Father's Day

I wrote a poem for Matt for Father's Day and thought that I'd share it mainly because it's really how I feel about him and how I think our children will think of him as they grow... and I want to honor him :).

Dad,
As we grow in stature
We know you will also pray for character
Your love acts as a mirror
Of the love and disciple of the Creator
As we follow we will be comforted to know
It's the footsteps of Christ you show
We will know what it means
To give up all like we have seen

love,
Your Children

Evangelism quote

This is a great quote from a godly man.

" Clarity with the claims of Christ certainly will include the translation of the gospel into words that our hearer understands, but it doesn’t necessarily mean translating it into words that our hearer will like. Too often, advocates of relevant evangelism verge over into being advocates of irrelevant nonevangelism. A gospel that in no way offends the sinner has not been understood." -Mark Dever

Thanks Eric for sending us this!

Funny Owen Sayings

So, earlier today I was holding Owen and talking out-loud as I went through the kitchen to see what things I needed to re-stock on before my grocery trip. I must have been smacking a little bit each time I paused because as I put Owen down to look in the freezer he too was looking in the freezer and saying, "datadamanata- smack- machatadada- smack- ..." It was the funniest thing I just couldn't stop laughing as he was imitating/mocking me. It's crazy the things they pick up on and the ways they learn about life through us.

Also, he started to say "horse" (in a way that you'd have to become accustomed to recognizing) and pointing every time he would see the horses out the window that are in the back pasture. We went out yesterday to see/pet them again as he was just so excited every time he saw them through the window. When he was close to them he just kept laughing and pointing. The owner told me that I could "jump on them" anytime I wanted to but since there is no halter here and I'm Mrs. Prego I've opted to just pet :).

Twins!!

We were blessed with the shocking news of finding out that I am pregnant with twins! Wow! We are very excited and I am still looking at the ultrasound frequently to remind myself that it really is true! Here are the pics that we have. They aren't perfect as I took a picture with the camera but still you can see the little monkeys in there!


This is a clear picture of the two little babies side by side. You can see they are in different sacs. They're so cute! We could see their little hearts beating and the one on the left was moving quite a bit!


This is "Twin B".


This is "Twin A".


This is another shot of them both but it is not as clear.

The Catch-Up Post

Blogging is like cleaning I have come to realize. When you don't clean regularly you end up with more work to do all at once because everything has built up. Stickies have collected dirt and gotten hard (sorry if that is too descriptive :). Blogging is the same way- you don't keep up with it and then you have to update- or at least I feel I should :)! So, this is the catch up blog! In the last month or so we've gone camping, had Grandpa Stephens up, had our 2 year anniversary, had a birthday party for Owen, had Grandma Mumma up, and went on a cruise!

From most recent to least:

The Cruise:

We had a wonderful time with my family on the cruise. We went to the Caribbean and stopped at Cayman Islands, Belize, and Roatan. At the Cayman Islands we walked around and shopped. In Belize we visited the Mayan Ruins which was super fun. In Roatan we went to a botanical garden, and a bird and butterfly farm.



Owen slept in Xavier's playpen and actually slept really well. We didn't bring blankets so he was covered up with towels :).



Papa holding Owen at the Mayan Ruins. He was being so sweet and trying to keep him in the shade.



Owen couldn't get down to play much while we were out and the room was small so he loved climbing the stairs to get some energy out. One night we started him at the first floor and he climbed strong all the way to the ninth- and would have kept going but ran out of stairs! He loved it!



Daddy and Owen playing captain.



Definitely related to Grandma Stephens :P


I didn't have a picture of everyone together but I had this video so I thought I'd post it to give a little glimpse of everyone hanging out and having a good time at dinner!







Owen's Birthday Party:

We had a wonderful time for Owen's birthday (which we actually celebrated a week early). We had our friends and Matt's mom join us which was such a blessing! He dug into his cake, got lots of presents which he loves, and enjoyed hanging out. I think everyone else had a good time too! It's hard to believe he is really 1 but he is getting more and more fun everyday and we just love him to pieces.






Our Anniversary:

We seem to have a record so far of doing kind of wierd things to celebrate our anniversary. For our first we went to the beach specifically to catch crabs (which was a success!) and also stayed in a hotel and had a nice dinner. I was pretty big as Owen was born only about a week and a half later!

For our 2nd anniversary we got some money to celebrate from Matt's grandma (such a blessing!) so we planned to go to Nikai for Sushi. It was closed so we spontaneously went to see the new X-men movie (which was GREAT) and had popcorn and candy for dinner. I made fun of him for feeding his pregnant wife so well :). We did end up going to Nikai later in the week and had a blast. I had my vegetable rolls and Matt had real sushi :). It was wonderful all the same.





Camping:

Owen had his first camping trip and Matt and I had our first trip together. We went to Moab, Utah with the church and had a great time! Owen loved playing in the dirt (he was good about not eating it) and we enjoyed the beautiful scenery and great fellowship.