Let Me Bring You Up To Speed Here...

Okay, so it's July 7th..... JULY!!! How in the world did that happen? I cannot believe how quickly the summer is flying by. Things always seem to be somewhat crazy in the Jackson household (controlled chaos), but I'm tellin' ya, it's been busy!!

So what have we been up to? Let's see... graduation parties, weddings, play dates, birthday parties, meetings, trips to the park, happy hour at Sonic (Yay!), hiking, picnicking, vacation Bible school, and generally trying to keep the kids from saying "Mom, there's nothing to do. I'm bored!" So, that's pretty much it in a nutshell. I've decided to stick all these summer memories in a slide show, and share that way.

We'll be camping on the coast in a couple weeks and hopefully I'll have some good stories (and pics) to share from that.

Oh...ya know what? This is totally random and way off topic, but if I don't blog about it now, I never will. A couple weeks ago Lyndsey (age 9) and Gracie (age 5) were playing around and pretending to jab each other, as would a boxer. They were being gentle with each other, of course, and Gracie threw a jab and hit Lynds on the left side of her chest, right around her heart. It didn't really hurt, and Lyndsey didn't complain, but Gracie exclaimed "Oh, I'm sorry, I woke him up!" Lyndsey said "What? Woke who up?" Grace responded "Jesus. He's in your heart and I think I woke him up!" Crack me up!!! These are the things I want to remember, and share with them when they're older, but sure I'll forget. It was so sweet :)

Okay, story number 2, which is just as off topic as the last story. The other day Adam was getting ready in the bathroom and Emily walked up to him and gave him a good jab in the gut. (Our girls really aren't that violent, but it sure sounds that way!) She didn't say anything, but just kept staring at Adam. Adam then said to her, "What was that?" Emily's response: "A piece of me!" Crack me up again! Emily and Grace often go around saying "You want a piece of me? I'll give you a piece of me!" Oh man, they make me laugh :)

Okay, now that I have shared all of that, I am ready to share our pictures which pretty much summed up our month of June and the beginning of July. Enjoy your summer, friends :)

It's All Good

The last week or so has been a reminder of how much I have to be thankful for. Not everything has been perfect; it's not as if life is just cruising along without any problems or cares. There are things that keep me prayerfully seeking the Lord's direction. Life is still a matter of daily surrendering to His desires, which are slowly becoming my desires. It's still a struggle. But, lately I have had an overflow of God's goodness. There's never a time where His goodness is less or more, but maybe I am just more aware of it lately.

I think I'll use pictures to illustrate the things that have made my heart sing within the past week.

Having fun with my amazing family

Having fun with amazing friends

Green toe socks make me laugh

Making new friends and enjoying lots of laughter

Shopping and getting fantastic bargains

Enjoying a beautiful sunset over the Pacific Ocean

Knowing I was missed while away from home

Savoring coffee from the coffee shop down the street. Yum!

Learning and being challenged by reading an incredible book. I highly recommend it!

Planting PINK azalea bushes

My life is full of God's unending grace, love, and joy! I am so thankful for the times when I am "extra" aware of His greatness. Whether I am crawling through the dessert, or basking in the sun and blue skies, my God is good all the time. All the time my God is good. It's all good, my friends :)

Does A Mama's Heart Good!

Mother's Day has come and gone again for 2009. Every year it's a day of remembrance for me. I take time throughout my day to remember becoming a mom to my 4 precious girls. I remember the day each one was born and then recall how each girl has grown so much since then. I ponder on how they've filled my life so completely.

When I was very little (maybe 4 or 5) I knew then that I wanted to be a wife and mom. It's ALL I really wanted for my future. I recall my high school banquet at my church the year I graduated. We were to tell everyone what our plans were for college/work and what our life goals were. Even then, my only desire was to be a wife and mom. I'm sure it sounded silly, but it truly was one of my biggest dreams. I remember after announcing that as my "goal," someone saying to me "Ok, but besides that, what do you want to do??" Well, I only knew who I wanted to be. I wanted to be my husband's best friend and helper. I wanted to be the mom who spent time talking with her kids and teaching them things. I wanted to be the one to nurse them through sickness (Boy, have I been able to do that this year!!!), comfort them when they had a bad dream, and assuming I had a girl (try 4 girls!) I wanted to paint toenails, go shopping for earrings, and sing and dance together. I wanted to teach them about Jesus and His immense love for them. IT'S ALL I EVER WANTED!! :)

Needless to say, God blessed me beyond measure and gave me a husband who keeps loving my-imperfect-self, and 4 beautiful daughters who melt my heart on many occasions. Speaking of melting my heart, I had something from our second daughter, Hannah, that I wanted to share.

The week before Mother's Day was my birthday. I was spoiled rotten by my family and loved every minute of it :) When I was ready for church, I came downstairs to find cards and gifts awaiting me. Sweet! Hannah's card was especially touching. You might not be able to make out the pictures very well, but I'll write what she had written, spelling as is.

This is the front page...I think it's legible.

Why do I like Mommy? Because she is sweet. She is nice. She cooks delicious food.

She buys me toys. She cares for me and the hole family. She helps me when I am sikc.

She helps me with my homework. She buys food for the family. She gave me a room. She loves me.

She goes out to the store with me. She does lots and lots of work. She is a Qreen. And that is why I like mommy.

In this book Hannah is telling about why she likes mommy.

And that right there makes me so incredibly thankful to be Hannah's mom! And Lyndsey' mom. And Gracie's mom. And Emily's mom. I have been blessed :)

So Sweet!

As I said in my last post, my parents came for a visit this past weekend. It was for a short time, but I enjoyed every minute of it. Almost all of the pictures we took are on my parents' camera, but there was one shot in particular that we took on our camera. I had to share it with you because I LOVE IT!!!

I will be posting more pics later, but just had to share this one of Lyndsey and her Grandpa :) It's just so sweet!!!

On a side note~ Mom and Dad, I wish you could see Portland now....the sun is actually shining and you can see lots of blue sky :)

The Countdown

We found out last month that my parents are coming from Ohio to visit us. Very exciting, of course, but for our 4 girls it seemed so far off in the future.

Last weekend the girls were being "crafty" and started making a paper chain. As they were busy at work, Gracie asked me (for probably the 100th time) how long until Grandma and Grandpa got here. I responded (for probably the 100th time) "27 more days." And then I decided that the paper chain they were making could serve a purpose. I proposed that we put a "link" in the chain equal to the days left until Grandma and Grandpa's arrival. They were happy to finish their masterpiece and hang it up.

So now when someone says "How much longer 'til Grandpa and Grandma come?" I only need point them to the countdown chain and they can tally it up themselves. I figure I'm strengthening their math skills, right? *wink*

They actually had a lot of fun doing it as a team and they take turns for the daily removal of one of the links. We're looking forward to the upcoming visit, and although it will be short, I'm sure it will be sweet too! Speaking of sweet....

I decided to hop in too

Family Photos

It's been a very long time since we've had professional pictures taken of our family . I believe Hannah was only 2 and the twins were just starting to "bake in the oven." So, I guess we're looking at a good 5 years. Yikes. Way overdue.

Last month we finally got the chance to have them taken. We wanted to get them done sooner, but we had to wait for Emily's black eye to go away. That's another story, though. Anywho, I had all 4 girls in their outfits, hair done, and practiced smiles in place. We were ready. The photo studio is close to the church my husband works at, so he just met us there.

To make a long, drawn out story somewhat shorter, we finally got them all taken. Grace and Emily were all smiles the whole time and Hannah Boo was such a ham....sometimes smiling a little too much :) Lyndsey, our oldest, shed some tears before our family shots were taken, so we didn't have too many to choose from where she was smiling and didn't have red, swollen eyes. Oh well. Eventually she warmed up and we got some awesome shots of the 4 girls.

I thought I'd share a few of my favorites.

Stylin'

I wanted to post this last week. Guess I forgot. Better late than never.

Sometime last week, I told the twins to go upstairs and get dressed after breakfast. They usually ask what they should wear, but this day they didn't, and I didn't offer any suggestions. I thought they could handle this decision on their own. Gracie did pretty well picking out her attire for the day. The colors probably weren't the combination mommy would've picked, but some battles just aren't worth fighting, ya know? ;) I waited for Emily to come downstairs so I could see her outfit of choice. Emily has a style all her own. Exhibits A and B....

Man, I love that girl of mine! She's got spunk!