rescue babies now

If you've followed our blog for any length of time, you already know that a few years ago we "adopted" a little girl, Nathaly, into our family through the child sponsorship program of Compassion International (see the link in the sidebar). Isn't she adorable?! It has been such a joyous experience for our family to establish a relationship with this sweet and amazing little girl in Ecuador. Over the years and on a regular basis, we have sent and received numerous letters, drawings, pictures and most of all, HOPE! :)

"And His name will be the hope of all the world." ~Matthew 12:21

We absolutely love that our boys are naturally learning that other people matter and that it's not all about us. In our culture, it's so easy to live in the sheltered and false reality that poverty is somebody else's problem to solve. As Jesus-followers, it's ours. These are not somebody else's children, they are ours. It's not their choice to live like this, it's ours. And so we choose...

We choose to love. We choose to invest, in Jesus' kingdom, a mere $38 a month to give a child hope in Jesus' name! We are blessed so that we can be a blessing to others. Think about it. Pray about it. And if you feel led to, sponsor a child.

We cannot say enough about all the wonderful initiatives that Compassion International is responsible for beginning, really, it's quite astonishing. The child sponsorship program at Compassion hosts children beginning at age 3, BUT the reality is that many children never make it to their 3rd birthday. Heartbreaking. Please, please watch this...

Did you let that sink in? Please allow that sink in. Will you consider joining us in supporting the Child Survival Program? It's simply $20 a month. Priceless. Your support is a demonstration of Christ's compassion for people. All people. We are specifically giving each month to the Jaramijo Child Survival Program (also in Ecuador) as it is a ministry of a church that will be planted by RiverTree Christian Church in cooperation with Compassion.

For more information, visit

www.rescuebabiesnow.org

canaan

we watched canaan a couple weeks ago while kim & josh went to dinner for josh's birthday. the boys loved playing with him and thought it was so neat that he would reach out and grab a toy from them! of course, andrew had to take some pictures too...i thought this was such a cute one!!

snowy days...

Here are a few pictures from a couple weeks ago when we had a big snow and ice storm. We had so much fun being "stranded" at home together and tried to keep busy playing outside in the snow...

...and we had to get a little creative too with some fun indoor activities including balloon rockets and some art-time!

bath time fun

personalities

We adore this picture because it's so very representative of their uniquely different personalities:

Hudson - calm confidence, cool, collected, cautious, shy and reserved.

Greyson - silly, outspoken, outgoing, loud, excited and demands attention.

Love this picture, love these boys! :)

Thank you, Lord, for making [them] so wonderfully complex, your workmanship is marvelous! (Psalm 139:14)

a new look...

There are always so many exciting things going on at RiverTree and the updated website has lots of new information and features. The media tab is a great resource that allows you to keep up to date with the latest weekend gatherings (audio or video), even from afar! It's been a year now that we've been going through the book of Matthew and it's been incredibly life-changing! Click on the links (in this post or on the sidebar) to visit the new site site and get a glimpse into how God is using the people of RiverTree to transform lives, communities and the world. Awesome, awesome!

snow day

snow + anxious, energy-filled boys + sleds + great backyard hill = SNOW DAY FUN!

CHECK OUT our family snow day fun! :)

toy story

This past weekend, we had a wonderful time going to Cleveland with the whole family to see Toy Story on Ice! Hudson and Greyson absolutely LOVE Toy Story and they were so excited when we surprised them with going to the show. It was spectacular and definitely a fun time!

Although we ended up taking more videos than pictures, here are a few to share with you:

CLICK HERE to see some pictures of the show!

bowling

On New Year's Eve, we took the boys bowling for the first time ever and we had a ball! Oh my goodness, it was so fun to see their faces light up when we walked in the door and when they realized where we were (mind you, they had only ever "been bowling" by playing the Wii). They thought it was the coolest thing! They loved the fancy shoes, grabbing the ball out of the return, and seeing their names up on the big screen. Both Hudson and Greyson insisted on carrying the ball all by themselves each time which was hilarious. So, so fun!

Be sure to CLICK HERE to check out some photos from our first bowling experience!

starbucks