"It is What it is..."

I'm sure you have all heard the saying and it has certainly become one that I have truly adopted in our house..."It is what it is..."
At Bible study a few weeks ago, there was a question asked about things that we have needed to let go of and with the addition of each child, I have to let go a little more of the house. It is certainly not as neat and organized as I would like and I don't always get to things that need cleaning in a timely manner but that is my life right now and that's ok. Things get done just on a whole different time table. During the study I made the remark that I was going to get a sign on my door that says "It is what it is..." so that people understand anything is possible. Well the very next week of Bible study, one of the ladies in my small group brought this sign into me. She took the time out of her busy days with 4 children and made this sign for me. She took the time to buy the materials and paint it and put it together. It spoke volumes to me. Mind you this was only the 4th week of study and this woman barely knew me. I can't you tell you how blessed I was. She has no idea how happy she made my heart that day. It brought tears to my eyes.

So there my sign hangs. The house could be a mess and cluttered, it might be clean, clean laundry might be hanging around needed to be folded, kids could be crying or screaming or fighting or they could be sitting down reading puzzles or books. Mommy may have gotten a shower in that day...or maybe not. It is what it is!!! Don't get me wrong, I do my very best to accomplish what needs to be accomplished but I have 3 little cherubs that require more of me and my time and they come first. So maybe I get everything on my to do list accomplished or maybe I don't but the most important thing on my list is that my kids are loved an taken care of and that their needs are met.
I've said it before, someday I will look back and miss the craziness of our days but for right now, it is what it is and I love it that way!!!

Happy Birthday Hannah Grace!

"Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday Dear Hannah...Happy Birthday to you!"
It's hard to believe we have already sung that to Hannah. I can't believe she is 1. Her birthday was very bittersweet for me. I am happy she is 1 but my baby is 1! (Maybe it has something to do with the fact that normally on my baby's 1st birthday, there is another baby on its way...in case you are wondering...nope, not this time...)
We had a great day celebrating on Sunday. Family and friends came to celebrate with us and everyone had a good time being together. Hannah did great and loved all the attention. Here are some pictures of the cupcake princess...

Happy Birthday Princess Hannah!

Auntie Lauren made the most adorable cupcakes!

Mommy and the birthday girl.

Auntie Lauren bought her this outfit. The shirt says, "So many cupcakes, so little time."

She wasn't sure about everyone singing to her...

She definitely wasn't sure about this whole cake thing at first...then she found the frosting.

No, it didn't rain on Hannah's birthday...that's SNOW!!!!

There's Caleb manning the whole gift process...

This is a special gift. Wendy always makes the kids name frames for their bedrooms. Hannah's came out so beautiful. Thank you Auntie Wendy. It's so special to us that you make these for us!

I think she liked the clothes she got. That's my girl!

Here are just some fun pictures to show Little Miss Hannah's personality that has been coming out lately...

"Just like the big boys, eating out of the snack trap, relaxing and watching my baby videos...ahhh, this is the life!"

Our little monkey...she climbed on the table from the couch. YES, I got her down but I had to take a picture first...it's what any good mother would do!

Our first try at Cream of Wheat...yes, more got on her face than in her mouth.

This is Hannah's new face when she blows in and out of her nose...can't you just eat her up???

I Saw God Today

Well, the big event happened a week ago now. Our community picnic was AMAZING!!! I can't think of any other word to describe it. It went so GREAT! What a picture to see our church come together to bless our community. The whole event was such a success. People of the community were surprised, blessed and truly touched by our event. At one point, I just sat on the hill with Josiah and watched everyone. People eating, having a good time and being blessed. We figured that we served about 1200-1400 people that day. There have been already many stories that have come out of the day but 2 stand out in my mind. One is there was a man that came over and got some popcorn for him and his wife at our popcorn stand. As he was walking away, I knew I couldn't let him leave. Something about them told me that if they weren't homeless, they were close to it or at the least had some needs. I followed him and told him that there was whole meal that he and his wife were welcome to. (You couldn't see the food stand from the popcorn machine.) He said thank you and I watched him walk back to his wife, give her the popcorn and turn around to come back up the hill to eat. I am crying just thinking about it. They ate at the picnic and as they were leaving, the gentleman said, "Thank you and God bless you for this today" to one of our church members. You could truly see how touched he was. The second story is that a family came because of a sign that was up. One of our pastors put up 50 signs that said things like, "Welcome PC users", "Welcome MAC users", "Welcome Red Sox Fans", "Welcome Patriots Fans, "Welcome Facebook friends". The idea was to make sure that everyone knew they were welcome at the event. One guest who apparently never goes by the park on a normal basis happened to pass it that day and saw a sign that said, "Welcome Masons". He was a mason and of course felt welcomed. Him and his family came in and had a good time at the picnic. This week he went online to find out about our church and e-mailed one of our pastors to say thank you for th picnic and say that he had been looking for a church and was so blessed the kindness of Mt. Hope at the picnic. The best part...I got to meet him today...him and his wife sat behind me in church...what a moment. And he had said if the picnic had taken place on the original day, he and his wife would not have been in the area. WOW! There really are reasons for everything. No, this event was not about bringing more people to Mt. Hope. It was about bringing people to Christ in a new and different way. Rick has been quoting Andy Stanley over the past year in our church, "To reach people nobody is reaching, you have do things nobody else is doing." Again, the tears are welling up in my eyes. The work was hard, the days were long, time was sacrificed but it was all worth it. People were touched. I am excited to see how many more ways God is going to use this picnic. To some it up, we saw God at the picnic. It reminds me of this song. Check it out...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7NDLJca-Xw

So, the picnic is over, now what??? This weekend we have been working on a wedding that I am coordinating tomorrow, then I am going to attempt to potty train our little Siah man and then Sunday is Hannah's first birthday...I can hardly believe it! It's a busy week ahead of us so I will post again when I get a moment. Have a great week everyone and thank you so much for all your prayers for the picnic. I know God heard them all...