Fiesta

Since I have been on maternity leave, Haylie and I had the chance to join one of those "playgroups" we have heard so much about. We have had such a fun time getting together with friends each week and doing different activities. I have especially enjoyed getting to spend time with friends that I had really missed hanging out with! Today our playgroup had a Fiesta in honor of Cinco de Mayo (which by the way is not a day I want to celebrate since that's the day I start work again). We did have a great time though playing with friends, doing crafts, and eating yummy treats. We even did a pinata which didn't work quite as planned but the kids loved gathering the candy. We are really going to miss doing playgroup for a little while!!

Mindy and Marisa planned fun crafts for the kids. Haylie liked making her tissue paper flower and pinata bag. She was most excited about putting candy in her bag though.

So the pinata was very fun - all the kids pulled on a string and one of them was supposed to open up the pinata. After the kids all pulled hard Mindy was left standing with the full pinata. She was quite disappointed that it didn't work but that made it more fun for the kids because they went to work breaking it open.

I'm so sad to miss out on such fun fellowship with these girls and their kids, but more so I am so thankful that Haylie and I were able to participate over the last couple months!!

Photography Class Favorite Shot #3

Ok so this isn't any creative photography shot but Brandy and I are having so much fun taking our class together that I thought I would include this one for this week.

Good Old Chuck

This is the last week of my maternity leave and I am soooooo sad! So this week we wanted to have some big fun, and what's bigger fun than Chuck E. Cheese? Nicole and I took the girls to spend the afternoon, and spend the afternoon we did. We were there for about 3 1/2 hours going from ride to ride, playing all the games and having a silly fun time.

Haylie and Kiley liked the driving games the best.

The girls were surprisingly afraid of Chuck - it was like the Easter Bunny all over again, so Nicole and I had to hold them.

Lea was a little climber - she wanted to do everything the big girls were doing.

You're not supposed to do that!!

Here's Haylie back at home with the prizes she won from her tickets. The whole way home she kept saying, "Haylie have a fun time with Kiley." She loves playing with her cousin and I love watching her have fun. I am really going to miss all the fun times we have had together over the last 3 months.

"Prayer Works"

This was Raider's pronouncement in the car this morning on the way to church. He was without crutches so Micah made the observation that his ankle (he had sprained it earlier in the week) seemed to heal pretty quickly, to which Raider responded, "prayer works." I assumed he meant the prayers that we have said for him before dinner, or the fact that he had added his ankle to our family prayer list so we could all be praying for him. But when we probed further about what he meant, he told us this story, which I had to share: On Friday at school he was sitting by himself, fumbling with his crutches (if you saw him with crutches you would understand - not very swift!!), when a Junior at his school came up and asked to pray for him. He stopped and prayed for healing for Raider's ankle on the spot. Since then, Raider says, it has been feeling better, and he is now convinced of the power of prayer, "prayer works!"

This morning there was an article in the Sacramento Bee about Micah's mom's lung condition. If you haven't seen it, click here. I loved how the article focused on her faith and that the intent of her prayers is not to get new lungs but that's God's will would be done. What a testimony to the world about the value and purpose of prayer; what a testimony about the power of God. My first thought when I read the article, although it brought tears to my eyes when it got to the part about seeing James grow up, was to count it a blessing to have such an amazing woman, an incredible spirit and such a great example in our lives! I must admit - I pray that she would get new lungs, that God would heal her right away and that she will be around to play with our childrens' children. I told Raider he needs to find that kid who prayed for him at school and get him to come pray for Grandma!!

Psalm 121 (A song of ascents)

"I lift up my eyes to the hills -Where does my help come from?
My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.
He will not let your foot slip - He who watches over you will not slumber;
Indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
The LORD watches over you -The LORD is your shade at your right hand;
The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.
The LORD will keep you from all harm -He will watch over your life;
The LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore."

Down By the River

Back when I was working Nicole used to tell me about all the fun things she would do with the girls during the day. One of the things she often talked about was going down to the river and throwing rocks in the water. I was so jealous because it sounded like such fun, something Haylie would really enjoy, and certainly much better than working!! Today we had the pleasure of joining Nicole, Amy, Amber and all the kiddos for some rock-throwing fun at the river! We took a picnic lunch and all the kids had a blast, well as you can see in the photo, James not so much, but he was good most of the time. Micah even got to come by and visit for lunch because we were right by his work. We LOVE when we get to see Daddy during the day! There are so many fun, free things to do in Sacramento and I love taking Haylie on adventures where she gets to try new things and most importantly smile and laugh a lot!!

House of the Injured

Add another Runner child to our injured list... Haylie has 2 weeks left in her arm brace with her broken shoulder, then yesterday Raider tripped at track practice and sprained his ankle. He is now on crutches, hobbling the around the house. He also skinned up his knees and palms; then today Haylie fell at the park and added an owie to her collection with a small cut on her hand (look closely enough and you will see the Dora Band-aid). I also fell down a few stairs the other day and landed on my toe, which has since been purple and swollen. Needless to say we are quite the injured, limping, crippled wreck lately. Not sure if it is a stroke of clumsiness or what. Micah is trying to keep himself safe and so far James seems unscathed. Certainly it is a reminder not to take our health and well-being for granted!

Thank You Jesus

When Haylie and I did our daily Bible Study this morning we learned about being thankful to Jesus. The story was about 10 men with leprosy that Jesus healed, but only one man came back and said thank you. "One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked Him..." Luke 17:15 - Or, as Haylie says, "He no say thank you, he no say thank you, he no say thank you....HE say thank you." So I asked Haylie what she wanted to thank Jesus for and here's how the conversation went:

Mommy: Haylie, what do you want to thank Jesus for?
Haylie: Thank you for Kiley
M: What else?
H: Auntie Nicole
M: What else?
H: Uncle Brian
M: What else?
H: Apples
M: What else?
H: Daddy
M: What else?
H: Thank you for our house
M: What else?
H: Thank you for church
M: What else?
H: umm, Jasmine (Of Jasmine and Aladdin of course)

Well that could go on forever so we decided to stop at Jasmine and pray and thank God for all the things that Haylie is thankful for. Not sure if Daddy will be thrilled that he made it after apples but at least he beat out Jasmine - that is quite the accomplishment in itself!!

I love spending time with Haylie learning more about Jesus - they are the most basic concepts in a preschool level book but even us smart adults could serve to be reminded about things like being thankful, sharing with others, showing kindness and being obedient. Thank you Jesus for our many blessings and the things you teach us every day.