5 years and counting!

Today, Brian and I are celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary!!!!!

So I thought I'd share 5 pictures of special moments we've shared in the past 5 years.

Plaza III - This is where Brian proposed to me!
We went out to dinner on his last night in KC
after we took a trip to Israel and the middle East.
I thought he was going to propose to me while on the trip.
Right after we ordered dessert, he got down on one knee and proposed!
It was the perfect way to end the two weeks that we got to share together.

Here we are at a park in PA in 2006. Anna was only 3 or 4 months old.
This was our first trip with a child. It was a fun and memorable trip.
I like this picture for its location and one of my best friends, Allyce, took this picture.

Here we are after a long weekend trip to Omaha, Nebraska in 2007.
I was pregnant with our first son Hosanna.
Not long after this picture, we found out that we would not
have the privilege of raising this son.
Though he was stillborn, we continue to share many fun memories
and good thoughts of the eight months we shared with him.
This picture, to me, is a reminder of the joy of faithfulness.

Well....for some reason, I am having trouble uploading the last two images.
I'll have to come back later and try to post them again.

Anywho...I really enjoy being married to you Brian!
And I'm looking forward to many more moments, memories, and
the adventure that still lays ahead of us on our journey together.

About Mama Rich

Some random things about me:

-My favorite sweets--almost anything dark chocolate!-
*I average 15-25 miles running a week.*
>I like wearing high heels.<
- I enjoy listening to classical music in the car.-
*The most influential advice anyone has ever given me is: Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you.*
>My favorite color is any hue of blue.<
- I like to zumba and kickbox.-
*My greatest fear is drowning.*
>And...apparently I don't like billy goats!!!!
(LOL - only in this picture!)<

A Miracle!

This post was written by Ed McInnis, a witness to this miracle and a very good friend of ours.

Last night (June 30th, 2010) while entertaining the Rich's, I accidentally ran unto (with my wheelchair) and parked on for a brief instance, the foot of Mr. Moo (their one year old son). 530 pounds of force was on his ankle and as he fell back screaming in pain and trying to free himself, he twisted his ankle into a most precarious angle.

When he was finally rescued and we began taking off his sandal, we discovered his foot was compressed, twisted, purple, and swelling.

Folks......I have seen mangled bodies and I know when things are "not good."

I, as "under cool fire as I am," saw his ankle and foot, I, even I, already had the creeping, nauseating suspicion that we were going to have to go to the ER due to a broken ankle/foot.

To quote David Hogan, "Faith kicked in before reason."

We laid hands on his foot and began to pray and immediately the color returned to normal, there was no swelling, and his foot was restored to its natural form.

Mr. Moo was comforted by his mom as he ate a popsicle; he wanted down and when his foot hit the floor.....well.........

He ran and chased his sister with NO sign of distress at all!!!!!!

PRAISE GOD!!!!

This was an actual, visible healing....

PRAISE GOD!!!!!!

Can you count them?

This weekend was a lot of fun.
Here are some simple blessings that our family got to enjoy this weekend:
Brian and I enjoyed a date night.
I got to see a rainbow!!!
Micah didn't break anything! (LOL)
I got to sleep in until 8am!
All four of us shared a chocolate covered hand-dipped vanilla
ice cream bar covered with roasted almonds at Costco. (yum)
Micaiah started going down the slides at the pool--all by himself.
Anna and Jenna got to play in the sandbox, color with sidewalk chalk, and swim together.
Jenna and Anna had a blast together!
Brian experienced the fun of an iPad.
Micaiah now splashes and dunks Papa in the big pool.
Brian and I got to hang out with JM and Allison.
And thanks to JM, Brian and I got in a picture together :)


I really do enjoy the simple things in life.
So many blessings...not enough fingers to count them on!
Keep smiling and let your light shine.

If you are a blogger or a facebooker, don't forget to share your blessings.
There is so much negativity in this world.
It is always so good to hear about the little things that
make people happy and about experiences that change people's lives.
I encourage you to share about more of the blessings in your life.

Friday's favorites

Here are this week's favorites around the Rich home:

Peppermint Patties are my favorite.


Anna and Micaiah's favorite new hobby--sticker collecting!

Anna collects them on her bedroom wall.


Micaiah collects them on his arm!


Anna and Micaiah loving on each other.


and Micaiah's latest sad face!
(Yes, his hair is really almost white)

Happy Friday!

The Toils of Potty Training!

Wow! Its hard to believe that Micaiah will be 2 years old
in only 4 months!!!!

My baby boy is beginning to turn into a little boy now.

About a week ago, the process of potty training began.
Oh my!
They say boys will be boys for a reason, you know!
So for me, I'm facing up to all the fears and concerns of potty training a boy.
Is there really confusion in teaching them to first go sitting down, and then standing up later?
And there are a few more, but I won't go into detail.

For Micaiah, his Elmo potty seat and gummi bears make him pretty happy to keep trying.
It also helps that he really likes wearing 'big boy' training pants.

This is Micaiah sitting on the potty and asking for more gummi bears.

(Anna's favorite reward when she was potty training was M&M's.)

Now that he is learning that he is interested in potty time, he ventures into the bathroom a lot more.......
......and can you guess what he does???


You got it...

The toilet paper roll is his new playground---and he thinks its funny!

I'm sure that this year of potty training will
have its own tales to be told.

For more potty training tips, ideas, and information, go to Huggies.com.

The Huggies brand also does a rewards point program.

Happy training!

For the 4th of July

The July 4th holiday always stirs in me the desire and excitement to see a good fireworks display. This year, I really wanted to take Micaiah to see them for the first time. For some reason, he likes pointing out lights, so I couldn't wait to see how he would respond to "big lights in the sky." Anna was purely excited just to stay awake until it was dark outside. She likes being outside when its dark and seeing the way the world looks different at night.

For a part of the afternoon, we spent time together at
a local community event called VillageFest in Prairie Village.

Anna enjoying the day.
I really like this picture of her because she is just so happy and beautiful!

Micaiah on the other hand, was busy eating Cheetos!

Anna really enjoyed her first pony ride!
She even got to pick out which pony to ride.
Micaiah at least sat in the saddle, but he didn't make it the whole way around.

Later that day, we met up with some friends
and went to a carnival in Parkville, MO.
We had heard from others that the fireworks display that was going
to be set off at the end was really good.
I was excited. The kids were excited.
When they saw all the carnival rides and games, they got even more excited! :)
This was Anna and Micaiah's favorite ride at the carnival.
They both really enjoyed it and didn't want to get off.
This was Micaiah's first time riding a carnival ride!
Beep, Beep!!!
Anna got to ride a few more rides as it began to sprinkle.
Then, it hit! The drizzle became a downpour! We had to run up a steep hill in the pouring rain. Thankfully Brian was pushing, I mean running with the kids in the double stroller!
We all got soaked and yet it was a lot of fun!
It was a warm rain so once we were wet, we just kinda enjoyed it and got each other even wetter!
So the rain came and we did not get to see fireworks this 4th of July. :(