looking at Christmas "like little children"

Tonight during our nightly cuddle time with the kids, Joel made sure that he sat on the end of the couch nearest the Christmas tree. He sat on the VERY end -- right on the arm of the couch -- as he announced, "I'm on the spot closest to the tree! See? So close I can touch it!" He's saying this as he stretches as far as his little 4-yr-old arms can stretch, leaning off the sofa, nearly falling into the tree, demonstrating that his fingertips can graze a branch.

As we snuggled and listened to soft music, I watched him as he watched the tree. He looked at the sparkling lights in awe, and shared with me (again) in a whisper that he put lots of ornaments on "that branch" and it's so pretty. He kept reaching towards it, hoping for another graze. He could hardly turn his head from it to join the family cuddle, and the light from the tree lit up his eyes as he continued to gaze in wonder.

As I watched him I couldn't help but think of Matthew 18: 3 where Jesus says, "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven..."

I wonder, do I look at Jesus the way I saw my son look at the Christmas tree? When was the last time you stood in awe of Christ. In giddy, near-speechless, wonder-filled awe? I can't help but think that if I looked upon Christ with that sort of awe, it might shed light on the mundanities of life. Oh to be so stricken with wonder at our Lord and Savior that I hardly notice my circumstances! Isn't that what we should be striving for? Ultimate focus on Him? But far too often we treat other things as "ultimate" and those things crowd out Christ in our lives.

And what if I stretched as far as I could stretch just to be near Christ? For the faintest brush with His presence, could I lean, bend and reach as far as possible? But far too often I duck, turn and retreat from experiences out of fear or insecurity.

You know, my son's enjoyment of the tree makes me want to keep it out for him all year long.

Unlike the Christmas decorations though, Jesus is available to us all year long, and His wonderful light can be seen any time.

This weekend, and today in particular, I find myself convicted to reach for and pursue Christ, engage in opportunities to "stretch," and be in child-like awe of Him.

Moses and the Israelites, as retold by Joel

Moses was a guy who didn't talk very well. The Israelites were slaves.
Moses asked Pharoh, "Let my people go," but Pharoh said, No!" very loudly.
Moses said, "Let my people go," lots of times, and Pharoh said, "No, no, no, no," lots of times.

Finally, he let them go, but then he changed his mind and wanted the Israelites for his slaves again. And then he got his army.

Then the Israelites, they saw the army coming, and then they saw the red sea, and when Moses put his hand over it, it opened -- the sea opened, and gapped apart. They went through, then it closed, and the army sunk. So, the Israelites were safe.

M: "Wow! God is in charge of everything, isn't he!?"
J: God is in charge of everything. For real, He is.

friends, family and family friends

We just spent a wonderful day at lake Ray Roberts with 3 other families and I just have to say we are so blessed to have friends like these, and have this great beach and picnic area so near us, and be able to hang out like we did today. We shared everything from hot dogs to sun block to taking turns watching kids... You know you had a great time when the kids AND adults fall asleep in the car on the way home (except the driver, of course!).
I just love our little community and family of believers, love sharing life with them and love loving Jesus with them. Pictures coming soon (maybe next weekend, when I have a chance to spend time on the computer again!)

A Regular Farmer's Market Monster

This morning, a bleary-eyed Joel came to me and said, "Mommy, I had a bad dream. A very bad dream."
I asked him to tell me about it. Here's the story:

J: There was a toy car, but it was real, and it took the kids to the Farmer's Market, and they were by themselves.
M: What was the scary part? Was it because they were by themselves?
J: No. The doors on the car were stuck, and wouldn't open.
M: Oh, how did the kids get in the car?
J: The kids had to step over the top of the door, one foot at a time.
M: I see, so the car didn't have a roof?
J: Yes, there was a roof, and the windows didn't come down, and there were two seats. Then they went to the Farmer's Market in the car.
M: Who were the kids? Was it you and Allison?
J: I don't know who they were.

That's all I got. I went to work wondering how come my kid was afraid of the Farmer's Market....and thinking maybe he has a fear of abandonment (I did have to peel him off of me to get to work).

At dinner I asked him about it again:

M: Did you tell daddy about your bad dream?
J: (to Daddy) There was a toy car, and the kids went to the Farmer's Market.
M: How did the kids get in the car?
J: They stepped over the door, and the windows were not opened.
M: And how many seats were in the car?
J: (holds up two fingers). They got in the car and went to the Farmer's Market where there was a MONSTER!
M: Ah, now I see what was scary!
Daddy: What kind of monster was it?
J: Just a regular monster.

So, there you have it. Nothing more scary than a regular ol' monster at the Farmer's Market.

Family Camp!

Now we're caught up to summer time, and this year's big vacation was to Family Camp with several of our church friends. We had a blast getting to know some new friends, and experiencing a few days "off the grid" -- WITH NO CELL SERVICE.

The kids enjoyed playing in the river, and floating in the tubes (Joel called them swim rings).

We saw all sorts of animals there, from butterflies, to bats...

and horses to lemurs.

Every night before dinner, a fire truck came around to give the kids a ride.

And, after a full day of hiking,

swinging,

and climbing...

...sometimes you just need a nap, and you'll take it wherever you can get it.

Spring Flashback 4: Disney On Ice

Disney On Ice was in town in March, which made it a perfect birthday outing for Joel and a couple friends. It was also near Graeme's birthday -- he's my co-worker's son, and just 2 weeks older than Joel.

It was so neat to see these little folks experience a big show like this! For ours, it was their second event, but the rest of the crew were first-timers. Even still, every one of them had this fantastic look of amazement on their little faces when the show first began, the ice was lit up, and their favorite Disney characters came out to play.

Spring Flashback 3: Spring break

For spring break, we took a day trip down to Dinosaur Valley State Park. It was such a fun time, and we took cousin Nikki with us too. We had a picnic lunch, tromped in dinosaur footprints, and made a few muddy footprints of our own...

Before we left, the kids did their best T-rex impressions by the huge T-rex statue

Spring Flashback 2: Allison's Birthday

It was a birthday luau for Allison's party. Due to a rain out, the splashing part of the party couldn't happen, but with a few quick improvisations, and a little help from some mom friends, the girls all had a great time. An inflatable swimming pool in the living room floor (no water, of course!), a rousing game of "pin the coconut on the palm tree," a make-shift "beach" in the floor, some temporary tattoos and a round of limbo...and buckets of candy instead of a pinata. And, of course, everyone still wore their swim suits!

Spring Flashback 1: Joel's Birthday

It's been a while since I've put pictures up, so here are a few "catch up" posts. Let's start with Joel's birthday. First up, is Birthday morning -- in his new, blinking Star Wars shirt, showing off his combo ball-pitcher/T-stand. At his Star Wars themed party, we had 20 or so kiddos, their parents, and a very big, kid-eating jump house in our back yard, and one small pinata, shaped like a jedi training thingy (I know, it's a shame for the wife of a bona fide geek to be so woefully inadequate with Star Wars facts and terms...)

Joel was lucky enough to be the one who busted the pinata. I love the shot with all the little onlookers, waiting with bated breath for the candy to fall.

Here's a small crew, before the party, hanging out on the bounce house.
We're very grateful for the bounce house that came at the last minute. The party was originally planned at a local jump house party center -- but they went out of business 2 days before the party! We were a little worried about having so many people and kids in the house, but everything worked out fine, with just a bit of craziness....

Esther - Session 4

I've been involved in Beth Moore's Esther study with a group of women this summer and, man, is this a good study! Beth was on fire in the Session 4 video. Very convicting. One thing she said right at the outset was very convicting -- "We can protect ourselves right out of our calling."
Oh how that brought to mind the many, many times I've been faced with decisions and chose the "safe" or less troublesome route. I hate to think of what I have missed, and what wonderful experience of God's glory I could have had, if only I'd put myself out there a little bit.

I'm not just saying that by way of throwing myself a pity party. The fact is that God has a plan, and he'll carry it out with or without my joyful participation. But, wouldn't I rather be with him, rather than out there on my own, flailing around? Like Mordecai told Esther in chapter 4 of the book: (my paraphrase) God can deliver the Jews with or without you, but maybe you're the Queen right now, so that you can play a role in their deliverance. Essentially, he's saying "Step up, girlfriend! You're either in, or you're out."

So, if I ask myself if I'm "in" or "out" I do, undeniably, whole-heartedly choose "in." And that means taking steps toward in-ness (yep, made that one up) no matter the cost.
The cost for Esther was potential death. How lucky am I that the cost to me is nothing more than a little time, maybe a little money, maybe some energy. Seems a small price to pay to be "in" with the working-out of God's plan.

Who knows but that for such a time as this, I was meant to be in such a place as this?

I think I've just set up mobile blog posting. Now, if I could just figure out Twitter, I'd be totally connected.

Pants on the fan, and more madness of single parenting

Matt worked late tonight.
As I was preparing dinner, the children were playing wonderfully. They had taken early baths after some sprinkler and popsicle time. They were running and squealing, gleeful and...
naked.

After a while, and a couple of living room streaking episodes, I reminded them that they should put clothes on for dinner.

Allison got dressed first and came to the kitchen.

"Joel's pants are on the ceiling fan," she said.
"But we're throwing a blanket up there to try to get them off."

I go into Joel's bedroom just as he's stepping on to the pink princess card table (dragged in from Allison's room), strategically placed beneath his ceiling fan. You know, the fan with pajama bottoms hanging off of one blade.

I get the pants down and go back to the kitchen. Joel comes in with no shirt. He can't find it he says.

"I know where it is!" says Allison. "It's in my room, where we were trying to throw it onto my fan."

reading and writing

Joel is learning to read now. He read a Biscuit early reader to me in the car the other day and surprised me with this new skill. So, we are dutifully encouraging him these days with more from Allison's early reader collections (he's reading her guided reading books from kindergarten with us, etc.).
Last night he wanted to write words on paper, so he spent a lot of time asking what words he should write, then sounding them out and writing them. He wrote yes, leapster (l-e-p-s-t-r), blanket (b-l-a-k-i-t), tooth, teeth, bear (b-e-r), and we ended the night with pillow (p-i-l-o).

As with any new skill, he's obsessed with mastering it.
I think it's keeping him up at night.
After I left him in his room, he was still thinking of words to spell. As he was getting in his bed, he stopped for a minute, thinking, then said, "I can spell 'block' in the morning."

it's a "tore"tillia

As we're enjoying a family meal of beef fajitas, the kids were happily eating -- and playing with -- their tortillias (the only part of the meal they ate, by the way, but at least we didn't fix them hotdogs while we ate "real" food).

Joel starts to pick his up and it tears. He said "Mine tore!!" then thinks a second before announcing his brilliant revelation:
"Hey! That's why it's called a 'tore' tillia! Because you tear it! See, Mommy, I tore it."

When the Star Wars and Easter stories collide

Joel was just playing with some new Star Wars figurines, and I hear... "and He raised from the dead!... POW! shoot him back down!"

Yes, Jesus was raised from the dead, but Luke Skywalker shot him back down.

Introducing, Queen Allison

So, Matt and the kids are playing, and Allison says to the guys, "OK, you say, 'Would you please be my Queen?' and I'll say, 'Yes, of course!'"

Allison lost her first tooth!

Five years after cutting her first tooth, she lost her first tooth. An exciting day, indeed! Interestingly enough, she lost it at school during a lesson on dental hygeine. For some reason this little milestone really tugged at my heartstrings. I dang near cried when I got the email from her kindergarten teacher! I guess it's just very tangible evidence that little girl stuff is being left behind, and a big girl is in our midst.

(The pink stuff on her eyelids is eyeshadow. She's not allowed to wear it out of the house -- only play in it. Thus, she comes home from school every day and paints herself up. I really should take more pictures of it and file them away for future blackmail.)

Rock Stars and Random sparkler fun

Someone left a box of sparklers at the house at New Year's. We found them and figured, why not? No reason sparkler fun should be reserved for two times a year!!

Allison and Kaytlyn are rock stars:

These two little divas have known each other since birth. So neat to see them having fun together!

"May I have more broccoli please?"

There. Just needed to record that.

Story Time

Matt and the kids listening to a book on CD during Joel's breathing treatment. When princess Allison joined them I just had to grab my camera.

Ice is nice

The kids were totally enthralled by the ice this week. While Allison enjoyed just just looking at these wonders of nature, Joel delighted in breaking them off, eating them, using them as a light saber.... He also got busy "cleaning" the play structure out back. He was outside for so long, and so quiet, I went to check on him. When I asked what he was doing, he replied, "I'm getting all the frozen off the playground!"

Happy New Year

We had a blast yesterday at the annual mid-day New Year's Eve party with our friends! Party started at 4, and ended around 7pm. There were 17 kiddos running about. This year they were all contained in a giant bounce house most of the afternoon. We rounded them up for a faux-midnight countdown at 7:00. Boy was that loud! In case you've ever wondered what it's like to give party horns to 17 children...we can tell you all about it.

Allison and Joel were still enjoying the leftover party hats today.

Allison artfully redesigned all the hats with stars from the ceiling decorations.

Happy 2009 everyone!