Smitty Gritty

To Mary Alice on Her Ninth Birthday

2010-08-19T06:19:00.028-05:00

To my sweet Mary Alice girl on her ninth birthday...

Is it that time of the year again already? Sigh. No matter how much I wish you would stay a little girl, you just keep on growing and changing. :) We like to joke about that, how I can't stand the thought of you getting another year older and how, on your birthday, maybe you could just stay at your current age for a change? :)

Mary Alice,

You are a precious precious gift to your dad and me. We love you more than anything on this earth. Only having your own children will enable you to have insight into what that actually means. We are blessed that God has entrusted you to us for nine whole years. Amazing!

This year has been a year of growth and change for you. I can see signs that point to the beginning of your transition from a little girl to an adult. This year, you learned about lots of "adult" things. We had lots of special talks about things that you were questioning. This was a year of enlightening for you. Most importantly, you experienced the realization that you were a sinner who truly needed Jesus to make your life worth living.

I am proud of you, girl. You bring so much joy to our lives. You have a gentle heart, one that wants to please others. You wake up early with a smile on your face ready to start the day. You are our early riser. You come in, first thing in the morning, and give hugs to your daddy and me. What a great start to the day! I always look forward to your cozy hugs and snuggles. One of your major love languages is definitely physical touch. You always want snuggles, back scratches, foot rubs, etc.

You are a planner. You like schedules. You thrive on routine. This isn't' to say that you can't deviate from a schedule at all. You love to do new things. For the most part though, you NEED your sleep to be at your best. You crash pretty quickly when you don't have enough sleep. You definitely aren't going to be the girl at a slumber party who tries to convince everyone to stay up all night.

You love to be at home more than anywhere else. You and Major are pretty good about playing together. You guys seem to genuinely love each other's company. I am proud of how sweet you are to him. I am continually a witness to your attempts to make peace with him or to try to get along when he is being a pill. I know God notices these things too. God blessed you with a heart that loves other people and wants to do what is right.

You hate injustice. Any time we are having a conversation about someone being mistreated or afflicted in any way, I can see your claws come out. Recently, I showed you an online video about child trafficking in Africa. I explained this idea to you, along with what some concerned Christians are trying to do to change things. When you heard about the maltreatment of the children, you became incensed! "How could those bad men treat those children that way?!? Those poor kids! Those men should be ashamed of themselves! How would THEY like it if THEY were made to dive under fishing boats near crocodiles and scary things? Those men should do their own work! Mom, those men are just....EVIL." Other situations where you have been angered involved meanness. The other day, you saw someone speaking to another person in a tone that was hateful and making fun of them. You told me, very plainly, "Mom, I don't like to be around when people are talking to other people that way. It is just too mean."

Right now, you love to do things with your hands, specifically cooking and sewing. Your dad and I jokingly refer to you as the next Food Network star. You love to be right along side me in the kitchen, helping me to prepare our meals. I don't know what I would do without you! You are so helpful and truly love to be in the kitchen! You can cook and bake many things independent from me. This year, you made a few birthday cakes for people. You love to try out new recipes. What a big girl! I think you are going to be an excellent cook some day.

I can't really help you in developing this, but you told me the other day that you wanted to be an expert seamstress when you grew up. You said that you wanted to make beautiful costumes just like your Gran. I am going to do my best to see that you have the skills to sew things for other people. What a useful thing to be able to know how to do! I would love it if I could do this. Maybe you can teach me? :)

I've noticed that your friends are a lot more important to you than they've been in the past. You are constantly talking about your friends, making things for your friends, planning to be at the houses of your friends, having friends over, etc. I am thankful for this and continue to pray that you will choose your friends wisely. I know so much of who you will become will be influenced by these choices.

This year, you got your first and second perm. The first perm was a disaster! It fell almost entirely flat. The morning after you had gotten the perm, you looked in the mirror and saw that your hair was a mess. It was devastating to you. You had endured all of that painful and smelly hair stuff, only to wind up with hair that looked like it was dull and full of tangles. Something about that scene reminded me of the hair dye mishap from Anne of Green Gables. What drama! Thankfully, we were able to get it repaired and all was right with the world :) You now have a head full of curly hair that you love. You are very girly and dramatic and love your new do. You are into different hair accessories, accessories of all types really. You are growing up.

You are a WONDERFUL big sister. You adore Milla and serve as a second mommy to her. You are so sweet and patient with her. You beg to get her out of bed in the morning and never complain about being asked to do things for her. When I was SO sick this year and was throwing up so much, you helped out so much with caring for Milla. Yesterday, I was downstairs in my room and I heard sounds on the baby monitor that made me smile. I could hear you and Major getting Milla out of bed. You got her up and started rocking her and talking to her gently. Then, I could hear you and Major singing songs to her and laughing together. This warmed my heart. Milla adores all of the attention that you give her. She loves her "M-alice."

I love you so much, sweet girl! I can't imagine our family without the sweet blessing of you in it. As I write this letter, you are at a friend's house for a sleepover. It just isn't the same around here without our Mary Alice.

Your dad has this habit of bringing up how many years we have left until you leave home. He has done this for years... I remember him saying, "If God blesses us to have her with us until she is eighteen, you know she has spent one-third of her time with us..." Each time I plug my ears because I can't stand thinking about it! :) I woke up this morning thinking about how, if God allows us to have you for eighteen years, your time with us is already HALF over. Boo! Several of our friends have children who are moving away from home for the first time. I know that time will come all too soon. :(

We pray for you often, girl. We pray for us too. We realize that you are changing from a little girl into an adult. We pray that God will give us the wisdom to guide you during these next few years and that He will give you a wise and discerning heart so that you can eventually make decisions on your own.

You are our precious one! We pray that God will give you many years of service to Him and that you will lean on Him as your constant friend. We love you!

Mom

Let the School Year Begin! 2010/2011 Curriculum

2010-08-13T14:06:00.021-05:00

We are slowly easing into the 2010-2011 school year. We've already started History and plan on adding Science next week. After that week, we'll have our first official day of full-time school.

I'm getting pretty excited, but also slightly nervous about the school year ahead of us. In October I'll have to move our schedule around a little bit to accommodate our growing family. I'm also going to have to figure out ways to keep Milla entertained during our school day. This freaks me out because I really like to keep on top of things. It makes me feel great when our kids are ahead and things are going according to schedule. For the first time, the task ahead of me seems extremely overwhelming. Yes, life should be quite interesting around here in the months to come. I've been doing alot of praying. I know that I can't handle this on my own.

On to the exciting part (for me, at least)...

For my birthday this year, Josh took the kids and me to stay in a hotel in Arlington. Each year, my birthday falls around the same time as the home school book fair. As a part of my birthday present, Josh took our family to stay at a nearby hotel and took care of the kids while I carefully studied, planned and plotted for the upcoming school year. Mary Alice went along with me to the book fair. This was the first year that she aided me in choosing her curriculum. Don't be afraid...I didn't allow my soon-to-be third grader to choose her curriculum on her own. I just asked her lots of questions, showed her different options and we discussed what we thought would be best for this year. We had lots of fun mother/daughter time. I just LOVE that girl! She is such a helper to me. I enjoy her so much more every day.

Here are my curriculum choices for this year, along with some descriptions of the reasons for the choices. I will have a third grader, a first grader, a toddler, and, Lord willing, a newborn in my house.

Mary Alice's Third Grade Curriculum:

MATH:

Singapore Math Levels 4A and 4B
We have used Singapore math for the last three years and have been very pleased with it. This is a strong math curriculum. It seems to click with Mary Alice, so I have decided to stick with it again this year. In a year or two, I think I'm going to look into other options for Math, possibly a tutor or DVD/Satellite teacher. One of my friends recently posted a quote on her blog that says that "People are one of two types of people. They are either number crunchers or word eaters." I am definitely not a number cruncher. Don't get me wrong, I can handle Math through middle school. I want to make sure though, that she has a teacher that is proficient in the subject matter, not just someone who can "handle" it. So...in the years to come I foresee us making a change.

LANGUAGE ARTS:

This year we are doing something a little different. I felt like Mary Alice was whizzing through her English book last year (Bob Jones English 3 and Spelling 3). I decided that this year, we were going to focus more on things like narration, creative thinking, vocabulary, and writing. I hope to go back to Bob Jones English and Spelling again next year. For this year, though, we are taking a different approach.

For writing:

Writing Strands 3
I chose this because I feel like it really gets kids to THINK. I want Mary Alice to use creativity and her higher level thinking to come up with answers to questions about the books that she reads. With Bob Jones, she was breezing through the book. I just felt like the "thinking" part was a little lacking. This curriculum has bookwork for a week. At the end of that week, she has a writing assignment that builds on what she learned about writing throughout the week. Then, during the following week, she is supposed to pick a chapter book (not an assigned book, but an age-appropriate book that interests her). I will guide her in narrating and reading comprehension for the book she chooses. Then the cycle begins again. I think one writing assignment every too weeks is adequate. I get pretty bored of doing the same things over and over again. I felt like we needed a little change to spice things up.

For vocabulary:

Wordly Wise 4
I love this vocabulary curriculum. I think it is something that she will enjoy too. Mary Alice loves to learn new words. I think this is going to be fun and highly educational. Very excited about this!

For grammar:

Intermediate Language Lessons

This book is much different from anything we've used before. It focuses on narration, dictation, poetry, grammar usage, spelling, and handwriting. Mary Alice helped me pick this out. This is much more labor intensive than our language curriculum last year. I really hope it will be a success. It is slightly old fashioned. That is one of the things that I love about it. :)

HISTORY:

Sonlight History 3

We have used Sonlight for history for the past three years. History is the kids' favorite subject! They beg for me to read to them each day. Last year, I combined Mary Alice and Major's science and history curriculum. It worked very well. This year, they will work on science and history together again. Combining their science and history has two major benefits. It both drastically reduces my workload and helps to keep me sane.

In first grade, Mary Alice studied Creation through the fall of the Roman Empire. Last year, they both learned about the time from the fall of the Roman Empire to present day world history. This year, we FINALLY get to start learning about American history. That is SO exciting to me! I love Sonlight's approach to history. They present a view that history is about so much more than our country. The kids have learned so much about other cultures/religions. I have been learning right along with them as they devour books about various civilizations other than our own. One downside to Sonlight's curriculum is that my kids aren't very educated in Texas history. I thought it funny when I described something to Mary Alice as "looking like the Alamo". She replied, "What's the Alamo?" Our history program hasn't done a very good job of instilling Texan pride. Oh well!

In addition to the history curriculum on the link, the kids will also read a series of about fifteen chapter books (Read Alouds). I really like that Sonlight is strong in geography and also that it requires lots of time spent reading aloud to your kids. I hope that isn't a struggle for us this year, as we seek to properly balance family stuff with school stuff. Ugh!

SCIENCE:

Apologia Science

I am SO excited about this curriculum! The kids will focus on studying flying things (birds,bats, and such). They each have this little Science journal that they will use to conduct experiments and observations. By the end of this year, they should be expert ornithologists!

SPANISH:

Mary Alice will continue on with her Rosetta Stone computer program.

And now, on to Major...

Major's First Grade Curriculum:

MATH:

Singapore Math 1

This is what we used for Mary Alice a couple of years ago. We used Singapore Kindergarten Math for Major last year and will be using Singapore Math 1 this year.

LANGUAGE ARTS:

Bob Jones Phonics and English 1

We used this with Mary Alice. I only had to buy the replacement consumable workbooks. Nice! I love this curriculum because it has so many fun ways of teaching phonics concepts. We have a slight little problem. Major is reading pretty well already, so going back to learn phonics rules seems a bit strange. I didn't feel right about skipping phonics instruction altogether, but decided that we would have to cover the rules this year. I also didn't think he was quite ready for second grade work and didn't want to burn him out on learning by pushing him too hard. Hopefully the fun stories and characters will make up for the super easy nature of this subject. I think we'll have fun with this.

SPELLING:

Bob Jones Spelling 1

We also used this with Mary Alice. It should be fairly easy as well. We already had this and only had to buy the consumable workbook.

HISTORY AND SCIENCE:

As I stated earlier, Major will be doing History and Science with Mary Alice. This is more fun for him and cuts down on my workload tremendously!

HANDWRITING:

A Reason For Handwriting

We have used this in years past. I love this curriculum because it has them write Scriptures each week. At the end of each week, they get to write out a full verse, color it, and are encouraged to give it to someone of their choice. We're not always great about doing this each week, but I like how it encourages them to think of the needs of others and to create something they can use to bless others.

OTHER STUFF:

FINE ARTS:

Mary Alice will be taking ballet, art, and drama at a fine arts school one day a week.
Major will be taking art. They cannot wait for these classes to begin.

Mary Alice will be taking her usual piano lessons once a week.

SEWING:

I have a sweet friend who is going to teach Mary Alice some sewing handwork skills. We are working on mapping out exactly how the lessons are going to go. I've always wished I had some of the "working with your hands" type skills. I really want Mary Alice to know how to do many of these things. I think it gives kids an advantage in life to possess real skills that they can know and use. If we're going to invest time and money in lessons, I would prefer that they would be skills that she can practice and enjoy throughout her life. I have a little girl who loves all things associated with homemaking. She is very excited about beginning embroidery or knitting lessons!

The Classical Composers Series

I found this wonderful set severely discounted online and had to purchase it. It has CDs that the kids can listen to and learn about these great composers. There are also study guides. I'm doubting that this year we will delve into those guides, though. :) This will mostly just be for fun.

BIBLE

I'm not quite sure what book we will be using for Bible this year. In the past, we've used Children Desiring God OT and NT curriculum, Egermeier's Bible Story Book and Vos' Children's Bible. We've also really enjoyed going through CDG's Fighter Verses over the past year and a half. We're right at the finish line for those. It is very exciting to us to see an end in sight. I think we're going to try something new this year for Scripture memorization. We'll see...

Well, that about wraps it up on our curriculum choices for this year. Even though I'm a little nervous about what will happen in October, I can't help but to feel the same surge of excitement I feel every year during this time.

I feel truly blessed to be able to be on this adventure with my sweet ones. I love that we have so much time together every day. I treasure every minute, well almost every minute. I know that time passes by so quickly. I want to do the best I can utilize the moments I have in preparing these little ones to face the world with spiritual strength and confidence. Whenever I feel tense about the chaos that surrounds me and uncertainty about the juggling of my responsibilities, I only have to look into their little faces and remember why I am doing this crazy thing called home schooling. I can rest in the confidence that, with God as my helper, I can do it! He will give me the strength that I need. I think I can...I think I can...I think I can...

Let the school year begin!

New England Trip-Final Post

2010-07-03T07:38:00.016-05:00

This picture was taken on the last day of our trip. We packed our bags and said goodbye to our friends at the B&B.

We drove along the coast of Maine toward Boston, stopping at a few coastal towns along the way. We saw this lighthouse up close at Bass Harbor.

We stopped for lunch in the quaint little town of Camden, Maine. I LOVED this cute little town. It had the most fun little shops with cute names like "Josephine's" and "The Smiling Cow". It was very cute. We ate sandwiches and fish-and-chips at a little restaurant there "The Mariner's Restaurant".

We walked around the town for a little while before jumping back into the car and heading back to Boston.

The next day, we left our hotel and went to the airport. We were one step closer to seeing our kiddoes again. :)

Okay, I am posting this next picture entirely for the benefit of my mom. You know how they say that every person has a twin somewhere in the world? Well, during our travels, I happened to spot several people's look-alikes. We saw a man working on the runway at the Boston airport who looked just like a twin of our friend, Terry Brantley. Then, while we were at the Red Sox game, I noticed that the woman sitting in front of us eerily resembled Josh's mom. On our return trip, I spotted this man waiting to board our plane. It was freaky to me how much he looked like my mother's dad. Naturally, I pulled out my camera and sleuthfully tried to get a pic of him. This was the best I could do. :)

Home sweet home! Here are our kids. They spent a week with my parents while we were gone. I love these sweet little buddies and hated leaving them for such a long time. Here they are, holding some of the unique (and inexpensive) souvenirs we picked up for them on our trip. Included are lobster lollipops, a shower cap and bar of soap from our B&B, shells from the beach in Maine, a Red Sox Pez dispenser, and a barf bag from our airplane. There is no need for souvenirs to be expensive. :) The kids loved their little "treasures" just as much as we loved the price. :)

So that about wraps it up for our Boston trip. We had so much fun! When I finally stepped off of the plane and back into the stifling Texas heat it felt so good to be home again. New England is wonderful! I'd love to go back for a visit again some day, but this Texas girl loves her home state. :)

New England Day 5

2010-07-02T08:04:00.028-05:00

On day five of our trip we took a bus tour of Acadia National Park. Our little travel book recommended that we take a short bus tour to get an overview of the park and then head out to explore the park ourselves.

We started out the morning with some yummy treats, specially prepared by the host of our bed and breakfast. One of the things that I love about staying at a B&B is all of the interesting people you encounter during your stay. There were several couples who were about our age eating breakfast outside in the garden area and several older couples sitting in the dining room area. Josh remarked (and I agreed) that it would be much more fun to visit with the older couples. We met a retired college professor and his upper-crust, prim-and-proper New England wife, along with another retired couple from Cali. I enjoyed visiting with these people almost as much as I enjoyed going to Acadia National Park! They had so many interesting stories and wisdom to share. It is fun to be around new types of people. You can learn something from everyone you meet. I love seeing older couples are traveling around and being active together. I want to be an interesting old lady one day. :)

We rode our bus tour through Acadia National Park, stopping to walk around at the main sites along the way. I wish these pictures could do it justice. This place was absolutely gorgeous! I am only including a few pics of the actual park. We simply could not properly capture the amazingness of God's creation.

The weather outside was pretty foggy while we were there. We were unable to see a few of the lighthouses, etc. in the park. It would have been fun to rent a bike and go exploring along the carriage trails through the park. I felt a little sad that I couldn't really participate in some of the more active things to do in Acadia. I know Josh would have really enjoyed biking along the carriage roads. Carriage roads go all throughout the park and were built by Rockefeller with the explicit instruction that no horseless carriage would ever be allowed on the roads. Works for me! Bikers, hikers, and horse-drawn carriage rides took place throughout the day. Fun stuff!

Of course we had to stop and eat after our tour was finished. We opted to get the "Lobster Delite", a local special that consisted of a lobster roll, a bowl of clam chowder, and a slice of fresh blueberry pie. I LOVE lobster and blueberries, so this was a double treat. :)

I know this is silly to include, but while we were eating our lunch, this man walked by with the biggest dog I have ever seen. I asked Josh to follow him and get a picture of his dog. He was GI-NORMOUS. We watched the dog walked over to this fountain to get a drink. He seemed to drink up half of the fountain's contents with a few laps of his tongue. The man who was walking the dog had WAY more attention that someone with a cute baby. Nearly every person he passed had exclaimations and questions about his dog. That dog was COLOSSAL! It was about the size of a miniature horse!

That afternoon, Josh and I went hiking. We went to this area where there was a sand bar. You can walk across the bar to another area and go hiking when the tide is low. You have a couple of hours to finish hiking and get back across before the tide rises again. They told us that one unfortunate couple parked their car on the bar and went kayaking. When they came back, several hours later, their car was floating in the ocean. :)

The beach was a purple color. It was covered with broken up purplish black shells. There were several families with kids out there collecting "treasures" from the bar.

We didn't know this family. I just thought they were especially cute. One of the kids had a crab in his bucket and was super excited. Seeing this family was one of the many times that we missed our kids.

We walked across the bar and hiked for a while...took a few pictures...

There was this crazy pregnant girl who kept trying to climb up these steep rocky areas...

That about sums it up for day five of the trip. By this time, I think we were really missing our kiddoes. I would really like to take the kids out here when they are a little bit older and when I am not in such a fragile state and can kayak and bike and such. I think if we ever bring our kids out here we decided that we will rent a camper and make our own food for breakfast and lunch. Boston and New England have super high prices on their food. Of course, we did eat lobster nearly every day...but truly, what was considered an "inexpensive" meal there would be an expensive meal here.

I'm trying to knock out documenting this trip so that I won't forget anything. I probably have only about one more post until I am finished. YAY! More to come later...

Boston/New England Day 4

2010-07-02T06:50:00.019-05:00

I am slowly, but surely getting around to documenting our trip in it's entirety. It takes me a little while, so I have to do it in increments.

On day four, Josh and I rented a car and headed out to explore the states surrounding Massachusetts. First, we drove through New Hampshire. This state's motto "Live Free or Die" was indicative of the mindset of the people here. They heavily tax tourists on lodging, food, and toll roads to keep the residents' taxes low. People who reside in New Hampshire can shop at their very own state owned liquor store, which we passed on our way through. I thought it very interesting to see the way different states operate.

We drove for several hours, stopping briefly to look at towns along the way. One of the things I loved about New England were the beautiful signs everywhere. Instead of saying "City: Population- 25,000" the entrance signs read "Portsmouth- Settled in 1623". They just had a way of phrasing things to make them literarily pleasing and cared enough to make the entrance signs to their towns alive with character. I even loved the names of the streets and stores in every town. There seemed to be so much town pride in the quaint little towns we visited.

We stopped for lunch in Freeport, Maine. This was one of my favorite little towns along the way. We ate lunch at this FANTASTIC little restaurant there, Jameson Tavern. We picked this restaurant because it was listed as "less expensive" in our travel book. Little did we know that we were eating at a place where the papers were signed that made Maine a state.

We had this quirky little waitress, who recommended that we try some of the lobster dishes the tavern had to offer. Josh and I ate a bowl of the most delicious soup I'd ever eaten in my life! It was a "lobster stew" and was full of big chunks of lobster. It tasted much like a bisque, except creamier. We found out, after ordering, that Jameson Tavern had been featured on a Food Network show (Bobby Flay), specifically for this stew. It was A-MAZING!

I also ordered a "lobster burger". The term "lobster burger" doesn't sound too appetizing to me. It was much like a crabcake on a bun and had some kind of a sauce. This dish was served with sweet potato fries and OH MY GOODNESS it was FABULOUS!

Right next door to the Jameson Tavern was the original L.L. Bean store and outlet. I absolutely LOVE this company and have poured over the catalogs, but hadn't seen their clothing in person. Sadly, there aren't any stores in the south. Josh and I briefly looked at the sports gear and clothing there. I really wanted to spend more time in their shoe section. They had Merrills and Keane shoes at about half the price you would pay here, with a much larger selection. I noticed that people in the north dress more for comfort when it comes to footwear. I am a southern girl in every way, but I do love the northern mentality when it comes to shoes...comfort first.

So...after we glanced in on the L.L. Bean store, we jumped back into the car and headed toward our final destination, Bar Harbor, Maine.

When we arrived, we found a place to stay...

It was a local bed and breakfast. We loved our time here. Everything was wonderful!

They had this beautiful garden area behind the main house where you could sit and eat or just relax.

We walked around the town and explored for a while. The weather was perfect. Later on that evening we ate at a local restaurant in Bar Harbor. We sat outside on the patio.

We walked around the town and looked into the shops and tried on some lobster attire.

We went into "Ben-And Bill's", a local ice cream shop. We sampled some lobster ice cream there. It tastes like vanilla with chunks of lobster. I would not necessarily buy a pint of this stuff, but everyone should get a chance to try some lobster ice cream in their lifetime!

We walked around that night by the ocean. It was a very picturesque area. Lots of couples and families were sitting or walking around out there beside the ocean. Absolutely beautiful!

So that sums up day four of our New England trip. I will write more as I have time.

Boston Day 3

2010-07-01T09:13:00.023-05:00

On day three of our trip, we woke up a little later than the day before, hopped on the subway, and walked to the Back Bay Area of Boston. The Back Bay Area has many exclusive retailers, more than I've ever seen in another city. I've never been to New York, but I imagine parts of New York would look like this. I cannot imagine how costly it must be to live in this area or how so many of these super fancy retailers could be thriving financially. It was crazy! We walked through this area, not stopping to shop. Josh kept begging and begging me to shop, but I politely declined. :)

We were going to be out late that night, so we decided to spend much of the day just hanging out and spending time together. We grabbed some lunch at a fun local burrito place, and then headed out for a picnic at Boston's Public Gardens. The closest thing I've seen to the Public Gardens is the Dallas Arboretum. On a scale of 1-10, the Dallas Arboretum would be a 5. The Public Gardens was a 10 AND it was FREE.

The Public Gardens had these beautiful swan boats and offered rides around the pond throughout the day. It was absolutely gorgeous, like something out of a fairy tale. The park was decorated with beautiful flowers and historical statues. Josh and I sat on a bench and people watched and talked. It was very entertaining. The weather was perfect!

Josh and I caught a movie in downtown Boston. I was so tired from walking around the day before that I actually fell asleep during the movie, which is something I've never done. :)

We caught a subway that evening and were off to the Red Sox game...

Here is a pic on the subway. I must say, the subway is not my fave. I've learned that I am a little bit claustrophobic. This is a pic on the way to the game. On the way back, it was about twice this packed! People were pushing and cramming in together on the way home. I stuck close to Josh.

Fenway Park was A-MAZING. The atmosphere was so fun. It had sortof an old-timey feel. Our seats were old wooden chairs that looked as old as the stadium. There were so many people hanging out outside of the park before the game. It was a carnival-type atmosphere with fun foods,

a man on stilts throwing baseballs to the crowd,

and a fun little band playing tunes.

I thought this was funny. At Fenway Park, along with hot dogs and peanuts, they sell clam chowder to the fans. :)

My favorite part of the game was sitting next to this guy. :)

Day three ended our stay in Boston. I will write about our trip into the other parts of New England as I have time. More to come later...

Boston Days 1 and 2

2010-06-30T16:57:00.041-05:00

Boston-Day 1
Josh and I recently took a trip to New England. I have been dreading writing this post mainly because it seems impossible to adequately capture how much fun we had on our trip with merely a few pictures and a meager description. I have always wanted to visit New England, ideally in the fall. Josh had some airline miles he had to use and he told me to pick a destination. So, of course, I picked my dream vacation...a trip to historical Boston and up into New England. It was a fabulous trip!

We flew to Boston first and spent a few days exploring this lovely city. This place is absolutely beautiful! These people really appreciate their history. It was fascinating to see and experience many of the places we've read about in our history books. The first day we flew into Boston, arrived at our hotel and took the subway into the city. We didn't have any set plans, but just wandered around and explored things. We came upon this special event that is every pregnant girl's dream. "The Scooper Bowl" was being held right in the middle of downtown Boston. There were about twenty or so ice cream vendors from the area who gave out samples of their best ice cream and gelatos. I discovered that I am not a fan of gelato. It just doesn't taste right. Anyway, after sampling dozens of flavors of ice cream, we moved on...

For dinner that night we ate at The Old Union Oyster House. This restaurant is known for being "the oldest restaurant in America" and was significant for many reasons. So much history took place in this restaurant, including it being a residence for a future king of France, a place where the wives of Adams, Hancock, and Quincy mended the colonists' clothes, the birthplace of the "toothpick", along with other historically important events. Josh and I sat right next to the John F. Kennedy booth, where the Kennedy family always sat when they dined here. It was super interesting. The atmosphere was great. It was such a fun first dinner upon our arrival in Boston.

Boston-Day 2

We woke up bright and early the next day and took the subway into Boston to explore The Freedom Trail. There is a painted red line that you follow all the way around the city of Boston, stopping at various historical locations along the way. My pitiful description of it doesn't quite do it justice. We saw some AMAZING things that day while walking through the city. It was eerie and oddly interesting to see the graves of Paul Revere, Benjamin Franklin's parents, John Hancock, members of the Boston Massacre, and others. There are all of these massive downtown city buildings around you. Then, right in the middle of this vibrant city is an old-timey graveyard where many of America's founding fathers are buried. It was really interesting and one of our favorite sites on the Freedom Trail. It struck me just how many young mothers and little children were buried in these historical graveyards.

On a side note: There were some GORGEOUS buildings in the city of Boston. It is a beautiful place. Here are a few of the buildings in the middle of the city. It seemed that nearly every building was beautiful.

We visited some beautiful historical churches on The Freedom Trail. We really enjoyed seeing the places where George Washington, Paul Revere, and even, my personal favorite, Louisa May Alcott and family worshipped. Persons belonging to a church had their own pewboxes which they rented. Often, they said, the family dog would attend services with the family. It was interesting just how much your financial status/rank had to do with religion. If we were going to be in Boston on a Sunday, I would have loved the chance to attend a service at one of these historical churches. Seeing these churches was truly an experience.

Okay, I know this picture is WAY blurry. I had to include it, as it is a picture of me sitting in Louisa May Alcott's pew. Perhaps during particularly boring sermons, she was sitting here dreaming up visions of Meg, Amy, Beth, Jo, and Marmie. :)

From this church, we went on to the site of America's first public school. It is still operational today. They had this little hopscotch mosaic to identify the site. I guess homeschooling was the norm in our country before this site was erected. :) The tour guide discussed the curriculum of the school which was predominantly based upon...The Bible.

From here we went to another area on The Freedom Trail... The Old State House Museum. This museum housed some really unique artifacts including actual tea from The Boston Tea Party,

a coat and Bible belonging to John Hancock, (By the way, he was a teeny tiny man. He was about my size minus five inches in height... my size, that is, when I was in junior high.)

along with some other interesting items....

Makes you pretty thankful for modern medicine, doesn't it?

Outside the Old State House Museum, right in the middle of a traffic circle, was the site of the Boston Massacre.

More pretty buildings...

We walked on to Faneuil Hall Marketplace. Right outside this building, was a neat area with restaurants, open cart vendors, street performers, specialty stores, etc. We ate at a replica of the Cheers restaurant here.

After lunch, we headed to the North End of Boston (still on The Freedom Trail), also called "Little Italy". This area of Boston was so pretty. The streets were full of little authentic Italian pastry shops and pizzarias. It had a very old world feel. We visited Paul Revere's house while in the North End. It is not uncommon to see people dressed like this man walking around downtown Boston. I thought it was pretty neat.

The NBA Finals were going on while we were in Boston. We got to see lots of displays of sports fanaticism around the city. The people there are very proud of their city AND its sports teams.

Last on The Freedom Trail was a visit to see Old Ironsides. This wasn't my favorite part of the day. Perhaps it was because I was tired and worn out from walking all day? Maybe it was the herd of giggly middle school kids that accompanied us on our tour of the ship? It might have even been the feeling of being a sardine in a can while on the boat? Nevertheless, I was thankful when we exited the boat, made it to the last of the red line that marked The Freedom Trail, and headed off to find dinner for the night.

So that about sums up Days 1 and 2 of our New England trip. I will write more later. This may bore people to read all of these details. I want to be sure and write them down so that I don't forget all of the fun that Josh and I had together. More to come later...

Impromptu Picnic

2010-05-26T13:39:00.011-05:00

Today the kids and I had a picnic in our front yard. We pulled out an old blanket, made some PB & J's, grabbed a few snacks from the kitchen, and went outside to lay underneath the shade of an old oak tree. It was beautiful outside! What a treat!

Milla is in LOVE with "bewwies". She starts drooling and shouting out for her beloved bewwies whenever we pass by the fruit section of the grocery store. We let her devour a whole carton of raspberries at today's picnic. Here she is... Can you tell she has a passion for berries?

My sweet girl, Mary Alice... She is growing up too quickly!

And...the Maje...He was busy playing basketball when we set out the picnic things. He didn't want to stop his game long enough to eat lunch. We finally convinced him to come and join us in the shade.

Summer is almost officially here. We should be finished with our schoolwork by Friday. I can't wait until we can go swimming and have a real break from school, the kids' piano/art/ballet lessons, etc. We're almost there!

Six

2010-05-15T15:36:00.014-05:00

"When I was One,
I had just begun.

When I was Two,
I was hardly new.

When I was Three,
I was barely me.

When I was Four,
I was not much more.

When I was Five,
I was just alive.

But now I am Six, I'm as clever as clever.
So I think I'll be Six now forever and ever."

-A. A. Milne, "Now We Are Six"

It's been such a long time since I posted. I've felt too sick lately to compose a paragraph, much less an entire post. Major's birthday (April 1st) was right in the middle of some of my puniest days. I was too sick to plan a birthday party for him. It makes me feel terrible that I couldn't plan a big special birthday for my Maje. Thankfully, Josh took him to opening day of the Rangers. My parents bought a birthday cake for him and threw him a little party. Then, about a month after his actual birthday, we finally took him to eat at Fuddruckers and bowling at Main Event. It wasn't a total dud of a birthday, just not how I'd imagined it. Next year, sweet Major's birthday is going to be a big event if I have anything to say about it. I couldn't let more than two months go by without writing a birthday letter to my sweet Maje.

Major,

You are such a blessing to your dad and me. You make us smile every day with your silly jokes and creative thoughts about life. The year between five and six has been one of growth and change for you. I can see that you are slowly transforming from a little guy into a big boy. A few weeks ago, I noticed that you let go of my hand as we walked into church. You did it intentionally, as if you were declaring your independence from your momma. You aren't entirely grown up, though. You still aren't too big to hug me in front of your friends or put your arm around me during church. You are growing into a big guy.

You are very interested in sports right now. You observed to me the other day how great it is that the people in charge of sports planned it out so perfectly so that when one sports season ends another is just beginning. That way it isn't quite as sad because there is always a new sport to enjoy. You love love love to watch ballgames, perhaps a little too much sometimes. Recently, you explained your plan to eventually play baseball for the Rangers and then football for the Cowboys during the off season. You spend lots of time during the day playing baseball and basketball around the house. When you play in an actual game (like Upwards), you get a very intense look and give it your all. That's my guy!

You are preoccupied with storytelling and writing stories right now. This year, you learned to read. You can read pretty well and love to read almost as much as Mary Alice did at your age. You love "snuggle time" with your sister. Every morning, you wake her up and remind her that it is snuggle time. The two of you lay together in Mary Alice's bed and tell stories to each other. I LOVE this. You are an awesome storyteller, very creative. I love to read the stories that you write. They are usually super funny to read. You love to share them with anyone who is interested. The toy cars that used to accompany you everywhere have been mostly replaced by your sketchpad and your notebook.

You adore your big sis and get very lonely when she isn't around. The two of you are always playing some imaginative game together. Last week, the two of you turned our ironing board into a bat cave. It seems that most of the time, you are the one who leads the direction of the play. I don't often hear about you playing house with Mary Alice. Usually she is the one that plays your games. We've had to work on that this year. You are definitely a leader, but sometimes need to learn to give just a little.

You are a social little guy, always giving a friendly pat on the back and a "Hey!" when you see your peers. You seem to enjoy cutting up a little bit and gravitate toward those kids who also enjoy being silly. I have a feeling that if you were in school, you might get into trouble for talking too much or telling jokes when you were supposed to be listening.

You are an encourager. You use your talent for writing to encourage others. Nearly every week you carry a handwritten note to church with you. You love to draw pictures and write sweet notes to your family members and friends.

I guess the biggest discipline issue we've faced with you this year is laziness. You have a tendency to try to sneak by with less than your best sometimes. Your dad and I have used many creative ways to train you in this area. We want you to always do your best, to work at things with all of your heart. We pray that you will have a strong work ethic and that this will carry over into your God-given role of being the provider for your family.

Major, you are the best son that we could have ever imagined. You are an absolute joy. I am so glad that God created you and gave you to us to train and teach about him. We pray for you daily, that God will be first in your heart and that He will use you for His glory. You are the best guy in the whole world! I'm so thankful that we've had you for these last six years and pray that God will bless your life in every way. I love you buddy.

Mom

Opening Day

2010-04-05T10:06:00.003-05:00

Major is SO ready for Rangers opening day. He made this sign a few days ago. He has been looking forward to this day for months! What a guy!

Oh Happy Day! - Mary Alice's Baptism

2010-03-15T20:36:00.007-05:00

Oh Happy Day!

A few weeks ago we were blessed to witness the baptism of our sweet Mary Alice. She had been asking about it for months. At first, both Josh and myself were reluctant to embrace our "little" girl taking such a big step. After all, would we be okay with her making a less important commitment, say, marriage, at only eight years old? We asked God if she could really be old enough for such an important decision. God gave us a window into Mary Alice's heart as she continued to express to us her need for Jesus in her life, her understanding of her own sinfulness, and her longing to be a part of God's family. We set a date, February 27th, a Saturday. Almost all of our family was able to be there along with several of Mary Alice's friends. After the baptism, we celebrated her special day with barbecue and a beautiful tiered cake.

My brother-in-law, Dustin Hahn, owns a video production company. He was kind enough to make this special video for us of Mary Alice's baptism. What a treasure!

We are so blessed that God put our little girl into our life. He gave Mary Alice such a heart for Him!

Mary Alice,

As you begin your journey as a Christian, I hope to see you growing more in love with Him each day. You are a gift to your daddy and me. We have prayed for God to fill your heart since before you were born. We are so glad to see you pursuing God and pray that you will continue to look straight towards Him throughout your life. Look to God's Word for wisdom, turning neither to the right nor to the left. We love you Mary Alice girl!

Mom

***Here is your verse, picked out for you when you were just a tiny baby. This is what I hope for your walk, sweet girl. Trust in God and let His Word be a light for your path.

Psalm 119:97-105 (Mary Alice's Verse :)

"Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day. Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, For they are ever mine. I have more insight than all my teachers, For your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the aged, Because I have observed your precepts. I have restrained my feet from every evil way, That I may keep your word. I have not turned aside from your ordinances, For you yourself have taught me. How sweet are your words to my taste! Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth! From your precepts I get understanding; Therefore I hate every false way. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."

Ordinary Days

2010-03-04T19:24:00.004-06:00

My friend Kristen posted this on her blog. I liked it so much that I decided to repost it here. I've always loved the quote "Life is made up of ordinary days." We should make the best of them. The special moments will be gone all too soon. Give your kiddoes a hug and make the best of those "ordinary" things in life. Thanks for the reminder, Kristen!

Memories Of Jenny

2010-02-25T21:15:00.044-06:00

The last few weeks have been really hard. As most of you know, my friend, Jenny Bizaillion, was hospitalized after struggling with the flu for a few days. She developed pneumonia, then sepsis, had her legs amputated to try and save her life, then developed infection/lesions in her brain and heart valves. Then just a few days ago, Jenny went to be with God. It is a very sad situation for the family she leaves behind, specifically for her nine year old daughter Malaya. We will continue to pray for their family, as I know the road ahead will be full of difficulty.

Memories of time spent with Jenny have been flooding through my mind during the past few weeks. I wanted to write a blog in order to write down some of the things that I remember about my friend Jenny. I will stop to tell you a some of the precious memories that I have from time spent with this wonderful Christian woman. I won't do her justice, and I'll probably get carried away with lots of insignificant details, but if you've read this blog before you know that's how I like to do things anyway...

Jenny and I first met (briefly) while we were pledging Kojies at ACU in the fall of 1997. Of course, that whole pledging experience bonds people a little bit. Jenny was engaged to David Bizaillion just a couple of weeks before Josh and I were engaged. I remember a few days after my "Pass the Candle" (the ceremony that let our Kojie sisters know that we were engaged), Jenny approached me and suggested that, since we were going to be getting married around the same time, we needed to hang out because we married girls were going to have to stick together. Jenny and I started spending time together. We were both engaged and were consumed with talking about our fabulous fiances, wedding plans and general hopes and dreams for the future. I remember a time that we were talking about how we met our spouses and when we "knew" that they were the ones that God had for us. I remember her telling me that she fell in love with David's heart, that she knew that there would be obstacles to overcome in their relationship, but that she knew that he had a heart for God and for doing what was right. She and David had discussed how they both wanted bigger than average families. Jenny told me that her career goal was be a mom and have loads of children. I felt exactly the same way. We clicked. We were so young, only nineteen, and totally giddy about our upcoming marriages and family plans.

On July 11th, 1998, Jenny and David were married. I was in her house party. I remember being amazed by the spiritual strength of her family. Her younger brother conducted the ceremony. The thing that impressed me the most was the spiritual nature of the wedding. I mean, I know that a wedding is a spiritual event, but for Jenny it seemed especially so. I remember she and David kneeling at the front of the auditorium and praying during the wedding. I can't remember the exact wording at the wedding, but only the general impression it left on me. Jenny and David wanted God to be the center of their relationship. It was precious! Jenny was a beautiful, radiant bride. She was so excited to be marrying this man. It was written all over her face.

Josh and I were married about three weeks later. David and Jenny were both at our wedding. When we got back to Abilene and settled into our new roles as wives, we seemed to have even more in common than before. Jenny and I met together a few times a week at her house to pray. I don't know what we were praying about, but we seemed to have lots of concerns because those were some SERIOUS prayers. That girl could pray! Have you ever been around someone who led very eloquent, heartfelt prayers, not showy, but just genuine? Those were the kind that Jenny led. Jenny often encouraged me to lead a prayer. I wasn't as spiritually mature as Jenny. I usually let her lead the prayers, because hers were just better. :) This girl had a "real" relationship with God, real enough that she had said enough prayers to be able to do it with ease. I wasn't quite there yet. I was learning from her. This is a pic taken in David and Jenny's first house. This is where we met to pray.

Jenny and David had a great relationship, but like most newly married couples they were learning about each other's quirks and habits. They were getting to know each other during that first year of marriage. Jenny was constantly telling me some funny story about something-or-other that caught her off guard in their relationship. She loved him and laughed as she learned to adjust to the things that he would do that she would have done differently. Anyway, David and Jenny drove this old clunker of a car. It had several minor problems. One day, when I came over to see Jenny she marched me straight out to the clunker and pointed to the windshield. The windshield wiper blades needed to be replaced. Jenny and David were newly married and didn't have alot of money, so resourceful David improvised. Jenny showed me how he had "fixed" the blade so that it would work again, only he didn't put a new blade on it... He had taken a pair of old underwear and tied it to the wipers with a trash bag tie. Jenny was horrified! We laughed so hard at that! I will never forget that. I remember watching Jenny struggle through getting used to the differences that two people from two totally different backgrounds have to go through. She adored David, despite their differences, and during that first year or two she learned to be a little more flexible in lots of different situations that came up.

Jenny loved to be silly! Though she was a very spiritually serious person, she definitely had a mischievous and fun-loving side. One of our favorite things to do together was prepare the most preposterous lingerie shower gifts for our soon-to-be-married friends that we could imagine. We would take the couple's personalities into account and design a custom lingerie item for them. The lucky recipient would usually get a hand written poem full of lots of crazy, silly stuff. My favorite handmade item was for this couple that we knew (Rusty and Andrea). Rusty enjoyed hunting and fishing. We took this bra that we bought from Goodwill and decorated it with metallic lame "scales" and two fishing bobbers on the front, rubber fishing worms glued on the back. We also bought a matching piece for the groom to wear and attached a homemade fishing pole and hook to the front of it. We were very silly. Our creations were always a hit! We had lots of fun trying to think of crazy creative gifts to give to our girlfriends. The items were probably laughed at and thrown straight into the trash, but it sure was a cheap way to come up with a gift for the many showers we had to attend while we were at ACU. I wish I had some pictures of the outlandish gifts we made. They were pretty funny!

This pic was taken of the four of us at David and Jenny's house during the first year of our marriage. I don't ever remember Josh looking that young. We look like we're about twelve. :)

Another fun memory I have of David and Jenny is when Jenny and I planned a mystery date for our hubbies. Of course we were broke, so we had to think cheap. We decided to surprise them with a hobo type date. We made beans, cornbread and other cheap hobo fair, blindfolded them, and took them out to an old abandoned train car for a nighttime picnic. I remember it being really cold and wanting to get out of there, but, hey, we had a date that we will always remember. After we ate our hobo dinner, we went back to campus and bowled at the student bowling alley. It was sweet time in my life that I look back on with fondness. Jenny and I had each other (and David and Josh too) over for dinner often and tried out our budding cooking skills on our husbands. We were a real support system for each other then. I was sure I had a better picture of this, but apparently not! I'm sure Jenny was taking this picture, but you can still get the idea. You can see David off to the right. Jenny and I were dressed up in some kind of crazy outfits. It looks like I'm wearing Josh's old football jersey.

After we had both been married for about a year, I received a phone call from Jenny. She had just found out that she was pregnant (unexpectedly). Though she had always wanted to be a mother, she was anxious that it had happened before she graduated from college. I remember talking with her for a long time that night. We prayed together on the phone.

Fairly quickly, Jenny suffered from the nausea that plagues lots of women during early pregnancy. My parents had given me some gift cards to Luby's. Jenny and I would go out to Luby's often. Cooking made her feel sick. She gave me some candles that she had laying around her house because they made her want to puke. One time, I was over at her house watching a movie. We were watching "Message In A Bottle" together. The constant movement of the ocean made her feel so sick that we had to turn the movie off! :) I asked her what they were going to name their baby. She told me that if it was a girl, they were going to name her "Malaya". I remember her telling me that it was a Hawaiian name and that it had a special meaning.

When Jenny went into labor, a friend and I went up to the hospital after our morning classes. I guess we assumed that Jenny would have had her baby much earlier in the day. We arrived and asked for Jenny's room. When we walked up outside her room, we just waited outside the door, not wanting to intrude. We knew that lots of her family were there. Right then, Beverly (Jenny's mom) came outside and said, "She just had her!" She pulled us into the room. By..."just" had her, Beverly wasn't joking! We literally arrived moments after Malaya came into this world. They were mopping up the floor. Jenny looked beautiful. She was swollen and not as "attractive" as her usual stunning self, but she had the look of a proud new mother. She looked absolutely beautiful. That look fit her well. Rick and Beverly and fam were all so excited. Josh (Jenny's brother) had this t-shirt on that he had made. I can't remember exactly what it said. If I remember correctly, it had one side that said one thing and another side that said another. Or maybe it had Malaya's footprints on it or some clever saying about Uncle Josh? Either way, he was a super proud uncle. Rick and Beverly immediately pulled us (Jenny's friends) in and were saying, "You guys wanna hold her?" Then, the family circled around Jenny and said a prayer of thanks for Malaya's life and Jenny's health. It was such a special moment. Again, I witnessed what a special family Jenny was a part of. God was a part of every detail of their life. Jenny held onto sweet Malaya and beamed. That was a special moment that I will not forget.

I remember bringing rolls over to Jenny's house after Malaya was born. I got to hold Malaya a little bit for Jenny so that she could take a shower or whatever. Jenny settled into her role as a new mother beautifully. She was fulfilling her dream career of being a mother. Jenny was in a new phase in her life. She didn't drop out of the social scene entirely, though. Jenny was still as involved in club as she could be, especially with a new baby. She and I shared a little sis in club during our senior year. It is funny now to remember all of the silly things that Jenny wanted to do to scare our little sis. (Not really scare, but more just to make things more fun.) We joked about how we hoped that our Nunu wasn't disappointed because she had the two married girls for her big sis' and one with a baby. Jenny had to go home early on bid night. She felt badly to miss out, but told me that Malaya came first.

Everybody thought very highly of Jenny and wanted to help her out as she transitioned into mommyhood. I remember that a bunch of Jenny's friends from club and I got together and bought a video camera for Jenny so that she could capture the early moments of Malaya's life. We surprised her with it, from "The Kojies". She was very excited. I have no idea how much she used it, but I hope that Malaya has some special recordings of her early years with her mommy.

Jenny stood out to me as an extra special person in many ways. She was also extremely dedicated to her friends. She was a dedicated member of our social club. She really enjoyed being a part of all of the fun of being a Kojie. I remember, shortly after Malaya was born, one night they announced in club that they were giving out a special scholarship "The Smitty Berkeen Scholarship" that would be given to one deserving Kojie from our pledge class. This Kojie had to exhibit Christlike characteristics, be financially deserving and be a dedicated member. They asked us to nominate people we thought we deserving of the honor. I thought, who could be more deserving than Jenny??? She seemed the obvious choice! Jenny had a newborn baby, for goodness sakes, yet she continued to be a die hard! :) I remember cornering Smitty Berkeen (who went to church with us) to let her know that I knew the perfect candidate for the scholarship. I gave her a colorful description of all of Jenny's many attributes. Smitty instructed me to write a letter about Jenny and why she deserved the scholarship and mail it to the scholarship committee. I did. I wrote the best letter I could possibly write. It detailed the kind of a person Jenny was and why she was deserving of the scholarship. I was sad when they announced at Homecoming Breakfast that another girl won the scholarship, then elated to hear them announce that they had decided to add an additional scholarship to the scholarship. :) Jenny won! I was thrilled and proud of her! She was such an amazing girl. Of course she deserved the scholarship!

Another memory I have from that year is when Jenny and I wallpapered her bathroom. She had this bathroom with this hideously ugly wallpaper that she couldn't stand. Neither one of us had any idea what in the world we were doing. We went into the paint store and pretended that we did, bought some supplies, and made a huge mess wallpapering her bathroom. We were a total mess, with our arms and clothes all covered with paste. We laughed the ENTIRE time...The finished product looked pretty good, if I do say so myself. :)

One time during that year, David surprised Jenny, another friend and myself and got us tickets to see a Christian concert that was in town. I had never been to a Christian concert. I watched Jenny during the concert, raising her hands up in praise to God. She was very uninhibited in her worship. You could see just how much she truly enjoyed singing praises to her God.

Around the end of the year, I started interviewing for teaching jobs. I got a job with Mesquite ISD. It just so happened that Jenny's mom, Beverly worked for that district. Jenny's mom helped me to get a job teaching second grade at Price Elementary in Mesquite. I was originally supposed to be teaching first with Bev, but it worked out that they needed me in second instead. I got to know Beverly during that year while Jenny and David moved to Tulsa. Meanwhile...I had Mary Alice.

Jenny called me from Tulsa and seemed anxious to be closer to her family. I don't remember exactly why, but she, David and Malaya ended up moving back to Mesquite, much to Jenny's (and my) delight. They went to church with Jenny's parents in Mesquite. Josh, Mary Alice, and I went to church in Dallas. I searched for a way to spend more time with Jenny. Jenny told me that she was starting a MOPS group (Mothers Of Pre Schoolers) group at her church. I had absolutely no interest whatsoever in MOPS. Honestly, I joined just to be able to spend time with Jenny on a consistent basis. It worked. We were able to hang out during that time and Jenny was even able to get me on board with her goal, ministering to mother's of preschoolers. This put us on a committee that planned and organized events for young mothers in the community. It was a fun time. Planning events together is a good way to build friendships. Planning events like that brings the obvious problems and frustrations that go along with it. Working through those problems makes friendships stronger. Jenny did really well in a leadership role with that group. Jenny was an encourager. She had a way of making you feel like you could do things. She was one of those people who could convince you that you could do it, at instilling confidence.

After MOPS, Jenny and I hung out less often. She was involved with her things. I was involved with mine. We kept in touch. I remember calling her with my fertility issues, knowing that she would understand. She did. She prayed with me. We talked about how the desire to have a baby can become an "idol" in your life. I know that Jenny struggled with her infertility for several years. There are only a handful of people in my life that I've prayed for daily literally, for YEARS. Jenny was one of those people. I prayed and prayed...SO diligently that God would give her a baby, up until even a couple of years ago. She was a fabulous, intentional mother. She sought God's help for every decision she made as a mother. She took her God given job SO seriously. I learned so much from watching Jenny as a young mom. She adored Malaya and was SO good with her! Why wouldn't God bless her with more children to love and train up for Him?

I remember one time that Jenny and Malaya were over at our house for Mary Alice's first tea party. There were a handful of girls there. One mother was having quite a bit of trouble with her daughter. This little girl was throwing terrible tantrums. It was really disruptive. The little girl threw a big fit for like, fifteen or twenty minutes. Instead of disciplining her daughter, the mother kept trying to reason with her. After several warnings, the mother announced to her daughter and to me that they were leaving because the little girl was acting too badly. I told them goodbye and let them out. I thought they had left the party. About twenty minutes later, the mother and daughter reappeared. They had been sitting on the front porch "discussing" and decided to come back in and "try again". The daughter proceeded to throw more uncontrollable fits. Finally, after quite some time of tantrums, the girl and her mother left the party. Afterward, Jenny told me that she was just about to scoop Malaya up and leave the party. She said, "I'm sorry, Amber. I know it would have probably seemed rude to that other mom, but I just can't have Malaya around little girls who act like that! We work too hard to teach her what is right. I just can't have her around little girls who behave like that!" Jenny was so intentional about her teaching and training of Malaya. It definitely left an impression on me. This pic is of Mary Alice's first tea party. It was taken toward the end of the party. (Not pictured: Tantrum girl)

When Mary Alice was about four or so, Jenny and David moved to Keller. Jenny's dad had a preaching job nearby. From that time on, Jenny and I saw each other much less often. We kept in touch, primarily through blogs, e-mail and Facebook.

Jenny brought a light to so many people in her lifetime. During the last few weeks, I became aware of some of the many of the lives she touched. Things don't always work out like we plan them. Our dreams don't always become realities. God has a plan for our lives. We don't know what direction His plan will take. We have to trust that He will lead us because we belong to Him. For Jenny, her journey is complete. Her dream became a reality. Jenny wanted to be used by God. I can speak for myself, and probably countless others, when I say that the seeds that she planted will continue to bear fruit. For me, her close friendship with God that I first witnessed back in their first married home during our prayer time is something I knew that I wanted and now feel like I have! Her devotion as a mother and prayerful consideration of what some would consider minor details made such an impact on me. When I remember Jenny, I think of a person who was passionate about God and about living her life as an offering to Him in all the details of her life. Let us all follow Jenny's example and be all that God calls us to be while we are on the earth. Let our lives be living sacrifices. I will close with the lyrics of two songs that I know were some of Jenny's favorites. I e-mailed her about a year ago and asked her for some recommendations of powerful Christian music that had ministered to her in her life. She listed off several songs, which I promptly looked up on You Tube and started jamming out to in my own home. :) Of course, if you know Jenny, you know she loved Nicole Nordeman. The first is My Offering, by Nicole Nordeman. This is just what Jenny's life was...an offering to her King. The second song is My Desire by Jeremy Camp. God certainly DID use Jenny in a mighty way! And He continues to use her still... We will miss you today, Jenny, but we WILL see you again! Thank you, Jennifer Laine Bizaillion, for inspiring us to be all out for Jesus!

My Offering (by Nicole Nordeman)

If You made me like the grass that is green
Growing tall and covering the hills above me
Maybe I would pray for sunshine and a little rain
To fall now and then to make me lovely
I could be a place where sheep could graze
Or barefoot feet could play
And I would grow and grow and hope You'd bend down low
To hear me sing my offering

(Chorus)
Open up the heavens, open up the sky
All of Your creation wants to testify
I have a song, so let the earth sing along
'Cause I just want to praise You

If You made me to be a cloud in the sky
Found the perfect place way up high where I could hover
Maybe I would pray for skies that were blue
Or a sunset or two to show Your colors
Or maybe I might be
A mountain strong and steep
But I would try and stand as tall as I can
And I would sing my offering

(Chorus)

And the sun every morning cannot wait to shine
And the stars every evening are all standing by to light the sky Give the rocks and the stones voices of their own If we forget to sing praises to our King

This Is My Desire (by Jeremy Camp)

You want to be real, you want to be empty inside
You want to be someone laying down your pride
You want to be someone someday
Then lay it all down before the king

You want to be whole, you want to have purpose inside
You want to have virtue and purify your mind

You want to be set free today
Then lay it all down before the King

This is my desire, this is my return
This is my desire to be used by You

You want to be real, you want to be emptied inside
And I know my heart is to feel You near
And I know my life
It's to do Your will
It's to do Your will

This is my desire, this is my return
This is my desire, to be used by You
Oo yea
This is my desire, this is my desire
To be used by You

All my life I have seen
Where You've taken me
Beyond all I have hoped
And there's more left unseen

There's not much I can do to repay all You've done
So I give my hands to use

This is my desire, this is my return
This is my desire, to be used by You
Oo yea
This is my desire, this is my desire
To be used by You

Playing With Icing

2010-02-04T17:24:00.010-06:00

The weather has been so cold and rainy lately. We've been stuck inside wondering what to do with ourselves. We thought it might be fun to play in some icing. Mary Alice baked the cake and made the icing. I gave the kids a little tutorial on how to ice a cake. They spent the rest of the afternoon icing and decorating their cake.

Future Cake Boss :) Seriously, I was WAY impressed with his little football.

They each decorated half of the cake. Major's half was a football. (His first choice was a Texas Rangers hat. After thinking about it for a while, he decided that a football would be much easier.) Mary Alice chose a field of flowers. :)

Milla scooted around in her pajamas leaving mayhem and destruction in her wake.

TA-DA!!! They are so proud of their cake and can't wait to show their daddy when he gets home.

What Happens When You Leave the Pantry Door Open

2010-01-28T17:21:00.003-06:00

A Chutney By Any Other Name Would Taste As Sweet

2010-01-24T20:52:00.007-06:00

I've always been fascinated by names. As a little girl, I would spend hours studying baby name books. (My parents just kept having babies, so there were always plenty of baby name books lying around.) I was intrigued by the way different names sounded and prided myself on knowing the meanings of various names. For example, did you know that Cameron means "crooked nose" or that the name Mallory means "unfortunate"? These are all tips I gleaned from a childhood spent obsessed with the naming process.

When I was a little girl, I always detested having an ordinary name. Don't get me wrong, I like my name, but, sadly, thousands of other people were also drawn to my name around the year 1978. Having the name Amber also grouped me in with the many other generic names of my generation. To this day, I am constantly confused with persons bearing the names Jennifer, Amy, Heather, or, most often, Amanda. It really bugs me. As a child, I remember envying the little girls who had unique names. It seemed that my life would certainly be much more exciting if I was named...say...Kalani, Shiloh, Sage or Anna Jane. (I experienced name envy with each of these names when I was younger.) In first grade, I even tried to change my name to my middle name (Camille) for a little while just to be fun. As a practical person, though, I quickly decided that I couldn't finish my work as quickly with two whole extra letters to worry about.

So that was the background story because I love details. :)

Here is the real story...

Almost six years ago, Josh and I first announced the name of our darling baby boy to the world. We had intentionally kept his name a secret, mainly because we thought it would help people to keep their opinions to themselves if the little guy had already been given a name. We put great consideration into choosing a name that was unique, but not freaky, couldn't be confused with a girl's name, and was easy to spell and pronounce. Josh, as always, was careful to make sure that the name didn't rhyme with anything unfortunate or sound like some gross body part. We decided to name our son Major Gray Smith, because that was the name we had already chosen in the event that Mary Alice surprised us by being a boy. We were in love with the name. It was masculine. It sounded solid and strong. Nobody would confuse him for a girl. There wouldn't be nine million of them. We thought it was the perfect name for our little guy. Of course, as with any name, you can't please everybody. Most of the responses we received upon announcing the name were positive. We attributed any negative responses to the name (very few) to cases of bad taste, obviously. :)

Here are a few of the comments we heard upon announcing his name to the world, along with my responses/commentary (when appropriate):

1) "He's going to be made fun of" (True, he was made fun of once by a boy who also called him a "mountain head"...It happens...)

2) "You're kidding." (This was said by family members who truly thought Josh was playing an April Fool's Day joke.)

3) "I didn't like his name at first, but now I do."

4) "It sounds like a dog's name." (I strongly disagree. I don't place it at all in the same category as Fido, Spot, or Scooby Doo. Besides, these days, ANYTHING sounds like a dog's name.)

Perhaps the most shocking was this response...

5) "Major Gray? You mean, like the chutney? (followed by loud laughter)"

Chutney??? Chutney??? In all of my days of research on sounds, meanings, it had never once occurred to me that the name for my son might also be a food product!

Anyway... My son, Major Gray is named after a chutney. We purchased his namesake this week and ate it tonight with some leftover chicken.

It was yummy, by the way...

Even Milla liked her Major Grey. :)

Baby Doll

2010-01-22T14:41:00.004-06:00

My little baby doll... Could she be any cuter?

Winter Picnic

2010-01-19T21:03:00.010-06:00

Today was a perfect day for a picnic. The weather was beautiful! I love these little breaks from the winter weather that we get in this part of the country. Mary Alice packed what she called a "mystery lunch" for us. She insisted that it be a surprise and wanted us to wait until lunch time to find out what we would be eating. We swung by and picked up some of Mary Alice's home schooled friends and headed to the park for a winter picnic. I didn't get any pictures of the actual picnic part of our trip. (I was too busy trying to make sure that Milla stayed on the blanket and out of the mud.) We ate our PB & J sandwiches and rice crispy treats and then ventured out to enjoy the open play areas in our local park.

Here are a few pics from our play time at the park. Major paused his football game long enough to pick a handful of dandelions for his momma.

The girls played on the chin up bars. They were laughing so hard! Giggly girls...

Milla was so excited to try out her steps in the grass. She toddled all over the place.

She tried so hard to get inside this piece of playground equipment. First her head...

She put her left foot in...

She put her left foot out... (Notice the proud look on her face.)

She put her right foot in...

She put her whole self in...

She was having so much fun!

Here is the Maje doing his daredevil stunts on the swingset.

I swung on the swings for a while with Milla in my lap. She loved it. I, however, did NOT. I don't know what is wrong with me. A few minutes on the swing and I was DONE. It is so sad that swinging with my kids makes me feel so nauseated. I get motion sickness so easily these days. I must be getting old!

Here are the kids as we were getting ready to go. What a day!

My New "Do"

2010-01-12T14:54:00.003-06:00

Recently, Mary Alice has shown an interest in styling hair. Nearly every day she asks to comb and style my hair. YES!!! Other than the fact that I nearly fall asleep each day while I am reading history to her, style time during school hours is working out quite well.

Anyway...Check out today's "Victorian" hairstyle creation.

Who says stay at home moms can't be stylish?

Christmas Card Fun

2010-01-09T21:57:00.004-06:00

Here is our Christmas/New Year card that Taylor designed for our family. We had lots of fun making it! Even Milla thought it was fun (at first anyway). May we all continue "pressing on" to win the prize! Happy New Year!

Milla's Birthday Party Pics

2010-01-07T09:29:00.009-06:00

Here a few pics from Milla's birthday party. We celebrated with our families. We wanted to keep things simple.

It isn't in these pictures, but I can attest to the fact that Milla loved the special red velvet cake that her DAD made for her. :) She wasn't quite sure about it at first, but eventually ended up covered in crumbs of red velvet and cream cheese icing.

Milla's sweet cousin Ranger...

Ranger and his Mom spent the night with us the other night. Milla and Ranger seem to really love being around each other. They are good buddies.

Worn out from a day of partying...

Thanks to Taylor for capturing all of these sweet pics of our girl and her special day! :)

Safety First

2010-01-05T09:29:00.003-06:00

Here is the lovely safety sign that Major made for us this morning.

"No Smoking and Beware of Milla!"

You never can be too careful!

To Milla On Her First Birthday

2010-01-02T14:00:00.007-06:00

To our sweet Milla girl on her first birthday,

I meant to write this letter to you on your actual birthday, and then, wanted to write it the day after that, but now, two FULL days after your birthday am I finally getting around to writing you what I hope will be the first of many birthday letters.

First of all, let me tell you what a treasured girl you are! Your Dad and I hoped and prayed and suffered several heartaches as we waited for you to come our way. Your middle name means "God will add." We searched for the perfect name to give Him the glory in bringing you to us. You are our precious girl, Milla Josephine, much prayed for and much loved. We are so thankful for all of the joy that you bring to our family.

A few things about you at age one:

You are a very pleasant and good-natured little girl, a real joy. You are hardly ever unhappy. Your Grumpy affectionately named you "Chilla Milla". I think it fits pretty well. You are easy to please, but definitely have a mind of your own. You really show your temper when someone (usually a sibling) gets in your face. We've had to discipline you for screaming and hitting your sister and brother on occasion. :)

You are naturally very curious and LOVE to put things into your mouth. I'm constantly telling you to "Spit it out." You are a bit of a rascal in that way, always undoing things, taking things apart, always up for an adventure. You love keeping me on my toes.

You love to eat almost everything and seem to relish your food. We hear a lot of "Mmmmm." when you put food into your mouth. The only things you really dislike are bananas and cheese. You REALLY like to drink. When we give you water, you gulp it down super fast and say, "Ahhhh."

Your Bible class teachers adore you and tell me about how much of a chatterbox you are with the other kids in Bible class. They say that you are a little parrot, repeating everything they say. They also remark on your attentiveness and interest in Bible class. You love music of all kinds and often request that I sing certain songs to you. Right now we sing all of your Bible class songs, Bye-Oh-Baby, and your Milla songs with Milla words (Auld Lang Syne, Jesus Name Above All Names, and Edelweiss).

People constantly tell me what a beautiful baby you are. Most often, they will comment on your pretty eyes. You love people. You still feel most comfortable with me, but love to smile at others and, as long as you feel good, are comfortable going to most people.

You love to be held and rocked. I spend so much time rocking you and singing to you each day. I'm a little bit of a softie towards you. I don't know if it is because I waited for you for so long, or because I realize how quickly time passes. Your Dad and I don't want all of your little milestones to come quickly. We know that you will be a big girl soon enough.

I do laugh at how laid back you are, especially since we no longer follow a rigid schedule with you, like we did with your two siblings. I used to think mothers like me were the negligent type, not together enough to make sure their babies got enough sleep so that their bodies and brains would grow properly. How funny it is that you are my most laid back, flexible baby yet! I am so thankful for your adaptability.

I remarked to someone the other day how I used to spend hours upon hours reading to Mary Alice and Major when they were your age. Sorry, sweet one, but you spend most of your day entertaining yourself doing such brain building activities as walking around and around the coffee table and listening to me read to the other kids. You are no less loved, and you seem to have learned so much independently.

You like watching Mary Alice and Major, and sometimes you like hanging out or playing with them, but most often they seem to get on your nerves. This might be because you don't like people to be in your face. You definitely appreciate your personal space. :)

Your language has exploded lately. You can repeat most simple words. My favorite Christmas memory this year was watching you say "Pretty!" about all things sparkly and lighted. You point at EVERYTHING and say "Pretty!" I LOVE it! Some of your favorite words are "Mama, pretty, ball, bubba, pa pa (please), ni ni (night night), ma (milk), siky (silky), bi bu (Bible), goo ga (Good girl), bigga (big girl), scat(when you sneeze) and Uh-oh."

Sweet Milla girl, I marvel at what a blessing God gave us when he entrusted us with you. I am so excited about watching you grow and change. We are so thankful and humbled to be your guardians and looking forward to seeing what you will become.

Here are a few words from one of your Milla songs.

"Milla girl, sweet Milla girl"
"You're an answer to prayer,"
"Sent from above, it's you we love"
"You're the best one I've ever seen."
"May you know as you live and grow,"
"God forsakes you never."
"May you be wise,"
"See others through God's eyes,"
"And bring Him glory forever."

That last line is my prayer for you Milla girl. God has a purpose for your life, sweet girl. It is my prayer that you would bring Him glory...always.

Love,
Mom

Kidnapped!

2009-12-14T13:18:00.021-06:00

Every year, we have a Christmas tea party for Mary Alice. This year, we decided to spice things up a bit. Instead of tea, we had breakfast. Instead of them coming to us, we came to them...early...VERY early...in the morning. We had a kidnap breakfast for our girl. It was a hit!

First we woke our kiddoes up super early in the morning and gave them their Christmas Eve pajamas.

Milla was SUPER excited! She knew something fun was happening!

In this picture, Milla is squealing with excitement.

We piled into two cars and took off to begin kidnapping Mary Alice's friends. This started a little after 6 in the morning. It was still dark outside. I didn't take any pictures until we picked up the last girl, around 7:30. Josh caught all of the surprise wake up calls on video, though. :)

Here are some of the bunch leaving the last girls' house.

Back into the car...

At our destination... This year, we held Mary Alice's party at my parents' house. Mary Alice loved the change of location. It was really special.

Quick pose for the camera...

I couldn't get over Milla's reaction to everything at my parents' house. She was fascinated by all of the beautiful Christmas decorations. Her little voice said "Pretty!" more times than I can count! The hat that Milla is wearing was made by Mary Alice. A family friend showed her how to do it. Isn't it cute? I'm waiting on Mary Alice to make one for ME. Please give her a hint, will you?

Major got to participate in waking up the girls and even got to eat breakfast with his cousins, Landon and Jonah. They are becoming best buddies.

Here is Santa Gran with Mary Alice. Thanks to Gran for all of her hard work! Everything looked beautiful! When I asked Mary Alice what her favorite thing about the breakfast was, she said, "the hospitality..." I think Mary Alice was referring to the fun extras that Gran always has at her parties. Hospitality is definitely my mom's gift!:)

Here is Miss Milla Josephine Smith in the Christmas pj's that I bought her on clearance a month before she was born. I thought I was playing it safe by choosing size 12-18 months. These long johns were a little bit more like short johns for our girl, who is now in size 18-24 months. Who would have thought that that sweet little tiny thing who popped out a little over a year ago would be so BIG now???

Milla had PLENTY of attention during the party.

Just thought I'd post these three pictures in a row. First, Mary Alice is holding Milla. She looks pretty heavy.

This was almost a picture of Milla being dropped on her head. Thankfully, Mary Alice's reflexes were quick.

Perhaps we should put Milla down for the last picture?

And finally...Here are the girls watching Josh's video of their early morning moments. It was hilarious!

Hope you and yours are enjoying this holiday season!

The Bothersome Chimney :)

2009-12-09T15:32:00.003-06:00

Just wanted to share a story that Mary Alice wrote today for an English assignment. She is such a silly girl! Also... Underlining titles is something that I can't figure out how to do on Blogger, so just pretend that the title is underlined instead of in bold.

The Bothersome Chimney

(by Mary Alice Smith)

Katie was a very sweet girl who played basketball,was Beth in a play, and was home schooled.

One clear morning, Katie was sweeping the ashes at her house.

She was also cleaning the chimney so she leaned up the chimney to clean it. When she tried to get out, her hair was stuck in the chimney!

"Help! Help! Help!" she cried.

The house was silent.

"Mom, please come help me!" she said. "Oh yeah, Mom's shopping," said Katie. (not to mention that Katie was thirteen years old and old enough to stay at the house by herself.)

Just then, she heard footsteps. "Oh yahoo! It's Emily!" said Katie.

Emily said, "Katie! Poor you! You look like you've been robbed!"

"Now, Emily, " said Katie, "Please just get me loose!"

"Okay." said Emily. "There."

And that night the two girls had a sleep over.

The End

This is an initial draft. We will spend the rest of the week revising and publishing. I thought it was pretty funny! The bothersome chimney! Indeed!

IT'S NOT ABOUT YOU!!!

2009-12-03T15:59:00.015-06:00

With Christmas quickly approaching, I've been doing some thinking... It seems that with each passing year Christmas seems to be more and more about shopping, Christmas lists, presents, stockings and such. I like to have a little Christmas fun as much as the next guy, but sometimes, in our little family at least, I think the joy and true meaning of Christmas can get lost in the shuffle. It all starts to run together as one great big, greedy, festive blur during the busyness of the holiday season. I mean...the things that we love to do around Christmas (making gingerbread houses, having Christmas tea parties, Christmas cards, drinking egg nog and hot cider, making Christmas cookies, etc.) are all SUPER fun, but should be the icing on the cake, not the cake itself.

Anyway...I've been REALLY convicted to change my own mindset. Why not focus on the perfect gift of Jesus during the Christmas season and of giving and sharing that with others? I have always desired to make Christmas more about Jesus, but have never really known exactly how to go about it. Then, last week, I stumbled upon some fabulous ideas that were exactly the types of things that my family and I COULD actually do. I am so excited about some of the ideas that I found and just wanted to share a few of them in hopes that others will embrace the idea of blessing others this Christmas season. One of my relatives attended a church where someone put up a sign in the worship area that said, "IT'S NOT ABOUT YOU." Sadly, someone removed the sign from the front of the worship area. I guess they didn't agree with the message? Anyway...I thought that the sign captured exactly what I feel Christmas should mean. Not only is it not about us, but it is about JESUS.

Over Thanksgiving, I came across a book that belonged to my father-in-law. The book was entitled What Kind of Difference Do It Make?. This book was amazing! I highly recommend it. It tells many real life stories of how God uses people for His glory. It was inspirational and showed how we CAN make a difference. It was exciting, really. Often I've felt as though it is too hard for me to make a real difference in people's lives. I am at home so much of the time with my kids. I thought that ministering to others wasn't something that I could do very easily. Reading this book was a step in the right direction. God has been working on my heart, showing me how much I need to get outside of myself and my little world and start making a difference in the lives of others.

Anyway... Here are a few of the ideas that I came across (many from the same source) of just how we can bless others in Jesus' name this holiday season.

1) Christmas Verse Books- One woman made 24 of these "books" using Christmasy scrap booking paper. She printed off 18 or so verses that she felt were appropriate for the Christmas season, specifically that were about the hope or joy that we have in Jesus. She cut out the printed out verses and attached them to coordinating sheets of scrap booking paper, using double-sided tape. The books were hole-punched and held together with a metal ring to make a "book". The idea is to give one of the homemade books out to 24 people, one on each of the 24 days leading up to Christmas, whether it be someone from your child's school, someone you met at the grocery store, someone you feel is having a difficult time, etc. It is just a way of sharing Jesus' love and hope with others. Who knows what God can do in a person's life through the sharing of His Word? I LOVED this idea because it was easy and very doable. If you are like me, the idea of sharing Christ with someone is something that you find difficult. This makes it so easy! I plan on making some of these with the kids and passing them out during some of the Christmas season. And...why not do something like this more frequently, even after the holiday season? LOVED this!

2) Make A Child Smile- WOW! What a wonderful way to bless a child during the Christmas season! I was attracted to this idea because it is really simple and so meaningful. I only wish I'd known about it sooner! This website features three children who are very ill. It has their pictures and tells all about them, so that your kiddoes can get to know them and pray for them by name. All you (and the kids) have to do is decorate and write cards to them. These children and their parents have gone through so much. How exciting to minister to them by sending some Christmas joy their direction. We are DEFINITELY doing this!

3) Visiting the Nursing Home- Mary Alice's piano teacher has some of the neatest ideas! This year, Mary Alice is having a Christmas recital at the nursing home. Each piano student is instructed to bring a plate of Christmas goodies to their piano recital. After the recital, the kids will share their Christmas goodies and lovely musical numbers with the residents. SO special! And... just as soon as my kids have no trace of a runny nose or cough, we are planning a visit to our local nursing home. Those of you with kids (or babies), this is SO easy and can really brighten someone's day. There is so much to learn from these people!

4) One of the ideas I came across, which I'm such a dummy for not thinking of myself is baking cookies FOR OTHERS. Yes, in the past, I have been quite good at baking cookies to stuff my OWN face and the faces of my family, but, sadly, not for others. Maybe our neighbors? Along with some of those Christmas Verse Books, perhaps? This one is SO obvious. DUH. We HAVE to do this.

5) Well chosen music- To help in making Christmas more about Jesus, how about throwing in some songs about Jesus into the mix of Jingle Bell Rock and Santa Claus is Comin to Town? After hearing someone sing "Sweet Little Jesus Boy" at Mary Alice's Christmas play last night, I am officially declaring it my favorite Christmas carol ever. Absolutely BEAUTIFUL, and OH-so-much-more meaningful than, say, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

6) An Advent Calendar- We have an advent calendar that we bought from Children Desiring God when Mary Alice was about 2 or so. I've heard that they are revamping it and am excited to see what Noelle Piper will come up with next! In the mean time, we continue to use the original (now broken) to remind us daily of the story from Luke 2. I found this neat idea on the net for another type of advent calendar. This one has several tiny gifts that you can give your children, each with special stories having to do with the greatest gift of all, Jesus Christ. Neat, isn't it?

Advent Countdown

LIST OF GIFTS: (LISTED IN THE ORDER THEY ARE USED)
1. Quarter
2. Grape gum (or candy)
3. Smiley sticker
4. Gummy fish
5. Birthday candle
6. Bell
7. Fish crackers
8. Cotton balls
9. Piece of a map
10. Soap
11. Heart sticker
12. Cross
13. Packet of salt
14. Sand
15. Flowers(silk)
16. Raisins
17. Seeds
18. Christmas carol
19. Small rock
20. Crumpled foil
21. Mustard seed
22. Dove
23. Small scrap of woolly material
24. Blue marble
25. Picture of a baby.

December 1 - A quarter! That equals 25 cents. But 25 also stands for the number of days till Christmas, when God gave us His best present. Jesus told about one woman's gift and the way she gave it. Read: Mark 12:41-44

December 2 - Grape Gum! Grapes make jelly and juice, raisins and wine. But Jesus didn't need grapes to perform His first miracle. Read: John 2:1-10

December 3 - Here's a smile! A smile usually expresses happiness. Jesus gave us many instructions to keep us happy. Read: Matthew 5:1-12.

December 4 - Fish! Well, if you were surprised to find these fish, wait till you read the story today! Others were surprised to find fish, too. Read: Luke 5:4-7

December 5 - A birthday candle? As you know, we are getting ready to celebrate Jesus' birthday. However, Jesus talked about something else that is related to this candle. Light! Read: Matthew 5:14-16

December 6 - You could make some noise with this. But it would not have bothered a certain man--until he met Jesus. Read: Mark 7:31-37

December 7 - These would not go very far if you were really hungry! But Jesus could make much out of little. Surely He knew how to multiply! Read: Matthew 14:13-21

December 8 - These cotton balls would be helpful in a thunder storm, wouldn't they? We could use them for ear plugs to muffle the loud noises that thunder makes. But we know someone who doesn't need cotton. Jesus can control the weather. Read: Matthew 8:23-27

December 9 - People needing to use the other parts of this map are in trouble! Don't you get lost today! Read: John 14:1-6

December 10 - It's soap. Do you like to wash? Behind your ears? Washing turned out to be a happy time for a man who met Jesus. Read: John 9:1-7

December 11 - Hearts. Wordlessly, they speak of love, don't they? Jesus spoke some commands about love. Read: Matthew 25:17-41

December 12 - We use the cross as a symbol, representing Jesus. Do you know why? Read: Phillipians 2:1-11December 13 - Ordinary salt. Yes, Jesus related salt to us and our behavior. He also gave us some advice. Read: Matthew 5:14 and Colossians 4:6. (Notice that He doesn't recommend pepper!).

December 14 - Don't try to eat this! It's sand. It reminds us that Jesus knows something about architecture, about buildings--and building lives. See His instructions: Matthew 7:24-29.

December 15 - Flowers are pretty, aren't they? Jesus used flowers to teach us a reassuring lesson. Read: Matthew 6:28-34.

December 16 - Raisins! Many children are given raisins instead of candy for a snack. That's because they are a health-promoting and delicious fruit. Jesus told us how we can produce good fruit. Read: John 15:1-5.

December 17 - Jesus told a story about seeds that man planted. Then He explained it, revealing its deep meaning. Read: Matthew 13:3-8 and Matthew 13:18-23.

December 18 -Christmas is just about a week away. And here is an appropriate song. Sing it loudly! Read: Psalms 100.

December 19 - A hard stone! Can you change this stone into a piece of bread? Do you think Jesus could? Jesus was asked to do just that. Do know how He handled it? Read: Matthew 4:1-4.

December 20 - Try to smooth out this piece of aluminum foil and use it as a mirror. It's hard to see your reflection plainly, isn't it? Many circumstances are hard to understand, but someday everything will be clear. Read: 1 Corinthians 13:12.

December 21 - The mustard seed is the smallest there is! When it sprouts, it grows into one of the largest plants! See what Jesus said. Read: Matthew 17:20.

December 22 - We've learned that the cross represents Christ, but do you know what the dove stands for? Read: Matthew 3:13-17.

December 23 - The threads that compose this fabric came from the wool of a sheep. Jesus called Himself the good shepherd. Do you know who His sheep are? Read: John 10:7-18.

December 24 - A marble! Do you know what is sometimes called the "Big Blue Marble"? The world. God made the world for us. What does God continue doing to the world? And who is the world? Read: John 3:16.

December 25 - Isn't this baby cute? When he was born, he made a whole family happy. Jesus was born a baby, too. He came to make the whole world happy. Read: Luke 2:1-20. Enjoy your celebration today. Continue to learn about Jesus--and love Him forever!

7) Do Things For People- Whether it is the homeless, those in prison, or just people who are lonely or hurting, try to bless others in small ways. Who knows what God will do just through the simplest of acts of kindness? God can use you to bring about His purposes!

8) Small One- This Disney movie is so precious! My kids love it! It is the story of the donkey that carried Mary to Bethlehem. I have to warn you, this is a serious tear jerker! My kids will be watching this movie this Christmas, most likely with their cousins. I will be watching it too, but in the privacy of my own room, where I can cry with no shame. :)

Anyway, I just came across SO many great ideas (none of them mine) that I simply had to pass on to my friends and family. Remember when you are stressed about giving that perfect present or feeling less than pleased when you receive a re gift, "IT'S NOT ABOUT YOU" at all! It's about Jesus and about sharing His joy and blessings with others.

May God use you and yours to bless others this holiday season!

My Kids and Their Clothes

2009-11-17T16:19:00.016-06:00

One of the things that I love so much about our days at home is the amount of time that the kids have for uninterrupted play time. It is so special when I can go around the house and observe scenes like these:

1)Making Clothes (Mary Alice)

Here Mary Alice is hard at work on her art homework. In art class last week, the kids each created a doll out of who knows what. :) Their homework this week was to clothe their doll any way they wanted. Mary Alice used some scraps from her Halloween costume and crafted her doll into a Medusa. :)

This girl is going to be a WAY better seamstress than her mom. :) She sewed and hot glued this entire costume by herself. I was pretty proud of her results and even more proud of her efforts!

TA DA! The finished product...

2)Removing Clothes (Milla)

In further news, Milla recently discovered the art of removing her diaper, pants, socks, and anything else she has on her person. We find her throughout the house looking like this (minus the crying). Shameful!

We're working on teaching her to keep her drawers on!

Here are a few pics of our lovely Milla playing in Mary Alice's room. She LOVES to be in her sister's room. There are lots of fun things to explore and eat in there. Here she is playing with Mary Alice's dollhouse. She likes to play with Mary Alice's play kitchen. She's a sweetie!

3)Dressing Up in Clothes (Major)

And.. last but not least, this Saturday we got to attend Landon's fabulous fifth birthday party, hosted by my brother and his wife. Landon had a Star Wars themed party. It was AWESOME!!! If anyone has a boy and needs a great idea for a party, check out their blog. This party was by far the best boy party I've ever attended. Complete with an obstacle course, costumes, super-fun games, and this fabulous cake.

Is this not the BEST cake ever? Adam and Alisha made it together. They are a fabulous cake-making team, don't you think?

Here are cousins Jonah Skywalker, Darth Landon, and Storm Trooper Major. :) They look pretty fierce.

Have a great day!

How Could I Ask For More?

2009-11-13T10:53:00.002-06:00

I heard this song on the radio this morning. Such a good reminder!

There's nothing like the warmth of a summer afternoon
Waking to the sunlight, and being cradled by the moon
Catching fireflies at night
Building castles in the sand
Kissing Mama's face goodnight
Holding Daddy's hand
Thank you Lord, how could I ask for more?

Running barefoot through the grass
A little hide and go seek
Being so in love, that you can hardly eat
Dancing in the dark, when there's no one else around
Being bundled 'neath the covers, watching snow
Fall to the ground
Thank you Lord, how could I ask for more?

So many things I thought would bring me happiness
Some dreams that are realities today
Such an irony the things that mean the most to me
Are the memories that I've made along the way

So if there's anything I've learned
From this journey I am on
Simple truths will keep you going
Simple love will keep you strong
Cause there are questions without answers
Flames that never die
Heartaches we go through are often blessings in disguise
So thank you Lord, oh thank you Lord
How could I ask for more?

(by Cindy Morgan)

On Not Becoming An "Amy"...

2009-11-10T15:07:00.014-06:00

When I was a little girl I had a friend (I'll call her "Amy.") whose parents were exceedingly strict. Amy's parents had so many rules and regulations, each one of which Amy (who was a people pleaser) sought wholeheartedly to obey. I remember inviting Amy to go on outings with my family. Amy would get a shocked look on her face and say, "Oh no! We don't DO such and such in our family!" or "My mom and dad always say that.....etc." She would then continue on to repeat a line by line account of exactly why the heathen behavior was unacceptable to her and was expressly forbidden in her family.

I liked Amy and enjoyed hanging out with her, but often felt judged and stressed out whenever she was around. I always feared that I was going to say or do the wrong thing or suggest one of the activities that she deemed unacceptable. I remember inviting her over to spend the night once. I pulled out some Amy Grant music and started to play it, thinking that this would certainly be on the "acceptable" list. To my dismay, my music choice was not satisfactory. Amy pointed out that "We don't listen to that type of music in my family."

Clearly confused, I stared at her blankly. She offered me a rehearsed explanation of her parents' theory of how rock music caused your heart to beat irregularly and how listening to it ultimately could lead to some sort of horrible behavior in people. I was saddened to hear this new rule from the house of Amy and quickly turned the music off and hurried to find an alternate activity.

I invited Amy over several more times, but found, that no matter what I did, it seemed as though I would never be able to follow all of the rules they had at Amy's house. Moreover, I always felt judged when I was around her. I stopped wanting to invite her over. I was always her friend, but at a distance. I just couldn't relate to her strange ideas and ways and felt like such a terrible person whenever Amy (and her rules) came around. It became a bit of a joke in our house. Whenever the opportunity arose, perhaps when something was a little questionable, family members would make their voice take on a snooty air and say, "OH no! We simply DON'T do that in our family! That is simply UNACCEPTABLE behavior!"

Amy and I still keep in touch. She is a precious godly person. I care about her very much. Her parents were also very sweet people. They were only trying to do what they thought was best for her by giving her all of those rules to follow. I really respect their efforts to teach their daughter in the ways of God. BUT... I learned something from all of this. I learned that I don't ever want my children to be perceived as an "Amy".

Josh and I want to have guidelines for our kids, but not burden them with the huge baggage of unnecessary rules. We don't want them to have an "Amy" mentality, behaving like an automaton, or worse, possessing a judgemental spirit towards others. We also want to be able to ease up on these rules (on which movies they are allowed to watch, for example) as our children grow older. I would like our kids to slowly transition into making these rules for themselves, just because they want to obey God, not because of what "my mom and dad say..."

This is no easy task, to try to have our children be in the world and not of the world, to strike that balance of training them to run from evil things and yet to embrace people who have different beliefs from our own. I haven't quite found the perfect balance, though I've been searching.

All this to say, Mary Alice is heading to a sleepover soon. I trust the host of this party fully. As soon as I heard the word sleepover though, the thought entered my mind. Uh-oh... MOVIES... :( Josh and I both watched some totally inappropriate movies during our childhood (all while at friends' houses) and totally regret those moments. We have a few family guidelines about the movies that our kids are allowed to watch. I don't feel that our rules are over the top, but, then again, who really does feel that way about their own rules? :)

Not wanting Mary Alice to be an "Amy", I decided to e-mail the hostess of the sleepover beforehand, giving her a heads up about what kind of movies that our kids are allowed to watch. The host responded with grace and kindness saying that she "totally understood" our rules and thanked me for letting her know.

This morning, I spent some time discussing the "Amy" story with Mary Alice, explaining how there was a right and a wrong way to go about declining things with which you don't agree. We practiced being an "Amy" vs. being polite. We discussed how some things aren't necessarily wrong, but just our family rules. We talked about how it is important not to chant our family's mantras around other people's families, as it can make people feel badly and is really, none of our business what they are/aren't allowed to do. We talked about how she should try very hard to be respectful and kind. We went over several scenarios of this and also how it is okay to retreat off to another room to read a book if she isn't comfortable with a movie that is being played, but how she should try to participate pleasantly in any other activities unless she had a moral objection. :)

The last thing that I learned from "Amy", which was reinforced by a phone conversation with my mother, was that there are times to bend rules a little bit to avoid humiliating your child or causing them to become bitter. What I didn't tell you about Amy was that the teenage years of Amy and her siblings was full of turmoil. Several of the Amy's siblings rebelled against the super strict ways of their parents, some of them never to return. I believe there is such a thing as having too many rules or enforcing them too harshly. The too many rules thing is something that is difficult for me because I have perfectly good explanations for each of the reasons that I would prefer my children not do certain things or see certain things. Can you see a bit of a control freak tendency here?

So...If our family rules are not really rules at all, but merely preferences, if they are not matters of right and wrong, we've decided to let it slide a little bit, to avoid embarrassing our children unnecessarily. Sigh...

This parenting stuff sure is hard sometimes! Obviously, there is no guarantee that our children are going to grow up to love God with all of their hearts or that they are not going to spin off in rebellion. So we continue to pray... It is good to know that God is in control of it all. He will give us all the wisdom and grace we need to do our best to raise these precious little arrows He's entrusted to us.

Sweet Music To My Soul

2009-11-07T22:07:00.012-06:00

An interesting thing happened to us on Thursday. It all began when we saw that it was gorgeous outside and decided that we simply had to toss our plans out the window, pack up a picnic lunch and rush out the door to the local park immediately. I was so glad we did! When we arrived, we heard the faint sound of music coming from one of the pavilions.

As I often do, I was compelled to follow the musical sounds to their location. Any place where there is music is a place I want to be. The kids and I headed toward the pavilion...and we found these guys...

The kids begged, "Oh! Let's have our picnic over here by the music!" I didn't need any convincing. We laid our feast on a picnic table and unwrapped our carefully packed goodies to the tune of some elderly men playing old timey mountain music. It was fascinating to watch them fiddle and strum away. Mary Alice said that it reminded her of Pa in Little House On the Prairie. These guys played their fiddle and guitar with such enthusiasm. It is always so encouraging to see elderly people who are so lively and energetic.

A crowd of people had gathered around to hear them play. Also present for the concert was one of the fattest dachshunds I'd ever seen! (This picture really doesn't do him justice. This seriously obese dog waddled around the pavilion throughout our lunch looking for bits of table scraps.)

Milla couldn't take her eyes off of the musicians for a second, except, of course when she saw us getting out the food.

Mary Alice eating one of her world famous deviled eggs. :)

"This is very entertaining." Major remarked during lunch. "These guys are sort of like those minstrels who played during feasts back in castle times." (We are learning about knights and castles in history. I had no idea this little outing to the park would tie in so nicely with our schooling. :)

We listened to the men play for about twenty or thirty minutes. They paused briefly and the kids and I jumped in with questions. "Where did you learn to play?" "How long have you played?" "Do you come here often?" etc... The men were good natured and friendly, as you might expect from men who were wearing matching monogrammed I LOVE JESUS hats. They continued on to explain that they did this as a ministry as a way to share the gospel with others. The man with the fiddle (on the right) then asked Major if he had any special requests. Major asked if they would play a gospel song.

"Any particular gospel song?" the man asked.

Major thought for a moment, then said, "How about Thy Word?" Both men got out of their chairs, and made their way to the center of the pavilion where we were sitting. They asked Major if he would sing along with them. Major is usually fairly comfortable singing in front of people, but was a little apprehensive at being asked so abruptly.

Major looked over at me, a little unsure of what to do. "Sis and I will sing with you." I told him. So...these musical ministers strummed away on their guitar and fiddle and sang "Thy Word" with us in the middle of the park. Then, the kids and I continued on to sing "Amazing Grace", "Just A Little Talk With Jesus", and other such hymns along with these musicians. It was such a neat experience to be singing gospel songs together with my kids amidst a crowd of onlookers. It seemed like a wonderful way to show to whom we belong. It was a beautiful day, in so many ways. The specialness of the moment continued for about five or six songs, until a lady in the crowd shouted, "Hey, you guys know Cotton Eyed Joe?" :)

After listening to a few more songs, we headed off to the playground.

I LOVE these guys!

Before they left the park, the fiddler and guitarist shook our hands and said that they hoped they would see us again on another sunny day. The fiddler pointed a finger at my precious kiddoes and added, "You're a truly blessed woman." He patted Major on the head. "God has really blessed you." he told me.

Yes...He most definitely has.

Thoughts on Halloween

2009-11-04T15:20:00.012-06:00

Halloween is my FAVORITE holiday. This is for several reasons...

1)Halloween doesn't involve traveling, unless you count the trip around the block. The only packing and unpacking is the packing of your trick or treat bag and unpacking of the candy that fills it! (FUN!)

2)There is no stress involved, unless, that is, you don't finish making the kids' costumes until the night before, but WHO would be that much of a procrastinator? :)

3)It involves dressing up and being creative. I LOVE a good costume effort.

4) Also to be considered are the abundance of delicious treats like caramel apples and snack size candy bars. Who WOULDN'T love this beautiful holiday? Not I.

As a bonus to this year's festivities, we were able to spend the weekend with my brother, Adam, his lovely wife Alisha, and their three buddy boys. The weather was spectacular this Halloween, which made for a delightful night of trick-or-treating and church festival celebrating. Josh and I even fulfilled Mary Alice's yearly request for us to "PLEASE PLEASE dress up!"

Grumpy and Nonnie (Josh's parents) were able to come down and go trick-or-treating with us too. It was wonderful to have them along to join in the excitement of my favorite holiday. I was a bit surprised that Grumpy didn't come with blue hair. He's done it before. Oh well... Maybe next year?

The first pic of Halloween evening... (Notice that Major has his blanket in hand while trying to play the part of a spooky skeleton.)

My brother, Adam, and his wife went as Burger King and Queen. This is one of the funniest Halloween costumes I've seen. People kept staring at him at our church festival, wondering who the masked man was. A few people assumed that it was Josh, until they saw Josh in his costume. Adam heard quite a few lame jokes about burgers along with each jokester laughing at his comedic effort for telling such a funny joke. I should also add how VERY hard it was to take Adam seriously while he was wearing this thing. Hilarious!

The kids and their cousins ready for trick-or-treating...

Josh and I grabbed a few things and some discounted wigs and created these costumed characters.

More trick-or-treating...

Both of our families...

Adam and the kids on the train at our church festival...

Our Mary Alice girl...Isn't she pretty?

Josh and our Milla

Here are a few pics that my sister, Taylor, took before we went trick-or-treating.

Mary Alice as "Medusa" (After studying a little Greek Mythology last year and seeing a similar costume in a catalog a few months ago, Mary Alice knew that this was what she wanted to be...) Snakes,glitter,and tulle...an unlikely combination...

Major as a skeleton... His cousins really wanted him to be a Musketeer with them, but Major was set on this silly skeleton costume. Whatever.

Milla the hula girl

Cousins in costume (The Three Musketeers) Aren't they precious?

Hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween! The year is flying by! Next up, Thanksgiving!

At the Window

2009-10-22T22:37:00.010-05:00

While I was making dinner and the kids were playing outside, this was how our Milla girl entertained herself. She would squeal with happiness and beat on the glass whenever she saw her brother or sister. I've never seen her "talk" so much! She crept around from window to window trying to catch a glimpse of all of the exciting things that were taking place out there. I love her chunky little thighs and diapered bottom in these leggings. Hilarious!

Dallas Heritage Village

2009-10-17T08:25:00.017-05:00

On Friday, Josh and I took the kids on a field trip to Dallas Heritage Village. This place was very interesting. The kids learned so much. And, for a bonus, we had the whole village almost entirely to ourselves! The kids got to participate in all sorts of daily jobs that would have been done on a farm in the pioneer days. It was some exciting and dirty work.

Watching the sheep...

Mary Alice was given a fresh eggplant from the garden. She was pretty excited!

Captivated by a story about farm animals...

Chasing Chickens...

Hoeing, weeding, and getting things ready for planting...

Carding wool...

Beating out rugs...(ACHOO!)

They also brushed and sprayed donkeys, but Milla was busy with a diaper change during that time, so we didn't get a chance to take pictures. :)

Have a great weekend!

My Weird Kids

2009-10-15T15:07:00.013-05:00

A few quotes and such...

I don't take time to write down the funny things the kids say as often as I should. This week, the kids have said a few things I wanted to remember. I thought I would document them here.

Major's prayers are often very wordy. They are so heartfelt. It makes us smile to hear him pour his little heart out to God. I hope this never changes. As kids often do, he makes sweet and humorous statements in his prayers without ever realizing it. Recently, it has been on his heart to pray "that everyone in our family will be Christians, and that their family will be Christians, and that their family will be Christians, and that their family will be Christians, and so on and so on...and that it will never end." Well, he decided to change this up a little bit. This week, he started adding "and that we will never be Muslims, that we will be Christians from the time we are little kids all the way until we are adults." He is very serious about his requests. Perhaps that is why they are so sweet. I'm not exactly sure why he is thinking about things like this, except for possibly the few times that Islam has been mentioned in the kids' schooling. Not really sure...

He always prays for the children who live on the streets and whatever is on his mind at the time. So sweet.

Major spent some time with his cousins this week. His aunt told me that he said a sincere prayer that his cousins wouldn't contract the swine flu. Silly boy!

Speaking of the swine flu... Mary Alice had a conversation with her Aunt Taylor earlier this week. It went something like this:

Mary Alice: "So what did you want to be when you grew up when you were a little girl?"

Taylor: "When I was really little, I wanted to be a doctor. Then I decided I wanted to be an artist. Now that is what I am."

MA: "I haven't quite decided what I want to do yet. I think I might want to be a writer of books or maybe I might work at Wal Mart or Half Price Books."

T: "Oh?"

MA: "The more I think about it, though, the more I think I'm going to work at Half Price Books instead of Wal Mart. That way I'd have less chance of getting the swine flu."

The swine flu just might be on our minds around here. We know SO many people who have contracted it. Maybe my constant reminders to "Wash your hands!" or "Take a good nap so you don't get sick!" have something to do with it. :)

Mary Alice and Major have several special characters they've invented. They joke about them all the time. They are imaginary characters that do certain silly things. The characters have quirks and unique personalities. The kids entertain themselves by blaming things on these characters and making up jokes and stories about the things that the characters say and do.

Here are some of their special characters.

"Joshua and Emily"- (The good guys) These friends have stable, normal-sounding names. These are the characters that MA and Maje refer to when they want friends who do normal things and live inside the box. For example, "Joshua and Emily are helping do the dishes."

"Johnny Cuckoo-" a two year old with a tattoo who goes around tricking people and getting into mischief. Johnny Cuckoo is to blame whenever something goes wrong. He does things that Mary Alice and Major would like to do, but wouldn't dare or things that they think are extremely mischievous and funny. For example, "Johnny Cuckoo threw that dirty diaper in the parking lot. Shame on him!"

"Chrissa-" (Johnny Cuckoo's younger sister) a one year old who tags along with Johnny Cuckoo and copies him in all he says and does.

"Mikey"- (also has a tattoo) He disobeys his parents constantly and tries to get others to join in on committing his unbelievable crimes with him. The kids like to make jokes with each other about the things that "Mikey" would do if he were here.

So you can see that my kids equate having a tattoo with being a misfit. I've tried to explain to them that lots of nice people have tattoos, but for some reason, it hasn't gotten through to them.

"Chandelier Moscow"- so named for the hat that he wears that looks like a chandelier. He always has a scowl on his face and looks generally unpleasant. His main hobby is destruction. He breaks useful things in half. The kids like to make up stories about Chandelier Moscow's many adventures in mayhem and terror.

"Moscow Chandelier"- a twin brother of Chandelier Moscow who wears the same hat as his brother, but turned sideways, He does the same things as his brother, his partner in crime and also has a scowl on his face

"Baby"- Strangely, this infant has the job of patrolling traffic... Since he doesn't know red from green or stop from go, this causes many a problem for him...specifically, being run over again and again. Poor baby! His one line (I might add that I have heard this repeated one too many times around our house...) is "STOP! STOP! EVERYONE STOP!"

My very inventive (and notably odd) children have fun with these silly jokes of theirs. I know that this time will pass quickly, though Mary Alice assures me that Moscow Chandelier and gang will follow them to college and beyond. I might inadvertently be making a case for why my children need the "socialization" found in the public school system. Regardless, I believe their creative past time is healthy and definitely a source of entertainment for our family during our days at home.

I love it that the kids are kept busy with these silly games and that their little imaginations are blossoming so much each day. It is important to me to record these things that make our little family so special so that I will never forget. As time changes, and these characters step aside to make room for real life, I can look back...and smile.

Bye Bye Bandit

2009-10-08T15:35:00.006-05:00

A month ago we said goodbye to a very special piece of Smith family history. We traded in Josh's 1997 Dodge pick up, otherwise known as "The Black Bandit" for a newer model Suburban.

When Josh and I first started dating, he wasn't driving the bandit yet. He was in a hunter green and tan Z71. By a stroke of luck, someone from my dorm backed into his truck, forcing him to send it back to west Texas for repairs. In its place, Josh's dad let him have a lender, one of his farm trucks. That truck, affectionately dubbed the "Black Bandit", was one of the most beautiful trucks I had ever seen. I am not a car person. I don't really care what I drive or how ugly it is as long as it runs well and doesn't make attention drawing noises. Surprisingly, this truck got my attention! It was black with tan leather interior. My reaction to the truck was one of awe. I commented to Josh about how pretty the truck was, and how I liked sitting so high up from the road. I'm sure I told him how beautiful the truck was and how I had never really ridden in a truck before.

I don't know exactly what happened, but before I knew it, Josh's dad told him that he could have the black bandit if he wanted it. I think, if I remember correctly, Josh's dad gave him a choice of either a 1998 brown Dodge Ram or the 1997 black Dodge Ram. Josh let me choose. I chose black. :)

Many special things happened in that truck. Josh and I were sitting in the bed of the black bandit when he kissed me for the first time. He proposed to me in the Black bandit. The black bandit carried us away from our wedding reception and safely carried Mary Alice and Major home from the hospital. (It would have carried Milla home too, but, by this point, our family was too large to all fit safely and still carry a newborn.)

I wanted to keep the Black bandit forever, just because. Slowly, the Bandit's poor old body began to break down. We were to the point where we were having to take it to the shop every couple of months or so for some minor problem. With over 214,000 miles under it's hood, the day came to say goodbye to the black bandit.

I knew it was time when Josh told me he didn't want me driving the bandit any more, for safety reasons. He mentioned something about having to perform special tricks or something along those lines to keep the truck from "flying through intersections". Um...WHAT?!? And did Josh think that I wanted my sweet husband behind that wheel? NO way!

In addition to the bandit's failing performance, there was also the issue of the suburban I was currently driving. It's air conditioning hadn't worked well for several years. It had been rear ended, struck by lightning, broken into, clipped by the side of the garage (won't say who the genius was who did that), and just had many cosmetic issues and quirks. Last year, I gave a ride to an elementary school boy. When I dropped him off, he said, "Man, your car is pretty junky." Then, several months ago, Josh and I were eating at a restaurant with Josh's parents. When we went outside to our car, another family was also getting into their car. Their son took one look at our Suburban and, comparing it with his own family's vehicle, loudly remarked, "Hey, We got a betta van!" So, all that to say, it was definitely time for a change.

It was time to do it. We had to let him go. It wasn't without tears (at least by me). The truck that had been beside us through almost all of our time together had to go it's own way to make room for something more reliable for our family.

We are now the proud owners of a four year old Suburban. The air conditioning works well. The leather on the interior is smooth and nearly new. The exterior paint isn't faded. Things aren't broken from years of use. I'm loving it! That black bandit will always hold a special place in my heart, though. Sometimes Josh and I jokingly repeat the words of the kid at Cheddar's. "Bye bye bandit. We got a betta van!"

Ranger and the Kids

2009-10-07T09:03:00.006-05:00

Mary Alice and Major went to stay with Josh's parents last weekend. Cousin Ranger was down for a visit too. I heard that Ranger and the kids were the best of friends. :)

I think Ranger is watching one of his Praise Baby DVDs. Notice their hands. :)

Two sweet guys just hanging out being buddies...

Mary Alice in Wonderland

2009-10-03T00:18:00.012-05:00

I've been away for a while. I wish I had more time and energy to think of fun things to say. It feels like much of my time is spent on keeping the kids fed, clothed, clean, and educated. I'm afraid once I'm finished with all of my responsibilities, I am an incredibly boring lady.

Her are a few pictures of some of the adventures that our Mary Alice girl has been having, though.

Her birthday present from us (way back in August) was a card that explained that we would take her to the American Girl Bistro to eat with our family. This past Sunday we finally made it out there. Let me tell you...that place is a amazing! I felt like I was a little girl again. Visiting this wonderland of a place took me back to a time when I would pour over the wrinkled pages of my American Girl catalog. It always came in our mailbox about three or four times a year, and, by the time it finally made it's way to the garbage, I'm sure it was dog-eared and scribbled full with the circled items and notations from a girl whose greatest wish was to receive one of those beautiful dolls.

When I was a little girl, my favorite doll was Molly. I researched and schemed and hoped and plotted to get that doll. Sadly, it was just not meant to be... (I don't think I suffered too terribly much, though. :) This store does bring back some of those feelings. My heart wanted to walk out of there with armloads of accessories, clothing, etc. for Mary Alice. I can definitely see how it would be easy to get carried away in that beautiful store. We did walk around every inch of the place, though we left emptyhanded. I don't think Mary Alice suffered too much either. She thoroughly enjoyed herself just having fun with the family.

The food was a little distasteful and a lot overpriced. (At one point, Josh looked over at me during the meal and whispered something about what kind of a meal that dollar amount would have bought us at Saltgrass.) We all had fun, though. It was something different and exciting to do with the girl. Mary Alice loved it!

Milla looks so funny in this picture. She has this HUGE mosquito bite right between her eyes. That, coupled with her odd expression, makes this picture hilarious to me!

These last two pics are from when my parents took the girl to see the new Mary Poppins musical in Dallas. Apparently, it was awesome! Mom told me that Mary Alice filled them in on what was going on during the show. The musical was based on the P.L. Travers books. Mary Alice has read them all, so she was able to explain the storyline to them. Going to this musical was a special thing to do with her grandparents and was also a birthday gift given to her back in August.

They also took her to the fair while they were waiting for the show to start.

And...Last but not least... Our church had a ice cream fellowship after church last night. As soon as Mary Alice heard that they were holding a contest for the best ice cream, she said, "MOM, We must do this!" So... On Friday night, before the kids went to stay with their Grumpy and Nonnie, Mary Alice and I stayed up until almost midnight making two flavors of ice cream. I wanted to try out something different, so we decided to try out some fall flavors. We made apple pie ice cream and pumpkin gingersnap. Guess what? We won! Nevermind that there weren't that many contestants... It was so sweet to see the girl go up and claim her trophy for fantastic ice cream concocting. Very special. Here she is after the social, trophy in hand.

Branson Part Two

2009-09-20T19:14:00.032-05:00

We just got back from our second family vacation. It was VERY last minute. Originally, Josh was scheduled to go on a medical mission trip to Honduras this week. That trip was cancelled. Josh had already taken a week off, so we decided to make the best of it and take our family vacation. We enjoyed going to Branson so much last year, we thought we'd go back and do it all again!

This trip to Branson was very different. Perhaps the biggest difference was that Milla was safely tucked away inside my belly last year. This year, however, she hung out in her stroller throughout most of the trip. She did very well. She was so pleasant and happy, definitely a good traveler.

Here are some highlights from our little vacay...

We stayed in a condo that belongs to some family friends. It was WONDERFUL having all of the extra room that this place provided. We were also able to "eat in" more than last year. This was so nice. Milla had her own little bedroom. We enjoyed this setup much more than the hotel we stayed in last year. We are so thankful to Bentley and Jennifer for sharing their vacation home with us.

It rained the first few days we were in Branson. We were able to hang out, read books, watch movies, and relax for the first couple of days. We were blessed with lots of quality indoor time, which I think is a luxury when you are on vacation.

The condo had this fake fireplace that the kids found especially entertaining. It was one of those with fake logs and a real fire sound, but no heat. My favorite time at the condo was Wednesday night. The kids each picked songs for us to sing for our own church service before bedtime.

Here is a picture of Josh and the kids on the first morning of our trip. They were SO excited and kept making comments like, "It seems like a dream! I can hardly believe that we are actually on vacation!" Melted my heart...

On the front porch...

There's a story behind this tacky onesie. We drove across town to an outdoor shopping area for lunch. Unfortunately, Milla chose that moment to have a huge blowout EVERYWHERE! It was disgusting! We opened up the back of our Suburban and proceeded to peel off her dirty clothing. In all of the chaos of the day, I had forgotten to pack a change of clothing. Milla girl was wriggling around, covered with poo, totally naked at one point. We must have been a source of amusement for passers by in this very populated place. I put a diaper on her and covered her up with a blanket. We found the nearest store (Bass Pro Shop) and bought Milla this lovely souvenir.

The second night we went to this AMAZING museum, The Titanic Museum. When you entered, they gave each person (even Milla) a boarding pass that had the name, age, and history of a person who was actually aboard the Titanic. At the end of the museum tour, you got to find out whether your person lived or died. We couldn't take any pictures inside the museum. It was fascinating! It was my favorite thing we did the entire time we were there. I learned so much!

Here we are outside the Titanic Museum.

Here we are inside our condo. Milla the fuzzy head spent much of her time crawling around and getting into things.

She really loved to talk to her friend "Baby" in the mirror. She would laugh and laugh at herself.

She kept doing things like this, grabbing onto things and maneuvering her way around. What a cutie!

On another day, we took the kids mini golfing at a Dinosaur themed Golf place. It was something to do while we were waiting for the main attraction... Silver Dollar City.

Milla looked on with interest. She sat up in her stroller and watched everyone hit their balls.

On Thursday and Friday we took the kids to Silver Dollar City. They LOVE this place. Mary Alice and Major were giddy with excitement about the whole experience.

This is just a corner of Silver Dollar City where we rode our first roller coaster last year and this year...the much loved Fire In the Hole.

These pictures make me laugh. This ride, unbeknownst to me, shot you off like a rocket. It was very unexpected. Here we are waving at Josh. "Hey Maje! Wave at Daddy!"

Suddenly we took off! Yikes! Serious whiplash!

Mary Alice and I screamed our heads off for the rest of the ride. Never again! (for me, at least)

These pictures crack me up. Mary Alice was a little apprehensive about riding this particular roller coaster. I think Josh is trying to tell her just how much fun she is going to have. She isn't buying it. The girl rarely makes a scowl. She is almost always cheery. She was pretty worried. FYI, After the ride, she couldn't wait to go back for more! She rode the ride at least two or three more times.

One sleepy Milla, hanging out in her stroller

Major and I are having fun while waiting for Josh and Mary Alice to ride one of the roller coasters that Maje was too small to ride.

Another funny picture at the end of the day...

Fun at night...Mary Alice kept making Milla laugh! These kids are best buds.

Day Two at Silver Dollar City...

Here we are at the Old Fashioned Schoolhouse for a little bit of learning...
There was a picture of George Washington at the front of the classroom. The teacher wasn't talking about George Washington, yet Major wrote this (in invented spelling)on his slate:

"George Washington with a wig"

After the visit to the schoolhouse we took a tour of an underground cave. It was steep and slippery. I was SO glad that Josh was the one holding Milla. We didn't get any pictures of this because Josh was holding Milla and the camera, while I held the hands of the other two kids. The cave was spectacular and reminded me of the greatness of God and the many facets of His creation.

Crazy Maje (Both kids grew increasingly crazy each day of our vacation.)

A Dad and his girl

The last night of our trip we met our friend, Beau, and his son, Grant for dinner. It is always fun seeing old friends. I think, by the time this picture was taken, Grant and Milla had both had enough of this business!

Here we are looking at the light show that they do each night. What a fun place to hang out! Milla was mesmerized! Mary Alice and Major danced around and played in the fountain.

We drove home yesterday. We were blessed to be able to stop through Searcy and see my sisters and brother-in-law. On the way home, we played fun games like "I'm Going On A Trip" and another game that the kids introduced to me. I don't know where they learned it. (maybe their Aunt Hannah?) It was a silly story game "I Realized It Was Only A Dream". We had lots of good times listening to them giggle. We are so thankful for the much needed getaway that this vacation provided. We had a great time!

Good memories...Fun times...It's good to be home...

:V

Ma and Pa's Day Out

2009-09-10T16:43:00.016-05:00

Today we ventured out to our favorite little pioneer village. Nestled smack dab in the middle of a crowded urban area, this quaint little village is a welcome retreat from the hustle and bustle of the nearby city. The weather was great. The school crowds were absent. All in all, it was a perfect day...

Milla and Mary Alice girl both wore their bonnets...

Milla liked her old fashioned baby doll...Good enough to eat!

"Ma" in the kitchen, cooking up some goodies... She kept bossing "Pa" around. Life without modern conveniences made "Ma" a little cranky with her hubby.

Grinding up some coffee... I love my guy!

At the feast that "Ma" prepared for "Pa"... (When Mary Alice first put this hat on Major, he quickly threw it off because he thought it was a girly hat. Major was okay with wearing it once the woman working at the cabin explained that it was actually a farmer's hat.)

Gathering eggs...

Doing some gardening...

Pumping some water into a bucket...

Chilla Milla...

Recess in the park...:)

Best Friends...

Mary Alice and Major learned so much today! This was definitely worth the trouble of dragging three little ones out during the day. The kids were much more interested than I thought they would be. They peppered the workers with questions. The staff was very patient with our family. We stayed at each cabin for such a long time. I feel as though I pretty much have the whole place memorized and can give a detailed account of each and every artifact in the village. :)

This picture was taken this afternoon. Milla has started trying to climb up our stairs. What a rascal! Let the child training begin!

Four Posts In One

2009-09-04T12:24:00.014-05:00

#1 Fun With The Incredible Hulk

What Do The Incredible Hulk, a pinata, and this amazing cake all have in common?
They were all found at Jonah's third birthday party!!! Pictured here is the fabulous cake that my brother and Alisha made. Isn't it great? Check out my sister's blog to see more pictures of this special day!

#2 Mondays

On Mondays, the kids go to a fine arts school in a nearby city. Mary Alice takes ballet, art, and music, while Major and I do his schoolwork and spend some time together without big sis around.

Milla is worn out= a HUGE understatement

Josh came up to eat lunch with the kids this week. They love their daddy!

#3 Kisses For Daddy

#4 Why I Love Home Schooling

(BTW...To avoid confusion or judgements made on Smith Elementary... These are pictures of extracurricular activities. There IS, in fact, real learning going on here. The kids just enjoy lots of extra free time playing together. I LOVE it!)

Have a great weekend!

Joy In the Morning

2009-09-03T09:36:00.001-05:00

O happy day, that fixed my choice
On Thee, my Savior and my God!
Well may this glowing heart rejoice,
And tell its raptures all abroad.

O happy bond, that seals my vows
To Him Who merits all my love!
Let cheerful anthems fill His house,
While to that sacred shrine I move.

It's done: the great transaction's done!
I am the Lord's and He is mine;
He drew me and I followed on;
Charmed to confess the voice divine.

Now rest, my long divided heart,
Fixed on this blissful center, rest.
Here have I found a nobler part;
Here heavenly pleasures fill my breast.

High heaven, that heard the solemn vow,
That vow renewed shall daily hear,
Till in life's latest hour I bow
And bless in death a bond so dear.

Happy day, happy day, when Jesus washed my sins away!
He taught me how to watch and pray, and live rejoicing every day
Happy day, happy day, when Jesus washed my sins away.

Fun With Bubbles

2009-09-01T22:00:00.015-05:00

Our Milla girl's hair is pretty wild and crazy. She is absolutely fuzzilicious!

Shiner

2009-08-31T07:42:00.002-05:00

Major has his first shiner. He was playing baseball with his friend B last night. Major was standing a little too close to B while he was batting. Major's friend accidentally swung the bat right into Major's face! His nose bled for a little while. There were a few tears. We're thankful it was a plastic bat!

Last night after he'd had some time to think about it, Major decided that he was at least a little bit glad that he was going to have a black eye. "After all," he said, "I am a tough guy. Tough guys get black eyes sometimes because they are busy doing boy stuff. I can't just tiptoe around the tulips."

First Days Of School

2009-08-27T10:34:00.011-05:00

I can already tell that this year is going to be a little bit tricky. Here are some pics from the first few days of school. I wish I could have taken a picture of the kids in their new school clothes. The problem is, I haven't bought them yet. :) Not to worry, my preparation of their curriculum is thorough, even if they don't have a thread of new clothing. I'll get to it...one day. Maybe when the weather starts to get chilly? The hot weather makes me more inclined to stay inside the comfort of our nice cool house, rather than face the heat and the mall. Yuck! Maybe later.

Here is a pic of Major on his first day of Kindergarten. He brought his Magna Doodle in after breakfast showed it to me. I love his invented spelling. He is always writing words and asking me if he has the correct spelling. I usually say, "Oh! I can see why you sounded it out that way! That makes sense."

He usually replies with something like, "Yeah I know, but is it spelled RIGHT?" He doesn't care so much about the process, but about the product.

Translation: "Mom School is about to start."

Mary Alice really enjoys the fact that Major is in school now. Yesterday she told him, "Handwriting doesn't seem so bad when I have you sitting here beside me." I quickly snapped a picture.

One little problem... Milla is into everything! It can't be helped. This stage will soon pass. I sure am glad to have this sweet little distraction around. She makes the days so much more interesting. :)

Major wanted to lay on the floor and work on his math. Milla thought she'd help out. He thought she was funny...at first.

Her tricks slowly became less and less funny as she pulled his hair, climbed on his math book, and tried to tear the pages. Milla thought it was such an exciting game!

Today Major decided that the floor was probably not the best place to do his work, at least, not with this little scooter around.

I'll type more about the first days of school later. This is going to be an exciting year!

I'm In Love

2009-08-25T13:03:00.003-05:00

How can you not LOVE this face?

Not possible. :)

It's A Jolly Holiday With Mary Alice

2009-08-19T23:17:00.021-05:00

We are all huge fans of the books by P.L. Travers, the Disney movie, and the catchy tunes that go along with it. And really, what word lover doesn't like to sing "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious"? It doesn't get much better than the fun-filled world of Mary Poppins, for our little girl at least.

This year we celebrated Mary Alice's eighth birthday with a Mary Poppins party. We search for any occasion to act crazy at the Smith house. Mary Poppins lives in a world of magic, silliness, and whimsy, which made this party idea practically perfect in every way for our girl. And, of course, it involved costumes. :)

I think this may have been my favorite party...ever. It was magical. My sis, Taylor, was there to perform her magic from behind the lens of her camera. That meant I didn't have to tote a camera around the entire time AND I had professional results. Thanks Taylor!

The cake was amazing! I ordered it from Tempt Dessert Boutique. Jamie did a wonderful job designing the cake and even delivered it to our house on the day of the party.

Didn't Jamie do a fantastic job? She had never actually seen the movie. She watched it to help inspire her. How many bakers do you know who would do that?

We watched a few clips from the movie first, just in case nobody had seen it.

Then...Racing around with hats, heels, and spoons full of sugar...

This is a spin off of that "Baby I love you, but I just can't smile, game." We always used to play that at church camp. I HATED that game. The "I Love To Laugh" game was much more fun. The girls couldn't keep a straight face for very long. Mary Alice has lots of highly entertaining friends. And I absolutely LOVED that the girl in this picture wanted to wear her heels throughout the entire party. She kept looking down at her feet and saying, "I just LOVE these heels!"

Mary Alice making a very goofy face before birthday cake and presents.

Ellie and Jillian

Blowing out EIGHT birthday candles

Just in case you were wondering, here is what Milla was doing while others were eating birthday cake... Sneaky, sneaky

Milla Josephine all dressed up for the party :)

I love a good teacup toast.

Excited about presents and maybe just a teeny bit sugared up :)

What would a Mary Poppins party be without learning Mary Poppins' favorite dance, The Cha-Cha Slide? :)

Pictionary, the Poppins way...

Fun on the driveway...

And...Last but not least, a pic of the birthday girl and myself. I tried to impersonate the beloved character, but probably just succeeded in showing my true dorky side to all of Mary Alice's friends.

After the party was over I tried snapping my fingers again and again to help tidy up the house. It didn't quite work out like it did for the real Mary Poppins.

For Our Special Girl On Her Eighth Birthday

2009-08-14T21:13:00.007-05:00

It's that time of year again... My sweet girl is turning eight tomorrow! It's time for me to write her birthday letter. This post is long and personal. It is meant for my girl to read on her birthday. If you don't care, you might want to go away and check back later.

To my precious Mary Alice girl on her eighth birthday,

Eight years ago today my life changed forever. I became a mother. I was thankful, but really had no idea what a blessing that God was giving me when he blessed me with you. I remember the moment when they placed you in my arms. Your daddy and I both cried because we thought you were so beautiful! Little did we know that the precious bundle of joy we held in our arms would develop into a little girl with not only a beautiful face, but a beautiful heart as well.

What a gift from God you are! I often find myself in disbelief, wondering why God would have chosen me to be the mother of such a sweet, happy girl! I am so thankful.

This year has brought about many changes for you. You completed the first grade, started wearing glasses, and became a big sister for the second time. You started becoming more concerned with personal modesty. Gone are the days of the hiney dance. :) I'm excited as your dad and I continue to watch you grow and change from a little girl into a big girl.

Right now, you are an avid reader. It is INSANE how many books you read. I often have to tell you to "Put down that book!" You love using big words. You make us laugh with words that cause us to say, "Where in the world did you come up with that?" You usually read it in a book. At VBS this year, a family friend remarked that you "sounded like a thirty year old instead of a seven year old". You do! A few weeks ago, when your dad asked if you wanted to watch The Rangers with Major and him, you said, matter-of-factly, "No thanks, Dad. The Rangers are not of interest to me." You use funny words like "nonsense" other bookish terms.

You love to learn and are very easy to teach. This year, you started taking sewing lessons from Gran. Gran commented that you were a very good student and picked things up quickly. You really want to learn more about sewing right now. You are also interested in the piano. You commented to me that we really needed to let you be in another play because "Carnegie is my life!" You're just a little dramatic, aren't you?

You love to be helpful. A couple of days ago, you said, "Mom, I just LOVE to work!" I love that about you. It is so nice to have such a good helper around. I don't know what I would have done this year without you! You are one of the hardest working seven year olds I know, always ready to help out with Milla. You make life easier for all of us. I am so thankful that you are a part of our family.

I treasure our times together in the kitchen. You love to cook and are definitely my girl because you love to experiment in the kitchen. This year, I remember you throwing in a few handfuls of flour one time when you made a cake. You didn't exactly understand something that the recipe said, so you added a little-of-this and a little-of-that. I didn't find out about it until the cake came out of the oven. It actually turned out pretty good! You make me laugh!

You are thankful. This past Christmas was my favorite one ever. This was because you finally got the American Girl doll that you wanted for such a long time. What was so special about it was that you honestly didn't think you would get it. It was precious to see you open that present, get big tears in your eyes, and run over and throw your arms around your daddy. You buried your head in his shoulder and tried not to cry, hugging him for almost a full minute. I will never forget that moment. What a special, thankful girl you are. It makes it more fun to give you things.

You don't like to hurt people's feelings. God made you with a tender heart toward others. I am excited to see how you use this gift throughout your life. I wonder what you will become. I am excited to see what good works that He has prepared for you to do.

You don't like people to be upset with you. You are, by nature, a pleaser. This is good and bad. Many times, I see you doing good things like playing Major's games, and trying so hard not to get into trouble or say rude things. I hope that you will use this desire to be kind, but with a backbone. Your Dad and I pray that this desire for being a pleaser will cause you to want to please God, not men. He is the one that you always need to worry about pleasing. :) I pray that you will be a leader, not a follower.

Your sense of humor continues to develop. I find myself laughing at you more and more each day. You are very silly, our little sunshine. You are happy and smiling most of the time. You are an early (sometimes too early) riser and always wake up with a smile on your face. God blessed you with the most precious personality.

You love to be hugged, snuggled, touched. Right now, you always ask me for hugs and kisses. You love for us to tickle your back or arm. You are so cozy!

We are nearing the time in your life when lots of girl drama is about to unfold. I am prayerful that your heart can make it through this time, only changed in ways that will make you more like Jesus. I have seen a few examples of the "mean girl" stage already. Just recently I witnessed a girl with a bad attitude being very unkind to you, ignoring you and treating you horribly. I wanted to slap that girl when I saw how she was acting. Mary Alice, I watched you be kind to the little girl, even as she rejected you again and again. Then,a few days ago, we we both observed that the girl's attitude had changed toward you. She started being nice to you, probably because you treated her kindly. I am so proud of you and hope that you continue to assume the best of others and have such a sweet spirit. You are an example to me.

This letter is too long already. I kept thinking of ways that you were a blessing to your Daddy and me. I tried to sum up all that you are to us right now. You are a delight to us, a real joy! We have been blessed to be your parents for these eight years. We love you more than you can know (until, perhaps, you have children of your own). I hope that God gives us many more years with our sweet Mary Alice girl and that you grow in inner beauty and in love for God and others.

We love you so much!

Mom

Just For Laughs

2009-08-12T22:07:00.013-05:00

Sometimes, I have to run to my blog and type up the things the kids say, really quickly, before I forget them forever. Today is one of those days.

Before bed tonight, Major asked Josh, "Why do adults always stay up so late after we go to bed?"

Mary Alice quickly responded, "So that they can watch and make sure robbers don't come steal us."

Tonight was a special night because I was able to have one of my "talks" with Major. The kids always beg for me to lay in their beds with them for a while after their official bed time and chat with them for awhile. I only get a chance to do this on the rare occasion that Milla happens to go to bed early. I always enjoy it because this is when the kids really talk to me. We are uninterrupted by others. It is just one-on-one and so special. It is the perfect time to hear all about their hopes and dreams and really find out what is going on inside their little minds. I love doing this whenever I get the chance.

Anyway... Tonight, in our conversation, Major started telling me about his vision of how Satan tricks us into doing things that we don't want to do.

"I think Satan has a sin factory," Major began, "It is kind of like the one in The Great Mouse Detective that makes potions and things."

"Oh?" I said. I was very interested to hear the rest of his explanation.

"I think Satan puts his bad ideas in the sin factory. He makes them up into evil potions and then he puts them into our heart. The sins from the sin factory get into our heart and make it all dirty." He continued his explanation while tracing the area from his heart to his head. "Then, the sin travels up into your head where it gets in your thoughts, so, it's like, then you want to do it."

Not too far from the truth sweet Major. Very insightful. :) Yes, my baby starts Kindergarten in a week. Perhaps a future in theology? :)

(A few minutes later...)

Major and I were playing the "Would you rather?" game. This game is a big hit with my kids. We play it in the car all the time. It was my turn. I asked him if he would rather have long hair like Mary Alice or eat a bowl full of really spicy hot sauce. At first, he said that he would rather just eat the bowl of hot sauce. After thinking about it for a few seconds, he changed his answer, "No," he said, "I would rather just have the long hair. I would just pretend that I was Samson."

(And finally....)

A couple of days ago, while we were watching Swiss Family Robinson, Mary Alice asked, "Why didn't they just use their cell phones?" I think she realized how silly she sounded. She spoke without thinking. Then she laughed...at herself.

These kids are a laugh a minute!

Milla, the Terrible Eater

2009-08-10T10:17:00.015-05:00

Milla has started on solids. She has been trying lots of new things. For our Milla, "Variety is the spice of life!" We have to watch her pretty carefully. She seems to want to put almost everything in her mouth. Some of her favorites are painted toenails, shoes, and bits and pieces of things left lying on the floor. If anything is left out, sweet Milla will find it....and EAT it!

Here are a few pics of Milla trying some new "foods"...

Blueberries, yes?

Oh, YES!

Carrots, yes?

No thanks!

Swim towels are always a nice snack!

How about some of the stuff in that green bottle? Yum!

With the other kids, I was always so by the book, trying things for three days before moving on to other foods, etc. This time, though, we've had a few times of desperation that have led to Milla trying things that would raise the eyebrows of her pediatrician. For example, she didn't like the freshly steamed carrots that I served her (sans seasoning, because babies aren't supposed to have it.) She kept eyeing my plate that night at dinner, so I had to give in. She ate carrots right off of my plate. She decided that my carrots (lightly seasoned with a little salt and pepper) were oh-so-much better. She's no dummy! :)

On Sunday, we went out to lunch with friends. I had just nursed Milla, so I thought she wouldn't need to eat any baby food. I was WRONG! She saw and wanted what we had so... we gave her some Cracker Barrel mashed potatoes.

We're putting her back on a strict baby food diet starting today. It's back to offerings of unseasoned butternut squash and sweet potatoes and such, that is, when she isn't munching on crumbs off of our floor and sneaking bites of people's toenails.

Music To My Ears

2009-08-06T07:16:00.003-05:00

Milla said "Mama" last night. No "Dada" yet, just "Mama". I'm not gloating or anything. :)

The Troy Fan Club

2009-08-03T11:05:00.015-05:00

This past weekend we celebrated Josh's 31st birthday. The kids woke him up with breakfast in bed. We made him a special lunch and his Aunt Deon's yummy Coconut Pound Cake. This cake is so moist and reminds me of a coconut snow cone. It was de-lish! The kids picked out special presents for their dad and made sweet cards for him.

Josh's birthday was a day that both kids had been looking forward to for several days. One of the reasons, of course, was so that they could give their dad his presents and give him extra TLC on his birthday. The other reason for all of the excitement was that Josh agreed to let Mary Alice have a sleepover at our house on his birthday. I'm sure that having a bunch of noisy,giggly girls over on his birthday was not his dream come true, but Josh was sweet to let Mary Alice have her friends over on his special day. Ultimately, though, Josh LOVED seeing his Mary Alice girl have so much fun with her friends.

My youngest brother, Ben, is starring in a local performance of the play High School Musical. Until a few weeks ago, I had never actually seen this movie. I rented the movie and concluded that it was just what I expected, a very cheesy representation of American teenage life. I wasn't really sure if I wanted to push teenage popular culture on my seven year old daughter. I think little girls should act like little girls. Children hardly have time to be children anymore these days! Almost as soon as they are out of diapers, society pushes them to start behaving like little adults! Josh and I agreed to allow Mary Alice and Major to watch the movie. It was a "cute" movie for a Disney musical, but not one that we are going to run out and buy. Maybe I take things too seriously? I just want to be very intentional about what goes into the minds of my children. The teenage years will come around soon enough. :(

Uncle Ben played the part of "Troy", a basketball player who tries out for his high school's musical, despite attempts from those in his peer group to persuade him that he can only be a jock. Mary Alice and her friends showed their support for Ben by wearing red t-shirts. They went to the play dressed as "Troy's Fan Club". The shirts said things like "We heart Troy." "Troy Fan Club", and "Troy is my uncle.". They wore buttons pinned to their shirts with Ben's picture in them. They brought little notebooks to get the autographs of the cast after the performance. The girls spent the night and went to church with us the next morning. All in all, it was a fun, giggly, silly, happy, ultra-loud way to spend time with friends. There is nothing quite like a good slumber party. SO much fun!

Here are some funnies:

A picture of Mary Alice's "TO DO" list for Josh's birthday. She is very thorough. It cracks me up!

A few pictures of the "Troy Fan Club" before we left for the play. I told them that they had to act like Ben was a superstar when he came out. :)

At the musical...

On the way home...I think this picture captures the silliness of the girls quite nicely. :)

The next morning over breakfast. The girls made cinnamon toast and compared autograph books. :) Sweet.

The Many Faces of Milla

2009-07-30T20:49:00.006-05:00

Our Milla girl is proving to be quite a character already. She is constantly making us laugh with her funny faces and sounds. She is very very mischievous, always on the go, and constantly into things. It scares me a little bit, quite honestly. Here she is doing some of the things that she does best.

"SNORTY/SNIFFLY FACE" She makes this face a lot! This picture is VERY dark. Sorry.

"WHADDYA WANT?" FACE

"SOMETHIN DOESN'T SMELL RIGHT" FACE

"WHAT'S UP?" FACE

"WHAT'S GOING ON OVER THERE?" FACE Lately, I have been putting her in Major's T-shirts for bedtime. They are so soft and comfy on her. I prefer them to onesies, especially since she has outgrown most of hers.

Sitting in her Daddy's lap, almost ready for bed (Milla ADORES her Daddy!)

Milla is just about DONE with the bouncy seat. For a long time, she's been too large for it. Now that she can do sit ups in it, though, and is rolling over and climbing out, perhaps it may be time to say bye bye to the old bouncy seat.

Rangers Now and Then

2009-07-27T17:20:00.030-05:00

The kids have been participating in this summer reading program at the local library where they get prizes for reading based on the number of hours they read. Most recently, they won free tickets to a Rangers game. So... We packed up an ice chest full of hot dogs, waters, grapes, and my new FAVORITE snack, Philippine Mangoes. (YUM!)

Major had been excited for weeks about attending this event. It did not disappoint.

Milla wore a hand-me-down baseball dress that her Nima made for Mary Alice. Mary Alice wore it at age 11 months. Milla is wearing it at seven. :) It may be a little big, but I had to get more use out of this special dress.

Milla wore the dress for several innings, until she got so hot that it had to come off.

Luckily, she had some cute bloomers on underneath.

And now... A glimpse back at the year 2002... It was the fourth of July. Mary Alice was eleven months old. Here she is in her Aunt Miranda's lap wearing her special Nima dress.

And here she is wearing nothing but her bloomers. :)

Funny how history repeats itself. :)

A Milestone for Milla and 6 Month Pics

2009-07-22T09:38:00.021-05:00

A couple of days ago, Milla expressed the need for some variety in her diet. Our Milla girl loves her milk, but started to show signs that she was ready to try something new.

So... A couple of days ago, Milla ate her first bites of rice cereal.

She thought the spoon was a new toy at first. She wouldn't stop trying to grab it from me.

She caught on pretty quickly!

This mother of three thing works out great for me. Mary Alice is Milla's second momma. She is SO helpful! Mary Alice fed Milla her cereal the last couple of times. Next week, we'll move on to "real" foods. That ought to be fun!

In other news...Taylor took some six month pics of Milla the other day. I can't wait to see the rest of them! Here is a sneak peek. Isn't she a spesh?

I am so thankful for the blessing of my sweet family!

Tessa Weds

2009-07-16T20:58:00.032-05:00

And now, a few words about a much anticipated event in our family... My sister, Tessa, got married this past Saturday. The bridal portrait that Taylor took is at the top of my blog. Isn't Tessa gorgeous? Taylor didn't photograph Tessa's wedding, but was free to just relax and enjoy herself.

You'll have to click over to Erin's blog to check out the sneak peeks of Tessa's wedding that she posted.

So...Before you read this post, go on over and check it out...

Some highlights from Tessa and Dustin's special weekend:

1)THE NIGHT BEFORE...At the rehearsal dinner, friends and family gave their "toasts" to Tessa and Dustin. My dad had the most memorable remarks. He was holding back his tears as he turned to Dustin and said, "If you love Tessa half as much as I love her Mom, your life will be full of joy. Then, to lighten the serious mood, Dad turned to Tessa and said one of his famous one-liners, "Tessa, you know that you are always welcome home, but just remember, from "Dust" you came and to "Dust" you shall return!"
HA! Greatness...

2)THE FAMILY...My cousin, Betsy, came to stay with me for days before the event. She wanted to help out with the wedding. I know that my mother, especially, really appreciated Betsy's help with everything. I just enjoyed the chance to spend some time with a family member that I don't see often enough. It was such fun to get to stay up late talking and giggling with Betsy in the days leading up to the wedding. We had way too much fun making some cheese logs late one night. I'm sure they were tasty, but a "log" made out of cheese just doesn't sound so appetizing to me. Meat loaf, cheese log, etc. Eck! I have a thing about foods with gross names.

3) THE MUSIC...The wedding was beautiful! My favorite moment was when Tessa walked down the aisle. She chose the most beautiful version of "Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing" as her processional. Ever heard of Sufjan Stevens? I hadn't. Now that I have heard of him, I know what Christmas CD I'm buying this year! This guy was amazing!!! CLICK HERE TO HEAR HIS INCREDIBLE VOICE! Sufjan's voice wasn't able to make it to the wedding, so my brothers Adam and Ben sang instead. :) Ben accompanied with the piano, along with a guitar player and a banjo player. When Tessa was about to come down the aisle, there were jingle bells. It sent chills down my spine. This was, without a doubt, the BEST arrangement of Come Thou Fount I've ever heard.

4) THE GIRL... Mary Alice always struggles with holding back her tears at these events. She is so much like me in this way. Poor girl! At Taylor's wedding, a couple of years ago, Mary Alice was the flower girl. She cried all during the wedding "because everything was just so sweet." This time, I could tell that she was trying her best not to cry as she walked down the aisle. Precious.

5) THE RING BEARERS...Major, and his cousin, Landon, were ring bearers. They were so cute and did such a good job even though Major expressed disappointment that they weren't carrying the real rings. "What's the point of this job, anyway?" he asked me just before the wedding.

6) THE HAIR... My mom's friend, Shannon, has a talent for creating fabulous hairstyles. She is heavily involved in the theater and is used to styling hair for actors and actresses. She is WAY better than any professional stylist I've seen. Our hairstyles were all fab. She used her creativity on each and every person and told my mom that it was her "gift" to Dustin and Tessa. Mom and Dad have so many wonderful friends. What a blessing these friends were to our family this weekend! We are so thankful!

7) THE AFTER PARTY... My parents finally caved in and put a dance floor in their back yard. In past years (for example, at my own wedding reception), Mom and Dad hesitated to do something that might offend someone. They finally decided that it was possible to have a dance without the offensive stuff by controlling the environment a little bit. Mom's friend, Shannon, and her husband chose the music. This made sure that there was no bootie shaking going on. :)

My brother, Ben, and his friends are all really good dancers. They kept everything lively. Ben tried to teach me how to dance. Yikes! I need a LOT more practice. Major and I danced to "Cotton Eyed Joe" together. That was really fun, even though we nearly got mowed over on the dance floor. Major especially loved YMCA and has requested that I play "Cha Cha Slide" several times this week. :) The photographer captured one picture of all of the sisters dancing to Thriller. (Can't wait to see that! HA!) Mary Alice and Major danced the night away. They had a blast! It was exciting to watch Tessa's first dance with Dustin and especially her dance with my sweet Dad. So special!

8) OTHER FUNNY STUFF... Major caught the garter. He was absolutely ECSTATIC that it was "Made In China" and went around telling everyone, "I caught the garter. Did you know that it was made in China???" We buy the most exotic legwear for our family's weddings. Only the best will do. :) Major was amazed that he had such a treasure in his possession. :)

9) Ben and Milla on the dance floor... Need I say more? :)

I loved every minute of that wedding, but am also really glad it is OVER! I know that Dustin and Tessa are thrilled that they can finally be together. I am so excited that they have found each other. They are going to be one dynamic duo! It will be exciting to see what the future holds for Dustin and Tessa. They are both faithful Christians who desire to glorify God with their new little family. So exciting! Congratulations to the Hahnies! We love you both very much!

Bible Junkie

2009-07-15T10:29:00.024-05:00

I have a confession to make... I am a junkie.

Apparently, the first step to recovery is admitting that you have a problem. So...I am openly acknowledging the fact that I have an addiction to biblical literature for children, specifically bible story books. I love to get my hands on a new children's Bible! There is nothing quite like the thrill of going to the mailbox to open what might be our new family favorite, and of pouring over it and wondering how it will enhance our Bible study time at the Smith house. I have amassed quite a collection over the past few years. Perhaps I need to slow down on purchasing these items. I mean, how many children's Bibles does a person really need anyway?

It all started right before Mary Alice was born. I received my first children's Bible as a gift at her baby shower. It was one of my favorite presents. This began my addiction.

Each year the cycle repeats itself. I research the web, ask friends, and search all over the globe just to find a better and more exciting children's Bible to read with the kids. Then, when the timing is right, I make my purchase. I just received one of this year's Bibles in the mail a few days ago. (I ordered two.) Based upon careful inspection of it's contents, I have decided that I will probably dust off one of my old favorites instead.

It is important to me that these Bibles be fairly accurate. Many of them take liberties with the truths of God's Word. Of course, nothing could be as accurate as the Bible itself. I know that these children's Bibles are just storybooks to be used in addition to instruction from the true Bible. I feel a big responsibility to be cautious when reading them to my kids.

I thought I would share some of the children's Bibles I have in my collection:

1) The Children's Bible In 365 Stories- This is the one that I received from the elders at our church at the time of Mary Alice's birth. I haven't read very much from this one, so I can't give it a good recommendation. The illustrations are nice, though, and there are many of them.

2)The Word and Song Bible- I LOVED this one for many reasons. I bought this Bible about three years ago. It comes with multiple CDs. Kids can listen to this Bible independently. It has a narrator reading the Bible stories and cute little songs at the end of every couple of stories. My kids still pull this down during their play time and listen to it. Some have said that some of the sound effects (the voice of God, etc.) were a little too scary. My kids weren't scared at all, but if things like that bother your kids, you may want to keep that in mind. This is probably the most interesting and engaging story Bible that we have. I have used it multiple times when teaching Bible class also. The kids love it!

3)The Jesus Storybook Bible- I'm not a big a fan of this Bible. This is the one that we ordered this year. I was very disappointed. My main reasons for disappointment were that it is very very incomplete and extremely inaccurate. It leaves out too much information. Major looked through it an kept pointing out stories that were "missing" in the Bible. The illustrations were interesting. We'll flip through it, but won't read it for any kind of Biblical instruction. The author takes way too many liberties, listing her opinions instead of truths of the Bible. This Bible is unsound.

4)Egermeiers Bible Story Book- We LOVE LOVE LOVE this book. We used it two years ago. This is the most Biblically accurate story Bible I've come across. Some may think that it is too hard for children to listen to this story Bible. It is my opinion that children can be trained to sit and listen to these stories. It isn't written with "baby language", but communicated in more of a straightforward way. I do wish there were more illustrations. Overall, this is an excellent Children's Bible!

5)The Big Picture Story Bible- Short and sweet, this story Bible provides a wonderful "big picture" of God's plan, from the Old Testament to today. Reading this Bible made me understand God's whole plan for the first time. It is amazing how I "got it" as an adult by reading this Bible. Wonderful, simple Bible. Wonderful illustrations. Very good for preschoolers (and beyond). Simple language, very easy to understand

6)Vos' Story Bible- We used this last year for our Bible Stories. This Bible is part of the curriculum of several reputable Christian private schools. The woman who wrote this Bible communicates as if she were telling a story to her grandchildren. That makes it different from some of the other story Bibles. Vos does take a few liberties with what the Bible means when it says such and such, but those can be easily explained if you are reading aloud to your kids. This Bible definitely could have used more illustrations. We enjoyed getting through this Bible this year and will read through it again another year.

7)Leading Little Ones To God- I just received this in the mail along with the Jesus Storybook Bible. I'm not sure about this one yet, but it looks promising. It seems to be more of a devotional book than a Children's Bible. I am looking forward to going through this Bible this year. It had many good reviews online and was recommended by several friends. I guess I'll wait and see...

So, there you have it... I am in LOVE with children's Bibles. Being a children's Bible junkie isn't so bad! There are so many great materials out there to help parents study God's truths with their kids. I hope sharing my faves will help you as you are sorting through all of the options. Be careful, though! Once you start, you just might become an addict!

Be Stilla Milla

2009-07-07T09:26:00.011-05:00

Milla is our little active baby. She is always kicking, jumping, moving, and looking around. She is learning so much every day. She brings us so much joy. It is hard to imagine life without our little mover and shaker.

She loves her jumperoo...

Here is her newest trick. It won't be long before she starts crawling... I hope it is later, rather than sooner. She is going to get into trouble once she starts crawling!

She chews on EVERYTHING. Any dress she wears is usually soaked from being chewed on. She also likes to pinch people's faces and mouths. One of our friends from church kept Milla entertained the other night by letting her play with her lips.

We love our Milla girl.

Here are a couple of pics from the fourth of July. It is getting harder and harder to take pictures. I always have my arms full of Milla. :) I wish I had some pictures of the kids watching fireworks. It was pretty cute. Josh's parents came down and spent the night with us. We enjoyed some awesome steaks made by Josh. Mary Alice made some deviled eggs and a fabulous fourth of July cake.

We are so proud of our Mary Alice. She loves cooking so much (and is actually pretty good at it for her age.) I'm training her so that she can bring Josh and me delicious treats when she visits us at the nursing home. :)

Playing With Food

2009-07-03T22:40:00.016-05:00

Mary Alice has a dollhouse that she got for Christmas a couple of years ago. She has been wanting to make some food for her dolls for a long time. So... Today, in between running errands and all of the non-fun stuff we had to do, we had a little extra time to work with our hands...

And make some play food...

Milla sat on my lap and occupied herself by chewing on a Ziploc...

Hamburgers, hot dogs, pizza, and a fruit basket...

Another tasty thing I saw while we were working... I could eat these toes up!

Check out all of these goodies! After baking, they were strategically placed throughout her dollhouse. Her dolls won't have to starve any longer.

Milla was totally worn out!

Frances' Hope

2009-06-30T14:01:00.012-05:00

I just got back from going to visit the nursing home with the kids. Our church gets young children together each week to do some kind of a service project. The past few weeks we have visited the nursing home. I wish I had some pictures to go with my stories of today, but I had my hands so full with Milla that I couldn't do much of anything else.

Of course, both this week and last, Milla was a hit! Last week, many of the residents said how cute they thought "he" was, so this week, I dressed her up in her girliest outfit and bow so that there would be no confusion about her gender. :) I think I did something right, because everyone commented on what a cute girl she was! Lots of remarks were heard echoing through the dining hall such as "What cute hamhocks!" "What a butterball!" and "Isn't she a chunkers?" Milla's bare little feet and legs were touched, held, and kissed by some of the old ladies as they reminisced about their own children. Some of the residents gave her tissue paper flowers and some asked me to make her "dance" for them. (She likes to jump all over the place right now, so she brought smiles to their faces as she jumped again and again on the dining table.) She also growled, squealed and handed out smiles freely.

My heart aches for so many of the people who reside in nursing homes. These people were once just like me. They had jobs, children, vital and active lives. Now, however, many of these people are living out their final days in a place without their friends or family around them, while the world continues to go on outside the locked and alarmed doors. I know that many of these people have loving family members who made the difficult decision to put their loved ones in these homes out of necessity. Many of these people are blessed to have family members who visit them daily. This is good. However, there are many lonely people whom no person visits on a regular basis. These people are aching to be talked to, loved, and touched. It breaks my heart to think of this. I can hardly stand it. I believe that this is what the church is called to do, to show love to these people and to learn from them.

I want to share some things that I noticed while at the nursing home. When I first walked in I saw an elderly lady, "Frances", sitting alone on a sofa in the lobby area. Frances immediately noticed Milla. Her face lit up! She asked me if she could see my baby. I went and sat next to her and discovered that she was sharp! She had a wonderful story to tell me. I listened intently as she told me about her life. She had lost a husband in a car crash when she was exactly my age, leaving her with four young children. She remarried a man who proved to, in her words, have been "a good man with too many problems to stay married". This second husband walked out on his marriage, leaving her with SEVEN young children. One of the children died at age two of diphtheria. Finally, she met and married a wonderful Marine. This man helped her to raise her six children. She was married to him for twenty years until the time of his death. She said that she had been in the nursing home for a couple of months and was trying hard to adjust to her new life there. She had the most positive outlook and talked about how she was prepared to die, but didn't want to spend her last days lying around, watching tv, and lying in a bed somewhere. She gets up each morning, puts on her makeup, fixes her hair, gets dressed beautifully, and plans her day. Frances told me that during her life she has learned that whenever something bad happens, God always sends something good to follow.

There was something in her pleasant, cheerful demeanor that reminded me alot of my mom's mother. She seemed to face life with a smile, taking life's hardships with hope for the future. Her own daughter was, at that moment, dying of cancer. She asked me to pray for her daughter. She said that she can face uncertain days because she has hope for the future. Where did she get this hope? As I turned to leave, I noticed a Bible sitting on the sofa beside her. Of course! Frances was a Christian! It was obvious, but confirmed by the presence of the Bible sitting beside her.

Frances was amazing, and, I thought, truly beautiful! I enjoyed being around her. I really enjoyed our visit and told her that I would try to come visit her in a few weeks. She was such an encouragement to me. So much can be learned from older, wiser Christians. Sweet Frances had much advice to offer, let me tell you! I visited with her for about half an hour.

I turned to walk into the dining room where our church group was gathered. The kids were making Hawaiian leis and tissue paper flowers for the residents. As I walked, I met a grumpy looking woman in a wheelchair who gave me a stern look and uttered these words... "Time...time...Nobody has the time...but time keeps on going on and on...horrible, just horrible!" She frowned at me. She had frown lines on her forehead. She wheeled around unhappily in her wheelchair. I looked at her and smiled. She didn't return the smile. She seemed unhappy with her day or maybe even her life. She looked to be about the age of Frances, but more sickly. She probably wasn't in ill health as much as the grumpiness took the beauty right out of her. I don't know about her life at all, but I do know that she seemed to be bitter and angry, so unlike sweet Frances, who, despite life's trials, had such a hope for the future.

Lots of things have been on my heart lately. I have never followed the goings-on in Hollywood. There are very few famous people that I've ever considered to be role models. Even though I didn't know him personally, or look up to him in any way, I was very saddened and disturbed by Michael Jackson's death. Seriously. Things like this traumatize me. I told Josh that I didn't know why I was grieving so much for Michael Jackson. He said that he didn't think I was grieving, but that I just felt extremely sorry for him. Josh knows me well.

I feel such a sense of sadness for troubled people who live without hope for the future and then die, utterly miserable. There are so many people in this world who live their lives only for themselves, searching, searching for something to make them happy only to discover that they are never truly happy in the end. They don't have hope. They don't have joy. They are miserable...and then their time runs out.

On Sunday our preacher quoted Shia Labeouf in an interview that he did with Parade magazine. About actors Shia said, “They’re all in pain. It’s a profession of bottom-feeders and heartbroken people,” “Most actors on most days don’t think they’re worthy,” he added. “I have no idea where this insecurity comes from, but it’s a God-sized hole. If I knew how, I’d fill it and I’d be on my way.” WHAT?!? He identified it. He doesn't know how to fill it. So sad.

I may not be able to make much of a difference in the lives of all the stars in Hollywood. Many are such sad cases. I can pray for those people whom I come in contact with and try to show them that there is a better way to live life, and it is a free gift, that is the life devoted to Jesus. I am so thankful that I have this hope that does not disappoint. I want, so badly, for as many people as possible to have this hope that I have. It seems such a waste to live only for this world!

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

I'm sure this post has been a real downer. Maybe it has even been a little boring to you. Regardless, this has been on my mind and I felt the need to encourage you to live your life the way that God intends for you to live, for Him and for others and, like Frances, with joy and hope for the future!

Mystery

2009-06-29T10:56:00.002-05:00

God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea
And rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never failing skill
He treasures up His bright designs
And works His sov’reign will.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break
In blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flow’r.

Blind unbelief is sure to err
And scan His work in vain;
God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain.

Fun With Cousins and A Fashion Show

2009-06-22T16:11:00.037-05:00

A few weeks ago, we were blessed to have two extra special visitors come and stay at our house for a couple of days... Cousins Landon and Jonah got to come and hang out. Boy were my kids excited! Days with the five buddies were full of fun! We spent a little time inside and a LOT of time outside. The kids played "colored eggs" in our back yard. I used to play this game at my cousins' house when I was a little girl. "Colored eggs" is a spin on the game of tag, made even more fun by the water sprinkler that they had to run through to run around the bases. SO MUCH FUN! They ate it up! I just love these special boys and always welcome their visits to our house. I am so glad that my kids have cousins that are close to their own age.

Here a few pics from one of the days that they were down. I made everyone take a nap that day, with the promise of water fun when they woke up. Jonah looked SO adorable sleeping that I had to take a picture after he had been sound asleep for several hours. He was slow to wake up at first...

He quickly jumped into action, though, when he heard that we were going outside to play in the sprinkler... :)

Landon looked so cute in his pirate swimsuit. The boys had so much fun together.

Milla lounged in her bouncy seat on the sidelines. She didn't want to get in the sprinkler, and wore her cover-up, for modesty's sake. :)

Running through the sprinklers...I had to include several pictures of the kids playing Colored Eggs. They were laughing the whole time they played. I thought these pictures captured their mood so well.

Jonah changed his mind about the sprinkler once we were outside. He hung out with Milla and me in the shade and watched the other kids running around our back yard.

We miss you Landon and Jonah! Come hang out with us again soon!

And now...for some random pictures. When I uploaded this group of pics onto my computer, there were several wierd ones in the bunch.

Milla is used to being held all kinds of different ways by Mary Alice and Major. She is so heavy that they sometimes have a hard time holding her. The way Mary Alice is holding her looks a little uncomfortable, but Milla didn't seem to mind.

Milla wears clothing most of the time, I promise. Every girl needs to dress down every once and a while, right?

Not for long, though. Milla is a girly girl at heart. Here she is before church a couple of Sundays ago.

My three special gifts from God... It is rare to have a shot of the three of them together. I love this picture!

Superman and Mr. Incredible... They look pretty fierce...maybe just a little silly? Just where did they learn how to make faces like this?

Maybe Milla taught them how to make those faces?

Or maybe it was their Aunt Tessa?

Our little Milla JoJo trying to cram some tasty fingers into her mouth...Finger lickin' good!

Yesterday, Mary Alice and I made a pair of pants for Milla. Mary Alice decided to get out Milla's best accessories and have a "fashion show". Here she is... Instead of on a runway...she is sitting in front of her crib. She is modeling a white stretchy hat with a bow...

And Miss Milla sporting her new pants with a red hat and black flower thingie...

It looks like she has a bird sitting on her head in this picture. The kids played this little game with Milla until she protested being a fashion model. No more catwalk! She just wanted to roll around on the floor.