He is bigger than a flood

Over the past couple of days we have evacuated our brand new house to seek refuge from an impending flood. If the predictions are correct we will most likely only receive water in our basement however with the risk of mold and mildew accumulating throughout the house we had to take everything out of the entire house. Thank goodness we had a fair amount of warning compared to the flood of 2008. On Thursday evening we met with 5 other church families that reside in the flood zone to discuss plans for moving all our items and finding housing for our families and our possessions. Friday morning the hard work of emptying all of our houses began. By Saturday most of our 6 houses were completely emptied. The love of God was tangible as people came from everywhere to pitch in. There were at least 30 people from our church helping in any way they could, whether that be packing boxes, moving furniture, coordinating help, or babysitting kids. Not to mention the amount of people praying over our city. We had co-workers and neighbors helping people they didn't even know. My dad said there were so many people helping with sandbagging efforts that it was a traffic jam to get into the sandbagging stations. I have heard of several companies donating boxes, storage space, trucks for hauling, and locations to keep vehicles and pets. With all the bad in the world it is refreshing to see so many people helping in any way they can. We asked for God to provide us with the help we needed to prepare our house for the flood and He went above and beyond. Not only did he provide physical help but he provided "peace that surpasses all understanding" (Philippians 4:7). It has been amazing to see how intricately detailed His plan is as every last detail falls into place just in time. It has been comforting to think about how no waters will even touch our house without God's approval first. He is in control and as long as we trust Him there is nothing we need to worry about. Even as the flood crest approaches and we wait to see just how much damage is done we will continue to trust that He will provide everything that we need because He is bigger than a flood.

We're going to the Zoo!

Today we took our first family vacation and we went to the Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines. The kids aren't always great passengers in the car so we have shied away from road trips in the past. It took us about 2.5 hours to get to the zoo today and that seems to be about their limit on car riding. On the way there Ryker napped for about the last hour and a half. Ilyana played with some toys and we saved our surprise toy for the last hour when she started getting antsy. We rented a kids tablet from the downtown library which had some fun pre-loaded games on it. She was definitely a huge fan! Once we got to Des Moines we grabbed some lunch and then headed to the zoo! We purposefully went in the middle of the week after school had started so it wasn't crowded. Ilyana had a ton of fun looking at all of the animals, holding her arms out wanting to hold them, and learning animal noises. I think that her favorite animal was the wallabies that were jumping around. She was also a big fan of the macaque monkeys and the flamingos. In fact, we got to see a two day old flamingo. My favorite animal was the lion, which surprisingly wasn't sleeping! Jake's favorite animal was the giraffes which were beautiful! I ended up wearing Ryker in my baby carrier which he enjoyed. In fact, he enjoyed it so much that he took a nap for the last 45 minutes that we were there. We made it through the zoo in about an hour and a half and then we headed back home! Ilyana fell asleep almost instantly when we got in the car. We must have wore her out! The Blank Park Zoo was perfect for our kids and we definitely plan to go back again next year!

Our little Kangaroo

This turtle was HUGE!

family selfie!

She wanted to go get the wallaby!

Petting a llama

Too funny!

Going through a groundhog tunnel

She kept forgetting to breathe she was so amazed by the seals!

Ryker enjoyed the carrier!

Watching the lion with daddy

Must have been comfy

Worn out!

Ryker's half birthday!

Today I received an email stating that my son is now 6 months old. "Woah! That's not possible!" I exclaimed. I am no longer allowed to check emails while Jake drives. I can't believe how fast the past six months have gone! Ryker seems to be growing at a ridiculously fast pace. He can now sit by himself, scoot everywhere, stand while holding onto things, and do all sorts of yoga poses. He absolutely loves to eat. He mostly eats purees however sometimes we'll cut up soft foods like beans, blueberries, and bananas really small. Today he tried pancakes and couldn't get enough! He has recently started to love baths again. He loves kicking and splashing the whole time (much to mommy's dismay). He's starting to do better with sleeping. Recently he's started taking two 2 hour naps a day plus a little cat nap near the end of the day. At night he's usually sleeping from about 7-7, waking to nurse once around 3. We love our chunky, spunky, boy!

Ryker likes: baths, eating, sitting, balls, our wooden activity table, mirrors, his lovie, nursing.

Ryker doesn't like: meat purees, bottles, being patient, being ignored.