Movin' and Groovin'

This morning we went to a "concert" at the Library with my mom and younger siblings.  My mom caught this video of Emerson getting his groove on.  I don't know what got into him, because normally he is super clingy in situations like this.  Anyway, here' E gettin' down.

Always Kisses

How we spend our summer days:

Summer rain puddle crawling...

 in our Sunday clothes.

 Afternoons of swimming...

 and playing dress-up (his request, not mine. promise.)

And kisses.

Always kisses.

Family Fun Night

This past Friday night, after a long-ish week, I spontaneously decided we needed a fun family night.  And off we went.  First was dinner at Chick-fil-A.  Emerson is at that age where he enjoys getting to play in the play place after we eat.  There is a little toddler wall that is good for kids his age.

Next, we were off to Emerson's first NWA Natural's game.  We chose grass seating because it was cheapest and it gave Emerson room to run around.  He's kind of a ball of energy these days.  He was fascinated by the game and all the older kids running around us.  After a few innings, we went and played on the playground out past center field.  We ended up staying about half the game.

And on our way out, we ran into a few good friends!!  This is one of Emerson's friends, Evalie.  Isn't she adorable?  She is 5 days younger than E.

It was a fantastic evening and it was fun watching Emerson all wide-eyed taking everything in.  Family fun night was just what we needed.  It was the perfect way to kick off the weekend!

Reassurance

The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.  Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.  And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.         2 Corinthians 9:6-8

Sometimes, the enemy feeds me lies that make me have doubts about foster care.  I love the time I have with Emerson and I wonder how he will handle another kid around.  One morning recently, I spent some time with the Lord asking Him for reassurance of this call.  I know He already made it clear to us that this is our current task, but I wanted a reminder.  I am human and fleshly and I need reassurance sometimes.  But just in those few minutes I spent in prayer about it, God was good, gracious, and patient.  He gave me overwhelming reassurance about this. 

Who am I to think that God cannot use this for Emerson's good?  I pray that this experience will be used to teach Emerson important lessons and values.  Values of loving others sacrificially.  Lessons about opening your home and looking for needs around you.  Foster care will be very demanding of our time, emotions, and energy.  I hope when we are in the midst of it, we can choose to be cheerful givers of those things... not doing it reluctantly or under compulsion.  I find so much encouragement in that last verse, that God can make ALL GRACE ABOUND to us, so that we will have EVERYTHING we need at ANY MOMENT to abound in every good work.  The Lord knows we won't be able to do it in our own strength, and I know I will probably learn the truth of that statement better than I want to. 

God is so good and patient with me.  We start our training in a month!  I will let you know how it goes.  Also, I stumbled across a blog today and felt I should share this post and this post with any tired mothers out there.  Find encouragement :)  Thanks for listening, friends.

Whole Wheat Blueberry Pancakes

I recently bought whole wheat flour on a whim.  Naturally, I had to look up some whole wheat recipes, because I had none.  I have since made whole wheat chocolate chip cookies, blueberry muffins, and blueberry pancakes.  I used to be a Bisquik gal when it came to pancakes, but I have converted to the whole wheat, homemade pancake and haven't looked back!  With whole wheat flour, the pancakes seem much heartier and you feel healthier eating them.  I want to share the recipe I've used with you.  It was found here, and I only made a couple changes.  The first change was that I doubled it.  The second was that I replaced the artificial sweetener with sugar.  I don't really do artificial sweetener these days.  Here is my version of the recipe.

Whole Wheat Blueberry Pancakes

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
2 eggs
2 Cups of milk, plus more if necessary
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons of sugar
1 cup blueberries*

1.   Mix together flour and baking powder, set aside. Beat the egg, milk, salt and sugar in a bowl. Stir in flour until just moistened, add blueberries, and stir to incorporate. Add additional milk if batter is too thick.
2. Preheat a skillet over medium heat, and spray with cooking spray. Pour desired amount of the batter into the pan for each pancake. Cook until bubbly.  Turn, and continue cooking until golden brown.

 *Tip: I used frozen blueberries and if you do this, you may want to let your berries thaw a little bit before cooking the pancakes or the batter surrounding the blueberries will not cook as fast as the rest of the pancake, resulting in batter-y spots.

I like recipes like this, because you usually have most of the ingredients on hand (especially if you buy frozen blueberries).  It makes for a great weekend breakfast.  I hope you enjoy!

Summer Fun

I was right when I predicted that Emerson would love camping this summer.  He soaked it up.  He was in Emerson heaven.  The constant outdoor living, hiking, and eating was just his cup of tea.  One highlight in my opinion was the hiking, mostly because we discovered wild blueberries and blackberries along the trails.  These helped keep Emerson pacified and it was fun to eat them straight off the bush.  It made me want to grow my own berries (I am not normally a blueberry fan, but I thought these were fantastic).  My other favorite part was the swimming.  Emerson took a few minutes to warm up to it, but was soon laughing and splashing along with the rest of us.  Sadly, I left my camera at home, but we got some amazing pics on my mom's camera, which I need to steal from her.

You have heard me talk about my playgroup before.  We have been meeting weekly for about a year now.  When we first started, the babies all just laid there, or we would have group nursing sessions, while the moms talked.  Now, we spend the whole time chasing our toddlers around, while trying to keep a conversation going on the side.  It's crazy how the babies have changed the past year.  All us moms agree that this group is a tremendous blessing.  I cannot express how neat it is to go through this new motherhood thing alongside other new moms.  We get encouragement, venting sessions, and adult interaction from this group.  And it has just been awesome how much our personalities click.  For the first time, we had a mom's night out this week, while the daddies watched the babies.  It was SO fun.  There was much laughter.  We had dinner out and watched the What to Expect When You're Expecting movie... let's just say there was laughter and tears, the whole spectrum of emotions.  The fact that we could relate to the pregnant women just made it all the funnier.  I love this group and I think we have been very blessed to find these friendships.

Here are a few pictures of life this week.

At the park one evening, after it cooled off.  We are very much regulars lately, as I'm sure we will be for years to come.

Emerson's new pastime.