I go to prepare a place for YOU

Earlier this afternoon we were running errands after eating lunch out with Justin. Braxton asked where we were going and I told him we were heading to Hobby Lobby. After a short pause he started asking me if we could go somewhere else. I couldn't quite make out what he was saying. It sounded like Fodder's House.

"Do you want to go to your friend's house?" I asked.

"No. My fodder's house."

"Who is Fodder?"

"Fodder!" He was very determined. Wherever he wanted to go, it was to Fodder's House.

Then it clicked. He was saying "Father." He wanted to go to "My Father's House" (heaven). We've been listening to the Steve Green "Hide 'Em In Your Heart" CDs in the car and one of the songs on there is based on the verse John 14:2 "In my Father's house are many mansions...I go to prepare a place for you."

What a sweet, wonderful opportunity was given to me. I was fighting back tears as I explained to him that he will be able to spend forever in His Heavenly Father's house if he loves God and asks Him to come live inside his heart. We've talked about heaven before and how God lives there and wants us to live there as well, but to hear Braxton respond and say he wanted to go to heaven melted my heart. When I told Braxton that mommy and daddy were going to live in heaven one day, he asked if grandma and papa could be up there too. You betchya! He also asked me if he could see Mary, Jesus's mommy. Ever since Christmas he has loved to talk about Jesus's mommy and when he prays at night he usually says "happy birthday Jesus."

Today was a conversation and a moment I will remember forever. My first real conversation with Braxton about salvation. I think because he is still so young and doesn't always interact in spiritual conversations, it's easy for me to forget that he is a little sponge. When we read the Bible, pray together, go to church and sing Bible songs he is absorbing all of it, even if we can't see it at the moment. Today, God blessed me with the assurance that our teachings and prayers are not in vain. He is working in Braxton's heart and has entrusted Justin and I with the amazing gift of helping our little sponge soak up the things of God.

My prayer since before he was born was that he would love God and and be a mighty warrior for God. I can't wait for the day when we will all be in our Father's house together!! Definitely beats going to Hobby Lobby. :-)

Isaiah 43:1-7 - Happy Valentine's Day - Love, God

We've been going through the book of Isaiah in my ladies Bible study at church. Wow! What a powerful study it has been. Each week I am encouraged and strengthened by the reminder that Our Lord, HE is God and there is none beside Him. The book of Isaiah makes it clear He will let nothing stand between Him and His chosen people as He constantly calls Israel to remember remember remember that He is their God. He constantly draws them back to Him and delivers them even as they continue to forget and rebel. Wow. Just writing that humbles me. He has spared nothing to make me His and all He asks in return is that I honor, obey and love Him. Wow. How often do I fail? Too often. How often does He fail? Never.

A few weeks ago we were in Isaiah 43 and one of the ladies mentioned that the beginning portion sounded like God's Valentines Day card to His chosen ones. It certainly is a love letter! Valentine's Day is the nationally set aside day to celebrate love. We celebrate it by buying or creating gifts, inscribing cards, and reminding those closest to us that we love them. But nothing compares to the sacrifice of love that Christ made to claim our souls; and no handmade card (no matter how touchingly beautiful) can even come close to this declaration of love made by God in Isaiah 43.

Isaiah 43:1-7
But now, thus says the Lord, your Creator, O Jacob,
And He who formed you, O Israel,
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name; you are Mine!
“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
And through the rivers, they will not overflow you.
When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched,
Nor will the flame burn you.
“For I am the Lord your God,
The Holy One of Israel, your Savior;
I have given Egypt as your ransom,
Cush and Seba in your place.

“Since you are precious in My sight,
Since you are honored and I love you.

I will give other men in your place and other peoples in exchange for your life.
“Do not fear, for I am with you;
I will bring your offspring from the east,
And gather you from the west.
“I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’
And to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’
Bring My songs from afar
And My daughters from the ends of the earth,
Everyone who is called by My name,
And whom I have created for My glory,
Whom I have formed, even whom I have made.”

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Cheeseburger Soup

This is one of our favorite winter soups. It is hearty, creamy and so good! And when I say "hearty," I mean it. My eyes are always bigger than my stomach when I go to fill up my bowl. But the good part is we always have plenty of leftovers. I've heard rumor that all of the dairy products can be adjusted to low-fat (skim milk, low fat sour cream, etc.) and it won't affect the taste...however, we haven't been brave enough to try it. Why change a good thing? :-)

Cheeseburger Soup

1 lb. Ground Beef

¾ c. Onion, chopped

1 t. Basil

1 t. Dried Parsley

3 c. Chicken Broth

4 large Potatoes, cubed

4 T. Butter

¼ c. All-Purpose Flour

2 c. Cheddar Cheese

1 ½ c. Milk

¼ c. Sour Cream

Salt and Pepper

In a large stockpot, add ground beef, onion, and herbs. Cook until hamburger is browned and onions are tender. Stir in broth and potatoes. Bring to a boil then cover and simmer until potatoes are soft (about 15-20 minutes).

In a small pot, whisk butter and flour to create a roux. Slowly add milk and stir until thickened. Gradually add milk mixture to soup, stirring constantly. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to simmer. Stir in cheese. When cheese is melted, add sour cream and heat through. Enjoy!

Yield: 6-8 servings

Little Monkeys

Yesterday we took a little half-day trip to Denver to visit an indoor play gym called "Little Monkey Bizness." Both the boys have had a really rough last week and a half as they are both cutting teeth (Kaden is cutting his top two teeth and Braxton is cutting his 2-year molars) and I was hopeful that this playdate outing would help distract them from the pain. It kind of worked. They definitely had a lot of fun, but my normally very sweet and affectionate Braxton had a few angry outbursts and my happy guy Kaden was still a little fussy. We'll have to try going again when they are both feeling 100% and hopefully then they will have a good time all around (and play nice with others).

Playing on one of the many slides in the playplace

Kaden exploring

One thing I loved about this playplace was that the different play equipment gave them an opportunity to work on gross motor skills (climbing, jumping, crawling through things, sliding, swinging, etc.)

This picture is awesome!

Braxton and his friend Brennen were in the bouncehouse and laughing because they were bouncing so high, but Braxton looks absolutely terrified.

Captain Braxton and his trusty first mate

Going down another slide

Kaden wasn't his normal always-on-the-go-must-climb-everything-in-sight self and was so happy to simple sit and play with an oversized ball.

Kaden and his little friend. Who needs a giant room full of toys and play equipment when you can stand at the window and watch cars passing by.

Rock and Roll

Who needs to walk when you can rock your way through life? Oh Kaden! You are too fun!

Potty Like a Rockstar!!

I am SO proud of our Braxton! He has officially said goodbye to his awake-time diapers. We replaced his favorite Elmo diapers (Pampers brand) with an Elmo potty and he has been doing great. It only took a few days for the idea of potty training to "click" for him and a little over two weeks for him to be mostly accident free. He still has the occasional accident, but I'm so proud of the progress he has made. What a smart little cookie!

I tackled the "potty training a toddler" challenge with my dear friend, Leslie whose little boy is one of Braxton's best buddies. Having a mommy buddy while going through a challenging phase of parenting was so helpful! We could cheer each other on, give each other advice, and not let each other quit. Both our boys are potty trained now and I think its safe to say we both maintained our sanity during the process. :-)

We had tried potty training last October and it was a big, fat failure. Braxton wasn't ready and I made a lot of mistakes as the potty-training parent. We tried the intense 3-day potty training method and it was awful. Justin and I both were a frustrated mess which in turn made Braxton a mess. This time, I took a laid back approach. When we began potty training, I expected him to miss the potty every single time for the first 4 days. Wow! What a difference this made in how our experience! When you expect the accidents every single time, you aren't frustrated or disappointed when your child has an accident every single time. Instead you can celebrate the times your child actually does make it to the potty! I wish I would've taken this approach the first time. Braxton and I were both less frazzled during the initial training phase and it was a success! Live and learn...poor first child...

Potty training was going great for about a week and a half and then he began to regress. The accidents started increasing as the initial excitement and curiosity dwindled. Of course this was frustrating, but my wise, wise mom gave me an excellent piece of advice. She told me to circle a date on the next month's calendar (I circled Valentine's Day) and reminded me that by that date, Braxton's regression would be long over and we would be coasting. It was true!! Here we are only a few days from Valentine's Day and Braxton is mostly accident free! Hurray!!

Our next step in potty training is to celebrate the number of days he goes without having an accident. We're going to be making a paper chain and add a link for every day he doesn't have an accident. When he has ten links on his paper chain he gets his much anticipated Tim Tebow poster for his room (to say the kid is obsessed with Tim Tebow is an understatement).

Braxton happy to say goodbye to his "Elmo" diapers. We used his no-longer-needed diaper money to buy diapers to donate to Life Network's Diaper Drive.

Friday Food Favorites ~ Slow Cooker Steak Fajitas

These were amazing. Not only were they delicious, but they made my house smell absolutely divine. Who needs an air freshener when you can fill your house with the smell of slow cooker fajita meat...assuming that's your thing? This was my first attempt at making a steak fajita and I always get a little nervous when trying/creating a new recipe. The memories of my first attempt at fajita meat were still haunting me. We were newlyweds and I was trying to be all domestic and create a Chipotle Chicken fajita bowl. I used salt...too much salt. And lime juice...waaaaaay too much lime juice. It was disgusting and I've been pretty traumatized ever since. But, I had all this flank steak sitting in my freezer we've been married for almost 5 years (yikes! that's terrifying to write!), so I figured surely my cooking skills had improved a tad, right? I still made absolutely sure I did not add any lime juice. Zero, zip, zilch, none, nada...you get the idea...

I very loosely followed a recipe but ended up mostly just throwing anything that looked good into the crockpot and kept adjusting until it tasted right. I'll do my best to write down the recipe, but you may need to do some adjustments on your own, especially if you like things spicy (we love spicy, but it doesn't translate well to our toddler and nursing baby phase of life).

Slow Cooker Steak Fajitas

1 ½ lbs Flank Steak, thinly cut

1 – 1 ½ pkgs. Taco Seasoning*

¼ + t. Salt

¼ t. Coarsely ground black pepper

1-2 Garlic cloves, minced

3 T. Soy Sauce (low sodium)

1 Red Onion, sliced into rings

1 Green Pepper, thinly sliced

1 Red Pepper, thinly sliced

1 can (15oz) Diced Tomatoes (if you like it spicy you can substitute with a can of Rotel)

In a small bowl, combine taco seasoning, salt, pepper and garlic. Cut flank steaks in half and rub both sides of meat with seasoning mixture. Arrange in the bottom of slow cooker, lightly greased with cooking spray. Pour Soy Sauce over meat. Arrange onion and peppers on top of steak and top with tomatoes. Cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 5-6 hours. If it is fully cooked, it should shred with a fork very easily. One hour before serving, shred meat and return to crockpot to continue cooking (and absorbing all the tasty juices).

Place meat onto warmed tortillas and top with your favorite fajita toppings. We used the basic salsa, sour cream, mozzarella cheese and lettuce. The next day we used the leftover fajita meat to make quesadillas and they were deeeeeelicious!

*I love making my own Taco Seasoning! No MSG, no soaring sodium levels and complete control over how spicy you want it!

Homemade Taco Seasoning

1 T. Chili Powder

1 t. Garlic Powder

1 t. Onion Salt

1 t. Cumin

1 t. Paprika

1 t. Sugar

½ t. Oregano

Combine ingredients. 3 Tablespoons of mix equals 1 standard Taco Seasoning package.

9 months old!

I honestly cannot believe our baby is 9 months old. He has now officially been "outside" longer than he was "inside." He is still one of the easiest babies to care for (which I am especially thankful for!) and his smile melts my heart every single day. We are so thankful God blessed our family with our precious Kaden.

This past month he has learned several new tricks. He began crawling on all fours, he continues to pull up on everything and cruises along furniture. He scared the living daylights out of me when I found him climbing our stairs a few days ago. Time for even more babyproofing.

I'm also so excited because this month he hit some fairly significant social interaction milestones. He spoke his first word!! His first official word was "bye-bye" and he said it to his Grandma Bergen at Christmas. Now he has mastered the art of waving bye bye while saying it and he has also added the word "dada" to his vocabulary. He also now claps and will play peek-a-boo. Too precious for words!! I keep meaning to get a video of him playing peek-a-boo, but I just can't pull myself away from his cute little game to go grab the camera. I'm sure you all understand. :-)

He's starting to have a little bit of separation anxiety from me and Braxton. He and Braxton go to church nursery together on Sunday for church and Tuesday for Bible study. When I sneak in to get Braxton to take him to the potty, Kaden begins to have a meltdown as soon as he realizes Braxton is gone. As soon as Brax is back, Kade is happy again. I love that they are best friends and I pray that they will continue to be close as they get older. Braxton already takes his big brother role very seriously and this morning told me "I pwotect Kaden, not hurt him."

He's a little foodie and eats three full meals a day, but because he is so active and mobile he's not packing on the pounds like another child of mine used to ( *cough* Braxton *cough*). He's only in the 10th percentile for weight and 15th percentile for height. I have a feeling he might be our soccer player (Braxton has already claimed football).

Today are his 9 months pediatrician check up he weighed in at 17lbs 12 oz. and 27.5" long. Our pediatrician told us "He's perfect" and we have no health-related worries at this point. Praise God for a healthy, bouncy little baby boy!

Christmas time!

(technically he's only 8 months old in this picture, but he looks the same - trust me :-))

Sucking on his fingers during suppertime. He loves his peas...and his fingers! We gave him a pacifier a few days ago and he had no idea what to do with it.

I found them cuddling watching Veggie Tales. Braxton was rubbing Kade's head. Like I said in our Christmas letter, Kaden bring outs a nurturing side of Braxton that we never saw before Kade was born.

A little video of Kaden's tricks.

A Person's a Person No Matter How Small

"Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you."

Jeremiah 1:5

Yesterday was Sanctity of Human Life Sunday. We were blessed to hear an update from one of the Directors of Life Network, a pregnancy crisis center that our church supports. This organization is incredible. They rescue babies by coming alongside the mothers, not by preaching to them. They provide counseling, baby necessities and ongoing support and parenting education for parents beyond the birth. I was able to attend their annual Gala and was so blessed and inspired by the stories that were shared by the parents themselves. God is using this organization to do mighty work!! At Christmas we received a Christmas card from Life Network containing the names of all of the babies who were celebrating their first Christmas that year because their mom came to organization and chose LIFE. Praise the Lord!! I love this organization so much and would encourage anyone to visit the website and consider supporting them. http://www.elifenetwork.com/

One exciting way to get involved with supporting Life Network is by donating formula, diapers and other items to their Lifesteps Baby Boutique. This baby boutique provides infant necessities for moms within their programs. What a blessing! February 23 they are hosting a diaper drive to help replenish their supply. Consider grabbing a pack while you're at the store (or if you're like me and you have to visit the diaper aisle weekly anyway, grab an extra pack :-P) and let's support some local moms who chose life. All the details for the drive are on the Life Network website.

Sanctity of Life week held new meaning for me this year. My whole life I've known about abortion, but never as it pertains to me...until last year. When I was pregnant with Kaden he had a few markers appear on his 18 week ultrasound that my OB said could be indicative of Down Syndrome or a serious heart condition. That was all we would know until his follow up. It could be nothing, or it could be life altering. For 4 agonizingly long weeks, we had to consider the possibility that our family was going to be very different than we had pictured. Raising a child with special needs was never something that had even crossed our minds. We chose not to dwell on that possibilities. We educated ourselves so we could be prepared if the followup confirmed a disability, but we knew that no matter what happened, there was only one choice to be made: life. From the moment of conception until natural death, life and death is only in the hands of the Lord. End of story for us. However, my OB felt the need to repeatedly inform me (I even got a "reminder call") that I would have to schedule my ultrasound before a certain number of weeks so that I could terminate the pregnancy if that's what we chose. I was dumbfounded. Abortion had never been something that had been discussed in regards to ME. I couldn't even fathom killing a child simply because he wasn't perfect? How is that ok?! I was half-way through my pregnancy and I had just seen his little body, his brain and his heartbeat on the ultrasound. Yes, we were facing the possibility that he may not be perfect by man's definition of the word, but He was still a sacred human being being knit together by our Heavenly Father...and my Heavenly Father never makes a mistake!!

I praise God every day that Kaden's follow up ultrasound eliminated any fear of a disability, and even though it was a scary 4 weeks, I am thankful for it because it tested my faith and made me even stronger in my pro-life belief. A child is not a choice.

Kaden's 22 week follow up ultrasound. Look at that sweet face, his adorable nose and his little fingers. He still holds his arm over his face for comfort. Can you believe at this stage of his development, I was asked if I would be terminating?!

Braxton's 13 week ultrasound. Look at how perfectly he was already being formed by his Heavenly Father.

Braxton's 13 week 4D ultrasound. I was amazed when I saw this and even though he looked a little bit like an alien, I was madly in love. :-)

Celebrate the sanctity of human life. As Dr. Seuss so eloquently penned, "A person's a person no matter how small."