Seriously.

I wish I could be at this. We moved too early!!! Ugh.

Saddleback Church

There are so many different things about living here in LA that I will miss. One of those things is our church - Saddleback. The past 7 months or so, we've mostly been attending church by watching it online - gas prices and Noah being the main reasons. But since we knew this would be the last chance that we would have to attend Saddleback in person for quite a while (or maybe ever), we decided that we would go to main campus today for service. The drive was great {Noah slept the whole way} and the weather was really nice {which was good since we sat outside}. I'm already praying that we'll find a church that we love just as much in Abilene.

The main stairway/walkway entrance....
which leads to the main worship center.
Noah and I enjoying the great Southern California weather.

Noah and Ben posing in front of the main worship center - I love the glass windows: they're etched with Bible verses!

The new Student Center: The Refinery. The inside is AMAZING! I {almost} wish that Noah and our future children could grow up using this building. The best part: the church took on NO debt to build it AND when we first started attending Saddleback, this was the parking lot where we always parked.

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After church service, we spent some time with Josh, Michelle and Ella, a family that we just adore from our Small Group. It was great to be able to just sit back, relax, and enjoy a {great} hamburger while the kiddos played. Too bad I forgot to take a couple of pictures before Ella went down for her nap. I have a feeling though, we'll be seeing them again soon in the near future. ;)

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mommies (and Mommies-to-be!) out there!

After spending the day yesterday in San Diego, we were pretty tired this morning. Noah even slept in a little too! I was determined though, that we were going to actually go to church campus today (instead of watching the service online). So, we got ready and after I opened up my cards from Ben and Noah (Noah even "handed" his to me!!), we left to pick up doughnuts and go to church. The service was great (Kay Warren spoke again as she generally does on Mother's Day, and as always, her words went straight to my heart) and the weather was perfect. We ate lunch at On the Border (one of our favorites) and came back home for naps. Overall, it was a pretty restful and relaxing day. Oh! And I finally got to open my gift from my parents and sisters....

I think it perfectly describes how I feel about my little munchkin - "Angel of Mine".

And, speaking of that little angel of ours, we fed him some cereal tonight (I've fed it to him twice before, but never when Ben was home or when he was there to video it) and thought you might enjoy the video. I love how excited he gets when he sees the spoon coming towards him.

A Surprise Diaper Pounding

Crystal and Jim, the hosts of our Small Group, are expecting their third baby in early June and we are all so excited for them. Since they really had all the clothes and toys that they need for little Olivia, we decided that we would throw them a surprise diaper pounding. (For those of you who are wondering what a diaper pounding is, it's basically a baby shower, but instead of clothes or other baby gifts, you "pound" them with diapers!) Needless to say, they were quite surprised when we all walked in with lots of diapers!

Noah and I spent most of the day preparing the things we were suppose to bring: a diaper cake and cupcakes. Noah sat in his Bumbo and talked with me and watched while I put together the cake and decorated the cupcakes. (And don't worry, the only time I stepped away from the table and didn't take him off of it was when I took this picture - the reason these were recalled was because people would put the baby on an elevated surface and leave them there while the parents were no where to be found. Trust me, I'm too protective to just leave him there without me in arm's reach!)

Here's the finished diaper cake and cupcakes...

Normally, by the time we get to small group, Noah is already asleep, but not tonight! I guess he knew that there was a party tonight. At least he got to enjoy some time with our friends - he really likes Heidi!

He did finally fall asleep though and of course, it was before we could get a picture of us with Michelle and Ella. I can hardly believe that she is almost one!!

And the star of the show: Crystal! Doesn't she look just beautiful?

If Olivia is just a cute as Isabella, I don't know what Jim and Crystal will do with themselves when the girls reach high school! ;)

Going to the Computer

Until I am willing to relinquish Noah into the (very capable) hands of the Saddleback nursery or until it's a lot warmer, we've decided to "go to church" from the comfort of our home -- my Mom calls it "going to the computer". (Not to mention that we love the fact that we can stay in our PJ's, drink from a real coffee cup, and avoid the busy parking lot.) After spending the singing portion of the worship service in my arms, Noah spent the sermon portion snuggled with Ben on the couch.

They were so cute that I had to take a moment from Rick's sermon and get a picture of them listening (but not taking notes).

Sleeping through Church

We finally made it to church...well, sort of. We made it to the computer! Since Noah has arrived we haven't made it out to Saddleback for a service yet. And really, who could blame us? It's a four hour ordeal, once you include drive time, and that's not including a stop for lunch! I'm quite sure God understands! ;) But this morning, we actually made it to the computer to watch the live service online. We really enjoy being able to watch here at home - it's nice to be able to stay in our PJ's, make some coffee and cinnamon rolls, and sing as loud as we want.... sometimes Ben even dances (I really did marry a "jig-dancing" guy just like my Daddy-Man!). Noah slept through the entire service! He spent part of the time with me in his newest sling and the rest of it snuggling on the couch with Daddy.

Thank goodness for internet services!

Taking the Shoeboxes to be mailed

Today we took the Operation Shoebox shoeboxes out to Saddleback... we were planning on going to the church service and then also Class 401, but after the couple of days that we had had, we decided that it would be better for us to simply watch the service online, not go to Class 401 (we were really bummed about this one!), and just take the boxes out at our leisure. And that was a very good decision!

We have a Wii!!

The day started out normal enough... Ben and I overslept a little and so instead of rushing around to get ready, we decided to just watch our church service online. It was actually kinda nice to just relax on the couch in my PJs, with a cup of coffee and sing along and listen to Rick preach. We've already determined that once Noah gets here, this will be how we will "go to church" for the first couple of weeks/month!
It wasn't until after we watched the service and ate lunch that the normal-ness of a Sunday was over -we went to Toys R' Us. Under "normal" circumstances, it probably wouldn't have been that big of a deal... I mean, we are having a child soon and I do have a ton of BRU and TRU coupons! But we went in Toys R' Us with the sole purpose of finding out if they still had a Wii in stock... and just our luck, they did! Most everyone knows that we've been saving up for this and, so that we could get it a little sooner, we decided to put some of our Christmas money that we were going to spend on each other towards it. We spent the rest of the afternoon getting it all set up and of course, playing! Ben kicked my butt at Bowling, but I won every game of Laser Hockey! We even created our own Mii - versions of us! "Wii" can't wait for everyone to come play with us!! :)

My "Mii"... and yes, Ben was really kicking my butt!

40 Days of Purpose

Today we're starting 40 Days of Purpose with Saddleback Church! Both Ben and I are pretty excited about it even though we've done the program before with FBC Moore. What makes it even more exciting is the fact that our pastor is leading it... Pastor Rick Warren! The author of the book, The Purpose Driven Life! During today's service we were able to hear Ashley Smith's (now Robinson) testimony... just in case you don't remember who Ashley is, she is the Atlanta girl who was taken hostage by an escaped convict and read portions of The Purpose Driven Life to him... essentially saving her life and his. And for those of you who are interested, you can go and watch the same sermons that we are seeing online at Saddleback.com!