Time to Continue this Drama called Life

After a week camping in the Smoky Mountain National Park, "roughing it" with no showers (!), we are home again. We spent a day cleaning out the van, doing laundry, and catching up on phone calls. Cecelia spent some quality time with her parrot, Storm. He was so happy to see her that he did NOT want to go back in his cage. Then, today we packed the girls off to church camp. I was sorry to see them go after only a day home, but I know God opened the door on this for His purposes. On another note, we got the call this morning that Nick's grandma passed away last night. She has been suffering for some time and we were praying for her to be healed by God - she was ready to go home to Jesus and we're happy that she is free. She was 91-years-old, lived a good long life, and got to encounter Jesus in an amazing way two years ago. Please pray for the peace of the family as they celebrate Marcella's life and mourn her passing.
If this had happened 2 days earlier, we probably would have all driven up to Nebraska with my parents straight from Tennessee. The kids are sad, but they all (except the youngest two) got to visit her within the past few weeks during their visit.

So, Nick is prayerfully purchasing airplane tickets to fly back for the memorial and funeral services, to help his mom who has bravely been the caretaker for Marcella for the past 5 years. He is going to his first staff meeting at Encounter House of Prayer tomorrow (Monday), we're celebrating Carlo's 7th birthday on Tuesday, Nick's teaching Encounter's youth group that evening, then he's flying out on Wednesday morning. We'll have to delay celebrating out 16th wedding anniversary until he gets back next week. (It's Saturday.) Of course, there are many other things we're dealing with in the meantime. Transition is never easy. I need to finalize plans for homeschooling this year as well as finish up the kids' evaluations for this past year. There are MANY people I have to touch base with and get together with this month. And my internet is down right now. I'm typing away in Starbucks. Thank goodness for free Wi-fi.

I've been through an eye-opening, thought-provoking, life-changing weekend through the amazing Bethel School of Supernatural Evangelism hosted at OHOP just last week! My whole perspective on Holy Spirit and our lives as Christians has been shifted. How blessed we are by God who wants to BE with us! He wants us to know how much He loves us and He wants us to share it with others! He loves us all much more than we know. And you know what? Jesus wants His money's worth - He died and rose again for more than a feel-good moment here and there. He sent us Holy Spirit so that we can do more miraculous things than He did! Isn't it time we walked that out? Are you ready to get out of the boat?! I AM!

By the way, the Warrior Prayers 21 Days of Prayer for Sons is already planning on a fall session toward the beginning of September. See you then? I am in the process of writing and praying out a similar prayer focus time for Daughters. Any suggestions on focus that you would like? God has given me some great words. Look forward to sharing with you all soon and posting some great pictures soon from our recent adventures.

Fun Mom Prayer

One of the reasons I started blogging was because of all the encouragement and community I found through other mom bloggers. I visit some favorites and get a few in my email. Occasionally, I follow the bread-crumb trail of wonder to new kindred spirits. Yesterday, a link to this prayer from Stacy of MOD Squad was provided in my email. It spoke directly to my heart, and I know it will touch yours too! So, here goes, the Fun Mom Prayer...

Cecelia, Me, and Keliah having fun together!

Dear Lord,
I’m the rule maker.
The one who makes them wash their hands 100x’s 
and eat their green beans.
I am their teacher.
I say “NO”, a lot.
And sometimes, that is the right thing to say.
But what I really want to be, is the one who captures their hearts and turns them to You.
Who I really want to be, is a mom who has time to make cookies, play Yahtzee, and catch lightning bugs in a jar.
What I want to say more is, “Yes! Let’s have an adventure today.”
And put aside my chores, my have to’s, my grown up things and enjoy this precious time I have with them.
Because tomorrow, they will be grown.
And I will not have a chance to do these things with them.
I’m not sure where this is in Your Word exactly, but I know you are a God who loves relationship.
And You did make it a point to let the children come to you. {Matthew 19:14}
So, would you make me, this mom, a fun mom?
Let my children remember me:
Smiling. Chasing. Dreaming. And having fun with them.
Amen.

My Big Girl is 10!

A week ago, we celebrated Cecelia's 10th birthday. I was overwhelmed by the realization that my big/little girl is growing up and out of childhood. She didn't even get any toys for presents. (She didn't ask for any either.) She had wanted to have a sleepover, but one of her friends wasn't able to spend the night and the other is allergic to our pets. The best alternative was THE BEACH! 

Rocky, Keliah, Cecelia, Carlo, Antonio and Luca

We drove out to Ft. Desoto park on the gulf coast and shared a picnic lunch with seagulls and had a great time swimming, exploring, and playing. Because of the long road trip and extended time on the beach (as evidenced by the pink shoulders of some of us), we had cake, ice cream and presents the next day.

Happy Birthday Cecelia!!!

I was touched when Keliah (8) wanted to pray for Cecelia to bless her birthday.
Sweet Cecelia, you may not always hear me say all I feel for you. I love you - you know that - but do you know how much I treasure and cherish you? You are the delight of my heart and everyday my respect for you and my pride in you grows. You are an amazing lover of the Lord, a girl who desires the things of God with your whole heart! I pray that you are continually blessed and amazed by the goodness of your Heavenly Father and that we as your family will always lift you up on your journey.

Keliah praying a blessing over Cecelia

Proud Momma Moments...

On Sunday, big changes were announced for the Children's Equipping Center at OHOP. Of course, I already knew about them because I was almost finished with the CEC newsletter coming out this week. ;)  There was a great moment when the talking was over and they showed a quick promo video put together during the week. Jessica, CEC's interim director, really wanted to show what we're growing here. The fastest way to show that is by letting the kid's do what they do best - PRAY! Friday mornings Nick teaches a group of kids 9 and up music and the Harp and Bowl model of the prayer room, after class they do a full intercession watch in the prayer room. Recently, a friend and I began a short class to equip the younger kids to participate as well. The older kids have done a great job and have grown immensely over the past 2 years; they are patient and kind to the little ones too. The "newbies" are so excited to participate in the prayer room. They are blossoming with the Joy of the Lord! Many of these kids got together for the filming of a short version of what we do on Fridays. This is the resulting video – props to Luke Schepler who did an amazing job with this!

Back Online ~ after 3 months!

What have you all been up to? I feel so lost! I've been playing catch-up for the past couple days because we are finally online again. The short version of the story of why it's been so long is that we moved and didn't want to get cable internet access again. We looked into alternatives, really liked one, but they don't service our area yet! So, we broke down and called the cable guy again. I'm so glad. I got to read A LOT of sweet and lovable birthday wishes from October on my Facebook page and got to send out Christmas blessings to friends who wished me merry last month. I'm only a little late in the New Years hoopla, and got to laugh, cry and groan while catching up on my blog buddies' posts.
I'm so happy to be back on here and have lots to share. One sad note is that my camera is missing. Either I lost it (how, where, I don't go anywhere!?!) or it was stolen out of my van. Seems unlikely, but I don't keep it locked and I may have left it in there. So, for now, no current pictures unless you can all stand my cell phone photos. Not pretty.
Fun time of my day is that I took all 3 of my daughters for a girls' time out to Downtown Disney. We just meant to go to the 3D showing of Tangled, but arrived late due to rain and had to hangout till the next showing. What's a girl to do in Downtown Disney for 2 hours? Shop & snack! We hit the Lego store, the princess end of the Disney emporium (that's what I call it), and shared a big Rocky Road sundae at the Ghirardelli soda fountain. Fun! I have to say it was pretty cute looking at Sabina sitting pretty in her 3D shades and licking a long unicorn lollipop. Plus, Cecelia & Keliah were in their sparkly cool outfits and dancing their Hannah Montana hearts out along the wet walkway of Pleasure Island. Singing in the Rain style. Moments to treasure.

Signs & Wonders Children's Conference

This weekend was the 4th annual Signs & Wonders conference at the Orlando House of Prayer. Since I volunteer with the Children's Equipping Center at OHOP, I was blessed to take my 2 big girls - Cecelia & Keliah - for the weekend. It was an incredible time of training the children up to walk in obedience, POWER, and authority! This morning at OHOP's Sunday service, the children attending the conference got a chance to pray for the sick. Those first 2 girls in the picture are my daughters, the Prayer Warriors!
I've already heard confirmation of a healing that took place today, praise Jesus!
Thank you, Lenny LaGuardia for pouring into this generation; it was a great prayer boot camp!

Blessings,

Dixie

Baby Picture Sunday - Father & Child

In honor of almost Father's Day (okay it's still 2 weeks away), I posted some of my favorite pictures of Nick with some of the kids. As you can see, he is a great Daddy full of fun and love. I'm so blessed!

First, from a recent trip to the Orlando Science Center - the big boys figured out how to make that tricky cube! (Antonio, Rocky, Nick)

Nick & Cecelia snacking on the Russian Tea Cakes they made together (last year) 

Nick shadowing Sabina this Easter. So cute!

 

This is the closest I got to a "Baby Picture": Nick returning to the car while Sabina was "driving." I think she's almost 1 here.

Who likes swords?

How long can you spend in a sword shop without buying anything? 

That's the question we seemed to be asking on a recent trip to St. Augustine (possibly our favorite city ever.) The kids (and Nick) would have been happy to spend another half-hour trying out the merchandise, but I felt we'd reached the limit. For the record, no sales person bothered us or asked us to leave; we had a great time. I was getting a little nervous, though, about whether Luca would pick up something and smash it over his little sister's head. He only got to try the wooden swords. ;)

Baby Picture Sunday - sometimes there's tears

I know Debi is on break from BPS for her huge road trip, but I wanted to do one today anyway.

A couple posts ago, I wrote on Cecelia's birthday. Sabina immediately fell in love with her sister's new white poodle Webkinz. (As I've mentioned before, Sabina LOVES puppies and dogs of any kind.) Since Cecelia had JUST opened it, we reproved her gently and told her to give it back. She did, but this was the result: tears and the need of mommy comfort. I thought that I should capture some of the sad moments of growing up as well as the toothy smiles. As we all know, in life there are tribulations. The secret in God's word is that "those who sow in tears shall reap in joy." (The trick is the sowing!) Sabina, you will be happy to know, has gotten lots of play time with the white puppy. Her sister has a loving and sharing heart.

Birthday Girl!

 

My oldest daughter, Cecelia turned 9 on Sunday. She was a good sport about not having a big party this year. She'd wanted a Hannah Montana party, and I had some cute, fun ideas on that front, but it was not to be. Nick and I were extremely busy all weekend with OHOP's monthly Awaken the Bride conference. Nick led worship on Friday night, Saturday morning and Sunday morning (I sing on his team.) He also taught classes on Sat. afternoon and Sun. afternoon. It was a crazy time to think about poor Cecelia's birthday. She was thankful, though, that her birthday was on Sunday and glorified and worshiped God with excellence! Fortunately, Grandma always remembers to send birthday gifts early, so she had a gift to open first thing after church. (Thank you Grandma & Grandpa; you are awesome!) Her sister, Keliah, couldn't wait to give her gift of a pink Princess Disney hat, either. That evening, she and I got to go out (just the 2 of us!) to see Alice in Wonderland - sharing the tub of popcorn and large Cherry Coke for supper. We had fun together and planned to have our family cake party to celebrate on Monday evening.

After much speculation and looking at other guitar cakes online, I just made up my own ideas with what I had on hand to create her pink guitar cake. (Notice the C.C. initials!) Nothing too fancy, but perfect for our little gathering with 2 kinds of ice cream. The remains were breakfast this morning. Anyway, I'm so proud of my little girl, getting so grown up (but not too grown up.) She is truly a gift from God and I'm so humbled to be her mom.

The gifts from us were pretty simple this year. Books, a couple toys, candy and clothes. As you can see below, Sabina was certain that the cute puppy was hers!  Today, she even got to stretch that birthday joy for another day with the arrival of a package from my parents - Granny & Papa. Woo-hoo! I'm determined to enjoy letting her be a little girl for these next couple of years. I don't want her rushing in to growing up too fast. These years are precious. Besides, once you are grown up it lasts for the rest of your life! That's not so fun. Even though I try to impress a sense of responsibility and contribution upon all my children, I also want them to have lots of time to just be KIDS. This is the time for the games, books, songs, artwork, and dances that will truly make up the woman Cecelia will be. And, please God, help me be the mother that Cecelia needs.

Cheering for the YMCA!

 Cecelia (middle of frame) cheering during a game with her team!

A couple months ago, my 2 older daughters Cecelia (8) and Keliah (7) got to experience cheerleading for the 1st time. We signed them up as beginners at our local YMCA and they were on a team! They practiced and learned cheers on Friday evenings and then cheered for the beginning boys basketball teams on Saturday mornings. It was a rather eye-opening experience for me because the closest I got to cheerleading was as a 6th grader on the pep-squad in Texas and an 11th grader on a short-lived dance team (no cheering required.) My girls enjoyed it, but I think Cecelia is more interested in joining the basketball team in the future and Keliah was wanting to add her cartwheels - which she is awesome at! As beginners, the team was relegated to standing and sitting cheers with arm movements and occasional step-outs.

 Keliah's favorite cheer was: Hot to Go!
H-O-T-T-O-G-O the mighty Y is Hot to Go!
Whoooo...hot to go....whooo...hot to go!
(much pom-pom shaking on whoooo.)

Keliah with "Hands on Hips, Smiles on Lips!"

Cecelia's favorite cheer was: Strawberry Shortcake
Strawberry Shortcake, Huckleberry Pie,
Take that victory to the sky!
Go Y!

It was a fun time to meet other families and for the girls to make new friends. We're really looking forward to getting more involved at the YMCA, but will double-check next time on the actual game times because we're committed to our involvement in the Children's Prayer Watch at OHOP on Saturday mornings. Cecelia and Keliah are getting more bold and melodic in their prophetic singing - it's exciting!

3 New "Babies"

I better start this story at the beginning.

Pretty girl Fina hanging out at home.

About 3 years ago, Nick got a parakeet. He'd wanted a bird for a long time, and after researching, he decided that a parakeet would make a good intro bird. It was his 32nd birthday present. He named it Forte, fed him, held him, carried him around on his shoulder, even taught him how to fly. Then Forte thought it was hilarious to fly and dive into my hair while I was busy in the kitchen. Everyone loved him. About half a year later, there was an accident and Forte died in Nick's hands. It was very sad and Nick was devastated. The kids put together their Christmas money and got Daddy a new parakeet a few months later. His name was Solo, we think he was too old when we got him, because he would not leave his cage unless forced and never bonded to any of us. He just died about 6 months ago. I think only Carlo missed him. Sad, but true. But, Nick was still longing for a bird friend. He took to visiting the sun conures at the local PetSmart. One of them is pretty snotty and jealous, the other more friendly and fun, but under the "thumb" of his partner. Nick wanted to bring him home, but the bird and large cage we would need were about $1000. YIKES!
After we got our tax return a couple months ago, Nick started looking at craigslist ads for a feathered friend and ended up taking our 4 oldest kids to the Bird Hut, a local pet store with every kind of bird. They had the opportunity to play with several kinds of parrots there, they even had a sun conure, but it was a little scarlet lady who stole Nick's heart. She snuggled right up to Nick and was gentle with the excited fingers of our children. I was recruited for a visit, and after talking about finances and other concerns, we brought her home at the end of the week. Fina is a female eclectus, still quite young, and has totally bonded to Nick - even enjoying outings to Starbucks and the outside tables at OHOP. She is just starting to chatter and likes to whistle when she hears music or the vacuum. We picked the name "Fina" because it means "the Lord provides" - and there were several prophetic references to birds in the week we got her and in weeks following.

 Keliah with Skittles

Now, we have a friend at OHOP, Charlotte, who has an amazing ministry of provision in Africa http://www.possibilitiesministries.com/ - and it looks like God is sending her there personally in the coming months. She made the decision to come on staff full-time at OHOP until she is sent to Burundi to minister. That meant she wanted to live closer to the missions base and needed to cut living costs, to opportunity to move in with another OHOP family fulfilled her needs, but she couldn't bring her 2 birds. She approached us about taking in her African Grey Parrot, Storm, and her Macaw, Skittles. Nick was ready to say yes and kind of asked me as a formality. In fairness, when she asked us months ago about the possibility of taking them when she went to Africa and we'd agreed. That was before we'd adopted Fina, of course. Anyway, we have 3 birdy babies in the house.
Now, Storm and Macaw are, I think, about 3 years old so they have more boldness than Fina right now. Storm is super smart, as an African Grey, and a pretty vast vocabulary already not to mention all the other noises he makes. He has different whistles, imitates a knock at the door and the barking of a dog following (Charlotte's dog), the whines at the door of our own dog Indy, and has already perfected the high-pitched screams of Sabina in a temper. YAY. However, he had acquired a bad parrot habit of over-preening. Whether out of nerves, boredom, or other causes we're not sure, but he was pretty plucked-over when we got him. Through the advice of a vet, and our own attention, his pretty feathers are starting to fill out again. I'll be so happy when he has a proper tail and wings again! Skittles is a rainbow colored Macaw with all the loud squawking of his breed which can be trying at times - but he loves the kids! I think he's really just a kid himself and wants to play all the time. He can say "Hello" and dance, he kind of says "step up." He likes to be ticked under the wings and ride around on our shoulders.

 Sabina and Luca with Storm "kissing"

It's been a little crazy around here getting into the flow of caring for so many little ones, but the kids have stepped up to help with the responsibility - especially Cecelia. I tell ya, there is never a dull moment around here.

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful that my 8-year-old daughter joined me in singing on the Thursday morning worship with the word set at OHOP. We were singing out of Song of Solomon. It was beautiful! Draw me away...

I'm also thankful to my prayer partners for their prayers regarding out "house" situation. The house we're renting has apparently been foreclosed on. Without our knowledge. It's complicated & we need those prayers. We're believing that God has a home for us and we will find it in His timing.

Most of all, I am thankful for the sweet love of Jesus. I don't deserve it, but He is longing for my love too!

The Fancy Nancy Birthday!

Yes, last Saturday (over a week ago) we had the long-awaited and sadly postponed Fancy Nancy birthday party to celebrate Keliah's 7th birthday.

Fancy Girls: Madi, Cecelia, Keliah, and Mia

We were so happy to have the lovely Madi and Mia join us in our finery. (See their wonderful Mom's blog here) We were very girly and silly for about half an hour until Antonio got out his huge Nerf gun and started a 30-minute-run-around-the-house-and-scream fiesta. Gotta love big brothers.

We had a fashion show, with the girls doing their best "Runway" strut.

Then, because the little ones were ready for treats, we sat down at the table to make our own candy necklaces (with cute kits I got at Target.)

That blended pretty seamlessly into the birthday candle blow-out, singing time. Everyone got to make their own "fancy" cupcake. I had frosted them all pink and set out edible decorations for them to choose from. We had sprinkles, princess toppings, chocolate chunks, white chocolate chips, marachino cherries, colored sugar, pastel mints, as well as any candy left over when they finished their necklaces. Every cupcake was different, and they were all fancy!

I also served ice cream and sparkling apple juice. After this, Keliah opened presents and then the sugar rush kicked in! The squealing/screaming was pretty funny, especially when my ears throbbed with the noise. We managed to get them calm enough for me to read "Bonjour Butterfly" the Fancy Nancy book we got her as they sat beneath the pink gauze canopy put up especially for the party. That only managed to last a little bit longer than the pink crepe paper streamers Rocky festooned the rooms with. We were sad to say good-bye to our friends, promising to get together soon at the park, and sent them home with Fancy Nancy coloring sheets and new sparkle glue. I was a tiny bit glad to take off my fancy clothes and get comfortable, but was sad the girliness was over. I think I need more opportunities to get loverly.

Baby Picture Sunday - My Reason for Breathing is You

I am lucky to have many reasons to breathe.
Namely: Nick and Antonio (in silent contemplation of cupcake goodness.)


Rocky, sweet & funny





Cecelia with her cupcake art.





Keliah and her lovely, gappy smile.



Carlo in joy and passion.


Luca of hilarity.


And the "baby" Sabina who manages to pull off the whole frosting mustache and still be gorgeous.



All my babies. My cup runneth over.

The Pursuit of a Family Fast

Cecelia, Carlo, and Keliah Singing at the Prayer Room

Our Mission Base, the Orlando House of Prayer, started a corporate 21-day Fast yesterday. We've decided to try our first "family fast." The other times that Nick has fasted, I've been pregnant or nursing so my fasting was limited. This time, Nick and I are trying to maintain the Daniel Fast, and the kids are too - slightly modified to include whole grains for them. Truly, this is going to be an adventure. I think 4 kids asked me for ice cream today. Uh, no.
We're trying to make it fun for them, focusing on Jesus and great opportunity to come together and pray, eat healthy veggie-centric meals, and their favorite fruits. They are little fruit piggies, but the munchies tend to set in after naptime.
It's a work in progress. I really need to do some meal planning this evening and grocery shopping tomorrow.
This week the focus for the fast is Intimacy. I'll keep you all posted on the progress.
In the meantime, I'm praying these chocolate cravings pass quickly!

The Joys of Digital Photography

Well, I was a little unsure of what I was going to blog about until I was scrolling through my recently uploaded digital pictures and found several along these lines:


Now, aside from the fact that my girls used my somewhat expensive point-and-shoot digital camera without permission...grrr...I can't get too upset because, hey, I can just delete them. I didn't have to find out after paying for film and getting it developed. I love that I can take as many pictures as I want without worrying about wasting film. I love that when I miss the "perfect shot" I can try again right away or wait and see if it comes around again. I love that I can play with color and cropping, effects and framing on the software. I am so grateful to Nick for upgrading my camera last Christmas. I'm not ordering any more prints until I get those 2 boxes from the past 14 years sorted into albums. A big job ahead of me, but it will be a true joy to get books made of the digital pics from the past 3 years. YAY! I may just jump the gun and order those now...after deleting the pictures of my daughters' messy room from my computer.

6 Word Saturday

Thank you Granny for new PAJAMAS!

My Pink Week Entry!

This is a fabulous opportunity to give back a little, once again, to fight cancer. I've never entered an I ♥ Faces contest before, but thought with 3 adorable little girls I should have some incredible PINK pictures. I was right! It was pretty hard to pick just one. Here is my entry:


This is Cecelia just about 3 1/2 years ago. How time flies! Be sure and visit www.iheartfaces.com to check out everyone else's great entries this week!

Birthday Girl! & Thankful Thursday

Sabina was the Birthday Princess on the 5th!
She turned 2-years-old and her brother Rocky thought she needed her own tiara.
Here she's looking at the Family Fun cake book pretending to eat each page and trying to find the Puppy Cake.

Since we had a Puppy theme going on - because Sabina LOVES puppies - I got Scooby Snacks for everyone to munch. I'm sure they tasted better than the bone-shaped Pedigree dog food Luca tried a few days ago. EW!

A Few of her favorite things:
The cute headband Cecelia made her from the dollar kit we got at Michael's craft store.
The mirror & brush set I found at Goodwill - brand new people!
And this adorable "Boo" doll from Monster's, Inc. that talks and sings.
The Puppy Cake at last!
Sabina was thrilled to eat her cake at last. She didn't quite get the candle thing. She just blew a little puff of air in that general direction. I'm sure she'll get it next year!



It was a joy-filled celebration for the baby of the family who is officially no longer a baby. *sniff*

Since this is also Thankful Thursday I wanted to add this:

I am thankful for a healthy, adorable, happy 2-year-old daughter who brings joy to my life every day.
I am also thankful for God's provision - tune in tomorrow for a full report on what He gave His child.