"real" post

ok, so now that i did my mandatory book review, i feel compelled to at least come up w/ some sort of a real post. whew. where to start....things continue to seem to run in high gear around here. which is good but it's sorta making me tired right now. things at church are going pretty good - phil's youth group continues to see lots of new kids, which is awesome. next weekend is a ladies retreat that i have nearly single-handedly thrown together - i'm excited to see how it goes, there are going to be around 25 women. (by the way, if you feel so led, i would appreciate prayers for that!)

we are in the middle of dave ramsey's "financial peace university" which is a 13 wk. course on, you guessed it, finances! he is really good - i highly recommend any of his books, etc. we feel like we are getting a better handle on things and learning a lot - and thankfully, learning that we are in a lot better position than many people. i am so thankful that we have not let credit cards rule our life! anyway, along those lines we were extremely blessed this week as we got our taxes done and due to various factors (one being the new adoption refund - praise Jesus!) we are getting a large chunk of change and will be able to finish off our 6 month emergency fund as well as upgrade my car using cash! i can honestly say that getting our budget under control has already strengthened our marriage and taken a lot of anxiety/stress away from me.

you see, i don't think i have issues trusting God to provide for us, yet i still let myself get caught up and worried day in - day out about all the money stuff. it's really silly. but now that we are doing things differently (we are actually using the cash/envelope system for a few of our budget categories) i know exactly where we're at and where the money is going. it is really freeing. in our early years of marriage we were better about this, but in the last several i think we just got a little lazy....along w/ having some major stuff happen in lives, like, oh i don't know, adopting a couple kids, buying a house, getting a new job!

well, i guess that's about all for now - just thought i'd let ya know that the benners are doing pretty well. life is good, God is good - all the time. :) maybe i'll add a few pics of those crazy little people who live w/ us.

i think ari will take after her papa w/ the artistic flair!
i am glad he thought being stuck in the box was so funny so that i could take the pic!

Chazown

This is a book review of a book called "Chazown" by Craig Groeschel. I actually received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for writing this review. So, the title is the Hebrew word for vision, also meaning dream or revelation. Basically, it is a practical, how-to guide for those trying to determine God's vision for their lives. I liked the book, but I would say that it's not really anything I haven't heard before and I found myself skipping over a lot of application suggestions. (Maybe that just means I'm getting old and I must think I already know it all!) But I did enjoy the author's writing and stories and I appreciated the short chapters - always a plus in my opinion!

another milestone

this past sunday, november 7th, marked a year since we brought nate home. we went out for lunch after church w/ some friends to celebrate. it doesn't seem possible that it's been a year- it has flown by so quickly, but a lot has happened. he was a big, 20 lb., 7 mos. old baby then and now he's a big, 30 lb., 19 mos. old toddler! he can now chase after his "big" sissy and hold his own when she tries to take toys from him. :) but sometimes they do actually play nice together....once in awhile. he didn't really start walking a lot until august - around 16 mos. old - i think it surprised and almost scared ari - she must have thought "baby nate" (as we used to call him) would stay a baby forever.

his first word was "mama", as every good child's should be, but now his vocabulary is really taking off. he doesn't say "yes" but has this very cute way of nodding and saying "uh", and when he says "more" it is really adorable. he's a pretty funny guy and just a lot of fun. oh, and he is forever asking to go to the playground....i was kinda shocked when we were driving one day (several months ago) and i heard him say it...but i guess that's what happens when you have an older sibling to teach you stuff!

ari has had a summer of milestones herself. first was the switch from crib to toddler bed which went pretty well...we put a gate at her door, so she could get out of bed and go open the door but not leave her room. some nights we would hear that door open and close at least 20 or 30 times until she would settle down! next was the potty training - she did amazing. the first couple days were a little rough but she caught on quick and has been great ever since. she occasionally goes thru a period for a few days where she has accidents, but nothing major. i am very thankful and just hope and pray that nate is at least half that easy!

anyway, over the summer ari also started putting sentences together on her own and now she is doing even better...she used to always refer to herself in the third person but now she is using "me" more. one of her really funny phrases is "no like it"....yes, it can be frustrating at times, but we would usually laugh b/c at first she would just protest w/ "like it" and by wiping off her tongue! it was quite hilarious. just recently she really started singing songs more completely - she's always loved to sing but would skip a lot of words - now she is really getting most of the words in and she loves to help sing "jesus loves me" to nate when we put him to sleep.

hmmm....what else have we been up to? this past month or so has just been crazy busy, but it has been a wonderful fall. back in early october we had a surprise visit from "uncle chris" from chicago and that was a lot of fun and a much needed break for phil. then while phil was away at a conference, the kids and i went to visit my parents and i took ari to a "veggie tales live" show - it was a lot of fun. i think she was in shock for the first few songs - the veggie costumes were pretty huge! but then she got into it and was singing and dancing.

and now i am looking forward to the holidays. i know it will be busy but it will be good to have some time off and visits with family. and at some point we are hoping to take a few days and go away on a little "family retreat" to a camp over in the poconos - we really need to get away for a break. i just want to really soak up this time while the kids are little - i know they probably won't always want to hang out with us as much as they do now! and i so want to remember all of these funny little things that they do and say - but they are changing so darn fast - is there a way to slow them down a little? :)

spring fever

i know it's still a bit early for this, but i've been mostly stuck in our house w/ 2 kiddos for over 3 mos. now - i'm so ready for spring! life will be so much easier when i can just drop the kids in the stroller and bop into town to run errands, visit phil at work or just get out. it will be nothing short of heavenly...well, except for the fact that it will be a major workout every time b/c by then i'll have to push around over 50 lbs of children! HA!

i'd like to say that i'm going to do better at blogging but i'm not that unrealistic....but i do want to get better at capturing things that nate and ari do and recording them here. guess i should rename my blog...hmmm. anyway, a couple wks ago we celebrated one yr. since we brought arianna home - kinda crazy. we went out for brunch and visited a friend's farm to bottle feed a baby goat and meet some llamas and sheep. :) it was great! it's hard to imagine our lives w/o her. every night after the kids are in bed we sit and laugh about the silly things she says and does.

she really enjoys being naked these days - it's quite funny. occasionally when i go to get her up after naptime she has taken her shirt off and prefers to stay that way. we marvel that she doesn't seem to get cold, but i guess it's a good thing b/c i'm planning to potty train next wk so she will be walking around for at least a few days in just undies and a shirt. (or maybe no shirt, if she so chooses!)

another favorite activity of hers is singing - she makes up lots of great songs. she really gets into it too. we're pretty sure we have a future musician on our hands. she's been up front after church several times and phil has let her sing into a mic and also bang on the drums...she's pretty good for an almost 2 yr old!

nate is finally starting to do some army crawling, but he still rolls a lot too. he's a smily guy and is very sweet - sometimes ari screeches at him and he immediately starts to cry. poor guy, he's gonna have to toughen up - he's def. learned he needs to be more vocal around here to get attention...i think he must have learned that from his big sissy. :)

2009...whoa!

so, i am doing the customary reflecting on the year that is about to end in 2 hrs. and it is quite mind blowing. i still can't believe all that has happened in the past 365 days. last year at this time we were daring to hope that a sweet, cute, funny little girl would soon be joining our family. we had no idea all that was to follow...probably a good thing. :) don't get me wrong, i am still reeling from the overwhelming blessings we have been given...however i am also not a big fan of change so this year has been a little rough too.

i'm still figuring out this whole mommy thing, and phil and i are trying to make time for us again. it's just a little unsettling when pretty much every conceivable thing in your life changes...except for God...for which i am so thankful. i am just reminded again and again that it's not about me. and thankfully, the beautiful smiles from our kids remind me of that every day.

i'm looking forward to see what 2010 will hold. i'm excited about continuing to watch our kiddos grow (i'm already amazed when i look back at pics of ari from just a few months ago or from when we brought her home!). i'm looking forward to putting down deeper roots here: making stronger friendships, spending more time w/ family and getting more involved at church. and i hope that i will grow closer to God - keep seeking Him and figuring out how to make Him the focus of all that we do. i hope that you are able to take some time to reflect and think about some hopes for the new year as well!

family of 4!

so, we have now expanded our family again....for the 2nd time in 9 mos. yeah, just a little crazy! and apparently it has caused me to have insomnia because i should have been sleeping for several hours by now....don't know what's going on w/ that but i'm a little afraid to find out what it will mean for my body and overall attitude tomorrow! no matter, we are in chicago and it was wonderful to hang out w/ some of our amazing friends here tonight. almost felt like we never left....almost.

anyway, we are thrilled to have nathaniel join our clan - he is a sweet, happy, chunky little amazing gift from God. ari is doing pretty well adjusting to having him around so far and we know there will be challenges ahead but that she will be an awesome big sis. (probably a little bossy at times too!) we are looking forward to watching them grow up and play together and hopefully be great buddies. we are immensely blessed!

to everything, turn, turn, turn

so it's only been almost 5 months since i last blogged...silly, i know. then again, not like we've had any major stuff going on. :) move halfway across the country, buy a house, new job/ministry, and start pursuing another adoption...whic

h means practically redoing the whole process since we live in a new state!! but thru it all GOD has been so good and so faithful and we are SO BLESSED.

we've had a great summer and fall in our new home and ari has grown so much. she continues to amaze us: with her silliness, her cuteness, her ability to charm everyone, and how she keeps filling our hearts with joy more and more each day. she is now running all over the place, repeating lots of words, feeding herself w/a spoon (and

making a big mess in the process!), drinking from a sippy cup, and so much more. she still loves music - wiggles/dances whenever there's some tunes playing. oh yeah, and she is now an official veggie tales addict and asks for them a lot....anytime she sees phil's computer, ipod, or if the TV is on. the irony of it all is that she will not EAT veggies. :) we think she is just smart enough to suspect she might be eating her singing friends.

and then there is nathaniel....who we have been trying to bring home all summer....and it has been such a frustrating process, but again we know God's timing is perfect and hopefully he will be coming home in a few wks. he is such a sweet little guy a

nd we are so excited to add him to our family...a little scared too - they are 11 months apart, after all! but we know it will be so good for them to grow up together.

i am just so ready to once again "get settled". and please, Lord, no more big changes for us for a little while, k? i don't know how much more i could handle....i was pretty close to the "edge" a couple times, but i just kept turning back to God and trusting Him with all of it. i'm so glad He uses these times to draw us closer to Him.

we are making new friends but still miss chicago too...can't wait to get back for a visit...hopefully soon, when we go to get Nate. i guess that's the synopsis for now....just gotta add some pics of my cutie girl!