Haven of Grace.

sweet baby Navea (3 weeks old)
sweet baby Cadin (6 weeks old)

I had the best time at Haven of Grace! But who wouldn't? getting to hold new born babies all day long! The Haven of Grace is a shelter for up to ten women who are pregnant or whom have babies. This was probably the nicest shelter I've ever seen. I thought it was a church and these women just stay there during the week or something. But actually the women can stay there for, I believe, up to an entire year. The shelter is a church building, super clean, and has a kitchen area and living room areas throughout the building. The women take turns during the week cooking dinner for each other and can eat from the kitchen whenever they want. They can stay there at all hours of the day and there are plenty of supplies to take care of their babies too. Once one graduates from the shelter, there are new, nice apartment buildings right next to the building that the women can stay in for up to two years! The ladies that worked at the shelter were so gracious and appreciative to me. It was a very well put together organization. The women who stayed there were all very young, some were not more than a year or two older than me. I was able to talk with some of them and they were very sweet. All I really did today was watch those two babies as their moms ran some errands for a few hours. I loved it! I'm going back tomorrow so hopefully I'll learn some more that I can share.

Heather's Birthday Present.

Such a cute restaurant!

Delicious food!

Kenedee playing "Magpie Game"

My two lunch dates: Birthday girl and her adorable daughter

Today, I had the honor of taking my good friend Heather out for her TWENTY-NINETH birthday! Heather, Kenedee (her 3 year old daughter) and I checked out this cute mom and pop restaurant in Old Town St. Charles called "Magpies". It was delicious! I had the potato soup and the "gobbler" sandwich which I recommend to anyone who goes there. We had a good time just talking and playing Kenedee's game called, The Magpie game. We would pretend to be the waitress and ordered silly things. It was really fun. On the way to and from the restaurant, all three of us made up songs and sang them to each other. One of my favorites by Kenedee went something like: "I love Magpies and I love you and this is a big girl song and I'm very full and I don't want to take a nap and I love Magpies, it's cute like mommy and kenedee and kelsey and its beautiful!" We were laughing so hard. Glad I know these two wonderful girls! Heather has a beautiful heart. I'm very blessed to have her influence as a part of my life. I hope I can be a good mommy and follower of Jesus like my friend when I grow up.

The Shalom House.

Yesterday, I had the privilege to visit the Shalom House. This home has two parts. In the upstairs, there are twelve ladies that live in their own rooms. They are responsible for buying their own groceries, making their own meals, and cleaning their own rooms/items. The ladies are allowed to stay in this "transitional housing" for up to two years. In the basement, however, there are twenty-five beds. This area is open all throughout the day for women who have no place to be and the doors close at 9:00. The women who occupy the 25 beds are allowed to stay there and keep their stuff there for up to 90 days. This part of the shelter cooks meals for the women and provides meds and a place to stay warm and safe. This is the area that I was able to help out with. But all I really did was talk with the ladies and the staff and put some chicken in the oven. There isn't much that needs to be cleaned because the women who stay there have chores to do throughout the day and usually churches provide the meals for the women. I had a good time though just listening and being with these women. I'm excited to go back!

baby shower.

the new moma, my cousin addi

the beautiful, delicious cake by my Great Aunt Lee

the godmother (me!) and the mother (addi!)

addi made that shirt for me. it says "godmother" in rhinestones!

this is my diaper cake that I made for addi and baby gavin

there were so many CUTE kiddos at the shower!

these are my third cousins (I think) tori and lilyanna.

i could not get enough of this ball of adorableness! his name is ky.

this sweet angel is Raigen. she's only a month old!

i loved holding her.

here's a close up of her. she kept making this cute face!

can't wait for addi to have our little gavin thomas!

april 24, 2009 is the due date.

This weekend I headed up to East Peoria with my moma. With my Aunt Jodie and Aunt Kerri, we through a babyshower for my oldest cousin Addi. Our new baby will be coming April 24, 2009, hopefully. Little Gavin Thomas will be the first baby to come to our family in over a decade! He is going to be so spoiled. Anyways, Addi's shower went really well. About 25 people, friends and family, came out to celebrate Addi and the baby. We played fun games together and had some yummy food. It was a good time to just hang out with the girls. All we talked about was how fun it's going to be to have a baby in the family again! I'm so excited. After holding all of these kiddos at the shower, I'm looking forward to getting through this next month and finally seeing baby Gavin for the first time! It's also pretty cool that I am going to be a godmother. Yay for babies!

new reads.

Began two new books today! Very excited to learn from them. The first book, "The Same Kind of Different As Me" is an incredible story so far. In the other one, "The End of Poverty," I have only gotten as far as the forward from Bono, but who doesn't love Bono?! I am still reading "The Last Eyewitness: the Final Week" during this Lent season which is also going great. That book is one that retells the last week of Jesus' life from the Gospel John in a different and personal story form. I love it. In case you are wondering, it's not because I have too much time on my hands that I am able to read all of these books, it's that I don't have the alternative of T.V.!

y-not love.

Just in this past weekend I have been exposed to some pain that Christians, the church, has caused people. I always hear from movies or leaders of other's stories about the church causing them pain: how the church had treated them poorly or how they felt outcasted and out of place or that Christians they encountered were judgmental. The past two days, however, I've been able to talk with two very great ladies about their "church history". One had told me she felt her church growing up was just completely superficial. That everyone seemed only concerned with telling other's faults and reminding them of their sin. She said the people were just so judgmental and she really didn't want to be apart of something like that. The other woman I had spoken with told me the church had hurt her very badly. She had trusted the people and the pastor but then some things happened and she felt that the rug had been pulled out from underneath her. She was shocked and completely devastated and hurt. In her own words, this woman told me it felt like a divorce. That returning to church was like trying to date and Ex-husband: awkward, scary, and hard. I have never been exposed to real life stories like this from people I know. I'm heartbroken!

It makes me so mad and sad that Christ's church has treated people like this. As followers we are ambassadors of Christ. When you choose to follow him, you have chosen to be like him which means you have chosen to LOVE people. I know I am not perfect, but I hope I am always intentional with my words and actions. That they will always be filled with life and love because if not, the consequences are sad and painful.

Daddy & Me.

First Starbucks and the Art Museum!

Then Mai Lee Chinese Food!

Then Kaldi's Coffee Shop!

This Saturday Daddy and I went on a date together, our first one in a while. We started it with me treated us to Starbucks. Then, we headed to downtown St. Louis in Forest Park to walk through the Art Museum together! It was very fun. I'm glad we both like art. Afterwards, we headed to an area close to the "Loop" to eat Chinese food, another love that we both share (that mom hates). We ate at Mai Lee. It was delicious! And then we headed to Kaldi's Coffee Shop and had some chai tea lattes and read the paper. I had a wonderful time with my Daddy. I love him so much! He's so special to me and I'm so glad he's mine!

Family Springfield Tournament.

Caleb played four fantastic games!

He even made the switch from defense to forward.

And even though it POURED and stormed on us...

It was worth it cause our boys WON!

The family and I went to Springfield, MO just a week ago to watch my brother in his season's first soccer tournament! It was a very good time watching Caleb and the boys win the tournament. They all played very well. Since we were in my soon to be "hometown", Mom and I took advantage of our time there checking out the sites and finding all of the good spots of town. I found a few awesome coffee shops and fun places to go! Made me even more eager to finish up high school. Anyways, Springfield was a great time. We had fun as a family!

Breakfast of Champions.

Daddy's donkey and garden at Lambert's

Brother and Daddy at Lambert's

Momma and Me at Lambert's

The food was so good!

One of the many fun places downtown!

One of the many cute, yummy places downtown to eat.

There were a few painted walls downtown, pretty cool.

TJ's Birthday.

(the birthday boy, Tucker James)

(the cousins)

(caleb and peyton)

(the aunt's kissing tradition!)

(yummy birthday cake!)

This past weekend me, mom, and caleb headed up to Mattoon and celebrated my cousin Tucker's birthday! He turned 15! I can't even believe that. He gets his "white card" in just a few days too... driving! Tucker, out of all my cousins, is MY baby! I just can't believe how old he is. Anyways, we had a lot of fun celebrating him with all the family. TJ is one amazing kid! I'm very proud of him.