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Sorry we’ve been kind of quiet lately – – our goal is to get on a routine so that by the time we move to Moldova we are updating our blog on a weekly basis, not just when we remember to!

Baby #2 is growing and doing well. I am feeling pretty good and very thankful that I am still sleeping somewhat comfortably. We still don’t know if baby is a boy or girl and we can’t wait to find out. This week brings us to 30 weeks (out of 40 weeks) or according to my calculations about ¾ of the way done! Of course a “due date” is more of a window – – a pregnancy is considered “term” at 37 weeks (gulp!) but it is also common to go until 41 or 42 weeks. Addy was born nine days late which means baby could possibly share a birthday with Auntie Sarah (June 7th).

Valentine’s Day fell on a Monday – – our day off. We had a quiet morning (check out Addy’s awesome hair-do) and of course ate candy at a completely inappropriate time of the day (aka breakfast). I am not sure Christian would completely approve of this picture but it cracks me up – – Addy loves her bath and spent probably 30+ minutes in the bath this morning. I asked Christian if he would be willing to read his Bible while keeping an eye on her. He isn’t using the toilet – – oh no, he’s just giving me “the look” for taking his picture.

Addy and Daddy have been spending time together every morning while I take a shower. (Pre-pregnancy, I used to be showered and ready before Addy woke up but these days I need a little more sleep.) Addy likes Daddy to play right alongside her, even in her play tent. They also do her alphabet puzzle each morning and I am amazed at how quickly toddlers learn. She can take almost every single letter and say, “A says æ, A says apple.”

We are getting prepared to move to Moldova. We are practicing hanging out our laundry instead of using our dryer. Okay, we confess our dryer broke but it’s still good practice, right?! We also mailed off our first letter – – a letter explaining more about what we plan to do and what our timeline looks like. If you didn’t receive our letter, you can find a link on the right side of this website. If you would like to receive our next letter, please email us (marie@moldovachurch.com) your mailing address. We are excited to officially be a part of Shepherd’s Staff, an organization that will be partnering with our church and handling all our finances. We just received our account number, which means we can also start raising financial support! You can check out our link on their website Shepherd’s Staff

My mother came out in me on St. Patrick’s Day. I found myself roaming the house around 2am with baby insomnia so I dyed all the milk and creamer green! It was priceless to watch both Sarah and Christian’s reactions when they poured green creamer into coffee. Of course, we also made green scrambled eggs – – yum!

Addy and I have been doing lots of crafts – – she LOVES everything messy. She is also my big helper and wants to cook and clean and wash. She’s is going to make an amazing big sister!

We’ve also been doing “school” every day. Nothing too detailed, but a couple of months ago I started noticing how Addy was absorbing everything around her – – the good and the bad. It made me realize I should focus on her learning the good! I stumbled upon one toddler preschool program online that I thought looked fun, so I “stole” the idea and twisted it a little. Basically I just made an excel worksheet that is 26 weeks long – – each week you focus on an animal, vocab word, number, color, shape, letter and Proverbs. It’s easier than it sounds! We go to the library and get five books about our animal every week. We probably spend 15 minutes to sometimes an hour each day doing “school.” We use puzzles (she has the alphabet, numbers, shapes and colors), youtube videos, Target $1 workbooks, free online printables, glue sticks and scissors, food and lots more. When the week is over we have made a poster with each newly learned subject. It’s a hit and I love the simplicity. Sometimes we spend two weeks on a theme because we are busy. If you want the excel document I made, just email me!

I will leave you with a funny story. Yesterday while I was working, Addy was stacking all the cans from the garage pantry in the kitchen (who needs blocks?). Then I heard a small “ruckus” so I went to check on her and she was working away on a can of tomato paste with a can opener.

“Whatcha doing?” I asked her and she replied, “I’m making soup!” “But Addy, that’s tomato paste.” Without even missing a beat, she replied, “I’m making tomato soup!”

Please keep us in your prayers – – the next two months are going to be hectic around here as we try and get everything done before baby comes. We are working on garage sales, organizing, paperwork and that’s just the beginning!

But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:31

Most of you that read this blog probably received this letter in the mail (or you should very soon!). I thought I would share it with anyone else and it will stay on the right side of the blog, under “pages.” If you didn’t receive this letter and would like to, just email me (marie@calvaryskyline.org) with your mailing address. If you received this letter, don’t worry – – you will be receiving our prayer cards in the summer!

*****

Dear Friends and Family,

We’re not sure if you knew this already, but we are planning to move to Moldova.  If you already heard the news, then then that sentence didn’t shock you.  If this is the first you’ve read of it, you’re probably thinking things like, “Where or what is Moldova?” “Why would anyone want to move there?” Or maybe, “Who’s this letter from?”  And, “Why are you telling me this?”  Hopefully we can answer those questions for you!

Moldova is the poorest country in Europe, wedged in between Ukraine and Romania.  Although it’s technically been a democracy since the fall of the Iron Curtain, the Moldovan people have “elected” the Communist party since 1992.  That alone should be enough to understand why it’s so poor.  The people there have to deal with corruption, crime, and poverty.  On top of all of that, the country has been spiritually suppressed since the Communists took over.

As a family, we consider our faith in Jesus to be the most important facet of our lives.  It is this faith that compels us to minister to the people in Moldova.  We often ask ourselves, “Why DO we want to move there?”  Primarily, it is obedience to the call that God has placed on our lives.  The location itself is not on our top-10 list of ideal homesteads.  Our faith reminds us that we will be more content in the will of God than we will be anywhere else.  So, Moldova it is!

Our goal in Moldova is to start a church in the city of Balti, the second largest city in the country.  We will be working alongside our friends Steven and Teresa Yeats, who have been ministering in Moldova for the last 5 years.  Practically speaking, we will be doing things like teaching English, providing activities for youth, and generally trying to better the lives of the Moldovan people.

This is just a short note about our intentions to move to Eastern Europe as missionaries of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Our plan is to spend the next year in preparation while continuing to work at Calvary Chapel Skyline, here in Thousand Oaks, California.  We are planning to fly out to Moldova in early 2012.  We have been starting to learn the Russian language, which is definitely a challenge. We will also be building a team here in the States that will pledge to support us financially, emotionally, and spiritually.

We’ve shared this information with you because we would love for you to partner with us.  This will be an exciting and trying time for our family, so we can use as much support as possible.  In the coming months, we will be getting our administration in place, and will keep you updated as to our progress.  We try to keep our blog updated regularly at https://kleinburtts.com, so head on over there and check it out.

Most of all, thank you in advance for your prayers and support.  We are excited to share this adventure with you!

Sincerely,

Christian, Marie, and Addy Burtt

so one question i’ve been asked is – – why do you want to wait to find out what this baby is? answer – – we want something to be a surprise. if you don’t remember, addy didn’t want to be born. i didn’t go into labor until forty-two weeks pregnant followed by two days of labor and hours of pushing, all medicine free until finally a spinal and a c-section. we are definitely having this baby at the same hospital and at this point that hospital doesn’t allow vbacs. sooooooooo all that to say, we already know this baby will come on may 27th, which is why we decided we want to mix a little suspense in.

another question is – – what about little man? we don’t know much more than we did six weeks ago. the biggest development is that we know little man is on a reunification plan but those can always change with time. birth mom has about five tasks she has to complete weekly for the next six months. we also know little man needs a lot of prayer. developmentally and behaviorally, he is harder than any parenting, babysitting or nanny-ing i have ever done. we are pretty sure he was exposed to meth during pre-natal development. we also know he was extremely neglected. besides that, we just take one day at a time, because that’s about all we can handle!

addy is doing pretty well – – very two at times aka very strong willed. i am amazed daily at how much she understands and consequently how important it is that i am diligently disciplining and discipline her (oooh tongue twister!). i have had this conversation with her more than once:
me: addy who does Jesus love?
addy: me!
me: and what does Jesus tell addy to do?
addy: obey…
me: who does Jesus tell addy to obey?
addy: mama and daddy and doh doh
me: are you obeying?
addy: nooooooooooo….

addy is also going to have a birthday this month. we are keeping it very small and hopefully less overwhelming. we are celebrating it the day after thanksgiving when all four grandparents, aunts, uncles and her two cousins will be here. besides that, she is just going to have three little “girlfriends” over. sarah and i are sticking to polka dots, rainbow candies, balloons and of course a little elmo. we are starting the week with disneyland with grammie, pops and cousins emma and spencer (oh and some aunties and uncles i guess). we will end the week but getting our christmas tree and putting up all our decorations. i love this time of year!

lastly, moldova…the Lord amazes me with his provision even now. we haven’t even gotten there and the Lord is already working out the details to our residency visas. wow, huh?! we’ve just started the long path of craig’s list and garage sales. what can go now and what goes in a year? need anything in particular? you can place a hold on it. 😀

and on that note, i am going to head back to bed…hopefully. you may notice this is being posted at 2am. i actually went to bed at 9:30 which was 8:30 thanks to the time change. but little baby bean in there decided to spice it up and make me want to puke in the middle of the night and has kept me awake since 1am. which is why i am sitting here, typing and eating rice chex (saltine crackers for the gluten free).

p.s. the pictures are a second trip to the pumpkin patch with uncle nate, auntie dina, grace and zachary. the girls had a blast!

**flashback photos**
addy and grace’s first pumpkin patch was october 2009 – – at least this proves addy’s hair is kind of growing!

addy would like you to know:

the coolest thing is how addy “gets it.” addy and christian were able to go with me to our ultrasound. when they were getting me ready, christian asked her, “what’s in mama’s tummy?” and she nonchalantly replied, “baby. my baby.” i think we can thank stephanie for popping a baby out to teach addy this concept!

as for details…baby should make his or her appearance in late may or knowing my record (addy was two weeks late), possibly early june. we’ve decided to NOT find out what baby is…which means we will have to come up with a cute, boy or girl nickname. lastly, don’t look at me weird and please don’t smell too weird…i might puke on you. just be warned,

this is the fast way to upload pictures when you have two two-year-olds asking for things like food and water and you know, silly things like that! this was a family trip to the pumpkin patch, with grammie and pops klein, auntie dora and auntie sarah. auntie sarah isn’t in the pictures because she took the pictures!

besides that, we are trying to walk forward. i am not sure if it’s one step forward and one step backwards or if it’s two steps forward and one step backwards. the best thing for us to do right now is keep our eyes fixed on Jesus…because He is the one who gives us the strength to love our very sweet yet very angry little man. you can continue to pray that he would sleep, obey and accept love. it helps to read and start to understand what happens when a baby is exposed to drugs in the womb. although it makes me mad that any mother would do that to their baby (or five babies in this case).

we are now in my favorite time of year…yes, my holidays start in october. which means that the “baby” is going to be two years old next month. two? i think that means i should stop calling her a baby and start admitting that she’s a potty-trained, sleep in a big bed toddler. oh my!

p.s. we are still working towards moldova. we’ve been making lists of things to start selling and things to sell next fall. we are studying russian, although a little less with little man here now. we will be posting things on craig’s list and facebook to keep an eye out!

little man is not easy…i gotta confess, he’s been way harder than i ever imagined. there was no “honeymoon” phase like the girls. he’s a little man of sadness, anger and confusion. he’s doesn’t sleep very much and he hates to be confined to a bed. all he wants is television and soda. he spends over 50% of his waking hours crying, wailing, throwing a tantrum or screaming.

but he doesn’t know any better. and as hard as it is…he needs us to teach him and to be patient with him. sometimes at night, i fall into bed, praying that he will stay asleep for just a few hours. i am so thankful that there are three of us adults living in this house! it’s a three to two ratio and it’s still exhausting!

sometimes he cries for a solid hour or two without taking a break. those are the days when i have worship music playing quietly in the background. this is a new song (for me) that i have been listening to on repeat (the quality isn’t great and it’s a tiny bit cheesy but i like that it has the lyrics!):

thanks for praying for us! i put a few more pictures of him on my facebook and will hopefully post more later on.

When we got married (so long ago!), we both felt like our lives would be full time ministry, which is funny because we both had degrees (math and computers) and careers (teaching and programming). We didn’t look like your average pastors or missionaries. We also felt like our time here in Thousand Oaks was both temporary and a training ground. After our church multiplied into two churches and we became Calvary Chapel Skyline, we felt called to say at Skyline and train under Pastor Manny…it’s been harder at times than we thought it would be but we’ve also learned more than we expected! It’s weird to even comprehend leaving Pastor Manny and Karey and serving somewhere else but we know that they have poured into us and we are excited to take that somewhere else.

We won’t be leaving right away. As of right now, we feel like we should serve under Pastor Manny for one more year (and during that time, pray for others to rise up and serve under him!). During this next year we will be working on learning the Russian language (to some extent, immersion will be the best later on), raising some financial support for living over there, getting our things in order and selling quite a few things that we won’t be able to take (garage sales here we come!). Then next fall, we plan on moving up north and spending some time with our families during the holidays and also building a support team in our childhood churches. Our idea would be to move to Moldova in January 2012, so in about 16 months or so. Yes, we do realize that we will be moving during Moldova’s coldest month but we figure it can only get warmer (literally!).

Why Moldova? Eastern Europe has a complicated and twisted history. Moldova’s is even more complicated and more twisted. Early, early history puts Moldova as part of the Ottoman Empire. In 1812, the Treaty of Bucharest was signed and Moldova went from being part of the Ottoman Empire to part of the Russian Empire. World War I dissolved the Russian Empire in 1917 and Moldova became the Moldavian Democratic Republic and joined Greater Romania, although it only lasted until World War II. During the next few years, Moldova went back and forth between Russia and Romania. From the years 1944 to 1991, Moldova was part of the USSR until it declared its own independence on August 27, 1991. Confused yet?

Because of this confusing history, Moldova also has an interesting language history. Moldovan is the “official” language (which is basically Romanian with an accent) but Russian is also widely spoken. Until the fall of the Iron Curtain, Moldovans were forced to use the Cyrillic alphabet (aka Russian alphabet), even though their language was Romanian, which is typically written in the Latin alphabet. This was an attempt by the Soviets to differentiate “their” territory from Romania. There are many quirks like that in Moldova, largely due to Soviet influence. The use of the universal Russian language behind the Iron Curtain is one of the reasons we chose to learn Russian – most (all?) ex-Soviet countries can communicate in Russian.

So, enough with the history lessons, back to the main question – Why Moldova?  First off, the poverty. Moldova is the poorest European country. It’s not 3rd-world poor, but it’s pretty bad. When we were last there, we met a family who lived on the 4th floor of an apartment building and had no running water. Every drop of fresh water they had to pull from a well and walk up 4 flights of stairs. Every drop of waste had to be carried down. Convenient?  Not at all – thank you Communism!  One thing that can definitely help with poverty is education – something we will be taking part in. The simplest way to start is to teach English. Since we will be living in a University town, this should be fairly easy to start. Every skill can help a family better themselves.

The second, more prominent reason is based on our faith. We need to save souls. Over 90% of the country considers themselves “Christian” but they are bound to the Orthodox church. This was also a holdover from Communism. During Soviet reign, the only sanctioned church was the Russian Orthodox church. The Communists would send spies to periodically check on each church and ensure that no rebellious talk of “freedom in Christ” or anything of the like was being preached. If so, the priest of that particular parish would disappear and a new priest would take over. The new priest would undoubtedly be pro-Communist. That being said, most Moldovans have no idea who Jesus Christ is or why He came to Earth. That is something we have a heart to change.

We believe that God has created each human with body, soul, and spirit. The Bible says that we are “dead in our sins and trespasses” implying that our spirits are born dead. When you believe that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and God in the flesh, came to earth, lived a perfect life, died on the cross and was resurrected, you enter into a personal relationship with Him. This knowledge and belief is necessary to resurrect the dead spirit within each of us. This is the essence of being “born again.”  This is the information Moldovans need. We recognize that people everywhere need to know this, but we feel specifically called to share this information with Moldova. We are moving there for the people. Because we want to see more faces in Heaven.

“For ‘whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’  How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed?  And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?  And how shall they hear without a preacher?  And how shall they preach unless they are sent?  As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!'” Romans 10:13-15

That is our desire. Please join us in this endeavor. Walking in Faith for the Glory of God.

Maybe you’ve heard a rumor. Maybe you are in the dark. Maybe you don’t even care. 🙂 Bottom line: it’s true. The Lord has shown us a direction, a step of faith to take and praise Him, because we are going to take it.

Moldova. We went there in March 2009, when Addy was three months old and we were there for about six weeks (or maybe it was eight). We spent the majority of our time in Briceni, Moldova visiting (and encouraging) our friends and missionaries, Steven and Teresa Yeats. Deep down, I thought the Lord was finally calling us into overseas missions (a dream since childhood). He wasn’t, although He was asking Christian to leave Amgen and go into full time ministry (and work alongside me at our church, Calvary Chapel Skyline) when we got home to Thousand Oaks.

That in itself was a lot…learning to live on a ministry salary (it’s different from a computer programmer’s in case you were wondering), learning that ministry doesn’t really have “work hours,” learning that Satan wants to attack everything he can when you are sharing in the Lord’s work…the list goes on! Then we became foster parents and welcomed our precious girls (Aaliyah, Bea and Aalysha) into our lives. Life was full, crazy and pretty good.

In May, the Lord moved the girls to the San Diego area. It was hard but now I can see how much better it is for them. We weren’t really sure what came next so we just stayed buried so to speak, in church stuff. Summertime is crazy at most churches, including here, so we were completely distracted. The three of us went to La Gloria, Mexico followed by Carpinteria Family Camp followed by Vacation Bible School (when Christian “had” to shave his head for his character!) followed by a Gleanings for the Hungry with the youth followed by an amazing wedding we helped plan/coordinate. Awesome, yet exhausting.

Somehow in the middle of it all, the Lord started doing something. You know, when He plants that “I’m going to show you something” seed in your heart? We tried to pray and wait patiently but we really wondered what the Lord was doing. Over and over He started giving us two thoughts: the Yeats family and the Russian language. Right away we thought, Briceni…but the answer was continually no. We were a little confused because although we knew missionaries in Ukraine we felt like we were being called to serve alongside the Yeats. We spent a few days confused, frustrated and uncertain until we finally decided to simply email Steven and Teresa.

That was our first major confirmation. Come to find out, the Lord had been showing Steven and Teresa that their time in Briceni was coming to an end and they were praying about a different (Russian speaking) city. We also found out that they had been feeling the exhaustion of being missionaries in a foreign country (without any other missionaries working alongside them). Steven told us that they had been praying for five years that the Lord would send them like-minded missionaries to serve alongside them. On top of that, their time line to plant a church elsewhere in Moldova and when we thought we would go over to Moldova lined up. We were very encouraged after hearing from them!

Since then, we have asked the Lord to either open the door wide or slam it shut in our face! So far He has been confirming this call through the encouragement of believers that we trust and giving us very encouraging scriptures. I was reading the morning after we heard from Steven and Teresa and I read this verse:
But my life is worth nothing unless I use it for doing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus–the work of telling others the Good News about God’s wonderful kindness and love.
Acts 20:24
Someone told Christian to read Mark…when he got to chapter 10, he found himself camping on these verses:
Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel’s sake, but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life.
Mark 10: 29 & 30
Then of course a few days later, someone emailed me those verses also plus these verses:
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal. If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.”
John 12: 24-26

We know the steps to take next, but it is going to be difficult still. We love our families. We have been blessed with four adoring grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends. My Mom and my Sisters are my best friends. Yet the one thing I keep remembering is that I only have a short time left to share Jesus and salvation with the world but someday I will spend eternity with my Mom, Dad, brothers, sisters and friends. Plus, I am also blessed to know that we will have modern technology (Skype!) and I truly believe we will get some visitors too! (Mom, the temperature is perfect in the Spring and Fall, I promise.)

I was going to explain why Moldova and where in Moldova but I think I will save that for a later post because this one is long and deep enough! As for when…well we are still praying about that but I will also explain what we are thinking as of right now. I will try to put the second part up in a day or two. 🙂

auntie doh took pictures of addy. originally i planned on taking 18 month pictures but somehow they became 20 month pictures. it was fun anyway! addy is getting a quirky personality – – opinionated (like her mama?) yet with a good sense of humor (like her daddy?!) she’s my little helper with everything – – cooking, cleaning, working. she’s really into her body parts and identifying them. i finally started writing down the ones she shows me (daily!).

the common ones:

head – hair – face – ear – nose – eye – mouth – teeth – tongue – lips – arm – hand

finger – tummy – leg – foot – belly button – elbow – knee

and a few she named herself (i hope):

piggies – stinky pit – booty booty booty – ba bas

piggies are toes, thanks to grammie. i’m not sure where stinky pits came from and yes, she always says booty three times in a row. if you can’t do the math on the last one, ask yor mama. 🙂

disclaimer: this post isn’t to say you shouldn’t have an iphone…it’s just to explain why i don’t have an iphone anymore. christian still has his. and i still borrow it sometimes.

on that note, i don’t have an iphone anymore. it all started with juice, cranberry juice to be exact. we don’t drink a lot of juice around here but last week addy started fighting an infection, the kind that is made better from cranberry juice. so like all good mothers, i let her sip on cranberry juice/water in her sippy cup for two days. i kept it in a large water bottle and would pour some into her sippy cup. little did i know that she thought it would be quite the science experiment to pour the entire bottle of juice into the diaper bag. 🙂 by the time i discovered it, my things had experienced quite the nice cranberry soak.

i should back up. i got my iphone in may 2009 because i needed it. i’m serious, it was a true need. i needed to check my email on the go. i needed to use it to schedule things and keep track of things. it served its purpose quite well and before i knew it, i needed to be on the facebook app and i needed to be taking pictures and i needed to be downloading and uploading and overloading! then this past april (or maybe march) i was running errands with my four children (did you catch that? four. my excuse.) and as i was getting into the car i set my phone on the bumper of my car and it stayed there until i got on the freeway. and hours later sarah found it, crunched and run over. and i was grumpy. i don’t mean bummed, i mean down right grumped out because my iphone was junk. which meant i needed to run into the apple store so they could “buy back” my iphone and allow me to buy a new one for only $199 (instead of $499 or something), which i will confess now that i promptly did. same day, i think. because, i needed wanted it.

and then i happily used my iphone to its full potential until the juice incident. about a day or two before, i was thinking about how distracted i get with my phone. i will be sitting right next to someone, not talking to them at all, just clicking away in my own little iphone-marie world…i’ve found myself checking emails on dates with my husband and yes, i’ve even read blogs during church. something inside of me was starting to feel that little prickly un-comfort-able-ness aka conviction.

enter juice. i have no idea if my phone was actually damaged. when i realized that my diaper bag (technically a small blue backpack from target) was dripping juice, i quickly pulled everything out, including said iphone. it did have some juice on it so i turned it off and did what every responsible cell phone owner does…i put it in a ziplock of uncooked rice (to absorb the moisture). and i left it there for three or four days. day one, i just felt out of place. i missed my facebook app. day two, i felt relieved…i had so much less to worry about. day three hit and it was simply freedom. 🙂 yet a little part of me wanted my iphone back. i wanted to run into the apple store and pay them $199 for a brand new one. i think i considered it but as i was working on my computer, itunes “randomly” shuffled “pretty things” by tenth avenue north.

Look at all the pretty things
That steal my heart away
I can feel I’m fading
‘Cause Lord I love so many things
That keep me from Your face
Come and save me

ouch. for some reason, when songs echo my convictions, i listen. you know, some are auditory and some are visual and i am musical. i can still sing the books of the bible in order. ask me sometime. 🙂

anyway…i didn’t need my iphone anymore. it was like, poof! addiction desire bye-bye. i think i confused christian because i had made it so important in the past and now i was trying to convince him that i didn’t even care if my iphone worked. i never turned it back on (with the sim card in it). i backed it up, saved some pictures and put my sim card in an older yet simply simple cell phone. and i l-o-v-e it. i do two things on this cell phone…i talk and i text. i use it to communicate with other people when needed. and i have so much more time on my hands, it’s embarrassing and yet encouraging. okay i will confess i haven’t set up the voicemail on the new cell phone because 1, i don’t know how and 2, there is also something very nice about not having messages. i will set it up soon though, i promise.

the Lord has been giving me this verse this past week.

But
my life is worth nothing unless I use it for doing the work assigned me
by the Lord Jesus–the work of telling others the Good News about God’s
wonderful kindness and love. Acts 20:24

it’s convicting, inspiring and oh so beautiful. worth nothing. that’s what my life will be after i am dead if i am not “about my Father’s business.” i don’t have a lot of time, but i definitely have more than ever (thank you cranberry juice) so i better get moving!

like i said, please don’t think you need to get rid of your cell phone. some people have iphones and self control. i’m the kind of person that just needs to toss the whole thing. i don’t keep food i am allergic to in my own house. i’ll work on that one later. 🙂

Pretty Things – Tenth Avenue North

We are, we are, we’re caught in the in between
Of who we already are and who we are yet to be
And we’re looking for love but finding we’re still in need
It’s only what we have lost will we be allowed to keep

And we’re waiting but our eyes are wandering
To all this earth holds dear

Look at all the pretty things
That steal my heart away
I can feel I’m fading
‘Cause Lord I love so many things
That keep me from Your face
Come and save me

We run we run to finally be set free
But we’re fighting fighting for what we’ve already received

So we’re waiting but our eyes are wandering
To all this earth holds dear

Look at all the pretty things
That steal my heart away
I can feel I’m fading
‘Cause Lord I love so many things
That keep me from Your face
Come and save me

We are we are caught in the in between
But we’re fighting for what we already have received
We are we are caught in the in between
But we’re fighting for what we already have received

Look at all the pretty things
That steal my heart away
I can feel I’m fading
‘Cause Lord I love so many things
That keep me from Your face
Come and save me

addy is a toddler in every way including her obsession with routine.

she takes her diaper off “ewwww gross!” and throws it away.

she gets a book read to her while she, well you can figure this one out!

she yells at the top off her lungs, “yi-yoh off!” which unfortunately does no good because shiloh hasn’t figured out that her other name is “yi-yoh.”

she helps mama make banana-raisin oatmeal with “fife rai-ins” which means we count out five raisins. i have no idea where she came up with wanting five and only five raisins in her oatmeal.

she watches elmo’s world while mama and daddy have quiet time (not sesame street, just elmo’s world).

we find her like this if she finishes before us. don’t worry…if i freaked out every time i found her on top of something, i’d be a freaked out parent. you can’t tell but we had already lowered her high chair due to her freakish monkey tendencies.

this one isn’t so routine but often she gets loose while getting dressed and takes a reading drive…hey, it’s better than texting while driving, right?!

she gets her hair done and brushes her teeth with her dora electric toothbrush. i didn’t get a picture but she also kisses dora before she turns it off each time. weird?

and that is 25 minutes in addy’s life.

this is a catch up post. i am going to get two months worth of activities done at once. we are doing well…healing…allowing the Lord to move and work…and staying very busy! summer activities hit full force and i find myself with less time than before for things like laundry, cooking and cleaning…much less taking pictures! i don’t know how, since i have 3/4 less kids in the house but who knows!

this is my little girl. i think she is eighteen months in this picture. now she is almost 20 months which i think means we are done with months. do i say one and a half or soon will i say going on two? either way she sounds so old! she is such a joy in my life and has really made me smile and laugh these past two months.

this was a visit from uncle drewgie. five minutes into him being here, addy knew he was always willing to break the rules for her.

who could go to bed after that?

we all went to indiana for my cousin laurie’s wedding. i don’t have any pictures yet…i’m planning on stealing (getting?) them from sarah!

i made gluten free muffins for the first time ever. i made banana muffins so i didn’t even like them…but addy loved them!

zachary’s mohawk (shhhh, don’t tell his dad!)

auntie sarah’s 22nd birthday

yup, that’s muh kid

father’s day. this year we had grammie, pops and auntie dora visiting! can you tell that she is a little excited to give him his cards (which were not all from her…she was excited to give him cards from others, too!)

does it come any cuter?

one time long ago, she drove me crazy…but now she is my friend (awww, insert gooshy comments here). i wuv her a lot, but no…i cannot move in with you and sleep in bunk beds. 🙂

finger painting! addy loves, loves, loves crafts…so most afternoons after nap, we have a little craft. normally they aren’t this intense nor messy. but sometimes we like to live on the edge around here!

potty training and enjoying old sesame street shows…i love that she still has some baby chubs on her!

we went on addy’s second missions trip to mexico. we went to calvary training center, la gloria and it was an awesome trip. addy did great and made friends everywhere she went. she came home saying, “hola!”

gwen also came with her mom, melissa. it was fun having another toddler on this trip.

doing a little work around the place:

hanging out together:

one of the things we did was take a group of kids to the beach. some of the kids had never even seen the beach before. they never even hesitated. they got out of their van and just ran straight for the water. maybe i should mention it was freezing. not overcast and nice but actually freezing. like windy rain in your face with the chills kind of cold.

gwen had a healthy sense of “that’s just plain dumb to get in the water.”

addy on the other hand didn’t even care. i finally had to bring her out of the water when her lips looked blue and her teeth were chattering.

most of the kids didn’t have swimsuits…some went in their underwear (smart, because they had dry clothes to put on afterward). some just went in their clothing.

this little guy was so cold at one point that his whole body was shivering.

addy was very busy moving all the sand!

i think this is the only picture of addy and mama in mexico…thanks christian!

“hey, it’s not working!”

“that’s cause it goes the other way!”

taking a break to warm up…

shopping…this is what we tend to think of when we talk about tijuana…

boys being boys

addy being addy

calvary chapel skyline with the ctc la gloria staff:

calvary chapel skyline with calvary chapel gilroy:

brennan, angelina, james and charmaine (ctc la gloria staff):

haircut! i gave addy the teeniest, tiniest trim. it wasn’t much because her hair isn’t very long yet. but she had this little duck-tail-mullet thing going on and it was starting to make me laugh…here’s an example of what i’m talking about:

i didn’t really touch the front. i don’t want bangs (no mom, i don’t think i’m that scarred from the 90’s poof), i just want her hair to grow! this picture by the way, was me telling her, “say cheese addy!”

ahhh yes, play with mama’s ipod so you will sit still for a picture! i was surprised after trimming it, because it got a little more curly and flipped out. definitely an improvement in my opinion. bye bye mullet for the second time!

i had forgotten that in may 2009, we cut her dark baby hair mullet off also. wow, i forgot how dark her hair was!

before:

after:

family camp. yet another example of NOT taking pictures. i don’t think i even picked up the camera. these are a few pictures sarah snapped with my camera. what is wrong with me?!

it was a blast. families camped the entire time, part of the time or just came up for the day. addy did surprisingly well sleeping in the tent on an air mattress. the only rough part was that she was still getting over her cold and kind of miserable. we realized that we also need a bigger tent so that she can have her own pack n’ play.

pastor manny is preaching through mark on wednesday nights. i was reflecting on this verse this past week:
“but these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.” mark 4:20
it’s more than just hearing. it’s more than just accepting. it’s bearing fruit also, which includes growth, pruning and all that “stuff.” how’s the ground of our hearts doing? are we the bearing fruit kind or the choking fruit kind?

until next time!