Homeowners

It's official, we are now the proud owners of home! Yay! We closed yesterday morning and we'll move in in June. The previous owners have a daughter graduating from high school so they wanted to let her finish the school year before moving. We were happy to accommodate, so we ended up renting the house back to them for a month before we move in, thus the gap between closing day and moving day.

We are so extremely excited about the new house and the new neighborhood. We met a few of our neighbors and they were really nice. I think that God definitely lead us to this house for a reason. Please keep us in your prayers over the next few weeks. The moving process has only just begun. :)

 On our way to close on the house!

Easter

For Easter we had brunch at Superpop and Granne's house. My sister Jenna was there and so were our good family friends Bob and Regina.

 The Easter Bunny brought Cameron a water/sand table for the backyard of our new house!

 Cameron loves my dad, they have so much fun goofing around! She also loves playing on the couch, so she was in heaven here. 

 Superpop sticking out his tongue at Cameron

 So she thought she'd try it out too!

My favorite family in the whole world :)

 Hanging out on Superpop's shoulders

The Cross

This year I have been doing an intense Bible study on the book of Isaiah. To be honest I've really struggled through a lot of it, especially the first half of the study. In the book the profit Isaiah is sent to the Israelites to warn them of what God is going to do to them if the don't straighten up their lives. He is very graphic, and to be honest it's pretty harsh. The part I really struggled with, is that Isaiah is speaking both about that time, and the end times before Jesus comes again...which could be any day depending on how you view things.

What struck me the most is how horrible it's going to be. People are going to suffer, be brutally murdered, raped, burned, you name it. That seems so different from the picture of God I grew up with. The loving God who embraced children, healed the sick, provided for the needy...how could He allow such horrible things to happen, or even worse, how could He actually inflict that pain on people?

I've realized that it wasn't God design for things to end up like this, just like as a parent we don't want to have to punish our children for being bad, but we do it anyway, because it's what's best for them. God is the same way, it's excruciating for Him to watch His children, us, suffer, but He does it because He has to, He does it because He loves us.

Ultimately, we all deserve the punishment of death and an eternity of separation from anything good because we have all sinned. You don't even have to be a Christian or a follower of Jesus to admit it, you do bad things. You sin, you screw up. We all do, that's just part of our lives as humans. But we don't have to be defined by those things, God has given us a way out.

That's where Easter comes in. That's why it is such an incredible holiday, the most important holiday. God loves us so much He couldn't just leave us to suffer for eternity paying for the wrong we've done, that isn't consistent with God's character. So He gave us a way out, He gave us Jesus. His son who suffered an excruciating death and was killed hanging on a cross. An ordinary cross, just like a million other criminals in that day. The only difference, Jesus never did anything wrong. He was perfect and lived his life free of sin. He paid the price so we don't have to.

What a wonderful gift! That could be me suffering. It could be you. But all we have to do is believe. Believe that God is who He said He is. Believe that Jesus died for us. Believe that He rose from the dead and believe that we can have a better life on earth and spend eternity in paradise if we only follow Him.

I share this with you because it's really been on my heart lately. I so desperately want every single person in the entire world to experience the goodness of God. And even more importantly, have the opportunity to spend eternity in heaven. It breaks my heart to know that there are people in this world who will say no to God, say no to the gift of the cross, say no to a better life. But at the very least, I want everyone to know, know that all they have to do is ask and Jesus will be there for them. It's as simple as that. No strings attached.

I pray this Easter—in between egg hunts, Easter baskets and family time—that you take some time to read and understand the Easter story. Really think about the gruesome details of Jesus' death. Because it is not until we acknowledge what He has done, that we can fully appreciate the gift we've been given.

Hallelujah He is Risen! Happy Easter!  


The Easter Story from the New International Version of the Bible:

The Soldiers Mock Jesus
Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said. They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.
-Matthew 27-31 (NIV)

The Crucifixion of Jesus
As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross. They came to a place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”). There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it. When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. And sitting down, they kept watch over him there. Above his head they placed the written charge against him: THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS.

 Two rebels were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” In the same way the rebels who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.
-Matthew 32-44 (NIV)

 The Death of Jesus
From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”). When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling Elijah.” Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. The rest said, “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.” And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.
 -Matthew 45-50 (NIV)

The Resurrection
"On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” Then they remembered his words."
-Luke 24 1-8 (NIV) 

14 Weeks

A couple of my friends have been doing pregnancy highlights like this on their blogs and I thought it was a great way to summarize...so I'm copying!

Pregnancy Highlights

How far along: 14 weeks, 5 days

Size of baby: 3.5 inches, 1.5 ounces (about the size of a lemon)

Total weight gain/loss: Oh my gosh this is a little embarrassing, gained 12.5 pounds from the day I took the positive pregnancy test. (I think the fact I stopped nursing, quit running, was eating constantly so I wouldn't feel sick and started growing a baby really made a difference in the weight department!)

Maternity clothes: Not yet, although I can no longer button the top button of my jeans so belts and belly bands are coming in mighty handy. It's kind of strange because when I was preggers with Cameron I was in maternity pants right away because the legs of my pants got too tight.

Gender: We don't know yet, but we find out at our next appointment on May 25.

Movements: I think I might have felt a little movement yesterday, but it's still early so I'm not really sure.

Sleep: Horrible! Most nights I wake up about 3am and can't fall back asleep. I don't know if it's because I'm pregnant or just have a lot on my mind since we have a lot going on in our lives right now. But whatever it is it really stinks because I really like to sleep. Thankfully, I've been able to take naps most days while Cameron is napping to make up for the missed hours in the middle of the night.

What I miss: Sandwiches, Running

Cravings: A few weeks ago I had a soft pretzel craving which resulted in us buying a huge box of them that now sits in the freezer. Also have really liked bagels with cream cheese. (Gosh, and I wonder why I'm putting on the lbs so quickly).

Symptoms: I'm actually feeling pretty great now. The first 12 weeks I definitely felt yucky, but basically at 12 weeks to the day I started to fell better and get my energy back. Yay for the second trimester.

Best moment of the week: I had my 14 week doctors appointment on Wednesday and got to hear baby's heartbeat and see him/her in an ultrasound. It's just amazing how much they grow in just a few weeks. It was also kind of fun because my doctor had some extra time so we got to sit and chat for awhile.

The NJ Shore

Last weekend Cameron and I flew out to New Jersey with my mom and my sister to visit my mom's family. We flew out on Saturday morning and got to my grandparents house about dinner time that evening. It's kind of a long trip, especially since Miss Cameron decided to stay awake all but 30 minutes of our almost 4 hour flight and the entire car ride to my grandparent's house! She's just at kind of a tricky age for traveling because she doesn't stay entertained by things for more than a few minutes at a time, and she most certainly DOES NOT want to have to sit still for an extended period of time. Not to mention that everything was just so exciting she couldn't calm down to take a little snooze.

All of my aunts and uncles were at my grandparent's house when we got there for dinner. And so were my aunt's basset hounds, Abbey and Shakespeare. Cameron loved the dogs. She would go back and forth between the patio where the dogs where and inside and had a blast.

 Cameron and Miss Abbey

 Goofy girl

 Hanging with the doggies

 Helping Great Grandma blow out her candles

 Cameron and her buddy Uncle Bob

We're still working on being gentle! Luckily the doggies were great and didn't mind Cameron's craziness.

Sunday morning we went to church and Cameron sat through the entire service with us and did great. I was really surprised. She usually goes to the nursery at our church so this was definitely a little different for her. Sunday night my aunt hosted a birthday dinner for my grandma's 81st birthday! It was really nice and the food was awesome! (She's a great cook). Cameron was exhausted by Sunday night.

Grandma showing Cameron my uncle's plaque in the little cemetery at the church, he passed away when I was 10.

 Playing with her ball, look at that coordinating outfit! The ball even matches. HA 

 My aunt got a whole bunch of toys from a friend to keep Cameron occupied, she liked jamming out on this piano.

 My sweet grandma and grandpa

 All the girls: Jenna, Grandma, Me, Cameron, Mom and Aunt Mac

Cameron with Uncle Bobby and Uncle Ray

Monday we went to the beach. It's still too cold to actually play at the beach, but I wanted to take Cameron so she could check it out. She was fascinated by the ocean, but a little unsure of it at the same time. I tipped her over so she could put her hand in the water, but it was a little too cold for her liking. After the beach we went shopping and went to lunch with my grandma and my aunts. Cameron had ice cream for dessert, which I'm pretty sure was a first for her. Monday night my uncle brought over his Portuguese water dog, which Cameron, of course, loved! (I told her daddy he better watch out because it's not going to be long before she's asking for a doggie of her own!)

 4 generations of hands in the sand, getting this picture was a little more difficult than it was last year!

 4 generations

 Checking out the ocean

 Granne and Miss Cameron strolling on the inlet

 My Aunt Anne works at a bank, this was a picture in front of the vault (which was actually just the safe deposit boxes, but I was still excited). Notice what Cameron is fascinated with...a lollipop!

 Don't worry, we finally took the rapper off and gave her a lick, she loved it!

Cameron peting the puppy

We were supposed to fly home Tuesday morning, but when we went online to check in for our flight we discovered that our flight had been canceled...and no one had told us. Awesome. Thank goodness my dad is "Super-Travel-Agent-Man" because he was able to get us on another flight that evening. Oh well, the delay in our departure gave us some extra time to go shopping at the Carter's and OshKosh outlets, and I got a bunch of cute stuff for Cameron.

The only bad thing about the whole flight debacle, was we ended up having had three middle seats in the back of the plane on the new flight. I was a little worried about how that was going to go with my little wiggle worm on my lap. But luckily, my dad worked his magic again and was able to get us switched to an isle and a middle seat right next to each other. Which ended up being a Godsend because, Cameron decided yet again that she wasn't going to sleep the entire flight home. I thought for sure she would, after all it was past her bed time by the time the flight actually took off (an hour late). But she fought though and didn't fall asleep until the airplane touched down in Denver. Yeah I'm not joking!

Anyway, Ryan picked us up at the airport and we headed home. I was so glad he was there to get us.

All in all it was a great trip. My mom's family doesn't really get to see Cameron besides the pictures and videos I post on the blog, so I was so glad we got to spend some time with everyone.

The Bottle

Cameron is really into opening and closing doors and cabinets lately. And then, of course, once she gets a cabinet or door open she is very interested in checking out what's inside. A few days ago she discovered a stash of little travel bottles that Ryan and I have in our bathroom closet. They seemed to keep her entertained so I thought, great, a new toy. She would take the top off and then try to put it back on, carry it around with her, you get the point.

WELL...these great toys quickly turned into NOT so great little toys. Mostly because she started to get so frustrated when she couldn't get the top on or off correctly. I finally decided I should probably take them away from her, but oh my goodness you would have thought the world had ended! She got so mad at me for taking away her toy. (I think we're starting to see some fun little tantrums come out of our sweet little girl :(. Oh my, oh my, oh my.)

Needless to say, I haven't really made a decision on what to do with the bottles. They really do keep her occupied nicely for awhile...but then, well here are some pictures so you can see for yourself.

 See, great little toy, just the right size for her to carry around...

 And hold and play with...

And then all the sudden, SNAP, she looses it! What in the world!

Kite Festival

Saturday we met some friends at a Kite Festival. It was a beautiful day and we had a blast. There were seriously a TON of people there flying kites. Some of them were huge (I'm talking like 6 feet or more) and some were tiny (like an inch or two).

Cameron had a blast cruising around trying to make friends with all the people sitting around us. She is seriously one social little kid. She definitely gets that from her daddy, not me! HA

 "Hey check out my cool purple water bottle!"

 Hydrating

Daddy and his little girl enjoying all the kites 

 Holt was a little sad he couldn't see, but his hat is super cute!

Little Miss Independent

Counting Down

Those of you who have known me for awhile know that I'm a big fan of countdowns. In high school I would spend months counting down to my birthday, in college I would always have a countdown to the last day of school in my planner, when Ryan and I were engaged we made a five month long paper chain counting down to our wedding day (my idea of course), and when I was preggers with Cameron I diligently checked each week off the calendar as it came and went.

All this to say, last weekend I got on a countdown kick and suggested we start a countdown to our moving day. I'm starting to get pretty anxious about moving. It seems like forever since we started the journey of purchasing a new house and I'm just ready for it to be over with and for us to be living in our new house already.

When I suggested starting the countdown, I told Ryan that I would make a chart and put it on the fridge, then he shocked me by suggesting a paper chain. (Now let me just explain to you, when we got engaged and I had the brilliant idea of making a super long paper chain he wasn't exactly ecstatic. But he did go along with the whole plan because that's what you do when you're madly in love and anxiously awaiting being married to the woman of your dreams.) ;-) Well that was all I needed, less than 24 hours later we had ourselves a beautiful paper chain! Woohoo! Bring on moving day!

NOTE: Annie if you're reading this, cut about 20 links off this paper chain (or more) and you have countdown to Baby Seeman! Yay! When you look at it like that it doesn't seem so far away huh?

In other news, Cameron has mastered climbing up and down the little step latter in our closet. Yesterday I couldn't pull her away she was having so much fun. She would climb up, play with my clothes, pull socks out of the baskets and throw them on the floor, climb down, and on and on and on. As I sat and watched her I couldn't help be amazed that my little girl isn't so little anymore. Where has the time gone?

Practicing for Number Two

We had a little visitor last week, Mr. Holt. He's my friends little three month old. She got asked to work an extra shift at the hospital, so I said I'd be happy to babysit for the morning. It was great practice for what my life is going to be about a year from now! Cameron wasn't so sure about not being the center of my attention, but it was good for her to learn that she needed to be patient and wait her turn.

It's just amazing to me that some people have their kids less than a year apart. Ours are going to be 20 months apart and I'm sure that will be challenging, but can you imagine having a little one who isn't even walking yet and then having a newborn? Wow, that would be exhausting! I guess you just pray that they nap at the same time!

Anyway, Cameron was fascinated with Holt. As soon as she woke up from her nap she b-lined into the room where Holt was sleeping and decided that she not only wanted to look at the baby, but she wanted to rock his car seat and talk to him too. In retrospect, I shouldn't have let her in the room because it was just a recipe for disaster. There was no way Holt was going to sleep through Cameron's little visit. Oh well, live and learn, right?

Holt wasn't so sure about Cameron, but she was excited to chat anyway!

Cameron also thought the bouncy chair was pretty cool. I pulled it out of storage so Holt could use it while he was here and Cameron thought it was a great toy.