LOVING this song right now.

Revelation Song, By Kari Jobe


Worthy is the, Lamb who was slain
Holy, Holy, is He
Sing a new song, to him who sits on
Heaven's mercy seat

Holy, Holy, Holy
Is the Lord God Almighty
Who was, and is, and is to come
With all creation I sing
Praise to the King of Kings
You are my everything
And I will adore You

Clothed in rainbows, of living color
Flashes of lightning, rolls of thunder
Blessing and honor, strength and glory and power be
to You the only wise King

Holy, Holy, Holy
Is the Lord God Almighty
Who was, and is, and is to come
With all creation I sing
Praise to the King of Kings
You are my everything
And I will adore You

Filled with wonder, awestruck wonder
At the mention of your name
Jesus your name is power
Breath, and living water
Such a marvelous mystery
Yeah...

Holy, Holy, Holy
Is the Lord God Almighty
Who was, and is, and is to come, yeah
With all creation I sing
Praise to the King of Kings
You are my everything
And I will adore You

Memorial Weekend

What a doozy! Our Memorial Day Weekend was packed with a lot of fun, hot & sunny weather, and a little scare. Saturday was my very good friend's Baby 'Sprinkle'. This is her second baby, another girl, and her mom and sisters wanted to throw her just a little shower to get some of the basic necessities. It was so cute! I have had this onesie cookie cutter in my collection just waiting to be used and I was so excited that I could make some cute cookies for her special day.


   

Sunday after church we met our friends in DUMBO for ice cream. DUMBO has the best view of the city from Brooklyn but I thought this view was pretty good too. Best buds!

 


We left the park with intentions of coming home and turning on the sprinkler because it was so HOT. But once we got home in the shade of the backyard it wasn't too bad. We hung out for a while talking and letting the kiddos play. Then, I made myself a peanut butter & jelly sandwich and every thing changed. Hailey wanted some so of course Charles wanted some. At first I said no to him because we hadn't yet given him peanut butter. Then talking with our friends we thought, ok, we'll try it and watch him but he's had so many different foods and been fine, he'd probably be fine with this too. Jokingly, before I gave him a bit I said 'ok Charles, now don't get a rash or let your throat close up'. If only I had known..
He liked it and was fine, we only gave him a little bit. He and Hailey shared half a peanut butter and jelly sandwich so it wasn't a lot. About twenty min later Chris took him in to change his diaper and when he brought him back out I noticed that Charles' voice was hoarse. We thought it was weird and definitely started paying more attention. Sure enough, he started scratching at his neck, but again, he has had a little eczema so we weren't sure it was necessarily a reaction. I brought him in for a bath and he was acting normal but itching a little and still had a hoarse voice. After his bath we were going to keep him up for a bit to watch instead of putting him to bed. He started to wheeze when he breathed and was scratching a lot more so we quickly decided to bring him to the ER. Luckily we live only three blocks from the hospital. Once there, it was getting worse and he was starting to get a little swollen in the face and ears and I asked to be seen right away. They looked at him, listened to his chest and said it sounded like he had fluid on his lungs. He received a steroid shot, epinephrine, and benadryl. It quickly began working and the swelling and rash went down, and his lungs sounded much much better with his oxygen saturation 100 percent. They wanted to keep us there for a few hours for observation to make sure it didn't come back. It did. And worse. They had to give him a second shot of epinephrine which meant that he needed to stay over night and be admitted. Long and the short, the second shot did the trick and after a night in the hospital, a referral to an allergist, and a prescription for an epi-pen, we were able to go home Monday afternoon. No more peanuts for Charles and we will have to have an epi-pen with us just in case.





We are so thankful that God was watching out for Charles and protecting him. He has truly blessed us with a healthy boy and we just pray that He would continue to protect him and keep him healthy as he grows up.

After coming home from the hospital and giving him a bath we went straight outside again to BBQ with our friends and he and Hailey played in the pool.

Thanking God For Friends

This past month has been a tough one. One that I certainly never want to go through again. I don't know why God allows us to go through pain and heartache but I do know that He is with us as we walk through those valleys.

Months ago my two best friends whom I have grown up with planned a trip out here, unbeknownst  to us that is was probably the perfect time to have them here. I miss them all the time and we always cherish our time together. That being said, the days from last Friday night to yesterday evening were the best I have had this month. I am so thankful for my friends. God put them in my life as many as 25 years ago and I am so blessed to have these two women as friends.

Our days were filled with lots of talking, laughing, various cafe drinks and food. We can be silly together, challenge one another, and pray together. The three of us aren't able to get together very often but whenever we do we are able to pick up right where we have left off. I love them to overflowing.

Getting Ready for Christmas

Christmas is just around the corner and if you are like us your holiday activities have already started. Parties, dinners, shopping, decorating.. Christmas time is wonderful isn't it?

On Friday I got together with a friend who recently visited our friends in Norway and she brought back a beautiful advent star to hang in our window. It was the perfect reason to decorate for Christmas. It's so pretty all lit up and glowing! 

On Saturday we went caroling with a group from church. We walked up and down busy 8th avenue singing Christmas songs, it was so fun! First we walked down the avenue and made a stop on 49th street in front of Dominick's Pizzeria. (If you have ever been to NYC for BUMP or to visit us, you have most likely eaten  Dominick's) One of the guys who works there came out and took video of us singing. 

Then we crossed the street and walked and sang all the way to the train station at 62nd street. We stopped in front of the station and sang a few more songs, crossed the street and headed back towards church..

Making one more stop along the way at a Malaysian restaurant whose owner started coming to the Chinese service and became a believer. In our caroling group we had people singing in english, chinese and gujarati so when we stopped at the restaurant those singing in chinese did a few song alone. 

Then we headed back to church for refreshments and to warm up.

Over the weekend I also got two more onesies made. I have been trying to get some ready and in stock for my etsy shop. I want some ready to sell because even though I have made quite a few over the last year almost all of them have been gifts. The following are the first two of four from my up and coming 'woodland collection'. I'm excited about it :)

Oh, and it snowed.

Fall Festival

Yesterday was the Fall Festival at our church. It's a crazy time of games, prizes, candy, and craziness. Half way through there were two hundred people lined up outside waiting to come in! I was assigned to the face painting booth along with another woman. I must say, it was much less crazy than some of the other stations. I think partly because they didn't get a ticket for getting their face painted, instead they had to give us tickets. 

I put Charles in my moby while we were making the final preparations before the doors opened. He was getting tired fast and fell asleep pretty much right as we were starting. I had him in the stroller next to my chair and was surprised he was able to sleep through all the noise. He slept for a good hour and sat with me for a while before getting anxious to get out of his stroller and then was passed around for the rest of the festival. He's such a good baby!

The night before we were at the church setting up and I made a sign of the different things we could paint on faces. It was simple stuff; a flower, spiderweb, lady bug, the batman symbol, a rainbow, a basketball.. etc. I knew that I would need to learn how to draw Hello Kitty, she's pretty popular with the little girls around here, and I aim to please. One of the girls in the youth group showed me how to draw her but I was nervous about doing it myself. I had to get over that fast because as far as the girls were concerned, she was what I painted the most! I'm pretty much a pro now. 

At the other stations the children got tickets for put-put golfing, tossing a football through a hole, bean bag tosses etc.. There was cotton candy, crafts, a cake walk, popcorn, and cupcakes. I'm telling you- craziness! For some of the volunteers who had the privilege of experiencing this event for the first time they were left with jaws dropped. For any of you readers who have come to do BUMP NY- imagine the craziest day at BUMP, times ten, on steroids. I'm not exaggerating. BUT, it was a definite success! 

The following photos were taken while we were setting up..

Half-way point.. getting ready to watch a skit..

After the skit we had to clear out the people who were there so we could let in the other two hundred or so people that were waiting on line outside. 

This year's Fall Festival was an even bigger deal because it's the first we have done in two years. Before that, our church put on not only a festival in the fall but also one in the spring for Easter. Unfortunately, we weren't able to do them for a while because there just weren't enough volunteers to work it. With such a high volume of kids (and parents) coming through the doors we need A LOT of volunteers, not only the day of, but in the weeks beforehand to prepare. We were very blessed to have a lot of the kids from the youth group, people from our congregation, as well as a church from upstate that had come to BUMP, all there to work to make it happen. We left exhausted, hungry, a little overwhelmed, and talking about plans for the Easter Festival in six months. 

This is a huge outreach for our church because it brings the people in from the neighborhood through our doors. A brief message/skit is given as well as information about our church and sunday school programs. A flyer is sent home with each child in their goody-bag and, because we required everyone to register when they arrived, in the next week a followup mailer will be sent to everyone who walked through our doors.We can definitely say that from these types of things kids start coming to Sunday School and through them we are more able to reach the rest of the family. It is so important that we are able to continue doing this so we are praying that this wont be a one time thing but that it will be the beginning of bringing the festival back as something our church puts on every year. Like many churches we need more people from our own congregation to step up and volunteer. It is the responsibility of EACH of us to get involved in our churches programs, to do so with a happy heart, because it is more than serving a snack, running a game, teaching a craft or painting a face. It's about bringing Christ's love to the community in which we live. The harvest is plenty, but the workers are few. 

As our Associate Pastor often says "we pray that our church would shine God's light from our little corner of Brooklyn to the ends of the earth." 

The Writing On The Wall

About a month ago now Chris and I went out to celebrate his completion of his final paper for school. Thirty some pages on how to make the church's time with youth more effective. (He got an A!)

We went to a highly recommended BBQ joint in Brooklyn. Not sure what to expect because in our experience we had yet to find really good BBQ in New York, we took the word of a fellow former Minnesotan and tried it out. It's called the Smoke Joint and let me tell you, it didn't disappoint. Chris ordered ribs and I got the catfish sandwich. YUM.

Seeing as how we never really go to this neighborhood and the fact that we had a baby-free evening we decided to walk around a little after dinner before heading home. While walking down the sidewalk  we came upon this..

As we got closer we saw what was written

The gospel written out boldly on the facade of someone's house really struck me. I sometimes have a hard time even talking about it so to see this written on the side of someone's home was pretty cool. And challenging as well. I couldn't help but ask myself how I could be more bold in my faith. Perhaps writing it on the side of our house isn't the answer for us, but what is? 

"For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek."

Romans 1:16

"For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels."

Mark 8:38

Big Blessings, Tiny Clothes

As my last day of bedrest approaches I am filled with a mixture of feelings. I am so happy that this part is almost over. I am excited and anxious for the arrival of our little baby- I can't believe that it is almost here! It's crazy to think how much love we have for our baby already and he/she hasn't even been born yet. 

I am also overwhelmed and so very thankful for how our God has been faithful to us throughout this time, and the whole pregnancy. We have been so encouraged by the cards, gifts, generosity, prayers and words of encouragement we have received from our family, friends, people at church (here and back home), and people who don't even know us. God truly is our Provider and has proved Himself over and over again. It brings me to tears thinking about how just a few weeks ago we were worrying about our baby and the future- what was going to happen and how we were going to make it. But our Lord knew the whole time and He has been with us and will continue to be with us. I have learned to trust Him more and He has given me peace in my heart and even though I still worry about our baby and will it be ok and how are we going to make it with me not working I can  confidently place these worries at His feet and know that He will take care of us- that God is holding us in His hands and that that is the best place for us to be. 

The past two weeks I have been on more of a 'partial' bedrest. I haven't been confined to the couch all day which has been great. We have started to get our apartment ready for the baby and this afternoon I washed all the baby clothes, blankets, booties, hats and other teeny tiny cute baby stuff. 

I love looking at the little onesies, hats and socks and imagining our baby wearing them!

We still have a lot to do before the baby gets here but I feel better knowing that the clothes have been washed and can be put away and that after tomorrow I can go full force into preparation and cleaning. woohoo!

HOLLA!

I know that in my last post I said that I would tell you what the object in the photo was, and I will, but seeing as how there was only one response I think I'll wait a few more days. I'm thinking that either you are all stumped and in a state of perplexity that you just have no idea as to what it is and will be posting your guesses soon, or maybe since I haven't been posting very much lately people have given up and are no longer checking to see if I have written anything.. don't give up on me!! If it's neither one of the first two, then maybe my (few) readers just really don't care. Which is fine because I am still going to tell you what is. 

Later. 

For now I would like to share a blessing I was bestowed with today. Something that makes me want to say HOLLA! It's good to give thanks and share the good things, whether small or great, that God does for us. So here's my story.

Thursdays my work is split up between the two schools I interpret at. I am at one school in the morning and another in the evenings. The school I work at Thursday nights is off today in remembrance of Lincoln's birthday. This is a nice thing in itself because it would mean that I had my afternoon and evening free. But wait, it gets better. 

I try to check my email every morning before leaving for work but honestly, sometimes I just don't get around to it. I'm not a morning person and if I can spend just three more minutes in bed then I will. I wasn't going to do it this morning but after finishing doing my hair and putting on my mascara something told me to quickly check it. Whew, am I glad that I did because there was an email from the student I interpret for saying that she wasn't coming to class! HOLLA! Not only did this mean that I had the whole day off, but it saved me from traveling almost an hour to the City to arrive at the school, wait the required 30 minutes for her not to show up, and then come all the way back home for nothing.. just because I wouldn't have checked my email! HOLLA!

And so I would now like to take a moment to thank God for prompting me to open up my hotmail account this morning, for giving me the whole day off. For making it possible for me to crawl back into bed and sleep for a little longer, spend some *quality time* with my husband this morning, and make french toast and scrambled eggs for breakfast. And finally, so that I could be sitting here at my cafe with my new 'list' book. HOLLA!

I promise that's the last time I'll say HOLLA! in this post.