Those EYES!

I am undoubtedly biased, but I think she is just beautiful.

The big 3-0 for the big guy.

May is a fun month in our household as both Lyle and I have birthdays.

This year was significant as it was Lyle's 30th (he's finally catching up to me, ha!)

I took him away to the sunshine coast, (1.5 hrs north of Brisbane) for a few nights without the children (HUGE shout out to my folks, thank you, thank you, thank you!)

We had a delightful time away, eating out, sleeping in (sleeping all the way through the night too, what a treat!) walking on the beach, looking at cows on the hill without having to say "kids look at the cows! wow...mooooo, can you say mooooo?", and best of all just reconnecting with each other. OH, and having starbucks.

One unfortunate occurrence was completely forgetting the camera! But here's some snaps I was able to get on my phone.

These flowers were scattered along some the hill sides as we drove through Montville and Maleny. They are weeds (of course) but nonetheless delighted us no end. It was a stunning surprise turning a corner on a  windy road to see a wall of yellow.

One of the lookouts we enjoyed

(that we would ordinarily ignore on account of having the children in the car)

When we were in New York, Lyle received a starbucks with "Sly" as his name, we figured being in a foreign country that can happen, but now I'm . . .Elise?

The B&B we stayed in was beautiful. It's only been open for 18 months as a B&B and from the guest book, they seem to be doing well. I loved it so much (the fireplace probably sealed the deal) that I want a sitting room in my house just like the one at the B&B!

These are some goodies from the tea tray (that was always refilled despite our best attempts to clean it all out)

 One corner of the lounge. It was so cosy!

The Beach! (taken from the "Loo with a view" at Mooloolaba)

Lyle, thank you for spending a few days with me for your 30th birthday. *smile*

I love you. xo

Mummy the hairdresser

From thisto this

And this

to this

So, I'm sure there's a part of every girl that always wanted to be a hairdresser. I just didn't expect my children to be the unsuspecting targets of my inner calling. I must say though, Emma's hair actually looks great! I think it's years of my observing my hairdresser cutting my hair that did the trick as Emma's hair is exactly like mine. I think (if this is even possible) that it's doubled her cuteness factor.

Williams hair is questionable, but he's much more wiggly than Emma and the only this distracting him at the time was a toothbrush. But a the very least he can see whilst walking. Rather a necessity for a 17 month old boy.

Dancing Queen

We have a new CD in our house. It's an album by Trip Lee called The Good Life and it. is. a. mazing! We're absolutely loving it and play it all the time. Both the kids start jiving as soon as we play music and we love sharing music with them that encourages our hearts towards God.

Happy Birthday Dad

Late last year looking towards dad's birthday I tried to come up with a list of "70 things we like about dad". I didn't get there. Not because it isn't possible, rather it's due to a lack of creativity on my part!

So, even though we didn't reach 70, we did get a few thoughts down.

I won't mention how old dad is but there are quite a few who say he doesn't look his age, or even say . . .70.

Here's the list:

1.     I like his skinny legs

2.     He gives me money

3.     I like his laugh

4.     I like that he’s handsome

5.     If you touch his eyebrows he’ll yell “You can kill someone by doing that”

6.     He counts in German (kind of...but not really)

7.     He mows my lawn

8.     He washes my car

9.     He provided me with a car for him to wash

10. He’s very generous

11. I like horsey rides from him

12. I like his optimism

13. I like that he’s a ballroom dancer

14. I like that he serves . . .everyone

15. I like that he is gentle

16. I like that he wears a suit and tie to church in 30oC+ heat

17. I like that he thinks Rowan Atkinson is the funniest man alive

18. I like that his love for his family is very evident

19. I like that he see’s me with rose coloured glasses

20. I like that he is kind

21. I like that loves reading Gods word

22. I like that God loved him first and saved him

We had dinner here on Friday night (the 13th was his birthday), here are some snaps from our 'do'.

Will found Grandpa's shoes

 Horsey rides

 Finn was helping Grandpa blow out the candle, but Grandpa beat him...competitive much?

 This is my brother, sis-in-law with Macca and our Grandma (or "Old Grandma" as Emma says)

What a difference a day makes (or a lot of days)

Today - April 17, 2012

 Today - April 17, 2010 two years ago

William's Toys

Watching Daddy mow the lawn

Bedtime Supplies

Teddy, blankie and a dummy. Life is good.

Art Class

Friday mornings find us at a local toy shop that offers art classes to toddlers.

This coat, with a zipper down the middle was styled ever so delicately by my darling girl. It was based on a literary masterpiece about two rabbit friends who were playing with and hiding in a red coat.

a funny sign

This is on a seat at the DC zoo...

My husband . . .

is wonderful. In case you haven't met him, he's really, truly a great guy. Last night at home group we were discussing sundays sermon which was mentioning the roles of husband and wives.
Submission is a hard thing for a wife to do. I must say I do get annoyed when a pastor apologises before preaching on it. It's God's word! Preach it unashamedly - besides if you do it right women won't have anything to be offended over...Aaaaanyway...the fact still remains, because we are fallen, sinful creatures, submission is a challenge. I noticed even this week, Lyle asked me something and I had a bad attitude about it. in actual fact I was merely being unsubmissive to his wisdom - simple proof this week that it is a hard thing to submit.

Back to homegroup. He responded to a question or two about the roles of husbands and wives and I was so encouraged by his humility and wisdom in his speech. I was joyful, because listening to him sharing with other believers I was privileged to think to myself "I get to be married to this guy!" I'm thankful to the Lord for blessing me with my husband. He's pretty wonderful.

A Good Day

I had a really (mostly) pleasant day with my little girl today. It was such a sweet blessing and a great encouragement. She's quite an emotional creature (can't imagine where she gets it from . . .errrr . . .like mother like daughter? ahem. yes. probably), but today she had some real 'wins'. She showed some excellent self control over her emotions (I was so shocked I was left almost speechless), she responded well to correction, mostly played well with William and at one point she even reminded me of the gospel at a point when I truly needed it. Now she didn't do all these things consistently all day, but nonetheless, it was a joyful day for me to witness the Lord's faithfulness and kindness to our family and to my daughter.

I do want to share her reminding me of the gospel.

At one point I was helping her and she was taking FOR-E-VER (she's a 3 year old girl . . .I shouldn't expect any more!), she obviously could see my impatient face and asked "Are you being kind?" to which I replied, "No, actually I'm being impatient. It's not good." She immediately responded with

"It is good. Jesus died on the cross to forgive your sin and God loves you. And God loves Emma and God loves William."

It was the most precious quote from her mouth in the three years of her life so far. I was super encouraged in that moment, firstly, I was encouraged to be reminded that my sin is forgiven in Christ, secondly that we actually have been teaching her truth (it's so easy to know your inadequacy in raising your children!), and thirdly that she is learning and understanding it in context!

I think I subliminally have high hopes for tomorrow, but if it all goes haywire and we end up a screaming tantrum over apple juice, I can at least remember today . . .and thank God that He is faithful and true. Despite my circumstances!

this photo was taken by the lovely Sarah of Ampersand photography in D.C. - http://ampersandphoto.com/

I love him

Summer days

It's been HOT! Not a fun adjustment coming from DC winter, but we are living in a house with air conditioning and certainly putting it to good use.

Now that we have the internet up and running I can start posting more family pics...

Emma being three for the first time!

 My incredibly cheap decoration

(yes, singular, as in, "I'm such a bad mum I made one decoration for my daughters birthday" ha!)

 Emma with her cousin Finn and the Hungry Little Caterpillar cake.

The face was squashed against the lid, but thankfully I was able to sort of drag it back into something like a caterpillar face.

Swimming with Daddy after eating some caterpillar.

I've discovered a great and cheap way to entertain the kids on these hot days - a bowl and some ice.

 Apparently it's really funny....

 They've been asking for ice ever since. It's sweet because they will sit together and giggle. I love watching their friendship develop.

Happy 3rd Birthday Emma Grace!

Sunday was Emma's 3rd birthday. Undoubtedly the most traumatic so far . . .she was excited to go into Granny's Sunday School class (my mum teaches the 3/4 year olds) and poor Emma was so overwhelmed. I stayed for a while at her request then snuck out, only to be called back again shortly afterwards by one of the other teachers. I was glad to have the privilege of watching her in her first SS class.

She was practically skipping (not that she can actually skip yet, she does more of a  dainty horse-trot) along with Lyle to the car afterwards telling him about Zacchaeus being up the tree. I think she called him the 'little man' which is fair enough, I had to google how to spell him.

My parents very kindly purchased a bike for our princess (and we bought the helmet, ha!)

We celebrated with Emma's cousins at my parents house (we were thankful for the pool on a hideously hot day). I made some cupcakes and a round cake and turned them into the Hungry Little Caterpillar.

Afterwards we had a swim and in the end we had a very tired, and very happy 3 year old girl.

Martin Luther Quote

Taken from The Gospel Coalition blog yesterday:

In fact, Luther's translation would be so influential and widespread that German humanist Johann Cochlaeus pretentiously complained that,

Luther's New Testament was so much multiplied and spread by printers that even tailors and shoemakers, yea, even women and ignorant persons who had accepted this new Lutheran gospel, and could read a little German, studied it with the greatest avidity as the fountain of all truth. Some committed it to memory, and carried it about in their bosom. In a few months such people deemed themselves so learned that they were not ashamed to dispute about faith and the gospel not only with Catholic laymen, but even with priests and monks and doctors of divinity.

Update

All is well with the Wetherston's.

We have moved into our new house - which is great. The kids are sick - much less great. Random fact: William is allergic to Emma's antibiotic so I feel slightly paranoid whenever I prepare to dose them up multiple times a day!

Our house feels massive in comparison to our little 2 bedroom apartment in DC. It's such a sweet blessing from the Lord. Emma woke this morning in a terrified state to the 'monkeys' disguised as Kookaburra's greeting the morning sun just before 5am (oh summer . . .) and managed to find her way to our bed for a couple of hours. Yesterday it was 3am as she was just plain terrified being yet again in a new environment. I suppose the 5am was more pleasant than the 3am. William is thankfully oblivious but unfortunately his middle ear is in cahoots with Emma, waking him up all through the night on and off.
Aside from the size of our new place I am blessed with it being built all at the same time. A lot of the houses in these areas are Queenslanders (google it, they're beautiful!) built many moons ago and it's near impossible to find one that hasn't been renovated in some way - perhaps something to do with those once fashionable outside toilets?! This house has continuity. I think mentally and emotionally I need that after the past year filled with so much transition.

As of right now we still have bits and pieces to acquire, but we certainly have enough to live. Somehow Emma is the only one without any furniture (she's sleeping on a borrowed mattress) in her room. Golly, now I'm going to start analysing her terrified state of being blaming a lack of secure surroundings in her immediate vicinity . . .(kidding).

I'm sure pictures will make their way up here again soon and I can continue to brag about how darn cute my beautiful children are. Thanks for you prayers friends! The Lord has been answering them.

Uncle Dean in LA

We've been in LA since Wednesday and are due to leave tonight.

We've had heaps of fun staying with our friends. We don't seem to have any pictures yet, but Abby (who is almost 4) and Emma have become great mates and it's been a joy to watch them interact. I'm sure I'll have a pic or two to post soon.

One photo I do have is us with Uncle Dean who we saw on Saturday. It was great fun for him to see the kids and how much they've grown.

Family Photo Shoot!

We had family photos taken by the adorable Sarah Danaher of Ampersand Photography.

This is her website (can't resist a plug)

http://www.ampersandphotoblog.com/

and here is the one photo I've seen so far!

http://twitpic.com/89n2u5/full

Sarah is a dear girl we go to church with, who is also a photographer. I have been wanting some for a while and it's great that it has come at just the right time - D.C., in front of the capitol building in winter. Furthermore William is at a stage where he's able to comprehend what's going on and look in the right direction at the right time! I look forward to having a canvas print of one of the photos on a wall in our home wherever we are - it will serve as a sweet reminder of our very special and unique time here in Washington D.C.. Interesting side note, it was about 4 degrees the day we had these done. I'm so thankful that the children coped so well!!