I Miss It

Hi Everyone,

I hope you all are enjoying your Thursday evening.

It's finally quite around here. The boys are in bed and i'm sitting by a nice warm fire. Thanks to Grandda Charlie for the two big buckets of coal he brought down this morning!

I have to say my blog hasn't felt the same since I changed the name. I kind of miss my old Elijah's Adventures title. I almost changed it back today! But since it's barely been 24 hours I decided to try to give myself time to get used to the new name. Do any of you feel the same or is it just me being overly attached?

On a different yet still blog related note... I had to change the back ground. Was it just me or did you have a harder time reading on the other yellow dotted background?

Plus I've found a REALLY great site with REALLY great free back grounds! They are SO cute and I like them all!

Click on their button below:



Just had to share that with you all.

My button doesn't seem to be working right at the moment. I'll get that fixed soon.

For those of you who have never met our little Ethan in person I just want to clear some thing up... he's not as huge as he may seem from the photos.

When we first came back to Northern Ireland and my family and friends who had previously only met our little guy through the blog all said the same thing.... "oh, he's not as big as he looked from your pictures."

Subjects in pictures may be smaller than they appear.

Elijah's Buddy

This past Friday we were happy to get a call from a friend from church. Joanne asked if she and her little boy Will could come visit that afternoon. We were happy to say yes! We planned to take the boys to the park if it wasn't raining.

Click here to see their last visit photos from October. It was pouring down rain that day!

When Elijah heard Will was coming, his bed room window became his look out point...


Thankfully it wasn't raining when they got here even though the sky was heavy with gloomy clouds. So we bundled up and headed down to the park.

Joanne and Ethan

Will and Elijah

Joanne was telling me how hard it is to get a picture of Will smiling. He always turns away and so I made it my mission that afternoon to get a picture of his adorable smile!


She was right! Even with my fast camera i still ended up with more pictures of the back of his head than anything else!


The boys had a great time running around together.

But unfortunately it started to rain and we had to go home.


When we got home we drank hot tea and milk and ate chocolate chip cookies. The boys played with balloons and finally we caught this...

Mission Accomplished!

New Name, New Look

When I started this blog it was all about Elijah and our adventures. So we named it Elijah's Adventures, but it's not just about him anymore! I've been wanting to change the name of the blog since Ethan arrived but i'm really no good at coming up with catchy names off the top of my head. I wish I were, but it's evidently just not one of my gifts. =)

As i was thinking about it I knew I wanted the name to point to the Lord. It's because of Him that I am who I am and have what I have. He's been there for our family through the rough spots and has richly blessed us with so much.

I've come to realize how good He really is. He is kind and loving. Everything He does is in our best interest. Even when it may hurt us for a while. And we may not understand why He is doing what He's doing, we can trust His heart that He really does have our good in mind.

It's also my desire that what ever our story is that it will bring Him glory. I pray that what ever challenges come our way that we will handle them with the grace He gives us and that they would bring Him honor and praise.

As we learn to live more and more like Jesus every day may we become smaller and let Him become larger. So that when people look at us they can see Him!

So that's where the name of our blog came from. For Our Good and His Glory

We'll keep it for a while and see how it goes. It may change again in the future, you never know. I've never been one to get stuck in a rut! =) As you've probably noticed from the frequent back ground changes!

I love you all.

Thank you SO much for following along with us though our blog. I love seeing your faces in my side bar. And i love reading your comments. You encourage me and make me laugh and have been great company for this stay at home mommy!

And even those of you who never comment but are there faithfully following along. Thank you too!

Testing Testing 1 2 3

Just playing around with some backgrounds here...

will be back to normal soon!

MS Awareness Week

My friend Ruth brought it to my attention that this week is MS Awareness Week.

This is pretty significant for her since she has just been diagnosed with MS.

Here is an excerpt from what she wrote on her blog:

"I got home from hospital after tea time yesterday. The neurologist saw me and confirmed that I do have MS. Not sure how to take all this, it is going to make a big change to my life and the rest of my family. Just feeling really numb today and also very scared. Please you you pray for me and my family over this hard time."

About MS

"Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is the most common disabling neurological condition affecting young adults. Around 85,000 people in the UK have MS.

MS is the result of damage to myelin - a protective sheath surrounding nerve fibres of the central nervous system.

When myelin is damaged, this interferes with messages between the brain and other parts of the body.

For some people, MS is characterised by periods of relapse and remission while for others it has a progressive pattern. For everyone, it makes life unpredictable."

Click Here to find out more.

You Guessed It!

You ALL got the right answer on yesterdays mystery photo!

Play Dough!

Elijah and I broke out the play dough!

I had to laugh when I read Simple Beauty's comment guessing it to be "very FRESH playdough!!" It was indeed very fresh. I'm not sure how long it will look this nice and bright though.

But for today a brand new set of bright colorful play dough kept the little man occupied for hours. Brittany, you were "spot on" in your guess when you added "I bet you put it through that little push-down playdough tool that makes it grow like hair or spaghetti, too!" You should have heard Elijah. "I'm making noooodles, mommy!" He loved it. And I as usual took way to many pictures. I was just having a good time with the bright colors and fun shapes.


And of course Elijah had to demonstrate how the shape press can always double as a gun in a pinch...


That was fun. Maybe i'll give ya'll another mistery photo. But next time i'll really stump ya!

Can You Guess What We Did This Morning?

Leave me your guesses in the comments!

Theme: Reflection

This week's theme at I ♥ Faces is Reflection. There are SO many great photographs already posted this week. But I thought i'd still throw this up here just to be a part.

Those of you who visit here regularly might recognize these pictures.

Kids Category:

This was taken back in December by my sister. We were in Tarpon Springs, Florida and there was this huge decorated Christmas tree with these big ball ornaments hanging on it. That's how this photo came to be!

Adult Category:
Taken last month along the shore of Strangford Lough, Northern Ireland.


Click on the I ♥ Faces button above to see the rest of the entries. Or join in! We'd love to see your refection photos!

Fun Frames

Sometimes you find that you have a natural frame in your photos already and there's no need to add one!

Elijah on Saturday night. Who knew that a clothes hamper lid could make such a great photo opportunity!

I discovered last week while trying to take my self portrait that mirrors are lots of fun and useful when trying to take your own picture.

This was us this morning. Ethan, like most babies loves to look at himself in the mirror and will give the biggest smiles and giggles. But when i tried to get a picture of his beautiful smile he got distracted with the camera.

I hope you all are having a blessed day.

My List of 8's

I wrote this yesterday and scheduled it to post today because we all have better things to do on a lovely Saturday than sit at the computer, right? So what is listed as "done yesterday" was actually done on Thursday. Now that we're all clear on that. =)

You all have probably seen this going around. I guess now it's my turn. I was tagged by Brittany to list 8 things...

8 Things I Look Forward To
1. Getting my first cup of coffee in the morning
2. Spending time with Geoff on the weekends
3. Seeing my boys grow up together
4. Sleeping for longer than 5 hour stretches at a time
5. My sister's wedding
6. Taking Elijah to the park today with a friend (if it doesn't rain)
7. Dinner at the family's tonight
8. Heaven

8 Things I Did Yesterday -
1. Kissed my babies. (No need to get technical, they are both still my babies, ok?)
2. Prayed for Stellan, Kayleigh, my family, friends...
3. Had a visit with my sister in law
4. Made dinner
5. Read blogs
6. Baked cookies
7. Took some photos
8. Vacuumed the house

A rather boring list... well, kissing my kids and visiting with Rachel wasn't boring, or taking photos or reading your blogs. Ok, i guess it wasn't that bad now that I think about it! =)

8 Things I Wish I Could Do:
1. Be a better mommy/wife
2. Be a professional photographer
3. Visit family in Scotland and the US. And Africa!
4. Go shopping
5. Go to the beach
6. Be like Jesus in every moment
7. Write better
8. Be less emotional =)

8 Shows I Watch:
I'm skipping this part. I don't have any shows i follow. We don't even have a TV. And now that we're over seas I can't watch them on the network websites either.

We like watching movies though.

8 Bloggers Who I Am Tagging To Do This (if you've already done it, or don't want to do it, just ignore me:)

I also want to take this opportunity to introduce to you a couple of real life friends with new blogs...

1. Donna is a friend from church and the one who took the boys and I to the park last week.
2. Karen is a friend in Florida who also started a blog recently called Green Onions.
3. Ruth
4. Crystal
5. Carrie
6. Tracy
7. LeAnn
8. Alicia

And of course no post of mine would be complete with out a photo or two. =)

Here Elijah is enjoying the 3 minuet chocolate cake in a mug we made.

Fix-It #11 - “Cooing Baby”

I ♥ Faces provides the photo (so this is not my baby) and we "fix" it. Here's my before...

and After...Any advice or comments? Critics welcome. =) I want to learn!

Click here to check out the blog and see how every one else edited this same picture.

Wedding Outtakes

I came across a CD from my friend Susan with pictures that she had taken at our wedding! As I was scrolling through it i kept noticing how many goofy/awkward/funny faces there were! I thought it would be fun to put them all together in sort of a "wedding out take" collage.

I always think it's funny to watch the out takes on movies so this is our own photo addition.

Come laugh with me! Or at me, either way, i don't mind!

August 7th, 2004

It's fun to hear him talk...

Elijah was trying to put on is shoes the other day and it just wasn't working for him. His heel wouldn't slip in and he was getting frustrated so he blurted out "My feet elbow won't go in!" Makes sense if you think about it. =)

Last week when we were in the car with Robert and Donna going to the park. He leaned over Ethan in his car seat and said "I'll take care of you, baby Effan,"

And today he called the tendon on the back of his ankle his "rib".

This morning we were on the floor talking to Ethan. Elijah was being a little rough and I told him that he needs to take care of Ethan and he pointed to his chest and said "And Ethan take care of me too!"


Photos taken this morning.

You learn something new everyday!

Ever since Nana brought the corn over last night Elijah has been asking for it. So i heated it up for his lunch today. And as I was unwrapping it I noticed something. Notice the country of origin...

Senegal! The African country of my birth!

I had no idea that they exported beautifully wrapped packages of corn on the cob for Marks & Spencer stores! The only corn I ever ate while in Senegal was tough field corn that my dad said was only good for feeding cows. My big sister and I thought it was delicious roasted over an open fire though!

But apparently from the sounds of munching and lip smacking coming from the kitchen Elijah thinks it's pretty good!

Who knew? Senegal exports more than just delicious peanuts.

What's something new that you learned today? Or recently?

I'm going to miss this...

Elijah is great at making his little brother laugh! I was in the kitchen yesterday making dinner and Ethan was sitting in his seat in the dinning room and I hear him start to laugh. I knew Elijah was with him and this is what I found when I went to check it out. Elijah was just laughing at him and that was making Ethan laugh!

And I thought "I'm going to miss this!"

Photo Hunt: Purple

Share your purple pictures here!

Or check out each week's theme by going to the Photo Hunt blog.
Click on this:

This Week's Challenge...

As many of you have probably seen by now the theme this week at I ♥ Faces is Self Portraits. Here are the rules:

• Kids Category – the photo must be of you and a child (or children)

• Adults Category – show us your face…and your face ONLY!

For both categories, you must take the photo and you must be holding the camera when you take it (you can’t use a tripod or anything else to hold the camera for you.)

I thought that sounded challenging so here's my entries...

Kids:

Ethan and I when he was just over 24 hours old. Photo taken January 17th, 2009.


Adults:

I wanted my self portrait to tell a little about myself so here goes...

My wedding ring because I am a wife.
The hat is Elijah's favorite cap.
The baby shoes are Ethan's.
And the camera of course because I love photography!

Ducks, Daffodils and ... airplanes?

God was good to us on Thursday and it didn't rain! It was so great to get out side and enjoy the fresh air. It was a bit cold in the wind but we couldn't complain. We still enjoyed our time at the park and in the sunshine.

First Robert and Donna came to pick us up and we loaded the car with the car seats, diaper bag, camera bag, warmer coats, baby carrier, stroller... my goodness, who knew two little kids would require so much gear for one after noon!

We ate at McDonald's on the way to the park. Elijah was more interested in watching the people than eating his chicken nuggets.

And then on to Victoria Park in east Belfast.

These two are buddies...
We brought bread for the ducks and geese.

The doves and pigeons stole their share of the bread but the snooty swan wouldn't come near us...This park was a little boys dream. The birds weren't the only this with wings that we saw.
Look what kept flying over us. And my camera was not zoomed in at all when this was taken!


Besides the birds and the airplanes and the trains that went past the park you could see these two...The cranes are called Samson and Goliath and are in the shipyard of Harland & Wolff, builders of the Titanic. They are a landmark in the sky line of Belfast. I thought they were interesting to see so close, Elijah on the other hand was more interested in this...

Oh, i don't think there is much that he enjoys more than a good play park! Where he can swing, slide and make friends. Oh yes, he was already trying to appeal to a girls sympathies! At one point he was running too fast and did a nose dive. This didn't affect him much since he does that all the time. He's just moving too fast and his feet can't keep up with the rest of him. But this other little girl in overalls saw him fall and said "ooooh" and went over and touched his shoulder as he was getting up. I guess a fall like that would have been hard on her so she was being sweet and showing her concern. A few minuets later we see Elijah run and fall. I could tell he fell over on purpose and didn't think much of it until I saw him run and fall again... practically at the sweet little girl in overalls feet. Oh dear, what am i going to do with him? =)

We kept this little man all bundled up and warm. Like his hat? My very talented Aunt made it for him!
The park is under the flight line for Belfast City airport.

Here comes the 2:30 flight from Barcelona... Don't believe me, I have no idea where that plane was coming from.

A little boy dreams of flying...


Here are the guys watching the planes.Ethan was sucking on his dummy while Donna pushed him in the buggy. (see i'm trying to use the words they use here!) =)Oh look! There's another one!

So there you have it.

Our day in pictures.
After the park we went to the hospital in Belfast to visit Ruth. She's been in there since Saturday night. Her legs are numb, she hasn't been able to feel them since December. And now her arms and upper body feel like they are all pins and needles, They feel the way her legs did before they went numb. The Doctors are pretty sure she has MS. But it's not confirmed yet. She's pretty bored in the hospital. She says there's no internet soshe can't even blog from there.
Would you go visit her blog and leave her a comment for when she gets out of the hospital? I'm sure it would encourage her. Click here.