorite part. We incorporated her daughter's name into scripture and prayed them over both Andrea and Lila (I had found the idea at this blog, and fell in love with it). I was a mess, so overcome with emotion. This was such a special day. She is positively glowing! And look at that beautiful, sweet, baby girl. :) We love our special girls!! God is sooo great!!
Day 2 of opening presents was just as fun as day 1! He loved the sticker book from Aunt Jordan and he loved the safari vest with all of the accessories from g'pa Carson and g'ma Candice. He was on "safari" all morning, and had to fight his little sister for the net. She thought it was pretty funny to put over her head and face. Silly babies. We also enjoyed putting stickers in the sticker book. He, of course, wanted to start with the food pages. :) Thank you Aunt Jordan and g'pa and g'ma Dove!!
Sticker book! Isabel wanted to try on the vest. hehe Checking out the compass.Silly girl. She would put this on her head, then laugh hysterically. She thinks she's funny stuff. :)Showing off his lantern that really works!These were his "glasses". He was just walking around like this. The goofy boy.
I love that, right now, Isabel is a girly girl. I pulled out the dress up clothes for the first time today. Thank goodness for older, girly cousins! She loves wearing her tutus, and have I mentioned that this girl loves shoes? She exclaimed, "Pink shoes!" when I brought out the Sleeping Beauty princess shoes. She now calls them "fancy".
Cute little chubby feet in her "fancy" shoes.
Definitely a fancy girl.
