Chicken Raising in the City

You can raise chickens in the City of Charlottesville, who knew?! We just might be able to live in the city and have our homestead after all! These eggs are from our neighbors chickens. One of the eggs had a double yolk, very cool. They just started this year and have had great success.

Who knows maybe next year I'll be posting pictures of our eggs!

A Fresh View on Guests

Even though we've been married for over 7 years and we have parents come and stay often, we don't get many friends that stay over. So, when they do, we love it!

In April we had some friends from New York in town for a wedding and they stayed with us for a night. It was such a fantastic treat. I went to high school with Sarah and met her husband when we all were dating over 10 years ago. Now they are in the stage of parenting a newborn. It's a beautiful season in their lives and even though we live so far away, we've been so blessed to be able to share a little of it with them.

You say 'baby' to the boys and they immediately get excited. But, then you add on that another Joseph is coming, and boy the stakes go up! Samuel and Joseph have an S and a J over their beds respectively and Sarah and Joe were going to be sleeping in their beds. How appropriate. This, to two boys engrossed with their letters, is HUGE.

In preparation for their arrival, we picked up and cleaned, but instead of running around the house like crazy trying to make our home look like something it never looks like, and make a new working mom feel completely inadequate, I wanted to take this opportunity to teach the boys a fresh perspective on preparing for our guests... to pray for them.

This is something I often neglect, but after reading this series from Passionate Homemaking how I prepare for visitors has a new focus. Here is the post on her blog that expresses this idea better than I ever could.

So before they came, instead of shooting for perfection, we focused on praying for these things:

Safe travel – Pray for comfort and joy as they travel.
Encouragement – Pray for wisdom on ways you can specifically encourage them.
Refreshment – Travel can be exhausting. Pray that they would feel more refreshed when they leave than when they arrived.
Connection – Pray for good conversations and meaningful memories.
Blessing – Pray for God’s grace in their lives and an ever deepening relationship with Him.

Even when we had a few emotional melt downs (the kids, not me), had finger prints all over our walls, the yard was a mess, and our guests had to help out with dinner or else we would have eaten at 9pm, they felt loved and cared for. Mission accomplished.

It was such a fresh, godly perspective on having others in our home and it truly changed the way I viewed their visit. It gave us all an opportunity to bless them by choosing to not focus on the physical preparations of their arrival, but the spiritual.

And even though during this season of our lives, our parents are able to bless us way more than we can bless them, we will now be more attentive to pray for their time here as well.

We love you Joe and Sarah and baby Christian! You are so special to us. Thanks for being such awesome friends!

Puppy Dogs and Ice Cream

Annabelle is big into peek-a-boo lately. She'll duck down and if you say 'Where's Annabelle?" she'll pop right up.

The kids are doing incredibly well all playing together. They love legos. It's so beautiful seeing them all interacting with no adults mediating.

We helped out at the school carnival where our church meets. The boys had a blast.

Even though it took us awhile to figure out why Sam's dog was blue :)

Extra Cute

There are just some days when the kids look particularly adorable. I don't know what it is, but this day was one of those days for Annabelle. I couldn't quite capture it on camera, but I did my best.



She always curls her tongue when she smiles and laughs. It's pretty stinkin' cute.

When I feel this way, I think of how God must have no idea what I'm talking about... He always thinks we look particulary adorable! Having children has given me such a special glimpse into God's heart. And with each new child, He shows me more of his heart for his children.

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

I know how deeply I care for my children and how I would walk through fire for them and to know that love doesn't even scratch the surface of how deep God's love is for us, it just blows my mind.

God, give me your heart for these children. May I see them through your eyes. May I parent them as if they are not my own, but yours.

He's Alive!

As Christians, Resurrection Sunday is our biggest holiday. If it wasn't for his death and Resurrection, our religion would be categorized amongst all the others. But, we serve a risen God! And he is very worthy of our praise.

The older the kids get the more enjoyable each holiday is. This Easter we celebrated all month. We reenacted the events leading up to Christ's death many times with various groups of friends, we made crafts to represent the empty tomb, we made cookies to represent Jesus' last day and resurrection. Anything to try and make this huge concept make a little more sense to them.



'sealing the tomb'

gorgeous flowers from an awesome friend!

Our church had a photographer taking pictures at our Resurrection service. Which, is also the same photographer that took the picture on our blog banner. More from that shoot whenever I get caught up.



Miss Kim made Annabelle a Lamb Sheep Jane for Easter! It's so adorable. She's obsessed with it. Annabelle's most common nickname is, Lamb Sheep Jane, along with about 59 other nicknames.

Aunt Julie came for the weekend and made it so special. It was so fabulous to celebrate with her!


Annbelle's first egg hunt




Audrey made a lamb cake for our lunch for church, I think I'm going to have to steal it for Belle's birthday!

Lovely Lady

Gardening in the City!

When looking for our first home to purchase we swayed back and forth between pretty dramatic scenarios. We both have such an affinity for rural living and pioneer arts. But, we also have a clear calling (for now) to have a home that has an open door policy for our friends and whoever God wants us to love on. Through a lot of prayer and guidance we chose the city living.

At first it was not an easy pill for us to swallow, knowing there were so many things we were saying 'no' to. But, almost immediately we saw the blessings of that decision and have never second guessed it. Though, the desire for those things hasn't faded.

Between moving in 2 summers ago and then having Annabelle last summer, this was the first summer it was possible for a garden. I was determined to figure out a way to make gardening on our hilly and very shady city lot work!

Enter my incredibly creative, selfless husband and sons...

Without me even asking, Andy took over the project and told me he would love to make me a garden. So, for the past 2 months rain or shine, they have tirelessly been blessing me with the gift of their time and labor to make me a garden.







Preparing our seeds

We Have A Tooth!

I love it when companies have special offers on tax day! On April 15th, we visited Kohr. Bros.


And, to top it all off, Grayson and Annabelle made it extra special by both getting their first tooth that day!

They simply cannot do anything without the other.

This Night

The perfect end to any day in our home is a simple dinner followed by a leisure hike. Our springs are filled with many hikes, but some seem to bury themselves deep in our memories. This night was one of those. Just a peaceful walk with my most treasured people, praising the God who made it all for our enjoyment and his glory.




Nearing the end of our hike we hit a very steep hill. Joseph was having a hard time finishing it. Samuel jumped at the opportunity to encourage him. He held his brother's hand and walked with him the rest of the way.

We marvel at how God is already at work in his life.

Look at that precious look on Joseph's face. He knows just how much his brother loves him... and I think even his Father above!


Psalm 8:3-5 When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.

The Sun Stood Still

Each day, the boys will inevitably wander outside to do their boy things and leave their little sister behind. So, I will swoop her up and do girlie things with her. But after awhile, they will miss her and want to come back in the house to spend some time with her. Unfortunately they are too dirty to be allowed to meander in and out of the back door, so they are just left to tell her how much they adore her through the screen. She sweetly babbles to them and sends them back on their way.

I never bore of seeing their relationships blossom.

I was recently reminded that there was a time in Scripture that the sun stood still. Boy, I wish I had that power!