As peaceful as a River...when he's sleeping.

I'm sitting next to my green bean eating toddler this afternoon. yes toddler. I am amazed at how big he's getting. I noticed in my earlier posts I didn't post many pics of River. My laid back peaceful River is turning into a little tornado of a boy. He's not a baby. Nope.. a toddler boy. *tear*

He's trying to sing the ABC's now and surprised Grandma and I the other day at how well he sings it. Just in the past few weeks he has added about 5 new words to his vocab and is getting better at communicating with words and not glass shattering screams. He's a whistler, has a funny fake laugh, calls Jonah "Bubba", and has attempted to climb to the top of my piano more than once.(scary) He's gentle and brave. Gets hurt and doesn't cry. He's now in the stage where he wants to crawl into his car seat, brush his teeth, wash his tummy, eat with a spoon...by himself. Did I mention how well he throws a ball??? Crazy well. He's a determined little guy who wants to do exactly what Jonah is doing. Sounds like a younger brother doesn't he?? He's not afraid of anything either. Stands on the edge of the play kingdom outside, dives head first into the bath tub and runs up to the edge of a body of water and just stops. Boys have the love of danger in their DNA. I'm convinced.

I'm a little nostalgic today for some reason. Justin's turning 35 this week, Jonah's turning 4 next month and Riv's 1 1/2 years old. How did we get here so fast?

Thankful for my sweet one's today.

Squeezing them a lot.

Time is ticking...




Another hiking pic...


Breakfast in the tent


A loooong wait for the parade


Waiting with bubba!

A lovely time was had by all.

Me and River hiking while daddy and Jonah fished!


Our little family had such a fun 4th of July in the mountains of Lake City, CO. It seriously was such a beautiful time!!! Justin has wanted us to experience a Lake City 4th of July for years!! Now I see why!! :) This cozy little mountain town has so much to offer a family. Our favorite was the parade and Olympics!! Over 10 age groups competed in all kinds of events!! The age brackets started with 4 and under and ended with 70 and over!! Jonah did well in the 4 and under foot race. My heart melted as I watched my sweet red haired boy laugh and run his way down the field with about 20 others. He had a blast!!

We camped out in tents and the boys did great!!! One night I think they got a little too cold and woke up a few times but it was nothing a few fleece blankets and kisses couldn't take care of. Every day Jonah would suggest things we should do and then ask "Now, doesn't that sound like a good idea??" It was funny!! Our little type A planner/trip organizer in the making. River was just a wild man the entire time. It was a challenge just to keep him in the stroller or ergo. Whenever he wanted to do something he just started shouting "Me, me, me, me!!"

Here are a few pics from our trip.

It was grand.

Lovely.

Did I mention Wonderful?? ;)

Justin and Jonah walking across the River to a little island to fish!


No big deal. Just lil' ole me in the 19-29 yr old sack race. :)


Sweet Jonah running in the 4 and under foot race. (He's in the red and gray stripe shirt)


Justin and Jonah fishing another BEAUTIFUL river!! We saw so many amazing River's on this trip.


Jonah's first time to play on a merry go round! It was all he wanted do.

It was also the first time he experienced falling OFF a merry go round. BUT..it was still all he wanted to do. That's my boy!


Jonah loved the giant and friendly St. Bernard!!


We made sure to get a picture of these flowers because they were gorgeous!!!


Our awesome camping buddies Jake and Amanda!!


The only family picture we got our entire trip...and of course jonah is rapping in the picture. Go figure. Peace signs and all. :)

'bout time!!

Home from Lake City, CO!

More to come.... :)

My Beautiful friend

Meet, Tami!! I met Tami 3 years ago after having Jonah and she has become such a dear friend. I am so thankful for her friendship. Since the first time we met, Tami has been the one to call when I have questions about Natural childbirth, breast feeding, or natural health. She's a student of all things "Green" and Natural. I love it!!! She reads up on EVERYTHING and has taught me by example the benefit of doing so.

In her younger years Tami had a lot of "female" problems. Several surgeries later she was left with one ovary. Getting pregnant was to be a challenge for her and her husband Casey. Thankfully the Lord blessed them with two gorgeous daughters and what a miracle they are!!

While we were in Dallas a few weeks ago Tami text me a picture of the 5 positive pregnancy tests she had taken. She was assuring me that she was indeed pregnant!! I was of course thrilled!! Tami wants a lot of kids. I mean alot. Kids aren't an inconvenience to this sweet family but instead a huge reward. A mother with this kind of heart is such a breath of fresh air in a culture that cringes at the thought of having more than two kids and a dog. You can imagine the pain that struck all of our hearts last Sunday as we listened to the doctor ask Tami if she wanted more children.

She answered.... "Save everything you can"

Just the day before, Tami had passed out in the parking lot of Sonic and was quickly rushed to the ER. After they sent her home...she was rushed BACK to the ER with a hemoglobin (red blood cell count) that was dropping by the minute. She was bleeding internally and was sure she was having another ectopic pregnancy. Sunday evening they decided she couldn't wait any longer to have surgery. Her hemoglobin was down to 3.1. and her life was on the line. I sat by her bed in disbelief. It's amazing how quickly a situation can change. Rejoicing turned to mourning in a matter of days. I grieved the loss of her baby and battled with fear over the possibility of loosing my friend. We prayed through the night and as I laid in my bed at 3 am that morning I knew the Lord's hand was upon her. She made it through the surgery (praise His name!) but they did end up having to close up her tube.

I loved hearing her heart yesterday as we talked about the possibility of her never having children again. She trusts that the Lord is more than able to give her more kids. He's bigger than the loss of life giving organs because He IS the life giver. Tami also talked about the option of adoption and all the kids who need homes. I look forward to the Lord giving her more children. I know He will. Excited to see how he will do it.

I wanted to share some of her story with you in hopes that you can pray for Tami and her family. I know it's brief but I felt like I needed to write and ask for help! She is home but is on bed rest for the next 4-6wks because she is very fragile and could easily start hemorrhaging again. I'm organizing a dinner and house cleaning calendar as I type. It's nearly impossible to be on bed rest for that long with two small children, a husband and a house to care for. Your prayers mean a lot but if you want to help in any other way please email me at marla_barnard@hotmail.com. We would appreciate it a TON!!! I also have a tax deductible option for anyone who would be interested in donating that way. Anything would help! Just let me know!!

Thank you, thank you!!!




Tami with her girls Ailey(4) and Lainey(21months)

Summer lovin'

My posts have been so very few and far between! I just can't believe how much has been going on. I'll give you a glimpse through pictures of our past couple weeks!

On a side note....Jonah started swimming lessons this week and is LOVING it. The new outdoor pool area at Texas Tech is like a resort! It's so beautiful and even has a lazy river running through all of the different pools. I highly recommend using Tech! I'm very impressed!! I'll hopefully get some pictures next week! I'm sure he will be doing a lot more by then! I'm just proud that they have him blowing bubbles,jumping off the side of the pool and getting his face wet. A huge accomplishment in our world. Huge. :)




We've been taking a lot of walks out at Ransom Canyon. I really think we should just move out there. I enjoy it so much and it would save a lot of time!! We feed the fish in the chapel pond all of our left over Kix's, walk across the dam in search for alligator turtles and if we're lucky....I'll actually run a bit with my 50+ lbs of resistance. The jogger is really a great work out!! :)



And when we're not sleeping at the lunch table...we're getting all of our fruits and veggies in to fuel our growing bodies for all of our wild adventures! The farmers market opened this week so I will be saving some cashola' on all of those fruits and veggies! Praise Jesus for local chemical free produce!!



Mom with her cuddle monkey!!



The day after we got home mom surprised us with a weekend visit!! When she walked through the door I almost cried!! It was so good to see her! We celebrated my little brother's 25th birthday that weekend with swiimming, a picnic lunch and homemade birthday cake!



We had a blast visiting Uncle Shane and Aunt Beth a couple weeks ago! Their house is so beautiful and we always are so blessed by their wonderful hospitality! We didn't have to leave the house, all the fun we needed was right there! I felt like I needed to pay them after we left. We ate SO well and played so hard!!