Christmas and Cornflakes

I had the big idea on December 9th, I think, to do an advent/tree/calendar.  In all honesty, it wasn't my idea.  I got it from friends/blogs, etc., and I got a bit of a late start.  I really had to stop myself halfway through this Christmas season to think . . . Why am I doing all of this?  Overwhelmed was an understatement between organizing class parties, buying gifts, attending Christmas parties, baking, and just general holiday madness.  One night we happened to be reading Little Guy's Bible (Jesus Storybook Bible) and the section we're on (we read a couple of pages a night) just happens to be the Christmas story - pretty neat! 

So, anyway, I was reading to them about how God would choose to show up as a baby and be born in the worst of conditions, with straw to sleep on, surrounded by smelly animals.  I was thinking about how painstakingly we picked out Little Guy's crib when we knew we were going to have a baby.  We wanted it to be beautiful and strong and the mattress to be soft and comfy.  Jesus had none of that, and He deserved it.  How little do Christmas parties and baking and organizing matter in light of God coming to Earth as a baby?

After that I wanted to focus on what matters, which is where the advent calendar comes back in.  Each day had a bit of the Christmas story and an activity for our family to do together.  I decided not to buy an advent calendar but to make something (so not me!).  So, I made snowflakes and glued the paper on the back and arranged it into a tree.  Here is the progression . . .

front of the snowflakes:

all the snowflakes:

our advent tree:

Just to assure you how non-crafty I am . . . When Little Guy first saw it, the first thing he said was, "Those don't look like snowflakes!  Snowflakes aren't black!"  Come on, Little Guy, use your imagination!!  It's been fun, and the activities have been everything from

coloring Christmas pages
driving around to look at Christmas lights
going to the zoo
making Christmas cards
making a gingerbread house, etc.

The first thing they want to do in the morning is to go down and see what the day's activity is.  Although, lesson learned for next year - they are wiped out from some of the things.  Since Little Guy's not in school this week, we've packed in the activities.  They crashed!  Oh, well, that's how memories are made, right?  Each night before bed, we read the bit of the Christmas story on the paper.

Sweet girl has snowflakes on her mind though.  I never buy Cornflakes, but I had them for a recipe, so the kids have been eating them for breakfast.  The other day, when Little Guy ran out, Sweet Girl said, "You want more snowflakes?"  I still can't get her to call them Cornflakes.

I will post more pictures of some of our activities soon!

Geese and Angels

Campus Crusade held it's annual Light Up event tonight.  To be honest, I usually dread this event.  It's dark so it's harder to keep up with everyone, the lines for food are SUPER long, and the food is supposed to represent different countries . . . so, not kid friendly.  This year, though, we came prepared.  We went to McDonald's beforehand, so kids were eating Happy Meals, while mommy and daddy were able to fight through the food lines.  Although, no fighting was necessary because we got there 10 minutes early and there were no lines!  So, Blair and I munched on tacos and empanadas, while the kids munched on cheeseburgers and fries (I did throw in some apples, too, so as not to be completely unhealthy.)

Here the kids are before the party during some forced holiday fun in front of the tree.  You can imagine me spurting out any lines I could think of from Disney movies to try to make them smile and look natural. 

As you can see it didn't really work . . .

The night was fun.  There were lots of kid activities, and even a petting zoo.  If you know our Sweet Girl, you know she loves animals.  Goats, geese, bunnies, and ducks were there.  I don't know if you know anything about adult geese or not, but they are MEAN.  We are not fans of geese in this family after tonight.  Our dear little Sweet Girl loves the animals so much and stood by the fence to see them.  Well, along comes a goose out of nowhere and takes a snap at her finger!!  She was very scared.  I could hear the gasps around the circle of the fence when it happened.  It's like he came up just to snap at her - mean thing!  Thankfully, she wasn't too scarred and still ventured to touch a bunny and a donkey's rear end.

The best part of the night actually happened on the 3 minute drive home.  We pulled onto our street and I commented for the 800th time how much I love our outside Christmas lights.  Blair did a great job on them!  You can see our Christmas tree through the front 2 windows and it looks like a scene from a very happy Christmas movie to me.  I look at it, and I think I'm glad I get to live in there with these people.  This picture doesn't really do it justice, but here it is nonetheless . . .

Yeah, it looks pretty lame in the picture, but I promise in person, it's really pretty.  So, Little Guy, says to us, "But, you can't see my angel."  We ask what angel, and he says, "I moved my angel around the back, so people could see it from the window and know that Christmas is about baby Jesus."  I was shocked silent for a minute.  I was hit on 2 levels.  1 is that he is thinking on his own that Christmas is about Jesus, and 2 that he wants other people to know that.  It was an amazing moment.

Here is the picture of the ornament.  He just colored it in church last Sunday.

Rec-Tangled

Isn't it true of parenthood that you get such sweet moments sandwiched in between scream-inducing ones?  Thank you, God, for the sweet ones that help us to endure the others!

My sandwich began this Tuesday with a scream-inducing moment.  I do a swap with a good friend who also lives in our neighborhood.  One week I take her son for a couple of hours and the next week she takes Sweet Girl.  This was my week to take her son.  We'll called him "C".  As soon as he gets here, C and Sweet Girl immediately say "pay-gound, pay-gound!" Which means, of course, that they want to go to our neighborhood playground. 

So, we get there and they're having a ball, when disaster strikes.  C and Sweet Girl like to play this game where they run around in the grass and fall down on top of each other - pretty harmless, right?  Well, I look up and C's arm is black.  It's covered in fire ants!!!!!!!!!!  I run over to him, yank his shirt off and furiously scrub his arm.  Meanwhile, he's upset, but he's barely crying.  As you have to be as a mother, I'm "taking care of business" on the outside, but inside I'm freaking out!!  Blair is allergic to fire ants and 40 bites would do some serious damage to him, so I'm terrified if that's true of C.  I got him all cleaned up and took him home. 

He was fine the whole time - brave kiddo!  My friend was very kind about it and said it could have happened to anyone.  I'm not a negligent mother - I promise!  I HATE fire ants.  They can strike when you least suspect it.  If you've ever seen Steel Magnolias, one of my favorite lines describes how I feel about them "They are a boil on the butt of humanity!!"  So, thankfully, C is okay.  His mom is still speaking to me, and all is well!  Here is a picture of the battle scars . . .

So, my sweet moment sandwiched in between disasters was this.  I'm trying to teach Sweet Girl her shapes and she continues to called a "rectangle" - "rec-tangled"  Because, yes, she has seen the movie Tangled many, many times.  I'm hoping she'll grow out of it by Kindergarten!  You can see for yourself . . .

The second piece of bread on my sandwich happened this morning.  It wasn't scream-inducing as much as it was I-want-to-run-out-of-this-store-and-never-show-my-face-again type of situation.  I'm shopping with a friend perusing the clearance racks at Ann Taylor Loft.  Sweet Girl is being the best that I've ever seen her in a shopping situation.  She is not much of a sit still and shop kind of gal.  So, I'm thrilled and thinking maybe we're turning a corner. 

My clothes to be tried on are hanging on the back of the stroller.  Sweet Girl is happily sticking Tangled (yes, there it is again!) stickers all over the stroller.  Thank you, dollar spot at Target.  There are definitely a few safe minutes to try these things on.  I roll the stroller into the dressing room and commence with the trying on. I try on a pair of jeans and a shirt.  The jeans are great, but I need a second opinion on the shirt, so I step out (thinking Sweet Girl is still okay) to have my friend give me her opinion.  All of a sudden I hear a very loud THUMP.  I rush back over and the first sight that greets my eyes is 2 shirts and a pair of jeans drenched in Diet Pepsi laying on the floor.  The stroller is turned over and sweet girl looks to be belly flopped on it.  I'm guessing she stood up in the stroller, leaned back, and it tipped over.  She did hit her head, but wasn't hurt - thankfully!

So, after making sure she's okay, my biggest concern now is the Diet Pepsi stained clothes.  The sales people were great and helpful, but of course, I felt like I had to buy those things.  I couldn't put them back!  So, I spent way more at the Loft today than I was planning on . . .

There's my sweet moment sandwich with one slice of scream-inducing and one slice of run and hide embarrassing.  My friend and I said one day we'll look back and say remember when . . .

Prayer Update: The Network

Jesus commissioned His followers to do what He did, make disciples.  Part of disciplemaking is helping train and equip the younger generation of Christ-followers to take the gospel to those around them.  This month, hear about how one campus leader has taken steps to mobilize his graduates to do just this in Detroit.  Read about it here.  Thanks so much for your prayers!

Come Home, Daddy!!

So, I was flying solo this past week.  Blair was up in Virginia meeting with people about financially supporting our ministry.  Half of me dreaded him leaving and half of me saw it as a challenge (which is really not like me at all!)  I usually choose the easy and comfortable life, to a fault!  To sum the week up in a couple of words: up and down.  Here are a few moments that stood out . . .

My sweet friend, Christy,  graced me with her presence (because I'm a big chicken when it comes to staying by myself) for 2 nights since she was in town.  Well, her birthday is at the end of the month, so Little Guy helped me decorate a cake that we made for her.  He was so proud, but it looks like a cross between an advertisement for Universal's Halloween Horror Nights and Betty Crocker run amuck.  See for yourself.



I felt very blessed to be living in community here.  We don't have family close by, but we have wonderful friends that feel like family.  Several friends watched the kids for me so I could do a few things or invited us over for dinner so I wouldn't have to cook.  So, Day 4 Dana invited us over for dinner.  Her husband had a class that night, so it worked out well.  Well, by Day 4, the kids were tired, missing their Daddy, and who knows what else.  As we were leaving, Little Guy decided he would show his friend how fast he could run (boys will be boys) and he fell and skinned his knee.  I kid you not -- people were coming out of their houses because he was screaming so loud.  He cried all the way home until he went to bed.  You are probably thinking "poor thing" which I can totally understand, but I have to confess my sympathy was pretty low.

I came home and did some thinking.  I don't usually think of myself as a controlling person, but the control monster came out in me this week!  I was trying to control the kids' behavior, how they interacted with each other, and the kicker was . . . my level of comfort.  I realized I wanted them to be obedient little robots who acted perfectly and let me have rest.  I'm sure no one else has ever felt that way!  But, I did.  The next day my goal was to loosen up on them a little bit and take all that effort to control and try to turn it into enjoyment of my kids.  The next few days were . . . well, I won't say easy, but definitely better!

I kept them busy over the weekend!  On Friday, we treated ourselves to pretzels at the mall.  Here's a video we made for Daddy while we were there.  Little Guy just could not get over the penny he found.  It's the little things in life for kids . . . 

We did a Fall Festival that night.  Let me tell you keeping up with kids by myself amidst hundreds of other people at an event like that is not a pleasure I'm likely to soon repeat!  The kids had fun though.  With the chaos, I only got 1 picture.  Oh, and you can tell I'm a big fan of this bow!

Thankfully, Sweet Girl saved up her double ear infections and hand, foot, and mouth disease until Daddy came home this week.  Trust me those 2 things (understandably so) does not a happy girl make!

Prayer Update: Following God's Call

The only appropriate response to the indescribable love and forgiveness that Jesus gives is a life of gratitude expressed through obedience and worship.  This month, take a moment to read about a Cru grad who has obediently followed God's call in his life.  We'll also give you a little more of an update on our life as parents and Sarah's ministry with women at church.  You can read our prayer update here.  Thank you so much for your prayers that make our ministry possible!

Tom the Turtle

 

Have I mentioned how much I like Little Guy's teacher?  One of our biggest concerns about sending Little Guy to school is of course I want him to learn his ABCs and how to read and all that good stuff, BUT we also want him to still get to be a kid.  When the school year started, I wrote a letter (which they let parents do) describing Little Guy and asked that they'd put him with a teacher that would be a good fit for him.  I really think they took it into consideration!  One of the fun things the class gets to do is take turns taking care of this turtle named Tom.  He's stuffed, but Little Guy thinks he's real.  He's talked about it ever since the little reptile started going home with different kids.  Well, this weekend was Little Guy's turn.  He was ecstatic!  So, we had to come up with a fun filled weekend so we could take pictures and record our adventures so Little Guy would have some great stuff to share with his class on Monday.  I wanted to share them with you all too . . .

First, Tom joined us on our Friday night tradition of dinner and a movie.  He ate grilled cheese sandwiches and watched Up with us.

 

Friday night Tom slept with Little Guy.  This is a testimony to how excited he was, because Little Guy has a bear that he NEVER and I mean NEVER sleeps without!

On Saturday we took Tom to Conway Days which is a local Fall Festival with arts and crafts booths and fun activities for kids.  Here he is sampling some delicious cookies made by a neighbor of ours who had a booth there.

Next Little Guy and Sweet Girl took Tom on a bounce house ride.  After getting slung around, it made me glad that we got Tom on the front end of the year.  Who knows what heights and depths Tom will climb to after being handled by 18 Kindergarteners!

It was not always easy, but he did a pretty good job of sharing Tom with his little sister.

The biggest surprise bonus was a petting zoo.  Tom got to meet one of his own ...

The Boy Scouts helped the kids make ice cream.  Tom was very helpful too.

Last but not least Tom got to cheer on the Hokies with us tonight.  Sadly he was not a good luck charm.

All in all we had fun with Tom, and I think he had fun with us!

Yes, Drill Sargeant!

Do you feel like some days you are just barking out orders all day long?  I felt like that from the second I got the kids up to the second I put them down.  We were under a time crunch this morning because today was the first morning of our women's Bible study at church that I've mentioned before.  Sweet Girl and I had to be there at 9am and USUALLY the bus picks Little Guy up at 8:21 (yes, very specific).  So, it was . . .

"hurry up and finish your breakfast" (This is after 3 bowls of Cheerios. Something about school is drastically improving our Little Guy's appetite.)
"get your toothbrush ready"
"yes, you can put on your Buzz Lightyear costume when you get home from school"
"come here!  let me put your bow in your hair!"
 
Then he informs me that he'd really like me to take him to school in the car today, because his little bus buddy wasn't going to be riding in the morning.  I thought what the heck?  I'll drop him off at 8:30 and swing by Dunkin Donuts before Bible study - win, win, right? Well, I should have learned that you have to be very selective about the truths your 5 year old is telling you.  Usually you are lucky to get 2/3s of the real story.  His bus buddy was riding the bus today, and actually, her mom texted me (while I was in the car line at school) asking if Little Guy was okay.  Sheesh!

And what do you think happened just as we're getting ready to get into the car to leave?  If you guessed that Sweet Girl pooped, you'd be correct!  Why does that always happen?  Do they plan it?

Bible study went great this morning though.  Lots of ladies came, and we started to learn about inductively studying the Bible.  It was great.

But, then after everyone got up from naps and rests in the afternoon, I was at it again . . .

"Stop tickling your sister while she's trying to eat!"
"No, I won't push you down the sidewalk on your bike."
"Oh no, we forgot your 20 minutes of reading today!"
"There's no need to have a melt down about getting your Buzz Lightyear costume off, just ask me to help you!"

Yikes!  It was one of those days!  The day is never so long or so hard that I don't love watching their nightly wrestling matches.  Maybe it comes from being an only child, but I get a huge kick out of this!

Don't Forget That!

Quite a while ago we started telling Little Guy, "We love you no matter what.  Don't forget that!"  We wanted him to know that our love for him isn't based on his behavior, whether good or bad.  Well, after hearing this over and over for months on end he's now saying, "Don't forget that!" every time he tells us that he loves us.  It's so precious and sweet and, of course, we tell him not to forget we love him too.  Whenever he says it I think, "Of course I won't forget it and I hope he doesn't either." 


Not long after he started saying this it hit me that God is saying the same thing.  "I love you no matter what.  Don't forget that!" and I often have the same thoughts, "Of course I won't forget."  But the truth is, I forget far too easily.  Whenever things don't go the way I had planned my disappointment reveals my forgetfulness.  Whenever I look to others for their approval my search for significance, once again, reveals my forgetfulness.  I forget daily but God's Holy Spirit whispers to me saying, "Don't forget that!"  Jesus loves me so much He gave His life so that I might live with Him.  When I am reminded of His love displayed on the cross, I remember that He is good so I can trust His plan.  I remember that I am a child of God and that's what makes me significant.  I need to hear God say, "Don't forget that!" because I am a very forgetful man. 

I hope that Little Guy doesn't forget that his father loves him as much as I forget that my Father loves me.  It's because I know how forgetful I am that I'll keep telling him everyday, "Don't forget that!" just in case he needs reminding like I do.

Choo Choo!

 I can't believe how busy life has become.  Surely, I'm just not into the routine and schedule of school (although this is the 4th week).  If you remember from my last post I discovered the library and have fallen madly in love.  Here we are at story time.  This is Sweet Girl building a train with one of her best little buddies.  We'll call him "C" for short.  Should the 2 mommies have been letting the toddlers rearrange the chairs in the library, maybe not?  But, they were having fun.  Here is the progression of building the train . . .

First there were 2.

 
Along came 3.

Now, we're almost finished.

Play time!

Wait, we're not going anywhere!  C, what's going on?

 Okay, I'm over it.

Alright time to put the library back together.

Prayer Update: Transforming a Community

This month, we'd like to share a story with you about 2 Campus Crusade for Christ graduates who are examples of the kind of graduate we are working to see sent out from our ministries nationwide.  God has used these guys to mobilize others who are transforming a small community in Portland, OR.  Please take a moment to read our newsletter here to rejoice in what the Lord is doing and pray for Him to continue to send laborers into the harvest.  Thank you for your prayers!

The Library and the Beast

I discovered the library!  The library has been around for how many years?  But, I feel like I have discovered it for the first time.  I mean you can take out books AND MOVIES and watch them, read them and then bring them back FOR FREE!!  It's really an amazing thing.  Why am I just taking advantage of this amazing institution?  Don't even get me started on how you can "check out" digital copies of things.  Wow!

When I was little I wanted to be a librarian, because I loved the stamp thingy they used.  I loved how they pulled out the little card in the back, stamped it, and put it back in all nice and neat.  What a great job!  Well, gone are those days!

With Little Guy in school our tradition has become to do pizza and a movie on Friday night.  We're all tired and it's nice to veg out together.  I have been renting a kids' "classic" each week and this week was Beauty and the Beast.  Most households own it, but we don't, and I thought they'd like to see it.  Plus Sweet Girl needs to add some princesses into her repertoire.  She is surrounded by boy things.

I thought they would both like it.  As we were watching it, I looked over and saw tears running down Sweet Girl's cheeks.  I was perplexed.  Was she responding to the emotions in the movie?  Had she been holding her eyes open too long without blinking?  We stopped the movie for some other reason and started it back later.  The same thing happened the next time except this time she was silently crying but still watching the movie.  I was so sad for her.  I said "Sweet Girl, are you scared?"  She gave me a pitiful "yyeeahh."  So, I held her and we talked about how the Beast is good and becomes a prince.

As we were walking down the stairs later getting ready to leave, she said something to me that sounded equivalent to "jacket beast mommy."  After a few more times, I figured out she was saying "don't like it beast, mommy."  I kid you not, she repeated this to me 30 times throughout the course of our ride to Red Lobster and during our whole meal there.  By the 28th time I was a little tired of it, but I thought hey at least she is expressing her feelings!

The Great Escape

Do you ever have the feeling that you're just not "right"?  I've been feeling that way for a few weeks now.  One thing that I just don't like about myself, but am finding it hard to overcome is that I like to escape.  When things are hard, I'd rather read a good book, watch TV, or eat a bowl of ice cream.  I read a really good quote recently from a book by Dan Allender called To Be Told.

"So what really moves us?  It's whatever we love.  If I love the feeling of being full, satisfied, and content, I will love the ease that any false god like food can provide . . . Doughnuts require less risk, suffering, and loss than a 30 minute workout.  And I love what takes away pain and suffering more than I love what is true, good, or lovely."

Argh!!  He might as well have written, "Dear Sarah Pippin."  Numerous things are rolling around in my head.  One that I've mentioned here before - Little Guy starting Kindergarten.  With that for me comes stress and guilt.  I have such high expectations for myself as a mom.  No one told me to do that.  I put it on myself.  When I feel like I'm not living up to this "ideal" in my head, I want to drown myself in Chocolate Moose Tracks and watch Toddlers and Tiaras.  Why do we run away?  I want to feel good.  I want to escape this world that is not my home and all the pain and heartache in it.  I value that more than I do what is "true, good, or lovely."  It's good to take a look at hard things.  It's true and lovely to put down the remote and the ice cream carton and engage with Jesus.  But, it is hard. Oh that I would value what is lovely.

To COMPLETELY change the subject.  We puppy sat yet again this weekend.  Here is our Sweet Girl.  She'll probably be a veterinarian when she grows up.

2 videos today!  With school comes learning to read.  Here is Little Guy making his way through Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.  Listen for Sweet Girl doing her own version of "reading" off to the side.

Kids Say the Darnedest Things

Blair and I were literally laughing out loud at this conversation over dinner tonight (trying to be discreet, of course, so as not to hurt Little Guy's feelings).


Me: Julie's going to have the baby on Monday!

Little Guy: (excitedly) Really!

Me: Yes!  Maybe we can go see her.

Little: I remember when we went to see Sweet Girl's bones!

Blair and I were a little bit confused, because I could find no context for when we would have seen her bones anywhere.  Little Guy kept trying to help us remember . . . "You know - when we saw her bones and they were black and white."  Blair finally pieced together that he was talking about the ultrasound.

Me: Yes!  I remember that, but we're going to see Julie's actual baby.

Little Guy: I could see her brain inside her face!!!!!!

Jekyll and Hyde

3/5's of the first week of school down!  Oh, there's so much I could write, but the emotions of the week exhausted me, so I'm going to try to keep it short and sweet.

Little Guy is in Kindergarten!  Everyone was pretty calm on Monday morning.  We had to leave at 8am to get him to school by 8:45am, and we live, oh, about 7 minutes from the school.  Imagine a school with 9 Kindergartens and picture everyone (K-5) trying to get in the same doors - insanity!

Here's Little Guy sporting his Lightning backpack before leaving the house.

1 kiddo + 1 handsome husband

After finally finding a parking space, here we are walking in.  The biggest excitement at this point was seeing a snake under our car . . .

As we're walking in, I think, "I just can't believe we're doing this. I just can't believe we're doing this." over and over to myself.  Little Guy is excited though.  Can you imagine dropping this kiddo off for the first time?

I hold it together until we leave the room.  As I'm walking out, I turn around to look at him, and the huge-ness of the moment hits me.  He looks so small and so young.

I ask him if he's okay.  He says he's fine, and I can tell he is . . .

The rest of the day is a blur.  Looking back I know I was just counting down the minutes until he got off that bus.  He made it.  He loved it.  It was a great day.

One thing I did not anticipate was how much Sweet Girl would miss him.  She was out of sorts all day.  As we were leaving the house, she kept saying, "my ack ack!  my ack ack!" translated - "My backpack! My backpack!" - meaning she thought she should have a backpack to go to school, too - heartbreaking!

Here she is hugging him before we left . . .

The last 2 days have been a dream, and I was driving home today thinking "Wow - we might actually have been worried for nothing.  This is amazing!"  Spoke (or thought) too soon!  Blair was home this afternoon, so he went to the bus stop to get Little Guy.  As I heard the door open downstairs, I immediately heard wailing.  I mean this was weeping and gnashing of teeth . . .

Here he is getting off the bus today - the calm before the storm . . . (note the holding up of the shorts leg)

Well, he must have fallen on the way to get ON the bus, and he held in his tears until he saw his Daddy.  Then he cried all the way home, and I kid you not about 20 minutes afterwards all because of the major travesty of skinning his knee.  Now, I've told you before he is sensitive, but this was excessive even for him.  At this point I know he is beyond tired, so I MAKE him take a nap.  He goes to the bed kicking and screaming, but he is OUT in 2 seconds.

I wake him up at 4:30, and he finally utters an intelligible word at 5:00.  We have baths before dinner, and he cries for about another 15 minutes because Blair tells him to put his pj's on.  What ever happened to half day Kindergarten????

The drama finally ended, and I had to laugh to myself at just the up and down-ness of the evening.   We have been playing around with starting to potty train Sweet Girl.  Well, she goes over to the potty (which sits now in our living room) and Little Guy says, "I smell poo poo."  She had gone over to sit on the potty and pooped on the potty WITH her diaper ON.  Well, now, I'm convinced that my 5 year old is going to potty train my 2 year old for me!  He gets all worked up and tells her to take her diaper off, takes her upstairs, sits her on the potty, and starts to "read" a book to her while she's "trying" to go.  It's hilarious.

Even though Little Guy has been Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde tonight.  I'm sitting there looking at Sweet Girl sitting on the plastic potty and Little Guy attempting to read Dr. Seuss to her and thinking, "What a good older brother and sister they would be to some sweet child that has yet to join our family."  How blessed that child will be to have them.  How blessed I am to have them. How blessed we will be to have that child. 

Pre-Kindergarten Weekend

We have been trying to make the most of our time before Little Guy's first day of school TOMORROW!!!  Here are some pictures and a video to show a little of the fun we had.

We took care of a puppy this weekend . . . Sweet Girl's dream come true!  Please note the special language she uses to communicate with Lola - never heard it before.  Also, note how many people it actually takes to walk a dog.

Ever since we got a Nintendo Wii, Little Guy has been asking to go bowling.  He LOVES Wii bowling, which he discovered tonight is a bit different from real bowling.  We thought - what a fun back to school celebration to take him bowling for the first time.  This is our first time bowling as a family with some other dear friends, the Jones.  Although, lesson learned, before the first day of school next year, we'll probably make it a low key evening . . .

Sweet Girl couldn't decide which ball she wanted (not that she could lift any of them).

This is quite a pose.  Not sure I'd win any awards for my bowling form.  And, no, Sweet Girl isn't giving me a piggy back ride.

Here's Little Guy and his sweet friend.  I hope he'll stay in this stage a long time before girls have cooties.

Not only did we bowl, but we ended the evening with ice cream!

Not sure what game this was, but it sure looks fun!

It's always nice when your big brother and his friend let you play too.

Here we are, our little family, including 1 new Kindergartener!

10 Items or Less

As we do more frequently than not, we headed to Target this evening.  I have actually been in all day meetings this past 2 days with Blair's team.  Because of this, there was not a speck of food in the house.  We could possibly have made a dinner on a few out of date packages of Babybel cheese with maybe some canned green beans to redeem the meal.  Instead, we went to Cracker Barrel, then on to Target.

Blair had to leave us after dinner to go to an HOA meeting in our neighborhood.  Things were fine at first, I got one of those special carts (not like the cool race car carts at Publix) but that have the 2 bench seats in front of the cart.  The pro is that the kids love it.  The con is that they cannot be contained.  I brought coloring books and crayons to (hopefully) entertain them, but the thrill of those lasted about 18 seconds for Sweet Girl.  I mean why color Hello Kitty when you can stack boxes of Oatmeal Creme Pies in the aisle?

Getting the groceries was definitely chaos control, but nothing out of the ordinary for the most part, until the end.  It was a little crowded (NOTHING like the tax free day, of course) but the check out lines were still about 3 people deep.  Number 11 had only 1 person checking out with not many items, so I raced for that one.  I'm attempting to unload my groceries onto the belt, while trying to keep Sweet Girl from pulling out every single miscellaneous item in the impulse buy section.

I am stressed.  I'm just sure that Sweet Girl is somehow going to smuggle one of those items out and then we'll be "taken in" for petty theft.  At the same time I'm furiously unloading so I won't hold up the line.  When I finally make it over to the sweet little girl checking me out, she says, "I'm not sure if you noticed it or not, but this is a 10 items or less line."  My first response was to feel terrible.  I apologized profusely.  Then the more I thought about it, the more my sinful nature came out.  I was totally in the wrong.  I admit that, but give a gal a break!  So, I asked her, "Do you have kids?"  She laughed and said no.  I said, "When you bring 2 little kids to a place like this, it's really easy to miss the signs."  I wish I could say I was trying to make conversation so that I could tell her about Jesus.  Part of me was just making conversation, but I fear another part of me was being a bit of a "smart mouth."  I'm just being honest here, and screaming kids in the store do not a spirit-filled mommy make!

Now, Sweet Girl is absolutely screaming with my attempts to get her to put things back.  I'm holding her in one arm, trying to swipe my card with the other.  Sometimes I just wonder - how did I get here????  Finally, I pay and get the bags loaded up.  This sweet little check out girl just looks up at me and says, "good luck."  Now, the crayons are spilling out on the floor, Sweet Girl is still screaming, I'm certain people are staring, but I don't have the nerve to look anyone in the eyes.  I sit Sweet Girl on a bin so that I can pick up crayons, but for some reason the bin is vibrating.  A security guard passes by, but I can't make eye contact with him either for fear that he'll think I'm abusing my child.

I don't know how we made it home, but we did.  What redeemed the evening was when we got home, I left both van doors open and quickly grabbed a couple of grocery bags so I could get to the door and turn the alarm off just in case one of the kids set it off.  Little Guy closed his door, went around the van and closed Sweet Girl's door and then proceeded to get a bag of groceries out to carry in.  What a guy!  At least he has a great Daddy!

No energy tonight even for random pics - more to come next time.

The God Who Sees

You know how some nights putting your kids to bed (if you have kids, and if you don't, you can probably imagine) are just kind of hum-drum?  If I'm honest with myself, some nights I'm rushing through the "Jesus Storybook Bible" that we read to our kids at night.  I'm hurrying through our prayers - rushing through the 18th chorus of Noah and the arky, arky.  Tonight though I felt like I was on holy ground . . .

Blair was brushing Sweet Girl's teeth and Little Guy brings over his Veggie Tales devotion book that I bought with the best of intentions, but only made it through, um, day 7 I think.  I end up reading Day 1 to him while we're waiting for the teeth brushing to conclude.  It talked about Jesus being in our heart.  We honestly are not pushy with our kids, because we want them to understand what they're doing when they make a decision for Jesus, to be intellectually and emotionally mature enough to really understand it.  We don't want them to "pray a prayer" just so we can wipe our foreheads and go "whew!" or be able to tell our friends that they did it.

I did take this chance though to ask a few questions, and this is how the conversation went . . .

Me: Little Guy, have you asked Jesus into your heart?
Little Guy: Yep.
Me: When did you do that?
Little Guy: I do that every day, kind of quiet.

I am first of all amazed by this. Second of all,  I'm completely surprised in the sweetest sense of the word at his innocence and in some sense that he has a  spiritual life all of his own.  So . . .

Me: You know you don't have to do that every day.  You only have to do it once, and Jesus is in there forever.
Little Guy: Okay

Both Blair and my antennas are up now, so Blair starts asking him questions and that go something like this . . .

Blair: What did Jesus do?
Little Guy: He died.
Blair: Why did He die?
Little Guy: For our sins.
Blair: What are our sins?
Little Guy: Bad stuff.

Well, this conversation continues on through Blair tucking him in.  I think we were both over-eager because we've never gotten such clear answers or such a willingness to talk about it. So, we probably overdid it on the questions.  Eventually, Sweet Little Guy says, "Daddy, we don't need to talk about this anymore.  It's time for me to go to sleep now." You know your son is done talking to you about something when he ASKS to go to bed!

It was truly a sweet moment, and I have no idea if this was "his moment" that he'll forever share when he tells people how he came to know the Lord.  But, right now, I'm amazed at God's precious gift to me in light of him starting Kindergarten on Monday and all the emotions I've been feeling with that.  It's as if God is telling me He "sees" me and "sees" Little Guy and that the He will be doing the same while he's in school.  I feel truly cared for and known and seen.  I feel utterly blessed beyond measure to know El Roi - the God who sees.



Random picture time:

Smoothie makin'

Check out this adorable little baker/ballerina.  I have an apron to match courtesy of my dear, talented friend, Keri.