Prayers

I am asking all of you who read my blog to please pray for a friend of mine. Her mom was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Please pray for the family. I am keeping the names private until I have permission to share. I do know that God can heal this sweet lady, and I also know the Lord will use this time to draw my friend to him and the whole family.

Thank you for praying.

Run, Run, Run

Last night, Tyler, the boys and I did a 5K in Keller, TX with Keller Community Storehouse. We had so much fun! The 5K run/walk started at 7:30pm with over 900 attending. It was so exhilerating to be running with a crowd. Tyler was pushing the boys is our jogger and was going to walk and ended up jogging and passing me to cross the finish line first. At the end Mrs. Kate asked Stone if he ran and he said, "No. I race." He then told me he wanted to race again. Tyler and I both really had fun and are going to do more 5K's. It was a great family outing and also good to support a great cause.

Two of my girlfriends joined us, Kate and Nicole. Nicole's mom even came after working for 10 hrs on her feet. Go Cindy!!! And Kate didn't think she could run a mile and crossed the finish line in 29 minutes. Thanks, girls for doing this with me. I had a lot of fun! I certainly left room for improvement with my 35 min time! But the big prize goes to my Uncle Jud who ran it in 27 minutes. Wow! You are in shape! Thanks for cheering me to the finish line.

Today, we haven't been as sore as we thought. Praise God! Here are some pics at lunch. Stone had some oreos, and Grant loves it when we are all together, especially Daddy. Oh, I do have to add... it was hilarious when Tyler during the race said his calf was cramping, the one he didn't stretch very much. Kelly, you will get the biggest laugh out of this. Kind of an inside joke for those that don't get this.

Playing with Friends

Yesterday afternoon two of Stone's friends came over to play. We had a great time sitting in the backyard visiting. Emery lives across the street, and Caedmon was a swimming budy of Stone's from Emler Swim School. Emery and Caedmon are still in swim school and getting better and better every semester, yet when Grant came along Stone quit going and hasn't picked it back up. Anyway, they both have baby sisters, which I didn't get a picture of them. Bummer. Libby is 12 weeks old and Caedmon's little sister, and Ivy is 9 weeks old and Emery's little sister. Both mommies are wonderful friends of mine and help me keep my sanity and encourage me with the role of being mommy and wife.

A little description for the photo is the kids lined the chairs up like this and would always sit in their chair. Never an arguement. Now the baseball and bat where always up for a good squabble, thus Stone hanging on to one of the bats. Have you ever noticed that play dates at your house consist of your child hoarding their toys. Oh, the lesson of sharing is an on going thing!

Sweet Grant - that is all I ever have to say about this dream child. He hardly throws a fit and is always looking for a good time. I pray for him to be happy and boy is he ever. He and Caedmon thoroughly enjoyed playing with one another. Thanks, C, for being so kind and sweet to littel Grant.

Thanks Hulls and Changs for coming over!!!

Special Day

My blog title is Trusting in the Lord. Today, the Lord proved himself so faithful. Our house is on the market, and I received a phone call that they were wanting to show our house in an hour. It was a morning where I was clearly busted. I was washing sheets, the kitchen needed cleaning and other things were in disarray. Well, I started feeling that panic in my stomach and immediately said, "Lord you know what I can handle." You know it was like a test, and 5 minutes later my phone rang again. It was my neighbor calling to ask if Stone could come over to play. I was so blessed. The Lord knew I needed a helping hand to get everything in order in 45 min.

After all was presentable, my neighbor, the kids and I went to McDonald's for lunch. We had our food, and Stone wanted to go down the slide. I said, "One time and then you need to come eat." He said, "Slide first then eat.", and I said, "yes." He was trying to climb and needed help b/c he was too short. I said to go another way, but he needed to come down. To get down, Stone had to go backwards and reach the step with his feet, and since he couldn't feel the step, he started swinging his feet with fear that there would be nothing there to step on. I said, "Son, you need to trust Mommy. I am right here just reach a little further. You are almost on the step." He made it and was off on to the slide. As I walked to our table, trusting the Lord flashed in my mind. Trusting him can be scary b/c that step isn't right where we feel it should be, yet it is. We just have to place our feet in his hands and he will make our feet like hinds feet.

As I allow the Lord to be a part of my day, I realize the many blessings he has in store for me, my boys, Tyler and all we come in contact with. Lacy and I just were talking yesterday about the blessing of being a mom and wife. This a role the Lord has given to me, and it is my responsibility to manage and respect all that it entails. The best part is that God is walking through this journey with me. There is a song that is our favorite. It goes like this.

No, no you never let go. Through the calm and through the storm.

No, no you never let go. Every high and every low.

No, no you never let go. Lord, you never let go of me.

I pray this touches someone today in a special way. Psalm 23 is a powerful scripture. Be encouraged and strengthened in the Lord today.

Figuring it out

So I have been working on improving our blog and with that comes pictures. Enjoy!

Yes, Grant does exist.

Stone has turned 2.

Tyler and I did go to Chicago.

Summer is Winding Down

Can you believe that it is football season!? I know all my Volunteer friends are excited for the football season. My cousin plays for Clemson, and their season is in full swing. I still can't believe it.

Well, our summer was and still remains very full. Tyler and I did get a chance to go to Chicago just the 2 of us for 3 nights and 4 days. It was wonderful. The boys survived without just beautifully. Thanks to Aunt Trina, Aunt Kelly and Grandma Debby. It was such a great trip for us to enjoy one another and get to play. I laughed at our definition of play. Jeremy and Lacy go indoor surfing and a wakeboard park, while Tyler and Adrianne go to the floor of the commodity exchange and a river archtectural tour. You might think ours wasn't as eventful, but it is absolutely hilarious how heated it gets when the brokers on the commodity floor start bidding of feeder cattle or live hogs. You think I am kidding? And definitely don't miss the river tour of Chicago, just beautiful and lots of great history.

Home front news is that our house is for sale. We loved Chicago so much we are moving there. Just kidding. We told that to my aunt while we were in Chicago and she was home with Grant. The other end of the phone was speachless. Quite comical. Our house is on the market. We have an opportunity to potentially make a move into a family development project, so we are going to see what happens. If nothings goes, then neither do we. The best part of having your house on the market is you learn the habit of keeping everything clean and picked up. The downer is you never know when you have to get out for a showing. With 2 little guys not an easy task to just get out.

The little guys are great. Stone is learing about Jonah at church. He comes home so excited and telling everything the teachers have taught him. The funniest part was he put his little hand up to the side of his mouth, made his voice deep and loud and yelled, "Jonah. Go to Ninevah." Brought his voice back to normal and said, "God told Jonah and Jonah say, "no way, no way, no way." His memory verse is Deuteronomy 5:27. Hilarious when he says Deuteronomy. Grant is adorable. Trying to walk, but not there yet. He is crawling everywhere and pulling up without a hitch. He likes to just yell and wait for you to do it back to him and can repeat this for however long you would like to play. Quite funny! He also go Oh, oh! a lot. Just precious. 2 boys and 2 different presonalities. Next summer is going to be fun!

Well, 1 boy is up from his nap and the other to be up soon. Love to all my friend and family. By the way pictures will be coming. We have this great archival system of our digitals the worst part is my laptop isn't always connected to the storage hard drive. How inconvenient is that...not along take time to type, but now i have to find a usb cord. Being a mommy is hard. :)

A Hello is in Order

Wow! I looked at the date of my last post and could not believe it has been over a year since I have written anything. Thank you to Lacy and Loren I am taking time to write. Here are a few things that have taken place in the last year.

1. Celebrated Thanksgiving
2. I had a baby, Stephen Grant Kruse, on November 28, 2007. He goes by Grant.
3. My dad flew in to surprise us after Grant's arrival.
4. Celebrated Christmas
5. Went back to work for 2 days a week - Stone went to a kids day out program and Grant stayed with Grandma Debby.
6. Got through tax season.
7. Month of April - Mother of 2 began to get noticablly easier
8. Month of May - Started potty training Stone, and Grant started crawling.
9. Month of June - Tyler took his level 2 CFA exam. Stone had hernia surgery, and Grant is the most precious little guy.
10. Month of July - We are enjoying our summer!!!

God has been so good to us. This past weekend Tyler and I got to attend a marriage conference here in town, and the one thing we came away with was to memorize and meditate (M&M) scripture. The speaker used M&M's to push this point home, so when you eat an M&M remember to memorize and meditate on some scripture. We all have beliefs in our hearts - deadly beliefs and Godly beliefs. To get rid of deadly beliefs, you have to use scripture to write the Godly belief on your heart.

Last evening, I got to go to my Wives Club meeting at a friend Georgia's house. Georgia had a beautiful meal prepared for us, and she shared the roles of a wife. One scripture that really stood out to me is Philippians 2:3-4 (my 1st memory verse). Tyler and I are arming ourselves to get Godly beliefs written on our heart. Out of the heart the mouth speaks, and how many times would my mouth benefit our family if my heart was full of Godly beliefs.

Here is an example: Stone and Grant were taking their evening bath before wives club, and Stone was not cooperating like I wanted. He wasn't thinking of being clean, rather so enjoying being in the tub with Grant. Anyway, I told Stone to stand up so I could wash him, and in 2 seconds Stone was sitting back down. This happened 3 times. I looked Stone in the eyes, and said, "Grrrrrr." He laughed so hard, and at that moment God softed my heart I laughed along with him. It was as if God was saying, "Take it easy and enjoy the moment with your boys. Don't be in such a hurry to race out the door. You can go without makeup. I have a purpose here for you as a Mommy, and don't miss the blessing I have for you - the joy of your 2 sons loving each other." Bath time ended with 2 clean boys and 3 happy, joyful hearts!!

Well, it feels good to have a post done, and thank you again to Loren and Lacy for getting me to write. I love you two girls, and am praying for your lives to be richly blessed and for God to help you through the struggles.