Praying for Triple Smiles

I have just spent about an hour and a half in prayer for my Triple Smiles. I was wide awake at 3:30 am. I got up, straightened up the kitchen, brewed my coffee…and sat down for a nice coffee talk with my Savior. Its now almost 5:30 A.M. I wanted to write my mom and some other dear prayer partners an email..and decided to share it on my blog instead as a hope to encourage another mom out there.  This entry may be long…bear with me…my hope is you will leave encouraged.

Gordon and I attending a Wednesday night Bible Study together. Last Wednesday night…a young mom shared about a struggle with one of her children..and when she knew nothing else to do..she went to her knees.

On Thursday, True Woman posted this post on praying scripture for your children.
My dear friend Vicki for Christmas gave me a flip book of scriptures with the children’s pictures beside each verse.  She bought the flip book here.
I have blogged before about the importance of teaching kids scripture.
This morning the topic on my heart is instilling the desire to learn in all my children, but especially now in Zachariah as he approaches Kindergarten.


I found this prayer in the book The Power of a Praying® Parent Book of Prayers (Power of a Praying Book of Prayers) and wanted to share it with you.
Lord, I pray that Zachariah will have a deep reverence for You and Your ways. May he hide Your Word in his heart like a treasure, and seek after understanding like silver or gold. Give him a good mind, a teachable spirit, and an ability to learn. Instill in him a desire to attain knowledge and skill, and may he have joy in the process. Above all, I pray that he will be taught by You, for you Word says when our children are taught by you, they are guaranteed peace. You have also said “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Prov 1:7) May he never be a fools and turn away from learning,but rather may he turn to you for the knowledge he needs.  I pray he will respect the wisdom of his parents and be willing to be taught by the teachers You bring into his life. Handpick each one, Lord and may they be Godly people from whom he can easily learn. Take out of his life any teacher who would be an ungodly influence or create a bad learning experience. Let him find favor with his teachers and have good communication with them. Help him to excel in school and do well in any classes he may take.  Make the pathways of learning smooth and not something with which he must strain and struggle. Connect everything in his brain the way it is supposed to be so that he has clarity of thought, organization, good memory and strong learning ability. I say to him according to Your Word “Apply your heart to instruction, and your ears to words of knowledge “ (Proverbs 23:13) “May the Lord give you understanding in all things” (2Tim 2:7) Lord, enable Zachariah to experience the joy of learning more about You and Your World.
Amen….

I’m Tired!

I’m tired. I love Valentines Day…but I am tired!
So I was so glad when my sweet friend Sara invited us over for a Valentines Day playdate.  Sara and I were pregnant together and had our babies on the same day!! (Levi and Haley)
She had fun crafts for the kids to make…
(and even filled them up with candy before we left)



A Yummy fun Valentine lunch…


And Super Cute Party Favors!

Thank you so much Sara for blessing us today!
After the playdate, I found this cute caboose and pulled over to snap a few pictures!


 

We hope you have had a day full of love….Happy Valentines Day 2011
For God so LOVED the world that He gave his only begotten son for whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16

God’s Little Princess

A friend emailed me today and asked “Why have I not seen Ava’s birthday on the blog?” So….without further ado…..

Ava’s party turned into quite the balancing act this year! She came down with the flu and strep throat days before the Royal Tea Party.  The most stressful part about postponing the party was that I had ordered a cake and by the time I knew for sure she was sick….the cake was almost ready! However, Sarah at Sweet Art Bakery quickly took away my stress by telling me she would donate the first cake to the firemen and make Ava a fresh cake the following weekend.  I have never been so grateful!
The next weekend brought on its own set of problems. As ice and snow dumped on Dallas/Ft. Worth making history giving school children 4 days in a row off from school. I didn’t know on Friday what Saturday would bring. I decided the birthday party would go on if only her brothers and the little girl who lives on our street attended!

However on Saturday, God opened up a cloud  and there was a small window of sunshine on Saturday….to throw a birthday party! Ava has faithful friends!
The tea table is ready, the cake is baked, the tea is brewed…..and unless we only want Ava’s dolls at the table….

Daddy and Zachariah have to do this…..

for Ava’s friends to get in our door!
Before long…the table transformed into this…..happy little girls princesses everywhere.

The theme for the party was taken after
The Royal Tea Party (Gigi, God's Little Princess)
 series by
Sheila Walsh

The books tell little girls that big or small…that it doesn’t matter how they look, act, feel…there is more than being royal that what the mirror shows. God looks inside and the girl he sees is precious…a royal princess of the heavenly King!   I could blog a whole entry about the importance of that….but for now…back to the party.
The place setting…

The treats:

The Royal princesses….
 


The party favors…Gigi - Gods Little Princess - Royal Scepter

Other fun memories…



“The Father has loves us so much…that we are called children of God.” 1 John 3:1
“God has chosen you and made you his holy people. He loves you. So always do these things:Show mercy to others; be kind, humble, gentle and patient.” Colossians 3:12

Finger Painting Fun

I enrolled Zachariah in a sensory ABC class at The Handwriting Clinic . He loves the class. It is a very hands on way for him to learn to write his alphabet. Each week he is supposed to practice the things he learns in class on Monday. This week he needs to practice “long line down” and the “circle stroke.” 
Today, I used a highlighter to make the handwriting lines on finger paint paper for him. He did a great job!
 
He is allowed a little free painting too!

Of course, little brother and sister want to learn right along side him…which is great:)

I also found these awesome color by number sight words over at Carissa's Blog .  Today, I used them in a plastic sleeve and let Zachariah’s find the finger paint color that matched the number. We worked on the words Go and To…that are in his reader Go, Go, Go this week!


Other fun on this snowy/ice day included….

putting out a fierce fire in at Ava’s castle!

Finding loose change for her piggy bank…(great fine motor skill by the way)