I Won!!!!!!!!!!!

I never win anything ..... well, amost never! Rachelle had a contest on her blog and I won! Thank you Rachelle for the Starbucks gift card! I am very grateful for it! What a wonderful treat for me!

Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival

On of my favorite things to do as a family in March/April is to spend the day at the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival in Woodburn, Oregon. Some years it is rainy, muddy and cloudy while some years it is sunny, warm and breezy. Every year since Dacia Grace was born, we have gone. I have not found the picture CD from her first year but when I do, I will post the picture of her with the wooden shoes. It is an annual tradition to take her picture in the shoe...although next year I do not expect her to fit inside it!

April 2006 (16 Months)

April 2007 (28 Months)

April 2008 (3 years)

New Birth at the Homs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today is a red letter day in our lives here! This one is right up there with those handful of days that are so special.......

the day that I met Arthur!

the day I married Arthur!

the day I found out that we were expecting Dacia Grace!

the day I gave birth to Dacia Grace!

the day I knew that God had healed my little girl!

Are you on pins and needles yet?................

Today at about 5:15 PM there was another birth in our family........................Dacia Grace asked Jesus in her heart!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What could be more exciting than that! What a privilege I had to lead her in the sinner's prayer...I cannot tell you what a wonderful and humbling experience that was! That God would allow me to show my daughter how to be spiritually healed......to be fully alive in Jesus!

Let me back up here........this morning we attended the Moms Group lead by two wonderfully godly women from our church. They are teaching a group of moms what a godly wife and mom looks like and what all it entails. WOW! (That will have to be another post!)

On the way home from the Moms Group, Dacia asked, "When are we going to go to heaven with Jesus?" This lead to a conversation about the only way to get to heaven was for Jesus to either come back and call all of His children to come home with Him (i.e. the rapture of the church) or for us to die and go to heaven to be with Him. Of course we talked to a great extent about who the children of Jesus really are......then we talked about the wonderful things that God had made...the rain clouds, the pretty flowers, etc.

Fast forward to late afternoon, nap time is done. Mommy's errands finished. Dacia Grace spent sometime visiting her favorite neighbor....

"Will Jesus live in my heart forever Mommy?" Dacia Grace asked as soon as we came in the door.

For once I was in tune with Dacia Grace and attentive to what was going on in her heart (thank you Paula and Alissa for your words today!). I stopped what I was doing and began talking to her. It became very clear that she understood the basics of salvation! I asked her, "Dacia Grace do you want to pray and ask Jesus to come and live in your heart forever!"

Her eyes lit up, "Yes, Yes MOMMY!"

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I will have to ponder this some more......what a way to begin my gratitude journal! (An assignment from the Moms Group!) I cannot stop the tears from flowing.....I am so amazed by the whole experience today!


Here is my little girl......walking through the mud puddles yesterday at the Tulip Festival.....

Dacia Grace may you walk as confidently with God and as joyfully with God as you did through the mud puddles yesterday.......knowing that God is there in the midst of the mud puddles.....walking with you each and everyday.......

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you , nor will I ever forsake you." Hebrews 13:5

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or sword?.....But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who love us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:35, 37-39

Mommy's Little Helper

One of Dacia Grace's favorite things to do these days is to help me with whatever housework I have to do for the day.....here she is helping me to clean out the refridgerator. She takes her work very seriously. Today she promised that she would help me do the laundry after her nap. She was quite concerned that I wait for her help before starting the laundry. What a blessing she is to me! Her cheerful attitude toward work is one that I pray she never outgrows!

Glamour Girl!

Go UCLA!

Arthur attempts to root on his UCLA Bruins to the NCAA Basketball Championship game. In the process, he decided to "indoctrinate" Dacia Grace. Here is a shot of the celebrating one of the very few baskets that the Bruins made in that game.

Updated 4/8/08....UCLA was beaten by Memphis who was then beaten by Kansas.....at least Kansas won! Arthur used to live in Olathe, Kansas!

Invasion of the Seals

To hear Dacia Grace cough you would think that our home had been invaded by a family of seals. Her spirits are good although she does not sound good. She wants to go to the park to play today! We decided to play hide and seek instead. I sent her upstairs to hide and then went to find her......she hid very well. I was surprised. I found her hiding in our walk in closet. After just two rounds of the game, she was ready to snuggle up.

I have the BEST husband! Yesterday Arthur stayed home from work in the morning so that I could attend the first meeting of the Moms' Bible Study that our church is holding in the month of April. What a blessing to me! The ladies who are teaching it are so encouraging. I hope that I will be able to attend next week.....Dacia Grace will need to be healthier for me to attend.