Silas Mark

Silas Mark Amstutz was born on September 27th at 12:21pm. 7lbs 10 oz and 20 1/2 inches long.

Mommy Questions

"Mommy, when the baby comes out...does your tummy pop?"


"What happens to your tummy when your baby comes out?"
"It gets smaller."
"Then can me and Chloe jump on it again?"

little princes

Last night I finished the book Little Princes by Conor Grennan. It was wonderful! The cover says "One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal."

It's about a man who does a 3 month volunteer stint at an orphanage in Nepal before vacationing around the world for a year. While he's there he finds out that these children are not orphaned, but have been taken from their homes by a child trafficker and then dumped in the city's capital. The children's parents had paid this man huge sums of money to take their children and provide and educate them and mostly to keep them safe from the rebel army who is taking children as young as five for their army. Of course this trafficker does no such thing and takes the kids and the money and then dumps them. The author, Grennan, then decides to make it his mission to, if possible, reunite the children with their families.

Excellent read! I couldn't put it down!

The Highlight of my Vacation!

Yes, we actually got to meet him! I have never met a "famous" person before and it was so cool! I told Matt, I think it's because he actually helps people. There's a point to him being famous, he's not just some tough guy star athlete or self-absorbed movie star. Had we talked to him much more I would have started crying. Now just Beth Moore and Angie Smith to go...and I will cry if I ever meet them!

Make sure to read the quote Matt is standing by. I had to get a picture of him with it.

We were so impressed with the place. We were personally greeted when we arrived and the lady told us Dave would be out in a few minutes. Exciting! They had seats out where you could sit and watch/listen to him do his radio show. And you could see when the callers would come in. There was also a book store/coffee shop across from his show where everything was complementary and delicious. They had fancy coffees, water, pop, different kinds of homemade cookies, muffins, desserts and huge chocolate covered strawberries. The lady that does the baking was so sweet. I had talked to her on the phone a week or two ago and she makes you feel like they really are glad you came to visit. Bonus for us...it was only about 15 minutes from Jake and Kate's!

Luke's First Baseball Game

Matt, Luke, my dad and I went to a Nashville Sounds baseball game while we were on vacation last week. As you can see the stands weren't to full, but we had a fun time. This was Luke's first baseball game and since it was vacation we introduced him to all the stadium food you could possibly eat. Yay for vacation!

Don't they look so cute!

And Grampy couldn't resist buying Luke his new "Baseball Monkey" which has made quite nice friends with his "Monkey Monkey".

It was a fun time spent with Luke and a nice break away from Chloe. We don't imagine she would have been as entertained as he was. :)

Some Of My Thoughts This Morning

This morning I was reading Matthew 21:22 "If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."

So, I have a really hard time with this verse. I know it's God's Word, I know it's Jesus speaking. So it has to be true. It just sounds so "genie in a bottleish". And people pray for people to be healed and they die. And they pray for marriages to be put back together and they divorce. And they pray for relatives to accept Christ and they never believe.

So, back to what I know is true. I know it is God's Word, I know it is Jesus speaking, and I know that everything he says is truer than anything I think or anything this world says. Even if I don't understand it. So there must be more to it.

Some of the notes at the bottom of my bible say:
-"To be fulfilled, our requests must be in harmony with the principles of God's kingdom." Yes, I would agree.
-"The stronger our belief, the more likely our prayers will be in line with God's will..." Sounds too basic at first, but not if you think about. The stronger my belief in God (that He is who He says He is, that He can do what He says He can do, that I am who He says I am, that I can do all things through Him who gives me strength, and that God's Word is alive and active in me (thank you Beth Moore)) the more likely our prayers will be in line with God's will. Totally agree.
-"...and then God will be happy to grant them." Doesn't that sound like my idea of "genie in a bottle"? But then the following were my thoughts I had wrote somewhere else this morning.

"The LORD, I am sure answers more often in the affirmative than I notice. Most likely I am just not paying enough attention to see, or my prayers are trivial that a yes or no doesn't really matter, or (unknowingly) I don't really expect him to answer. So if he does, great. If he doesn't, I probably wouldn't notice anyhow. But when I do look back and think of certain prayers: contentment in my house, taking away the house hunt that was consuming me, helping us pay off our mortgage, making it financially without my job, insecurity issues, a protected and calm mind with baby #2,...also wisdom and guidance on teaching my little ones his ways. All those requests were in line with His Word, His principles, His ways, His desires. Not that I am perfect or even close to it at that, but from being scared because I had no idea how to teach Luke an Chloe your Word Lord, to sometimes being amazed at your goodness in how yo have hidden your word in little Lukey's heart. How he knows some of your Word already. How he knows many, many of your stories. How he loves them. How he sings praises to you. How his little high voice says his prayers, and he suggests praying for people and for things to happen. Lord, what a blessing from you. What an answer to prayer. Help me be patient and persistent when I don't see answers right away, like answers to...(big things)...Help me to see that these are big things. And, I am sure Lord, you are working in them. Behind the scenes. Preparing, training, softening hearts. Big things like this take time and work and details. Help me see that you didn't just ignore these prayers, but that you are working on answering them in the positive. But they do involve people, and people do have free will and people do choose their own ways. Oh, Lord, help me understand all this more..."

Side Note on Mother's Day Post

I did not write the below post. Matt wrote it as though it were me. He didn't do too bad, huh? And all those things really did happen. :)

Happy Mothers Day!

I had a wonderful Mothers day weekend with my two (three) kids and husband. Saturday night we went as a family to Findlay to run errands and get supper at Chipotle. YUM! it was super good that night. We then went shopping so Luke could pick out a pair of shoes. He was SO cute during this. He took them to the checkout counter at JCPenny's him self with a huge grin. He then carried "his new shoes" to the car, where he "needed" to put them in the trunk because "thats where that stuff goes when you go shopping." We then went to Meijers where Luke (and Chloe) helped their mom pick out some mothers day flowers. On our way home Matt asked if I wanted to stop at Dietches for IceCream...and we did after I thought long and hard about it for maybe a second. So we all shared a pepermint stick milkshake for the ride home. Then that night I felt our new baby kick for the first time!

Mothers Day was beautiful outside so we went for a family walk up town to get our chicken BBQ meals for dinner, which I love doing! We took them back home and ate at the picnic table on our NEW almost finished patio! It was wonderful except for the fact Chloe was sick.

I really, really, really enjoy being a mommy! I love it, love it, love it!!

And Still More....

Chloe and her eggs went tumbling.

More Easter Pics

These pictures are from hunting Easter eggs at the Mennonite Memorial Home. Chloe even won the prize basket for her age group! :)

Coloring Easter Eggs

Easter Morning Pics

Baby #3

And for anyone who doesn't know yet (since we DON'T have facebook). Matt and I are expecting a new little one this October. On Chloe's birthday (the 9th) actually.

We are going to be surprised for this one and are excited about that.

Chloe doesn't seem to understand, but Luke is super excited! He wants to find a blue bear to take to the hospital for the baby (maybe he knows something we don't????). Although I think most of the time he wants a sister. The other day he told me he wants to name the baby Allie. Not sure where that came from. I don't think he even knows any Allie's.

He also told me he wants a green bear to give to the NEXT baby. Then he gave me a hug and told me he wants "lots and lots of family, lots and lots of babies and lots and lots of people". Cute huh?

We talk about moving Chloe into his room this summer and he wants to share a bed with her so bad. He's even such a good big brother that he wants to put her on the inside by the wall so she doesn't fall out. It would be cute, but there's no way Crazy Chloe is not going to be in a crib for awhile longer!

So we are looking forward to our new bundle of joy. Almost half way there already!

A New Patio...Almost

Matt started working on tearing out our old deck to be able to pour a new patio. If the weather cooperates the plan is to do it tomorrow! Yay!

Matt worked so hard at this! And if you know him, he did this all in a couple days. Once he starts he can't stop. I was able to help a little bit, which I enjoyed, but I was mostly on kitchen crew and crowd control.

My Sleepy Bunny

Tents

Matt, the master tent maker and Luke, his little encouragement have built quite the tent tonight. One premade tent, 4 blankets, 5 pillows, 4 nonnies and 1 gloworm make a fun evening for a little boy and his dad. As Matt was trying to army crawl into the tent Luke cheered him on by "Come daddy, you can do it!"

Their little conversations inside the tent are pretty entertaining!

Excited!

I am by myself. Completely. And loving it!

We all went on a nice walk together and then Matt took the kids to help feed the cows. Wonderful. I have Italian chicken baking in the oven and a gluten free garlic primavera risotto simmering on the stove. (Sounds fancy doesn't it...it's from a box!)

It's nice to cook and enjoy the smells without two kids once in awhile. I love them very much, but supper never comes soon enough for them. Whether it's 4:00 or 6:00. So this is wonderful. I might even break out the placemats for tonight!

February 16, 2011

7 Quick Takes for Feb 16 2011

1. I just finished the second book in the Chronicles of the Kings series by Lynn Austin and I am so thankful! I love the books, but that is the problem. I don't want to do anything else. So I am not letting myself start the third one for awhile. I was telling Matt it's quite a relief to be "set free" from my book reading for awhile!

2. Matt and I have tickets to a Mark Lowry concert next Friday night and I am super excited! I LOVE LAUGHING at comedians and I am so excited that it will all be clean and fun!

3. Chloe loves her "pretties"! The little rubber bands, hair clips or headbands she has. She wants them in almost all the time. The only thing is the hair clips look darling on her, but she likes to pull those out so you put them back in again and again and again. The rubber bands look cute/silly, but that is what she likes the best.

4. Luke hugged me the other day and told me "Mommy, you're my favorite mommy." Awww...thanks.

5. We went sledding Sunday afternoon at the AT&T tower and had so much fun! I thought we would go down the little hill because of the kids, but Matt thought differently. And they loved it! Luke isn't exactly a dare-devil so we were excited that he even wanted to go down by himself a few times. And he walked and pulled the sled up the hill almost the whole time. Chloe-girl just stayed in the sled and rode down and up down and up.

6. Anyone heard of Red Light Therapy? There is a place in Bluffton that does it and I would love to try it! It's supposed to help with skin tone, acne, cellulite, fine lines, and those wonderful love scars I have all over my stomach from my two little ones. Plus I think it would feel awesome to lay in a tanning bed type machine, but without the health concerns.

7. I love that the sun is shining and it is going to be warm today! Thank you Lord!

Polar Bears

Luke came in the kitchen yesterday morning and told me:

"Mommy, when King Jesus comes me and Wevi are going to pet the polar bears."

Yes, my little love, when King Jesus comes you and Levi can pet the polar bears.


Isaiah 11:6
The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them.

C.S. Lewis

I just finished a biography on C.S. Lewis and wish there were more hours in the day to read! I want to read so many of his books and the books that inspired him.

This week I requested a book by George MacDonald. He was one of the first writers to influence C.S. Lewis, way before he even became a Christian. He writes science fiction with spiritual themes. Like Chronicles of Narnia and Lord of the Rings. I think he wrote in the late 1800's so it will definitely be different than what I normally read. I am excited though. Hoping Rach will read it with me.

And back to Lord of the Rings...it was interesting learning about Lewis's and J.R.R. Tolkien's relationship. I think I need to be in a book club...I always want to talk about what I am reading. And I am sure it doesn't make for too interesting of a blog post. I sure hope my kids LOVE to read someday!

Happy Birthday Luke!

Happy Birthday to my beautiful little boy!

Thank you Lord for the precious gift you entrusted us with. His tender generous heart, cute smile, child-like faith, and fluffy hair. His sweetness towards his sister and snuggles towards us bring us so much joy.

To my little fence building, nonny loving, thumb sucking, cassette listening, sandbox playing, cow feeding, kitty squeezing, m&m eating, popcorn making love of my life. You'll never know how special you are to me!

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I don't know why I can't get spaces to post between my numbers on my last post. So when you are reading it, know it bugs me too!

7 Quick Takes - Jan 6, 2010

1. I made this! It is for Luke's birthday and it is a crayon roll up. I am going to try to rip out a stitch and put a small notepad on the left side. Since he will be 3 next week (sniff sniff) Matt and I would like him to start sitting in church with us instead of going to the nursery all the time. Maybe this could be just for Sundays...

2. I had not gotten on my blog in awhile and just realized Jess, from the Making Home blog I talked about left me a comment! Fun! Now it's fun to get any comments, but one from someone who I don't know, but REALLY wish I was friends with. That's fun!

3. And speaking of friends...I am super sad about our friends Jackie, Josue and Moshe moving! Like really sad. Matt and I had said before when other friends have moved away that "at least Gomez's won't move, they built a new house beside her parent's." I guess anything is possible. Although we are looking forward to them moving back with more babies someday!

4. I took the kids to the toddler nursery at church with me today and we cleaned house! I am "in charge" of taking care of that nursery and it felt so good to go through the cupboards and the toys and clean things out! It looks good and I am excited about that.

5. Matt is building us an entertainment center for our TV that has doors that close! WAHOO!!

6. I am looking over my goals for 2010 and I completed some of them. A few more I did great at the first 6 months, not so great the last half. And the one about losing my baby weight was good until about December 25th. So I think I will still count it. :)

7. I started my couponing again after taking a little break. It felt good to go to Rite Aid and score on lots of free or extremely cheap items.