Father's Day (a little late, I know)

For Father's Day this year, Allie saw on a blog the idea to take pictures like these and put them in a three-picture frame. We took so many pictures, but here are the ones that we finally chose to put in the frame:

I

t was so fun and easy, and Daddy loved it! I think Allie bought the frame at Wal-Mart. Anyway, I always have a hard time coming up with a meaningful gift for my dad, and this is a really fun idea! I hope others try it. It was great.

Gideon--3 months old!

Today is the day that Gideon turned 3 months old. He is gaining more control over his arms, hands and legs, and is turning into quite the chub. Here are some pictures (I think some of them were taken several weeks ago, though) to prove it:


Just like his daddy: he loves his hoodie!


Check out that double chin! This lil' Maurer loves baseball. See his outfit?

"Hello, ladies..." (actually, he's just about to get into a fuss, but I think it looks like he's flirtin' ;)

What a handsome boy!

Asleep in his bouncy seat.


A close up of his chub.

For more pictures, you can go to Allie and Ben's blog: http://www.teammaurer.blogspot.com/.

4th of July!

Happy Independence Day!!! I thank God that we have this wonderful country, and pray that He would change the hearts of our leaders so that they glorify Him in all they do. God bless you!

Spurgeon's "Morning and Evening"

For quite a while, my mom has recieved a daily email with the text of Charles Spurgeon's wonderful devotional, Morning and Evening. A couple weeks ago, I asked how I could recieve it. She sent me the link, and it has been such a blessing since I signed up!!! Tonight as I was ready to go to sleep, I read today's 'Evening' passage. It did not have a condemning theme, but I began to think about my sin and felt guilty and sad. Then, I remembered that my sister had commented on how encouraging yesterday's 'Morning' passage was. So, I decided to read that. It meant so much to me! It brought tears to my eyes. It was exactly what I needed. Please take the time to read it. God truly can use words written long ago to minister to our weary souls!!!

MORNING: June 28
"Looking unto Jesus." -- Hebrews 12:2
It is ever the Holy Spirit's work to turn our eyes away from self toJesus; but Satan's work is just the opposite of this, for he isconstantly trying to make us regard ourselves instead of Christ. Heinsinuates, "Your sins are too great for pardon; you have no faith; youdo not repent enough; you will never be able to continue to the end;you have not the joy of his children; you have such a wavering hold ofJesus." All these are thoughts about self, and we shall never findcomfort or assurance by looking within. But the Holy Spirit turns oureyes entirely away from self: he tells us that we are nothing, but that"Christ is all in all." Remember, therefore, it is not thy hold ofChrist that saves thee-it is Christ; it is not thy joy in Christ thatsaves thee-it is Christ; it is not even faith in Christ, though that bethe instrument-it is Christ's blood and merits; therefore, look not somuch to thy hand with which thou art grasping Christ, as to Christ;look not to thy hope, but to Jesus, the source of thy hope; look not tothy faith, but to Jesus, the author and finisher of thy faith. We shallnever find happiness by looking at our prayers, our doings, or ourfeelings; it is what Jesus is, not what we are, that gives rest to thesoul. If we would at once overcome Satan and have peace with God, it must be by "looking unto Jesus." Keep thine eye simply on him; let hisdeath, his sufferings, his merits, his glories, his intercession, be fresh upon thy mind; when thou wakest in the morning look to him; whenthou liest down at night look to him. Oh! let not thy hopes or fearscome between thee and Jesus; follow hard after him, and he will never fail thee.
"My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus' blood and righteousness:
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus' name."


Isn't that beautiful? I'm praying that the Lord will keep us looking at His Son and what He did for us, not at ourselves. In fact, my signature on my email is 2 Corinthians 5:21 "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." What wonderful news!

New Phone and Texting!

Over the past few days, I have been browsing the phones T-Mobile.com because we were recently up for phone upgrades. I really needed a new phone because I *blush* let my old phone run through the washer and so now the music player and camera don't work, and somehow it developed a large crack in the screen. So, it really was time for an upgrade. Last night, we went to the T-Mobile in Ridgedale Mall (Ben works there and helped us pick our phones and checked us out). And I got the cutest phone ever! Here's a picture, but it's actually cuter in person.

And it also slides to reveal a full Qwerty (no idea what that means) :p like this:

And it has a camera and a music player!

Now, for some VERY exciting news. I HAVE TEXTING! It's so fun to put that adorable tiny keyboard to work! My daddy was so sweet. He saw that this was the phone that I wanted, but I had to have unlimited texting until the rebate came back. He had already had the $5 a month texting, and I was planning on getting that, too. So, he just upgraded our plan so that the whole family has unlimited texting! Isn't he super nice? I love you, Daddy!

So, if you like texting, send me one! I'm also planning on sending pics of Gideon to friends and family :)

A Gideon post

I will definitely post more pictures from Amsterdam, but Allie showed me these three pictures today, and I loved them so much, I had to post them. The last one is my favorite. Hope they make you smile.

Amsterdam!

I can't believe how beautiful Amsterdam is! I will tell you all about it when I have more time, but right now, it is late, so I'll just post these three pictures. Enjoy!

This one's at the flower market (it is on, literally on one of the water canals!) Isn't it gorgeous?

This one seems to me to catch the look of the Amsterdam canals in all their glory. This is a little outdoor cafe where you can look out over one of the canals. This place is actually in the middle of the city, right by central station, but it looks more like the more rural areas.

There are many little bridges crossing the canals.

I will really try to post more pictures later, but now, I need to watch a Monk with my mom and go to bed. Goodnight!

p.s. sorry for any spelling errors. The spellcheck is meant for Dutch! So, pretty much every word was highlighted when I tried it. Oh well.