Little Rock

We visited Andy's family in Little Rock over 2 weeks ago. It was a fantastic time! His parents went all out in spoiling us, but really what we loved most is just being together.

Rachel, Nate, Micah and Ezra came also, so it was a houseful. 5 kids under 5.

Somehow I forgot a lot in the packing process, including my own suitcase! I don't normally do this. Consequently this added more travel disorder, but it ended up being a bit humorous, too. We managed...but I really wondered (and so did my husband) if my mind was also in that suitcase.

Here are some pictures to tell you more of what we did.

Arkansas river, pedestrian bridge. Do you see "Pinnacle Mountain" in the background?

Caden was Grandpa's little man and loved it!

The Moffitts.
Happy Ezra.
The Kosters. They were at our meeting in CO and are now in Little Rock. Mike is in Iraq right now. Julie is doing an amazing job carrying on with her 5 little ones. Can you imagine?! Those in the military have my respect and gratitude

This is Abbi, Michelle and boys, another dear family at the chapel. Pray for this meeting, for perseverance and growth.

Nate entertaining the kids. This was the hit!
Not to mention all the scooters and trikes G'pa had! Also 2 swimming pools. It was fun overload!

They traveled GREAT! Caden was a little crazy at this point though.We are so thankful to have wonderful families on both sides. It's a rare blessing.

Camping

Our first camping experience with the children was great, despite the rain. We went with 2 other families who added to the fun. Yes, it is loads of work and if my dear husband didn't do a lot of it, the memory would be exhausting. Seeing those grubby little kids running around with sticks, picking wild flowers and excited about sleeping in a tent, makes the hassle all worth it.

3 Little Campers.

More birthday fun for Clayton and Leyla.
Princess' and... Dinosaurs

Princess scooter!

Clayton: "Mommy where's my dinosaur that does this (rearing his head up and down)?"

Visitors came both nights to hang out at the campground.

Crim girls.

Minneapolis

Andy had some business in Minneapolis at the beginning of this month. He goes up there on and off and I usually come along for some time away. This time we decided to bring Leyla since it was her birthday - 5 yr.! We really had a nice time with her. She took full advantage of the hotel pool and had me in there first thing in the morning. We also did some shopping, strolling in the beautiful spring weather, eating, and made a visit to the children's museum.

Breakfast together.

Leyla at the Children's Museum:

Post girl.

Shopping at the market
Riding on the queen.
In the car out of the blue Leyla said, "Mommy, will Samson still be strong in heaven or will he have his hair cut short?" I answered, "I'm not sure about that, maybe we should ask Daddy or we could wait till we get to heaven." She said "Ohhhh, we better ask Daddy that will be a lot quicker."

We are so thankful for our fiesty little girl. We pray her heart turns to Jesus and she uses her vigor for His work. She is a delight to our family.

My excuse for being a lazy blogger: I have only been home 4 days out of the last 14.

3 Jaunts:

Minneapolis

Camping

Little Rock

Be back soon!

Vanity

Andy and I have been wrestling with yet another parenting issue. We have just had snip its of conversations in the past few days, hopefully we can get somewhere with it soon. Basically the topic is: how do we cultivate spiritual beauty in our girls and not physical vanity?

None of this is very formulated in my mind so here goes some scattered questions/thoughts.

We don't want to create a vain environment, but say "the most important thing is that you are beautiful on the inside." Basically we don't want to send contradicting messages...

So how is this done practically?

Do we take Leyla out of ballet (even though it is a Christian studio with a emphasis on character, modesty, and melodious music)?

Do we not buy them cute" clothes (this may sound funny, I'm just thinking here)?

Do we not compliment there outward appearance ("Chloe I love you curly hair, it looks so pretty")?

These things may not be bad, but are they promoting the best? Are they sending the wrong message?

Then there's my example...I love to make my home pretty, I

like to dress a certain way and I do spend time on my physical appearance. Frankly the thought of not, is scary to me...Am I setting a bad example?

I know we are raising girls here...who have a natural tendancy to carry around purses, want to put on make up, and dress up like a princess. How do we point that which comes naturally to be a positive and not a negative?

I don't think we should go extreme and put NO effort towards beautifying ourselves or things around us. I think the Lord wants us to enjoy physical beauty, whether it's a person, the blue skies, mountains, flowers, etc. This enjoyment causes us to give God glory for his creativity and splendor.

Maybe I'll post a part 2 on this after some more thought...So, how do we find the balance in godly femininity and vanity? How do we promote this to our little girls? How do we guard them against the extreme physical obsession in our society?