28 Reasons

August 1st is Joel's Birthday. He's turning 28. Our marriage has had ups and downs, but we are happy. And I'm thankful for him. Here's 28 reasons why I love Joel! (There are more reasons than that, but I'm going with a theme here, ok?) ;o)

Joel...

1) ....loves the Lord.

2) ....is tall, strong, and handsome.

3) ....loves Preston & is a good Daddy.

4) ....makes me feel safe.

5) ....gives great hugs!

6) ....is smart!

7) ....studies and learns on his own so he is more knowledgeable in his work.

8) ....makes me laugh with his goofy sense of humor.

9) ....knows my flaws and loves me anyways!

10) ..is waaay patient with me.

11) ..can juggle!

12) ..has gorgeous blue eyes.

13) ..enjoys spending time with my parents & sister/her hubby, etc.

14) ..likes my cooking. (at least he says so...;o)

15) ..is learning to play the guitar. Good job hon!

16) ..works hard!!!

17) ..puts up with me when I'm crabby. 

18) ..has bigger feet than I do. ;o)

19) ..loves watching movies and just hanging out together.

20) ..is a great computer fix-it guy for our home computers and friends & family!

21) ..sometimes makes me coffee in the morning! (I love the sound of brewing coffee in the am!!)

22) ..made an awesome program to keep track of our finances.

23) ..is just a tiny bit shorter than me, and he's ok with that! :o)

24) ..is calm when I'm not.

25) ..has gorgeous, wavy hair.

26) ..knows just the right things to say to encourage me when I'm worried or sad.

27) ..likes listening to Dave Ramsey podcasts with me. (Yay!) :o)

28) ..doesn't judge people, and thinks the best of others!

I love you, honey!! Thanks for being my best friend~Happy Birthday!!

Prayers Needed

Sweet baby Stellan needs prayer! He has not been doing well. To read updates, click over to MckMama's blog. I am so concerned about this family. During the wee hours of the morning, I was thinking of them. Praying. I can't even imagine what they must be going through.

Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. - Hebrews 4:16

Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. - Galations 6:2

Finding Joy in the Little Things

Lately I've been realizing how great it must to find happiness in the little things. Last night we allowed Mr. P to have M&M's after he finished supper, and he was super excited. I mentioned to Joel that few people find that much joy in M&M's...(well, except for us)...:o)

Today at the mall was another exciting adventure. We went down to the lower level of Westroads Mall and had a blast!! For those that don't know, there is a carnival arcade of sorts, complete with a shooting range, mini-glow-golf, and more! We've been down there before, and Preston was content to just 'play' on the games...it's like he never realized you had to put tokens in to actually play! :o) Today though, I 'splurged' and bought 10 tokens for $2. For about 15 minutes, we played Skeeball and I let him race on a car game. So fun! He was actually pretty good at Skeeball. He got the ball in the holes several times...but it wasn't always the holes in our lane. He made use of the lanes next to us as well. I was kinda worried when other folks came over to play. I didn't want him beaming anyone with a wooden ball. ;o) We earned enough tickets with our $2 to get a couple suckers and a little plastic guy. What more could you want?!

Then after nap today we went to the park. It is my new favorite thing to watch P chase rabbits at the park. Hilarious! At one point there were 6 rabbits in one small area, and he went after every one of them, chasing them until they were beyond the point of no return. He was not deterred until they were OUT of sight! What a hoot. 

Basically, having a child has opened my EYES to the fact that happiness is in the heart of the beholder. P finds joy every day (and also his share of tears) but it is a challenge to me to look for the GOOD in things. 

James 1:17 (New King James Version)

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.

Plans for the 4th?

I love Summer. One of the greatest things about Summer is the 4th of July Weekend!! Joel's Aunt & Uncle are arriving Thursday night, and will stay until Sunday. They have an adorable toddler girl and a new baby (well, not too new...she's 5 months old!) that we've never even met, so it should be a fun time! During their stay, we hope to go to the Zoo, maybe walk the Pedestrian Bridge again, feast with Joel's parents/family at our house, go to the Fremont Waterpark, grill out, and watch the Fireworks show in Fremont with Joel's family & possibly my sister & her family! 

Any of you (the 2 of you or so that read my blog) :) have big plans for the 4th? There’s a great new “linky” service available and I wanted to let you know about it. It’s called MckLinky – www.mcklinky.com.  After realizing the need for a new, reliable linky capability, Brent Riggs and MckMama got together to create a free, easy to use linky service for all their blog friends.

If you want to try out MckLinky, you can create a free account, and then post about your 4th of July plans on your blog & link back to mine. (Right? I'm new to this...just learning here!) Or you could always just leave a comment. :)

Have a great weekend!

Yelling Out the Window

Mr. P loves to play outside. LOVES. IT. Sometimes first thing in the morning he begs me to go outside. When we're still in our pajamas. BEFORE I've had my coffee. (Silly child, he'll learn.) Today was a bit cold and windy...and I just didn't want to take him outside. Tonight while I was getting ready for Bible study, I had the window open, to let in a cool breeze. Mr. P spotted some kids playing across the street. He proceeded to YELL out to them. For about 20 minutes. Everyone is a friend to him. One kid was apparently on a blue bike, and one was on a red bike. He called them 'the red kid' and 'the blue kid.'

He was so intent on talking to them yelling at them that he had a lil' accident. Just a slight one. Minor really. I was in the bathroom straightening my hair, and he was sitting on 'the potty' when he told me a story that went something like this:

P: Mom, that blue kid called me a baby. [P laughed a weird laugh.] But I'm not a baby.

Me: Nope, he's silly huh? You're not a baby.

P: [P again laughs a fake-sounding laugh] Nope, I'm not a baby. He's silly.

Joel did take him outside, while I was at Bible study. I'm so glad he got to go out. That way he could show the blue kid he's not a baby after all! :)

Here's Mr. P at the Children's Museum the other day:

And at the park. Sigh. I love Summer. :)

My Two Favorite Guys

I found this photo on Joel's computer-and I had to have it. :) He took it with his phone. I thought since it captures my two favorite guys, it's going on my blog!

Fun Fridays

I've decided that from now on Fridays for P and I are going to be fun. Today we went to the Omaha Children's Museum. It was a blast! P didn't know what to do first...there was a fire truck to sit in and drive, and an amazing ball-machine of sorts, that runs on air-and the spits the balls out willy-nilly. (Don't know if that makes sense, just really wanted to use that word!) 

Upstairs they had an awesome Elmo/body exhibit, a play area, and a pretend store where Preston operated the cash register and kept asking, 'Can I help you?!' It is evident to me that most of his experience in the 'real world' has been inside retail stores. ;o) 

Anyhow, P bounced from one activity to the next like he was in a pinball machine. I bought a museum pass. It's good for a year-and they subtracted the amount we paid to get in today from the price of a pass. Basically, as long as we go 3 more times, the pass more than pays for itself! I'm excited for Joel to see what it's all about. P and I are now going to alternate between the Zoo and the Children's Museum on Fridays. This will give us something to look forward to, and P is getting to the age where he needs activities to keep from driving me crazy express his natural curiosity. 

I'm excited to do the Shred today. This will be Day 9 for me. Yes, I have missed a mega amount of days, considering I began the workout about 2 1/2 weeks ago! Yikes. But, I do plan on moving up to level 2...tomorrow. ;o) I'm giving myself ONE last day on the 1st level! Considering it still makes me sore, I think that's ok. Yesterday I tried to do deeper lunges, and maybe that's the culprit-but last night my legs were sore going up the stairs! AND I still hate the pushups. With a passion. I even do the 'girl-kind'...I already knew I had basically no upper-body strength. This just confirms it.

Happy Friday!!!