Variety

How could I not post this picture of Traci's son Eli swimming at my house. He is the one of the most adorable butter balls I have ever seen.

This is Cooper AKA "Powder Man" according to Julian who says his brother made this mess all by himself. This is the day that I decided how truly underpaid I really am.

Here are the little cousins on Taylor's second birthday... so typical that the girl is the only one paying attention!!

Real Love

"Jesus defined real love for us when he died for us and we are to do the same for our brothers. For most of us it will not be one grand act rather, it will consist of a thousand small turnings of our will from its natural self-absorption to the self-giving ways of God. Without a vital living relationship to Jesus, none of us can sustain a life of artful caring for long. The human heart is riddled with selfishness. As the Holy Spirit brings us to new depths of wanting to give ourselves away for Jesus' sake, the battle of our sin nature rages inside us telling us to hold back, stay safe, and keep a tight grip of self-interests. We repeatedly come face to face with our utter dependence on God to transform us. We are drawn again to abide in Jesus, to learn from him, and to ask for creativity and strength to lay down our life for others, one person at at time."
-Andi Ashworth

Glorious books

I have completely turned into a book worm as of late. I have always loved reading but since Julian and Cooper have entered the picture I find that I read the same paragraph about twenty times and because I am so distracted I just give up... but now for some reason I am willing to go the extra mile... I stay up with my darling book light until 2 am and relish every second. I have read books about an old woman that owns a beach house and has to rent out rooms to make ends meet, one about a mute boy who uses signs and raises and trains dogs, one about a family with a magical apple tree in their backyard and a lady who feels moved to constantly give people stuff that they will need in the near future though she has no idea at the time what it's for... I swear it's like these people are my friends. There is a great blog that I discovered about a very talented lady who has written her story called "Black heels to tractor wheels" it's great! So, if you have some time check it out at thepioneerwoman.com and let me know what you think and if you have read any good books that I can get my hands on.