Daddy

Three Reasons.

He has shown you, O man, what is good.
    And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
    and to walk humbly with your God.

Micah 6:8

This is the verse that comes to mind when I think of my husband, the father of my 3 sweet babies.

Act Justly.

just

adjective

 based on or behaving according to what is morally right or fair;

guided by truth, reason, justice, and fairness: 

He is constantly seeking the Lord, wanting to do only that which pleases Him.

In order to act according to what is good, you have to seek the only One who is good, spend time reading and being with

Jesus. 

He is showing his children in word and in action what it means to seek the truth and to live a life that honors the Lord by obeying Him and acting justly.

Thank you for reading the Bible with Jack, for modeling with your actions what it means to know the Lord, for leading us in prayer every night as a family, and mostly for loving the Lord and living it.

Love Mercy.

mer·cy

  

noun

compassionate or kindly forbearance shown toward an offender, an enemy, or other person in one's power; compassion, pity, or benevolence

Disciplining a child requires compassion, love, patience, guidance and wisdom from the Lord. You have found a balance of being consistent and stern; yet loving and merciful. Our children know the boundaries and the consequences for crossing them.   They also know the deep love their father has for them, even in the corrections and discipline.

You have shown mercy and had compassion on those in need. 

 I know our children will grow up knowing the importance of helping others; seeing a need and meeting it if it is within your power to do so. 

You are an example of God's constant love and mercy for His children. 

They see you teach, rebuke, love and forgive them and will learn that, in the same way, our Heavenly Father teaches, rebukes, loves and forgives us. 

No human is perfect, but they will see the Father's love and mercy through their earthly father's love and mercy.  

Thank you for being kind and compassionate. 

Thank your for showing us what it means to love mercy.

He looks up to you.

She adores you.

She is safe and content in her daddy's arms.

Walk Humbly.

hum·ble

  

adjective

not proud or arrogant; modest

having a feeling of insignificance, inferiority, subservience

To find a man who is strong and yet humble is a rare and precious thing. We live in a world where more is better and success and money are worshiped. Humility is not a measure of how much you have but rather it is an attitude of the heart.  When you are acutely aware of how insignificant you are in comparison with Almighty God, and yet realizing that you are important to Him, it is humbling.  To walk humbly with your God is being aware of our finite-ness and releasing our desire and wills for ourselves in exchange for His will for us.  It is acknowledging He loves us and He has the best in mind for us; therefore we seek to obey Him and please Him and as a result, we can walk in His plan for our lives.  A plan that is far better than any we could orchestrate for ourselves.

You have taught this to me through your faith in the Lord through difficult and good times. 

Thank you for being the strong leader of our family, always directing our focus on the Lord and His timing and will for our lives. 

You are walking humbly with your God, and I know He will bless you tremendously because of it.

It has already blessed your family tremendously.

For Jack, Claire, and Emmalise:

Thank You.

 We Love You Daddy!!

Welcome to the World little Emmalise!

This is her birth story.

last belly shot :-) 

Scheduled c-sections are so strange, and yet so cool. You wake up knowing that in just a few hours, you will be holding your precious new baby.  On May 7th, that is just what I did. I woke up, got ready, kissed my two babies that I was leaving behind, and left for the hospital to meet my second baby girl! I was so excited, and nervous.  It is major surgery so its a little scary, but I was so ready- except for one small detail- we still hadn't decided our baby's name!

We had narrowed it down, but were still debating. So as we checked in at Sharp Mary Birch, Sean and I continued the conversation.  It was so strange being back there and we kept commenting on how we were literally just here a year ago having Claire. Crazy!! We never would have expected we would be back so soon!! 

We literally decided her name right before they wheeled me back into the operating room. At that point I wasn't even sure how I would spell her name, but I knew I loved it and I knew it would be perfect for our little girl. 

This being my 3rd c-section, I pretty much knew what to expect, but when the doctors started cutting (sorry for the TMI) I could really feel it. Not excruciating pain like you would be in if you had no spinal tap, but I could feel more than I should. I tried to not think about it, but it reminded me of cutting chicken with my kitchen sheers. It was quite disturbing and very uncomfortable.   Then finally: A cry!

Emmalise Kathleen Bradford was born!

While they were stitching me back together I was in such pain, the anestisiologist added some more pain meds into my IV, but it was pretty bad.  I kept trying to just focus on the baby and watch as the nurse cleaned her up and weighed her.  I asked Sean if she looked like him or like me (she was our tie breaker since Jack favors me and Claire is a clone of him), he said she looked like him, but then I got to really see her and she looked exactly like Jack as a newborn.  It was unbelievable. A tiny, petite, girly version of Jack. She was perfect and precious and I could not wait to hold her!

Once we were in the recovery area, the feeling in my legs began returning very quickly. I could already wiggle my right foot, which took about 2 hours last time.  I definitely didn't have enough anesthetic, but I survived, so it was fine.

Our precious Emmalise weighed 6 pounds 4 ounces and was

 17.75 inches long!

She is such a little miracle. It is so incredible and indescribable to have had this tiny person in my belly just moments before. 

We are so thankful to the Lord for a healthy baby girl, and for a good, safe delivery! Praise Him!

That afternoon, Sean's parents brought Jack and Claire to the hospital to meet their new baby sister! Claire wasn't quite sure what to think, but after she walked around and explored the room a little bit, she was quite happy- but still not sure she wanted anything to do with me or the baby. Jack on the other hand was so excited and soo sweet.  He kept saying how tiny she is, and how precious.  I love both of them so much and it is so incredible to see this third little person who I already love just as much!

Bradford party of 5!

my girls :-)

I stayed in the hospital longer than I had expected, but after three nights, I was ready to head home! 

Welcome to the world little Emmalise! And welcome to our family! You are so loved already, but us and by the Lord. You are a precious treasure. I pray that you will grow to love the God who so lovingly and perfectly created you; knit you together in my womb; who saw you in that secret place; who knows you and loves you with an everlasting love.

You are His precious creation. Thank you Lord for entrusting this beautiful little girl to us. Give us wisdom, knowledge, understanding, faith and instruction as we teach her and love her. What an awesome responsibility. Thank you Jesus. 

What happened to March and April [part 2]

So the bummer is now Im not sure what happened to May!?! I wanted to post a few pics from Easter even though that feels like a million years ago! Then hopefully I will have five seconds of free time (yeah right) to post about our newest, precious bundle!!

Easter was fun this year because a) Jack is at the age now that every holiday is fun; and b) we could really explain to him what Easter is really about- and he gets it. He is very intuitive and already has a tender heart for the things of the Lord, which makes mommy and daddy so intensely excited/thankful.  I want nothing more than for my children to love and seek after God; to please Him and to know His presence in their lives. Jack really is starting to grasp the idea of God loving us, and Jesus dying for us.  Its a difficult thing to explain to a 3 year old, but you have to start somewhere! He is so inquisitive and wants to learn about God and asks about Him.  Just yesterday he asked me why we can't see God. It was such a sweet conversation as we talked about faith and all of the ways that we do see God. Jack is a deep thinker, and way ahead of his age in so many ways.

The festivities of holidays are just pure bliss for children, and as parents we get to kind of relive the fun with our kids.  Jack loved the Easter egg hunt with his cousins...Claire wasn't really into it yet; but they all had so much fun with the real bunnies that Sean's aunt brought to the Bradford Easter party! Claire is my little animal lover. She loves anything that moves; birds, bugs, dogs. She loved the bunnies!

serious business.

playing while the other kids hunted for eggs :-)

Jack and Ellya

checking out the baskets

I didn't get too many pics (and none of the four of us :-( but it was really fun! Sean's aunt Brenda also planned an egg hunt for the older "kids" which was really fun! There were raw eggs and hard boiled eggs and plastic eggs with money inside! The real eggs were worth points and you had to toss them to your partner before putting them in your basket. The money eggs were yours to keep- and whoever had the most points from the real eggs got to choose from other prizes. It was a lot of fun...although I did have contractions from running all over the backyard...

Easter morning the kids got their little baskets and we had breakfast together as a family.

3 bunnies for my 3 babies :-)

The Easter party with my side of the family was so fun too because there are just so many little ones now! I kind of couldn't believe it. It reminded me so much of our family parties when I was growing up because there was just a gaggle of kids running around! The egg hunt was hectic, but of course the kids loved it. 

Whoa...belly. 35 weeks preggo!

I couldn't resist the vintage look for these pics. 

Claire is wearing my dress from when I was a baby! 

And mostly, it was just good to be with family and remember the sacrifice the Lord made when He died on the cross for our sake. 

Thank you Jesus.

What happened to March and April? [part 1]

*******this post was written on May 4th, 2012********

So...I'm having a baby. On Monday. My third baby, second in as many years. I'm excited that the end/beginning is in sight, but any moms out there that have had a C-section or two or three know the process is not so much fun. Still, I cant wait to hold this precious little girl in my arms instead of my belly! With this huge life/family change quickly approaching, I thought I should get a little blogging in since I haven't lately and I most likely wont again for a while!

If you ever want to know the fastest way to endure the 9 months that is pregnancy, do it immediately following the birth of a previous child.  You will be so busy and preoccupied with (in my case) a 3 year old and a new baby (now 1 year old) that you wont even realize you are pregnant.  That is until 8:00 pm when they are finally asleep and you realize how your body is aching, your stomach and throat are burning from acid reflux, and you can't sleep because your belly is a bowling ball.  But really, it has been the fastest 9 months of my life. We only just got the baby stuff out of storage last night! So I guess this is really happening....in 3 days. Eeek!

Here's a peek into our last couple of months. Jack and Claire are so much fun now that Claire can "play" with Jack! For a while (in March) the four of us would go out in the back yard after dinner and the kids would ride around in the Cozy Coupes or bikes or jump in the jumpy or dig in our makeshift (but best thing ever) sand box. Sean loves making fires and the kids love making smore's, so that is a usual occurrence in our after-dinner routine. This particular evening it was cold. So they were bundled up, but I couldn't resist getting a few pics of them playing!

My little Jacky Roo.  He is so funny and I literally cannot recount all the amazing things that come out of this boys mouth! He is just so smart and so much fun! The other day I was a little flustered, things kept "going wrong"..nothing major; just one of those days.  As the kids were eating lunch and something spilled I said to Sean, "Ugh today has been so frustrating!" and Jack coyly responded, without missing a beat,
"its not frustrating mommy- Its all part of the fun!"
It was one of those moments when you have to just stop and laugh and enjoy the wisdom of this precious three year old boy! I was getting flustered about a bunch of little things and it was potentially ruining my day; a day that the Lord graciously gave to me to spend with my little ones, just doing life; and having fun.  He was right. It is all part of the fun. If only we as adults could always see life the way these little ones do. I'm so thankful I have them to remind me of what is really important in life.

My little Claire Bear. She is one busy little bee! She is such a cuddle bug and so loving. I am loving watching her little own personality develop. Its amazing. She is my little joy. She is such a girly girl, but yet loves playing with the boys (Jacky and Daddy) and doing whatever they are doing. She can hold her own too! She is independent and adventurous, she loves to climb, and she loves sitting by the fire in the evenings. Sean thinks she is going to be his little outdoorsy girl- I assure him she will also love ballet :-) She absolutely loves music. She just cannot help but dance and move whenever she hears it; whether its someones ring tone or someone humming a tune, she will "be-bop around" as her daddy calls it. It is the cutest thing, and I cannot wait till I can get her into a tutu and pink ballet shoes for dance lessons!!

I really love our family time- just the four of us. It does something for my soul. I need that time with them- I crave it. 

 Its refreshing, its peaceful, its home for me.

They are home for me.

Mmm D'Licious: Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecake

yes...I really did just say that. It's all the chocolately, peanut-buttery, cheesecakey goodness (on an oreo-peanut crust) that it sounds like it would be.

I adapted this recipe here, making only a couple changes, and honestly, if you are lover of Reese's like my hubby is, this is a must try.  It's slightly labor intensive, or maybe it just took me forever because projects {baked or otherwise} rarely ever have my undivided attention with two little ones running around, but it did seem to take a while to make.  Also I would suggest making it the day before so it can set in the refrigerator overnight.  The recipe says at least 4 hours, but it was better the next day. Ok. That's my two cents on the matter...now down to business:


For The Crust
4 1/2 cups crushed Oreo cookies (translation: 1 whole box) Oh and I used Trader Joe's Joe Joe vanilla bean cookies...so good.)
1 cup chopped roasted peanuts
1/2 cup butter, melted

For The Filling
2 lbs cream cheese , softened- as in- let it sit out for an hour or two...this step is paramount in having your cheesecake turn out....trust me.
5 eggs , at room temperature (let them sit out and keep your cream cheese company)
1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup smooth peanut butter (not natural-style Helllooo Jif!)
1/2 cup whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
12 Reese's Peanut Butter cups , broken into small pieces

For The Topping 
(I used the recipe from this cheesecake)
16 oz sour cream
3-6 Tbs sugar
1tsp vanilla



Directions:


To Make The Crust:.
Combine crushed Oreo cookies and peanuts that have been ground in a food processor with the melted butter.
Pat the crust mixture onto bottom and sides of a 10-inch springform pan.


To Make The Filling:
Beat cream cheese in bowl of electric mixer until smooth.


Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Add sugar, peanut butter and cream; mix until smooth.
Stir in vanilla, then fold in peanut butter cup pieces with a rubber spatula.
Pour filling into prepared crust.
Place springform pan into a larger baking pan.
Pour hot water into the larger pan so that the water comes 1 inch up the sides of the springform pan.


Bake at 275°F 1-1/2 hours, or until firm and lightly browned.


For The Topping:
Combine the sour cream, sugar, and vanilla and spread on the cheesecake.
Return the cake to the oven for 5 minutes.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack for one hour.
You may run a knife along the edge of the cake to loosen it from the pan somewhat.
Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight for best results.


Before Serving:
Chop the reese's Cups ( I used a bag of the miniatures)

 Place on the top of cheesecake
Drizzle chocolate sauce over the top. (I used Torani Chocolate Sauce)

Then try to eat a whole piece. I dare you. 


Enjoy!!