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raise the flag

Jason's birthday was friday and he wanted us to all go to Pancho's to celebrate his bday. Yes, the place where you raise your flag for service. Pancho's was a sudan family favorite when we were young, mostly b/c of the flag and the soapillas (and b/c there wasn't a Chuy's in waco then :) ). It was fun to be back there. The whole fam was there except for dad and B! We substituted Alejandro for B tonight so that was fun!
Emery Kate and Duncan were up to no good at the booth across from us!

so the soapillas are delicious

kiki and campbell

After dinner we headed to Jason and Alex's new home which is SO cute for some "jason's cake". That is how the cake is known in our family.

Campbell gets so proud of herself and claps when she stands up on her own. So cute!

The sibs...we miss you B! WE LOVE YOU!

i love this pic of them...

so glad my mom is here for a few days to watch the girls while I work b/c our nanny is out of the country! We love getting time with her!

Happy Birthday J! You are the best brother a sister could ask for! I am already sad that you aren't living behind us anymore. I will always be grateful for that time. Now we will just have to have Einstein dates :) Love you!

first taste of cereal

Molly hasn't been sleeping as well at night lately so I decided maybe it was time to try some rice cereal. She will be 6 months in two weeks and even though we waited until then to give EK anything solid I decided to go ahead.
She wasn't too sure about it.

EK encouraged her and "helped" me

happy girl

ready to be done

Also...this is the best pic I could get on Father's day of the girls with their sweet daddy. My friend Stephanie made these adorable outfits for EK and Molly. I will have to get a better pic of them in it. They are precious!

thanksgiving

Thanksgiving. A thankful heart. This has been on my heart lately. I started reading One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp which is really good. I am not done with it yet, but so far it has been about a life of thanksgiving. Someone challenged her to write a list of a thousand things she loves. She talks about how before Jesus was crucified he sat at the table and “took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them…” luke 22:19. In the original language, “he gave thanks” reads “eucharisteo”. “Eucharisteo, thanksgiving, envelopes the Greek word for grace, charis. But it also holds its derivative, the Greek work chara, meaning “joy”. ..Deep chara joy is found only at the table of the euCHARisteo- the table of thanksgiving. I sit there long…wondering…is it that simple?” She goes on to quote someone who said “the only real fall of man is a noneucharistic life in a noneucharistic world.” Ingratitude for all that God freely gives. Lord I don’t want to live a life like that.
Then in Luke 17 she talks about when Jesus heals the ten lepers to wholeness and only one came back to say thanks to Jesus and in Young’s literal translation it says, “And [Jesus] said to him, ‘Having risen, be going on, thy faith has saved thee.’” ‘ Saved thee’ is sozo in the Greek. Sozo means salvation. “And when did the leper receive sozo- the saving to the full, whole life? When he returned and gave thanks….Thanksgiving is inherent to a true salvation experience; thanksgiving is necessary to live the well, whole, fullest life.”
Another really interesting point so far is about naming. She talks about how each thing she puts on her list is a naming of the gifts God has given her whether it is something as simple as warm cookies out of the oven or praying for and kissing my girls before they go to sleep, “when I name moments I am Adam and I discover my meaning and God’s, and to name is to learn the language of Paradise. This naming work never ends for all the children of Adam. Naming to find an identity, our identity, God’s.” She goes on to quote Alexander Schmemann,
“Now in the Bible a name…reveals the very essence of a thing, or rather its essence as God’s gift…To name a thing is to manifest the meaning and value God gave it, to know it as coming from God and to know its place and function within the cosmos created by God. To name a thing, in other words, is to bless God for it and in it.”
I love this. It’s like a lightbulb has been going off in my head. I want to name the gifts and moments that I experience every moment of the day. I think I may challenge myself to a list of a thousand gifts. When you have a thankful heart for the big and small things I think it will bring me JOY. The abundant, full of life JOY that only come from Christ. Both times I have been pregnant I have been eager to know what we are going to name the baby. I think it has something to do with what Alexander is talking about. To name a child is to bless God for it and in it. I can start praying for that child by name before they are yet born. As I sit her on Father’s day I am just thinking I could list a hundred things I am thankful for just about Blake and another hundred things for my dad.
Dad:
Breakfast dates every Friday morning of my senior year.
Pitching practice
The sacrifices you and mom gave so we could have a good education.
Sharing books
Walking me down the aisle
Caring about what I was learning in anatomy or pharmacology
And the list could go on and on…
Blake:
That you share what is on your heart with me.
The way you love emery kate and molly
You love me well
Watching you walk in the door and greet EK and Molls.
Seeing you worship.
And the list could go on and on.
I want to name the moments of every day that are gifts.
Going into Molly’s room at 5 am and seeing her smiling and kicking her legs.
Emery Kate making Molly laugh.
Watching Emery Kate discover something new.
Warm coffee each morning.
A cool breeze on a hot day.
A big icy cherry diet coke anytime of the day.
Watching an old married couple still enjoying each other’s company at dinner.
Someone at church coming up to pray for me just b/c the Lord led them to.

I want to live a life of eucharisteo, a life of thanksgiving. A life full of JOY. So that in all things I can say Blessed be Your name, Lord.

somewhat sitting and bad hair days

Molly is starting to sit for a few seconds if I position her properly in the tripod position. How cute is she?
Both girls woke up with some serious bedhead this morning! I guess Molly's looks like this most days but it seemed extra spiky and ek's was all over the place.

My longtime Waco friend Leslie was in town from Ithaca, New York where her hubby is getting his MBA from Cornell. We picked her up from the airport and had fun visiting for awhile. She hadn't met Molls yet. It was great to see her!

San Antonio

we had a wedding this weekend in San Antonio for a friend from Waco. We made it a mini vacation and stayed at a fabulous hotel...the Westin La cantera resort. It was awesome! The Ogdens were there and we had a great time! I got some pics at the hotel but at the wedding I was too busy chasing the kids to get pics! The hotel had a one mile nature trail that we took the kids on. They were so cute at first. EK was holding Jayden's hand first then she moved to Duncan. She LOVES her cousins. it is really the sweetest thing.
then she held her momma's hand too!

The hotel had the best pools for kids...

Molly was amazing the entire trip. She is the most content and happy little thing. I adore her.

look at those cheeks!

just hanging in the water

On the way home we stopped by Lake McQueeney b/c it was Blake's vacation spot all growing up and he LOVES this place. He hadn't been in years and wanted us to see it.

we ate some ice cream while there

it was neat b/c everything was right next to the water...i can see how it is such a fun lodge to stay at.

Ok how big does emery kate look with me holding her. I mean I look like a 9 year old :)

it really was a fun weekend...just a REALLY long drive home!

what we've been up to

so my computer got a virus and I am so behind on blogging... here are some random pics from lately. We had dinner with some family at Matt's out on the patio. I feel like Molly looks so old in this picture. Emery Kate liked the Bob Armstrong dip so much she decided to forego chips and eat it with her spoon!
Blake's brother's bday was last weekend and they were up here so they got to stay with us! This is our sister in law Carrie and niece Camryn.

All of her cousins on Blake's side are older than her and I felt like this weekend she was really able to play with them. It kind of made me sad that she really isn't my little baby anymore. I do love seeing her have fun with her cousins though!

It is HOT here in Dallas and tuesday night Blake turned on the sprinklers and let EK run around in her clothes.She loved it...i have a feeling we will be doing a lot of this.

and a lot of the neighborhood spray park! LOVE it. Brilliant idea who ever thought of these things!

Molly and EK watching Dora in the morning. I mean look at Moll's hair.

A couple weeks ago we went to Fort Worth to see my friend Kelli and her daughter Anna who is only two weeks younger than emery kate. we went to the Zoo. It was really fun. I had only been once and not since EK was born. She was all smiles!

So was Molly

"Una" and EK

happy weekend!