Where have the last 5 years gone?

This post is a little late and without pictures. I've been trying to upload them for a few days...im giving in for now and will keep trying. Miya turned 5 on June 15. I cannot believe how fast the past five years have passed by. I still remember every detail of her pregnancy and delivery. I remember all the firsts, and all the prodding to achieve those firsts :0) I have to say that is definantly something that has changed as of lately. I have always been one to push the kiddos to achieve that next milestone. Since little Melanie was born, I have now been holding back on pushing those milestones. I don't know if it's just that life is busier with 3 and I can't push as much, or if it's because I want to stretch these years out as long possible and treasure every minute of these infant/toddler/preschool years.

Miya and Jayden play sooooo nice together right now. I know that this dynamic will change (often) over the years so I'm enjoying it as much as possible right now. They love playing doll house, babies (in which they take turns being 'Jeff and Nicki'). They can play endlessly outside without me by their side. Miya also LOVES her baby sister Melanie. She reminds me of a VanOverLoop....always wanting to hold Melanie, even though she's 1/2 as long as her :0) Usually Melanie enjoys being lugged around by Miya and if she doesn't she'll let her know. Often times if Melanie is tired she'll grab her blankie and go cuddle by Miya. Precious!

I think the year of 5 is much like the first year of thier lives. There are soooo many things they learn at this age. Last weekend Miya learned to ride a 2-wheeler (this time with much prodding through many tears). She is learning to read and is trying ever-so-hard to tie her shoes. She has 2 of 5 days down for swimming lessons (this too is something we are pushing....both girls are NOT enjoying lessons).

Miya~you are growning up right before our eyes. You have given us so many memories already in these short 5 years. You fill up our days with questions and teachable moments and are always keeping your mom and dad on their toes. God has blessed our family. He has also blessed you with a heart that loves God. Already at such a young age you are memorizing memory verses, singing psalters, and teaching your little sisters to love reading the bible and going to church. You often talk about wanting to go heaven to see God. I LOVE being able to watch you grow in your faith, even at the tender age of 5. God has great plans for you life; I pray that you will follow those plan as you grow in age and keep this precious, innocent, love for God for the rest of the years God blesses you with. We love you around the world and back again Miya Lynn!!

Happy 5th Birthday~we pray the Lord will bless you with many more.

Ramblings

For many reasons my mind has been reeling lately. The past week or so has brought many, many reasons to praise God for the mercy and grace he has given to this family. There are so many out there tonight that are hurting for various reasons, and yet God has blessed this family with health, strength, safety, and sooooo many more things. I recently read a book about joy. I'm trying to find 'joy' in all the daily tasks of our life as the book suggests. Since I've been looking for joy, I've found myself looking much closer at things I've taken for granted. There are so many things EVERY DAY God has provided for our family that just slip right past my even thinking of them; I even complain about them.

Life again has been put into perspective for me in this week. My sister on a mission trip in Alaska fell off a glacier into icy cold water. So easily she could have slipped under the shelf of the glacier and not come back, or not have been able to pull herself out of that water back onto the ice. It is only through God's hand that she came home today. When I first read a brief description of what happened I joked around with her. It's been bugging me all week though how serious that fall was. Then today I read of the tragic accident of 3 young adults from our churches in which a dad-to-be was called to his eternal home and the mother-to-be, baby, and friend are in critical condition. We do not know how long God will have us live here on this earth. We all have a purpose while we are here, to praise the God that created us and blesses us with each and every day.

I need to live these days to their fullest. To use them to teach my girls, the girls that God has entrusted in my care, about Him and his faithfulness. I need to teach them to look for God in everything around them and to find 'joy' even in the things we may not understand or even like. There will be a day when I won't be here to teach them anymore, a day when they will be all grown up and teaching their own children (the Lord willing). All I have is today, for we know not what tomorrow brings. If I were to die today, I would REGRET not necessarily what we did, but more so what I didn't do with THIS day that Lord blessed our family with. I would want those little girls (and dad to) to have a different memory of their last day with me.

Wow, i didn't mean for this post to go this way. I actually sat down to write up a birthday post for Miya....another day.

I guess where I'm going will all of this is that I need to make a few changes over here. There will be less complaining , there will be more organizing of our time, there will be more time spent enjoying each other''s company and playing (that means less time doing 'tasks'...which goes back to organizing time). And most of all, more time reading the bible and praising God, thanking him for all of His blessings. For that is truly want I want to pass on to three little girls. I don't know how many days the Lord will give me with them, today may have been the last. I need to make each day count!!

Psalm 128:1-2 Blessed is every one that feareth the lord; that walketh in his ways. For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands; happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee.

fathers day 2011

Another father's day is here already. This time of year always seems so busy to me and tends to creep up very quickly. Maybe because Miya's birthday falls within days of father's day and leaves lots of planning and organizing to accomplish both. As the girls are getting older, it is much more fun to celebrate father's day for Jeff. They are starting to get their own ideas of how to celebrate and I love listening to them. I asked what they wanted to do for dad this year here are some of their responses.
Jayden ~ ummmm eat birfday cake

Miya ~ lets go to crazy bounce
Mom-not this year sweetie,
Miya-okay, then we'll go bowling
Mom-not for fathers day
Miya -Okay, then how about we get icecream
(3 of her favorite things)

Jayden~ m...m...m...ma...mom, mom, mom,(stuttering and excited) how about we s...s...s...sing him a song like this "happy faffers day to you, happy faffers day to you, happy faffers day to you

Mom - if we could buy dad a present what would you like to buy him?
Miya - ummmm a boat
jayden - ummmm another pwrple shirt and pwrple tie
Miya- ya and some brown shoes to go with it

That's just a little bit of the conversations that went on trying to plan for Father's day. I only wish I had a camera around when we were talking about it.

This is a video of the girls answering the question "why they love their dad". We did not talk about this before turning on the camera (very obvious in the begining). These are the thoughts running through their heads at that exact moment...including Melanie's 'enh's'. I think she's saying "I love you daddy".

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Happy Father's Day to all those Dad's out there, including our dad here in Michigan and our dad far, far, away in Iowa. The miles seem so far away the past few weeks. We love you all!!

Happy 5th Birthday Miya

Happy 5th Birthday Miya!! Since you no longer nap, I will have to write up a blog entry later tonight when you're sleeping!! How can you be 5 already?

Silly Mel

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Here are couple videos of Melanie from last week. The first shows how sensitive her toes are (although, mine toes wouldn't like that thing either??). The second video is of Melanie trying to go down a ramp. She has conquered how to climb stairs; up and down. However, she hasn't realized what a stair really is. She often 'climbs' down when going between two different textures. For example, when crossing from tile to carpet, or cement to grass. She turns that little bottom around and 'steps' down. The same on a ramp. She thought she had to back down it. Better safe then sorry I guess :)

AFO Pictures

(Yes, this is the face she ALWAYS makes when the camera comes out. And yes, that is how her hair ALWAYS looks. She pulls out her piggie tails usually within 20min of putting them in and a clump of hair usually accompanies it.)

Here are some pictures of Melanie's AFO's. They are much smaller then I was anticipating. The start just above the ankle instead of below the knee, YAY!! She is tolerating them very well. They take a while to fit on and she sometimes gets a little impatient with that, but once they're on she doesn't fight them one bit. A friend that also had a preemie that needed AFO's gave us a couple pairs of shoes to try that worked for her daughter. THEY FIT!! YAY! No more shoe stores. She had a size 6 and 7. Melanie 'just' fit into the 6. There's tons of toe room, just not much wiggle room in the top of the ankle.


The shoes/braces make walking for much more clumsy. She is dragging her left foot a little more and often chooses to crawl when she would normally stand or walk around things. It takes much more discipline on my part to walk with her and encourage her to walk. However, I am finding that once the shoes/braces come off she is light as a feather and feels much more confident. She then wants to walk everywhere and will try to take more steps on her own. So if that's the goal of these AFO's we're winning~however, I'm not sure that's how they're supposed to work.