Holly.

I've been blessed to have a plethora of amazing people in my life.  Holly is one of them, a real unexpected ray of sunshine.  We roomed together in the Big House (what! what!) senior year.  After college we only exchanged emails about once a year until reuniting on Facebook.  Over this last year we created a deep bond as we both walked through major trails.

As J & I were planning our Colorado trip, Holly & husband (B) insisted we stay with their family in Denver.  This turned out to be SUCH a treat.  With her sweet girls, C & A we shared amazing family time, tackled the Denver Zoo, laughed, loved on each others kids, cried together & prayed for each other in person.  B took a day off work, the girls skipped a day of school.  It was an epic-ly (is that a word?) blessed time.

Thank you H & Company for such a needed retreat.  You blessed my family.  Please know we continue to pray for you often & you will always have a place to stay when you visit the NW.  H & B are walking a hard, hard road but, doing it well - with integrity, love & realness (I know, I know - probably not a word either...)  Their daughters are lucky to have such amazing parents.  (I want to be like them when I grow-up.)

Here are some shots from our day at the zoo:

J was a real trooper & volunteered to take the girls on the train.  

H returned the favor on the carousel. 

I still cannot get over the hippo exhibit at this zoo.  They are TOO SO close!
I just didn't trust the little wall keeping us from this killer animal.     

Buds

T fam with Denver's polar bear.  

My little polar bear on Benadryl.  

After 2 minutes in the car.  

One of my favorite memories was going to check on L the last night in town & finding her & C asleep side by side in the top bunk.  I pray it won't be another 10 years until we see this great family again.

The LORD bless you and keep you; 

the LORD make his face shine on you 

and be gracious to you; 

the LORD turn his face toward you 

and give you peace.

Mom of the year.

Please tell me I'm not the only parent who turns their back on their children only to have them fly down a steep embankment in a jogger, have a Trader Joe's grocery cart TIP OVER (!) slamming them to the floor & most recently unbuckles them from their car seat & seconds later is peeling them off the hot concrete - all by the age of 16 months.  This, my friends is why we pray for our kids - to protect them from ourselves.

Forehead, eye brow, nose, under nose, possible tooth chip & lip.
Family pictures post-poned.   

Thanks to a nearby Starbucks for contributing a clean rag & plenty of ice!

In memory of Jeff.

I'm the first to say that I've really never been a fan of rhododendrons... until NOW!  There is a gal within the SFD that plants a plant in memory of every Seattle firefighter that has a job related death.  She was out shopping for a plant for Jeff and came across THIS!  The "fireman Jeff" rhody was discovered!  Can you believe it!?!  She then bought the nursery out of them & is giving one to us!  I can't wait to get this special rhody planted in our yard!  Thanks Kim (& Sheila for transporting!)

Proud to be a Birt.

Look at those handsome Birt boys in their Class A's...  What a legacy!

Our sweet Jeff (husband, dad, son, brother, uncle, Believer, firefighter) went to be with the Lord May 6th surrounded by family.  It's now been a week & I still feel a sadness so deep that it's hard to describe in words & is certainly too raw & personal for me to gab about on my blog...

Jeff & Natalie 8/8/08

His service was nothing more than moving & honoring of such a great man.  He would have loved it.  He requested to have only one service (no media!) at his church (Westgate Chapel), to not let the fire department take over & to have it completely faith based.  Done, done & done.  The sanctuary that seats 1,150 was packed, filled with family, friends, the fire department & even Seattle's Mayor (whom I guessing Jeff did NOT vote for...)  ha!

Where many of the programs will be kept for awhile...

The gospel was preached, folks dedicated their lives to Christ, & the Seattle Firefighter Pipes & Drums did their thing.  It was beautiful.  Ladder 4 then led us in a motorcade to the burial, followed by a private party.

Jeff's truck

It's been a long journey, a journey that did not end how we wanted but, we choose to continue to trust in the Lord & stand firm on His Word.  Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for those of you that attended the service, to all of you that have brought us meals, prayed for us, watched our kids, & sent us cards & flowers.  We are forever grateful!

Love, J & K

How Great Thou Art!

Love THIS performance by Ms. Carrie Underwood...

*Photo taken by Leah Rixmann Photography

This week we are praying without ceasing for my brother-in-law, Jeff Birt.  He has been given grave news by doctors (so, it's fortunate we don't put our hope in doctors...!) We choose to stand firm on our Rock, Jesus Christ, our Lord & Savior.  Please join with us in praying for our dear Jeff.

Psalm 121

¹ I lift up my eyes to the mountains— 

   where does my help come from? 
² My help comes from the LORD, 

the Maker of heaven and earth.

 ³ He will not let your foot slip— 

   he who watches over you will not slumber; 
⁴ indeed, he who watches over Israel 

   will neither slumber nor sleep.

 ⁵ The LORD watches over you— 

   the LORD is your shade at your right hand; 
⁶ the sun will not harm you by day, 

   nor the moon by night.

 ⁷ The LORD will keep you from all harm— 

   he will watch over your life; 
⁸ the LORD will watch over your coming and going 

   both now and forevermore.

Happy Easter!

Easter 2010, 9 days before having Ax

Easter 2011

It's become a tradition for us to color eggs on Easter day... Last year a dear friend was in Greece over Easter & told us that they dye all their eggs red for Easter to represent the blood of Christ.  And, she brought back a packet of dye for us to use this year! 

It was timely & beautiful since this is the first Easter we've actually grasped ALL that's in the Atonement.  Yes, Christ died on the cross for our sins, but He also was beaten & whipped for our infirmities before getting the the cross.  By His stripes WE ARE HEALED!  We have come to know this promise to be true in our family this year, 2000 years later.  He took up our infirmities (sickness, disease, injuries) so that we don't have to be sick, have diseases or injuries!  He's paid the price - we don't have to!  Claiming this authority that we have over sickness is real & life changing.  Thank you Jesus for your spiritual, emotional & physical healing that you promise in your Word & thank you for our salvation.  

Our words have power.

We have heard about this experiment  - mainly scientists doing this & looking at the ice crystals under a microscope to see the difference between the two.  J decided to do our own experiment.  One doesn't have to be a scientist to see the difference in the cups of water that exited our freezer.  We did it twice with the same results. We don't know what the results mean, but they are clearly different.

Left cup:      Right cup:

Satan            Jesus
Death           God
Hell              Love
Idiot             Peace
Hate             Forgiveness

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.  Ephesians 4:29

Dedicated to my man.

As some of you know, I spent the last 5 days in Austin, TX.  (It was a life changing trip that I can't wait to share about - I'll fill y'all in later.)  Anyway, flying home we had a quick lay-over in San Jose.  Before boarding our plane my brother-in-law "lovingly" informed me that my "husband's hero's" were right behind me.  To my amazement the entire Sounds Football Club was getting ready to board OUR plane!  They graciously allowed me to get a photo with them (as they totally mocked my GIANT backpack... note how far behind Brad Evans had to stand to make room for the big pack...)  After the photo I called Jason & Kasey Keller graciously agreed to chat it up for a bit.  K-A-S-E-Y K-E-L-L-E-R!  They talked for awhile & then we all boarded the plane.  This was a great way to end a special time away!

Healing.

I didn't want this day to slide by without acknowledging my 5 year back healing anniversary.  After a slip at work & 2 1/2 years of pain - God healed my back 5 years ago tonight at a prayer meeting.  I've given my testimony at our previous church as well as at a church conference.  If you ever need encouragement or would like to know more about my amazing story - I'd be happy to share.  I love my story.  God is so gracious & good to those that follow.  As a result I was able to carry 2 beautiful kids in my heavy belly for a total of 18 months pain free.  And, I can now carry my heavy son on my hip - pain free.  All the glory goes to Jesus Christ my Savior & Lord!

So very thankful for prayer warriors!

A few nights ago our son come down with a serious & sudden case of croup.  It was nothing less than terrifying.  It still feels like such a blur because it all happened so fast.  We went from "maybe we should call the on-call pediatrician to ask what we should do about his funny sounding breathing?" to "CALL 911!!!" within 5 minutes.  We've never experienced croup or stridors before & we aren't experts but, please read this link so that you are more informed than we were.  If I knew then what I know now, we would have called 911 sooner.

Thank God he is now almost back to normal.

I am so thankful for:

#1 praying g-parents - God is our Healer & I know that he recovered so quickly because of all the prayers for our son.
#2 g-parents that live close & are willing to help at a moments notice (even in the middle of the night!).  It was such a blessing that we didn't have to wake Laila & take her to the hospital with us.
#3 speedy medic units
#4 Children's Hospital
#5 that a few months ago we happened to change the dates we would be in Canada (so thankfully, we were at home for this scary event.)
#6 that Jason was home - (it was his normal shift to work but, he decided to keep it off even though we didn't end up going to Canada...)  It would have been close to impossible to give Axel the care that he needed let alone do that while calling docs, g-parents, 911 etc...
#7 & finally that our son is alive & well!

By the time the medics arrived he was getting more air & looking better.  Daddy rode with him in the medic unit,  g-pa drove me & we followed.   Here are pics that I took once we knew for certain that my Axey was okay.

 His sweet little noggin in the bottom R corner of the window on the L.  

As usual - all smiles...

Fever broke!

L woke up this morning for the 4th morning in a row with a temp around 104!  I promptly gave her meds & called her doctor.  We decided to take it easy but, I was itching to get outside before it got too hot.  So, I took the kids down to our new favorite park to swing, eat wild blue & blackberries, & watch the ferry boats & trains go by.  Ax did great in the swing too!

A's first time in this kind of swing, L's 10,000 time...

After her afternoon nap L woke up feeling good!!! Her fever broke!!! So, we packed up everyone again & headed to grams to run through the sprinkler, pick green beans for dinner & EAT!  Praise the Lord, our little girl is healed!  

Gram finding beans for her to pick...

Her appetite is back & she ate more food than gram & I combined!
Happy girl, happy mama.