A 3 Second Tour...

We finally took a little video of our house this morning. The video of our last house seemed like a three hour tour but our new home is more of a three second tour. Things are coming together and most of our stuff is unpacked. Our little house is already starting to feel like home.

Hope you enjoy the tour :)

Silly Siah

Siah has been saying the silliest stuff all day today and I just wanted to write a few things down.

He's still processing what it means to have Jesus in his heart so he asks me stuff all the time about Jesus. The other day he asked me, "Mom, does Jesus have Jesus in his heart? How can he have himself in his own heart?" I told him that that was a good question to ask Uncle Jason. :)

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Today in the car Halee was asking when she was gonna get to SEE Jesus. I told her that we don't get to actually see him we just have to believe that he is alive and well in our hearts. Then Siah pipes in with his curious mind, "Mom. If Jesus is in our heart, when we're walking, does he bounce around in there? I mean, our legs go up and down when we walk. So does Jesus go up and down in our hearts when we walk?"

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A few minutes later (conversation topics change quickly around here :), we were talking about rhyming words. I was telling the kids that rhyming words are words that END in same sound... like Boo/Moo or Sky/Pie. And Siah takes a stab at and says, "Like Chick/Dick?" And of course his extremely immature mother starts laughing with her out of control pregnant lady laugh. And Siah says, "Mom. What's so funny? Do those words not rhyme?" ... "No son, they rhyme just fine... It's just... out of all the rhyming words that you could have picked." :)

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I can imagine that years from now, I'm going to look back on these blog posts and wonder why I ever thought some of these things were even funny at all. But today, they made me laugh... and some made me laugh REALLY hard. :) I just love soaking up my little treasures and the things that they say. :)

Better Late Than Never

So, last Sunday... April 4, 2010 my precious Halee Jayden turned 4 years old!!!! I love to write my treasures a little note each year to remind them of what a gift their birthdays are to me and their Papa. I know I'm a little late this year but there have been just a few things going on this past week. :) Better late than never, right???

So here it goes...

My sweet little Hal is one of the absolute biggest blessings in my life! Seriously!

She is over the top joyful about most things. Most days, when I tell her what we're having for dinner (even if I know it's not her favorite thing) she almost always responds with, "MMMM! I LOVE that Mom! That's my favorite!!"

She is by far the most polite little girl ever. She rarely forgets to ask me for things by saying, "May I please..." And she thanks me for everything all the time. It really blesses my heart. I usually thank her back for being so thankful. :)

She's got a sweet, tender spirit about her. The other night we had company over and I was correcting her gently (there is never a need to speak in a harsh way to Hal. She feels guilty the moment you start to correct her) about something that she had done at the table. And all of a sudden her little lip started to quiver and tears started to fall down her face and she just kept repeating, "I'm sorry mom. I'm so sorry mom." I just hugged her and said, "It's okay. You just need to make it right with Jodi because you were rude to her." She made it right then sat in my lap for some time before she felt secure enough in herself again to get up and go play with the other kids. I have a feeling she gets that ultra sensitive side from her Mama. :)

She's definitely the most obedient little one in the Clark house. When I call her to come, she nearly always responds with, "Coming Mommy"... as she prances down the hallway towards me.

She loves to sing at the top of her lungs. Some of my favorites are when she sings Jesus Loves Me and The Bear Necessities (from the Jungle Book movie.) You should listen to her try to pronounce the word necessities... It just might be one of the cutest things that you ever hear!!

She's still the girliest of girly girls. She still loves pink EVERYTHING... And princess EVERYTHING. It's so fun for this Mommy heart. I love when she asks me to paint her fingers and toes. I love when her face lights up and she starts jumping up and down because of a new dress that she got or new "princess" shoes, or whatever. She's overflowing with joy and I love it!!!

This girl is a real treasure! And I'm blessed beyond words that the Lord has allowed her to be MY treasure!!!

A most HAPPY HAPPY Birthday to you my sweet little girl!!!!! Man, how I love you!!!!

Here's a few pictures from her birthday morning. :) You should have seen her face when she heard that all that pink princess stuff sitting on the floor was just for her!!! I wish I would have captured it on film!

A New Kind of Paradise

We never made it out into the snow the other day because by the time we got ourselves together enough to go outside, the snow had already melted. I have a feeling that that's the way it's gonna be around these here parts... Because today... was ABSOLUTELY gorgeous!!!! The kids spent most of the day playing outside.

All this wide-open space is so new to them. We came from living on a blind corner in a neighborhood where every spare inch was taken up with houses, where the kids had very distinct boundaries as to where they could play. Out here... on the other hand... There is sooo much space. I tried encouraging Siah to ride his bike all over the dirt fields in front of our house. He would ride on them but he would only go a short distance and then turn around and come back. They just aren't used to such expansive boundaries! I know they'll get the hang of it soon.

They had the best time just exploring the marsh, climbing in and out of the trailer that now sit on the side of our house, and finding sticks and rocks, and the like. At one point Siah came to me while I was sitting on the back porch watching them play and said, "Mama, where's Halee? I've just gotta show her this AMAZING stick I found." It made me laugh. He was fascinated by a stick... a STICK. :)

It was another glorious day in the country though. While we were riding bikes the kids saw several horses galloping by. We took a long dirt road to dinner tonight to a pizza place called Fargos, where the waitresses are all dressed in old-fashioned western dresses. And when we got home we saw a gorgeous deer standing about ten feet from our back porch. Not to mention that the sunsets here over the mountains are beyond beautiful. I might even be able to say that they are better than CA sunsets on the ocean. :)

It was just another blessing of a day...

Here are a few pictures of our fun...

Siah is getting soo good on his two-wheeler. He's not afraid to try new things on it and I love watching his confidence and even his pride in himself as he rides super fast and goes up and hills, though the dirt, and off the curbs.

Hal was having a good old time as well...

Poor little Reesie woke up from her nap with a little fever so she pretty much sat in my lap most of the afternoon... but we managed to get some smiles out of her too. :)

All the kids venturing out into the great wide open.

Hal trying out her scooter on the dirt.

Hal's been doing this goofy smile every time I ask her if I can take her picture... Oh well... she's still adorable. :)

I just loved this picture of Hal and her Papa.

Siah on his bike again.

Joey pulled out the mini bike and all the kids crowded around him and took turns riding on it with him.

Reesie and The Mama.

Hal's turn to ride with Papa.

And this is the deer that we saw in our backyard. I took the picture through our sliding glass door so it's not as clear as I was hoping for.

I already love the mini adventures that my treasures are finding themselves on. This place... the town... the back yard... the open plains... our home... It really is blessing this Mommy-heart of mine. :)

Good Morning!!!!

We woke up this morning to our first snow. The kids were thrilled. They keep asking if they can go outside and build snowman and throw snow balls. But quite frankly The Mama has no interest what-so-ever in stepping out into that freezing cold air. I'm sure I'll give in later on today and bundle myself and our many small treasures up and conquer the snow, simply because that's what Mama's do. :) When they all look up at me with those big beautiful eyes and ask me in the kindest of words "Mama, can you please take us in the snow?"... I can't help but give in. :) So maybe... just maybe... we'll have pictures of us playing in the snow this afternoon.

But for now, here are a few pictures of our backyard...

And... A "Happy First Snow Day" breakfast for my treasures. (Don't be to impressed... those pancakes came straight out of a frozen box. :)

Shocked At Being Content

I know that I have been a major slacker on posting since we moved in last Thursday. But we have finally settled in a little bit around here and I hope to take some video soon of our new "Little house on the prairie", as Adam calls it. And quite frankly his description is pretty accurate. From our front porch we have a beautiful view of the mountains... but from our back porch... well... we might as well of moved to Kansas.

It's pretty. But it's windy, there are tumble weeds flying everywhere. It's flat plains for as far as the eye can see. There is a Super Walmart down the street which is nice. And almost everything else is within a 15 minute's drive.

Although there have been a lot of adjustments in moving to Colorado, truth be told, I am totally shocked by the peace and joy that I have felt since I've been here. My thought is that it must simply be the Holy Spirit at work in my heart and life. Because, trust me, I could NEVER muster this kind of peace up on my own. The circumstances surrounding this move probably seem crazy to most... moving across the country to a city that I have never actually been too, with three small children, while 24 weeks pregnant with a forth treasure, all while trusting the Lord to provide a roof over our head and food for our table... not to mention health insurance and a doctor for this pregnancy, along with a doctor for our kiddos. Not much about this move seems completely logical... And yet everything about it thus far has been so right.

There are countless details that the Lord has so intricately taken care of along this journey. He has left no stone unturned. Nothing has been too minor that the Lord has ceased to care. In CA, when people would ask why we were moving to Colorado I usually responded with a truly confused, "I don't know." But as time has passed and things here are starting to unfold I feel like there are lots of reasons why we moved here.

Six years ago when we lost our twins the Lord used that time in my life to grow this tremendous trust and respect for Joey in our marriage. And now, this journey to CO has increased my trust in Joey once more. I feel like our marriage is in a great place, which is actually kind of odd to me because when Joey asked me to move out here I felt like he was asking me to give up all my security, which initially made me feel angry and scared. Why on earth would I want to move so far away from family, some of the most amazingly godly friends that I have ever had, and an incredible church family, right before I am due to have our forth child, to a place where he doesn't technically have a consistent income? But the thing is, there is nothing secure about this earth. No matter where Joey and I go or what we do, I should never be so foolish as to think that my circumstances, my friends, my family, or even my Joey could ever be the source of my security. The Lord alone is my security. He is the only thing in my life that has never changed and that never will change. He's the true definition of what it means to be steadfast. He's good on His promises and he promises that he will NEVER leave me or forsake me. And if that's the case, then I can be confident that He'll be with me whether or not I am in CA or CO.

In the past two weeks God has provided every last penny that we have needed to make this move without going into an ounce of debt. He has provided the perfect, cozy little home for our family right next door to some of our greatest friends in the whole world. He has provided a church body who have made us feel like family without even really knowing us very well. This morning in less than two hours, He provided a doctor for me for this pregnancy and health coverage for me and the kids that is incredibly affordable for our family. He has even provided friendship even though we have only been here for six days. We have everything we need and so much more.

It was my sweet Hal's birthday on Easter Sunday and even though we were hundreds of miles away from close friends, she was showered with love everywhere we went. We took her to donuts in the morning like we do every year for each kid on their birthday. Then we went to my precious friend Brooke's house who lives in Denver and they sang to her not once, but twice and we had cupcakes (that I had made that were so horrible that each kid took a bite and then politely said they were done. Then my sweet, very honest Siah whispered in my ear, "Mom, those cupcakes are really bad. I don't wanna eat anymore thank you." :) Then we went to Tara's Dad's house and there she got gifts and they sang to her again.

Like I said, the Lord has blessed us in every detail.

But... Things are not perfect out here. Our house has a lot of annoying little things that need to be fixed. I miss the comforts of knowing how to get around without having to use the map feature on my phone. It's cold and windy and I miss the gorgeous summer days that pop up even in the middle of winter in San DIego. But in the midst of the not-so-perfect, I truly feel content.

I'm looking forward to what God has for me here. I pray that our marriage, our parenting, and most importantly, our love relationship with our Savior will be so genuine and so real that those whom we get to know while here in the Springs would see God's glory through our lives. No matter where we are or what we're doing, Lord, may you receive glory and honor and praise through the way that the Clark family lives their lives.

Looking forward to Your plan for the rest of my life. :)

The view from our front porch

This is the front of our house (left) and the Peek's house (right).

Moving day was a lovely adventure... Seriously! Some folks from the church that we're going to be a part of came over and helped us unload the entire truck in less than an hour. It was hard but somehow I managed to not lift a single box all morning... instead I stood in the garage eating donuts and telling the boys where to put all our stuff. (Like I said... it was hard work on my part. :)

Unpacking has been slow with all our treasures walking around... every few minutes I find myself taking a break to break up a quarrel, wipe a bum, make a meal for the fam, get a snack for myself (then they see me eating and then they want a snack too, of course. :)

We had a HUGE wind storm come in on move-in day. It was so strong that as we were sitting in the living room we kept watching pieces of our roof fly off into the marsh behind our house. There have been a lot of little things that we keep finding that don't work around the house, but the builders here are over the top kind and they are coming this morning to fix our list of to-do's.

The people here are beyond kind. On our first night here one of Adam's friends showed up with meals for our family. Him and his wife gave us the low-down on the city of Colorado Springs... places we could go, things we could do with the kids, a mom's group that I could join, a community center that the kids could take classes at. They gave us their phone numbers and a key to their house in case we ever needed anything and they weren't home.

It was great first day here in the Springs. :)

Here's The view from our front porch... I don't know how to make my camera capture the magnificence of this view. It's nothing like where we just came from but I truly love it.

More soon...