The Innkeeper

This is a wonderful poem written and read by John Piper. Follow the link and listen to these moving words. Have a blessed Christmas.

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Poems/ByDate/1353_The_Innkeeper/

Thankfulness

Thought it would be a good idea to get the Thanksgiving pictures posted before Christmas comes! Things are busy, God is always good, and we are so thankful for the many blessing He has given us, most of all forgiveness of sins through His Son, Jesus.

We spent Thanksgiving at Dad and Mom's...

with our friends the Simmons and Mr. Kelly...


The boys helped me make personalized napkin holders for everyone.



Shooting skeet was a lot of fun. Travis and Darren are blasting them here. I actually got a few this time around, though it seemed easier the last time I did this. (if you click on the picture to enlarge it, you can see the smoke from the gun, then up toward the right you can see the wad and the shot string - pretty neat!!)

Isaiah and Micah got to pull the string to release the skeet for us to shoot. Isaiah's showing off his ear protection here.

After the shooting was over, Daddy and the boys hopped into the canoe to retrieve the costly, unbroken skeet (yes, we missed a lot). Would you believe they picked up 49?! We all definitely need to do some more practicing!

The Boys

Our Davey Tree Men at the Fall Festival. Daddy made them saddles (complete with their toy chainsaws attached to carabiners), rope bundles, and so on. They were beyond excited to be dressed up just like Daddy!

Isaiah is doing great in first grade and loves to read. Here he is reading a book at his brother's request. Micah has started reading lessons and is doing very well. He looks forward to his time with Mommy every day and loves to tell Daddy his new sound when he comes home from work.

Cheesy smiles (after they saw the camera come out)

Titus ~ 6 months old on November 18th

Our very happy baby boy who loves to laugh at funny books being read to him. Also, there are some nights when I'll put him down and he just wont settle. I'll go in to check on him (around 8pm) and Hannah will still be awake and inform me as I walk in, "Titus talking." I'll pick Titus up and he'll look longingly at Hannah. So we sit down on her bed and Titus will giggle and coo at her, kiss her and play with her for about 10 minutes, then he's ready for bed and goes right to sleep. It's amazing how young the bond forms between siblings. We love our little guy.

The Terrific Twos!

Hannah turned 2 on November 14th. Big Brother Micah was very eager to "help" Hannah with her presents, cake, and anything else heading her way!!!






















Getting ready to start the fun...













Cake time. I asked her what kind of cake she wanted and she said, "chocolate cake." My Mom was glad to know that the genes are being handed down in good order!








Our sweet blessing from the Lord. She is truly a joy to our entire family in so many ways.

Dr.'s appointment in S.F. was great. The MRI showed no indication of the cyst returning. Praise the Lord! Travis will return in 2 years for his next appointment.

Zazie's ~ delicious as always.

Family Time

We just got home from enjoying a 4 day vacation up to Fall River. We had so much fun together as a family exploring the lake, playing at the playgrounds, making ice cream, drinking hot chocolate by the fire, having picnics on the floor by the fire for every meal, playing hide-and-go-seek in an empty house with lots of great hiding spots, reading together, seeing old friends, "camping out" in one room together, and so many more wonderful things. We made lots of memories ~ here are pictures of some of those memories.

Daddy and his kiddos.

Fire truck drivers

We love the Forest Service station in Fall River. Each time Travis has gone in to buy permits for cutting firewood, the kids always get a goody bag. This time was the best of all - pencils, pencil sharpeners, Smokey bandannas, frisbees, coloring books, erasers, stickers, and as this picture shows fun Smokey the Bear tattoos. They all thought this was so much fun (a sticker that stays on for a really long time!).

Hannah at the lake.

Daddy and Titus at the lake.

Fireman Isaiah

Titus hanging out at the park in his cozy car seat.

Micah and his "fishing poles"

A Cyber-stone?!

In the book of Joshua (chp. 4), twelve stones (one for every tribe) were set up by the Israelites to remember the Lord doing a great work (drying up the Jordan for the priests and the people to cross), so that when their children asked what the stones were there for, the people could remember and tell them what God had done.
So this is my meager "stone of remembrance" for the great things the Lord has done, specifically for allowing my husband to be alive this very day with me.

"Our God is in the heavens, He does whatever He pleases" ~ Psalm 115:3

Two years ago, the Lord put Himself on display as he took my husband to death's door, and brought him back again. We can always send you more detailed info if you're interested, but for now, the sermon Don't Waste Your Life, by John Piper, is a great summation of the urgency and passion for Christ that the Lord has brought about in our lives through this event.

We head to UCSF on October 22, for a follow-up MRI, not to mention a much anticipated date at Zazie's

Titus is 4 months old and continues to bring us lots of smiles (except for when the camera comes out). We love our "little man" and are so thankful for this precious gift from the Lord.

Big brothers and sister continue to love on him with blowing on his tummy, running for burp cloths when he spits up, taking dirty diapers to the garbage, rocking him in his car seat when he fusses, and so on. God is so good ~ and we praise Him for our little family.

Random Family Happenings

The Intermountain Fair
The boys have looked forward to this for months and had a wonderful time. Hannah caught the excitement too and loved riding the zebra on the carousel (4 times) and the giant slide. Micah is our adventurer (followed closely by little sister), while Isaiah is more cautious. It's fun to see their personalities come out in new settings such as this.
Grandpa and Nana joined us for the fun too and we were all worn out by the end of the day.



Simple Pleasures

A fun time in the sprinkler on a hot (108) day. Yesterday we turned the slide in their play tower into a water slide. Oh what fun - sorry, no pictures - too busy with the hose!

Yogurt Popsicles: 6 oz. orange juice concentrate

16 oz. plain yogurt

2 tsp. vanilla extract

~mix together, pour into popsicle molds, freeze and have a tasty, refreshing, fun time!

Titus

Titus is 3 months old and has found his fingers
(and his thumb). He has gone from our fussiest
baby to the most talkative, happy smiley one we
can remember! He is very content and such a
fun little one to be around (just watch out for
spit up eruptions ~ he also wins the Payton
family spit up award, formerly held by Micah).


Mommy and Titus after bath time. He's growing
so quickly. Soon to be 4 months old in less than
10 days. We are cherishing every moment.

My Ears Don't Go to Sleep...

Every morning around 5:30am, Travis will kiss each of the kids goodbye before he heads out the door for work. About a week ago Isaiah started waking up enough to tell his daddy "I love you, goodbye" which makes Travis' whole day. Two mornings ago Travis kissed Isaiah, but Isaiah didn't wake up, and Travis didn't want to wake him by saying anything because Isaiah was so tired from the day before. When Travis got home from work Isaiah asked his daddy why he had not told him goodbye that morning. Travis explained how he kissed him, but he didn't wake up. "Well Daddy, my ears don't go to sleep so you just need to tell me goodbye." Sure enough, this morning as Travis was kissing Isaiah goodbye, he whispered, "Goodbye, Isaiah. I love you." Isaiah woke up and said, "Goodbye, Daddy. I love you too."
So I guess Isaiah's ears really don't go to sleep!

Isaiah and Hannah walking up to Grandpa and Nana's house after church last week. I was going to take a picture of them walking away from me, but they were about to go out of camera range so I called their names and this is what turned out.

3 of my 4 sweet kiddos. Isaiah told me they were in the middle of playing "tractor tipping" (from the movie, "Cars")

I asked Isaiah to stay inside and keep his eye on Titus (who was in his swing) this afternoon while I went out to water the garden. When I came back inside he had created this picture on the "paint" program on the computer. He enjoys "painting" and is now able to save his work in his own special file!

"I fear that the cross, without ever being disowned, is constantly in danger of being dismissed from the central place it must enjoy, by relatively peripheral insights that take on far too much weight. Whenever the periphery is in danger of displacing the center, we are not far removed from idolatry."
~ D.A. Carson (as quoted in "The Cross Centered Life", by C.J. Mahaney)

Titus is already 2 months old! We are enjoying
his cooing, smiles, and sleeping 7 hours at night!


Micah enjoying Grandpa and Nana's pool with Daddy


Travis' parents came for a visit in July. Titus found a
faithful napping partner in his "Pop."


Once Hannah warmed up to him, Pop became
a great friend and book reader. She's helping him
count in this picture.

Isaiah turned 5 on June 20th! It's amazing how fast time goes by. We celebrated at my parent's home (only 10 minutes away) with a pinata, swimming, a chocolate chip cake (special request by the birthday boy), and a new bicycle. It was a special time. Here are a few pictures of our fun time. I'll set up a link to the album on Shutterfly as soon as I get the rest of the pictures posted there.


Hannah ready to go in the pool

Micah taking his turn at the pinata

3 out of 4 kiddos getting ready for some fun

Don't leave the grandparents out - they had some pinata fun too!

Titus was one month old on June 18 ~ time goes by so fast!

"' He who grows in grace remembers that he is but dust, and he therefore does not expect his fellow Christians to be anything more. He overlooks ten thousand of their faults, because he knows his God overlooks twenty thousand in his own case. He does not expect perfection in the creature, and, therefore, he is not disappointed when he does not find it.'" ~ Charles Spurgeon, (as quoted in Femine Appeal, by Carolyn Mahaney)

Micah loves to help his Daddy with tree work. This is his excited description of being able to push the tree limbs through the chipper (Daddy was standing between the chipper and Micah, but Micah did the actual pushing of the limbs!).