. . . a glimpse into my heart.

For ThankGiving lunch we went to the home of some friends from church. It was wonderful to spend time with them and for them to so lovingly open their home to us. Liam and Gabriel kicked back on the bench in the dining room after filling their bellies with good eats. We headed to my parents house for dinner. I got some cute pictures of my grandma with the boys. It's hard to know how many more years we have with her so I make sure I get pictures of her with my kiddos for the memories. She's so cute. . . Friday we brought out the Christmas decorations. Liam LOVED helping this year. Last year he didn't really get it. He hung many of the ornaments and fell in love with a couple of them. Gabriel tried to join in the fun too. :-) The final touch: the angel!

Yeah, this may not be that exciting to you but it has THRILLED us to say the least. Last Wednesday Liam told Dave he needed to go poop in the toilet. He DID it!! I came home from running arrends and Dave shared the news. I asked if he took a picture (joking, of course) because I couldn't believe it. Liam had been in big boy undies for a long time and would consistenly poop in them almost once a day. This was huge!! Well, since then he has only gone poop in the toilet. What a wonderful break through this is. I think I can officially say. . . Liam is 100% done with this toilet training stuff. From day one till now is was under four months.

. . .and tired. I know, after this weekend away we were supposed to feel rested. However, I have neglected to take my vitamins for a week so I think that is a big part of my problem. Anyway, we have no pictures to share since we forgot the camera. It was a nice weekend. We spent a lot of time just veggin' but we also spent a lot of time praying and studying God's word with our pastor and his wife and 4 elders and their wives. There were so many encouraging moments, sprictures and prayers that I wouldn't know where to begin. Dave and I got prayed over by the rest which was a huge blessing to my heart which has been aching a lot lately. I was a bucket of tears but it was wonderful to feel so much love and support. Gabriel was the only kiddo and always was the center of attention. I was thankful he did well sleeping somewhere other then his own bed. He was a pretty good boy for us. We still have youth group tonight so unfortunately we can't just kick back and take it easy....

We are leaving tomorrow morning for Telluride for the Elders/Staff Retreat. It's a beautiful place. We get to stay in a nice condo that's probably the nicest place we've ever stayed in. We've been there twice before. One of the elders in our church has a time share and they were nice enough to allow Dave and I to stay there May of last year. We also were there for the last retreat. We're leaving Liam with some family and just taking Gabriel. I would love to leave him too so Dave and I can have some 'us' time but he's still breast feeding. It'll be a nice break from the norm. We're going up earlier then they need as too because we want to make the most of the weekend. Here are a few pictures of us in Telluride May of '07.

Sunday morning Pastor Rob spoke about how we often forget the we're in the presense of God or that the Holy Spirit is ALWAYS with us. He shared a story of someone who wanted to take a team to help Mother Theresa in her ministries. They made a phone call and an elderly woman answered the phone. The person asked if they could come help Mother Theresa and this lady said 'yes'. "Do you need to check with Mother Theresa to make sure it's ok?" The responce was, "I am Mother Theresa." The point was that this person had no idea they were talking to Mother Theresa herself. They missed her presense. This is how we are with the God of the Universe way too often. We come before Him in prayer and rattle off "I need this" and "Help me with that" and "Heal this person" etc etc etc. We forget who's presense we're in. So, on the drive home from church I was thinking about this. I can see GOD in all of creation but I miss Him most...