A Day In The Life of A & J

January has been a slow month. True to form here in MI it has been full of snow and cold weather but unlike last year it has not been totally unbearable. We have had some breathtaking sunsets and sunrises, some days in the 30's, and really great packing snow for building snowmen, forts, or snowballs. Watch out! :D 

Yesterday marked the Twins' 26th month so I thought I would document some of the things we did today so that later on I can remember where we were at this stage in the game. It has been a fun ride and I look forward to new things that progress every day so I want to take a moment to STOP and breathe in just the right now. 

Coloring. We are all about our colors right now and they spend countless hours creating beautiful 'pic-Urs'! ;)

Food. Another daily activity is creating yummy meals and playing with play food or pretending that we have food in whatever random dish we happen to have by us. I love that they love to cook already and I can't wait to see what kinds of great dishes we can cook up together in mama's kitchen when they are a little bigger! 

Personality is blossoming out of each one 

Anders is sweet and snuggly, curious about EVERYTHING, loves to wander and create new things out of the random. I love that he is an out of the box sort of guy with a well rounded nature; soft, grimy, and goofy to the max. He's kind of like a little old man! 

Joline is a feisty peach! The look on that face in the picture above says a lot. :D She's the one I find trying to climb our stone fireplace to plug in mama's Christmas decorations or the one who tries sticking her head in between the spindles of the staircase (both of these things happened again today)! While she is all go and super competitive she is the one who at the end of the day wants to snuggle with mama or daddy and her baby and she will repeatedly fold and unfold blankets until they are just right so she can put her baby down for a nap! 

Playing Peek A Boo is a daily game with these boxes! Who's the Monkey in the box? :D 

This hallway has become their perpetual racetrack! I'm so thankful we have gates to keep them from coming crashing down because at the speeds they go I'm sure they would! 

This girl is daily becoming more and more interested in all things girl. A purse was added to the mix today and she insisted it be worn on her shoulder! The dress up dress from Halloween is another daily necessity lately. Such a fashionista. Gotta love though that she is the quickest one to tear all of her dress ups off to run to the chicken coop with daddy! 

So there you have it! We hope you all are having a blessed day and enjoying the end of January. We are ready to say "see ya later" to this month and on to Fab February! 

-CW

Looking Forward>>>

A Very Happy New Year to You!

Well, here we go into the new year most of us with hopes and dreams of what we will do and accomplish in the months ahead. 

I was ready to close the chapter on 2014 and open a fresh page to 2015. Mostly I was ready because of what 2014 has taught me and I'm ready to take with me into the new year and make it great. 

Read the Bible With Me
Romans 5

{What I will take with me into 2015}

1.) Some of you have noticed that I re-joined the world of Facebook last month. For me it boils down to communication. Over the 10 months that I was off of Facebook I found myself frustrated with communication because I was using phone conversations, some texting, and primarily emailing to get in touch with people. The problem is that these (in today's world) are considered "old fashion". i.e. Country Living Magazine did an article in their February '15 issue called The Check List, in it the authors give 9 ways to enjoy the Country this month... on the list at #5 is revive the lost art of the no-agenda phone call. I totally agree that we should do this! The problem is that not all people will and just as it might seem crazy to some to actually write hand written letters, to others it's just as crazy to write an email rather than use Facebook messaging. Therefore, I decided I would open my account and treat it as a second email. So if you don't see me trending much on there or "liking" your status too often please don't be offended, I literally go days in-between checking the News Feed but I will keep my eye on the messages daily to make sure I'm not missing something important. 

2.) Time is precious. I spent many years racing around busily from this that and the other thing because, like many women, I enjoy being busy and typically busyness goes hand in hand with being social. I spent most of 2014 feeling frustrated that I wasn't busy enough and therefore not social enough. As I worked with God through my depression and frustrations I have come to see so clearly that my longing for busyness was just a cover. I was like a fish at the edge of the water who flops around in the words of Christ to fill my gills with life and then goes back to flopping thinking I'm living alright but I'm suffocating. All the while He's calling to me, "just come and swim. Drink deep with me and you will see the world the way you were created to see it." 

I spent the later half of 2014 drinking deeply of God's Word and a few books. I decided back in August to allow myself to grieve the loss of the life that I thought Jared, the twins and I were going to have pre-Epilepsy complications. Since then I have started to see us heal as a whole family and we are cherishing the moments of life that we have-because really every moment is sacred and we have purpose right before our eyes! 

{Life is a journey}  

Who knows what 2015 will bring but I know that in all things I am a daughter of the King and He is my leader. I am ready to follow- may my heart and my feet be in sync with His.