Pray for Jonah...

I recently found a blog that truly speaks to my heart. The William's Family Blog is such an inspiration to me that I had to share their story with you. I've posted a tab to the left that will take you to their site. Please join me in surrounding their family with love and prayers. God is good and nothing is impossible with Him!

Goodnight all,
Erin

That easy bake oven came in handy!

I just wanted to share with you my new hobby of cake decorating. I have always hated baking, but the desire was there to like it. My solution? I make the cake a week before the event, freeze it, then decorate it when I have time to enjoy it and William's sleeping. I also bought lots of goodies to help me with my new endeavor. I have a whole kit with lots of piping bags, tips, and dyes. I also stocked up on cake boards and spatulas. Having the cool stuff makes everything better! Hope you enjoy!

Sean's 24th Birthday Cake

William's First Birthday Cake

Elmopalooza!

My dear friend Hillary's Birthday cake

Our family's update...

Over the past couple of weeks we've been quite busy. I was caught up in getting William's First Birthday Extravaganza together, Sean has been steadily loosing weight for the upcoming weigh-in at his work, and William has been getting into EVERYTHING. I swear he's grown a whole inch since my last post. He can now reach the table tops as well as everything that I have stored up there. This new found fascination with destroying everything in sight would usually drive me crazy, but I am simply awe struck by how much he's grown. Give me a week and I'll probably be completely over this phase, but for now I am just completely amazed by him. He had his one year check-up today and I knew it would be hard (immunization time), but hard is a complete understatement of what we endured. Because we live in a high-risk zip code, William had to have a blood test done to check for high lead levels. They had me hold him on my lap while they put the tourniquet on his little arm and I could feel my stomach begin to churn. When that butterfly needle went in, and his little face melted, so did my heart. Oh, it physically hurt me to see him in pain. On top of that, they couldn't get any blood out because his vein kept rolling, so the poor nurse just kept having to wiggle and jab the needle around. As soon as she removed the tourniquet he stopped crying and cuddled against me. When the nurse went to put it on the other arm he fought it with all his might. The second jab was just as unproductive as the first. We then moved on to a finger prick. I thought this would be an easy alternative. Oh boy was I wrong! Apparently they had to get as much blood out of his tiny little finger as they would his arm. He had the blood "milked" out of his finger for about 10 minutes all while screaming and writhing his body around in my arms. After the agony of drawing blood we moved onto his immunizations. By the time my child left the doctor's office, he was wearing 4 Band-Aids and had a mother that was just as much a wreck as he was. Thank goodness for Ibuprofen and Tylenol! The good news is that my sweet baby can now have whole milk and can officially be in a forward facing car seat! Yay, William!

On another note, I wanted to update you all on our summer situation. I still haven't heard back from Color Me Mine, but I am still hopeful. Sean is set to take another certification test for work at the end of April. Provided he passes, he will receive a raise. This will greatly help us this summer and will prove to be even more beneficial in the fall with my normal income. Sean has been studying hard, daily, for a year now. I am confident that he will do well, but I ask for you to keep him in your prayers over the next month. I also ask for your continued prayers for this summer. Particularly for my ever growing problem with worry. As the end of the school year draws near, I feel the storm clouds blowing in. I pray for them to just blow over and for sunny skies to light my day. Thank you, friends, for always keeping us close to your heart and in your thoughts. I know that we will be ok and that our family will survive because God is so good. He ALWAYS provides for us even though we are unworthy. That is what gets me through the day without falling apart into a million pieces...knowing that my God loves me even more than I love my son, and that's an amount that I can't even fathom.

Ask and you shall receive...

I have a wonderful update for you all! Today my mom and I visited Color Me Mine to paint several pieces I bought earlier this week. While there, the thought kept entering my mind that I should really work there. At first I kept saying it as a joke, but later several other customers made the same comment....that got me thinking. If you know me, then you know that I am not one to sit on things for long, so I starting plotting how I could make this work for our family. First, I realized that I would never be late for work because I live 5 blocks away- plus number one. I then noted that the studio is open until 9, so I would be able to work a few evenings once Sean got home from work- plus number two. The third plus is that I could work the same amount of time that I do at the preschool during the school year, but William would get to stay at home with his daddy while I'm doing it. Lastly, but definitely not least, I love, love, love Color Me Mine and the whole idea of working there this summer. At our date this evening, Sean and I discussed it and he thought it was a good idea as well. So what did I do, you ask? Well, I went home and filled out an application online. Darn, I never thought I was so impulsive before! I suppose it was just the Lord's wonderful timing and provision for our family. So, my friends, I now ask that if it is God's will, you pray for this summer job for me. Thank you, as always, for keeping our family close to your heart. We love you!
-Erin

Would you please keep our family in your heart?

Dear friends, I am coming to you with a prayer concern that has my heart heavy and my stomach in knots. I know that most of you are struggling in some sort of way with your finances these days, and we are no different. My prayer request is in regard to a rather sensitive subject: money.

Since the preschool goes along with the public school schedule, we are out during the summer, thus no paycheck for mama. For the past two summers I have babysat for two different families that each have two children. Those summers were not fun (to say the least), and I would love a different experience this summer. Our family's hopes were to have enough in savings so that I could just enjoy my sweet William and not have to work. Unfortunately, things have come up (new tires were needed, medical bills, etc.) and it looks like I am going to have to find a summer job.

I have been praying for months that God would continue to provide for us and that we would be able to keep afloat this summer. My request is that you would pray the same thing for us. I also ask that if it is God's will for me to have a summer job that I would be at peace with it and that it would be a good fit for our family. I want so badly to be able to stay at home with my baby this summer, but I will always do what's best for my family.

A downfall of mine is to worry about things rather than giving my problem completely to the Lord. I am working on this, but definitely still struggling. Lately I have had a sick feeling about our situation and I am definitely in need of prayer. It's very hard for me to make this prayer concern public, due to it's "hush-hush" nature, but I believe deeply in the power of prayer.

Thank you so much for your time as well as all your prayers. I am so very grateful.

Love to all,

Erin

You belong in a zoo!!!

Today was the most beautiful day that we've had in a long time. I've lived in Tidewater all my life and I still can't get used to the weather here! It amazes me that in a week's time it can go from 30 to 79 degrees! The last time we had such a lovely day, we took our sweet William to the park for the first time. Today we decided to take him to the zoo...we definitely weren't alone with that idea! Thankfully our wait wasn't too bad because we had already planned on buying membership passes and that was the short line.
William was such a good boy on our day trip! He continues to amaze me with his ability to go with the flow while we're out and about. Sean and I thought it was hilarious how he kept looking at the ducks and other common animals that he could see any old day. Oh well, I guess all things are beautiful in a child's eyes.
Take a look at our sweet William in action......

The Hingley Trio

Mommy and William looking at the gifaffes

"Mommy, why can't I climb in with them??"

We stood there for a good ten minutes!

Look at that face :-)

Daddy and William looking at a beautiful elephant

Enjoy this beautiful weekend with the ones you love! Until next time....