Dear Heavenly Father,

You are my provider, able to do more than I can ask or imagine.  You forgive me when I mess up and love me with a great love.  You are my helper, my refuge and my comforter.  You show kindness to me each day and You are faithful to walk beside me always.  

God this morning we wake up and realize it has been 8 years since our girl left this world.  Eight years since I held her and heard her voice.  However, I acknowledge that you ended her earthly suffering, her life of doctor's appointments, medicines, and couch laying.  You brought her into your presence...which I can't even imagine.  

You have time and time again shown me that her short 1061 days was meant for a great purpose.  As much as I would have loved more time with her, You did what You did for a reason.  I miss her giggle, jokes about her hair, her munchies and how much she loved her daddy!  But you have continued to provide such peace to us.  

You continue to assure us and allow us to see changes in those around us that You Jesus have orchestrated because of Ellie's life.  You have moved people to create an amazing organization, Ellie's Elves, that helps so many families in need and shines Your light to others. You have moved my parents to serve others in Your name, through a food pantry.  Through that food pantry, You brought my dad to church where he's found You.  You spurred us on to do something for Ellie's birthday.  Which turned into 120 Hope Boxes, then 400, then 600, then 1000, then 1600!  To think all those kids have heard about Jesus, because of what you did with Ellie's life.  You have changed my job and brought me back to the community that walked with us through Ellie's life.  You allow me to serve the families now, that served us.  You have given my children an understanding of life and grief that allows them to understand others so much better.  You have allowed our sweet friend to walk her grief with her trust in You, because she's seen us do it before.  You are amazing.  

Thank you for allowing me to see all of this.  For giving me assurance that Ellie's death, was not the end of her life. For reminding me that EVERYTHING that happens in our lives is part of an intricate plan that we can't even imagine.  

You are mighty, You are all knowing, and I will continue to praise You in all things. 

In your Son Jesus' name I pray, Amen.

A sweet friend gifted us this beautiful painting.  The comfort this brings my heart is indescribable. Here we all are together in one picture, with the One who made this all possible!

Prayers, Praise and Pink

~ Carly

Kids in the Kitchen!

 Summer is winding down! We are getting lazy, a little stuck in our ways and a little too used to Momma being home and doing all the things! My kids are typically great eaters!  However lately, there has been a lot of "I don't like this" and "I didn't want this" and my favorite from Stori, "you need to make me some good food"!  Umm...who are you people and where did my kids go? 

Once I found myself in the middle of the epic "there are kids that have nothing to eat! They have to dig through dumpsters to find food and drink from dirty water" speech, I knew something had to change.  After my flesh calmed down, because I surely just wanted to holler "you ungrateful people!" I began trying to figure out what I could do to help my momma heart out and to teach them a little something. 

I thought back to a conversation with a friend who has everyone in her family pick out one meal a week and tell her all the ingredients she needs to buy.  I figured we could give it a shot!  I dread planning a menu, so now I have assigned the kids two nights a week. SG and Lu get one night and Noah and Stori get another night. Their job is to find a recipe, tell me what I need to get, and cook their meal that night. 

I really was hoping this would give the kids some sense of responsibility and maybe just a little appreciation for the people who make their food!  

So here is night number one, Lu and SG.  The girls decided one would choose dinner and one would choose dessert.  Lu choose to make Mini Lasagnas and salad. She was pretty excited about all the cheese!

We had to use egg roll wrappers instead of wonton wraps...and she may have been a little heavy handed on the cooking spray, but she did it!

And our salads were so delicious!

Bonus, SG decided to make ice cream and cool whip for desert!  I splurged with the brand name ice cream and it was oh so yummy!  I can't say this will solve all our meal problems, but it sure was sweet to watch them contribute to the family.  To see them learn how to find meals and prep.  It was a struggle for control freak mommy to not intervene when I knew all those lasagnas were going to have "soggy bottoms" (to quote our favorite British Baking Show), but the pride they had in doing it themselves was worth it!

We may be eating some interesting meals in the future - I've heard some of the ideas, but I'm willing to give it a shot if it helps the way we all treat one another and reminds us of just how blessed we are...SG has since prayed for the "kids who have to dig through the trash for their food" (at least she was listening to me!)

We'd love to know if you have any easy kid recipes to share!

Prayers, Praise and Pink

~Carly