Sunday, December 31, 2006
A mother's love
One week
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Merry Christmas!
What a fun Christmas we had this year! Luke was so excited about every aspect of Christmas, from seeing Santa to it being Jesus' birthday to opening presents. He had a ball on Christmas morning. He got several of the toys he asked for, including Buzz Lightyear and Woody from Toy Story. His favorite gift by far was a pair of grabbers, but the thing he got most excited about was the orange at the foot of his stocking. My mom always put an orange in our stockings, and I've kept up the tradition. Luke thought it was the best thing ever. He carried it around all morning and finally decided to eat the whole thing around lunchtime. He liked it much more than all the candy and treats in his stocking or any other thing he got. It was pretty funny to watch him carry it around and say over and over, "My orange!"
As soon as Luke saw this present, he said, "These are Tinker Toys!"
G-Mommy & G-Daddy gave Luke a real digital camera (a kid friendly one, of course), and Luke snapped pictures all day. He got right up close to everything he wanted to shoot, including Noah. The pictures are pretty hilarious.
The beloved orange!
Christmas program
Friday, December 29, 2006
Welcome, Baby Noah!
Friday, December 15, 2006
Grateful
"Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need." Hebrews 4:16
Monday, December 11, 2006
Texas family Christmas
The final countdown
Luke has been excited about the baby, but in the past couple of week he's started to have some issues. He only wants me to do things for him, from helping him go potty to washing his hands to giving him a bath. He says several times a day that he just wants to stay with me and asks me not to leave, and he's even started asking his teachers at school when I'll be there to pick him up (something he's never done before.) I know he's anxious and doesn't really know how to express that feeling, so we're giving him some grace on this. But it's still pretty exhausting to be this pregnant and have to squat down to give a 3-year-old a bath.
Except for the nausea for the first 5 months or so, this pregnancy hasn't been very difficult (excluding the difficulties of actually being pregnant and also being the mother of a 3-year-old boy.) But nine months is enough, and I'm looking forward to the next phase of my life, mother of two.
Friday, December 8, 2006
Jolly Ol' St. Nicholas
Tuesday, December 5, 2006
Three-year-old theology
LUKE: Mommy, did you know that Jesus died on the cross?
ME: Yes.
LUKE: Why?
ME: To forgive us for all the bad things we do and so we can go to heaven to be with God & Jesus.
LUKE: How do we get to heaven?
ME: Well . . . I don't really know, but I know that we'll go there.
LUKE: Maybe we'll go in a hot air balloon! Yeah, the hot air balloon will come down and land and then we'll go whee and up to heaven and see Jesus. Oh, I'm so excited!
Sunday, December 3, 2006
Y.I.T.
Journey to Bethlehem
Every year our church has a family event called Journey to Bethlehem. It starts with a pancake breakfast which is followed by crafts and a few songs sung by the children's choir. The youth perform a short musical to end the event. We were all involved this year. I'm on the children's ministry team, so I helped set up the day before, Gary got to church at 6:30 to flip pancakes, and Luke sang. I got a little teary when he was singing because I just couldn't believe he was old enough to be on the stage singing. He actually sang most of the songs & did some of the motions - something which really surprised Gary & me. He really enjoyed watching the youth during their performance, too. It was a wonderful way to start the Advent season.
Yummy!
Making crafts
The performer