Rememberance

Happy Spring and Resurrection Weekend!

We are planning on doing a little of this.....

But more importantly our weekend will consist of a time of remembrance and thanks.

But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace
was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. Isaiah 53:5

 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes
in me will live, even though they die; and whoever
lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
John 11:25-26

Matthew 28:2-7 

 ² There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. ³ His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. ⁴ The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.
 ⁵ The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. ⁶ He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. ⁷ Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”

Psalm 47:5

Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy. 

How awesome is the Lord Most High, the great King over all the earth!

With all my heart, I will praise the LORD. Psalm 34:2

"I will praise the LORD God with a song and a thankful heart."

Psalm 69:30

"You have rescued me! I will celebrate and shout,

singing praises to you with all my heart."

Psalm 71:23

"I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the LORD: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad. O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together."

Psalm 34:1-3

Jesus, Thank You! For loving me, when I'm unlovable. For forgiving me, when I fall. For providing for me every need, not my every want. And, for coming to Earth knowing you would be mocked, brutally harmed and then killed all for me. I am so undeserving of your Grace & Mercy & yet you wrap your arms around me anyway. I love you! Thank you for everything.

Love-Melissa

Who Knew......

My girly is a little artist.

She colors for hours every day but it's usually in coloring books.

Loren and I don't teach her how to draw because we....well...ummmm....can't draw, so she's on her own.

Today however she found a drawing pad someone gave her for her birthday and drew these photos while I was getting ready for the day.

I love these drawings. They make me smile.

A chick and a mouse. 

A otter trying to eat a small cat

Dog, monkey, cow, deer, hippo, a farmer,
a chick, a cow, a fish, an otter,  a cat & a butterfly

Not too bad, eh?? 



And, after an Art(ful) morning we headed out to get our bounce on at Bounce Central.

It is brand new.  We had never been before.  I love setting up play dates.  So it was a perfect combination.  A ton of moms and kiddos came out and joined Grace & I and it was hoot!  2 hours later and my girl was begging to go home and rest.  I was tired too.  Such a fun place to go. We'll definitely find ourselves there more next winter when it's freezing out and we have nothing to do.

I just couldn't help myself--cute little ruffly tushy

 And, what you don't know is that she initially walked in, plugged her ears and sat down with a look of fear in her eyes.  She did not want to participate.  It was too loud, too overwhelming and over all not what she thought it was going to be.  

  Knowing it would do more harm than good, I didn't force her to do anything.  I just started to play.  She finally came into the bounce house (after everyone else was out of it) and starting laughing and screeching. Slowly she got braver & braver and moved upward to the bigger stuff.  

And, for her grand finale she skittishly agreed to go down the big slide with me. After two times with me she ventured out on her own and went down it about 15 times by herself.....and made sure I was watching each and every time.  This mama was proud.  Success!  And, she was proud of herself too.   She conquered her fears. 

 Thank you God for your protection, for your promises and for your scriptures that bring such comfort.

  Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You.

Psalm 56:3  

    Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.

Isaiah 41:10

Now we are eagerly awaiting this weekend.
Why you ask???
CHRIS TOMLIN!
That's right, tomorrow after Loren gets off work we are driving to Seattle.  We will spend the night at Loren's uncles. Saturday we'll spend the morning visiting with the Turners at Seattle Center and then we will hang out with more family in the afternoon who also live in Seattle.  At 7pm Grace will be experiencing her first real concert.  A Chris Tomlin concert!  She knows the lyrics to pretty much all of his songs.  I think we are all going to be blown away and blessed beyond anything we can even imagine.  Thank you so much mom for getting us these tickets.  We look forward to sharing our experience when we get back.

I Will Follow: Chris Tomlin

Where you go, I'll go
Where you stay, I'll stay
When you move, I'll move
I will follow...

All your ways are good
All your ways are sure
I will trust in you alone
Higher than my side
High above my life
I will trust in you alone

Where you go, I'll go
Where you stay, I'll stay
When you move, I'll move
I will follow you
Who you love, I'll love
How you serve I'll serve
If this life I lose, I will follow you
I will follow you

Light unto the world
Light unto my life
I will live for you alone
You're the one I seek
Knowing I will find
All I need in you alone, in you alone

In you there's life everlasting
In you there's freedom for my soul
In you there joy, unending joy
and I will follow

1st Girls Movie "Night"

Imagine the scene: 

4 little munchkins ranging in age from 3-7, all in their pajamas, eating pizza, watching Tangled, popcorn & ice cream sundaes to follow.  

Super-De-Dooper Cutie Cute Cute! 

Snuggling during the scary parts

-ICE CREAM SUNDAE TIME-

Organic Popcorn is SO yum

 

I love all of these girls.

So thankful their mamas trusted me with their precious ones.

I find it such joy to have kids in my house, running around, making noise, being silly and filling my home with laughter and joy.

Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.
(Psalms 127:3-5 ESV)

ADVENTURING

If you haven't noticed yet, we Statemas love to go on adventures: pick a random place, pack a lunch, dress accordingly and just go.         

 -We Love Adventuring- 

 It's probably my favorite thing to do as a family.

  It's exhilarating.

 We have to work together as a team.

 There are elements of danger.

 There's love.

  There's joy. 

  There's excitement and beauty.

 We've been waiting for good weather....a sunny day with out vicious winds.  Well, we weren't granted the "perfect" weather but we set out any way and I'm so thankful we did.  

 

Umtanum Falls, we tackled you.  Thanks for making our Saturday, April 9th, better than we had hoped for.  

And, thank you God for creating such a beautiful place for us to explore; for us to feel a sense of achievement (Grace hiked 4 miles!);  for us to conquer fears; for us to bond together as a family.  Thank you for loving us so much that you created the World for us to find the beauty with-in. 

Celebrate Good Times, Come On...

GRACE IS 5!!!!

And, boy oh boy did it sneak up on us.  

These last 5 years have been the best years of our lives, but they went by faster than any other 5 years combined.  I guess the saying is true in reference to having kids, 

"the days are long, but the years are short."

You blink and they are grown.  It just makes us want to soak in even more every second we have with her and make every moment count.  

5=

Kindergarten

Her last year at home with mommy

No more baby (except she'll always be my "baby")

More responsibilities 

More to process and learn

More...More...More...etc. etc. etc.

What an age.  So monumental in numerous was.

But, more on all that in my special, "You're 5," post (soon to come).

Since we love Gracie birthdays so much we have had her party planned for the last 3 months.

After I found out they did birthday parties at Jazzercise (where I go for exercise) I immediately booked hers.....after relaying it to Grace and after she replied with a screech and a very loud and exuberant YES.  

And, after it was all said and done, I'd have to say this was probably the most fun I've had at a party (right there next to her 3rd birthday at Pump It Up in Tacoma).  

The goody "bags" aka Dollar Store 100 piece Toy Story Puzzles. Score and oh so fun and perfect as my girl is overly passionate about puzzles and she wanted to share her love of them with all her friends.  

 I adore the backwards "z."  And, the heart she turned into an ice cream cone at the bottom (sadly I had to cut off 1/2 of the cone part in order to make the paper fit into the plastic holder)

The party table

And, it begins.  Louise was incredible with all the kids (15 in all + 3 babies)

A warm up with some balls.  She really worked these kiddos. I was very impressed with all she got them to do and how they just jumped right in and did it, no questions asked.

Doing the Robot.  My girl has got it down.  

Girl has got some sweet moves.  

Hula Hoop fun.  They best part, they were having so much fun they didn't realize they were even exercising.  

And, who wouldn't want to get in on the fun, not I!  And, not Jennifer.  We couldn't stop laughing.  

Our Japanese Community Friend, Tetta came and brought 3 of his friends.  They had a BLAST!  It was incredible to watch them with the kids.  I am so glad they all came and got to have fun and enjoy a 5 year olds birthday party.

My girl was SO brave.  I could not believe my shy girl who gets anxious very easily got up on stage with Louise and danced.  She was amazing and I was so proud.

Other mama friends got in on the action.  Go Tiff and Elie

So sweet: Zaden and Rachel

And, my bud Brooke with sweet Addie

It was Disco and Dancing Queen time.  

That's right-a wicked awesome disco ball!

Playing a cat and mouse game.  

Instead of a cake or cupcakes we made Jessie hat cookies.  But, Grace also got a special birthday girl cup cake so she could blow out a candle (her request).  Thank you Fred Meyer for making the most scrumptious "gourmet cup cake" I have ever tasted.

One of my favorite moments.

I love my friends.  So thankful that after only living here for 7 months we have a group of incredible people who love my girl and really truly care about her and were willing to celebrate with us.  It makes not having family in town that much more bearable. 

Classic Grace....licking the frosting.  

Girlfriend is BLESSED! She received so many wonderful gifts for her birthday.  Thank you everyone for being so incredibly generous.

Gift Time

She was like a old soul while opening her gifts.
Very poised and respectful.  She did a great Vanna White impersonation with showing off each gifts she received.

Her sweet as pie "Thank You" face.

Thank you Brooke for catching some great moments for me!

Well, until next year my dear.  I am looking forward to what we'll do and how we'll celebrate.  Just don't grow up too fast.  I can only imagine how fast these next 5 years will go.  Oh, to only be able to slow down time....