Happy 7th Birthday Jadyn!

I cannot believe Jadyn is 7 years old today! Time flies and it's exciting and sad all at the same time.  Jadyn is our answer to prayer.  We prayed for 5 years for a baby. I still remember seeing that positive pregnancy test and falling to the ground shaking and overwhelmed at God's miracle in my life.
Jadyn is quite the personality. From her labor until now she's a stubborn little spit fire, but she is learning how to use that stubbornness for God. She is one of the most creative people I know. I've learned that if she can't get a concept in her learning if we turn it into an art project she'll learn it.  She loves bright colors and making a mess in her artistic endeavors. She is a mother-hen to her little brothers and any friends that are younger than her. She has a lot of love in her heart to share with those around her. You can't meet her and not fall in love with her. Seriously, it's impossible! =)
Last night as I was tucking her into bed, I talked with her about the answer to prayer she was in my life and her dad's life. It brought tears to my eyes as I talked to her about the many tears I shed, asking God to give me another baby and then seeing that answer to prayer in her. I told her the struggles I had during that time and that sometimes I would doubt that God could even do the impossible, but God is a God of the impossible and she is a reminder to me every day of God's grace.  I went over again with her the importance of her name. Jadyn means "Jehovah has heard" and her middle name is Grace because it is only by God's grace that He allowed us to have our precious princess.
Happy 7th Birthday Jadyn Grace. We love you more than you can imagine! We pray that you will continue to allow God to use you and that you will grow in your relationship with Jesus more this year. He loves you even more than your mommy and daddy do!

Every year I take a picture of Jadyn in my wedding dress.  It's a fun tradition that we both look forward to.

Today, we had a fun mommy/daughter date to go get her ears pierced! She was so brave - didn't even shed a tear! I told her I have been looking forward to this day since she was born. I have a great memory of my mom taking me to get my ears pierced and now I was able to share that fun experience with my little girl!



Vacation to Bonita Springs & Naples

Last week we were able to get away and take a vacation to Bonita Springs and Naples.  It's so beautiful on the west coast of Florida and it's a nice change from the city life of Miami. We had a relaxing time enjoying the beach and just being a family together without any interruptions. Here's some pics from our week.

Monday: We went down to Naples and enjoyed one of our favorite beach spots.

Seriously, even though we live close to the beach we just can't get enough of the beach! We all love it!

Job getting ready to dig for some buried treasure in the sand.

My little fish Jadyn, took a break from swimming to dig in the sand.

Mark and Mj had a blast throwing their wave ball back and forth.

Taking a pic of our beach hair.

Learning never stops, and even on vacation we were discovering cool sea creatures that God created. The nine-armed sea star was so cool and we found a lot of them every day! We've never seen them before so it was exciting to discover them. We got to see some that had regenerating arms.

Jadyn loved catching the sea stars.

Even Job held one.

Mj found a cool conch shell.

See that rain in the background, well it moved faster than what we thought and we ended up drenched as we ran for the car. 

Tuesday - We went to Wiggins Beach in Bonita Springs.

We got to see this turtle enjoying a snack on the side of the road.

Picture perfect

In the afternoon the waves got bigger and the kids had a blast!

We enjoyed dinner at Chick-fil-a and it was Kids' Day so Jadyn got her face painted as Wonder Woman. She lost a tooth the evening before. Seriously, I think she needs dentures. =)

Gabe was excited about his snake painting.

We went down to the pier in Naples.  The sunset was beautiful with a storm n the background.

Rain, Lightning and Thunder in the distance.

Looking for dolphins.

We found one.

This guy was showing off for everyone.

A pretty good family pic on the Naples' Pier.

We ended the evening at Rita's.

I love Rita's. We only get it when we go to Naples since they don't have them in Miami.

 

Wednesday - We went back to Wiggins beach for the day.

 

My book worm enjoying the shade of our tent.

Exploring.

Job being his silly, silly self.

Mark found a sand dollar.

My explorers looking for sand dollars and sea slugs.

Big clam shells they found snorkeling.

Surf's Up Dude!

Sand Ball.

I was laughing so hard at this picture.  The kids were trying to sit on their boogie boards, but the boards would fly out from under them. I caught this shot at a funny spot.

I love watching them enjoy the beach.

We went to a nice park before dinner.

This park was a lot of fun.

Cool drinking fountain.

Scooters, Fountain, Red Cheeks - Fun at the park.

Dinner and dessert at Sweet Tomatoes.

Thursday - We found a cool water park that we all enjoyed!

Mj trying to make it the whole way across.

Gabe & Job loved this water slide.

Silly brothers.

His face says it all! They had so much fun!

Friday - Before we left to head back to Miami, we went to a park to let the kids get some energy off before the car ride home.

Job loved this digging area.

Gabe climbing the rocks.

The nature trail was cool.

Enjoying a walk.

We had a fun vacation. So thankful for our time together.

We Finished Our School Year (A Couple of Weeks Ago)

Guess what? Yep, I got behind again. The end of the school year got completely crazy and I got behind on my blog. But we did finish our school year and are looking forward to several weeks off before we being in July.

We had a promotion day at Co-op to celebrate the end of the school year.

Gabe finished preschool and will be in Kindergarten! (That is crazy! How is he old enough for Kindergarten. He's so excited though and prays about his school books every night!)

Jadyn finished 1st grade.

Mj finished 6th grade.

Officially done!

The kids also finished their Awana programs for the year. Job loved Puggles this year!

Jadyn finished book 2 in Sparks.

Mj received the Timothy award for finishing his 4th TNT book!

Gabe finished his 2nd Cubbie book.  I'm so sad he will be moving out of Cubbies. At least I'll still have Job in Puggles. =)

The last time they will be in Cubbies and Puggles together.

The last time the 4 of them will be in Awana together.  Mj moves up to Youth Group next year.

After the school year was finished I went into OCD Spring Cleaning mode. Thankful for my little helpers even though they sometimes made the work take longer. ;)

My kitchen looked amazing as did the rest of my house!