Rainy Days...

 A few weeks back we did a girl's night with a rainy day fire! 

We had a lot of fun together- just the girls. :)

Ten

Happy 10th Anniversary Erin!

(Yes, this is Michael's Occasional Hacking into Erin's Blog)

Ten Things I Have Learned about Erin During Our Ten Years of Marriage

1. Grace: Erin has extended me much grace over the years, teaching me about God's mercy and grace despite my inadequacies and sin. She forgives so quickly.

2. Selflessness: Time and time again, Erin has served me selflessly, often putting up with a lot with me being in school for all 10 years of our marriage!

3. Sacrifice: Erin sacrifices daily by being a mommy of three crazy kids!

4. Humility: Erin does not seek recognition or praise from others, seeing herself as a servant. She does not draw attention to herself.

5. Encouragement: who has not been blessed by Erin's encouragement, whether through thoughtful meals, notes, or a loaf of pumpkin-chocolate bread!?

6. Transparency: Erin is the most authentic person I know. Never hiding in pretense, she is the real deal.

7. A Learner: Similar to humility, Erin is always willing to learn from others; she is constantly ready to ask someone for advice and not pretend like she has it all together. 

8. Loyalty: I know no one more loyal than Erin; she sticks by you no matter what and showers you with devotion. She deeply values her friendships and relationships. 

9. Creative: I am always impressed by Erin's creativity, whether it is living creatively on a very tight budget or creating activities for the kids--Erin figures out how to do it.

10. Submissive: In our day and age it is often seen as a horrible, patriarchal concept--but Erin embraces the call to submission as a wife with remarkable grace, love, and constancy. Her godly submission propels me to love her more and teaches me about the gospel. You want to see what real godly and biblical submission looks like? Then study Erin and watch how a wife brings blessing upon her home by this virtue. Her submission shows that the world's caricature and demonized version of submission is in fact a lie. Most of all, Erin's submission compels me to submit to Jesus Christ. 

I love you, Erin.

Josiah 6 Months...

 Before Josiah turns 7 moths, I wanted to give his 6 month update. :)  (So I am a little behind these days.)  This month Josiah has learned to roll over a lot!  He now sleeps on his tummy most nights.  He is still working on sitting up.  In the last 2 weeks, he has really started to talk and share his thoughts with us.  He mainly loves watching Jeremiah and Lydia all day.  We finally brought up our Jumper that both kids loved and he is finding his legs and wanting to jump.  All of sudden, once he reached the 6 month mark- he was wanting to jump and stand up and move!  I finally started him on baby food and I think he is finally getting the hang of it some!   We are getting ready for an anniversary trip to the Smokies soon and was trying him out on the backpack to get ready for some hikes and he pulled my hair the whole time- little stinker!  He still remains on the little side- as his stats are Length- 26.25, Weight- 14 lbs.  We love little Si- Si!  :)

Zoo Trip...

 A zoo trip with some friends- the kids are into doing funny face photos right now.  :)

Friday, Friday....

 Friday crazies... :)

It's Coming...

 So I have to say the last month- I have been wading through the world of "homeschooling," asking lots of advice from friends, looking at curriculum and mainly being overwhelmed- especially to think Jeremiah starts Kindergarten next year.  So this year, we are trying to do a few things just at home for a little "preschool-"  don't be too impressed- I really don't know what I am doing.  This is going to be a whole new realm for me where I am dependent on God's grace and the giftedness of many friends who have been there, done that and are doing it now and doing well at what God has given them to do.  It is exciting and scary all at the same time.  Jeremiah is ready to learn and wants to do school- now Mom just needs to figure out what to do.  So thankful for a talkative, inquisitive little guy.  So ready or not- we are beginning to enter this world- lots and lots more to learn. :)

Link

I was encouraged this week by an article on Desiring God's website.  Often at the end of the day, I feel exhausted.  When mommy is in charge of bedtime- it happens hastily and often with not much fanfare.  Daddy is way more fun at this time of the day and does way more creative things.  Even though it is ok to be tired and just throw kids into bed- I was reminded through this article to persevere 5 minutes longer as I put my kids to bed each night. 

Two Prayers for Weary Parents-

Flashback to Summer 2015- OBX 2015

 

One of our favorite summer activities was our trip to the Outer Banks with my family. 

These were pictures that never got posted this summer. :)

 

Smale Park...

 This summer we visited Smale Park- the new park downtown- complete with Carousel and all!

 Enjoying our last bit of summer.

Cereal and Sunflowers

 Josiah has started to eat some cereal... OK so I am barely finding time to feed it to him and below is his real face when you feed it to him- yuck!  But for the third- we are trying.

 Loving my sunflowers I have growing out back!!! 

We made it...

 We made it back to Cincinnati.  It was a long drive but my parents were sweet and road with us part of the way so I only had drive 4 hours by myself.  I had sweet times with family and a sweet visit with by best friend from home and a refreshing time vising with the Engles as well. 

 We had crazy cousin times and went to splash parks and parks and pools.  I got to run out to Kohls and Target one naptime- childless shopping very rare these days. 

 We went for walks and my brother and Lydia had fun on swings.

 I had my fill of Dairy Queen and Ritas Italian Ice.  The last night, we went to Cracker Barrel as a family and a sweet lady must have took pity on my chaos and offered to pay my meal and my kids meal- she handed me a Cracker Barrel gift card and said "God Bless."  I was touched by the generosity of strangers that I do not know and a reminder again of how God provides and cares for us!  All and all a great trip.