Friday, February 20, 2015

Dedicating the twins to God

On Saturday February 7th, we participated in a ceremony at our church, Grove Community Church, called a baby dedication. This ceremony is to signify that we will raise our children in a christian home, teaching them about God, the bible and his amazing unconditional love and forgiveness. With these teachings it will be our hope that they make the choice to be baptised one day and continue to grow in their faith. We invited our closest family and friends. We know that it takes a village to raise kids and all of these people we wanted here to know how important their roles are in the kids lives. We shared in the ceremony, dinner at the house and then a fun night at Matt's hockey game. He loved having so many supporters that night!

Now we know we aren't perfect people or Christians but we do try our best each day. And in our life we know the most influenced individuals are our children, all 8 of them (I'm still not used to saying that yet)! We will continue to strive to better our faith so that the children see this and do the same. My hope is that each of the kids will be strong enough in their faith to share it with others, not necessarily with words but instead with actions. It is the things we do for others without looking for gratification that truly show the character we portray. I know that this is not easy each day but when we are able to do this with God's love behind it. We then learn more about him and ourselves. Now for me, I need to grow in my faith with daily reading in the bible and turning toward his plan each day. Easier said than done but like I said we aren't perfect. Guess what....He loves us anyway! What a mighty and powerful God!

In the ceremony we were to choose individuals we want to help us guide these babies in their faith. We asked all of our family members here to help with that however we also asked our mother's to be the matriarchs to truly lead them. You'll see beautiful pictures of my mom, Sandi, holding Kamdyn and Phil's mom, Anita, holding Andrew.

Photo session with Milisa...Love with Flare Photography

We are so fortunate to have a great friend in our life that has an amazing talent for photography. Milisa came over to the house and did an all day photo shoot with the twins. The best part was just hanging out with her all day, then having her husband Chad and son Jaxson come over after! We are so blessed to have them as some of our best friends.

This was the first time Milisa had shot twins so we both pinned some ideas from pintrest and tried them out. I really wanted to get some of those adorable crochet outfits but it didn't work out so we went with things we had! Here were the awesome results! There were so many more but these are my favorite...

Thursday, February 19, 2015

One month old!

These precious babies turned one month on this day, January 27. We spent our first eek at home with them getting to know their little personalities a little more. Their amazing siblings were all able to meet them in person and help take care of them. Each of the kids have been so helpful with everything and amazingly loving each day to our beautiful new additions.

3 week...better late than never

I just wanted to post pictures for all of the weeks that I took! Here are 3 week photos.

This was an extremely eventful day...we visited babies in the morning to get my 3 week picture. Then we ran a few errands and next thing we knew the hospital called to say we could take them home. The most exciting thing was they both got to come home! They graduated from the nicu together.

We are so extremely grateful to the nicu staff at Parkview community hospital. We learned a ton from these amazing nurses and doctors. They helped us get through a difficult time. Most of all they fought just as hard for or babies as we did. They challenged them to reach milestones, encouraged them and touched our hearts forever. Thank you to each of you that had a shift with the Bardos Twins!

What a beautiful day

I am sitting outside on a simple plastic table at our new home just loving my view and life! Life for most is very stressful. I know that's the case for us almost everyday. Between renovating our new house, dealing with a contractor, a budget, then stresses of kids, homework, school projects, getting our oldest home to finish college things, and newborn babies on top of that, life can get the best of us at times. But lately, I am just amazed at how truly blessed all of those things make us!

As I am sitting here I am watching my dad working on our backyard. He is truly a man I admire, he works hard everyday of his life, he enjoys it and he lives to give his family the best. Then there's my mom, she works just as hard everyday, it's a different work but she gives 100% to each part of her life and balances it all amazingly! Today my husband called me a princess because as we renovate my parents keep telling him she wants, or she said. I don't believe I'm a princess but I do know that I'm very well taken care of by all. My parents worked hard all of their lives to give us everything and today they continue to do the same. To say they only do it for me is a lie, they enjoy giving to me, my family, their grandkids and others. You ask how do I know this, because I'm the same way and I learned it by watching them. Thank you mom and dad for continuing to bring daily joy into my life and working hard on our home that your family will enjoy for so many years to come!

Now the beauty of my day doesn't stop there. Inside I have an amazing husband that does his best to provide me with the best life, not only from a financial perspective but also adoration perspective. He adores me so much that he sits next to me to feed the twins, he takes the older kids to and from school without complaining, he goes to a fafsa meeting to help our daughter get funding for college, he keeps in contact with our oldest and her husband to guide them in life. I am truly blessed to have a man that is so willing to be my partner in this crazy thing we call life.

Once again...What a beautiful day it is! And I didn't even share about the 9 miracles I call my children, each unique and loving in their own ways. I have grown to truly enjoy their quirks, laughter, tears and love they share with us!

Take the time today to stop and thank God for your blessings, I know I'm going to!