MJ & Lil G: January

Madeleine (19 months) & Gracen (1 month) welcomed 2011 by hanging out at Nani & Popi's house and then going to bed around 8pm. As I think back, I don't remember that much. I do know that Tim was working that night and I was probably getting up to nurse every 3 hours or so. At this point in time, late May, I can't remember what happened in January, so I will let the pictures do the talking.

Gracen November 1 month:

in the monkey towel sent from Christina & Walter:

chubbbbs:

dada love is mutual:

she is gorgeous, but if I didn't carry her, I would think she isn't my baby- so white! She looks So much like Tim's dad to me (but if his dad was a really cute baby girl):

sisters:

Madeleine couldn't be a better big sister, her sweetness persists into toddlerdom:

Dada, Squishy & Goo:

Madeleine grew some seeds in cotton in CBS class, the grass was getting long & scraggly- I was also getting tired of having it on my windowsill. So, we took a picture and tossed it. I know, as moms we want to save everything our kids make (I've started boxes for each girl) but at some point, you just gotta take a picture and move on:

reading in pink jammies on Mam & Dada's bed is so fun:

unlike Madeleine, who I tried to keep from messing up her mouth, I helped Gracen find her thumb early on to self-soothe- she just wouldn't take a pacifier (nothing to keep clean anyway):

I've got to catch up again before I get too far behind. I don't know how all you super-mommies blog so much more frequently, but good for you =)

Love, Lauren ♥

A favorite quote

“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.” -John Muir

Lent: a time of rememberance

The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones & illustrated by Jago

In my heart, I am bursting with excitement that the season of Lent is here. Wednesday marks the start of the mourning season. It is a time of somber reflection on sin and a practice in sacrificing in order to reflect the Lord's life. Sound depressing? Hardly! It's only sad when you stop with sin. It's only bitter if you don't know the end. It won't be sensical unless you know, in your heart, that this was God's perfect will:

To rescue His beloved children by choosing to crush His Only Son in our place, that we might be reconciled to God.

It was God who killed Jesus. It was He who poured all His wrath onto His only Son. Now, we can stand, in Christ, before the throne of Adonai and say "I love You!"

Isaiah 53:1-11:

¹Who has believed our message?
And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
²For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot,
And like a root out of parched ground;
He has no stately form or majesty
That we should look upon Him,
Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.
³He was despised and forsaken of men,
A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
And like one from whom men hide their face
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
⁴Surely our griefs He Himself bore,
And our sorrows He carried;
Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten of God, and afflicted.
⁵But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
And by His scourging we are healed.
⁶All of us like sheep have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all
To fall on Him.
⁷He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He did not open His mouth;
Like a lamb that is led to slaughter,
And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers,
So He did not open His mouth.
⁸By oppression and judgment He was taken away;
And as for His generation, who considered
That He was cut off out of the land of the living
For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due?
⁹His grave was assigned with wicked men,
Yet He was with a rich man in His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.
¹⁰But the LORD was pleased
To crush Him, putting Him to grief;
If He would render Himself as a guilt offering,
He will see His offspring,
He will prolong His days,
And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.
¹¹As a result of the anguish of His soul,
He will see it and be satisfied;
By His knowledge the Righteous One,
My Servant, will justify the many,
As He will bear their iniquities.
¹²Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great,
And He will divide the booty with the strong;
Because He poured out Himself to death,
And was numbered with the transgressors;
Yet He Himself bore the sin of many,
And interceded for the transgressors. (NASB)

So, starting Wednesday, I will daily remember the person and life of Jesus Christ. I will choose to deny myself for 40 days in order to remember Christ. I join in Lent, not because I have to, but because I want to. Not because I think it will make me holy; I can't be any holier than I already am, not that I am sinless and ONLY BECAUSE I am found in my perfect Savior of Jesus Christ. I join in Lent because I want to daily remember who Jesus was, is and what he will be:

Philippians 2:6-11...although [Christ] existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, ⁷ but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. ⁸Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. ⁹ For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, ¹⁰so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (NASB)

Do you know Jesus? Do you call him LORD? If you do, thank Him right now for adopting you as His child.

If you don't know Jesus, what are you waiting for? Get to know Him, don't write him off before He's even said "Hello." The record of His life and deeds and desires is in His word. It's called the gospel and it means "Good News" It's the best news you could ever hear! Meet Jesus for a cup of coffee and a convo, start in the written record of John or Matthew.

He's waiting to reveal Himself to you and to call you his beloved if you believe on Him for salvation.

Love, Lauren ♥

MJ & Lil G: December

We barely had time to recover from November before December came whirling in. Madeleine turned 18 months old. Here she is wearing a hat that her Nani made for her. Notice the gorilla, we could hardly get her to hold still for a photo!

My first-born beauty:

Tim still had time off for Gracen (notice the sexy beard) so we went to the Wild Animal Park:

We loaded our double BOB with so much stuff, I thought the storage hammock underneath might scrape. Two diaper bags, three blankets, the baby Bjorn, a purse, three water bottles, a camera bag and lunches for all! Traveling with kids is so far removed from our light backpacking days where every ounce counted.

Tim has taken Madeleine a few times, but they have never been out to the Africa area, so that is where we went. We had a really great view of the lions this time.

Madeleine points out the lion lazing on the truck:

On the tram-ride, we got to see the new Black rhino baby. I love rhinos; I think they are cute:

Mads & Mama swing and play while looking for Meerkats, another animal favorite:

Unfortunately, we could not afford to hire Tracy Dodson, the fabulous photographer that did Madeleine's portraits, so I just set up my fuzzy blanket and snapped some shots, trying to get one that would be good enough for the birth announcement.

I think it's easy to get a good shot when you have such a beautiful subject:

This is Gracen at one month; look at those DIMPLES:

Sisters:

I never had a sister growing up, but I can tell that these girls are going to be best friends. Madeleine loves her little sister. She greets her every morning with a kiss and gently plays or pats her. She shares dolls and toys with her "bah-bah Dace".
Gracen sleeps in our room, just arms reach from me, in case she needs to eat. During her first month, she slept wonderfully. It's hard to remember where she was at, but I know that by 6 weeks, she was sleeping 6 hours through the night. She even wakes up cooing sometimes.

She's amazing:

More sister play and love:

Tim graciously cut his beard into a fu-man-chu for me. I love facial hair, but Tim can't keep a beard with work. Boo. Gracen loves to stare and smile at Tim!

With the whole "nursing-all-the-time" schedule, Tim really helped decorate for Christmas this year. He put the tree together and strung all the lights. I handed him and Mads ornaments and they hung them. He even brought home a wreath from Trader Joes and decorated it with red and gold balls and some ribbons he picked up. He and Madeleine took many trips to Walmart while I stayed at home to nurse and rest with Grace.

We also got our family Christmas card picture done. This isn't the one we chose, but I like it because Madeleine is really laughing at our antics.

We always forget, but Knott's Berry Farm offers free entry for Firefighters during the holiday season. We were able to take our family for free, and our extended family joined in for a discounted rate. We wanted to see how Madeleine would do at an amusement park.

Tim, Mads, Nani, Popi, Uncle Jared and Grammi:

I nursed Gracen while the family took her on the train ride at Camp Snoopy:

Dada took her on the car ride and she liked it. When Mama went to take her on it again, she didn't like it anymore. Hmmmmm...

We went on the train ride through the mountain (of which I had no recollection) and it kinda got a little dark and loud and scary:

That's how we got this face:

Tim and I also got to ride a few fast rides. Ghost Rider was very fun!:

Mads also received a huge Hello Kitty balloon from my dad and she loved watching it follow us throughout the park.

Our tuckered out baby girl:

Back at home, we enjoyed cool days and rain and a general coziness in the house during the holidays.

Sometimes, Madeleine entertained herself:

Sometimes, Gracen entertained herself:

But most of the time, Mama or Dada entertained the girls:

Tim actually got to be home for Christmas! What a blessing; the last two years he has worked on Christmas day. Since we have both the Valencia and Bergon families in town, we celebrated on Christmas Eve with my parents

Madeleine's second Christmas:

Gracen's first!:

My Dad's special treat with Madeleine is to take her to see the horses. They live on the edge of Meadowview, and their neighbors have about 6 or 7 horses. MJ loves to visit them, so my dad just had to give her a pony for Christmas.

It was pure joy:

We opened presents, had a wonderful meal and enjoyed relaxing with my family. The next morning, we went over to Tim's parents to open presents with them. We snapped a few shots before the festivities began.

Tim & Lauren Bergon; Kim Lord; Keith & Lori Trask; Gary & Cindy Bergon and all the grandkids:

The Bergons and their 8 grandchildren:

Auntie Kim always loves holding babies:

Gracie & Grammi

Madeleine probably showing us how a dog drinks water:

Gracen in the outfit Grammi got for her first Christmas:

The next day was Sunday (but we actually skipped church-gasp!!). Tim and I decided that because we had been so busy with extended family, we wanted to set aside the morning to be with just our family, have a leisurely breakfast and finish up celebrating Advent. We had a yummy breakfast, light our Advent wreath, and opened the girls' gifts.

We car MJ her "Cee Cee" car:

We made some cocoa, bundled up and went to the park:

It was a wonderful Christmas morning for our family:

We counted our blessings: beautiful, whole, healthy daughters; a fun and deepening marriage; a steady, secure job and cherished family and friends. We are truly blessed beyond anything we would ever deserve. Above all, God has lavished His Grace unending on us. If we boast in anything, it is in God's work to rescue the worst sinners we know: us. We pray that you find your life in Him, the one sent to Rescue us from ourselves.

Love, Lauren