strawberry picking

we went strawberry picking with friends this week. its my new favorite thing! yesterday i made homemade strawberry jam (a little over a half gallon worth) and we still have a gallon left for eating! yum.

 

 

e.t. helped by holding the bucket for me...then it got too heavy.

 

 

and then she realized she could EAT the strawberries...

 

 

after that she was no help!

 

 

i love my strawberry eating monster!

"singing"

mother's day 2013

 

 

 

 

a testament of the church

emma taylor had her surgery on friday. there has been no other day that i have felt and seen that the church is not an establishment or a building but rather of group of people, of believers. i have felt God's love so tangibly through these people and it encourages me. i had countless phone calls and texts wanting to know how emma taylor was doing and how they could pray, countless messages offering any help i needed, and dinner brought to my house so i wouldn't have to worry about it. i was even surprised when the surgeon asked if he could pray with me before the surgery. sometimes i can be so hardened and critical towards the south because it seems to be part of the culture to go to church, but that morning i really needed that prayer from the doctor. praise the Lord for answered prayers!

update on emma taylor: she did well and was fussy and upset most of the day... as to be expected. she now seems to be much of her normal self besides her appetite but hopefully that will come back soon. she is on 2 antibiotics to help keep infection away so please pray that they will. if something were to come up though the doctor said it would be around day 4 or 5 so we are not out of the woods yet.

this girl

...loves water and loves sand (or sam as she calls it). i think she is ready for the beach this summer...and so is this mama. there's nothing cuter than little girls with little pigtails wearing little swimsuits!

 

{cheese}

 

 

{our permanent water/sand play hairstyle}

 

playing dress up

emma taylor has gotten into dressing up. as we don't have a lot of dress up clothes she tends to choose the same thing to put on every day. she loves putting on her skirt and insists on doing it herself. today she added a tye dye cape that i cut for her out of an old tee shirt. she is so cute...especially when she helps with the chores all dressed up!

 

 

this friday

we went to see an ENT about 2 weeks ago for emma taylor's ears and for her status of being a strep carrier. she still had fluid in her ears 2 months after her last ear infection! luckily it hasn't affected her hearing and language skills...I think she is actually ahead in that area. so per the doctor's recommendation she is getting tubes put in her ears to drain the fluid and also getting her adenoids taken out at the same time. apparently adenoids can harbor that strep bacteria. we are hoping to eliminate her carrier state. please pray for her--that she wouldn't react badly to the anesthesia and that the procedure will go just as planned. please pray for us as even though it is a very common surgery she is still our baby and it is very nerve racking.