Vay-cay-tion

Wishing you were here! 

Emerald Cay, Great Exuma Island, The Bahamas

Sunshine Fun Times

Lets celebrate the weekend with some Friday Funnies!  I've been meaning to put together this video of the kids trying out the water hose for the first time. We tried it out back in March and it was hysterical fun!  Just praying we don't have a water ban this summer so we can have some refreshing entertainment while our average temps reach over 100 degrees!  

Our Lil' Hosers from Mari Goerlich on Vimeo.

The Ultimate Sacrifice

Easter weekend is definitely a celebration in our household. Celebrating the miracle of Jesus's resurrection which means eternal life for all of us who believe. But something else has been speaking to my heart this weekend.  Just ponder the sacrifice that Jesus made for us and how we, as parents, should be prepared to do the same for our children and surrender daily.  Take, for instance, the holidays. I used to get so excited about them. It meant hanging out with extended family, playing games until the wee hours, having a late breakfast and just relaxing together all day.  Now it's filled with the normal daily tasks that need to occur to get the kids ready, fed, cleaned up, disciplined and entertained - not much of a "holiday" for us parents.  I can even remember thinking what a bummer it is that I spent my few hours of free time shopping for the kids' outfits and I didn't get anything new for myself.  Or how disappointed I was when the kids all came down with coughing-runny nosed-can't-hide-it colds and I couldn't bear to drop them at the church nursery and chance getting everyone else's little ones sick. So now we weren't able to enjoy the Easter services like we'd been looking forward to all weekend - and it wasn't just for a free hour sans kids ;).  It was in that selfish moment that God spoke to my heart to tell me times have changed and I need to rise to the challenge. My dinky sacrifices will never compare to that of Jesus, but these little things that we do put on hold while raising our children mimic His character and our kids will see that He is very much alive in us.  Thank you, Lord Jesus, for your ultimate sacrifice - may we celebrate it all year long.

Sophia Waits Patiently For the Egg Hunt

Finn Taste Tested Every Egg

Noah Runs With His Loot

Cohen Dutifully "Cleans Up" All the Eggs

Cousin Madeleine Wears Her Basket Like A Purse

Our "Casa-Noah" Gives Busha Some Love

The Break in the Rain Gave Way to a Beautiful Lunch Outdoors

Easter...on its way

We are still savoring Easter weekend....will update soon.

We hope everyone had a great Easter!

A Wild Path

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your paths. Proverbs 3:5-6

The Texas wildflowers are in full bloom right now and we hadn't ventured out to see them yet. Rumor has it they aren't going to last much longer so I thought I'd better take advantage of the overcast afternoon - thinking great natural lighting for outdoor photos. It wasn't until I was aimlessly looking for a private field of wildflowers where the kids could safely play and pose for photos, that it occurred to me that I might get lost.  I had no map, no GPS, and four toddlers in my car which meant no stopping and running in somewhere to ask directions. Chris is not available for the "can you mapquest something for me and tell me if I'm going the right way?" type of calls at work, so I started to pray.  It was something like, "Okay God, sorry I didn't really prepare here, could really use your help".  I decided on trying to locate the field we'd found with my parents last year. I traced our drive from a year ago, praying continuously, "Lord, please tell me if I need to turn."  Nothing was looking familiar, nothing felt right until I needed to turn and then, suddenly I'd remember.  Then another straight away and I'd doubt some more, but yet again, a turn I needed to make would come up and again I knew I was back on track.  We got to the field and man, what a disappointment.  I had passed a dozen or more fields that were far brighter, prettier than this one right off the highway.  But the kids were sick of being in the car so I parked next to the sparsely-flowered field and decided we'd picnic under a tree and plan to find another photo-op with a map and Daddy on another day.  

Still, it turned out to be a perfect afternoon. The boys were so excited about all of the abundance of sticks that they barely noticed the lack of flowers while Sophia loved every flower she could find and simply running up and down the hill. I enjoyed the safety the spot allowed and the shade under the sprawling oak trees was pretty nice too since the sun decided to poke out after all.  

All said and done, I couldn't help but ask myself if I truly am trusting God to direct my path. Am I leaning on my own understanding too often? Not allowing things into my life that might look like a bust yet be just the place God needs me to be? I'd like to think he'll direct my path in spite of my strong will to be in control - it'd just be a lot easier if I'd trust him the whole way.

And so there I was in a field enjoying my kids in full bloom...

"We're free!"

(Cohen, Sophia, Noah & Finn)

"Awe shucks, picking just one bunch won't hurt..."

(Sophia, Noah & Finn)

"Look, Mom, I can touch the sky!" 

(Noah)

"Flowers are yummy...."

(Finn)

"I think I found one of those flowers you were hyping up the whole way here!"

(Cohen)

"Blue skies, bluebonnets and the wind in my hair - doesn't get much better than this!"

(Sophia)

Say What?

With the grandparents graciously coming all the way from Iowa to babysit the kiddos while Chris and I go on vacation, I thought a lesson in the language we speak around here might be helpful.  The kids say lots of simple words that are pretty clear. It's the more obscure words that I thought they'd like a little practice with.  The video below should have them fluent in no time.  Just 26 days to study!

Learning Baby Talk from Mari Goerlich on Vimeo.

A Lesson in Patience

With  little ones running around all day, patience is at the top of our prayer list.  In fact, I thought I was patient - I could patiently drive behind the person driving 45 mph down the highway, wait in line at the store - until having kids that is.  

"Momma, when is this thing coming?"

The most recent test of patience was purchasing and assembling their new Step 2 Adventure Lodge.  We waited for our tax return to buy this online back in February, was back-ordered until March, and finally arrived after much anticipation and one day of Mari sitting at home waiting for the package to never arrive (UPS must have called the wrong number - ours - telling us a package - not ours - was being delivered and someone needed to be home).  On a gorgeous 80 degree Saturday, we excitedly began organizing the 8 million pieces and started the assembly process.  This thing was going up in no time and we hadn't even had an argument yet.  Then came step 35, which called for a U-bracket.  "Honey, where's the U-bracket?''  So I call Step 2 on Monday to have them overnight the U-brackets to us.  We were pumped to finish this project the following weekend, but it was 40 degrees and raining so it didn't happen.  We finally got it all finished this past weekend after a trip to Lowe's to buy a bolt that was already attached.

The finished product (with a few tweaks)

"Can you believe we thought this thing was fun?" (Sophia)

Now, we try to exercise patience every time one of the kids walk in front of one of the others swinging and gets kicked in the side of the head.  It is so hard not to laugh sometimes.

"Woohoo!  Walk in front of me I dare you!" (Coco kicking up his heels on the big boy swing)

"I will conquer this great slide!" (Noah)

"I'm not so sure I'm supposed to be doing this." (Finn)

We felt like we needed to celebrate our huge accomplishment and the fact that we are still married so we grilled some steaks, ate al fresco and downed some ice cream on an absolutely perfect spring evening.

A beautiful memory

Patience was conquered for the moment ... until we booked our first week-long vacation for just the two of us.  It is way overdue and much needed.  Now we just have to sit and wait and try not to eat pizza and cupcakes every night.