Faith

I must admit that at times life seems really hard. Our family has been through a lot this past year and I pray that we have been shaped and molded in the way God was hoping. I now trully understand the battle of depression, the severe pain of loss, and the peace that only our Saviour can give. At the beginning of this year I declared it the "Year of Blessings" for us. I was expecting God to "pay us back" with some huge blessings that I had conjured up in my head. You know, so far those "blessings" haven't happened. I've fallen short in the little things so far. I haven't looked at the small hugs and kisses from my Father that I receive everyday. I look at our boys and just overflow with love and how they keep me going. What a gift! So I encourage you to take in the little things. Let those everyday blessings fill up for now, He hasn't forgotten you and He will never desert you! Praise God for that!!!

Thought you might all enjoy the beautiful flowers around my house!

Gavin playing "hopscotch"...he knows how to play not how Mom tells him.













This is the result of Brodie falling twice in an hours time, once I swear flat on his face. Poor little guy.

Enjoying the beautiful weather and their "car".

That darn cold bug!

Well, we have been bombarded with the cold virus the last two weeks here. It started off with me having a horrible head cold all last week and then Gavin started. We ended up taking Brodie to the ER on Sunday night because he woke up wheezing and sounding really scary trying to breathe. Up to that point he showed no signs of anything; it ended up that he had a pretty bad ear infection. Gavin is finally starting to sound better and isn't coughing as bad but now it's Brodie's turn. Needless to say, I haven't gotten a whole lot of sleep for the last three nights. It's a real bummer with the weather as nice as it is the boys really can't go out at all. This makes me really appreciate when we are all really healthy and I'm so thankful that we don't have anything serious to contend with all the time.

Gavin finally got to play with one of his Christmas toys.















Daddy had to have a turn!



















Brodie got it right away.

Having fun with the cheapest toy around!









Their freshly buzzed hair & easter ducks.

Just doing some reminiscing today.

Our Easter

This Easter was a little different for us this year. Joel's maternal grandma became very sick the week before Easter and was admitted to the inpatient Hospice facility near Defiance. She had been sick with Alzheimer's for over ten years and unfortunately just recently developed breast cancer. We ended up having our Bailey Easter at the facility on Saturday and she passed away while we were there. That night ended up being a very long one and it didn't help that Gavin woke up about every two hours complaining that his foot and leg hurt (growing pains). Needless to say we woke up later than we wanted on Sunday and with my back out it just wasn't going to happen for us to go to church. I felt horrible since it was Easter but I figured that God would forgive us. :) So I have no pictures of the boys dressed up for Easter this year....there's always next year! Oh, my niece finally had her little boy on Friday the 21st....she was due on Monday the 17th. She was so ready to have him! Well, that is all that's been happening in our lives lately. I would say that we're ready for it to calm down just a little this next week.

My new great-nephew Max Emerson Burrowes!