Prayer Requests for your children

1. Pray that they will come to know Christ at an early age.

2. Pray that they will recognize sin and have a hatred for it.

3. Pray that they will be caught when guilty, so that they may learn from their mistakes.

4. Pray that they will be protected from the evil one in each area of their life - spiritual, emotional, and
    physical.

5. Pray that they will respect those in authority over them.

6. Pray that they will desire the right kind of friends and be protected from the wrong friends.

7. Pray that they will be kept from the wrong mate and saved for the right one.

8. Pray that they will learn to submit totally to God and resist satan in all circumstances.

9. Pray that they will be hedged in so they cannot find their way to wrong people or wrong places and
    that the wrong people cannot find them.

* (My sweet mother-in-law gave me this list to me when I was pregnant with Jack. I'm not sure where she got it from, but I love it)

First hair cut

Before

After

He's a big boy now with his new look.

I just love watching this little guy grow up!

Vivian Kate Colombo

Today I'm remembering a sweet friend. 


It's hard to believe that 8 years ago today she went to be Jesus.

Vivian had one of the happiest personalities of anyone that I have ever met. She would see the best in everything. She didn't hesitate showing her emotions or hold back her excitement. For example,  the first time she came over to my house we hadn't known each other too well yet. We walked into my bedroom and she SCREAMED out loud. I was so caught off guard and thought something terrible happened. When I turned around, all I saw was Vivian flying through the air and landing on my bed.

 She started laughing and said: 
"I love your bed. It's so big and tall and there are so many pillows on it that I just HAD to run and jump on it."  

I remember thinking: "Wow, this girl is not afraid to be herself."
I LOVED it.
 Most 17 year old's (including myself) would have been too embarrassed of what there new friend might have thought of them...
but not Vivian. 




She was full of life
 .   .   .   .   .

Here's a few pictures I thought I would share

This was handed out at her memorial service

Born: November 23rd, 1984
Went to be with Jesus March 9, 2004

More than anything Vivian loved Jesus and lived her life honoring Him. 

Her life is a beautiful testament 

and her story has touched the lives of so many.

This video was made by Tim O'Brien and was shown at her Memorial service.
If you watch this movie, you might want to mute my playlist (located at the bottom of this page)
 so that you can hear the movie.


If you knew Vivian, 
please share a fun memory. 
I would love to hear your favorite story of her.

Last minute photo shoot

I love this time of year because the almond blossoms are so, so pretty. 

We decided to go on a walk Sunday afternoon. 

I brought my camera, so it turned into a mini little photo shoot.

giving me their serious pose

trying to dodge almond branches

from: Notebook from my mom

From mirror to chalkboard

The other day I was at the local Thrift Store and I stumbled upon this beauty.

 I already have way too many mirrors in my house...but I couldn't pass up this price.

I felt that it needed a good home

. . . . . . .

I've been wanting a chalkboard. 

So on the way home I stopped by Hobby Lobby and picked up a can of chalkboard spray paint

I painted the wood frame white and then sprayed the mirror with black chalkboard paint.

And now I have a fun new chalkboard

After everything was finished, I was so excited to finally write something.

I thought I would start out with this fun quote...

Well...if you ZOOM in, you'll see how true this quote actually is. 

Minutes after I finished writing, Jack (my 1 year old son) came up 

and starting rubbing his little fingers all over the part of the board he could reach...

My first thought was: "Oh. No"
and then I had to smile because I looked up and read what I had just wrote.

(how very appropriate. haha)

I also spotted this wooden initial at Hobby Lobby for only $1.99

I already had the paint and ribbon, so this was an easy and inexpensive project

Little Helper

Doing the laundry is not my favorite part of the day...but this little guy sure loves it!

 Every time I take a load out of the dryer he starts laughing 

and then jumps on the warm pile of clothes and rolls around! 

....I guess doing the laundry isn't so bad.

Quote from my mom's notebook:

* See Notebook from my mom

"The Bible will keep you away from sin...
Sin will keep you away from the Bible."

*See  Notebook from my mom

Birthday Boy

I can't believe that my baby boy is one!

Sock Monkey Birthday Party

                                          

It seems like just yesterday that this little boy was born.

Happy Birthday Jack!

Notebook from my mom

When I was a little girl I didn't really care for reading, but there was one book I loved. It was a notebook full of my moms favorite verses, poems, quotes and jokes that she collected through the years. She always kept the book in the living room... I just loved sitting on the couch flipping through the pages. For some reason that book never got old to me. Every now and then my mom would add new information (and I read it so often that I always knew when it had been updated). 

For Christmas this past year my mom gave all of us girls a notebook. Not an empty notebook.  A book filled with (handwritten) pages of all her special verses, quotes, etc... I was so excited!! I was also impressed because she very easily could have photocopied the pages from her original book and given us those copies. But no, she hand wrote every word into the new books (4 times might I add). She's the greatest! 

I will post bits from this special book every once in awhile (I'll always post them in green ink)

"Others will follow your footsteps more easily than they will your advice" ~author unknown

First things 1st

"For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline." 2 Timothy 1:7


This is my first post ever and I am so excited! I've never blogged before. I felt that there was nothing in my life that was super interesting and I thought: "who would be interested in what I have to say?"  But then I got to thinking, there is nothing more important to me than my relationship with Jesus. I desire to draw closer to Him daily and share his love with those around me. (...God did not give us a spirit of timidity...). 


So, I decided to start a blog.

I have three goals:

I am a big believer of encouragement. I know how much it means to me when someone offers a word of encouragement. Everyday God uses different people in different ways to encourage others. Whether spoken or written, there IS power in words. My hope is that if you stumble across my blog, you will somehow be encouraged.

Lately, I've been wanting to start a family journal to record our memories.  I thought this would be the perfect place to record fun family photos and stories.

I don't know about you, but my days seem to fly by so quickly. A lot of days I get so busy with life, I forget to take a step back to actually enjoy it. It's important for me as a wife and mom to have some quiet time everyday. I need time to relax and just breath. It is my hope that this will give me some discipline to have that quiet time (...a spirit of power, of love and self-discipline). For some people, having a blog might be the thing that stresses them out (always wondering what to write next). So...I promise, the moment this blog starts stressing me out I will take a break!!!

~DANA