Reflections on the Season

The Baby Jesus is not for throwing. Please don't chew on the Wise Men. Take that camel out of your mouth. Did you hit your brother with that angel?

These are just a few of the actual sentences I have uttered this year while teaching our sons the Christmas Story. Each evening after dinner we have told a small part of this eternal tale. We started with the prophecy, "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given." Tonight we finished with God's care of Mary, Joseph and Jesus as He warned them to flee Herod and go to Egypt. Tomorrow night we will return to the stable for a review of the basics. Sometimes I feel like it is all falling on deaf ears. The cynic in me says, "They are so young. Why bother with it? Just let them open their presents on Christmas morning and save yourself the grief of trying to keep their attention for five minutes." And then I realize that none of this makes sense to me without the Story. Why give gifts? Why decorate my house? Why sing these songs that are way too high? Because the angels really did announce His birth. Because the Wise Men were there to worship. Because the Baby Jesus did not stay a baby. He grew up and gave His life willingly to pay for all our sin. Without these truths, Christmas is meaningless and empty to me. And I know that someday my boys will understand for themselves the beauty and mystery of this celebration. Until then, we will keep the glass ornaments out of reach and the plastic nativity set on the coffee table. At least next year nobody will be teething.

For Grandma

This post is for Grandma, who like many of us, is going a little stir crazy with the weather. Wish you were here or we were there or we were all together someplace warm. :-)





Sorry about the crazy over-exposure at the beginning of this next one.

Not A Common Sight

Erik had to run out to the van to grab something tonight. I followed him with the camera so as to get some perspective on this whole snow thing.

Where are this man's feet?

So, we are pretty much snowed in. It's not a bad thing. Erik is considering going to work tomorrow. I'm not sure what that will look like, but I am sure that the kids probably won't be going out to play. I'm thinking neither of them would be able to walk in this stuff. But I might try for another snow angel, with my shirt tucked in this time. :-)

Home Church

The real snow is here now. In our yard we have six inches with drifts that near two feet. It is wild. Our church needed to cancel services this morning due to the crazy amount of snow that has fallen on our fair city. Fortunately we are blessed to have two families on our street who attend the same church and contacted us about having home church this morning. Our neighbors trudged through the snow to our house because we have the piano. We held our service from 10:30 to 12:30. Both Luke and Paul were in attendance at various times. The major plus to having a church service in your home is that your kids can attend in their pajamas. And when they get bored they can leave the room and go to the playroom. :-) I also really enjoyed being able to include them in worship. Our neighbor Taryn read the passage from Luke about the angel visiting Mary. Our Luke listened intently and summarized every few lines. "That's the part where the angel talked to Mary." He was totally tuned in. It was a blessing to have these friends in our home and focus on the beauty and wonder of God come to Earth as a tiny baby. Our other reading was from God Came Near by Max Lucado, a beautiful devotional on the birth of Christ. I first read this book just months after committing my life to Jesus. Hearing from it again was very cool because I am such a different person now. I hear new insights and glean different teachings now that I am more mature.
This morning, early, before the day started, I prayed that our boys would be a blessing to our neighbors and we would be able to worship God together. God answered that prayer with boys that behaved beautiful, listening to the readings, hymns, and interacting appropriately with the adults. It didn't hurt that they are all in the beginning phase of grandparent-Land and don't mind talking about trucks, lions and farm animals. Thank You, Lord, for Your faithfulness and for awesome neighbors.

My Favorite Picture Right Now

Thanks to my friend, Betsy, for these fabulous glasses. Whenever I look at this it reminds me of my English teacher from senior year, Old Man Taylor. Except Old Man usually wore ties, not construction equipment. Other than that, Paul looks exactly like him!

More Snow

It's still snowy here. That's a little crazy, but we are doing well. Yesterday morning I took Paul out and he lasted about seven minutes. It's just not his gig. Part of the problem is the boots. They are a touch too big, making it really difficult for him to walk. But he's still adorable. Luke, on the other hand, is really enjoying the snow. Yesterday he made snowballs and threw them at the fence, at the shed and at my back. I made a snow angel, thinking I might inspire Luke to do the same. Something about me jumping up and down afterward, hollering about snow being down my pants made him decide against it. Note to self: Tuck in shirt before making snow angel. BRRRR!
The snow has continued to fall today, but Luke decided to watch a video with Oma instead of go outside. Probably for the best. If he spends much more time outside with me, he will become the biggest snow wimp ever. Here are some pics from the past week, some of the snow, some just for fun.

Luke with snowball in hand...probably telling me that I should let him throw it at me!

Luke with his frog umbrella headed out for a walk. Our house in the snow!

Paul looking philosophical in the snow, but then...

He fell down. So...

Snow done Paul Style - inside on a warm, soft towel. This kid is no dummy.

SNOW!

It doesn't happen often in this part of the world, but we did get snow this weekend. Erik and I were actually in Sunriver at the time. Luke was with Grandma and Grandpa while Paul was home with Oma. Here are the pictures of Luke throwing snowballs off the balcony at G&G's place. Paul's pictures are still in the camera. Tomorrow. If I finish the Christmas cards. :-)

Learning to make a snowball from Grandpa.

Great action shots!

"Look out below!"

Advent Fun

We celebrate advent each night by opening a door on our fabulous three-dimensional advent calendar. Within each door is a small treat for each member of the family and a slip of paper with our Scripture reading and carol for the night. It has been so much fun telling the boys the story of Jesus' birth, beginning with God's promise to send a Savior King. Tonight we veered a bit from the norm because Grandma had left an advent gift today when she watched Paul. We reviewed all that we have learned thus far, from the promise to the angel visits to Mary and Joseph, followed by rousing renditions of "Mary Had a Baby" and "Hark the Herald Angels Sing." Then the presents came. Mine was my very own hand-knit stocking, which perfectly matches the ones the boys and Erik have! Erik grew up with his and Lynne found the pattern for it for Luke's first Christmas and also made one for Paul. I LOVE having all of them matching. Not that I can actually hang them this year. Paul would just pull them down. Next year!
The boys also received little gifts - a little lion for each of them. It was especially cool because we shared with Luke that Jesus is also called the Lion of Judah. We have been slowly building our collection of animals since Luke's third birthday and these were an excellent addition. Paul was especially thrilled with his very own lion. Here are adorable pictures for your enjoyment!

Paul's face really says it all.

Luke's face is so precious. He's happy because Paul is tickled.

Roaring for the camera!

Happy Thanksgiving

We began our Thanksgiving with a new family tradition, the creation of a tree of thanksgiving in our dining room. I got this idea from a good friend, Holly, and I LOVE it. Luke had so much fun cutting and pasting this morning. Each leaf has the phrase, "______ is thankful to God for..." followed by a few things. Luke's list didn't change much from the other day: all the roaring animals Jesus made, elephants, and the cows. That's all he had for the longest time, but then I asked him one more time who he was thankful for. This is what he said. "I'm thankful that I have a Paulywog that I love." Yep. That went on a leaf for sure. That's my favorite leaf on the tree right now. Here are the pics.







We thank you, Lord Jesus, for all you have given us through your death on the cross and resurrection. We acknowledge that all that we have is from you.

More Thankful

It's Saturday morning and that means that Erik is at his BSF leaders meeting from 7am until 9am. Instead of thinking grumpy thoughts about that, I decided to ask the boys what they were thankful for at breakfast this morning.
Luke: I'm thankful for the lions and all the animals - that God made all the animals.
Mommy: And Paul, what are you thankful for?
Paul: (pointing at the banana just out of his reach) Nan-ah! (Probably coincidence, but also probably accurately represents that for which Paul is most thankful.)
Luke: ( a few minutes later) I like when God made all of the roaring things.

Two comments from the Mommy's perspective. Firstly, I know there are many reasons why lions and tigers roar, but I believe that God would have given them this ability simply for the delight of the three-year olds. He's like that. Secondly, having just heard on the news that 10 million Americans are currently looking for work, I am SO thankful to God that my husband has a job that keeps bananas on the breakfast table.

And now this morning's pictures, a few quick shots taken after I finished typing this.

Watching Mommy blog is fascinating.

Reading in Daddy's chair is a super special treat.

Colds and Such

I had the best intentions to begin blogging more regularly. And then we all got colds. There is nothing like a cold to make you appreciate the times when you don't have a cold. We have been blessed with a fairly quick round this time. Erik was down Wednesday and Thursday, I spent Saturday and Sunday in bed and the boys just run none-stop through the entire experience. The biggest downer was our inability to keep a dinner date with our new friends who have a new baby. Their little guy was born three months early and although he is home now, he is still on oxygen. There is no way we were going to be able to breathe his air. Hopefully we will be able to reschedule soon.
So, what am I thankful for as I get over my first cold of the season? Zinc. Echinacea. Kleenex. The simple things. This week in BSF we studied Exodus 19 and 20 when God gave the Isrealites the Ten Commandments. Can you remember what the 10th one is? I couldn't either. Don't covet. Simply put, don't want what (s)he has. Her hair, her figure, her shoes, her jeans. His car, his surround sound, his flat screen, his blackberry. Her clean house, his salary, her potty-trained obedient son, his sales numbers. My list applies to my life. We all have our lists. I am SO thankful for a God who speaks to me through His word and quietly convicts me about my covetous thoughts. And then prompts me to share them with the world so that I will be more accountable. :-) I'm so very content with that which God has given me.
And now for the pictures. There wasn't any special event, but I think my boys are pretty special so I take pictures of them.

Luke and Paul are getting better and better at being best friends. Things will get even easier when Paul starts to speak more English.

Luke was pleased beyond description when I discovered this long-sleeved Thomas shirt in his closet the other morning. It was a birthday gift from the Willseas in August. It's Luke's favorite apparel these days. He gets to wear it as long as there isn't any food on it. His eating skills have improved slightly since this restriction.

Thankfulness Begins

My precious mom misses the boys, and so I post these pictures and a few stories for her enjoyment and yours.





Sunday afternoon we went to a birthday party for a three-year-old friend. The theme was John Deere tractors. Everyone was told to wear overalls. Our dudes matched because Luke is on his second pair of these ultra-durable Oshkosh overalls. The boys did really well at the party, with only a few minor infractions. Considering their ages, I felt completely blessed.

As we head into this season of giving thanks, I want to be purposeful about the process. In an effort to do so, I will include my thanks a little with each November post.

Each day is such a huge blessing from God, but He gives so much within each day. Today I have been productive, praying, studying, vacuuming, laundering, picking up at the airporting, and even playing. It feels good to be productive and check things off the list. The thing I am most thankful for, however, isn't the feeling of accomplishment and success. It is that I have a God who loves me when I am productive and loves me the same when I am not. I don't have to get the job done to gain His favor. God's love is longer than my to do list and isn't dependent on its completion.

Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7

Marvelous Light

Erik and I were unable to travel to Texas for Jessica's service held yesterday. I had been feeling empty and a little lost about not being with family and not having the chance to celebrate Jessica's life. Today in church God gave me an amazing gift. We sang a song that so perfectly made me think of Jessica. I stood there and wept with absolute joy knowing that so many of the truths in this song are now about Jessica physically. The song is meant to speak to the spiritual truths of one who has found Jesus. Both truths apply to Jessica! Jesus has risen from the dead and Jess is with Him now, worshiping Him and proclaiming Him the Lord of Lords, who was, and is and is to come. I joined her this morning and was so blessed! Thank you, Father.

My dead heart now is beating
My deepest stain now clean
Your breath fills up my lungs
Now I'm free
Now I'm free

Sin has lost its power
Death has lost its sting
From the grave you've risen
Victoriously

Into marvelous light I'm running
Out of darkness
Out of shame
By the cross You are the truth
You are the life
You are the way

Ingenuity

About a month ago Luke and I shopped online for his Halloween costume. He was very excited about the purchase we made, a Winnie the Pooh costume that included a puffy headdress. Last week we got it out to try it on, and it got stuck over his head, causing him to TOTALLY freak out. From that moment on, he would have absolutely nothing to do with it. Up until today, I figured he was just going to skip the entire Halloween deal. With everything else going on, I had decided this was not a priority. Today while visiting my fabulous friend Liza, I was inspired. Her little guy had a similar experience with his costume, so Liza decided that his construction hat with a tool belt would make him a perfect Bob the Builder. I realized that Luke had everything necessary for a very cool fireman. It worked perfectly! He had a great time walking around our neighborhood. He was completely unwilling to say "Trick or Treat" but he did like going up to the houses and looking at all the decorations. Paul finished the night after about fifteen minutes, but Luke was just getting started. We finished off our street and then came home where he handed out candy at the door until the costumes got a little too scary. Here are the cutie pictures of Firefighter Luke and Tigger Paul.



Here's Firefighter Luke with his trusty fire extinguisher. I wish I'd shot video. The sound effects are awesome. GOOOSH!

Tigger missed his afternoon nap and wasn't quite as bouncy as usual, but still VERY cute.

I seriously could not have picked a better costume. The reflective stripes on Luke's coat were perfect for an evening jaunt through our neighborhood. :-)

I am so thankful to God for my husband and my boys.

Well Done Good and Faithful Servant

Our precious Jessica, a gift from the Lord, went home to be with Jesus today. We will miss your smile, your laugh, your encouragement, your example, and so much more. We know that you are in the presence of God and He has welcomed you with loving arms. Your journey here has inspired us to move closer to Christ and to love each other more as well. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for making Jessica pain free and healing her completely today. Please be our comfort as we miss her and draw us into Your peace which is beyond understanding.

Roller Coaster

Have you ever felt like your emotions were on a roller coaster? No, I'm not pregnant. :-) Erik's cousin, an amazing woman of God, is home being cared for by hospice, waiting to go home to be with Jesus. I have two friends who just gave birth yesterday. What a different waiting game that is. Needless, to say, I rejoice with the new mommies, while at the same time wishing I had just one more chance to sit and chat with precious Jessica. Although Jessica has lived in Texas the entire time that Erik and I have been together I have always been blessed by our time together. She is a light. She was also my blogging buddy and it is really hard to post knowing she won't be reading. I trust in my Lord, my Comfort, my Peace that passes all understanding. And I will keep blogging because I know that some of you find encouragement here. And that makes me think of Jessica.

A few pictures for smiles.

Tigger and The Mouse ready for the Harvest Party at Mosaic this past Friday.

Aren't we cute? My costume is a replica of the one I wore at the age of four...my all-time favorite! Thanks, Oma.

Paul loved the ball pool and welcomed this adorable turtle to join the fun. Sadly, Winnie the Pooh, aka Luke, was unable to make it to the party. Being three is hard. Hopefully this coming Friday will go better once Oma makes an adjustment to the costume.

Pumpkins!

We traveled north to pick out pumpkins and have our Annual Pumpkin Carving Extravaganza this weekend. It was a joy to be with friends and family. It's amazing how friendships grounded in Christ can so easily pick up where they left off, despite the passage of time. We are so blessed.

I should have just put Paul down because he just wants to be standing by the wheelbarrow with Luke. Next year, big guy.

Paul had a great time looking at the pumpkins and patting them. Such a pleasing thump!


Luke was all about the mud this year! He found every puddle and stomped it. Good work, buddy.

Luke helping Daddy.

Paul would have climbed into the pumpkin if he thought he would fit. He loved the goop. Except when it got on his foot. That was where he drew the line.

Happy Autumn.

Prayer Requests

Dear Friends,

If you haven't noticed the list of blogs to the right, the most important one tonight (and most nights) is entitled "Jessica Kaylor's Journey With Cancer." Jessica is Erik's cousin on his mom's side of the family. She is precious and wonderful and was diagnosed with stage four breast cancer in 2005. She has been on a journey beyond description and has thousands of people praying for her. I'm not kidding. Her blog gets about a thousand hits a day. God is amazing. She is in the hospital right now due to extreme pain. Please pray that her pain will be brought under control and she will be able to return home soon. Pray that her doctors will have wisdom. Pray that her husband Jake and three girls, Katelyn, Jadyn, and Bryn, will know the peace and comfort of the Lord Jesus Christ. Pray that they all will cast their anxiety on Him and know that He cares for them. And while you are praying, you might thank God for your ability to stand, walk, live in your house, play with your children and be relatively pain free. These are good things that I take for granted and ought not to. Thank you, Father, for all these and so much more.

Creativity

Luke has recently become enamored with the Veggie Tales video series. Although we only own one and his viewing is limited to roughly two days a week, he has definitely been influenced by it. This isn't such a bad thing. This morning he was walking around the living room with a big blue opaque plastic tub on his head pretending it was his Larry Boy helmet. Needless to say, we needed to remedy this situation, mostly for safety's sake. I was so thankful for my scissors and the brown paper bag that was in my garage. Luke did add a little bit of color, but it is hard to see in the picture. I also took some video and will hopefully be able to add it as well.

Spelling and Singing

Everybody has a cold except me, so this post will be short. I want to stay healthy if possible and I'm a firm believer in sleep.
Today's pictures are brought to you by Paul's desire to sit in Daddy's chair and Luke's desire to sit next to him there. This all happened this morning while Daddy was at BSF. Before the pictures...the cute Luke story. I have been playing an online game called Text Twirl, the object of which is to create as many words as possible out of a given set of six letters. English majors unite. Anyway, Luke likes watching me play and today he made up his own version using his magnetic letters, which he called magic letters. I think he says magic because it sounds like magnetic, but is easier to pronounce. After Daddy got home this morning, Luke was industriously working with his letters when he asked for help finding the "S." We found the requested letter and he announced that he was spelling BSF. Sure enough! And when he finished he said, "How do you spell Leadership?" Erik and I worked hard not to laugh because spelling is very serious business for Luke.
As for Paul, if you see him, be sure to ask him to sing "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" for you. He gets his hands into the proper position and very sweetly burbles, "Da ih da ih" and that's the song. I have video, but no time to edit. Check back in a week.

I love it when they have fun together.

Happy Monday!

It was a quiet weekend here, as Oma visited and we had lovely weather. Daddy and Luke were able to mow the lawn together, such hard working men. I made tomato soup from scratch, thanks to Becky's amazing, home-grown tomatoes. Yum! And we had good friends for a visit Sunday evening.
At this moment, the boys are hanging out together looking at books in the playroom. Luke's favorite CD, Action Bible Songs, is playing. It's quite peaceful, so I am taking the opportunity to quickly post. I have some pictures from the past week that are adorable. Enjoy!

It's an octopus! I'm sure you had already figured that out. One of Luke's favorite games right now is going to the end of our hallway, where it is quite dark, and pretending to be the wise octopus from The Rainbow Fish. It's a book.

Paul is looking SO grown up to me. One of his favorite activities includes asking to see birds by signing "bird" and saying, "Buh." It's difficult to explain that I can't make them appear, but he's learning.

Chocolate faced Luke. He and Oma made chocolate chip cookies together on Thursday while I was out and about running errands.

Paul is master of funny faces. This is his fish face, possibly my favorite.

I have no upper lip.

Family Adventure

This afternoon when the boys woke up from naps we decided to head to the park for a family adventure. And we got one. While driving to our very favorite, but not within walking distance, park, we noticed a few dark clouds to the west. Okay, a massive storm front. But we gauged the direction of the wind along with the angle of the declination of the sun and figured it would blow right over our destination. When we arrived the place was packed, but about fifteen minutes later most folks vacated pretty quickly. Wimps. Okay, so it was more than a light sprinkle. It was in fact a deluge of epic proportions. We took refuge in the covered portions of the play structure. Luke thought it was awesome. So did his dad. :-) I took a few pictures of our adventure, including the "after" pictures in the car. We had hoped to wait it out, but it wasn't ending quickly enough to suit Paul. We ran for the car and were dripping by the time we got everyone buckled in. When we arrived home, I took Luke out puddle jumping because we were already soaked and it was a good opportunity to teach him how to do it right. I hold firmly to the "Stand and Jump" school. If any of you are of the "Kick it Around" school, I'd rather not know.

Such big raindrops that it looks like snow.

Back in the car...who is this loon?

Loved every minute!

Also loved every minute.

Thinks his family is insane. Is probably correct.

PS - Our verse this week was Psalm 33:11 "But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever." It's a good one!

Cuteness

The boys enjoy pretending to be animals right now. The giraffe mask, leftover from teaching 9th grade, is a big hit these days. (Regards to Bryan Tingkang, wherever he may be). They also like to hang Daddy's socks from their mouths and be elephants. Pictures...




Elephants in the cage. These shots are from this past Friday as we awaited Daddy's arrival from Chicago. I, too, became an elephant for awhile. Helped pass the time. No pictures available.