Treasure Hunting

Port's "Treasure Map"

Yesterday in cluster we read through Luke 10 and were discussing the different ways we are called to go share the Good News.  One of the methods we discussed was called "Treasure Hunting."  This is where we pray and ask the Lord to give us clues leading us to people that He wants to demonstrate His love to.  We had Port participate in this by asking him to draw pictures of what the Lord was showing him.  Port's clues were the mall, airplane, squirrel, and hands.  Whitney also had airplane and I had a flagpole, so we took a group to Ozzies (the restaurant at the airport).  We were able to pray for our waitress.  She fit our clues of red shirt, heart necklace, hands (she was serving us).  She asked us to pray for patience and she left us in tears.  Our other encounter was with a family waiting to be seated. They fit our clues of brown hair and brown shirt and white jacket.  When we asked if we could pray for them they said yes!  We prayed for their grandfather, Bob (which was a clue), who was in the hospital with a heart condition (another clue).  It was not only exciting to see how faithful God is, but to see that He is using Port in powerful ways.  It was great watching Whitney and Shannon share Jesus with others, their boldness is truly a reflection of the heart of Jesus!   

Pink Eye

Well, it's official I have pink eye!  I woke up this morning to quickly realize that I couldn't open my eyes because they were sealed shut.  Brian quickly helped me get them open with warm wash clothes, and quickly proceeded to tell me to go to the ER.  As I got dressed he said, "You look cute!"  As I laughed out loud and tried to roll my eyes he quickly added, "I mean from your nose to your toes!"  

I write this blog just to brag on my sweet husband.  He not only got up to help me this morning at 4:00, but once I got home he took care of everything.  He did quiet times with the boys, fixed breakfast, got himself ready, and called for help.  We are super blessed by JuJu, who is watching the boys today so we don't spread this through our family.  Too many times things go unnoticed, I couldn't be more blessed by my sweet husband.  Thank you Jesus!

Our kids!

I started this blog so I could write down things about my kids that I would forget otherwise....Port is three years old and his ability to communicate scares me at times!  One of his favorite things is to comment on my hair.  He prefers it to be "down" always!  Anytime my hair is pulled up he wants to know when I am going to put it down.  The other day he was upset that I was putting him in his car seat instead of my mom.  He told me, "I don't like you"  which he quickly followed with "actually I just don't like your hair down."   Good quick recovery, but don't worry he didn't get away with "unkind words!"

Haynes is 20 months old and definitely keeps me on my toes!  He is starting to communicate more words each day.  We were laughing that his most clear word is "Sorry."  Obviously, we use that one quite often!  After he says sorry he proceeds to give a Papa Bear Hug (named by Brian) where he hugs the person (usually Port) and grunts three times, like he is squeezing them tighter with each grunt!

Don't think we forget about Ella around here, she just doesn't cause too much commotion right now!  She has been sleeping through the night for over a month.  She has a great smile and laugh!  She is growing daily, and such a blessing to us.  We are thankful for our healthy, beautiful baby girl!

As their mom I am thankful for teachable moments like these with my boys.  They are realizing that we are born in sin and that we need Jesus daily!  Some days look better than others, but we are thankful daily for the grace of Jesus!

Game Night at the Lollie & Champ's

Red Light Green Light

Ring around the Rosies

Duck Duck Goose

Poppy and Ella

Lollie and Champ took a week vacation to the Caymen Islands.  Although we were glad they got to relax and get away, they were really missed!  We had dinner on Sunday night to catch up, we hadn't seen Josh & Jenny since Christmas either.  After dinner Port demanded that we play some games!  Even Poppy joined in on "Duck Duck Goose!"  I am really  blessed by my brother and his wife, they love on my kids so well.  I don't think I've seen my boys laugh so hard!

Hartsock Bowling Night

Bowling Buddies

Hartsock Kids!

We decided that we should take all the kids bowling before Blake and Marci went back to Waco.  The kids were really excited about their cool shoes.  They did pretty good, it was really fun watching them cheer for each other.  Haynes and Jade were not real excited that they weren't able to play.  Their favorite toys are balls, and couldn't understand why they couldn't pick a bowling ball up by themselves!  We didn't actually last a whole game, but one day!  We are so blessed by our great family!

Cookies with Lollie & Champ

Lolli & Champ decided to make cookies with the help of Port and Haynes.  We let the boys choose the kind of cookies...chocolate chipe instead of chocolate chocolate chip cookies!  We might have found our little chef this night though...  Haynes LOVED cooking!  Actually, I'm not sure if it was cooking or eating all the dough.  He made such a mess (as usual) but loved baking!  He spilled the flour and would try and add it by hand, and did the same with rolling the dough.  We decided you should eat the cookies at your own risk!  We had a great night!

Happy New Year!

The Three Musketeers

Sweet Preslee Love

Happy Jade David

Crazy Haynes!

The Cousin's Table

Well, I still haven't finished blogging about all our fun Christmas activities!  I finally decided to move forward and if I get time we will add more about Christmas....

January 1st, 2009

We got to spend the day with all our family, it was so much fun!  Jake and Kourtney had all of us over for lunch and a day of playing.  They kids have so much fun together and have really reached an age that they can play together...safely:-)  We had great weather so all the cousins were able to play outside on their four-wheelers.  

We are so excited to see what God has in store for our family in 2009!  The last year we were abundantly blessed through friends, family, our church community, and a precious little girl.  We have learned that God has great plans for us and we just want to be obedient to what He has called us to!  Happy 2009!