Rear View Mirror - A Love Story

The rear view mirror in my car is broken. It doesn't stay up like it used to and just keeps falling down as I drive. While this is probably unsafe for me as a driver, it has become a blessing to me as a mom. When my mirror has fallen, as it usually does, it gives me the perfect angle to see my kids in the backseat. At first I tried to fix it but then I started to enjoy the view it gave me more and more. Sometimes I will be driving home from my parents house and will look up to see a beautiful picture of two sleeping peanuts all snuggled in their seats; those are my peanuts! When I look up and see them behind me I am, on so many occasions, filled with pride in who they are and who they are becoming. I cannot believe they belong to me! What a privilege it is to be their mommy. But on other occasions I look back and find myself witness to tantrums and fighting and two little people who seem deaf to my voice but who can always seem to hear the word "chocolate". Amazing how they can change in an instant!

A few days ago I was looking back at them and thinking about how much I love them and how much they trust me to get them where we are going. They can rest in their car seats knowing that I am in control and that I am protecting them. It then occured to me that this is a similar picture of my relationship with the Lord. I was reading this verse a few days ago...

" Moses built an altar and named it Jehovah-Nissi, 'The Lord is my banner'." - Exodus 17:15

...and it reminded me that the Lord goes before me...He is my banner! Then I started wondering, "If He is going before me, what does the view look like in His rear view mirror?" When He looks back at me does He see a child who is trusting Him, and resting in Him? Does he look back on me with pride at who I am and who I am becoming even when I am not behaving? The answer is most certainly "yes"!

Even when I see bad attitudes and disobedience in my rear view mirror, I still see my children. I still see the little people who grew inside me for 9 months, the babies I nursed, who I taught to walk, and who I have great hopes for. When God looks in His rear view mirror He sees the same. He looks past who I am to see who He has made me to be! I love that He is proud of me even when I am misbehaving. I love that He is loving me even when I am disobedient. I love that His heart swoons as mine does at the sight of His children. God may be a father, but He is certainly a mama bear too!

Sometimes when I am looking back, my kids will see my face and smile at me. I think they like knowing that I am looking back at them and loving them. Kenley will say, "I see you Mommy!"

So, here's the question: What does God see in His rear view mirror when He looks back on you? Are you within His sights? Can you see His face? Get back in line behind Him! He loves the view of YOU!

One man's house is another man' s VACATION!!!!!

Wow! Where have the last 8 months gone? Clearly I caught the Facebook bug because I have not posted on here in so long!! Well....I'm back!
This week the Kimes family is vacationing in Murietta, CA thanks to our generous friends who are allowing us to house sit for them while they vacation in Mexico. One mans house is another man's vacation!! They have the most beautiful pool here and lots of space inside for our kids to run arround. Good thing too because it is way to hot to play outside this summer unless you are swimming.

Although Kenley hasn't had a swim lesson since I was pregnant with Reece, she is proving to be quite the little swimmer this week. She liked cruising around in her floaty but we worried she would fall through so we bought her a life vest and that has been her ticket to freedom and independence!! She just swims around the whole pool and loves it! Reece also loves swimming but hates being in the "baby" floaties. He just wants Jason or I to hold him the whole time :-)

This week has helped my swimming ability/confidence as well. After having many near-drownings as a kid I sometimes get very tense and anxious in the water. Something I would not want for our kids at all. After the second day I felt so much more relaxed and yesterday I was cannon-balling in the deep end and going face-first down the water slide! It is freeing not to be so stressed in a pool.

We are swimming twice a day and eating like we are vacation! What could be better?! Jason and I are enjoying all this time alone with our kids (even when they act up) and are not looking forward to heading back to the grind :-) Well, I don't know if it's a grind per se, bet there is no pool back home and there is no better treat than swimming on a hot day.

We are just beginning day 5 and we have 3 more days here. Best get to making breakfast for my peeps! Pictures to come!

A Month In Review

Wow! I don't know where the last month has gone, and yet so much has happened!! Reece celebrated his first birthday on October 30th and I celelbrated my 30th birthday on November 14th! It was such a fun time for our family!

We took the kiddos to Disneyland on Reece's birthday and had so much fun! He isn't the thrill-seeker that his big sister Kenley is, but he still enjoyed it. The park was pretty empty and we were able to go on lots of rides. Jason and I even took Kenley on the Matterhorn with us! She seemed really excited about going on a rollercoaster and seeing the abominable snowman until she actually did. The rest of the day she kept saying, "His eyes were really red and scary!" I'm pretty sure we failed a critical parenting test that day. It sure was fun though!

The entire day I kept thinking about one year ago when we went to the hospital early in the morning for my c-section. We couldn't wait to meet Reece! He gave us a little scare the first few days with his lungs, but I was so happy to finally hold my son! He has proved to be such a wonderful addition to our family (like I had any doubts). It has been so fun to watch him transform from sleepy newborn to happy infant and now into a troublesome toddler! He is nothing like his sister and every day proves to be a completely different adventure in parenting, but I love him so much more than I can express!

Anyway...Thanksgiving is now only two days away and soon I will be digging my way through the garage in search of decorations and lights. 2008 was just getting good and now it's almost over! Well I have a weekend of turkey and family fun ahead of me so there is still time to enjoy it!

3rd Annual Coombs Family Beach Camping Trip

This last weekend was our annual family camping trip to Doheny State Beach. My grandparents and all of my uncles, aunts and cousins were there....even some friends visiting from Denmark! It was so much fun!! Friends of ours lent us their RV for the trip and Kenley thought our mobile "house" was so cool.

The first night the kids (and some really young and hip parents) decked themselves out in glow-sticks and ran around in the dark. Kenley normally would not wear "jewelry", but she loved wearing her glow-stick necklace and even wore them around her ankles and wrists. All of the kids were so cute! We marched ourselves in a parade around the camp sites and had so much fun just being silly. It was so great to watch Kenley play with my cousins, get dirty, and enjoy being a kid.

The second day we bummed at the beach for awhile. It was Reece's first trip to the beach and he just loved the ocean. Even though it was cold, he loved the waves coming in over his toes :-) Both of the kids had a great time playing in the sand with their daddy. In the afternoon it was time for our annual pumpkin carving contest!

I took this just before we left. They looked so ready for a little adventure!

Kenley, riding on my sister Elaine's shoulders. She loves her auntie!

Me & Jason...canoodling :-) Check out my fancy glow-stick necklace! It was custom. Here is baby Reece with his uncle Jarrod...catching his first baby waves.
Kenley...cruising the beach. She was knocked down by a wave later, but was so brave.

The Kimes Family - 10/25/08

Kenley, cleaning out her first pumpkin.

Here is my pumpkin dog!

This is my favorite picture...check out Kenley in the upper right hand corner....squirting the puppy with her water bottle! Hilarious!

Oak Glen or Bust

We made it to Oak Glen on the 20th, but it was way too crowded to enjoy it much. We skipped the zoo, and the line for apple donuts was an hour long! The saddest part was the fact that I did not take one picture :-( We did have fun just being together though. Kenley saw her first chestnut tree, which she thought was cool, and I still got my cherry apple cider :-)

Reece at the pumpkin patch

This was Reece just hanging in his stroller at the pumpkin patch last Thursday. You can tell by his dirt covered shirt that he had a lot of fun crawling around that day and wrestling pumpkins :-)

Reece "self-feeding" today

Here is a little video I took of Reece this morning. He wouldn't eat his oatmeal unless he could feed himself, so I let him. I walked away for a minute and came back to this :-)

Hanging in the backyard

Here are a couple of pictures I took of Reece and Kenley in the backyard this week. They were so cute sitting together.

The Perfect Sunday Afternoon

Today Jason and I shared the perfect Sunday afternoon with our kids at Tom's Farms. We rode the train, the carousel, mined for gold & jewels, pet baby goats and pigs, chased chickens (mostly Kenley on that one) and ate ice cream (mostly Kenley on that one too, since she ate my cone in addition to hers) and then drove around town in complete silence as our kids recouped with a nap. Sometimes just being together and enjoying our kids being little makes the day perfect.

Here are Kenley and I mining for treasure together. She found several cool rocks and stones to take home and was really proud of them.

Kenley and I rode the big scooper machine (we're chicks, so we don't know the appropriate name for this piece of equipment) and picked up dirt and moved it. Right after this picture Kenley made me get off and stand right next to her because she wanted to "do it all by myself". Umm....I guess she didn't realize that I was having fun too :-) Reece just watched us.

This is me...assaulting a baby goat. I thought this picture of me holding it would be really cute, but now that I see it, I really just look like a crazy person picking up random livestock without asking. He was really soft and fuzzy though :-)

This is my daughter eating a cone (her second I think) and kicking back without a care. What a little lady I am raising huh? She did look pretty cute all sprawled out without a care in the world. I will be spending the next two days trying to remove chocolate from that pink shirt, but that's ok...she enjoyed it :-)

I love this picture of us on the train becaue Reece and I looked so calm and happy and Kenley just looks puzzled. Her face is so hillarious!

This is one of my favorite pictures of Kenley and Reece together!
This is what I pictured when I was pregnant with Reece....him and his sister playing side-by-side together. It makes me so happy!

It's Autumn? I'm not "Falling" for it!

So the calendar says that it is now Fall, but I'm not convinced. Yesterday it was 95 degrees at my house. I wish this weather would make up it's mind. The one good thing about this time of year is that apple season has begun! Next weekend we will head to Oak Glen on our annual trip and buy way more apples than we can eat in a month, drink free samples of cherry apple cider and partake of the most delicious apple donuts! Stay tuned for pictures of Reece's first trip up there. I'm sure there will be at least one of Kenley feeding a goat....it's what she does!

Kimes Cuties

The world's cutest baby boy with his adorable sister Kenley!

Walk for Health

Here are Jason and I at the Walk for Health breast cancer walk we chaired this year.

Even Jason wore all pink! I made Reece's shirt for him. It is funny...and true :-)

Kimes Kids Dedication at Church

This is the only picture we were able to get, but here is the Kimes Family last Sunday, October 5th. Our family was there with us and it was such a great day! I don't think Jason and I could be any prouder of being their parents!

Long time no write!

I can't believe I have not posted in two months! Have I really been that busy? Well...I'm back and so are the Kimes kids. They have had a busy two months with lots of fun adventures, including their dedication at church this last Sunday. Stay tuned for more pictures!!!

Reece playing his xylophone. He is so good at it!!

I took this picture of Kenley last month. She was feeding her dog "Cleo" and she just looked so cute playing with her!

Sporting her favorite blue goggles.
She looks serious here, but she was having so much fun wearing them. She kept saying, "It's blue!", and it made me laugh because everything looked blue with them on.

Kenley and Reece swinging in a hammock swing on our back porch. It's our new favorite thing to do in the evenings. It gets a little tight with me and them in it, but it is so much fun! Reece gets so tickled being so near his sister and hearing her giggle.

Reece took an opportunity to "jam" on Kenley's guitar. Later he fell asleep in the middle of the living room floor with the guitar laying across him :-)