Week in Pictures

We had a busy week with this being the last week of school for the kids.  Matthew finished up his baseball season with three games this week.  Jake completed spring football training.  Emily, Matt, Andrew, and Nick had field day at school.  We are looking forward to our first week of summer!

Sunday was Mother's Day.  I had a wonderful day and was spoiled by Brett and the kids.

On Monday, Andrew entertained himself by wearing my glasses while we waited in the car rider line to pick up Matt and Emily.

On Tuesday, Kate, Caroline, and I had a surprise visitor in our house!

On Wednesday, I took a picture of what our laundry room looks like everyday.  I wash, dry, and fold at least 3 loads of laundry everyday to keep up with the never ending piles of dirty clothes and towels used by our family. 

On Thursday, Emily and Matt had field day at school.  It was also Andrew's last day of pre-k for the school year.  He celebrated with his own field day and an ice cream party with his class.

Friday was the last day of school for Matt, Emily, Nick, and Jake.  Matt and Emily both had class parties and Nick had field day.  Jake's class went to a local park and then came back to school for a cook-out.

On Saturday, I was treated to a pre-natal massage and pedicure at a local spa in Athens.  This was my mother's day present from Brett and the kids.  It was a very relaxing morning!

"Let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth."

1John 3:18



Last Day of School

It is hard to believe that the school year could be ending already.  The kids all had a great first year of school here in Georgia and are looking forward to the summer!  Our summer will be busy, but we also hope to spend lots of time together and do some fun things.

This was Andrew with his amazing teachers.  Mr. Collin and Ms. Janie are the most loving, dedicated, positive, enthusiastic teachers I have had the privilege of knowing.  They were an absolute answer to many prayers.  Andrew bonded immediately with them and has grown by leaps and bounds this school year.

This is Matthew with his teacher Miss Rebecca.  She is the sweetest kindergarten teacher.  Matthew loved her and had a wonderful first school experience.  He also has made incredible growth this school year.  He is writing sentences and reading short stories.

This is Emily and her second grade teacher Mrs. Mangleburg.  We were blessed this year with amazing teachers, and Mrs. Mangleburg was no exception.  Her classroom was very welcoming.  She motivated Emily to go above and beyond everyday and always provided positive feedback.  Emily would have gone to the moon and back for her!

Jake and Nick also had a great end to middle school.  Sorry, I didn't get any pictures of them with their teachers.  Guess that is what happens when you get older.

We have been extremely blessed in this recent move to have our children attend wonderful schools with caring and committed teachers and staff members.  Of course we know that none of this is left to chance and I have already begun praying for my children and the classrooms they will enter in August. 

"When a man's ways are pleasing to the LORD, he makes even his enemies live at peace with him."

Proverbs 16:7

 

Never a Dull Moment!

Setting the Scene....

The girls and I had just returned home from a quick trip to Walmart.  We went down in the basement to change our laundry.  I turned on a show for Kate to watch and went into the laundry room.  As I was putting clothes into the dryer, I heard Kate screaming from the other room about a bird.  I started out of the laundry room just as a bird flew across the room and landed on the blinds.  Initially, I really wasn't sure if it was a bird or a bat.  Baily was barking wildly and leaping in the air as the bird flew wildly back and forth across the room.  Kate was screaming and Caroline was totally unaffected by all the commotion.  Kate and I were stuck in the laundry room trying to figure out how we were going to get upstairs.

Finally, the bird flew into what I thought was the boys bedroom, so Kate, Caroline and I were able to get upstairs.  However, once upstairs I discovered the bird had actually flew upstairs and not into the boys bedroom. Now it was flying wildly around the upstairs with both the dog and now the cat chasing after it.  I tried to call Brett, but he didn't initially answer his phone, so I called my parents.  As luck would have it the bird flew into our "yellow" room which has a door that I can close.  By this time, Brett had received my message and called me back.  The bird at this point was very traumatized and was sitting motionless on the window sill.  Brett told me to just leave the back door open and hope it flew out.

The ending-

The bird did eventually gather enough courage to leave the window sill and fly out the door.  There is never a dull moment in the Kresin house!

"Train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home."

Titus 2: 4-5





Mother's Day 2012

I read this on the Woman Living Well blog and wanted to repost it.

“Oh that God would give

every mother a vision

of the glory and splendor of the work that is given to her when a babe is place in her bosom to be nursed and trained!

Could she have but one glimpse

in to the future of that life as it reaches on into eternity;

could she look into it’s soul to see its possibilities;

could she be made to understand her own personal responsibility for the training of this child,

for the development of its life, and for its destiny,

–she would see that in all God’s world there is no other work so noble

and so worthy of her best powers,

and she would commit to no others hands

the sacred and holy trust given to her.”

-JR Miller



The blessings that made me a Mom over 13 years ago.

My first surprise arrived on Friday afternoon.  I love iced sugar cookies.  I received a bouquet of flower sugar cookies that have tasted so yummy.  I have to admit that I have only shared one....with Brett.

Waiting for me on Mother's Day.  We began the day getting ready for church together.  Each of the kids had made some special surprises at school and with the help of Daddy.  I must say that I was very spoiled this year.

A picture frame with all the kids, even our little one who will arrive in June/July.

I also received a gift to have a prenatal massage next Saturday.  A couple of years ago, Brett got me a spa day that I never used....so this year he went an extra step and actually scheduled the day and time for me to go.  I'm really excited!

Made by Andrew at school

Made by Matt at school along with the following book.

Do you see a food theme?  The way to Matt's heart is through food!

Emily's class made a cookbook

I also received two coupons from her for free babysitting and a kitchen clean-up!  She is a great help around the house and will one day be an excellent Mommy!

After lunch we celebrated with my other favorite......a cookie cake!

It has been a wonderful Mother's Day.  Brett and the kids went above and beyond to make this a special day that I will remember and appreciate.

"Her children arise and call her blessed."

Proverbs 31:28











Week in Pictures

This was an ordinary week.  Nothing too exciting to report except our day to day happening. 

Sunday, we went to church.  Caroline wore this adorable sailor dress that my sister sent to us.  The dress belonged to my niece Chloe.  It is so nice to be able to share clothes between the cousins!  After church, Caroline was playing with the tea set while we made lunch.



Apparently Monday was rather mundane because I missed taking any pictures that day.

Tuesday did bring a bit of excitement.  On the way to my doctor's appointment, Kate and I saw this mother goose with her four babies walking across the street to our neighborhood pond.  We managed to snap a picture of the Mom with one of the babies.

After picking up the kids from school, we pulled into the driveway and Matt spotted a cat in the backyard.  He went to investigate and yelled up to me that he also found a turtle.  Fully expecting to find a box turtle, I went down to see it.  Instead, I came upon this rather large snapping turtle.

Wednesday it rained all day!  Kate took advantage of the dreary weather and enjoyed a long nap that she started in the car pool pick up line at school and continued on the couch.

On Thursday this kids wanted ice cream cones for their after school snack.  Caroline enjoyed her vanilla cone without too much of a mess.  She is quickly learning from her older siblings that snacks are GREAT!

On Friday Matt had a baseball game.  He is really enjoying his first experience of participating in a team sport.  You can see by his dirty knees that he is even attempting to slide into the bases!



Also on Friday Jake had his first scrimmage as a part of the high school football team.  He has been working out with the team twice a week since January and for the last two weeks he has practiced daily.  He seems to really be enjoying it and we are looking forward to the fall and the start of football season.

On Saturday, Andrew and Matt attended a birthday party for a friend at the local park.  The birthday boy was a friend of Andrew's from his class.  When I called to RSVP the Mom mentioned that he also had a brother in Matt's class and they would love for Matt to come along also.  The boys had a great time despite a short rain shower.

"The Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you."
2 Thessalonians 3:3







Nick's Baptism

God is able to accomplish things in our life that we never thought would be possible.  Four years ago, our family was living life on our own terms.  Brett and I had both been raised in Christian homes and went to church with our families growing up.  However, once we got to college, we began living our life for ourselves.  We began our married life together and quickly added our first two children.  It was around this time that my parents began praying that we would feel the tug of what our life was missing.  We moved to Pittsburgh in 2001 and it became easy for me to attend my family church because they were all there.  However, when we moved away in 2004, we once again feel into our old ways and neglected our relationship with God, to surround ourselves with other like minded believers, and raise our children to know that God loves them and they can trust and depend upon him.  Through this time, my parents continued to pray for our family to find a church that would encourage Brett and I both in our own walk with the Lord, but in our marriage, and in raising our children.  That prayer was answered when we moved in 2008 to Texas.  We decided upon moving that it was important for our family to get involved in a church.  I found a church online before we moved that also had a MOPS group that I could attend and meet some other moms.  Rush Creek Church is where God began to work in our hearts and in the lives of Brett, I, and our children.  We joined a small group that became a lifeline for our family.  They loved and supported us.  We had weekly fellowship and study time together.  When Brett was transferred to Georgia a year ago, leaving our church was the only challenge.  We immediately found a church in Georgia and began attending.  This fall, we were once again able to join a small group.

It is hard to believe that four short years ago, our life was so different.  Tonight, we had the unbelievable blessing of watching our 7th grade son, along with 17 other children come forward to tell the world that they have put their full trust in God and want to share this with others.  Knowing God and trusting him with your life brings incredible peace.  I pray that Nick will continue to put his trust in God alone.  That he will always remember tonight and when he encounters situations that he feels are out of his control, that he will return to the words he said tonight.  "God loves us in the good and the bad."  It isn't always easy to see God in every situation, but He is present and wants more than anything for us to come to Him. 

I am thankful that my parents didn't give up and continued to pray for us.  God is working in our family in unbelievable ways.  Tonight we celebrated His work in the life of Nick.

http://youtu.be/7puHqD7aNl8

Here are some pictures of our family celebrating Nick tonight.

 

 

 

Lastly, I wanted to share this very tender hearted card that Emily made for Nick.

 

Dear Nick,

Today you got dunked under water to symbolize your faith and to tell others that you trust God.  I'm very proud.

Love, Emily

"You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you."

John 15:16