Thursday, January 27, 2011

First post for the New Year... Really?

Erin and her BIG kitten Boo. :)

 Coloring a tomato for letter T.

 E and B building a Tower. :)

 We had a small snow day, and Bodie's reaction to laying in the snow to make a
Snow Angel was this look, and one word: "COLD." :)

 Love this one. :)  His hands were getting cold, too. :)

 Making "Toothy smiles" for letter T.

Finished product. :)

I honestly cannot believe this is our first post this year!  Where has the month gone?!  I am not sure where even to start!  Right now, as one of our favorite children's books says, we have "the coughs and the sniffles and the sneeze, AH CHOO!"  Both kiddos made a trip to see our favorite Dr. Rick this week, and thankfully our ailment is only viral.  At the doctor's office, we submitted all our new insurance information (with me included, THANK YOU, LORD!) and I noticed we needed to change our emergency contact information...  Funny how the little things hit you so hard.  For the last five and a half years, I've listed Joe's mom as our emergency contact.  A flood of precious memories poured over me as I gratefully penned Joe's sister's name on the emergency contact line.  Thank the Lord we have her here if something were to happen.  Thank the Lord we had five and a half years here with Angie.  After visiting with our favorite Dr. Rick about having "the crud," I visited with the Great Physician about my once again broken heart...  I sure miss her...

The Lord has blessed us with a month of great joys.  Our Bodie-Man is a mostly big boy now!  I say mostly because he potty trained this month -- YAY!! -- but I can't seem to wean him from his pacifier!  The plan was to take it away this week, but I just can't do it when he's sick and pitiful.  :(  So that will have to come another week. :)  Erin and I began "school" again this month, and I am excited simply because she is so excited!  She is at that precious stage that I wish I could freeze forever, where she wants to marry her Daddy when she grows up and wants her Momma to be her teacher forever.  Last night she asked me if I would be her teacher when she was in high school, and I said I hoped so.  She said that that would be good because someday she wanted her job to be like mine.  I asked her what exactly she thought my job was (because it's not that glamorous most days!) and she said simply, "Us."

As one of our friends says, we are finding our "new normal."  And that's good.  This is the first time we've really "home schooled" at home since we had been helping care for Angie and taking our school stuff with us over there.  I really, really, really love being in our "classroom" and spending focused learning time with E and B each day.  Erin is reading, and Bodie is talking like crazy.  Erin is learning to tie her shoes and Bodie is learning "rhe, seh, go," and "one, two, free..."  :)   I think I have our house and school stuff all back in order now -- if only I could track down the centimeter cubes -- and am getting back in the routine of exercising, spending quiet time with the Lord, keeping our home, planning and cooking healthy meals for our family, teaching and training our children, helping Joe with his ministry, and organizing all the To Do's of the weeks.   I've had the great joy of substitute teaching for Erin's dance teacher this month after she had her second son at the end of December.  Oh, I have loved dancing again...  I am not sure how I am going to convince her to let me stay awhile after she returns, but my wheels are spinning in my mind with a plan. :)

Joe has had a little extra time now to reach out to loved ones in our congregation since Angie's homecoming, and ministering to them has been tremendously healing for him.  He has begun a few "new" ministries as well, and we've enjoyed a few evenings "just us," which has been nice.  He's gotten on board with our potty training and is quite the pro at scooping up a bare-bottomed Bodie after he says he needs to go "tee-tee" and before the mess is made.  So proud of him...both hims... ;)

Through a month of joys, my heart has also been heavy for many of our loved ones this month as well.  My precious mom (Linda) has still not fully recovered since having anaphylactic shock several months ago.  I hope she doesn't mind me sharing, but she is still very weak and needs our prayers.  She is anticipating several surgeries this year, and she needs to be strong going into them.  Her eyes are very dry after her cataract surgeries, and if you've ever experienced that, you'll sympathize because it is just miserable.  I am so hopeful that this year will bring great healing and joy to her, and it would mean so much to me if you would pray with me for her.  Also, dear friends of ours, the Peoples family, recently confirmed that one of their sons has some "special" needs, and though they are very strong in the Lord and fully trust in His plan, as you can imagine, this is quite an adjustment, if nothing else, in their thoughts and plans.  I can think of no better parents for this little guy, and he is in good hands.  I will never forget something they said to Joe and me when they announced they were expecting this little guy:  as it goes with most of us, when you make the announcement that you are expecting, people are sensitive to commit to pray for you and your pregnancy and encourage you with something like, "we're praying for a healthy baby..."  Their response was, "We are praying for our baby.  We don't care if it's a boy or a girl;  we don't care if he's healthy or not.  We are just excited God gave us this baby."  At the time, I remember thinking those were brave words and I admired them for speaking them.  Now, I admire them even more because it is clear that they were following the Lord's leading in their prayers for him. Pray for them now as they adjust and find great joy in this special call for their lives.  Also, we have other sweet friends who are so very close to finally holding their son in their arms "forever" through adoption from Ethiopia.  There are a few additional obstacles standing between them and that dream, and though they've met their precious son in person now, it seems from her blog posts that the days of waiting are only harder now that they've held him in their arms.  Pray for the sweetness of the Holy Spirit to minister to the Mullins in these last few months of "wait."  And finally, pray for my dear, dear friend Audrey and her husband Brian who announced recently that they are expecting a son in June.  To be sensitive to their circumstances, I don't want to offer any other details than this, but they need prayer in a most sincere way.  It would mean so much to me if you would pray for them.

I'll try harder to post a little more frequently.  Maybe monthly will be our "new normal," though...  Anyway, thanks for reading;  I look forward to writing and reading with you about all the joys and blessings, the trials and sorrows, and the God-willed and God-filled days that await us in 2011.

3 comments:

  1. Sounds like you are getting back into a new normal! Sometimes it's hard to keep up with all the changes. That's when I just do the next thing. :) Thanks for the prayers on our behalf. Some days are harder than others, but we're trusting God's plan!

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  2. You like my "new normal" phrase? One of the many things I "rip off" from you. :) I admire you deeply and am incredibly blessed to call you my friend.

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  3. I noticed the "big boy" undies profile pic and figured your little guy must be potty trained :-) Thank you for the prayers. We're so happy to have passed court and now are praying for a speedy embassy date! Can't wait to have our boy (I can really say OUR BOY now!)home!!! Thanks for the sneak peak into your new normal!

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