This has been such a wonderful weekend around our home. I realize that I just love being with my family! They bring me such joy, just being in their physical presence. Everything from Renée baking cookies to Sammy’s little squeals of joy at me pushing him around in the laundry basket, I conclude that I am indeed blessed by the Lord.

Which leads me to two other blessings that I have experienced with my family. One is Bible time. Every night before Sammy goes to bed, we read a chapter out of the Bible and go around, youngest to oldest, and ask for one thing that each person remembers. Sammy is getting pretty good at remembering that we read about “Jesus” by pointing to the painting on our wall. Then, I get to hear also what Renée learned from the Scripture. We’ve read through almost the entire book of Psalms (only one week’s worth left) and it’s great to just remember a single thing from Scripture that God has impressed upon our hearts through the reading. For me tonight, it was the fact that we run to God so He can “hide” us from our enemies and our sin. What a neat concept! We then pray and thank the Lord for the day and ask Him to help us obey Him better. We all need as much help as we can get.

The second blessing is so fun: being together, the three (four) of us on the couch after we pray, and just loving on one another. Tonight Samuel kept putting his hand on my head and making me “bow” my head like I would when we pray. When I put my head down, I’d pull him toward me and start munching on his tummy, and he’d laugh like crazy! He also grabs my ears and makes me look like a monkey, and laughs. And there’s nothing quite so sweet as seeing him lean over and kiss the baby in Renée’s tummy.

As Renée was carrying him off to his crib tonight, he looked at me, waved, then smiled, and blew me a kiss. I tell you again, nothing is so sweet as the blessing the Lord has given me through my family.

Well it happened again. I had a total urge this afternoon for a certain treat and simply had to run to the store and get the ingredients. Two things were at the top of my baking list: ginger snaps and snickerdoodles. Tonight I tried a new recipe for the ginger snaps. They came out so beautiful and delicious I just had to share the recipe here. I like them slightly on the chewy side and these were perfect. Even better, I didn’t have to alter the recipe at all! This is one recipe I’ll keep forever. You have to roll the dough into little balls and then roll them in sugar- so fun that I think Samuel will really enjoy baking these with me! I had to eat several as soon as they came out of the oven (served with a steaming hot cup of tea of course)! A wonderful fall treat. Now all I need are some girlfriends to come by and chat with me over these cookies!

Click for recipe here

Things around the Horlbeck house have been good as of late. We’ve been trying to take advantage of the nice weather and go on as many bike rides throughout the week as we can. This past weekend we went up and around the Rio Grande trail to the tune of about 25 miles. Samuel has been having a ball in his bike seat, waving to everyone and loving it when I ring my bike bell. We have to go pretty slow because this pregnant Mama quickly gets out of breath (and my belly is beginning to hit my thighs with each pedal), but we’re building endurance! Mark is still doing research on which bike he’d like to buy so he can ride to work. We’d love to have a recumbent tandem some day, that’d be sooo fun!

As far as baby #2 is concerned, things are going well so far (thank you to my faithful praying friends)! I’m feeling better these days and even managed to eat a little bit of chicken. I haven’t gained as much weight as I did with Samuel, and I’m waiting for my belly to grow a tad more so that my maternity pants fit! I feel like I’ve been in this weird middle stage for so long and wearing the same 3 outfits for weeks. My 3-D ultrasound appointment is in 2 weeks and we can hardly wait to see the little angel’s face. My mom has a strong feeling it’s a girl, but only time will tell! In the mean time, we can’t decide on a boy’s name to save our life.

We had a lovely Labor Day. A leisurely bike ride with Scott in the morning, a lil work around the house and in the yard, and the Horlbecks over for dinner that night. Sure makes it hard to go back to work! We are thankful for our parents who worked so hard to provide for us growing up, for the opportunities we have in this great country, for our great jobs, for the work the Lord has given us and that we can enjoy the fruits of our labor. God is good!