Hello God I am listening.

This week at church the sermon was on God's calling.  For those of you who do not believe in God, or who wish not to read about religious ideas stop now :)  For the rest of you read on.
In children's church we talked about God's calling, and listening for God's voice.  The question was asked has God ever spoken to you (either in a dream, or directly, or just a feeling you might have had).  The kids are always super creative with their answers and this Sunday was no different.  One made up a dream, one said that God provides comfort when she is sad, and a couple said God talks to them when they are getting ready to do something they shouldn't.  After church Ryan gave me the insert from the bulletin to read and again it was on God's calling for our lives, and how to determine what is a calling and what is created in our own minds.
Two criteria: a. is it something you feel you have to do, b. is it helping to make the world a better place.  If you can say yes to both of these then you are probably following God's calling, if not then it may be time to reassess.
I feel like God "talks" with me a lot.  Sometimes I choose to listen and follow, which is always the smartest and easiest choice.  Sometimes I choose to put my fingers in my ears and say "I'm not listening, I'm not listening", which always ends up the way God had planned it, it just takes longer, and sometimes the road is bumpy!  For example, when God said "home school your kids", I said "no way!!!".  I was like Moses, and made every excuse in the book, don't pick me, choose someone else.  However, God has a funny way of getting around my stupidity and getting me to follow him even if I don't want to.  I have always felt like my "calling" was to be a wife and a mother.  I have always wanted a family ever since I can remember.  I didn't just want the fairy tale, I wanted the work, and the stress, and the entire life.  I went to college just to pass the time until I could have a family, I took a job as a teacher again just to pass time.  But in the end I knew that I wanted to be a stay at home Mom and I have to say it has been one of the best decisions Ryan and I made.  Which makes me think that this is where God wants me right now.  This is not to say that every day is amazing and wonderful, but God never promised life would be easy! 
I also feel that God is moving us in this new direction in our lives.  We have talked about moving for years and years, but it isn't until right now that it just feels right.  It feels like everything is moving us/ pushing us in this direction.  Some people still look at us as we are strange.  I mean how many people say "well we are going to put our house on the market, we have no idea where we are going or if we can truly afford it, but we are going to trust God to work this out."  However, we feel in our bones that this is the best for our family right now.  So we shall see where God decides to put us, and what he holds for our future.  What I can say for today is that I am beyond excited to be following his path, and I am super happy for the direction our family is going!

Jodie was cold!

That's right Jodie was cold, but no need to change out of her swimsuit.  That would be silly, just add tights and bam, warm again :) 

Easter

We made a small scavenger hunt for the kids on Saturday morning before Easter.  They are trying to figure out where to go next.  Well actually Jodie is just trying to get into her chocolate bunny!

 Ryley with her new hair clips (sorry you don't get to see how cute they are!).

 Jodie holding her new dress and hair clips.

 Mason  has been asking for this car for weeks, and I just happened to find it on sale at Target!

 After they got all their Easter stuff we went to Ryley's soccer game and then straight over to church for the Easter egg hunt.  The kids had a blast and no one was afraid of the Easter bunny!

 Here we are after church on Sunday morning.  I told Ryan I used to try to get us all in coordinating outfits, now I just want to make sure everyone has some thing clean on before we leave the house :)  Oh how things have changed!

Ryan's Birthday

 Ryan's birthday was March 30th so I am a little late getting pictures up :)  The kids and I had a blast getting ready for all his birthday surprises!  We sent him hot cookies to work, we decorated the house, we made him a special dinner, and we wrapped up all his presents.

 The kids loved this Rocky card, and played with it constantly until it broke (thank goodness it broke quickly!).

 We bought Ryan a couple cross necklaces, a new wood carving set, and two new wood carving knives.

Ryan prefers ice cream to cake so this year we made him Oreo sundaes.

Faith Kaye Silverwood!

Today was the big day!  All morning the kids and I have talked about how nice it will be to know if this baby is a boy or a girl and even though we really want a boy God knows exactly what our family needs.  Well I guess God thinks another girl would be wonderful because that is what we are having.  Mason took a little time to adjust but now he is super excited and wanted to go out in the rain to buy her her first doll!  He is also excited because we are going to set up her crib and her clothes in his room!  Jodie was so excited and announced to everyone that she knew it was a sister in there.  Ryley was quite, but very excited to be having another sister.  Faith is growing right on schedule and moving up a storm.  Everything looks perfect so we are all thrilled!!!!  

The first picture is Faith picking her nose!  Big brother was very proud :)

This is her diva pose, her hand is up by her forehead.

Her tiny perfect feet (well you can see one and 1/2)

This is Faith kicking and moving up a storm.  She did not like the ultrasound one bit and she didn't hesitate to kick and move and hit!  She is feisty just like her siblings!

Her long leg.  I swear I have this exact picture of Ryley!

Sucking her thumb after picking her nose.  Made her Daddy proud ha ha ha ha ha!!!!

Random

So we have been super busy, but we haven't had any reason to take tons of pictures. March will be an exciting month at the Silverwood house! Mason starts baseball (kid-pitch), Ryley will still be doing gymnastics and soccer will start back up, Jodie will hopefully be fully potty trained, and we will get to find out if baby number 4 is a boy or a girl. I think it is a boy, Ryan is not sure, Mason is hoping for a boy, Ryley says girl one day and boy the next, and Jodie says it has to be a girl because she wants a girl! Here are the only pictures I have taken since the blizzard. Hopefully once the weather warms up and the ground dries out we will get more pictures.

Lately the girls have been wanting to wear only swimsuits or leotards. It is amazing to me that they never get cold! Ryley was laying on my bed and wanted me to take her picture. She has always loved having her picture taken.I just thought that Jodie looked super cute!
For those of you who want to see what I look like right now, this is it. I swear if one more person tells me how huge I am I might just hit them!!!! I just smile and say "yep, the joys of being pregnant with baby #4".

Snow, snow, and more snow

These first few pictures are from the last snow storm we had. This one the kids had a lots of fun sledding with several of the kids around the neighborhood.


These are the pictures from today. UGH! The snow is blowing so hard that it is just horrible to be outside. Ryley looks like the kids from A Christmas Story.
The driveway is slicker than snot! The kids all busted it when they walked out and then I came super close to hitting the ground (so I crawled to get off the driveway, better safe than sorry!).
Jodie loves the snow!!!!! She didn't mind it blowing in her face, and she loved walking through the huge drifts.
Mason was trying to get sat down in a snow drift.
This is Ryley and me standing behind the biggest snow drift we have.
I wanted the kids to stand up behind the drift, but they wanted to lean on it instead. Still you get the idea of just how much the snow has drifted.