live what you love

"When we truly understand what it means to love as Jesus Christ loves us, the confusion clears and our priorities align. Our lives take on new meaning. Our relationship with our Heavenly Father becomes more profound."


"God the Eternal Father did not give that first great commandment because He needs us to love Him. His power and glory are not diminished should we disregard, deny, or even defile His name. His influence and dominion extend through time and space independent of our acceptance, approval, or admiration.


No, God does not need us to love Him. But oh, how we need to love God!

For what we love determines what we seek.

What we seek determines what we think and do.

What we think and do determines who we are—and who we will become.

Since the beginning of time, love has been the source of both the highest bliss and the heaviest burdens. At the heart of misery you will find the love of wrong things. And at the heart of joy, you will find the love of good things.

And the greatest of all good things is God."

Dieter F. Uchdorf, "The Love of God"
 
Live what you love.

Easter Testimony

**Remember to pause our jukebox on the sidebar to enjoy this video.**
With this great act of love, hope was born.  Hope for all is not lost and there is a way back.  May we all try a little harder to be a little better disciple of Christ in this Easter season.  May our lives be our testimony of Christ and his ultimate sacrifice.

you can call me toothless

It finally happened!  After ages and ages (Madelynne's own words) of waiting Madelynne's wobbly tooth finally came out!!!!!!!!!

Here is how it went down.

Madelynne and Jackson were pretending to be puppies.  They were up on the top bunk of the bunk beds and were using my bathrobe tie as a leash which they were putting around their waists.  Jackson decided it could also double as a puppy toy and placed the end of the bathrobe tie into Madelynne's mouth.  Madelynne bit down and Jackson tugged on the bathrobe tie with all his might.  Madelynne's wobbly tooth literally went flying.  Her reaction?

"Oh my!  Oh my!  Mom, I really LOST my tooth!"

She was worried since her tooth went flying we would not be able to find it for her to put under her pillow for the tooth fairy to come.  Thankfully, we found it on the floor of their bedroom with little to no effort spent in the search.

The next morning Madelynne was ecstatic to find four "dollars" (known to the rest of us as quarters) under her pillow.  She is already planning for the next lost tooth money making opportunity.

This whole experierence makes me smile.  The fact Jackson is the one who pulled out Madelynne's tooth (classic Jackson) and Madelynne telling Jackson, "You can call me Toothless if you want." (we have been watching How to Train Your Dragon a lot around here).  Not to mention the cute little lisp that showed up once the tooth was out.  Priceless memory or should I say toothless...

flashback friday



Girls just wanna have fun!



fancy nancy birthday extravaganza

fancy friends...

fancy birthday girl...

fancy family...

fancy food...

fancy baubles...

fancy lights and butterflies...

fancy accessories...

fancy treat bags...

fancy pile of gifts...

...made for a spectacular birthday party.

really ever so busy

So here is an end of the year recap:

We filled up our gratitude tree with thankful leaves.

We spent a few days visiting with my parents at Thanksgiving and stuffing ourselves with turkey.

Some of us even fell asleep at the dinner table.
 

Madelynne turned five and we celebrated in style (more on that later).

We squeezed in a visit to this guy.

And we fit in one more surgery to round out the year.  Jackson had  his second set of tubes placed on December 22nd.  Of course his best buddy, Stanley, was with him the whole time.

happy new year

"People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."

Maya Angelou