My Boys

These two made my Mother's Day a few weeks ago so very special! They treated me like a queen and I felt so loved all day long =) My hubby was the mastermind behind all the fun parts, letting me sleep in, wake up to a lovely brunch, have another nap in the afternoon, cooked a gourmet supper and sent me off to the prayer room for the evening with homework to ask Jesus how He feels about me in my role of mommy. My little buddy picked out a card and flowers for me and was sooo proud of his gift. Adorable! And we actually captured a very awesome mommy and son selfie!

I am so blessed! I love these two!

Hello!

I've been meaning to blog...got some cute pictures to show from Mother's Day....

But for now....just a simple hello to those out there!

Another One Bites The Dust...

Shane got hit too.

He's been out of commission entirely the last 2 days, spending most of the day in bed with wicked body aches. This virus is nasty!

I'm feeling mostly better, just a diminished appetite and occasional grumbly stomach.

Noah still can't eat much but we've been puke-free for 26 hours now. 27 hours was ours last record before yesterday evening. Hopefully we're on the mend now! His poor little tummy can't handle much but he's wanting to eat!

It's been a long week of confinement and we're itching to get out soon! But alas, I cancelled tomorrow's plans too so we don't spread any remaining germs.

Thanks for the prayers!

7 Loads of Laundry Later...

And we're on the mend, I hope!

Noah and I have been hit by a stomach bug =( We got the call from the babysitter on our way home from a date on Saturday evening that Noah woke up puking. Poor kiddo! And poor babysitter!

I was hit hard all day Sunday and am feeling a lot better today. Noah is still working through the wicked virus. Sleeping like a newborn and wanting to be held all day long. I got some awesome snuggles and naps with my little buddy the last 48 hours.

My hubby is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. He has dealt with enough poop and puke to last him a year. He has cleaned, laundered, snuggled and taken such good care of us. He is an amazing servant to his family. I am soooo blessed.

Pray for us! I hope tomorrow is a sickness-free day!

Growing Up So Fast...

Does my little buddy have to grow up so fast all of a sudden?!

The little guy has passed some big milestones in the last month and it all seems to be happening at the same time! He's growing up! Great and also a little painful for the mama heart =) 2 years and 4 months must be an important age in his books =)

In the last month, we switched his car seat forward facing, he weaned, he decided that he was a big boy and didn't want to use a sleep sac for sleep anymore and such....changing the way life with Noah has been for a long time!

Then today.....a very cute toddler surprised me by opening the bedroom door after I put him down for naptime and letting me know that he was able to climb out, much to both of our surprise! This is a game changer too!

And lastly, he peed on the potty right before bed!

Oh my word....he doesn't want to waste any time spacing out the growing up events! He's putting them all into the same month!

Thankfully that despite his growing independence, my boy still wants to hug and snuggle throughout the day =) I love that! And yesterday after naptime, he even fells asleep in my arms on the rocking chair (which is HIGHLY unusual for him) =)

A little conversation from yesterday:
Noah: "Bye Mommy!"
Me: "Where are you going?"
Noah: "I fly to Canada"
Me: "Can I come too?"
Noah: "Put on your shoes!"

It's Official!

It came in the mail yesterday....I am officially licensed as a nurse in Missouri =) That is a cool accomplishment!

Now we will pray and see what the next step is! It was so fun to prepare, study, learn and accomplish a test....I know....I'm a little unusual that way =) So, regardless of what this was unto, I'm thankful I got the opportunity and experience! Thanks God!

Simple Pleasures....

Since the excitement of studying and visiting are over, you'd think it would be time to slow down! But this week has been filled with socializing and catching up with people after being on hold for a season =) It's been full and fun!

I am looking forward to simple pleasures with a little more time.....and have started a few small things that I overlooked lately. Like organizing my little house! I have a list of household projects to do and almost all start with the word "organize". My closets and shelves are needing some attention! I really enjoy that kind of "work" =)

My little man is a hard worker too....here's some proof of how hard he works outside =)

A Great Week with Family and Happy Easter!

We had a lovely week with my mom and Henry! We get to have such special quality time when family come to visit....we don't have to share our time with anyone else like we have to do in Canada when we visit =)

And Happy Easter to you all! He is risen!!!! He is alive forever!!!

Me: "Noah, what is Easter about?"
Noah: "Jesus"
Me: "What did Jesus do?"
Noah: "Died on the cross"

Amen! Because He loves us and wants to be with us! No more separation! He is alive!

Having Fun! And I almost forgot....

We are having SUCH a blast with my mom and Henry visiting this week! Suppers together, the zoo, hanging out at their hotel, prophecy rooms and time at the Plaza! We are being showered with love and family time and I'm loving it =)

It is such a gift and such a special way to celebrate....

PASSING THE EXAM!!!!

In light of having so much fun, I forgot to blog that I found out my results! And I passed the NCLEX! How lovely!

So, this has been a special week! Here are some pics with the fam!

Ahhhh....done.

It is finished! I'm done the exam! And that feels great =)

I completed it in 1.5 hours instead of the maximum 6 and it was so nice to spend the day with my family instead of taking a test =) Thank you to all who were praying and for the emails and comments =)

I hope to find out mid-week whether I passed or not! I sure hope I did =)

We'll see how the Lord guides us on....He has given us perfect timing thus far with step by step guidance so we'll see what the next one is!

10 hours away...

The big day is almost here....for me.... and my mom actually! My lovely mama gets married tomorrow and then is coming here to visit and have a honeymoon! We are SOOOOO excited for her and Henry to arrive on Monday! Noah is sooooo pumped =)

I will be at the test center in 10 hours and a few hours later, hopefully less than more, it will all be done. Many hours of studying later and we'll see how it goes. It has been fun to learn and prepare and now I'm ready to be done with it =) I'm looking forward to having so much "spare" time! Lol!

So, if you are thinking of me tomorrow, please pray for me! I really hope to pass the first time =) I start at 8am and could go as long as 6 hours.

The Lord has been guiding me through the whole process so I choose to trust that He will be guiding me tomorrow too as we take the test together!

I'll let you know how it goes =)

Melt My Heart....

There are things your kids say that totally melt your heart!

This week, we got a free reconditioned Vitamix and have been really enjoying smoothies and milkshakes! It was another reminder that God provides for us in creative ways =) Noah really doesn't like the loud noise it makes and so we've been talking about fear these days and teaching him that to say "no fear in Jesus' name because Jesus is with me"!

On Friday, I was driving with Noah in his car seat behind me and he started talking about something making him scared. This is new language he's using and we want to give him the tools to combat it. So, I said to the line above to him and told him that Jesus is with him so he doesn't have to be afraid.

His next comment blew me away and melted my heart.

"Jesus loves you and He died on the cross".

Wham! Straight from the mouth of a 2 year old. Unprompted. Simple truth about the cross!

Wowzers! In the last few days, he has been talking about the cross. It is perfect timing leading up to Easter in 2 weeks and I think I'm going to follow his lead and we'll teach him more about the cross and the resurrection.

Those are awesome parenting moments that make your heart soar =)

Noah wanted to wear the right hockey stuff for playing hockey so here he is =)

Random Things...

Hello all! Sorry for my tardiness! I've been meaning to blog all week....but don't have anything big to blog about these days.

Most of my "extra" time is filled with study hours. 2 weeks from today and I will be writing the NCLEX exam already! So, I have certain areas that I really need to work on and review and we as a family are going to be putting in the hours the next 2 weeks. And then it will be done =)

I've really been enjoying learning again and using parts of my brain that have been a little dormant =) It has been mentally refreshing and is good for my heart! I'm so thankful for the grace the Lord has given us for this short season and I'm glad that it isn't like this all the time because that would be too much =) Normally, I always nap when Noah is napping. With the blessing of the time change and the grace of the Lord for studying, I have been able to use many naptimes for studying instead =) Yay!

So, please pray for me in the next 2 weeks and especially on April 12th as I take the test!

Here are cute family pictures from last weekend after a 2 year old birthday party!

Introducing....the long-awaited......sign!

Community living has awesome blessings and large challenges that ebb and flow in different moments and quarters. It has been the cause of many smiles and many tears in my world over the past 2 years.

We've thought about putting up a sign on our door many, many times but just hadn't done it yet.

Well, it has been done. We have a sign on the door.

I have laughed and laughed about it this week and find it funny (and awesome) that my incredibly gracious and patient husband finally had enough of the business knocks at all hours of the day and wrote it, laminated it and put it up =) I'm giving him a high five!

I'm guessing you want to see this sign....so here it is. Welcome to the Farrows!

And ps. we've had no business knocks since the sign went up this week! It's been peaceful!

So Weird....

Midwest...your weather is so bizarre.

Tangtop, flip flops and 26 degrees Celsius this afternoon. Walking outside in the beautiful weather.

This evening, rain, thunder and lightening with a 30% chance of snow tonight.

So weird.

Official!

At the beginning of January, I wrote that I was pursuing writing my NCLEX (aka American Nursing Exam). I felt the peace to proceed forward in the process back in fall and started the mound of paperwork required, doing a bunch of it during my trip to Winnipeg in November.

This week I got my official letter in the mail and the authorization to test email from the testing center! I can write it whenever I'd like to now!

So, I'm still praying about the exact date but am hoping to write the test in the next 5 weeks before my mom and Henry come to visit! I'll keep you posted as I know!

The study motivator has been turned up! I'm aiming to studying 2 hours a day over the next few weeks and working on a schedule to make that possible. It has been fun to be in the books again and feeling like a student again =) My sister and I even had a study date at a cute coffee shop yesterday morning =) Fun!

Love Feast with the Returning Missionaries!

Last night, we had the honor of being invited to the Love Feast for our returning missionaries of our September DTS. A love feast is a special dinner the school has together to celebrate together and love one another. It was most famously practiced by the Moravians, according to Wikipedia.

Today is their graduation so last night was a special meal together where they all got dressed up and ate together, connected with one another and showed slide shows of their 3 different outreaches. It was so great to see their pictures and hear a few stories from the field. Tonight they will share more in our community gathering and that will be fun and faith building! And the food was awesome....and such a blessing to not have to cook =)

On a mama note, in the midst of the early evening, I decided to be a little flexible over the bedtime hour and kept Noah out a little past bedtime, which we practically never do. He's sitting in his booster seat at 6:30pm, hanging off the edge saying "home" and "I tired". Lol! My little routined toddler THRIVES on his routine. And that works just lovely for this routined mama =) So funny that I live a little and give him a special privilege and he's the one asking to go home and go to bed =)

Either way, it was a great time and an honor to celebrate those who have spent the last 3 months of their lives loving on people in foreign countries and sharing Jesus in the nations!

Go Canada Go!

A week ago was the end of the Olympics and the final gold medal mens hockey game.

Since our house is alive at 6am, we thought it would be fun to open up our living room to the other Canadian guys on base who would want to watch the game =) So, there were 7 of us Canadians (me being the only girl) and we watched, cheered and felt a little Canadian pride over those 3 hours together! It was fun and Noah loved having the guys over bright and early =)

Yay! Go Canada Go!

This boy makes me laugh!

My Noah is so delightful =) He makes me laugh!

Yesterday, he requested a certain thing to watch while eating lunch. It wasn't on. So, he was in tears, very sad. Shane and I couldn't help but laugh because he was sooooo cute. Our little man was crying about something neither of us have ever cried about.

"I want bull riding!".....yes, our son loves watching bull riding on Sundays. Too funny!

Many, many times a day, I get to hear the phrase "huggin the mommy" from a very cute toddler....his request for many hugs each day. I try my best to cherish each of these hugging moments and hope that he wants to "huggin the mommy" even when he's a teenager =)

And....tomorrow. Tomorrow we have a date. It's Tuesday and therefore time for grocery shopping. Today we were talking about the food that animals eat, since he has a strong like for hay. Somehow we ended up talking about what dogs eat. So......

Tomorrow we have an exciting date down the dog food aisle! I am going to show Noah the big bags of the food that dogs eat. He thinks there are taste testers but I'm trying to warn him that there are not. And yes, he has already tasted it before....from Jack's food (my mom's dog) =)

Ohhh....toddlers are a hoot!

God is doing big things!

It's pretty amazing!

YWAM Kansas City started out just over 2 years ago with a few staff and a Discipleship Training School (DTS), renting a building on a beautiful property owned by another missions group that has sent out women missionaries for decades across the USA.

2 years have passed and God has done a lot. We are about to start our 9th DTS and we currently have about 50 students between our DTS and Church Pioneering School (CPS) on campus. It has been quite a ride! God continues to add to our numbers through staff and students! It is so fun to meet new people each quarter and have new staff joining in a steady stream. God is bringing them in!

Thursday, February 13th, 2014, was a big day in our history. Not only is it my mom and sister's birthdays but it is also now YWAM Kansas City's anniversary for buying our property!!!

We are amazed and blessed. The campus we having been using and renting, is now ours! All 36 acres! All 10 buildings!

We believe the Lord is doing something big in this time in history! And He is doing something big in the area of prayer and missions, here on our base in Kansas City! He saw fit to bless us with a huge campus so we can grow and stretch in big ways! We trust He will bring the staff and the students we need to mobilize missionaries all over the world =)

As our second DTS of the year begins next week, please pray that the Lord brings every student He wants here. Also, as the take over of the campus is underway, please pray for the transition and the God-sent staff members that we need to run this place. These are exciting times!

Also.....if your heart is being stirred.....if you feel the Lord knocking on the door of your heart....if your heartbeat is starting to pound to see the gospel go forth in the nations....if you long for a season of focused time with the Lord.....

Come join us! Tuition-free DTS is happening all year because we believe the Lord is calling many and we don't want anybody to miss out! Check out www.ywamkansascity.com!