HAPPY EASTER!

I love Easter! A day full of JOY and HOPE for our life today and tomorrow! We had a wonderful day! Josh, Emily and Marguerite came over for an early afternoon brunch (Josh made yummy omelets and Em made a fantastic dessert!) and egg hunt for the kids...well actually just Maki! She was so cute when she found her basket she said "there is too much stuff in the basket!" so next year I guess we won't fill it so much ;) And then we went over to our dear friends Hide and Judy's house for dinner with their kids, grandkids and a couple other friends. Makenzie had a blast playing with all the older kids. And I don't think Zac was put down but for a 30 min. cat nap...he was such smiling machine! We feel so blessed to have such great friends up here that are like family! It definitely makes living so far away from our families easier even though we miss them all so much! Hope you enjoy a few pics from our day! We are SO EXCITED we are heading to Yosemite tomorrow for the week! I will post pics when we get home!

I love her beautiful profile! And her amazing hair with that natural curl!

my handsome boy wearing a tie! so cute!

GORGEOUS!

She dumped all her books out of the basket to fill it up with eggs.

Marguerite and baby Zac...I love his paci smile!

Josh and Em with baby Zac!

My birthday!

I just wanted to thank some great friends who took us out to breakfast this AM for my birthday! Special thanks to Michelle for coordinating it! You are so thoughtful! And to Glen for taking such a great pics! And sorry to Stacks that we were campers! LOL! :)
Thanks for everything guys! I love you all so much! Gary and I are so fortunate to have you all in our life!

Maki playing with Daddy!

my precious little girl...

my precious little boy...he slept the whole time, until the very end when it was time to eat! That was part of the reason we were campers!

I LOVE the joy in my loves smile!

Mommy and Zach!

prayers for a friend...

Gary and I have a very dear friend Delia...she is an amazing lady and we love her very much! Her nephew is sick...please read below a letter she sent out to her friends...Please pray for Mikael Perla!

Mikael is 14 years old and a new freshman at Ballard High School in Seattle Washington. He ran cross country this Fall, and was on his way to a great year. There was a bump on his head that had a little growth a couple months ago and through a quick series of recent tests he has been diagnosed today with Leukemia.

He was admitted today to Childrens' Hospital and will most likely stay in the hospital for the next several weeks as he faces chemotherapy and future treatment plans. The news began yesterday when the biopsy results were disclosed to my family. Today Mikael's parents, Juan & Sally were given the bigger picture of what is ahead.

Many of you represent different communities of faith that reach to many areas of the world. I believe you pray to a God that is knowable, present, active and involved in the intricate details of our lives. I invite you to pray with me this year for complete healing for Mikael. My brother Juan requests that I invite you to Pray for Mikael, and forward this on to any community of people, group, chain, etc that will pray.

Mikael is coping well and is looking forward to playing xbox, and computer games with his dad.

Peace,
Delia

Perspective!

Perspective is Gary's motto. And I have to say that for the 1st couple years of marriage it used to drive me CRAZY! I can now say I am on board with the "perspective" thing. I am reading a book right now by Elizabeth George called A Mom After God's Own Heart. Elizabeth George is one of my favorite authors and I was reminded of that as soon as I picked up this book. The irony that she is one of my favorite authors is really quit comical to me, her husband Jim George was on staff at Master's College. It just goes to show once again that God has such a sense of humor! But that is another post entirely! lol! She has a way with words and her books ALWAYS speak to me! She has 2 other books that I love, A Woman After God's Own Heart and A Wife After God's Own Heart. Both books transformed me and my marriage! The 1st couple years I would say that for me, the theme of my marriage was "its all about me!". Marriage has been and now parenthood is as well, the biggest magnifying glass in my life! They both have shown me the good, the bad, and the ugly in my life. But after I read her book my heart was changed and Gary said he saw a difference immediately! I hope I am still on the right path...after almost 8 years of marriage I hope so! :) So now that I am reading A Mom After God's Own Heart. My heart is transformed again...I hope my children will notice it! She doesn't say anything that I haven't heard before, but she puts God's Word in to such perspective and has a unique way of inspiring! The last few weeks have been a bit rough being so pregnant...but it is interesting to note that since I started reading this book, things have not been as rough...coincidence? I think not! I am just consumed with this book and all it has to share. I am so grateful for where I am in life so why not live like it every moment! Not just the easy moments! I am so thankful to be pregnant and for everything in my life. I want to really cherish the last few days/weeks of this pregnancy! I have realized that I have this amazing privilege to be pregnant again and I really want embrace the hardships (I feel silly even saying hardships...come on...hardships? What a privilege!) that come along with it (not being able to put socks on!). I was feeling like a cripple the last few months. As you all know I like to go, go, go! And that is why it has been so hard to be more like slow, slow, slow. It is really hard for me when I can't take care of my family the way I want too and be all I want to be (where have I heard that before?)! But I should be grateful that my husband wants to help and loves serving me. That is definitely his love language! And I should be grateful when people go out of their way to help us! Family and friends! Like my Mom dropping everything on 2 occasions the last month to fly up here to help take care of Makenzie and help me! THANKS MOM! :) And when we thought I was in labor our friends dropped everything to come right over to take care of Maki immediately! And when we got home Josh ran out and got us dinner and his parents were even in town visiting him but he insisted on helping us! THANKS JENNY! THANKS EM! THANKS JOSH! AND THANKS JON FOR BEING ON CALL! :) So needless to say I am no longer feeling sorry for myself that I can't do as much...oh my gosh I can't believe I ever felt sorry for myself...I am so privileged to be carrying a healthy baby boy and to have all the support, help and LOVE! So as you can see my perspective has changed!

Anyway, enough of my ramblings...I recommend this book to any Mother, Grandmother, future Mother or anyone who has contact in any parental way with God's greatest treasures...children!

Here are a couple pics...
Maki riding the horse at the car wash! She LOVES horses!

Her silly smile!