The Moberg Family

Category: Family

  • Selah turns 12

    Selah turns 12

    Praise the Lord for getting to celebrate another year of our daughter’s life!

    Selah asked to have her closest friends over for a day and a sleepover this year, so we made it happen. Year after year I am overwhelmingly grateful for these precious friends God has gifted Selah with. They are just truly my favorites, and I couldn’t have thought to ask for more!

    I planned nothing other than food. Selah led it all. The girls pulled out all of our crafting supplies and went to work creating varies projects. I happened to be in the next room during this time and it blessed my heart to hear them singing hymns and an ancient Hebrew song in rounds in between giggling and laughing and crafting. Such a delight.

    Then they had a picnic on our dock, went on a UTV ride, and played games. We had homemade pizza and Caesar Salad for dinner. Selah requested homemade milkshakes for her dessert. The girls all spent the night though I am not sure they got any sleep (obviously). The next morning was Sunday so we had a feast of a breakfast and all headed off to church together!

    The day before she turned 12 she cut just over 12 inches off of her hair to donate.

    On her actual birthday, we celebrated with French Toast for breakfast and Chicken Alfredo for dinner. She took Grandpa, Daddy, and me on a UTV ride and spent the rest of the day playing games with Elliott, Grandma, and Grandpa.

    Perhaps the biggest milestone that occurred on this birthday was this:

    Selah has always been an inch or so behind Elliott each year. But at 12 years old, Selah is a quarter of an inch taller than Elliott was when he turned 12. You have no idea how victorious she feels over her big brother.

    Selah has been counting down the days until she turned 12 for one reason: so she could be old enough to work in our church nursery. 🙂 This is somewhat ironic because pretty much every mother in the church has wholeheartedly trusted Selah with her babies for years. Selah *ALWAYS* has a baby in arms on Sundays. She told me once that she has a specific rotation as soon as the service is over for how to get to every single baby. She first visits the ones whose families leave the soonest, and then she moves on to make sure she can hold each one before the day is over. It is surprising to NOT see Selah going through the potluck line with a plate in one hand and a baby on her hip. But, now she is allowed to officially be a nursery worker. She’s delighted.

    Selah is 2/3 of the way to 18! I am so grateful for the spunk, joy, and zeal that explodes out of our tenderhearted girl. Just as her name suggests, she truly sings her way through life, wafting the sweetest melody of Christ’s fragrance in her wake. She brings so much joy and love into our lives!!

    Happy Birthday, my darling girl!

  • Jaxon Drago

    September 23, 2023 brought a mourning into our lives that will stay with us all, in some form, until our last days. At times, the grief has felt almost too much to bear. We loved you so much, Jaxon.

    [above] all the cousins together on our property; [below] our last family photo
    the last photo we took with Jaxon and the last time we saw him, celebrating his birthday

    Jaxon was always making us laugh, and the last time we saw him was no different. Only Jaxon could read sentimental Hallmark birthday cards in such a theatrical way that had us all in stitches. He gave the best bear bugs, always had a pun on his tongue, and his wit brought a light-heartedness that juxtaposed his large frame. I am so glad we got to enjoy one of his band concerts recently. The cousin group will miss his hilarious contributions to the shows they put on together each year. From now on, family get-togethers will always have a void. Our lives will never be the same without him.

    Goodbye, Jaxon. We will always love you.

  • Elliott Epically Turns 12

    Elliott Epically Turns 12

    Well, my friends, we officially have a pre-teen for the first time ever. What a marvel to watch these little people on their journey towards adulthood, growing more in the grace of God and the image of Christ with each passing year!

    As I’ve mentioned in the past, Elliott has declared that the only thing he ever wants to do for the rest of his birthdays is have Epic Capture the Flag parties every single year. Each year it has become a bit more epic, and I will say this year was definitely the most epic year of all. I am not sure I can handle if his birthdays become any more epic, so perhaps this is the climax of epic-ness. (I know….unlikely…and that’s okay.)

    Elliott continues to be the child who, just like his mother, always wants to invite EV-ER-EEEE-BOD-Y. That “EV-ER-EEE-BOD-Y” was taken to a whole new level this year when 83 people came to his party. Yes, that was not a typo. EIGHTY-THREE persons graced our property on that chilly, yet perfectly gorgeous Colorado day. (Eighty-seven if you count parents who did not stay to hang out, but just dropped off/picked up.)

    We had over 50 kids playing Capture the Flag and it was, may I say, EPIC.

    We had a dozen or so more kids join after the group photo that was taken towards the beginning. Good thing we got smart this year and procured a megaphone for the big day!

    You can see them scattered about our property in the above picture. After a couple of games, everyone headed back to our back yard for lunch and ice cream.

    On his actual birthday, he got to open some thoughtful presents from his parents and grandparents. I just love watching my kids open presents. The expressiveness of their gratitude never ceases to delight my heart. I love how Selah’s expressiveness just magnifies Elliott’s.

    As a family, we celebrated with waffles the morning of his actual birthday, leftover croissant sandwiches from his party for lunch, and pulled pork BBQ and baked beans for dinner. And, obviously, mud pie for dessert!

    We have had those cone candles since he turned 3, and have used them almost every year since! Think they’ll last till he’s 18?

    Our “big” present to him this year was to allow him to foster a red-eared slider. She was in need of a home and our neighbors wondered if she would enjoy our pond. Elliott has long wanted a turtle to keep as a pet and so Brian and I decided to give it a shot, knowing that if it didn’t work out we could set her free in our pond. Elliott was over-the-moon.

    Meet Pickles, the giant red-eared slider.

    What we didn’t know when we agreed to take her was how HUGE she was. She would really need her own 50-75 gallon tank and you probably know that Elliott already has one of those filled with fish. Our house is not big enough for two 75-gallon tanks! So we enjoyed her presence for a couple months and then decided to set her free into our pond– a space we knew she would enjoy much more.

    It occurred to me that “twelve” marks being 2/3 of his way to 18. It’s just so hard to believe!! Look at this little guy at one year old, six years old and twelve years old. It’s just amazing to watch, as a parent, how your child can grow up and change SO MUCH and yet be EXACTLY THE SAME as you remember him as a baby. He has the same joy, the same smile, the same personality, and yet he has GROWN tremendously. A true and beautiful paradox of life.

    Happy birthday to our favorite Epic Elliott!

  • Selah and the Double Digits Day!

    *You probably noticed, but our website is officially UNDER CONSTRUCTION! Woo-hoo! So pardon our mess as we rebuild it, but for now at least you can finally read our blog clearly!!*

    Our big girl turned 10!

    We celebrated by having a PARTY! PARTY! More specifically, a DOUBLE DIGITS PARTY PARTY! This was really fun. I feel like there is so much more you could do with this theme than we had time for!

    This was a big year, and Selah made a big decision–to invite all of her closest church friends, rather than just one. What a treat!! What a joy!! So we started the PARTY PARTY around 5 pm on a Friday with pizza and salad. Yes, I know I’m the only one in the world who cares about making the food match the theme, but come on–that’s awesome, right? Get it? piZZA and sAlAd!! Double Z and double A!

    Next, she opened presents. She was so blessed!

    We got her a gift that kicked off the DOUBLE DIGITS PARTY PARTY games: Pass the Pigs. You guys. Have you ever played Pass the Pigs? As I was trying to come up with games that had a “double” theme, this one popped into my head. Where has this game been the last decade of my life? I know we used to play it…I have a memory of playing it in our home in Tacoma…but I had completely forgotten about it! I couldn’t remember much about it other than I remember laughing A LOT. So we got it for Selah with high expectations for the first official Double Digit game.

    And oh my, how these kiddos roared with laughter over these two little piggies! I also forgot how many gambling tendencies come out when playing the game so…oops! Man, it is hilarious. Enjoy it vicariously through these pictures. Notice how it starts off quite calm as they’re learning to play…and within just a few minutes, all calmness flies right out the window!

    NEXT, we had deSSert: Double Dice, Double Scoop Sundaes. This was probably the highlight of the whole thing. Everyone got two scoops of ice cream and two spoons. I came up with 10 different toppings that corresponded with the numbers 2-12. #10 was a free choice, in honor of our 10 year old.

    So, everyone took turns rolling the two dice. Then they got to put the topping of the number they rolled onto their ice cream! I think we went through three rounds and then I just let them all have free choice. That was a LOT of fun and a LOT of sugar! At least two asked me if they had to finish their ice cream, ha! #doublethedigitsdoublethesugar

    Of course, then they had to eat their sundaes with two spoons and two hands!

    At this point, it was pretty much time to wind down and go to sleep. This was Selah’s first multi-friend sleepover. And may I just take a moment to relish in and testify to God’s abundant grace over Selah’s life to provide these dear, dear girlfriends for her? This is a group of girls from ages 8 to almost 13. And they all LOVE each other dearly. There is no tearing down, no sassy talk, no cell phones, no worldliness. They all love the Lord and thus, love each other. There is just JOY and sweet fellowship and the love of Christ. WHAT A GIFT, not just for Selah, but for her mama who has prayed for this for so long. WHAT A GIFT.

    The girls got their beds and stuffies (who were, of course, also invited to the sleepover) all ready and spent a while crocheting and doing each other’s hair.

    I told the girls I would pray for them and then we’d turn out the lights. One of them responded with, “Can I pray, too?” And then another, “Me, too!” and “Me, too!!” So we all took turns praying and every one of them thanked God for Selah and her friendship and her life. WHAT A GIFT.

    We finished praying and then the girls said, “Would it be alright if we took turns singing hymns to each other before going to sleep?” Most likely a delay tactic but, come on–who would ever say, “No” to that request?!! WHAT A GIFT.

    We started out the next morning with a humongous breakfast. Shout out to Grandpa, without whom I never could have pulled it off. We had blueberry pancakes, homemade hash browns, sausage, bacon, scrambled eggs and orange juice.

    Two of the girls had to leave by 10 am so we really only had a short amount of time to play some double games. We started off with Double Doodle Art: in this game, each kid got a piece of paper and two markers. They each folded their paper in half to create a line of symmetry. Then, holding a marker in each hand, they had to draw a symmetrical picture. Every single one of them completed their first drawing and asked to do a second. It’s kind of addicting!

    Next, we played Blind Partner Draw. Each child drew a picture, only using basic shapes. So, for instance, if they wanted to draw a tree, they would need to draw a rectangle with a triangle on top. Then, their partner grabbed a blank sheet of paper and partner #1 had to describe his/her picture to partner #2. “Draw a rectangle in the middle of your page. Draw a triangle on top of that.” At the end, they compared their pictures to see how well their instructions worked! It was very fun.

    Then, we went outside to play a few classic games that require partners.

    First, the Balloon Head Race. Hold a balloon between yours and your partner’s head and race to the other side. The kids loved it.

    Second, the three-legged race. This is one of Selah’s favorite games. She’s always asking to play it as a family. I didn’t think through how to tie their legs together ahead of time (oops) and my last-minute grocery sack idea was a failure. But they had fun anyway!

    Third, we were planning to play cornhole (another of Selah’s favorite games) but it was 10 o’clock and two of the girls had to leave. However, the kids got to play cornhole with Grandma and Grandpa later that day, so we checked it off the list!

    The remaining three jumped on the trampoline and played until lunch, which was homemade Double Cheese Mac and Cheese and veGGies.

    The party favors were a pack of Doublemint Gum (obviously) and two pens.

    “Double the digits, Double the gum! Double the pens, Double the fun!”

    Oh, my darling double digit daughter! We love love you so so much. You are our joy joy. Happy happy double digit (birth) day!

  • Elliott Turns 11 and Our Blog Becomes Extinct

    It seems fitting that our blog would take its place among the dinosaurs the same year Elliott turned 11. If you’ll remember, we started this little bloggy blog when we were pregnant with Elliott, so just over 11 years ago. And 11 years in computer age is like ELEVEN HUNDRED years in human years. So, our theme (I think that’s what it’s called?!?) is officially EXTINCT. KAPUT. GONE. At rest with the dinos. I noticed in February that our blog was doing something weird…the font turned white which obviously made it hard to read. I figured Brian (aka, builder of the blog and technical support) just needed to push a couple buttons to restore it after an update or something. But alas, when he finally had the 5 minutes to sit down and look at it, he informed me that the change was a result of the fact that our theme was dead. DEAD! Rest in peace, dear lovely theme that faithfully stuck with us for 11 years.

    He tinkered with it for close to an hour, trying to get it legible again. The result is something that I would not call “aesthetically pleasing” but it works. It functions. It will do for now. Brian says we will have to start from ground zero and rebuild our blog with a new theme. That does not happen to be MY personal forte and he has approximately *ZERO* extra minutes right now to tend to this problem. So, for those of you who are truly faithful and willing to bear with us as I post a blog or two here and there with my extinct theme, you definitely fall under the category of “true friend/family member.”

    I will admit I thought about ending our blog’s life, rather than raising it from the dead, but I can’t bring myself to do it. This serves as the one and only scrapbook we will most likely ever have of our little lives, and I’m committed to making it through as long as there is life in these nimble typing fingers of mine.

    So that being said, I bring you the belated news of Elliott’s 11th birthday! His birthday was on a Sunday and he begged us to open one gift before church. We had just happened to get him a new bible for his birthday so we figured it would be very appropriate to let him open it before heading off. He was gifted a bible many years ago with a children’s version of text and he has been asking for one with an ESV translation, which is what we all use. We found him a perfect navy and light blue one and it will never cease to delight my heart that my children are OVER THE MOON when receiving a bible as a gift.

    His Washington Grandma and Grandpa arrived that afternoon and surprised us while at church! We celebrated together the next day with a special breakfast, dinner and, of course, mud pie.

    As far as celebrating with his friends, you may recognize this birthday theme and think I have simply reposted last year’s birthday party, but alas, it is indeed a new year. All this guy ever wants to do for his birthdays for the rest of his life is play Capture the Flag on our property. And come on, who wouldn’t?!?

    We gathered with around 50 people I think (I never got a full accurate count but that is a ballpark) to celebrate this big guy’s life. It was a blast and, unlike last year when it snowed the morning of the party, the weather was PERFECT. I know what you’re thinking–“said no one ever in Colorado”–but I’m telling you, it was. It was cloudy and around 70 degrees and LITTLE-TO-NO WIND. Not too hot, not too cold, cloud cover…it was awesome.

    Thanks to all of our loved ones who could come out and bless the depths of our son’s heart by joining him in yet another epic game of Capture the Flag!! Happy birthday to our mighty Elliott!!

  • Summer 2021

    FAMILY

    Can you spy the new member of the Moberg family?

    FRIENDS

    SURPRISES

    Letters from authors the kids had written, a shimmery purple-blue butterfly, two hot air balloon landings on our property one morning and a creature that we still can’t identify!

    PROJECTS

    Brian and Elliott rebuilt the crumbling concrete wall surrounding the drain to our lake. Selah even jumped in (quite literally) to help from time to time.

    COOKING

    Selah cooked many different meals this summer, but by far her favorite thing to do was make her own creations. She particularly enjoyed making dessert creations for us…imagine that :).

    MOWING and BUILDING

    Ummm, yes, that IS Elliott driving our 100 horse power tractor ALL.BY.HIMSELF. Thus begins the time when my 10 year old can do things I’ve never done. He also built a floor in our attic, so add that to the list!

    DEATH

    With GREAT HOPE for spending eternity with our friend…

    LIFE

    In case you couldn’t spot him in the Moberg family photo, meet the kids’ new cousin: baby Beckett!

    ADVENTURE

    DAHLIAS

    • All thanks to Uncle Joe!!!

    GRATITUDE

    And although I have no picture for this…I must document that this summer Elliott beat me AND Brian at ping-pong!! WHAT?!! He has come A LONG WAY since we got our table at Christmas. Way to go, Buddy!!

    So very thankful for the Summer of 2021!

  • Elliott and the double digits!

    Elliott and the double digits!

    Our mighty man turned TEN!

    Wow, we have seen the fruit of the Lord working mightily in our son the past few months. What a joy it is to watch him GROW UP, not just as a boy filled with zeal and joy and wisdom and wonder, but as a disciple of Jesus Christ. We have seen a lot of maturity in him these past few months leading up to the big double digits!!

    On his big day, he woke up to a blue balloon with the words, “Happy 10th Birthday, Elliott!” written on it. Inside was the following note:

    Dear Elliott, Happy 10th birthday!! We love you because God made you and you’re YOU. You will never earn more of our love by anything you do. We love you because you are YOU, period! But we wanted to share some of our favorite things about you and some of the many reasons we absolutely delight in you and are so thankful that God placed YOU in our family!! Love, Mommy, Daddy and Selah

    We then instructed him that he must find 10 other balloons in the house. We had all written out some of the things we love about Elliott and each hidden balloon contained one of those things.

    Elliott Brian Moberg, how do we love thee in all of thy joy, and wonder, and zeal for life?? Let us count the ways…

    1. You always love me so well! You play fun games with me and if you ever wake up before me you will wake me up and snuggle me! -Selah
    2. You are so generous with your Legos! -Selah
    3. You are playful! You wrestle and race with me! -Selah
    4. I love this about you: when you love something or someone, you love them with all of your heart! And when you love something, you love to share facts about it with everyone who listen! I have learned a lot of facts from you! -Mommy
    5. I love that you love to snuggle and can’t get enough mama kisses or “I love you’s”! -Mommy
    6. We are constantly amazed at how detail-oriented you are. One way this plays out is when you do a job, assignment, or chore, we can always count on you to do it excellently. For instance, I’m not sure if you’ve ever missed a day of flossing and if you’ve ever not brushed your teeth for exactly 2 minutes (timed, 30 seconds per section, of course!) Your school work is always frame-worthy because you do all of these things with your whole heart. -Mommy
    7. You are such a good and loyal friend. You are inclusive, welcoming and kind. You are sensitive to others’ needs. -Mommy
    8. I love how good you are at driving huge tractors all by yourself! I am grateful I can trust you with such grown-up things because you are trustworthy. -Daddy
    9. I love that you’re always bursting with energy to share your thoughts and ideas with people! You love telling stories and inviting everyone into your experiences with you. -Daddy
    10. I like that you love going on long trips with me because I love going on long trips with you! -Daddy
    We had waffles, whipped cream and strawberries for breakfast, per Elliott’s request! Good morning, birthday man!!
    Grandma and Grandpa Moberg were here visiting and Grampa and Nonna Mauss came over for lunch. Hooray for grandparents! Elliott opened some presents and we feasted and enjoyed mud pie! I’m not sure either of our kids are capable of doing anything half-hearted. This series of pictures just cracks me up. I love Selah’s expression in the second photo. Literally awe-struck at his gift! He had just opened a 2011 proof set of coins from his daddy and me. As the awe wears off and pure excitement builds in picture 3, he goes flying up and down, as you can see in picture 4. Picture 5 is Selah–in the air–because she literally cannot contain her excitement as Elliott opens the gift from her. Hmmm, I wonder which parent they got their expression from? 😉 I sure do love these two joy-filled kiddos!!
     Our kids are so blessed to have both sets of grandparents in their lives. I thank God often for that. I didn’t grow up knowing my grandparents and it’s hard to imagine Elliott and Selah not knowing each of our parents. So thankful for the blessing of their lives!
    And, you guys. Look at these two. Are you kidding me? They are such a gift to us. Growing in their love for each other with each passing year.
    Just like last year, Elliott pleaded with us to time our daily bible reading so that Brian would be reading to us at exactly 6:25 pm, since that is the moment he was born. (5:25 pm Pacific Time) Again, these pictures crack me up. They were taken at precisely 6:25. Brian just kept on reading, undeterred :). But no lack of enthusiasm on either of their parts!
    Also, I wanted to mention that Selah, in true Selah fashion, decided to buy a balloon animals instruction guide and learn how to make balloon animals so she could give everyone party favors–2 days before his birthday! And learn, she did! She made Elliott a turtle! It was her very first balloon animal! And then a personalized balloon animal for each grandparent and Brian and me. Grandma got a pink bear, Grandpa a white bunny, Grampa an airplane and Nonna a flower! Brian and I got some very special creations, which we decided to call Cacti :).
    We decided to take Elliott on a special 10th birthday trip. Brian took him skiing and they had a wonderful couple of days away together. He hadn’t been skiing since last year but he picked it up quite quickly again! The trip was wonderful, other than a horrible, no good, very bad sunburn. (Grrrr….)
    Now, as for celebrating with friends… Last year, all Elliott wanted to do was have friends over to play ultimate tag on our property. The Lord had different plans, but this year his dream came true. In fact, I suggested making the focus an epic game of Capture the Flag and that is what we did. Elliott really, really wanted to have his cousin Micah there for his party so we held off about a month until Micah and his family were in town visiting. We started out with Ultimate Tag in the back yard as families and kids trickled in, and then Brian led the kids out to the property to commence Capture the Flag. Can you see them out on our property in the bottom two pictures? Huddled up on the left and spread out all over on the right?
    You’ve probably heard me say it before but in Colorado it is risky to have a Spring birthday party. For Selah’s fall birthday, we usually end up having to come inside because it’s too hot, but for Elliott’s spring birthday, we usually end up having to come in due to blizzard conditions. I think I got tricked because we had had such gorgeous sunny, beautiful weather. I love you, Colorado, really, but could you follow the seasonal rules, please?? So, staying true to her nature, Colorado decided to snow that lovely spring morning of Elliott’s party. Thankfully, the snow melted before everyone arrived, but it was VERY cold. But the kids were troopers and were running around the whole time anyway so they didn’t ice over completely. We started a fire during lunch so they could thaw out a bit. And then, just to confuse everybody, we served ice cream for dessert :).
     
    And not only did he get Micah there, but ALL of his Moberg cousins!
     And now, let’s do a little flash back, shall we? This popped up on my phone, reminding me this was 10 years ago. I haven’t been able to stop laughing since. What was going on here??? Did I write a blog post about this?? I’m taking caption submissions….
    Far be it from me to not pull together a few other wonderful baby pictures from 10 years ago…
    Really though, have you ever met a child more captivating with his joy? How is it possible that his joy has grown in the last 10 years when we started with such a high bar?!!!!
    Now, come on…their heads are LITERALLY tilted at the EXACT same angle, TEN YEARS LATER. Who does that? How did he know??
    Elliott Brian, what JOY to watch you GROW UP these past 10 years! A decade!!! We are SO GRATEFUL to be your parents!! We thank God that he chose YOU to be our son. May the Lord continue to grow you into a man of honor, valor, strength and wisdom, who loves the Lord with all of his heart, mind, soul and strength. Happy birthday, mighty man!!

  • Selah’s Golden 8th Birthday

    Our sweet little girl turned 8 on the 8th…her golden birthday!! I’m so thankful that we could slow down and take the time to celebrate our girl. She is a constant source of laughter and joy in our home and I am so thankful for her!! She is still the little girl who doesn’t need another person to hold a conversation (she is perfectly content talking to herself), interrupts herself while she’s talking almost EVERY.SINGLE.TIME and cracks herself up more than anyone I know. The other day I asked her a simple question about what she and the other girls did at school and after 15 minutes of trying to answer this simple question but interrupting herself with rabbit trails and other stories I finally burst out with laughter, “Selah! Just finish your sentence!!” She paused and said, “Well it’s more like a paragraph than a sentence.” Oh my word…yes, yes, it is. More like a novel, really.

    She requested just having one friend come over for her birthday, her dear friend Aspen. And it’s a good thing that’s what she wanted because…Covid. She sees Aspen 3 times a week but it is never enough for these two girls. They are CONSTANTLY asking for sleepovers and extra play time. What a perfect day to make that happen!

    So when I asked Selah what she would like to DO for her birthday, the ideas ranged from ice skating, to “I want it to snow and build a snow fort and have a snow ball fight,” to make and shoot bow and arrows, to whittling wood. But the two things that she kept coming back to were a wood whittling party and a bow and arrow party. Because, Selah. That’s my dear, special girl!!

    She and Aspen have been making their own bow and arrows for weeks and it’s been really fun to watch their creativity and skill. So why not have an archery contest?! But then, of course, I started thinking about her golden birthday and how to incorporate that and it came to me: Selah’s Golden Olympic Birthday Games: Go for the gold! How fun, right?! I also just couldn’t resist doing something extra special for her golden birthday, so this year she woke up to a surprise on October 1st with a note explaining that she would have a surprise every day for the 8 days leading up to her birthday. That was fun :).

    Day 1: She woke up to new bedding on her bottom bunk! (The kids had shared a room and the bunk beds up until last Spring. But ever since Elliott moved out the extra bunk has just remained empty.)

    Day 2: Her cousin Taylor! She knew her grandparents were arriving on the 2nd, but she DIDN’T know that they were bringing Taylor! I told her she would find her surprise in the back seat of their car…as she opened the back door and began searching, Taylor popped out of hiding from beneath a pile of coats! It was awesome.

    Day 3: Brown paint! Selah and I finally got around to painting her room a few weeks ago and as we talked about what she wanted on her walls, she said she really wanted a family tree painted on her wall, with photos of her family (and friends) on each of the branches like leaves. Well, okay then! It was super special for her to have Taylor here to help draw and paint the tree (which we barely got finished before Taylor had to leave)!

    Day 4: A rug for her room! Many weeks ago she mentioned casually, “I would love to have a round, teal rug for my room.” Amazon made it happen :). That day, I told her she’d have to find her surprise and her reaction when she found it was priceless! She carried the rug around with her everywhere she went for the next several days, haha. She wrapped herself up in it like a blanket and dragged it through the house and slept underneath it. I think she likes it :).

    Day 5: Have you read “The Courage of Sarah Noble”? It’s a very short chapter book about an 8 year old little girl who learns to keep up her courage. The character reminds me of Selah in so many ways so we got her this book, encouraging her to keep up her courage in the Lord.

    Day 6: I had asked her several weeks ago if she’d like an “8” shirt sort of like the “7” shirt we got her last year. After looking through several puppy shirts (still in love with puppies) she came across this brown tulle skirt with puppy ears and a tail. And she was IN LOVE. She wanted a plain brown shirt to go with the skirt. Alrighty then, Selah B!!! So her favorite stuffed teddy bear was missing this particular morning but Selah found a note from her, explaining that she was playing hide and seek (which happens to be Selah’s favorite game). When Selah found Beary, she was dressed in Selah’s new puppy outfit. 😉

    Day 7: We decided to get her a “real” bow and arrow. We knew she would love it but we also figured it might be good to have a real one for the kids to use for the archery contest. See anything interesting about this picture below???

    Also, what should I do with this picture? Blow it up and frame it? I can’t get enough of it. I have entitled it, “Target Practice.”

    Day 8: For her golden 8th birthday, her final present from us was a (rose) golden locket with a picture of the three of us in it.

    Her actual birthday was a co-op day so we had a semi-special but quick breakfast, she opened her locket and then she was off to school. I sent her with some chocolate golden coins to pass out to her friends at school. While she was gone I decorated the dining room. Aspen came home with her from school, we had a special birthday dinner (ravioli, garlic bread and asparagus–her choices), and mud pie for dessert.

     

    The next day, the Golden Birthday Games began! My parents were able to join us (what a praise and gift!!!!!) and the kids began their competitions…an archery contest, a hula hooping contest, a limbo contest and an obstacle course. (Unfortunately Taylor had online school she had to do during the party. So she was out there with us while Zooming into her classes for the morning…) It was a gorgeous but way-too-hot fall day. The kids tallied up their points at the end and received chocolate gold coins as their “medals”.

     

    And how perfect that her Olympic rings formed the perfect number… (wink, wink)

    Now, I was trying to figure out how to incorporate her wood whittling request into the party…because whittling wood is about as exciting as watching paint dry on a wall (in my opinion). I just couldn’t figure out how to do a meaningful project that could be started and finished within a short time frame. So…I came up with…wood burning!! Perhaps slightly selfishly motivated (I’ve really wanted to learn how to wood burn but couldn’t justify buying one for myself, ahem), we purchased a wood burner and I tried it for the very first time at her party! Wouldn’t recommend that :). I thought it would be so simple…have the kids draw with pencil on a piece of wood and then trace over it with the wood burner, right?! Well, not quite that simple. I helped Aspen make her way through the project but then spent the next few days playing around with tips until I figured out a much easier way to wood burn. So it went a lot quicker with Elliott, Selah and Taylor. Anyway, it was fun. My vision was to have the kids wood burn a design and then color it in with colored pencils. None of them chose to color them except for Selah, and I think the simple wood burned look looks really neat. I do love how the colored pencils look with the burned wood outline though! Taylor did both the front and the back of hers so she can change which verse she has up in her room at any given time. Here is a little bit of the process along with their final projects:

     

     

    What a blessed little girl she is…she is so loved!!

    And here she is with her puppy ears. You can’t see the tail, but I assure you, it is there. 🙂 Happy golden birthday, dearest Selah!

  • New Mercies Monday: My Mama

    New Mercies Monday: My Mama

    “I don’t think you realize how close you were [to dying]…” my mom’s physician said to her, several times, in the past few weeks. And every time she relayed his words to me this past week, I remembered the not-so-distant memory of the heaviness that weighed on me so many times in the previous weeks because I could feel how close she was.

    It started with excruciating back pain and ended up with two [major] emergency surgeries, multiple [serious] infections and [over] three weeks in the hospital.

    But do you know what it DIDN’T end with?

    Death.

    It didn’t end with death, even though it could have. It didn’t end with death, even though it was close. It ended with LIFE. God was so, so merciful to us.

    I remember getting the news that she was in the hospital (while we were out of the state, nonetheless) and praying that God would take away her pain. But soon after we discovered that the pain was caused by a very serious Staph infection that had severely damaged two of her discs. And then? Then I began to praise God for the pain. Before, I had been asking him to take it away, to relieve her, to calm her body, when that pain was the very thing that saved her life. Oh, how this has had me pondering. How quick I am to pray for others’ pain to be relieved. How quick I am to pray that my pain should be lifted, when perhaps God is using that pain as the very tool to save my life. Maybe not always in a literal sense, but in a spiritual sense…to draw me closer to Him…to teach me His ways…to show me how to depend on Him and Him alone…to save me from the ways I have put my hope in false things without even realizing it. I am too quick to want to remove pain and not quick enough to surrender to God’s hand that sometimes brings pain to save us.

    The last 3+ weeks have been so hard. It was an incredibly (awful) roller coaster of one day receiving good news and the next day receiving the news of a terrible twist in the recovery. One day, while she was in the middle of her second emergency surgery, I just shut my door (“kids, I’ve got to go pray and cry my heart out to God”) and I let the wails go. In reality, I think this second emergency surgery does not typically end in death, but death just felt so near. I don’t even know how else to describe it, but I was gripped with fear of losing my mom. Oh boy, did I cry. Begging God to have mercy on my mom and tears flooding my open bible, He led me to a verse (an entire chapter, really) that has carried me through some of my darkest days over the years.

    “His tender mercies are over all of His works.” Psalm 145:9

    Now, in that moment, I wanted to be led to a verse that promised me he wouldn’t take my mom’s life (I know, never gonna find that in the bible) and I began to protest: “MERCIFUL? TENDERLY merciful??” I wanted to scream. I imagined doctors and nurses frantically prepping my mom for surgery and rushing her into the operating room. “Tender” is not exactly the word I would use to describe what was happening to her. But I couldn’t even get my protest into audible words because God’s peace was so immediately with me (He is near to those who call upon Him! v.18) and I remembered. I remembered that His word is true and He IS merciful, all the time, despite what circumstances look like. He IS merciful in the midst of pain. In fact, the pain IS often THE MERCY. It had been the pain that mercifully saved my mom’s life just days before and although I couldn’t understand how this second surgery could be merciful, I had to have faith that it was. Even if it ended in death. And so I thanked God for being merciful to my mama, even though I couldn’t understand. I prayed that His mercies wouldn’t cease and that He would protect her, take care of her, and spare her life. And you know what? He did all of those things. And it turns out the pain that the led them to discover the perforated intestine which led them to this second emergency surgery was, indeed, His great mercies again. Although we will never know for sure, it seems like the issue was a pre-existing condition that no one knew about. That, in and of itself, also could have killed her if it had gone undetected for much longer.

    His tender mercies are over all of His works. 

    This past week I have been able to talk to my mom several times (!!!) and each time, she testified over and over and over to how God has ordained every single minute of her time in the hospital. How He has provided and taken care of her and seen to every detail of her needs. I am in awe of how the doctors caught various issues–multiple times–that all could have led to death if untreated. So thankful for the amazing physicians that cared for her. So thankful for the spit-fire nurse who washed her hair (Ahhhh the mercy of clean hair!). For every doctor and nurse who so tenderly cared for my mama in the midst of her great suffering and need. So thankful for the dearest friends, family, and church family who covered us all in prayer and love the past few weeks. So thankful for my mom’s sisters, my dear aunts, who responded to emails and updates with contagious hope and joy, who texted me to check in on me in my lowest hour, who loved us all so tenderly. So thankful for the ways that the Lord sustained and protected my dad, who spent hours upon hours tirelessly caring for my mom, loving her well, and commuting back and forth from the Springs to Denver to be with her. How could I miss the shower of tender mercies raining down upon my family? 

    And so, she LIVES. (Hallelujah!) Just a few days ago my mom said “goodbye” to the hospital staff and “hello” to a rehab facility. Although we don’t know how long she will be there, I am learning to rest in the peace of Christ and trust that God’s plans for my mom are far more merciful than my best thoughts and ideas. I am trusting that He will be with her as she re-learns how to walk and do life with a slightly different body. Trusting that although there probably will still be a long, difficult road ahead, that His tender mercies cover that road in the peace of Christ. And, that the Lord is near to all who call on Him in truth. He is so tenderly near.

    Thank you, Father, for sparing my mom’s life. 

    Mom, I don’t know when we’ll accidentally dress as twins (unless I can find me a butterfly back brace!), be able to take a four-wheeler ride or bake pies together again…but none of those things matter…I am just so thankful to still have you. 

  • Elliott’s Turtley Awesome Ninth Birthday!

    Elliott’s Turtley Awesome Ninth Birthday!

    So Elliott started planning his birthday months ahead of time (as usual) this year. All he wanted to do was have his friends over to play tag and have a picnic on our property. So simple, right? Well, this girl just could NOT get the unction to plan it. I kept putting it off and putting it off and although I wasn’t entirely sure why, if there’s one thing I’ve learned in life it’s this: If I don’t have unction, there’s usually a reason and I shouldn’t force it. Well, of course…little did we know that the entire world would shut down and there would be no live birthday parties this spring.

    But our gracious God allowed us to have our nieces and nephew and grandparents here with us over Elliott’s birthday! Talk about a party! I threw some ideas together and we were all able to make a really special birthday for this mighty 9 year old. It’s no surprise that this guy still loves turtles. So we turned our dining room into an under the sea fish bowl and this guy was thrilled. As a side note, SUCH a treasure for me to have Taylor here to help me decorate and make this a turtley awesome birthday for Elliott!! Taylor made all of the plates :).

    We started off the morning with waffles, due to Elliott’s request. Side note: Anyone notice what Elliott’s NOT wearing??? Comment if you figure it out :).

     

    The cousins worked secretly to make Elliott a turtle shell out of a box so that he could have his very own shell, just like all of his turtle friends!! He was SO.HAPPY!!!!

     

    We did get a game of tag in, albeit not the most epic game of tag in the world. It was FREEZING outside…NONE of us wanted to join a very eager Elliott for a game of tag but we all bundled up and went out there anyway. I may have lasted 32 seconds. And then I took photos from inside. Hey, someone’s gotta do it :).

     

    The quick last minute idea I came up with was to have a canvas painting party. Thanks be to Amazon, everything we needed for a paint-your-own-art-piece arrived promptly at our door. I talked to each of the kids about what they wanted to paint. For a few of them, we printed off pictures that they wanted to use as a reference. I helped guide the ones who needed it through sketching out their drawing first with pencil and then we got to painting!

    They each did such an AMAZING job!!!! I love how each painting displays the incredibly unique personality of each kid.

    Elliott is just a little bit (ahem) detail-oriented and so he’s very particular about what he wants to be doing the MOMENT he was born, which is 6:25 pm our time. This year, he was emphatic about wanting to do our bible reading over that minute. So we made it happen. Wearing Christmas jammies. Because CHRISTMAS. This is him the MOMENT he really turned 9!

     

    Speaking of Christmas… For some reason I had a slightly difficult time saying “Goodbye” to our Christmas tree this year. It was just so green and beautiful and I couldn’t bring myself to slaughter it. Finally at some point in late January I decided it was time. The kids and I started chopping off branches and when we had done the bottom 2/3, I stopped and looked at it and just LOVED it! It was so cute! So we kept it like that for another few months. First year ever our Christmas tree was still up for Elliott’s birthday. So, obviously, we put his presents under the tree!! 🙂 This kid is THEE most expressive child on the planet. Check out these faces as he opens presents!! (And don’t make fun of the Christmas tree! Come on, it’s kind of cute, isn’t it?!!)

    Selah really, really, REALLY wanted to sew Elliott a turtle stuffie. So we worked together and, it wasn’t horrible. 🙂 It consists of a separate body and shell so he can change out the shell! However, it took us SO.MANY.STINKIN.HOURS to just make the body and the shell that right now his turtle only has one change of clothes. One day he might have two. One day long in his turtley future.

    Next up, mud pie. The kids got the brilliant idea to stack three more paper plates on top of the base turtle plate so they could “re-use” their plate for each meal. They just threw away the dirty top plate and used it for breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert!

     

    Grandma and Grandpa got Elliott the turtle costume he has been dreaming of ever since we got Selah a puppy costume for her birthday. Have you ever seen a happier turtle in the sea? I sure haven’t.

     

    One quarantine birthday in the books!! Although he was definitely bummed not to get to celebrate with the Mauss family and friends, he was abundantly, over-the-top blessed on this quarantine birthday of his! We were so thankful for the special treat of the Moberg cousins and Grandma and Grandpa. Happy birthday to our turtley awesome mighty man!!