Adventures in Our Home & Hearts: Celebrating 9 Years & 3 Years ~ June 2015

Giving God Glory & What's on the Harrisons' Hearts

Celebrating 9 years of marriage... ~

Let your fountain be blessed, rejoice in the wife of your youth. Proverbs 5:18

We feel very blessed to celebrate 9 years together! Marriage can be something easily taken for granted, even though it is precious, delicate, and something to be continually invested in and cherished. So, we rejoice greatly in celebrating another year of the Lord growing us in continuing to daily pursue each other and actively seek to not allow ourselves to drift apart in the midst of this full season of caring for and investing in our young children.

...and 3 years with Josiah ~

I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; wonderful are Your works...

And in Your book were written the days that were ordained for me... Psalm 139:14, 16

We know the Lord has a specific number of days ordained for each of our sons, which could be many days or few, so we are grateful for each day and year the Lord blesses us with them. It was a joy to celebrate another year the Lord has given us with Josiah!

Praises & Prayers

Friend - Praise for a friend's family member having the opportunity to share the gospel with someone while in the waiting area during their father-in-law's time in the hospital, due to him having a brain tumor. Praise that all of the family experienced God's mercy and goodness in the midst of the Lord calling him home to heaven, since he trusted in Jesus Christ for salvation.

Tami - Continued prayers for the Lord to give my dad and other loved ones His perspective and that God would heal Tami, but ultimately that His will would be done. Prayer of Galatians 5:22-23 that the fruit of the Spirit would abound in Dad's & Tami's lives during this trial. Also, prayer of James 1:5 for wisdom with this trial.

Wes - Praise for the Lord giving Wes grace to throw Josiah's birthday party when I was sick ~ Wes said it was easy to be Mr. Mom for a day after doing it for 3 weeks during my recovery from my C-Section with Samuel. ;) Please continue to pray for the Lord to give Wes wisdom, grace, and strength as he seeks to be faithful in his roles at home, work, and in ministry (James 1:5).
Christina - Praise for the Lord teaching me (in a variety of ways) to slow down, especially in the midst of our fast-paced culture. Please pray for me to be obedient to what the Lord has been teaching me about slowing down and to continue to grow in walking in the Spirit (Ephesians 5:15-17).
Noah - God would graciously save him at a young age and lead him to walk with the Lord all of his days, if that be the Lord's will. Continued praise for the Lord growing Noah in loving his brothers, especially Josiah since Noah can sometimes get irritated with him and provoke him. I asked Noah what he would like loved ones to pray for him - "That I would grow more and more in my love for Jesus as I get older."

Josiah - God would graciously save him at a young age and lead him to walk with the Lord all of his days, if that be the Lord's will. Praise for the Lord helping Josiah to communicate more often with his words rather than screaming when he doesn't like something. Please continue to pray for the Lord to grow Josiah in using his words to communicate (Psalm 19:14).

Samuel - God would graciously save him at a young age and lead him to walk with the Lord all of his days, if that be the Lord's will. Praise that Samuel's painful gas phase seems to have passed! Also, praise for no major prayer requests for Samuel presently. :)

Marriage Memories

Celebrating the Lord blessing us with 9 years of marriage!

We enjoyed a delicious dinner at Marigold's. Yum!

Flowers from my Love

Family Fun

Father's Day

Wes wanted to enjoy some cool fun with the hot summer sun and high temps, so we got some ice cream and then watched Noah and Josiah play in some water fountains. :)

Noah was "all-in" right away * Josiah running away ;) * Josiah getting braver & dipping his head in

Wes encouraged Josiah to run through all the fountains, and he did it! * Cheesin' :)

Mommy & son snuggles in the shade

1st Circus

Wes took Noah & Josiah to their 1st circus

Daddy & sons

Their favorite part was the tigers.

Mommy-Son Date

Josiah & I went shopping at Wal-mart for all his birthday party goodies * Samuel joined us & did great (pretty much slept in his carseat in the cart the whole time)

Noah News

Age - 6 years old

Cute Communication

*Noah - "Do you know what I want to be when I grow up?"

Me - "What?"

Noah - "Artist"

*We had some friends who offered to watch our boys so we could go out on a date for our anniversary. They told us that they couldn't figure out what the name of our other dog (Dozer) was and that they kept asking Noah to tell them but couldn't understand what name Noah was saying. Then they asked Noah to spell it. Noah sat for 5 minutes and finally said, "I can't. All I know is that it starts with a D." ;)

*Noah - "Daddy, you're stronger than Mommy."

Wes - "How do you know?"

Noah - "You have a bigger bike...pause...and bigger muscles." :)

Latest Likes

Playing outside with neighborhood friends

Hypothetical lego battling with Daddy

Manual labor!!!

Noah's head-stand on the couch

Apparently, climbing trees & rollerskating are not enough for Noah... He likes to step-it-up by hanging upside down in the tree & dribbling while rollerskating. ;)

*Video ~ Noah's creativity and also perseverance with dribbling a basketball while rollerblading. ;)

Josiah Joys

Age - 3 years old!!!

3 Years Old Stats:

Weight - 32.8 lbs. 32%

Height - 36.7 in. 33%

Cute Communication

*Josiah got to join the 3 through 6-year-olds at the YMCA with turning 3. On his first day in the large gym while bouncing in the bounce house, he excitedly proclaimed, "I'm a big boy now!"

* "I am so much hungry."

*I realized one day while Josiah was napping that he was talking in his sleep! Who knew? ;) He was saying something about Noah.

Latest Likes

Waterballoons

Legos

Feeling like a 'big boy' ~ going out with Daddy & Noah

1st time on his strider bike at our church's BBQ & Bikes * Cruising like a champ in our neighborhood

Cute cheesy smile :) * All ready for his 3-year-old check-up

*Video - Josiah's somersault :)

Samuel Sentiments

Age - 3 Months

1sts - squealing, sleeping through our night (9 hours) - and he even did it mutiple nights in a row!, razzin', Bumbo

Latest Likes

Smiling, cooing babbling, interacting

Sticking out his tongue ;)

Movement ~ swaying/snuggling, carseat in stroller or car

1st time in the Bumbo

Sweet boy * Getting bigger

Getting stronger & lifting his head higher

Trying to roll over!

*Samuel smiling & squealing at Mommy...melts my heart! :)

Bro Bonding

Hanging out with Samuel during tummy time

Noah holding Samuel :)

Josiah & Samuel snuggling * Giving kisses ~ Check out Samuel's expressions ;)

Racing around the yard & patio

Mr. Competitive * Mr. Hanging-Out-&-Having-Fun

Blanket wrestling...who knew there was such a thing?!? ;)

Shooting marbles together

Homeschool Highlights

Summer Mode! ~ We continued homeschooling but switched into summer mode, which =

continuing the basics ~ Reading, Writing, & Math ~ but with less work
more P.E. & time playing outside, especially with neighborhood boys being out of school
more Arts & Crafts
monthly nature hikes

Science

Preparing & planting our garden ~ Working hard to till the dirt

Digging the hole & patting until it's just right

Black Forest Nature Hike ~ I didn't take the photo quick enough and got the back of the kids hiking.

The kids waiting patiently for us adults ;) * Samuel is a great little hiker!

Tree climbing ~ Noah * Jacob

Noah, Jacob, & Xavier shooting hoops at our friend's home after our hike

Snake Hunting!!! ~ The first snake of the summer!

Fearless Noah * Josiah dropped the snake immediately... I'm with you, Josiah! ;)

Reading :)

Life Skills

Josiah helping set the table

Helping & playing with laundry ;)

We fit! (I made sure they never shut the door while inside.)

P.E.

Biking boys

Jacob, Caleb, Josh, A.J., Noah, & Xavier

Playing football

Dylan, Noah, & Xavier

Jumping in the bounce house at the YMCA

Josiah was SO excited since he got to move up with Noah to the 3 through 6-year-olds group since he turned 3.

Arts & Crafts

Noah making different kind of lines with string & glue * Josiah was proud to use glue all by himself!

Sidewalk chalk painting

More painting

Memorable Moment of the Month

We thank the Lord for blessing us with 3 years of life with our affectionate, laid-back, funny, empathetic, and friendly son!

On Josiah's birthday, the first thing he wanted to do was open his gifts. * B-ball hoop

*Sidenote ~ After opening gifts, my stomach became very upset and expressed it in a variety of ways. :/ So unfortunately, I spent the rest of the day in our bedroom and bathroom being sick and nursing Samuel, while trying to keep him from getting sick. :( Wes did an excellent job (and greatly appreciates our neighbors who helped too) throwing Josiah's birthday party!!!