The California Life!

Oh life is good!  We have made it HOME!  Yes, San Diego (well Lakeside), CA is HOME now and my heart is finally at peace and at rest.  I have my "nest" back and I can't tell you how good it feels to finally be here.  While it was great and wonderful spending time with my parents and Pete's parents, having our little family back to normal and making my own dinners and spending the days with my kids at the park and doing laundry and the normal day in and day out stuff has never been so welcomed!  We are home!  Can I say it again haha!  We are home!!

California is beyond beautiful and I am just loving it so far.  The weather (as everyone always says) is just gorgeous.  Christy was out here this past week and it was just perfect every single day.  This will never get old and it just does something to my spirit when I walk outside and it's perfectly sunny and 70 degrees.  I'm convinced I was made for California weather!  :)  Not to mention the beauty of the mountains that are everywhere!  Absolutely gorgeous!!  There have been times I'm just driving and have to snap myself back into driving mode because I'm just in awe of the scenery.  Seriously.  So beautiful.  How did I get lucky enough to live here?  Wow.  Love it!

The kiddies are adjusting very well and just love having their cousins so close.  Keira and Elyse are just too cute together and play so well which we are so thankful for.  Kellen is all over the place and already is that little brother who follows the girls around wanting so bad to keep up with them!  Shep just has to start walking so Kellen has a little buddy to hang out with.  God definitely knew what he was doing with our kids giving them each a playmate!  So thankful for that!!

Lately I have just found so much joy in my kids.  I don't know if it's just being their "mommy" again (rather than the daughter role at my parents) or if they are just at an age that is bringing about a new stage or what it is, but daily, I just laugh at them and my heart just wells up and I am so filled with love for them.  Keira has just the sweetest spirit in her.  She just absolutely loves her babies and taking care of them and she feeds them and changes their "big stinky poopy diapers" and rocks them and sings Jesus Loves Me to them all the time.  It is so, so sweet.  She is so polite (most of the time) and does a great job at remembering to say please and thank you.  She's fairly obedient and it doesn't take much to look into her eyes and tell her when she's made a bad choice and to see her heart through her eyes as she says she's sorry.  She has such a soft and tender heart and I'm just so drawn to it!  We've been working on our verses and she's got about 4 down pretty well.  I love hearing her say Scripture and watching her learn what it means.  When she does get disciplined we always reference back to one of her verses which has been cool to see her start to make the connections of what it means.  My prayer for her since day 1 (literally since she was in the womb) has been that she would have a kind and gentle heart and I just so see God answering that prayer.  I pray that she would have a sweet spirit and a love for people.  That she would be that girl at school that everyone just loves because she always has kind words to say and reaches out to those who may not feel loved.  I can't believe that she will be 3 in 1 month (from today!).  The past 3 years have gone so fast and I am just so blessed with this sweet girl!!

Kellen James is just a mama's boy to the core.  That little guy could melt me to the floor with his lovies and kisses and his giggles.  It's amazing to see the differences in not just the boy/girl thing, but just in his personality and his spirit.  He is definitely all boy which is so fun to watch.  He grunts and vrooms his cars around the floor.  He climbs on EVERYTHING and has no fear!  If it's elevated, he wants on top of it.  I have to watch him constantly!  He loves playing catch and when we run to get him and tickle him.  He is definitely much more clingy than Keira ever was which has sometimes been hard.  They have to call me out of church frequently to come get him because he's crying.  :(  That separation anxiety has kicked in and he loves his mama!  I love having a mama's boy, but there are times when I just want to make dinner without having to hold a 15 month boy as well.  :)  It's exhausting at times, but I'm okay with it.  I know it's just a stage so I will take it and enjoy it because that is where he's at right now.  He won't always want me to hold him all the time.  :)  I soak every minute up with him that I can get!  My prayer for my boy since day 1 has been that he will grow to be a man full of wisdom and integrity, courage and boldness.  That my little guy would have the strength to obey God rather than man and that he would lead and lead well.  That people would long to follow him because of his character.  That they would be drawn to him because he makes right choices.  I pray that he would have a love for God's Word and Spirit and a love for people.  Oh how I want great things for my boy!

We're starting to think #3 pretty soon here which is exciting and crazy all at the same time.  I've been ready for awhile now and we just had to get moved and settled before we even entertained that idea.  Now we're here and the thought is very prevalent on my mind!  :)  Three kids.  Wow.  I was telling a friend yesterday that that's like a family haha.  1 kid is just getting started...you're new at the parenting thing.  2 kids is getting there.  Then 3 is a family haha!  Most people have 3 and are done.  Which in our case, I can't even imagine being done after this next one.  I've had my heart set on 4 kids from the beginning so I'm halfway there.  :)  I think just the thought of knowing and loving another baby is so exciting for me!  Not knowing who they are right now, but knowing that there are 2 more family members for our family is so fun to think about!  I'm so anxious to see them and know them and love them and be their mommy!!  I could just keep going haha...knowing that we can keep making more!  :)

Anyways...that's an update on life lately.  I like writing updates every so often so I can go back and read them.  More for myself than anything else.  :)  An online journal without all the personal stuff that goes in my real journal.  :)