reflecting on HIM.

"If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you Another helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you."-John 14:15-17

Approaching Easter, I'm once again thankful to God for the GREATEST gift, his Son whom he gave to us that we might be saved.
This year though, I've been thinking beyond that wonderful gift. It's all good to be thankful for that precious gift of Jesus, but it's also should be much more than that. While it's true there is nothing we can do to earn God's favor, I'm realizing the importance of living the gospel in my life each day. Each day preaching the gospel to myself that I might live as a light for him.
We've been working through a few studies in our church body, about the mission of the church. It has not only been eye opening to me, but in this day and age so refreshing, and needed. The commitment to Christ, along with support and love of our church body has changed Just and I...it has taught us to love more, serve more, and as the result has strengthened our relationship{s} with Christ.
My prayer as we continue on in this world is that we would seek the Holy Spirit as our helper and guide {John 14} as we seek to live as Christ lived while here on earth. That each day we would die to ourselves, our desires, and seek to serve others, to live in a way that brings ALL glory and honor to Christ and draw others to him.

Phew, easier said than done!

"Rightly may we pray for ourselves that we may have God's blessing and mercy and the light of his countenance -not that we may then monopolize His grace and bask in the sunshine of His favour, but that others may see in us His blessing, and His beauty, and be drawn to him through us...True , the gospel lacks visibility if we merely preach it, and lacks credibility if we who preach it are interested only in souls and have no concern about the welfare of people's bodies, situations, and communities. Yet the reason for our acceptance of social responsibility is not primarily in order to give the gospel either a visibility or a creditability it would otherwise lack, but rather simple uncomplicated compassion. Love has no need to justify itself. It merely expresses itself in service whenever it sees a need." -John Stott.

Thank you Lord for sending your son!


"...the universe was created for the glorification of God’s grace at Calvary, echoing through eternity in the Christ-exalting joys of the redeemed." - J. Piper

dino cupcakes?

last Saturday afternoon.

Liam had big plans for dino cupcakes.

goofy boy.

home sweet home

Back in 2008 I posted pictures of our guest room. It has changed twice since then...nothing drastic, but here is what it looked like up until about a month ago.

..and here she is now. { HOORAY, we bought a bed frame and all the people we've had stay with us have given us rave reviews on it's comfort level}...so come visit us!

on two wheels.

After a few lessons. a few with Dad. a few with Grandpa Wojo.

And wallah! On two wheels he rode.

And Loving it!

after school

after school dumping ground, originally uploaded by olives on a monday.

after the rain.

a new babe!

{picture credit: Sue Heidkamp}

Booker Joshua Tantillo

March 28, 2011

{9lbs. 12oz.}

My best friend{and cousin} Nicole, and her husband Marc had her third son this past Monday.

Welcome Booker! Love you so much already!

fun.

Made these little goodies for the sweetest 7 year old girl I know. Aubrey has the sweetest heart, and is SO great with little ones even at her young age. She is going to be an amazing Mother one day :)

It was fun to experiment with doing the rainbow thing but I think I may do a cake next time as it will layer better. {Evan enjoys one without frosting...he's not a big frosting fan}

It was a fun little thing to do to celebrate her birthday with our Community Group last night :)


vanilla cupcake recipe {adapted from Martha Stewart}
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1/4 cup whole milk, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
2 large egg whites, room temperature

{preheat oven @ 350.}

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter on medium-high speed, until light and fluffy. Gradually add sugar and continue to beat until well combined and fluffy. Reduce the mixer speed to medium and slowly add egg and egg whites until just blended.

With the mixer on low, slowly add half the flour mixture; mix until just blended. Add the milk and vanilla and mix until just blended. Slowly add remaining flour mixture, until just blended.

Seperate the batter into six smaller bowls and make these six colors:
blue, purple {9 red, 6 blue}, yellow, green, red, and orange {12 yellow, 4 red}.
{then I even layered them in rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple}

bake for about 22{ish} minutes until they spring back at you when you touch them {do not overbake!}


buttercream frosting {the original recipe I was looking at used 2{TWO!} sticks of butter so I decided to scrap that and just make it up...totally easy peasy}
1 stick {slightly firm but not cold} butter
milk {about 1/4cup}
1/4 teas. vanilla
conf. sugar {about 2.5 cups}

I didn't actually measure anything but the butter. I don't like a lot of butter and one stick was still a lot for me. I added about two cups of conf. sugar and a little vanilla and milk and just added to as I tasted it along the way to get the desired thickness I wanted. Worked like a charm.

st.pats2011

st.pats2011, originally uploaded by olives on a monday.

At school Maxwell's teacher played a little joke on the kids when they came back from lunch on St. Patrick's Day. She had pulled a card {they have 5 cards, and have to pull one when they aren't listening, or are talking too much, etc...} from each of their names and told them a leprechaun had been there and taken them.
Well Maxwell ate it all up and all the talk after school was of leprechauns. What do they like to eat? Why do they love green so much? How are they so fast?
Later that evening and after giving Evan an earful of his Leperchaun knowledge Evan wanted to find one. So off they went in search of 4 leaf clovers {see picture} and to catch a Leprechan, under rocks behind bushes {Max even swore he saw one quickly bound away} and soon Evan is shouting;
"Lep- RE- CHAUN! Where are you? I need to see you!"
"SHHHushh, " Max says." They will just run away if you yell for them. You have to sneak up on them."
It was quite humorous and I SO wish my flip had been chraged so I could have taken a video. Regardless a great memory for this mother on St. Patrick's Day 2011.

{what's for dinner?} Potato & Leek Soup.

My sister in law Jennie recenty started a food/life/baby blog and she has posted some amazing looking recipies {one of which I'm try later this week}.

As for tonight: Potato & Leek Soup {adapted from America's Test Kitchen}Have you ever smelled them? Being pregnant and having an amazing sense of smell... the smell was strong, but they smell really great. {ps, see how mine are wilted at top...not as fresh as I'd like but it was my fault as I had them for about 5 days before I used them...still good though!}

need:
5- 6 lbs. leeks { they call for white/light green parts but I used some of the green too}
1/2 stick butter
2 {minced} garlic cloves
6 cups {low-sodium} chicken broth
1.5 lbs. red potatoes, cleaned and cut into 1/2 inch chunks
1/4 teas. dried thyme
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper

Begin by melting butter and garlic in large stock pot {or even better a dutch oven if you have it}.
meanwhile, dice up your leeks. The recipe called for the whites/light green parts of the leeks but I decided to add some of the healthy looking green root in.

{make sure you really clean your leeks well. It is amazing the amount of dirt you will clean out of those suckers}

Dump your leeks into the pot and mix with butter and garlic. Cover and let simmer for 15 minutes.

While those simmer, cut up your potatoes.

Dump in your potatoes and the chick broth.

{And then...my camera died. Woopsie. So the rest are taken with my cell}

Let potatoes simmer for aout 20 minutes {until tender} take out the bay leaf, and smash some of the potatoes against the side of the pot to thicken soup ...or just take the easy way out and use an immersion blender. {LOVE the thing}

salt and pepper to taste and....wallah!

And here is the finished product just before I served it.

It was VERY tasty with some garlic bread { I bought frozen}, of which I recommend ALEXIA brand {it is in our organic section at our grocery store, and Whole Foods sells it}.

It was a great meal for a colder, overcast day!

26 weeks

26weeks, originally uploaded by olives on a monday.

...and feeling like 36 weeks. YIKESA.

reunion

this past weekend our good friends Chad & Melody stayed with us. They moved to Colorado about a year ago, and it was such a joy to see them again.

Our combined six kids seemed to have picked up where we left off last and really had a great time together {with a few arguments here and there} at ages, 6, 4, 3, 2 {two 2 year olds}, and 1. It was fun to see them all together.

Adeline, Evan, Maxwell, Juliana, Breckenrdige and Liam.

After the kids were all in bed we had some GREAT laughs and good conversation and it seemed as if hardly any time has passed.

We do miss them dearly.

Hope to see them again soon.
Love you guys.

back?

been a bit MIA...I know.

A few busy weekends and over a week of sickness in the casa has taken me down.

I have a lot of things in my head {well, when do I not?}, it's now just a matter of getting to posting them.

For now I just this week finished uploading the few {not very good} pictures I have from December and January.

boys in their Christmas pj's:



{Liam in pirates, Evan in Mario {what else, the kid is obsessed}, and Max in Lego Star Wars...even though he has never seen Star Wars }

Max

Last Friday night I picked up the boys at a friends house {where a sitter watched a combined 7 kiddos between the two of us...Jessica knows how to whip those kids into shape} after a day of helping another friend move, and on the ride home this conversation happens.

Max: "Mom, I have to tell you something. But I don't want to tell you, I'm embarrassed."

And I reply; " Well, you can tell me, you can tell me anything. I won't laugh."

"I don't know, guess what it is."

And after 10 minutes of going back and forth {I have NO idea what it could be} I finally convince him he HAS to tell me, because I am his Mother!

"Well , all the kids say I have a girlfriend."

" I have a girlfriend!" Evan chimes in," Aubrey, and I kissed her 2 times."

"What? " I say fully knowing that Evan is completely making up this story just to be a part of the conversation.

" I mean, I kissed her 3 times."

So I tell Evan he needs to wait until he is VERY old to kiss a girl, and that he shouldn't make things up...you get the idea.

Back to Max.

"So Max, who is this girl?"

"Samaj."

" Do you say she is your girlfriend?"
"No."
Does she say you are her boyfriend?"
"NO, and sometimes she is mean."

"If she is mean, why are you friends with her?"
" Well, she only was once, and I told her not to be and she obeyed."

{I am DYING at this point...and really don't know what to say}. "Max, she doesn't have to obey you. You can ask her to not be mean to you because it makes you sad, but you aren't in charge of her."

" Well. I AM taller than her."

I can't hold in my laughter anymore.
They do grow up fast, don't they?!

Windy Corner

Max was off school for Martin Luther King Jr. day, and he wanted to celebrate. He thought we could join a march somewhere but I suggested we go out to lunch instead.
I read about this place opening up a few months ago, and it seemed like the perfect day to go for lunch. {please excuse the picture quality, they were all taken with my cell...moron forgot my camera at home}

The owners {a chef and host/sommelier married couple who also own two other wonderful local restuarants} bought this old run down mom and pop market and completely renovated it withrecycled wood from a local horse farm. The best part is that it is that it is all local meats and produce.

Max & Liam waiting for our po-boy's. :)

Ev. & I.

yummy chicken avocado po-boy.


the boys outside after a tasty lunch.

prayer.

{taken with cell, retro camera}

I've been thinking about prayer lately...and praying about prayer. I have to admit, I'm not the best at it. I'm not consistent about it. I think I fear I am praying to much with my petitions and not enough with praise, and then I tend to avoid it altogether as I don't want to feel like {and God knows if I am} I'm faking it. I'll pray in large groups {sometimes} but I feel like I am always fumbling over my words because I don't want to sound like I am trying to impress people, but at the same time I don't want to sound like a babbling fool.

Here is the thing though, that I have been thinking about more: God knows my heart. Maybe I'm not the most eloquent, and maybe I often times don't know what to say, or exactly how to pray but I know that I should just {like the old Nike ads displayed} DO IT. Our actions are a reflection of our heart, and my avoiding prayer has shown me that I don't see that it really boils down to me, my heart, and my pride.

As I've been thinking about prayer,this verse has been coming to mind.

" Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God." {Philippians 4:6}

This includes being anxious about prayer itself.

Then the other day I stumbled across this:
"I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf."{ Romans 15:30}
Hello?! Wake up call?!
STRIVE to pray. When have I ever done this? To see God as my only hope and CLING to him and desperately cling to him. To do this through prayer. What an amazing gift that I really have taken for granted. A gift from a savior who has shown grace upon grace and I've so blindly ignored it for so long because of my own selfish fears.

When was the last time I have strived, struggled, and persisted in prayer? I think about the struggles of so many in the Bible, like Paul who PRAYED for those who hated him that they might be saved. I've never thought much how hard that could have been for him, to persist, and to struggle in having a heart of love towards those who hated him, to want them to know Christ like he did.

AMAZING.

So, this year as we welcome a forth child into our home and as we embark on new challenges and changes of what may happen, I hope that I can learn to pray more. That God would reveal to me the importance to be persistent in prayer.

To struggle. To STRIVE and to persevere in prayer and praise to him.

Happy 2011.

18 weeks

18 weeks.
CRAZY. Nearly halfway done with the pregnancy already.
In the next few weeks we will also be finding out the sex of this little one.

I won't lie.

I am SUPER anxious. We even talked about not finding out, but I don't think I could take it...not knowing.

I long for a daughter, I always have. I'll even admit I have a small girl stash, which has dwindled a bit with friends having girls, but I've held on to my absolute favorites.

Don't get me wrong, my 3 boys have brought such joy to our home and though I don't think I expected to have three sons, here they are and I thank God for each one of them,their tender hearts, their differences,love for sports, and each of their personalities.

God has a plan. He's always known what our family would look like. Who would be a part of this family and for how long.
So I trust him. I am excited to have a new baby. He knows what is in store for us... girl or boy.

And you know what? There is great comfort and joy in just knowing that.