"I got a DS!!!!!"

For Christmas Monica got V-Tech mobigo game system. I have to say that it is the most kid friendly hand held game system I have never seen. I am very impressed with it, and she loves it. When Daniel was 3 years old a game system meant sitting with him helping him and explaining everything to him. With the mobigo Monica can play it on her own and she has a lot of fun. The new touch screen technology is amazing. She calls it her "DS" and could not be more pleased that now she can be even more like her big brother. They both have a toy story 3 game and it is very cute then they sit together playing.

Monica's Magic Trick

Today Monica I taught Monica how much fun a couple of magnates can me. Now she calls the following video her magic trick.

Christmas Dinner on December 27th

After being sick all weekend I finally got the energy together to make my Christmas dinner, even it is was 2 days late. Poor Monica has not been feeling well all day so she spent most of the day snuggled up on the couch.
































































I love the look on Olivia's face in this picture. First of all it is a look I have gotten from Brandon before, and second it communicates her annoyance with me taking pictures of her all the time.

Christmas Pictures

Christmas Weekend

This Christmas weekend has been very interesting to say the least. Christmas Eve morning we woke up and all got ready to be out the door by 9 am. We quickly dropped Olivia off at the baby sitter (Thanks again Janna!) and then off to Harrisonville for Grandma's funeral. It was snowing when we left, but thankfully the roads were not too bad. During the visitation I got a text from my sister telling me that she was heading to the hospital for a blood transfusion. I of course flipped out. Come to find out her hemoglobin count was very low and she had to get a transfusion immediately. Two days later and they are still not sure the cause of her low blood count. She heads back to the doctor in a few days to hopefully see what is going on.

All Friday night I had a hard time sleeping because my throat was hurting so bad. By Saturday morning I could not swallow hardly anything and throughout the morning I got worse and worse. Turns out I have strep throat and I spent the rest of the day in bed fighting a fever and chills. As Brandon put it "when mom is sick Christmas dinner turns into grilled ham and cheese and chicken nuggets." I spent most of Sunday in bed as well, and today I have felt a bit better, although I know I am not 100%. Today Monica woke up with a rash all over her bottom and sores on her lip. After taking her to the doctor I found out she has Strep Impetigo and she was put on antibiotics. I am just praying that no one else gets this because it is highly contagious.

Besides the negatives that were mentioned above I had a wonderful time with my family at Christmas. The kids loved opening their presents and were a lot of fun to watch. Daniel got a MP3 player and you would have thought we have him a million bucks. He also got a buzz light year that he has not put down since he opened it. When I asked him what his favorite gift was he categorized his gifts making it where he had several favorites. He said he favorite toy gift was buzz lightyear, his favorite electronic gift was his MP3 player, his favorite alive gift was his Guinea Pig (which has been named Mrs. Frisby) and his favorite gift to put on his bed was his pillow pet. All I can say to his categorizing answer to such a simple question is "professor jr!"

Monica and Olivia got a toy kitchen which they both really love. Olivia also got a dog to sleep with that sings and says her name, which she thinks is great. Monica's favorite thing she got from Nanny and Papa which was a Mobigo hand held game system. She calls it her "DS" and carries it around acting like Daniel.

For me, Brandon bought me a digital SLR camera. I could not be more excited when I opened it. I have wanted one for 5 years, and my excitement when I opened it could not be contained. I am very excited to learn how to use it. He also got me some wool socks and a pair of house shoes, which I love. I am not sure if I will ever wear cotton socks again during winter months. They are WONDERFUL!

For Brandon I bought him a frame for his PHD diploma. I think that it looks very nice in it's new frame, and it is about time that we got it up on the wall. It is now proudly hanging with the rest of his diplomas. And tonight he went to Arrowhead and picked up a ticket to go the chiefs playoff game. He is so pleased, I don't think that he has stopped smiling since he got home. He and our friend Steven Enoch will be going together to cheer on the chiefs to hopefully their first play off win since 1994.

I will be posting pictures soon, but I am tired tonight, so I will leave you with this update.

Grandma's Funeral

I decided that I was going to try to say something at Grandma's funeral. I know that I will probably just start crying and not be able to get through it, but I wanted to say something. This woman is amazing, and there are not many people in the world like her. The following is what I typed up to say tomorrow.

Grandma Lester
I did not really have grandparents growing up. Three of mine died before I was born and my living grandma really did not have much interest in me. I have very few memories with her as a kid. At the time I did not think this was abnormal because I did not know any different. About 3 months after meeting Brandon he invited me back to Kansas City for the weekend. We had a very full weekend planned and in the midst of all the busyness Brandon said that he wanted to visit his grandparents. I have to be honest, my first thought was “why?” but I did not say anything. When we arrived at Grandma and Grandpa Lester’s house I remember the joy on their faces when they saw us coming. Not only where they happy to see Brandon, but they were happy to see me too, and they had never even met me. During the visit I could not help but smile at Grandma’s constant smiles and her contagious energy. She just kept saying to me “Thank you so much for dating Brandon.” She probably said that about 10 times, to the point when we got back in the car I turned to him and said “What is wrong with you that your grandmother has to thank me so many times for dating you?”

Over the past 8 years Grandma showed me what it was like to have a grandma. She accepted me from the very second she heard my name, and loved me ever since. I quickly started to understand why it was that Brandon desired so much to visit his grandparents, and it did not take long before I desired it too. Grandma always showed such great hospitality to us, serving up homemade pie, breads, and other goodies. And of course we never left her house without a zip lock baggie full of candy and cookies.

Just days before she died we went as a family to visit her. Monica and I went into her room and first thing she said was “I love you honey.” Throughout our stay there she kept going in and out of sleep, but every time she opened her eyes she looked right at us and she said “I love you.”
This will stick with me because I know that she meant it. She counted me as one of her own grandchildren. She accepted me without a question. She loved me with all her heart.

I have only knew Grandma for about 8 years but during that time for the first time in my life I knew what it was like to have a grandma. I will miss her greatly.

Conversation about death with Daniel

Mommy: Daniel what do you think about Grandma dying today?
Daniel: I feel very sad.
Mommy: It is very sad that we will not get to see her anymore, but the good news is that she got to go to heaven and see Jesus and Grandpa.
Daniel: Is heaven in outer space?
Mommy: I am not sure exactly where heaven is, the bible tells us that when Jesus went back into heaven he went up into the clouds, so I am pretty sure it is up there somewhere.
Daniel: "Can you fall out of heaven?"
Mommy: "Fall out of heaven?"
Daniel: "Yeah like if there was a door there in the floor and when Jesus opened it to look out of it you could fall out and just be in space." (just a side note I am thinking he got this concept from watching care bears.)
Mommy: "I am sure that God has made heaven a very safe place and you cannot fall out of heaven."
Daniel: "That's good because when I get to heaven I don't want to go out and be with the astronauts."

My Olivia Leigh is 1 Year Old!!!

My baby turned one today and today was filled with lots of emotions. I cannot believe how quickly this past year has flown by. Olivia has been such a joyful addition to our family. I remember going into the hospital to be induced and waiting and waiting and waiting to see if Olivia would be willing to make her presence in the world. More than 24 hours after entering the hospital Olivia was born with no doctors in the room. That's right, it was almost just me and Brandon but I made him go get the nurse. She seemed annoyed to be called back in after just leaving because according to her I was just barely at 8 centimeters. It was not even 3 seconds after she walked to the room that out onto my bed falls Olivia Leigh. Within a few minutes the room was full of doctors and nurses all complementing how beautiful my baby's red hair was! RED HAIR! Sure enough she had a red tint to her hair. This past year she has grown from a tiny baby into a almost toddler, full of personality. Although most of this year she has struggled to breathe due to her asthma (poor baby) she is generally very happy. She always has a smile for someone to see. All of her teachers in Sunday school and bsf talk about what a joy she is because she is always chatting and smiling at everyone. Today was a very busy day, but in the end we all had a wonderful meal of spaghetti, and we had cake, which Olivia LOVED. I think that she would have eaten the whole thing if I let her. Her big gift of the day is the bounce and spin zebra from babu and shosho. She has enjoyed it so much! Here are a few pictures from her birthday dinner.

If I did this I don't think I would be able to walk for a month!

This is how Daniel likes to come down the stairs from his room.

Power of a Praying Wife- Stormie Omartian

This is my prayer for my beloved Brandon:

Lord, I pray that You would bless the work of my husband’s hands. May his labor bring not only favor, success, and prosperity, but great fulfillment as well. If the work he is doing is not in line with Your perfect will for his life reveal it to him. Show him what he should do differently and guide him down the right path. Give him strength, faith and a vision for the future so he can rise above any propensity for laziness. May he never run from work out of fear, selfishness, or desire to avoid responsibility. On the other hand, help him to see that he doesn’t have to work himself to death for man’s approval, or grasp for gain beyond what is a gift from You. Give him the ability to enjoy his success without striving for more. Help him to excel, but free him from the pressure to do so.
I pray that you will be Lord over his work, and may he bring You into every aspect of it. Give him enough confidence in the gifts You’ve placed in him to be able to see, find and do good work. Open up doors of opportunity for him that no man can close. Develop his skills so that they grow more valuable with each passing year. Show me what I can do to encourage him.
I pray that his work will be established, secure, successful, satisfying, and financially rewarding. May he not be “lagging in diligence, (but) fervent in spirit, serving the Lord” (Romans 12:11). Let him be like a tree planted by the stream of Living water, which brings forth fruit in due season. May he never wither under pressure, but grow strong and prosper (Psalm 1:3).

A story of Grace

When I wrote this I was not sure if I was going to share this on my blog. It is very personal and admitting a lot of things I have probably never told anyone. I am thankful for God's grace in my life and I am overwhelmed by the way he planned out my life before I was even formed.

"God's ultimate Grace

I believe that my faith story begins long before I was born with a little girl standing in a junkyard looking for “hidden treasures”. Barefoot, dirty, and hungry she looks tirelessly through other people’s trash in hopes to find a toy to call her very own. After her a day in the junkyard she would come home to a house of chaos. There was no love there, just sadness, anger, and brokenness. For years she lived drunkenness, slothfulness, deceit, physical and verbal abuse. As the years go by, she learns how to survive in such an environment, and her life is far from ideal.

My story also includes a little boy who lived in a low-income household. This boy was constantly verbally abused. He is made to feel worthless, and unwanted. He does not know what it is like to feel loved and accepted.

Brokenness had rattled their world. Sadness, mockery and unacceptance had plagued them. But our God is bigger than all of that. He looked down from heaven and in his is love and mercy picked two broken children to bring to himself. To accept and to love just as they were. He brought them to himself by using a faithful man from a local church doing the bus ministry. Every Sunday he would go and pick up the kids that other mocked. He took them to church and that is where my parents found Jesus.

Many years later I was born to a young missionary couple in a small town on the west side of Kenya. I was born into a family very different from the ones that my parents grew up in, one of love, grace, patience, and kindness. For as long as I can remember my parents taught me about God’s neverending love and grace. When I was 6 years old, during a church service, I remember feeling very scared and convicted about my own sin. That night my mom sat down with my older sister and I and explained the gospel to us. There I prayed and asked God to forgive me of my sins and make me his child. One year later I was baptized in front of a few hundred of my Kenyan brothers and sisters.

Growing up in Kenya was an amazing experience. I got to see firsthand God work through my parents to bring thousands of Kenyan people to himself. I saw God work miracles in the life of my family by always protecting and providing for us. I will never forget the faces of Kenya. The love and passion that those people have for our savior will be with me for a lifetime.

When I reached Jr. High my parents decided in order for me to get the best education that I could I needed to go to an American boarding school 3 hours away from the house. I had been on the waiting list for years and there was still not a place for me there. My mother told me to pack up my bags because tomorrow I was going to school. I informed her that I was still 3rd on the list to which she replied, “I know that God will give you a place there.” After arriving to the school we went up to the office and sure enough last minute a place in the dorms opened up.

The first couple of years were very hard on me, as I was only in 7th and 8th grade. I did not understand why I had to be away from my family 9 months out of the year. This is the first time I had to be responsible for my own faith. I learned a lot from our nightly dorm devotions and I grew some lasting friendships. In 11th grade I remember my roommate telling me her struggles with Christianity and all her reasons on why she would not become a Christian. Talking to her about her faith struggles strengthened mine. One night during a church service we were both convicted. She accepted Christ as her savior while I committed to attend Bible College and allow God to use me in his ministry.

College brought on a whole new set of struggles. I was in a culture I was very unfamiliar with, and it was my time to grow my own faith instead of it constantly being prodded and brought before me by others. During my freshman year I slowly became lazy and started skipping church. I allowed myself to get angry with God over the fact that my family was 10,000 miles away. I felt alone and abandoned. My parents returned to the states during my sophomore year of college and they continued to nudge me toward church and talked to me about my relationship with God. There were times that I felt very annoyed by all their constant talk of God and church as I had allowed myself to grow bitter toward them and their ministry in Kenya. Eventually came to a point where I started enjoying going to church instead of just going to please my family.

Right before my senior year I got married and we quickly started a family. This was when God took hold of my heart and my faith and relationship with him started growing very quickly. However, right after my son was born I struggled with depression. My husband was in seminary and working 2 jobs to try to support us. Again I felt alone and abandoned but this time I turned to God. He and he alone helped me through that year as I struggled with suicidal thoughts and considered running away from my husband and newborn son.

God brought a lot of healing into my life, and over the past 5 years has brought me to a place of understanding for all the things that I never understood. Growing up I never knew my parents past as they never talked about it. They both left it at the cross when they found Jesus and they never looked back. Recently I was able to get my mother to share her story with me and this gave me a greater understanding of why they have sacrificed so much to be in Kenya. At one time I was bitter and angry that they were not around, and I felt second to their ministry. Now I admire them as great pillars of faith full of compassion for the poor, hurting and lost. They too were lost and God saved them from a life that I could never imagine. By God’s grace he allowed me to be born into a family of faith instead of a family of chaos. God’s plan for me started long before I was born. He knew me and set me apart as one of his children. I am humbled by God’s great sovereign grace. "

Olivia's got talent

Today Olivia picked up Daniel's kazoo and played it no problems. It was so cute! We all got a kick out of her!

Marci's song of Praise (Dr. Seuss style)

I will praise the Lord in all I do,
I will praise him when I tie a shoe
I will praise him when I comb out hair
I will praise my savior everywhere.

I will praise him when I wipe a nose
I will praise him when I paint little toes.
I will praise him when the days are long,
I will praise him with a joyful song.

I will praise him when the house is loud,
when the kids are sad, when they make me proud,
when they are bad, and when I get mad.
I will praise him when lunches need to be made,
when games are to be played.
When little faces need a wipe,
when little tongues begin to gripe.

I will praise my savior when chaos starts,
when I am healing broken hearts,
when I need to kiss a knee,
or give a group hug to all three.

I will praise my Savoir everyday,
for he has blessed me in every way.

Christ is Risen - Matt Maher

With another rejection letter in hand I have found myself singing this song.

Cupcake Fun

Today Daniel was out of school so I decided that we would have a little bit of cupcake fun. The kids watched Monsters Inc. a few days ago, and then while browsing through my Taste of Homes I found a really fun cupcake idea. Today we made monster cupcakes. We did three different monsters. The first one is called "eyes on you" Here is what you need:

• 1 can (16 ounces) vanilla frosting.
• Neon Green food coloring
• 6 chocolate or vanilla cupcakes backed in black liners.
  
• 1/4 cup purple sprinkles
• black licorice laces
• 50 mini marshmallows
• 1 tube (4.25 ounces) brown decorating frosting.
• 50 red mini m&m's or red hots

1. Tint the vanilla frosting neon green with the food coloring. Spread a generous mound of frosting on top of the cupcakes. While frosting is still wet, sprinkle the tops with the purple sprinkles.
2. Cut the black licorice laces into about 50 pieces about 3 to 5 inches long. Insert one end of the laces into the side of the marshmallows. Pipe a small of the brown decorating frosting on one end of the marshmallow and attach a red M&m to make an eyeball.
   
3. Insert the licorice laces, 8-10 per cupcake, as the wild eyes on top of each cupcake. Repeat with the remaining licorice, marshmallows and cupcakes.

The kids had a lot of fun making these. This was the easiest and most kid friendly of the three we made today. Monica did not care for the black licorice and if I do this again I might just buy the red since it is a bit more kid friendly.

The second kind we made was called "Green Eyed Monster" which the kids nicknamed "Spikey".

• 6 marshmallows
• 6 chocolate or vanilla cupcakes backed in black foil liners.
• 1 can of vanilla frosting
• Neon green food coloring
• 6 small chocolate-coated mints (jr. mints)

1. Trim a corner from one short end of each marshmallow. Attach the marshmallows, cut side down, on top of the cupcakes with a dot of frosting.
   
2. Spoon 2 tablespoons of vanilla frosting into a small resealable bag; set aside
3. Tint the remaining vanilla frosting neon green with the food coloring. Spoon the neon green frosting into a resealable 2-qt. freezer bag. Snip a very small corner (1/8th inch) from bag. Pipe dots of frosting along the outer edge of the cupcakes with a pipe-stop-pull action to create spikes on frosting. Continue piping all over the cupcakes to completely cover all but the flat side of the marshmallow.
4. Snip a very small corner from the bag with the vanilla frosting. Pipe a dot of vanilla frosting at the corner of each marshmallow and attach the chocolate coated mint.
   

This one was also fairly easy to make. I did cheat a little. Instead of using white frosting to hold the mint on I just used the brown that I had used with the last monster. I found that it worked fine. Also if you are like me, you don't need TONS of frosting, and so I got away with using one can for both projects. I had plenty to do all 12 of my cupcakes with just one can. The last one that we did was called "purple people eater" which was Daniel's favorite. This one does take a while, but it is worth it, as it is so cool looking.

• 6 chocolate or vanilla cupcakes baked in black liner
• 1 can vanilla frosting
• neon purple food coloring
• 9 large marshmallows
• 18 thin pretzel sticks
• black licorice laces
• 12 mini marshmallows
• 6 pink chews (laffy taffys)
• 18 brown mini M&Ms

1. Spread the tops of the cupcakes with a mound of vanilla frosting. Spoon 1 tablespoon of vanilla frosting into a small resealable bag. Tint the remaining frosting neon purple with the food coloring and place in a microwave safe bowl or cup
2. Line a cookie sheet with waxed paper. Cut the large marshmallows in half crosswise with scissors. Insert a pretzel stick into the side of each marshmallow to create the eyes. Cut the black licorice laces into eighteen 2-inch pieces. Cut the mini marshmallows in half on the diagonal to make the teeth. Soften the pink fruit chew in the microwave but NO MORE THAN 3 SECONDS. Roll out each fruit chew into 3-in. length. Cut into a long tongue with a rounded end. Press the back of a knife down the middle of the fruit chew to make the crease in the center on the tongue.
   
3. Place a wire rack over a cookie sheet lined with waxed paper. Heat the neon purple frosting int eh microwave, stirring every 10 seconds, until the frosting is the consistency of a light whipped cream, about 25 to 30 seconds total. Holding the frosted cupcake by the foil liners, dip the cupcakes just up the the liners. Allow the excess frosting to drip off before inverting cupcake. Transfer to wire rack to set. Repeat with remaining cupcakes. If the frosting becomes too thick, return to the microwave and heat for about 5 to 10 seconds stirring well before dipping.
   
4. Hold the marshmallow eyes by the pretzel end, dip the top half of the marshmallow into the frosting to make eyelids. Transfer the marshmallows to the waxed paper-lined cookie sheet. While the frosting is still wet, add the licorice laces along the dipped edge as the eyelids. Repeat with the remaining marshmallows. Snip a small corner of the bag with the vanilla frosting. Pipe a dot of the frosting on the marshmallow area and add the brown M&M as the pupil. Let the eyes set for about 30 minutes before assembling cupcakes.
   
5. Spoon some of the remaining purple frosting on top of the dipped cupcakes and allow the frosting to drip over the sides.
6. While the frosting is still wet, add three to four cut mini marshmallow pieces as the teeth along one edge of the cupcakes. Insert three marshmallow eyes at different heights. Transfer to a serving platter and add the fruit chew tongue under the teeth.

Well there you have it. That is how we made it. I did take a few short cuts here and there to make things easier on myself, but over all I think that they turned out pretty cute. At the end of our fun I gave each of the kids a cupcake and they just pilled on it whatever they wanted. They were so cute! Monica named her cupcake monster "slimey" because of the green on his tongue, and Daniel named his cupcake "eyezy" because he has eyes that can see in every direction. It was a lot of work, with a lot of clean up, but oh so much fun, and SO worth it!

Fun Family Saturday!

I love the weekend. It is so nice to have Brandon and Daniel home all day on Saturday and Sunday and just enjoy family time. Sometimes we play together in the back yard, watch a movie, or make home made pizza, cookies, or other goodies! But some days, like yesterday, we decided to do something a little extra special with the kids. Yesterday we went to a indoor water park called Coco Keys. It is only about 10 minutes from our house. We had two coupons for buy one admission get one free, so instead of a $60 family event it was a $30 one. We had so much fun together. Daniel went down every slide even the biggest ones, while Monica and Olivia splashed around in the baby pool and floated in the lazy river with either mommy and daddy. We spent about 2 1/2 hours there before the kids started to get very tired. I love making these fun memories.