The Casualties of Sledding

Haddon had a rough morning sledding....


He was surprised to get as beat up as he did....


But it's all good...that's part of being a boy, right?

Merry Christmas

Things have been a bit hectic...in a good way!

We traveled up to Maine for Christmas. The kids did great and in the two days we took to get here, we only stopped three times...yes, THREE TIMES! How amazing is that? In that time, I was able to crochet Paysie some booties to match her blanket that I finished in the car and two scarves. I also read the first several chapters of a Piper book that I have been wanting to read.

We woke up Wednesday morning to ice in New Jersey and the going was rough at first, but wasn't too bad once we got going.

Everyone was so happy to see the kids and meet Paysie!

We went to Amatos (a local Italian place) to eat on Christmas Eve...a tradition! And settled in, only to wake up before 7am by some excited little boys.

I was quite surprised to open a Canon Rebel that John got me. My camera was on its way out, and I thought that maybe he would get me a camera, but never thought he would get me a Rebel!! I'm still learning how to use it, but love it!

The day was filled with lots of food, family, and faith. We planned to have a devotional that afternoon....which turned into 6pm....and had printed up some booklets of hymns to sing to Jesus on His birthday. There is nothing sweeter than family gathering together to worship Him. John read out of Isaiah and it was just really nice how we were able to do that with people we don't see too often!

The boys were excited to see everyone and received lots of gifts :) My parents know how much the boys love to cook...





We really can't forget that it was Paysie's first Christmas! She just ate up the attention and was enjoyed by all!






To be cont'd....

There are some games where cheering for the other side feels better than winning

They played the oddest game in high school football history last month down in Grapevine, Texas.

It was Grapevine Faith vs. Gainesville State School and everything about it was upside down. For instance, when Gainesville came out to take the field, the Faith fans made a 40-yard spirit line for them to run through.

Did you hear that? The other team's fans?

They even made a banner for players to crash through at the end. It said, "Go Tornadoes!" Which is also weird, because Faith is the Lions.

"I WOULDN'T EXPECT ANOTHER PARENT TO TELL SOMEBODY TO HIT THEIR KIDS. BUT THEY WANTED US TO!"

It was rivers running uphill and cats petting dogs. More than 200 Faith fans sat on the Gainesville side and kept cheering the Gainesville players on—by name.

"I never in my life thought I'd hear people cheering for us to hit their kids," recalls Gainesville's QB and middle linebacker, Isaiah. "I wouldn't expect another parent to tell somebody to hit their kids. But they wanted us to!"

And even though Faith walloped them 33-14, the Gainesville kids were so happy that after the game they gave head coach Mark Williams a sideline squirt-bottle shower like he'd just won state. Gotta be the first Gatorade bath in history for an 0-9 coach.

But then you saw the 12 uniformed officers escorting the 14 Gainesville players off the field and two and two started to make four. They lined the players up in groups of five—handcuffs ready in their back pockets—and marched them to the team bus. That's because Gainesville is a maximum-security correctional facility 75 miles north of Dallas. Every game it plays is on the road.


You can read the rest of the article here

I think my wife's a Calvinist

The fun of having boys

I am participating in the 22 word challenge over at Abraham Piper's blog. You have to write a story about your kids in 22 words. If you know my kids...the hardest part was picking which story to write about!!

Gideon: "My lip has red on it."

Mommy: "Why is your lip bleeding?"

Gideon: "I hit my head on the Incredible Hulk!"

I was driving down the road with the kids yesterday, and we saw this sign:



Nolan tells Gideon that this is a sign that trucks will tip over if they go too fast on the road.

Gideon replies, "Mommy! I need to pray for all the trucks that are going to tip over!!"

BTLOG....another year, another GREAT concert!

Christmas is just not the same unless you've gone to see Behold the Lamb of God! We missed it last year, and we made sure to see it this year. We drove 3-1/2 hours to Charlotte, NC to see our old friend Andrew Peterson.

On the drive down, we were trying to figure out how many times we have seen him in concert. It's gotta be close to 10 or 11 times by now!



Since John didn't want to hold the girlie diaper bag...Andrew did, lol


Here is the first song off the cd....



And a great video of Labor of Love..

Booties for the boys!

Each time I make booties for Paysie, my boys always say that they want a pair too. I mentioned this to my mom, and she quickly volunteered to make them!

The kids are excited to be able to wear them! Gramma has promised the boys that their booties will be waiting by the door!

My Gideon

A few days ago, the kids and I went grocery shopping.

When we pulled into the garage, I began assigning the kids their jobs. Nolan is in charge of collecting their cups and putting them into the bag to take into the house.

Then, I begin picking up the lightest bags to have them bring into the kitchen for me.

The complaining usually follows.

"Mommy, I don't like jobs!"
"Mommy, it's too heavy!!"
"Mommy, I'm too tired!!!"

I think you get the idea!

But this time, Nolan was handed his bag and ran up the stairs without a word!

Haddon put his arm out to me, and I placed the bag over his wrist!

And Gideon...sweet Gideon, quickly had a look of complete disdain for the task at hand that I can only describe as the most pathetic thing you've ever seen.

"Mommy, I don't like jobs", he said to me.

I bent down to look him in the face...

"Gideon, I really appreciate it when you guys help me bring the groceries in. It isn't a very fun job, but when you help mommy bring in the bags, you are glorifying God by obeying and helping me out!"

He brought his bag up the stairs.

As I remained in the garage, grabbing the diaper bag and Paysie in her carrier, Gideon appeared at my side.

"Mommy, do you have any more jobs for me?" he asked.

"Are you asking me if I need any more help?"

"Yep!"

The look on his face was one of genuine helpfulness. I gave him the diaper bag to carry for me.

"Gideon, that was so nice of you to come down here! You are really being a great helper to me and are really glorifying God right now!"

His face beamed.

"I know! Thank you for saying that mommy!"

And my little 5 year old boy ran up the stairs.

The Children's Choir

Every Wednesday night, my boys go to their class called Sing to the King. In October, they went to a local nursing home to sing some songs they have been learning.

Since then, they have been singing Christmas Carols!

Here they are last weekend singing for the church services!



Nolan is on the right, at the end. Gideon is in the second row, 5th one in from the right. Haddon is on the bottom row, 2nd one in from the left.

They were so darling standing up there!

A trip to the movies

A new skirt for the girl

Notice how the hands and feet are blurry....yeah, she doesn't stop moving!

Santa Claus??

We don't do Santa Claus. The kids know who he is. They wave to him at the mall. They recognize the red suit, the white beard and his reindeer.

And it ends there.

When Nolan was little, John and I discussed whether or not we would hold up the charade of Santa, and we decided not to. We also don't believe in the Easter Bunny, the tooth fairy or leprechauns either.

As I looked around for some articles on this very subject, I came across a few that may be helpful to you in understanding why we are raising our family this way.

Here is what I found....

To Live is Christ: Why I don't believe in Santa...

Christian Parenting Daily: Do Christian Kids Believe in Santa

John Piper: How We See Christmas Symbols

22 Words: My Thoughts on Santa Claus: Who Cares?

I found the perfect shoe.

And that's all I have to say about that.


I don't own it, but someday I will.

Happy 2nd Birthday Jamison!

My littlest boy is two!

Jamison,

I remember the late nights I spent contracting, wondering if tonight would be the night. But the night would often turn into morning, and you were happy where you were.

Your due date was November 30th...and you've always known how to make an entrance! You walked in the footsteps of your brothers and arrived quickly...before the doctor could even make it to the hospital! And then you entered the world full of life and curiosity...which has only grown as you have gotten older!

Oh, how I love my little man! You are loved by so many!

My prayer for you is that you love the Lord with all your heart, with all your mind and with all your strength! I pray that God uses you to further His kingdom. I pray that if it is His will that you marry, that He is preparing the heart of your bride. That she becomes a True Woman and is the perfect compliment to you. I hope you learn that your mommy and daddy really do have your best interest ay heart, even though you may disagree with us at times.

You are a joy, my sweet boy...

Love,
Mommy

I watched a sappy Hallmark movie tonight

I can get away with watching sappy movies when John isn't home!

So there I was...watching this movie about a boy that grew up with Tourette's Syndrome (which was very good and made me cry!)...and then came the commercials.

I don't know about you, but half the fun of watching Hallmark movies is watching the sentimental commercials that they have throughout the movie!

I've seen this commercial before, but thought it was worth sharing.

You see, over the past several years, I've had three miscarriages. They were incredibly hard to get through, and it's only by God's incredible grace that we have come through those periods of suffering even stronger than we were before.

Hallmark has this one commercial, where the writer's of the cards talk about some of the things they have written.

One of those writers spoke that there never seemed to be the right card to give to someone who lost a baby.

She began saying that when a friend of hers had a miscarriage, people just didn't know what to say to her and they wondered why after a week or two, why she wasn't over it yet.

Her response was...Because I already fell in love.

When someone you know suffers a miscarriage, don't pretend that baby never existed. Don't expect them to just get over it. Don't tell them they can just have another child to replace the one they lost.

It doesn't work that way.

For those few short days, there was life....and then there wasn't.

Because the moment a woman realizes she is pregnant...she is instantly in love...

Today we met Mike Huckabee!

Unfortunately, the one picture I have is on the internal memory on my camera, and I don't know how to get it off! Someone I met in line took one for me on my phone, but even that wasn't stored properly. I should be receiving a pic soon from one of these really nice ladies I met while waiting :)

Just believe me, I was there!

First off, I couldn't find the bookstore. Nolan and Gideon kept telling me that I should call up Mike Huckabee and ask him. But I thought that he probably doesn't know where he is either!

I'm not too familiar with Bristol, VA, and kinda wandered around exit 7 until I found it! Good thing I left early :)

We arrive and buy his book...then I am told I need a number to stand in line.

We were number 195.

I had Nolan, Gideon and Paysie with me. Jamison needed to nap and Haddon spent last night with a fever, and I wanted him resting today.

The boys were happy to wait in line...especially since we were in the map/atlas/geography/calendar section. When the line began to move, they discovered new things to look at and even spent awhile playing I Spy!

Then we could see him. The kids were excited and were pointing at him.

I shook his hand, and he asked how old the baby was. I told him almost 4 months old and that I had seen him when he was running for President at the airport with all my boys wearing their I Like Mike shirts. He said...she wasn't there, right? And I said, well, I was pregnant...to which he replied...Wow, that really puts it into perspective how long ago it was that he was running, lol.

He was very appreciative of our support. I can only hope that he runs again one of these days!

Christmas Picture Outtakes

It's that time of year again, lol

Don't worry, I did get a couple decent ones...you'll just have to wait until you get your Christmas card :)

A Few Videos

Pictures from The Barn at Buladean!

Last Saturday, we went up to the mountains in NC, to spend some time with friends! I could seriously live my life in Buladean, and not have a care in the world!

Here are some pictures!

The Advent Conspiracy....

What do you think of this?