glorious one

we're singing this song at church this weekend (so it's been playing a lot in our house this week) and we've been captivated by the lyrics. they are so simple, yet awesome!  it is a reminder that we are so unbelievably privileged to be loved so personally by such a great God.  He is the light of the world and we are called to be that light too!  it's called "glorious one" by steve fee.  you can take a listen to song by playing the video below.

Matthew 5:14 - 15

¹⁴ “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. 

John 8:12

¹² Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”

Ephesians 4:4

⁴ For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future.

color or black and white?

snapped these photos while we were playing in the backyard this afternoon.  it's always those "spur-of-the-moment" shots that turn out to be the best.  one problem...can't decide which is better - color or black and white?  leave us a comment and tell us what you think!! :-)      

HUDSON

GREYSON

easter celebrations

hi everyone!  hope you had a blessed holiday!  we had a wonderful holiday with our friends and family and the boys loved going on 3 easter egg hunts!  first, we celebrated with our THRIVE group and it was SO much fun!  we are blessed so have such dear friends and all the children really enjoyed playing with each other...and especially on the nintendo wii!  then, we ventured over for the snavely celebration.  we had a blast hunting for some more eggs and spending time together.  finally, we celebrated with the smith family.  we ate a delicious meal, the kids learned about the real easter story (thanks to aunt darby) through doing "resurrection eggs" and then another egg hunt followed.  needless to say, we have a whole lot of candy in our house!  it was wonderful and we have lots of picture to share!  below are a few of our favs, but CLICK HERE to see them all!

  

   

 

no greater love...

we've been saving this song to share with you until this glorious day. take a listen, the words are incredible!  there is no greater love than this...

At the cross I bow my knee

Where Your blood was shed for me

There's no greater love than this

You have overcome the grave

Your glory fills the highest place

What can separate me now

You tore the veil

You made a way

When You said that it is done

Happy Easter!

another birthday boy & pictures

happy 3rd birthday, hudson!  we love you!  

***

these are the latest photos we've taken of the boys.  we decided to forgo going to a "professional" photographer and andrew did these shots at home.  we've yet to get a really good one of them together, but hopefully we'll get one soon. 

we've been keeping very busy around here and we have TONS of pictures to share with you.  it's been a long time since our last photo update so be sure to CLICK HERE and check out all the latest pics of our family.  

results

hello everyone!  just wanted to let you know that we received the results from hudson's EEG and everything came back completely normal. praise God!  thank you so much for all the prayers, emails and phone calls.  it really means a lot to us and gave us great comfort knowing that so many people were praying!  God is awesome! 

1 Chronicles 16:34

 ³⁴ Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good!

      His faithful love endures forever

although the blinking continues, it has subsided a lot.  it still happens daily, but not nearly as much as it was occurring before.   it's amazing of all the stories people have shared with us about their kids who have gone through similar situations.  it most cases and in researching about it, it seems as though sometimes kids get "tics" that last for a few/several months as a results of a stressful situation that causes anxiety.  when he was sick, he received a large dose of medication injected into his legs and it was very traumatic for him and it was immediately after that when this all started.  we're praying that this will be the case for hudson too.  at the end of the day, we're just so thankful for hudson and know that it's all in God's hands.  he brings joy to our hearts and has filled our lives with rich blessings!  we'll keep you all posted on further updates!

EEG

as many of you know and have been faithfully praying for, we had to take hudson in to have another eeg done.  he had one about a year ago after he had a seizure (and all the results came back clear...AMEN!).  ever since hudson was sick a few weeks ago he's been blinking rapidly and sporadically daily so the doctor wanted to take the precaution to have another one done. he was, again, an AMAZING little trooper and did wonderfully.  God made his presence known there today (as He always does), but even more so today as the events unfolded. so here's what happened. 

throughout the past days we've had many dear friends and family members email us with encouraging notes and scripture references. they were awesome (truly God-breathed) and greatly appreciated! 

Philippians 4:6-7

 ⁶ Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. ⁷ Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

Psalm 138:8

 ⁸ The Lord will work out his plans for my life—
      for your faithful love, O Lord, endures forever.

so we arrive, everything's good and low and behold, the 3 nurses that work in hospital in the EEG/EKG unit go to RiverTree!!!  they immediately recognized us and it was like a breath of fresh air.  but wait, it gets better...

when we first got in the room, hudson was a little uneasy (and sleep-deprived like they're supposed to be for the test) and they asked if he liked music.  ummm...if you know anything about hudson, you know that he absolutely LOVES music!  they said they'd see what they could find.  so a few minutes later they come back in the room with a stereo and none other than our dear friend julie's CD.  if you don't know, julie has been the worship leader at RiverTree and andrew has been singing with her for nearly 10 years on the team.  oh my goodness, we were dumbfounded.  i mean, really, could God be any more great!?!  hudson immediately calmed down and was perfect for the rest of the test (not to mention, the music was quite lovely too)! he played with toys, read books with us and listened to, in his words, "church music".  

  

of course you know we can't go anywhere without the camera! :-)

at the end of it all, the sweet nurse-technician gave hudson $5.00 and told him to have a very happy birthday (his b-day is in a couple weeks).   then finally we were all done and ready for a special treat!

we'll keep you all posted, but again, we can't thank you enough for all your love, prayers and support!  here's one more verse to leave you with:

1 Corinthians 12:6

God works through different people in different ways, but it is the same God who achieves His purpose through them all.

birthday boy

today is greyson's first birthday and since the "big party" isn't for a few weeks, we celebrated at home with a special treat!  here are a few snapshots. 

 he wasn't afraid to start digging in right away!

hudson loved the little celebration and the extra treat too!

masterpieces

lately, hudson's favorite activity is to create masterpieces.  he has a craft box full of odds-and-ends and will sit there for hours (literally!) and create pictures "for mommy, daddy and greyson".  it's so awesome to see his creative side coming out and to us, what he creates are priceless works of art.  

here's what our dining room walls look like.  he's SO proud of his work!

oh, and of course we had a spectator, too! :-)

it would only be appropriate to share with you one of our favorite verses.  take a minute and let it sink in...

"For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago." ~Ephesians 2:10

mini picture update...

we are finally all back to good health after 6 weeks of sickness.  yes, that's right - at least one (or more) of us had been sick for the past month and a half.  crazy!  needless to say, we've not really taken a whole lot of pictures over that time (believe me, you wouldn't have wanted to see that) which is highly unlike us.  here are a few highlights though.  

you know you live in ohio when you have weather like this, believe it or not, just several weeks ago...

we somehow began the routine of drinking hot chocolate after playing the the snow.

greyson is always happy and lovin' life.  the smile gets you every time! 

as soon as the temps get warmer, out we go and boys LOVE it!  we love the sunshine!