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Friday, December 28, 2012

After Christmas Fun

We took down our Christmas decor ASAP, getting ready to head up north!
We had our first fooseball injury, but a little ice & some hot cocoa and ML recovered nicely. :-)
This morning we caught the earliest flight I've ever been on - 7 am - yikes! And we are back in the land of snow!
Spent most of the day with the grandparents just hanging out, but we have big plans tomorrow!
















Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Merry Christmas Baby!

Merry Christmas! Following our usual tradition, each child got 3 presents from Santa & 1 from us, and I think we made fairly good choices this year! Not many pics of JR with his gifts because #1, he woke up so much later and #2 they took most of the day to assemble.

ML was up between 6:15 and 6:30. I think JR would have slept until 9 if we hadn't woken him up just before 8. :-). Sometimes I look forward to BOTH kids sleeping in, but I know I will miss this once it is gone. Sweet memories.

Hope your Christmas was wonderful!





Thursday, December 20, 2012

It's My Birthday!

I think the birthday fort in front of the fire is my favorite present ever.
Sweet Big Daddy & my best friend threw me a surprise party last night. It was great. So thankful!



Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Sickly

Not feeling so hot & sweet ML came in to read me a book. Makes me forget about how crummy I feel. So, so sweet!
(Please ignore piles of laundry. At least they're folded? Ha!)

Monday, December 17, 2012

A Father's Love

JR was somewhere between the ages of one and two when I sat in church and listened to an African missionary tell of how God had already prepared his heart for his 14 year old daughter's potential death.  
The missionary's sermon started off innocently enough.  There were pictures of orphans and stories of God's great works in Africa that brought tears to your eyes and joy to your heart.  The missionary told of his great love for the people of Africa, his calling to that land and how God had worked in the life of his family.
And then he dropped the bomb that shattered my perfect little suburban world.  It seemed this missionary's daughter had a dream of becoming a missionary herself.  Only she wasn't called to Africa.  No, she was called to the Middle East.  To countries with scary names like Iran and Sudan.  She was called to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ in these Muslim countries whose leadership is so radical they will throw you into their disgusting prisons if you even so much as look the wrong way, much less attempt to practice freedom of religion.  
The missionary told of how proud he was of his daughter and how he knew that her calling might mean her death, but he was prepared.  And that he would never dare to stand in the way of God's calling on his daughter's life.  Never.
And I knew immediately that God meant that message for me.  JUST for me.  I knew what God knew - I considered my son "MINE" - mine!  Given to ME by God to love and protect.  JR was mine and there was no way I was going to allow him to even consider, much less encourage?!? a living where his life was in mortal danger.  I mean, I wanted him to go on mission trips and all, but I was looking forward to those missions having a certain start and end date.  To them being to at least 'safe-ish' places, led by protective leaders whose one goal was to return my son home safely to me.  

But I knew in that instant.................... I had gotten it all wrong.  I drove home with a heavy heart.  I knew that I too was called to relinquish my child................... no.  not my child............... God's child to the calling on his life.  I was to pray less for his protection and more for his mission.  After much wrestling in my heart (weeks of wrestling really,) I was ready to say the words that I still find difficult to speak, "He's yours God.  He always has been.  Thank you for entrusting him to my care."  Gone were my hopes that my son would grow up to be a nice, professional man with a 401k, a picket fence and some extra time to devote to 'good' works on the weekends.  
Instead, I now have no plan what so ever.  Kind of hard for this OCD gal, but my only plan is to take it day by day.  And each of those days to instill in my child the following, "God loves you.  God has a plan for you.  I don't know what that plan is, but you will.  Draw close to Him and He will guide your steps."  
And do you know what?  Releasing my child into the loving arms of God has brought me a peace about my children that knows no end.  That shouldn't be a surprise to me, but it is.  It's amazing - I can hardly believe it myself, but it's true.  One of the greatest joys of my life was being allowed to live long enough to see both of my children accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and to see them take on their faith as their own.  Such peace in my heart.  The peace that passes understanding

When I hear the news of Connecticut I am even more thankful for that day, so many years ago when God helped me to realize that He is in control. Today, instead of wrapping my children in bubble wrap and locking them in their rooms, I am able to send my children to school knowing that even in the face of great evil, God's got this.  He has a plan.  He is at work in their hearts and lives and in the world at large.
And that work is for good.  That work is to bring light and life and unfailing love.  That is my hope - my only hope.  I pray that you also have that hope!

"In him was life and that life was the light of all mankind.  The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it." ~ John 1: 4-5
Sunday, December 9, 2012

Picking Back Up....

........Just maybe not picking back up where I left off?

I feel so discom-blog-ulated.  :-)  Ha!  My dad, Papa, went into the hospital in the wee hours of Thanksgiving day with a terrible infection.  It took until Sunday, but they finally figured out what was wrong with him and did a small surgery on Sunday.  We are hopeful that he'll be home tomorrow.

But this meant that things kind of went haywire for a while.  So I"m not even sure what I've blogged, and what I haven't, so bear with me, while we go through the 'random.'

Our Miss A is 21!

I got to babysit these sweet girls one day in November..... so fun to have 4 for the day!

JR made a few masks in November - so creative!

Hospital pics.  Waiting to see Papa:

Thanksgiving night we went to our local botanical gardens to see their annual Christmas light display.  It's a drive through display, so I wore my pajamas - only to arrive and discover they have added a 'Santa' part where you get out and walk around at the beginning!  So out we went - me in my pajamas!



Back before Thanksgiving, I was lucky to help with ML's class Thanksgiving party- 


And Big Daddy and JR had one last "War Eagle!" day before the end of the season.