1/4 of a year!

Just a quick post here. Our daughter is 3 months old today- thank the Lord! How we love and enjoy her. It's amazing the love God gives for a child. It's unexplainable! Thank you, precious Lord, for the gift of our daughter and for your continued mercy in her life. Our prayer is that she will know the Lord Jesus Christ as her Saviour.

We love you, Mikayla Grace! Happy 3 months!

My Mikayla

The Breakfast Club

Well, here they are. The ladies who attended the breakfast today at my house @ 7am. What a good time we had. Attendees included Grannybear, Pwe, Christy, and Miss Mikayla. Thanks for coming, ladies! Love you all:)

My Beautiful Mommy!

I want to share something special my mom did for me. We've been having hot water heater problems since Sunday. To make a longer story shorter, two nights ago, we had to stay @ my parents' house. After Mikayla was fed, my mom volunteered to stay up with our crying girl so Jody and I could sleep. An hour or so later, I woke up to Mikayla crying, so I went to check on her and lo and behold, my sweet mommy was holding Mikayla, rocking her, and saying nice things to her. It's a precious (yes, precious, SS) memory I'll always have of them. Then, I woke up to breakfast in bed from my sweet mommy!!! :) She brought me a bagel with light Promise butter, oatmeal (sorry, Laura:), oj, and grapes. Wow, I'm certainly blessed! Here's a picture of her I took this morning. She might not like it, but I think (know) she's beautiful inside and out! Love you, Mamalou!

A tiny bit more info about the cake

I like Spurgeon's quotes; they are so cool sometimes. (can ya read it?)

Good morning. What a beautiful day the Lord's given us. This morning was so gorgeous!! Mikayla and I walked for an hour (phew!) @ Coggin Park from 7-8. This kind older man said I was doing a good job and gave me a thumb's up sign. Did I mention the fact that I was red-faced and sweaty? Well, I was. We must have been quite a sight to behold.

About the cake. It was made from a cake mix. That's not such a bad thing, is it? For some silly reason (pride?) (cakes from cake mixes are GOOD, right? well, at least easier) I didn't want to share that, but there it is. Open for all the world to see. Well, the blogging world, at least. There, I did it.

It's so nice to have my mommy home!!! How I enjoy spending time with her. She took some BEAUTIFUL pictures from her trip up North. The best part is she and my dad are treating us to Corina's on Friday for watering their plants. Whooo hoo!!! All that hard work is finally going to pay off! They've got the BEST cherry coke. Rats. Oh yeah, they have pretty good food, too:)

No pics of BG today; maybe later:) She's growing so fast. AND, last night was the 2nd night in a row that SHE SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT. Maybe that's why I'm feeling so good:) I've gotten some much needed rest. sigh. smile.

Ok, here goes:

The story behind the picture of the cake. I entered a cake contest for the 3M picnic, and I had the most horrible time making it! It was very ugly (not to mention BROWN) and lop-sided. So Jody comes home (at 11:20) the night before the picnic and says they're grading it on 3 things:

1. appearance (gulp)
2. texture
3. taste

So, I told him to look at the cake and he said, "should we go to Wal-Mart and get more stuff to make another one?" How's that for a little confirmation that I made a less-than-desirable looking cake??

Anyway, needless to say, I didn't place (1st prize- $100 2nd- $50). I didn't want to. Ok, I'm kidding. But the good news is, it got eaten at the picnic and we only brought ONE piece home:) And the moment we walked in the door after the picnic, my sweet Joseph got out a fork and ate the very last piece. What a sweetie!

And we celebrated his first Father's Day. So, here's Baby Girl and her daddy on Father's Day:)

Story to follow...

But, here's the pic: now doesn't that spark your curiosity?

She's working on it

This is Mikayla's first Father's Day to be a part of, so she's writing in a card for her Grandpa (not the "rocky road" one, but the other:). She's such a hoot! I guess she's left-handed, and as my mom says, most gifted people are!

AND, Thank the Lord, Naomi Joy Risse was born last night around 10pm to Mike and Misty Risse:))) She was 22 1/2"(I think) and weighed in at 9lb. 10 oz. Wow! I do wish I had a picture, but alas, I don't:( Mommy and Baby are doing splendidly; thank you for your prayers!

I got a clean bill of health @ the dentist today. So, I'm good for another 6 months. It's not much fun going, but it sure is fun leaving. There's just something about the dentist... Don't get me wrong, he's a great one.

Lord willing, I'll be attending church services this evening with my special friend Christy, yep the one who walks with me and yesterday we went 3 miles together. Yay for the Chan! She was such a champ about it. We did have breakfast at Subway though. It's a little motivating factor for both of us:)

I'm going to try to get a nap in. It's not too late to share a special verse with me. The deadline is Friday. (I'm sure) I'm off to get some housework done!

11 weeks old!

Greetings. My sister Grace asked me why I've not posted in a while. I guess it has been ONE day- excuse me! My sweet daughter is 11 weeks old today. I praise the Lord for the gift that she is to me and my husband. She's singing the blues right now. I've enjoyed the past 11 weeks so much. Being a mother is a beautiful privilege and an honor!

Misty is in the hospital right now, and the last we heard she was a 6:) Lord willing, little Naomi Joy will be born today- a new niece for us!! Will keep you posted.

I'm heading to Blanket tonight to do some watering of plants, etc. I'm REALLY looking forward to my parents coming home. Let them water their OWN plants!! Just kidding, of course:) (love you, mom!)

I HAD to do it

I know, I know, I've been posting pictures like crazy. It's all CC's fault giving me this trusty digital camera. It's my first one ever, so who can blame me?! My Joseph and Baby Girl were just "talking" to each other, and I loved this picture!

IT'S HERE!

Good morning! Thanks to Mr. Keys (spelled incorrectly intentionally), we now have our very own piano- yay! What an appropriate name for somebody giving a piano away, eh? I thought it was pretty cool. And let me tell you, I've already played a few tunes. Ok, who am I kidding... I've got a long way to go, but I do want to learn. We're very thankful for it!

Guilty!

I try not to make a habit of keeping yummy/carbonated/caffeine-loaded/sugary drinks in my house; know why? 'Cause I'll drink them. So, getting one is a treat for me. This evening, my dearest! Joseph went and got me a wild cherry pepsi. Yum. So, yes, I did drink the whole 20 oz. Tomorrow's another day, right?

Mingus, where are you??

Ok, I've found that little cat. We have so much fun with him. Does anybody else find it difficult to successfully post pictures?? It works for me about every third time or so...

I am blessed!

I had a wonderful Lord's day with my family. It amazes me just how much the Lord has given me! And to quote our pastor, "the greatest blessings are spiritual blessings." Indeed! I've asked my dear husband Joseph (by the way, Joseph = Jody and Jody = Joseph to clear up any confusion- I only have ONE husband) if he had a special verse or quote that I could put in this blog, so I'm waiting for him to give me that.

I heard from my sweet mommy today! Her visit with her in-laws is going really well, which we're so grateful for. She said the weather is beautiful in MN! We got into our Explorer today and it said the temp was 105!!! Crazy.

Ok, CC, are we going to walk this week? You can't get away from me that easily. Blogworld, Christy wants to run a 5k with me this September- whoohoo! So, any encouragement for her as far as running goes would be be great! Thank you. She was a joy to have at Jody's most current run yesterday. She was a big help with Baby Girl Dodson. We love that girl. Well, both of them. And we both had a tiny bit of free dr. pepper and BIG red. And we enjoyed bkst (not to be confused with brisket) @ Sonic. Fun times, to be sure.

Ok, my Joseph is ready with his verse/s:

Ephesians 1:15-23 is a prayer that we can pray for other believers.
:17 is what really spoke to him which reads, " that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him.

He wants to share one more, which is a verse I really love and have committed to memory. I'd encourage each of you to do the same, and the Holy Spirit will bring it to mind at the most perfect times (it's on a daily basis that I need wisdom that is from ABOVE):

James 3:17
But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

And, if a photo shows up (by some wild stretch of the imagination), then it's Mingus- our favorite cat!

Hope you all have a good week!

PS. Do any of you have a verse you've memorized that has been a blessing to you and would encourage others to memorize it also?? If so, please share!

My brother and daughter

A day of surprises

Ok, the day starts off with CC and Baby Girl and I walking at the park. It was a beautiful morning, and we ran into Dora the Explorer. So cute! But, like CC mentioned in HER blog http://cfcwd.blogspot.com, she was slightly older than Dora is usually portrayed~ about 40 years or so. But we got a hello from her (I think that's what she said) and a sweet smile, so that was pleasant. Then this other lady asked me if I liked my jogging stroller b/c she has a son who lives on the beach and wanted one, etc... I told her it's great. And CC mentioned (to me later) that it might not work so well on the sand. Good point!

Fast forward to after lunch and I get a call from my dear brother Paul. He was going through town and wanted to stop by for a quick visit to see us. That was really nice! He cut his daughter Kalee's hair; it looked really good, and I asked him about it. He said, "well, I cut my own." Hmmm... Anyway, that was a treat to be sure!


So, it's date night for me and Joseph so we decide to go to Emilio's Mexican Restaurant that used to be about a zillion restaurants (location, location, location). There's this family sitting kinda next to us and they'd ordered some drinks. Well, a sharp looking guy (I can only assume is Emilio) comes out from the dark and brings them their drinks. It's hard to put this into words, but he came out PRAISING these people and making a big to-do (sp??) about their margaritas. Honestly, you would've thought they just ran a marathon or given millions to charity or something grand like that. But, nope, they just ordered a drink. And I told Jody, that's how the world is- it praises sin and it is so deceptive. I felt like I had to vent about that. It made me sad and a little mad.

Then (don't read this part, CC!) Jody and I took a left out of Emilio's and headed straight to... Yep, you guessed it- Dairy Queen! Rats!! We split a small blizzard. I don't know what the deal is with me, but like Christy said, we DID have a VERY nutritious Kashi bar for lunch. So, it was well-deserved, right? Ok, probably not.

I'd better get off so Jody can fight in some war. It's hard for him to do that when I'm on the computer. We're "camping out" tonight- WHEEE! I love when that happens. Ok, good night, people.

Ps. Heard from my mom and she and my dad are having a swell time. She said Mt. Rushmore is beautiful. I already miss them!

pps. I'm supposed to be getting a piano tomorrow- yay!

Here are a few faces of my baby girl.

New family picture

HELP!

All my links moved down
to the bottom of the page.
Can anybody help me lift
them up to where they belong??

Baby Girl

IT WORKS!!

Ok, I know my blog is in desperate need of an update, and my Mikayla gave me this title. I was holding her on my lap while reading something online, and everything was quiet except for her occassional(sp?) hiccup. I said (I guess louder than I thought) "goo, goo, goo, baby, I love you." Poor girl was so startled and scared (it was hilarious), but you wanna know something? The hiccups STOPPED! Getting scared cures hiccups, or at least in this situation it did:)

My sweet friend Christy gave me a camera that she no longer has use for and I LOVE IT! It's my first digital camera and I'm having so much fun. Thanks, CC!! I've been taking pics like crazy, loving the fact that I can see them without having to pay money to see them. WHeee! As a side note, I like film cameras better, but digital can sure have its advantages. So, I'm going to try to post some pics today. It usually doesn't go too well for me, but we'll see.

My parents are going for a week and 1/2 up north. I'm going to miss them a lot:( And Mikayla will miss them even more. She just loves for Grandpa to show her the "rocky road." He says that she needs to learn that life is not just smooth and marshmallowy (sp??). It's so fun seeing them together.

Ok, I'm off to try to post these pictures. We'll see how that turns out. Did I mention that I love my husband sooooo much? Well, I do! :) And I thank our Lord for him.