Around The Home Part 1

January 1, 2018December 31, 2017

We sure received our white Christmas here in Michigan! This is the snow we were hoping for in our 4 years of living in Minnesota. Minnesota can get a LOT of snow, but of course when we were there, we did not get the crazy amounts that we heard they could get. Thankfully though, we have now experienced it – now being back in Michigan. I feel like it has not stopped snowing for the past week, until yesterday. How fun and how beautiful it is!

We had two more Christmas parties this past weekend, which it was nice to have them separated out a bit, due to the fact that I can tire quickly. It has been such a blessing being able to attend parties and see family, knowing things could have been so different. As we look back, we don’t have to look far to see God’s hand in our lives!

Love holding this sweet little girl, my newest niece, Ava:

Mazy loves “Baby Ava” too! She now walks around our house with a stuffed animal in her tummy.

Mazy and Addison have the same shirts!

And the snow just keeps coming!

I realized we did not have a “kid” scissors (or knife as Mazy calls it), so I purchased one this week. We have been doing “crafts” multiple times a day, cutting different shapes, etc. Who knew a scissors would be so fun?

One activity I was looking so forward to doing with Mazy this year was decorating Christmas cookies. After the first surgery, I thought oh yeah, but after the second, it became a fleeting thought. Then this weekend, I thought “I feel good enough to do this!” So. Much. Fun.

Can’t make cookies without eating some cookie batter!

MORE snow!

Mazy is very meticulous about putting frosting on her cookie, which kind of surprised me. She would take a lick of frosting every once in a awhile, but she was certain it looked just so!

Mazy was eager to jump off the diving board, so we made one! You only need a really old chair with good springs in it and some dramatic flair so that it makes you feel like you are swimming in a pool!

The view on the way to my parents. The vastness continues to amaze me, even at 34 years old!

Around The Home

As many of you in the midwest are well aware, we have had a scorcher of a week! It is hard to remind myself that it is September, but no complaining here! Warmer weather has meant more hours in the pool! Through the first month or so, we had a hard time getting the filter…

Around The Home

This little girl is sure missing her daddy, but we pray he will be home safe and sound early tomorrow morning! Mazy has struggled again this week with anxiety, pulling out of the hair, and waking up from her naps asking for “daddy”, so I know she will be elated when she wakes up Tuesday…

Around The Home

What a week! After 2 1/2 months, Mazy has finally been cleared of an ear infection and is no longer on any antibiotics. This sweet girl has sure been a tough cookie, especially since her first year molars are coming in as well! We were referred to an ENT for Mazy’s ears and at that…

Mazy Grace’s Newborn Pictures

Having newborn pictures taken, is something I had dreamed of for years, but never thought would come to fruition. Little did we know that one day, God would bless us with the opportunity to have pictures of our child taken. When I look at these pictures, I can’t help but think about the journey God…

My New Adventure: Coaching

Sometimes I wonder why certain things happen in life. Why we become passionate about something, to only be derailed and forced to go a different direction. That is the walk of faith. I look back at my “career” in basketball and sometimes I feel it was cut short because of my heart condition. At the…

As If She’s Your Own

As the saying goes, “It takes a village to raise a child.” Dan and I have often said being in youth ministry, that we treat our youth group kids as our own. We always have. We talk with them, care for them, hug them, and cry with them, as if they were. That whole concept…