Weekend Madness

Look! I got a Two-fer!

   This weekend has been jam packed full of home improving fun! Tons of projects getting crossed off our list, Hallelujah! Today we ran down to Lowe's (my favorite store) and when we got out of the car, guns blazing, ready to tackle our giant list of things we needed.... We found two very cute sleeping daughters. I super love them. I thought I was going to explode with mommy love in that moment. If you look closely you can see Oli's hood over one eye, she is a tiny gangster. And what you can't see is Ava covered from Head to Pink booted toe in graham cracker crumbs. And let me just tell ya, I'm not exaggerating here people... She seriously dusted the top of her head with crumbs as if it were pixie dust and she was hoping to fly! I love that little weirdy. I told Daniel it was a two-fer, because both of them fell asleep at the same time (which never happens!). 

   It has been such an awesome weekend, and one of the best parts was at Church this morning. I love my Church, everything about it. And this morning as Daniel and I were leading worship I had this awesome God moment. You know, the kind where you break out into an ugly cry in front of your entire congregation trying to explain something God is showing you? Oh... You have no idea what I mean? Let me explain. While we were singing "Came to my Rescue" I had an image in my mind of a swimmer way out in the ocean who all of a sudden is terrified they may drown. The swimmer then looks on shore to see the life guard there, watching, ready at any moment to rescue. It seems obvious, doesn't it? But God blew me away. He wants to rescue me. When I am at my weakest and feel like I can't keep going, I can throw my hands up and He will run to me. And save me. Every time. Why? Because I am so awesome? Nope. It's because He desires relationship with me. And even in my long seasons of not pursuing relationship with Him, He waits for me. Ready, at any moment to rescue me and woo me back into relationship with Him. Insane. Seriously, blows my mind. So this morning, while on stage, I explain this to the congregation and i bust out my ugliest cry. But hey, the message I was trying to get across was more important then my composure, right? Definitely. So there ya have it. Just let that sink in. God is more then good. So incredible. 

Grace & Peace 

So Sweet

Can I just tell ya how sweet my life is? Mega, Ultra, Super sweet. Worlds greatest (and hottest) Husband, two insanely gorgeous daughters, a life giving Church, awesome extended family, Wonderful friends.... The list goes on and on. I can't even believe how great this is. Like, seriously great. Just look at what I mean -

The top picture is Olive discovering her Daddy's face, Bottom left is a sleeping Oli, bottom right is my Ava Zsofia showing off her sparkling clean teeth!)

Both of my girls are fighting a cold at the moment. So sad. I wish I could make them feel better! Ava hates blowing her nose and Olive hates it when I wipe her nose. Needless to say, there is a lot of yelling going on in our house. 

You can't see it in the picture (thankfully!) but they are both covered in snot. I love Olive's angry face! She is so much fun! 

In non sick related news, I am so antsy for Spring! I am ready to be outside! The girls and I have a serious case of Cabin Fever. We are making a very long list of all the projects we want to do outside once it warms up. Including a huge garden! I'm so excited! 

Lots of new things on the Horizon!

Grace & Peace

Back in the saddle.

   To say it has been a while would be the understatement of the century. Ninetine days after my last post I was blessed with the sweetest new life. Olive Grace Horning was born at 12:24pm, 8lb 6oz, and 21 inches long. Since that moment I have been solely focused on understanding and adapting to life with two sweet daughters. Olive is the most joyful baby  I have ever met. She loves everything and everyone. She laughs and smiles all the time and loves to watch her big sister play. Ava Zsofia is quickly approaching her third Birthday! What the Heck!!! When did she grow up? She is learning new things every day and pushing her boundaries regularly. It can get pretty exhausting at points but her overwhelming cuteness helps. :)  So now here I am, a Mommy of two and I think I have reached a point that I am able to venture back into the world of writing. Am I crazy? Maybe, but lets just embrace it...
   I am thoroughly looking forward to getting back in the swing of writing and sharing my heart. I feel like God is showing me some huge things, and I'm ready to share. 


 Grace & Peace

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 

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

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)

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