Monday, August 22, 2011

It's been a while...


... Life has been so cray cray for us Horning's lately, that I haven't had a spare minute to think. Let alone blog. Let's see, we got keys to our first house at the end of June! Woo Woo! We love our home, it is exactly what we need and we know it's the one God had for us. We have been remodeling and working on projects for the last month, the largest one being our kitchen. Holy Cow. Don't ever remodel your kitchen, it's so intense! My Dad, Uncle, Brother, and the Hubs did all the work and it is gorgeous! Exactly what I wanted. We still haven't even finished hanging pictures yet, but we're almost there! We did our big family photo wall which helped make it feel like it was really our home. (pictured above)

  In other news, our newest Tiny Dancer is almost here! I am almost 38 weeks pregnant! What the?!?! How did that happen? Can't believe how fast time has flown, but I am so ready to meet this new girl and figure out what her name is! :) Just a few days ago we took some pretty sick family pictures and I couldn't be happier with how they turned out. Here are some of my favs:




  This is the first time we have ever done real family pictures, and I am so in love with them. The one of Ava in the tutu is almost painful! She is so Cute! I can't believe my family is growing. Soon we will have two little girls in tutu's to chase after. Life is pretty great. I'm trying to be very intentional on spending quality time with Ava, not only for her sake, but for mine as well. Once this baby comes my attention will be split and I want to make sure we savor this time we have. It's so special to me. I find myself trying to imagine what it will be like to have two children in need of my attention. Very overwhelming thought. My hearts desire it to always be available and able to give each child what they need when they need it, however, I know that isn't always possible. So I find myself asking God to help me not freak out (because if i think about it too much i will) and to show me the best ways to parent my girls. I know I wont be perfect, but I can try my hardest. And knowing how excited Ava is to meet her new baby sister also helps ease my worries. I can't wait to see Ava meet her sister. Oh frick. Getting a little emotional just thinking about it.... Moving on now! 
   All in all, life is wonderful. I'm so excited for this new season in my life and I can't wait to share all of the ups and downs. 


Grace & Peace 



Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Sweet Baby

 

  At 5:37 this morning my Sister-In-Law Jennifer gave birth to her second daughter, Jubilee Lania. Oh what a precious girl she is. When we got the text this morning with her sweet picture, tears welled up in my eyes. I wanted to badly to be there with my family and celebrate this incredible miracle of life. Living 300 miles away makes it difficult to just hop in the car and drive down to the Hospital to join in the celebration. We are hoping to get down there soon to meet her, i only have about 4 weeks left that I can travel so we need to go soon! :)
All morning I have been day dreaming about Jubilee and what she will be like. Her favorite color, or food, the little funny sayings she will have, what she will look like when she is older.... All exciting things. 



Then my mind wondered to my new sweet baby. Feeling her kick around in my tummy, I can't help but wonder what she is thinking. "Mom, it's too crowded!" or "Hey! Ava, play with me!". I day dream about my new little life all the time. One thing i haven't had much time to dream about is her name.... Well, I take that back. I have had time, and I do think about it a little, but there still isn't a front runner. We wait to name our babies until we see them. We have a list of names we like that we can pull from so we aren't going in totally blind! With Ava we had a huge list of names we loved, probably 20 first names and 10 middle names. But with this tiny dancer, we have probably 5 names we are thinking and praying about. Very different experience this time around. But I am loving every second of it. I am 30 weeks pregnant tomorrow, so we still have a little time left to figure out some more names!



Grace & Peace

Monday, May 23, 2011

Keeping My Fingers Crossed...

   Well, as you may have read in a previous post we are looking for a house. To our HUGE surprise, we almost have one!!! By almost I mean, we are in contract, starting the inspection and funding process. But this is the closest we have ever been!!!! It's a great little house in Boulder with a huge back yard for Ava to play in, Lots of potential and loads of charm. I have found myself getting a little nervous that something is going to go wrong and we wont get the house. To be this close and then to lose it would be a tough pill to swallow. We are leaning on Jesus though, trusting that if this is the right house and the right timing that He would let the whole process go smoothly.
   In other news I am 25 weeks pregnant with our tiny Button. I'm feeling pretty good and surprisingly not letting myself get too stressed over the house stuff. Ava's new favorite thing is to sing songs to her baby sister. Her favorite one to sing her is an old Hymn that goes like this... "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. There's just something about that name." It's so cute to hear her singing, let alone that she is singing to my belly. Cuteness overload!
   And the most exciting news of all, Ava is almost 2!!!!! Her birthday is on Thursday! How the heck did that happen? I feel like she just turned 1. I have been having a blast getting everything ready for her Minnie Mouse themed Birthday party. She is so excited to play with her friends, eat Kuh-Cakes (cupcakes), and get Prizes (presents)!!! Cute thing!! I am trying to soak it all in, I don't want to miss a thing!
   I have been reading out of Proverbs and there are a few verses that really struck me. It's talking about wisdom, and how crucial it is to have it. So as these big things are going on in our life I have been constantly praying for God to give us wisdom on each specific situation. Here are the verses...
"So, my dear friends, listen carefully; those who embrace these my ways are most blessed. Mark a life of discipline and live wisely; don't squander your precious life. Blessed the man, blessed the woman, who listens to me, awake and ready for me each morning, alert and responsive as I start my day's work.
Proverbs 8:32-34

 So, please keep us in you're prayers, we definitely need them!


Grace & Peace

(picture is of Ava's Birthday invites I made with my Mom)

Monday, May 2, 2011

House Hunters...Horning Edition

   Oh Lord have mercy. Trying to buy a house is probably the most exhausting thing I have ever done. Over the past 3ish months Daniel and I have been on the hunt for our first little home. We started out with tons of excitement and energy and now we are dragging our feet. I think we have put in about 6 offers. Now a few of those are duplicate offers on a single property, but still lots of offers. We fell deeply in love with one house and didn't get it and now were still being just a little "emo" about it. We are going to look at a few more this week, pray for us! The hardest part in this whole Home Buying process is really trusting that the Lord has a perfect house at the perfect time. My brain is so quick to work out details that I think fit perfectly, but every time I do I am reminded that God is weaving His details together much better then I ever could.
   In other news, we started our Name List! There are quite a few very cute possible names for Tiny Dancer #2 on there! Can't wait till she is here and I get to squeeze her. T-minus 4 months and 5 days.... Well, till my due date, but going off previous experience it will be about a week after that.


Grace & Peace

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Mustard Seed Love



This morning in my Bible I read Matthew 17. The whole chapter is amazing, but I read over a very familiar story and it encouraged me in a new way. Verse 20 says this:

" He replied, "Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, "Move from here to there," and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you"

   Every time I have read that scripture or heard it in a sermon it was used as an encourager to have more faith and you can do more for God. I mean, that was the basic gist of it. But today as I read it I was encouraged as a Mother. I know it may seem a bit cheesy, but it's true! Daniel and I found out yesterday that we are having another little girl, and my biggest concern with having 2 children is giving them each enough love and attention. I am not worried about how to manage two kids, or go to the grocery store, or run errands, or even about finances! I just want to make sure they both feel loved enough. And as I was reading that verse I felt so encouraged and relieved, like, "Hey, I can do this!"
   I know the key to it working is having enough faith, and even though it is a struggle sometimes to not doubt God or try and fix a problem on my own, at least I know that it is possible. If I just have mustard seed faith that God will help me, I know I can do it.  I want to have Mustard seed love for my babies. If my faith is the size of a mustard seed and I can move a mountain, imagine how much mustard seed love could do.


Grace & Peace

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Fallen Before The Ark

   I've been on a bit of a Blog Vacation. Spent some time thinking about other things that are going on and devoting more of my free time to being a better Wife and Momma. Now that I feel like I have a better handle on things I am back in the Blog-saddle.
  Something super awesome that I have been doing lately is reading through the book of 1 Samuel. Whoa. Talk about gnar gnar! I am only 10 chapters in, but let me just tell you, there is some crazy stuff happening in there! Something that really struck me is in Chapter 5, here's some super cool God knowledge for ya...
   The Israelites were in battle against the Philistines, and they were losing. So the Israelites sent for the Ark of the Covenant, thinking that if it was with them in battle they would surely win. Wrong. The Philistines CRUSHED the Israelites, and when they did they stole the Ark of the Covenant. WHAT!?! Who does that? Who steals someone else's God? Any way- moving on. They brought the Ark back to their city and placed it in "Dagons temple", that was there God. Ok here's the rest....

"3 When the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the LORD! They took Dagon and put him back in his place. 4 But the following morning when they rose, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the LORD! His head and hands had been broken off and were lying on the threshold; only his body remained. 5 That is why to this day neither the priests of Dagon nor any others who enter Dagon’s temple at Ashdod step on the threshold."


   Uh... Can you say, AWESOME! When I read this, I giggled.... Out loud. It was just a cool moment for me. Reading about the power of my God, and how He made other stupid little statues bow at His feet. So cool.
It was encouraging because I realized that God can and still does do that. When I feel like darkness is closing in on me or I let fear creep in, God makes it cower at His feet. He is bigger and stronger then anything or anyone else. I am glad He is on my side....


Grace & Peace

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Written on my Arm

   As some of you may know I recently got a partial sleeve on my left arm. The things in it are all things I feel the Lord is showing me or speaking through me. I haven't written out what they all mean and I thought now would be a great time to do so, so here we go...

- The tree is from Song of Solomon 2:3 " Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest is my beloved among young men. I delight to sit in his shade, and his fruit is sweet to my taste."

- The heart and banner is from 1 John 4:16 " And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in us."

- The flowers are from a painting i did a while back about the fruits of the spirit in Galatians 5:22-24 " But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires."

- The rays of light and the sun are from Mark 13:26 " At that time people will see the son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory." (I also used the Hillsong United song "Hosanna" for a little inspiration from the line "I see the king of glory, coming on the clouds with fire". That's where the fire colors in the rays come from)

- The peace sign in the heart is from James 3:18 " Peacemakers who sew in peace, reap a harvest of righteousness." 

- And lastly, probably the most meaningful for me, The waves from Jonah 2 " From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the the Lord his God. He said:
In my distress I called to the Lord, and He answered me.
Out of the belly of Sheol I cried out, and you heard my voice.
For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas,
 and the flood surrounded me, 
all your waves and billows passed over me;
Then I said " I am driven away from your sight,
yet I shall look again upon your holy temple."
The waters closed in over me to take my life;
the deep surrounded me;
weeds were wrapped about my head
at the roots of the mountains.
I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever; 
yet you brought up my life from the pit,
O Lord my God.
When my life was fainting away,
I remembered the Lord,
and my prayer came to you,
into your holy temple.
Those who pay regard to vain idols
forsake their hope of steadfast love.
But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you;
what I have vowed I will pay.
Salvation belongs to the LORD."

One last thing I wanted to share. Last night as I was doing my devotional, the reading for that day was James 3. The chapter where one of the verse references for my tattoo is. It was the first time since getting my sleeve I have randomly read over one of the verses. It was so incredible. As if the Bible wasn't already so special, it became even more to me in that moment. Realizing that I am wearing a piece of Gods word forever was so powerful. It was a great moment.


- Grace & Peace




* Side Note * If your in LV and thinking about getting work done, I would definitely encourage you to go to Chance @ Red Handed Tattoo Gallery. He is the guy that did all my work. Incredible artist. Incredible man of God.

Monday, January 10, 2011

He Fills Heaven and Earth

   Over the past several months, 7 to be exact, we have been lifting up Daniel's younger cousin in prayer. She was first admitted into the hospital in May due to severe headaches, where they found some serious things going on. All of this leading into multiple brain surgeries and a lot of nights in the Hospital. She is only 17, this was supposed to be her Senior Year of High School. She had already began looking at Colleges, envisioning her future, thinking of majors, and all of that has been put on hold. There was a point at which they diagnosed her and began treatments, only to leave her back in the Hospital again with the Doctors at a loss.
   As we have been praying for her I have really struggled with God. She is totally in love with God and pursues Him daily, she is a great daughter, and incredible student, and overall just a joy to be around. And I can't understand why God would let this happen to her. Why He would let it last for so long and not give any answers or Hope that it will ever come to an end. I found myself saying, "God where are you? Why aren't you with her?" And this is what He showed me,

"Am I only a God nearby,” declares the LORD, “and not a God far away? 
Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them?” 
declares the LORD. “Do not I fill heaven and earth?” 

declares the LORD." - Jeremiah 23:23-24

 He is with her. He is all around her. Even though we may not understand why He is letting this happen, we can rest assure knowing that He will always be by her side. I will continue to pray for her and pray for Gods miraculous healing over her body, but until that happens I know she will never be alone. Please join our family in praying for this Beautiful girl. Strength for the fight ahead of her and for Gods hand of restoration on her body.

Grace & Peace






**** Photo Courtesy of wallpapers.pixxp.com
Thanks for checking out my blog. The writings found on these pages are just sincere thoughts, questions, and feelings I have about life, God, and banana slugs.