Thankful

When asked this morning in Sunday School what he was most thankful for, Tyler replied with "CHRISTMAS!!!" He's a boy after my own heart.

I personally feel most thankful when I look into my child's eyes and see a joyful, healthy little one staring back at me. I'm thankful that every time I look at Tyler or Piper, I see Mark in their faces. I see his eyes, his nose, his lips. I see his smile and his sense of humor. I see the blessings that we've been given together.

And then I feel scared.....scared that I'm going to mess things up in some way. Scared that I don't know what's next. Scared that my everyday choices and decisions will not be the best for my children. Scared that I have no control over so many things.

So I pray. I pray thanking God for the blessings He's given me and that He will guide me and make me worthy of the gifts He's so graciously placed in my life. I pray for His protection, His Love, His grace. I pray for His peace, His guidance, His wisdom. And most of all I pray we will always hold tight in knowing and experiencing the true, unconditional love of God.

Dreaming.....

I am dreaming.....it's a crazy, wonderful, insane dream. See, I kind of love this Coach bag. No, I REALLY love this Coach bag....even though it's insanely expensive and impractical, I love it, love it, love it, and wish I could have it. I really wish I could have it.

But here's the thing. I can't spent $600 on a bag, even though it's embarrassingly tempting. Instead, I'll be saving my money to get this sweet little gift sometime in March or April. :0)



It's a much better gift if you think about it, but can you blame me for being just a little sad about not having such a precious piece of artwork hanging from my shoulder??

Soccer

Tyler recently started playing soccer. Tyler's team, the Barracudas, mostly consists of children who have already played soccer for a few seasons. Tyler's the youngest one on the team, and he's most definitely the comic relief for all parties watching the game. He has NO CLUE what he's supposed to be doing.

Tyler wants nothing to do with the large mass of children chasing the ball. He prefers to stay right by his coach's side and mimic everything Coach Eric does. If Coach gets down on one knee, Tyler gets down on one knee. If Coach stands still to watch the team, Tyler stands still to watch the team. If Coach picks up the ball, Tyler picks it up next. No clue.

Rather than kick the ball during the game, Tyler prefers to kick the ball during time-out when no one else can challenge him or when the teams are lined up waiting for the whistle to blow. Tyler has no use for whistles. The ball is there, untouched, and he goes for it. The poor ref has to explain to Tyler at least 5 times every game that he can't kick the ball until the whistle blows. I can only imagine Tyler's thought process when the ref is trying to explain the rules to him...."Uh, whatever. It's a ball. I kick the ball. I run. What whistle? That guy doesn't know how it's done."

While the other players are swiftly trying to score goals, Tyler amuses himself (and us parents) by walking on the field lines like they are balance beams, swinging from the top of the goal (they're short for the little players), and sitting indian-style inside the goal when he gets tired. For some reason, he also like to pull a Michael Jackson and hold his privates when he gets real excited during the game.

Hopefully, Tyler will learn the ways of the game and enjoy soccer just as much as he does now. He will ALWAYS be my comic relief, my crazy one, and my special little man.

Moments of Adorability

As a mom, there are so many times during the day when I think, "Oh, I need to write that down...that was adorable," and then I never get around to it. With two toddlers, two jobs, three dogs, and a baby on the way, I hardly have time to even use the bathroom.

Just yesterday, I walked into the hall bathroom only to find Piper sitting next to the open cabinet with a roll of toilet paper on the floor and scraps of it stuck to her mouth and fingers. She looked like she had just plucked a chicken! That sweet baby will literally put ANYTHING in her mouth.

Tyler and I have some "mommy and me" time every morning before I go to work since he's such an early riser. The other day, we were just sitting in the rocking chair enjoying our special time when I whispered, "I love my Tyler." He promptly responded with "I love my mama." An inner warmth swept over my entire body. Honestly, Tyler usually just repeats what I say instead of reciprocating an appropriate response, so this was very exciting on several levels. Not only was he displaying a more socially acceptable way of communicating, he was completely and voluntarily expressing his love for me.

I love my children and every minute I spend with them is such a blessing.

Tyler's Funnies

Tyler spends his days either making me roll on the floor laughing or wanting to run screaming from the house. He's either hysterically funny or so crazy bad that I don't know what to do with him. He's a nut, and I adore him, even when it's 11:00 at night and he wants to wrestle instead of go to sleep even though he hasn't had a nap for the day. He's unusually energetic, unusually stubborn, and unusually hilarious for such a tiny little three year old.

Today, I choose to focus on the funny side of Tyler. Here are some of the things that have come flying out of Tyler's mouth lately that crack us up.

- Yesterday after Mark left for work, "Mama, can we go on a date? I want to eat cake."

- Aunt Gloria gave him new pajamas with skullheads all over them. He calls them his "man jamas," and he literally asks to wear his "man jamas" every 5 minutes. He doesn't understand that Mommy does not (and has no desire to) do laundry everyday.

- I got Tyler some babylegs with skullheads to try to appease him on the days his pajamas are in the washer. He calls them his "baby-yegs mans."

- The ketchup bottle squirts and makes a tooty noise....Tyler says with a big grin on his face, "It's poopin'."

- We're getting ready for church. Tyler turns my face to his and says, "Listen to me. We can't go church. Gotta go mall. Get chicken."

- When I stroke his head or hug him, I tell him I'm "loving him." That's how I also show him to "love" Piper gently. I was stroking his head last night,and his annoyed response was, "stop lovin' me."

- As my brother is trying his best to scare and intimidate Tyler over dinner (to get him to behave), Tyler simply responds with, "Uh, you don't scare me."

- We asked Tyler a question last night, and he said "no," so Mark said, "so no means yes," (to confuse him I'm sure). Tyler's response - "Uh, no, I don't say 'yes'." How true!!!

The Zebra

Today is Piper's first birthday, although we're celebrating it tomorrow with our friends and family. Over the past few months, I have spent a lot of time thinking about what I want most for Piper, what I need to pray most for her.

For Tyler's first birthday, we got him a Rhino and a globe as a symbol of our prayers for him. To explain briefly, the rhino represents "blind faith." Rhinos have very limited eyesight; they can only see up to 30 feet before themselves. Being the large animals they are, it is difficult for them to stop quickly considering they are capable of running up to 30 miles per hour. Rhinos run even though they may not be able to stop before hitting something in front of them. If a rhino lived in fear of not being able to see where he was going, he would never go anywhere. We pray that Tyler, and all of our children, will run in the direction of their God-given dreams even when the details are unclear. Faith runs forward.

The Globe is a symbol of Global Vision - that Tyler (and all of our children) will see and learn about the world beyond our own neighborhood and know that there are no limits to where he can go.

Now for Piper, I wanted to come up with a symbol equally as meaningful and creative as the Rhino and Globe we gave to Tyler. After much thought and research, I found that the zebra was a perfect symbol of our prayers for Piper. Here is what I've written for my precious Piper on her first birthday.

The Zebra

Unique Beauty – A zebra’s stripes are like a human’s fingerprint. No two zebras wear the same coat. Zoologists who study zebras identify them and tell them apart by their unique markings. We pray that you, Piper, will embrace your individuality and uniqueness as a child of Christ, that you will never be ashamed of who you are, and that you will proudly, yet humbly acknowledge that God has fearfully and wonderfully made you. We also pray that you will make your own “fingerprint” on this world, that you will change lives and lead others to Christ.

“I am fearfully and wonderfully made…” Psalm 139:14

The zebra’s stripes are also a natural sunscreen that allows zebras to withstand intense solar radiation. We pray that your upbringing in Christ and all of the qualities He’s given you—qualities that make you Piper—would be your “natural sunscreen” against the evil in this world. Your uniqueness will protect you from worldly danger.

A zebra’s stripes not only protect the animal from the sun, but they also help keep predators at a distance. The stripes on a zebra’s body serve as a form of camouflage called “disruptive coloration.” At dusk and nightfall when predators hunt, the stripes distort the zebra’s true distance and disorient predators. Even insects are disoriented by the stripes and stay away from the animal’s coat. Although a zebra’s distinctive coloring seems like it would attract attention, it does the opposite as it protects the animal from its enemies. Amazing! We pray that your individual beauty and uniqueness in Christ will protect you from those who seek to hurt you.

The zebra we are giving you on your first birthday is simply a symbol of our life-long prayers for you. We love you, thank God for you, and pray for His blessing upon you.

Tyler and Piper's June Photo Shoot

Make a Smilebox scrapbook