My Beloved – Kari Jobe

You're my beloved
You're my bride
To sing over you is my delight
Come away with Me my love
Under my mercy
Come and wait
Till we are standing face to face
I see no stain on you
My child
You're beautiful to Me
So beautiful to Me
I sing over you my song of peace
Cast all your cares down at my feet
Come and find your rest in Me
I'll breathe my life inside of you
I'll bear you up on eagle's wings
And hide you in the shadow of my strength
I'll take you to my quiet waters
I'll restore your soul
Come rest in Me and be made whole
You're my beloved
You're my bride
To sing over you is my delight
Come away with Me my love

Emma is FOUR!!!

I really cannot believe that Emma is FOUR!  I know that sounds so cliché but it’s true!  I went into her room on the eve of her fourth birthday and I hugged her and prayed for her and shed a few tears. I LOVE her birthdays…they are fun and exciting and at the same time, they are tough.  I want Emma to stay little…just a while longer!  : )

Here are a few photos from Emma’s Toy Story birthday party…  : )

The hats.  From Target…they went well with the theme…embellished with pom poms and  ric rack and ball fringe from my Grandma’s stash.  It put a smile on my face to be able to use her goodies!

The patio all decorated for the party…the balloons had not arrived yet.  It was in the 70s and sunny.

A close up of the fun “lollies” in the patio pots. They were huge and oh so fun!  I made them using Toy Story wrapping paper and stickers and wrapping paper from the dollar section at Target and a bit of tulle.  The centers of a few of the lollies were paper decorations from the summer clearance section at Target.

This photo makes me smile!  : )

The birthday girl!

My girl is SERIOUS about Buzz and Woody.  ; )

The cake.  It was kind of messy (we added waaaay too much frosting) but it was still cute and lots of fun.

I had to include this photo…  Because of Emma’s reflux and texture issues, this is the FIRST birthday party that she has ever been able to actually eat her own cake and cupcakes without incident!!  Whew!!!

The rainbow cake!

Reading two of her new books before bedtime…  “Too Many Tamales” and “Guatemala ABCs”.  AND, even after the party, she still had Woody and Jesse on her mind!!  : )

Sweet dreams, birthday girl!  Mommy loves you!!

God bless, Tera

Cousin Camp 2010

Popcorn and lemonade, movie nights, CHOCOLATE, giggling, Barbies, sidewalk chalk, giggling, coloring, no set bedtimes, spaghetti, the ZOO, giggling, dancing, homemade pancakes, the carousel, bumper cars, butterflies, hugs, kisses and lots of GIGGLING…

Cousin Camp 2010.

 

  

   

Enjoy the last days of summer!

God bless, Tera

Good Times

In the spring of 2007, we were in the process of adopting Emma from Guatemala.  We were in the thick of it.  We had already visited Emma twice in Guatemala and we were assuming that we would not see Emma again until our pick up trip. 

Matt and Liz were also in the process of adopting a sweet baby girl from Guatemala.  Actually, we were using the same agency that they were using.  Liz contacted me and asked if I would be interested in taking a trip to Guatemala with her to visit our girls.  I felt so humbled and of course, excited!!  We had a wonderful visit with our girls in March of 2007! I will never forget it!

Izzy and Emma

Emma…so precious!

Those EYES!

Eating…sort of!

 

Awwwwww… 

We met so many sweet people on that trip including…

Miss Sofia and her Mommy Tricia!

That was then…

This is now!!  We met Liz, Matt and their family for lunch today and we snapped these photos of Izzy, Emma, Lily and Dasha!  Emma does not always like to have her picture taken and she was not excited about this photo shoot but Liz and Matt’s girls were great sports! My, the girls have certainly grown!  Izzy and Emma are just a couple of months apart in age and they will be FOUR this year!!  I can’t believe it!

Good times!  : D  A delicious lunch with a special family!       

I love adoption!

God bless,

Tera

Sprinkler Fun, An Adoption Anniversary and Emma’s FIRST Fish Tale

Well, summer is officially upon us!  : D  I have a bunch of fun photos for you!

My new hydrangeas…Endless Summer Twist-n-Shout…so pretty and interesting looking.  Love them!

We bought a blow up pool several weeks ago and it started leaking air and water after two uses so, Emma has been enjoying our sprinklers while we decide what to do about a pool!  : D  I absolutely LOVE this watermelon bathing suit (or, as Emma would say…”Waterlemon”).

This month, we celebrated the THIRD anniversary of the day that Emma came to live in our home!  Can you believe it’s been three years?  Wow!  We celebrated with ice cream!  Emma loved her vanilla cone.  : )

Today, we took Emma fishing…she had a blast!!

“This is totally AWESOME!!  Go faster, Papa!!!”

We enjoyed our picnic dinner on the boat and Papa spent some time breaking in our new motor.

So, here’s Emma’s first fish tale (this tale is true…hee hee)…  : )  We decided to let Emma try out her Barbie rod and reel using a little fly as bait.  On the first cast, right near the boat, we hooked a good size northern!!  Papa guesses that it was around 25 inches long!!  We could not believe it and we were cheering!!  The fish quickly went to the other side of the boat and easily broke the line!  It was very exciting!  ; )  Papa didn’t bring extra lures so Emma quickly graduated to the only other rod and reel that we had in the boat.  Doesn’t it look like this wasn’t her first rodeo?  She blew us away….she was reeling like a PRO!  : )

On one the first casts with the “big girl” rod and reel, she had a nibble at the end of the line!

She was a little intimidated by the nibble so she handed the fishing pole over to Papa!  “Reel, Papa, REEL!!!!!!  I sink it’s a BIG ONE!!”

 

Emma:  “OH, a fish, A FISH!!!!!!”

Papa:  “Look at that…it’s a crappie!!”

Emma:  “Mama…LOOK…it’s a CRABBIE!!  A CRABBIE!!!!!!!”  ; )

Emma was so proud of her “crabbie” and WE were so proud of HER.  : D

Before I sign out for the evening, I will leave you with a few of my current favorite “Emma-isms”…  ; D  Little kids say that most hilarious things…

*  Papa:  “Hey Emma, check out this guitar!”  Emma:  “Papa, that’s NOT a GUITAR…that’s a UKE-AH-LARRY!!!!!!!!”  (Ukulele)

*  Emma:  “We have to be happy wiff people and den we’ll make LOTS of fwends!!!”

*  Me:  “We’re going to a Barbeque, Emma.”  Emma:  “What’s a barbeque?  Is dat yike a dance powty???”  (Translation:  Is that like a dance party???)

*  This is what I hear from Emma about 34349384938943 times every time we’re outside and she wants to go on the swings:  “Mama!!!  Can you SWING ME?????  Pweeeeeze?”

*  Emma:  “Mommy, it was just an AXE-SILL-LENT!!!”  (An accident)

*  Me:  “Hey Emma…come and get your vitamin…”  Emma:  “Uh, um…I want CHOC-YET!  How about CHOC-YET???!”  (Choc-yet = chocolate)

*  When we’re in the truck, Jason and I try to have a conversation over the very loud talking and phone noises, boat noises, singing, etc. coming from the back seat.  I actually LOVE and adore these noises but sometimes, Jason and I can’t even hear ourselves talk so we say, “Hey Emma…can you please make the phone ringing sounds just a little bit quieter so that Mommy and Papa can have a conversation?”  Emma quiets down but continues to make the noises and a few seconds later she yells, “Hey MAMA…is DIS quiet enough for you??????!”  ; )

*  I love that:  “Someping” = “Something” and “Nuffing” = “Nothing”  : )

*  I also think it’s hilarious when she says:  “Mommy, can I see Emma on da blog??”  ; P

God bless,

Tera