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.