A Family Affair

For our anniversary this year we celebrated it together as a family. We had a BLAST! We had the best fish-n-chips EVER & went bowling with our children. Here are some funny photos of our fun night.

Yummy fish-n-chips!

Luke is clapping every time someone bowls!

Hope has "fabulous" form!

Abbie bowls a good game!

Papa did great after he warmed up!

Luke thought this was great!

Celebrating Our 15th Anniversary

Fifteen years ago today we entered into our marriage covenant between God & us. It has been an amazing time. God has seen us through so many seasons on this journey of marriage. We have so much to be thankful for. As two young adults we entered into the most serious commitment you can enter into ~ marriage.

We have, in a sense, grown up together. We are a true testimony of God's grace in two messed up lives. Left to our own, we are a recipe for disaster, but left in His hands, our lives are a portrait of grace. It is an unfinished portrait ~ at that. We can't wait to see what the Lord will do in the next 15+ years of our marriage as we seek to glorify Him!

One of the best quotes we have heard on marriage is ~ "A good marriage is the union of two good forgivers". This is so very true. Some of the best moments in our marriage are when we extend the grace the other person needs. We pray we continue to grow in grace & love on this journey of marriage.


Ecclesiastes 4:12b
"A cord of three strands (Jesus & us) is not quickly torn apart."

Happy Thanksgiving in April

Last week we received a wonderful frozen turkey from a sweet neighbor that was moving. We could have had turkey for DAYS with our little family or have a Thanksgiving meal in April! We have so much to be thankful for. We enjoyed celebrating Thanksgiving in April with Liz's folks, our sweet neighbor Terry, and Bob our buddy.


A table full of thankfulness & fellowship!

Hopie ~ relaxing on Bob & watching Papa play wii tennis.

Give Thanks to the Lord, for He Is Good
Psalms 106:1 (ESV)
Praise the Lord!
Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever!

Cowboy

This cowboy is the bottom part of a coffee table.

Luke got a kick out of him.

Hey, are you sleeping??? ~ Luke is trying to lift up his hat.

Luke has found a new buddy!

You can't say that yet!

Our beloved Luke is almost 2! Can you believe that??? His Mama can't believe that. I believe I am in denial that he is getting so big. He is doing well at keeping up with the Abshire Clan. He is trying to communicate with us. He doesn't talk except for "Mama", which he says with 6 different inflections depending on the need. We have all figured out these inflections and meet his needs. So, yeah, why learn to talk!!!! Papa cannot wait to hear his name from Luke's lips and has been trying to get him to say it. I keep telling him, "Luke is an Asbhire. Once he starts talking, Honey, there will be no stopping him! He, too, will fight for air time at the supper table!" Aaron knows this because we have seen it with the girls.

Well last week I was sitting at my desk doing paperwork when I heard Luke trying to say something. He was getting louder and pointing, trying to make me understand. I could clearly understand what he was saying ~ "orse"! He is pointing at my calendar of horses and yelling "ORSE"! It sounds exactly like horse minus the "H". I was so excited! It would be a natural word for him being that he hears Mama say, "Let's go feed the horse" twice a day, everyday. After the initial excitement wore off I thought, Papa may not be as excited about this as I am. What Papa would want their child saying "orse" before Papa? But Aaron was happy and not surprised.

Since that time Luke has said "Pa" clearly referring to his Papa, and Aaron is tickled!

Easter 2009

Luke 24:6 "He is not here, but He has risen."

We stand in awe at the cross and the work Jesus did there. Thank you Jesus! We are thankful for an empty tomb and a risen Savior.

The Abshires hope you had an Easter filled with the hope that our risen Lord & Savior brings!

We had a fun day of celebrating the resurrection with friends and family. The children had a visit from the Easter bunny.

Abbie had set out cookies and carrots for the Easter Bunny and a note that thanked him for sharing Jesus' love with other children. They found Easter eggs in the back yard and loved it. Easter service was filled with worship and fellowship that blessed our hearts.

Jesus has risen and lives today.

We also spent the rest of the day with Liz's family.

At the end of the day, Mama laid with Abbie, as she was going to sleep, and asked, "What was your favorite part of today Sweetheart?" Abbie's response brought tears to Mama's eyes. She replied, "When I lined up my Build-A-Bears and shared Jesus with them and they all asked Him to come live in their hearts."

That is the hope of Easter and she gets it! Thank you Jesus!

Abbie's Slumber Party

Last night was Abbie's BIG slumber party. She has been very excited for this party since February. She is a planner! The night was to consist of pizza, making sundaes, movies, & peanut butter popcorn. It was very fun. All the girls had a great time. Papa & I played a different role at this party then we ever have. The only title that kept coming to my mind was a "concierge". We were there to help with anything but otherwise we were not needed. It is kinda sad. Music was blasting from the girl's bedroom and ten girls were jumping around & dancing. They all crashed out around 10:30. It was everything Abbie had hoped for. She has said several times since the party how much fun she had. Our Princess turned 9! That is crazy. Here are some shots from the big event.

A Day of Celebrating ~ Aaron's Birthday

For Aaron’s birthday Rob took him surfing for the first time. To which Aaron has decided that the beach would be a perfect place IF it had grass & FRESH water. He thinks God made a mistake in that part of creation. We’ll let him take that up with the Maker! After surfing, Rob took him to play 18 holes of golf. Nine in the sun and nine in the rain! Aaron shares his birthday with Abigail. That being noted, he hasn’t had his own birthday celebration in about 9 years. So I decided to have a birthday supper for him with a few of our close friends. Rob & I arranged for them to arrive at the house around supper time. Aaron was pleasantly surprised with his friends being here to greet him. His first question though was, “Where are the children?” I realized later that, yeah, there are 15 children between us and that would beg the question!
The menu for his special birthday was his absolute favorite supper:
Oven Fried Chicken
Mashed Potatoes
White Corn
Fiesta Salad
Sour Cream Cheesecake
& Kool-aid

Amy puts her artists skills to the test! She did good!

Abshires, Bloemhofs x2, & Cobbs

Aaron had fun playing wii with his buddies.

Happy Birthday to My Man!

My dashing husband is celebrating his birthday today. I wanted to take this opportunity to share 37 things about him:

1) He is a lover of Jesus!
2) He loves Johnny Bench - even if he is the "Best Pitcher Ever"
3) Family is everything to him.
4) His favorite meal is fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and white corn - cooked by his Bride!
5) He was a wrestler in high school and still loves to wrestle with kids.
6) He LOVES Kool-aid!
7) He loves making pizzas and does it well - see Pizza Nights
8) He loves baseball games.
9) Bob Marley ROCKS!!!!!
10) Looks fabulous in brown or red
11) He can legally break into your home
12) He is a man of integrity – what you see is what you get!
13) His favorite view is his “front porch lookin’ in”
14) Teachers didn’t appreciate his communication skills when he was young, and many still don’t
15) Honest!
16) Square danced at the ’84 Olympics at Dodger Stadium
17) Surfed today for the first time in his life, with Rob!
18) Thinks he is his Mom’s favorite–she has no favorites! Sorry Honey!
19) Grows a beard for his Bride in the winter time – it grows out red.
20) Shares his birthday with his oldest daughter, Abigail.
21) Collects guns (note to future dates of his daughters)
22) He HAS to talk things out.
23) UFC Junkie – is there a support group for this???
24) He is disgustingly good at wii
25) Likes to hug & kiss the “old” ladies at church (some of the young ones too)
26) Has a very distinct cough….especially if he has had a lot of milk to drink
27) Competitive
28) Used himself as a human conduit with 210 voltage ~ don’t try this at home!
29) Loyal…too a fault almost
30) When he grows his hair out, it hurts (physically)
31) Has had counseling sessions with a bat & a tree stump – the tree stump won!
32) Likes to water ski
33) Has always wanting to sky drive – good luck with that one Babe!
34) Is a QUICK learner
35) He has excellent work ethic
36) Prefers the mountains over the beach
37) He is our Hero!

We hope you had a wonderful birthday Sweetheart! We love you!

Temptation at a two year old level

Mama was making egg cupcakes for tomorrow and letting them cool. She came into the kitchen to find one mischievous looking boy trying to explain why he took a bite out of one of the eggs

(all with no words just grunts).

He is so lucky he is so stinkin' cute!!!

Time to Celebrate!

The birthday celebrations have begun here at the Abshire home front. Sunday was our family birthday party for Papa & Abbie. Mama tried to get out of this one but Abbie would have no part of that. Abbie is having a slumber party with 13 girls on Friday so Mama thought she wouldn’t notice not having a “family” birthday party. Then the questions started! “Mama, when will my family be coming?” Hmmm, well, we weren’t planning a family party with your slumber party happening. Yeah, her face said it all. Mama kicked it into high gear and pulled together the family together for a party. It was a fun day of celebrating two of our favorite people.