A Month of Thanksgiving

As always, before any Holiday, I really do some soul-searching to figure out how we want to celebrate. I always ask myself, "What do I want to teach my kids about this particular Holiday? What do I want them to learn? How can I get it into their little hearts?". About a month before Thanksgiving we decided to make a paper chain leading up to the actual day. On each link we wrote down things we were thankful for. When we ripped off that link, we were then reminded of those things we thought of and then we prayed and thanked God for them. I was trying to think of something we could do with the link after we ripped it off. Hmmm....the first thing that popped into my head was to make each link into a feather and attach it to a turkey. So..that's what we did! I didn't really have time to come up with anything else! This also gave us a visual thing to look at each day and be reminded to have a thankful heart.












"Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful....singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God...giving thanks through Him to God the Father." Col. 3:15-17


After we decided to do the chain link, I thought that maybe it was a little too self-focused. Here we are thinking of all the ways "we" should be thankful and not necessarily thinking of others. Don't get me wrong, we should be thinking of things we are thankful for in order to cultivate a continuous thankful heart, I just think there is more to it! So then we decided to make a Thankfulness calendar. On each day we thought of a person or couple in our lives that we could focus on that day by either praying for them, sending them a note, calling them, or getting them a small gift. The idea was to get the focus off of ourselves and think of others intentionally! The girls had a lot of fun waking up each morning and asking who the "special" person was for the day. It also got me thinking of others more and trying to figure out what we could do to make them feel special. This also gave us some more intentional reasons to keep building relationships with our neighbors!

"I will give thanks with all my heart; I will sing praises to Thee...And give thanks to Thy name for Thy lovingkindness and Thy truth." Psalm 138:1-2

We also read a little bit about the Pilgrims and their journey to freedom in America. The main thing we mentioned to the girls is that they wanted to worship the Lord without any one telling them they couldn't or telling them a certain way to do it. We pointed out that we have abundant blessings like food, a house, clothes, toys, and all our needs met when others around the world and even in our country do not.
Our church, which is AMAZING by the way, handed out a simple meal in a bag. It was a missions focused Sunday and instead of just telling us that we should try and cut back for one of the meals before Thanksgiving, they actually gave it to us! It was rice and beans in a bag with 4 little pieces of dried banana. They encouraged us to also drink water for that meal and whatever money we saved doing that could be given to missions. We did that Thanksgiving Eve and it went really well. The girls actually liked it and didn't complain too much! It was very filling but it also gave us a visual and practical way to see that we can eat simply and survive. We can eat this way more often in order to save money and give some of our abundance away to those that need it more.
Just a side note, I love how the leaders of our church not only challenge us to walk deeper in our relationship with Christ, but they model it also!

"O Lord, Thou are my God; I will exalt Thee, I will give thanks to Thy name; For thou hast worked wonders, plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness." Isaiah 25:1

As I looked back on our month of Thankfulness it felt very full. Full of goodness and blessings. Full of celebration and love. For a few brief moments I wondered if it was all necessary. I didn't want to get caught up in having to do something. I didn't want it to be ritualistic. I wanted it to be authentic. While I may not have taught my kids to "always" have a thankful heart, I hope we have planted a seed towards it. I guess that is what we are called to do right?:) It is always a great reminder to me to be thinking of others, to be thankful in EVERYTHING. To be humbled by how God takes care of us in every way imaginable. It is something I will keep working on!

Happy Birthday Pa!

Shawn's dad celebrated a birthday this past Monday. I'll refrain from telling his age!:) Sheryl made a pumpkin pie completely from scratch..I'm impressed! It was a great time!

PanTRY:)

I posted this update on facebook with this typo, Can you find it? It took me a few reads to see it! Thought it was incredibly funny!

Rebecca is finding that in order to put stuff in my new panty I have to clean out EVERYTHING else in the house...this job is bigger than I thought! I'm having so much fun though!

THIS is what I was talking about! My new PantRy all filled up!

My New Pantry!

My dad is amazing! He built this pantry for me just from me trying to describe what I wanted! He truly has a gift!
He matched the stain almost perfectly and it makes my kitchen feel more cozy. It has 6 shelves total and I can't tell you how excited I was to fill them!
I know I shouldn't get THAT excited over putting cans on a shelf but I have been waiting so long for this! Now I don't to cram our canned goods in a small shelf in our mudroom, or cram them in the existing cupboards and remove 25 other things just to find them!
I was in organizational heaven as I was putting things away this afternoon! The girls were even trying to put their stuff in there!
I know...I'm weird.
Thanks Dad for once again using the gifts God has given you and blessing us in the process!
We love you!

Party time!

Happy Birthday Sarah and Caleb!
To begin our celebration we went to Red Lobster for lunch. Then Sarah, my mom, my aunt, and I went to Barnes and Noble for coffee. It was so great to just sit and relax!








Was there any question that I had to do trucks for Caleb's 1st Birthday!






Look out world!











He is definitely mama's boy!









At first he was very timid about touching the cake. After he picked it up and tasted it, he just got faster and faster in shoving it in his mouth! I always love watching their first taste of sweet!






























It actually amazed me how well he did opening presents. He actually sat with me and tried to open all of them! He was so content. He was looking at each one and then keep looking at me to see if it was okay! He got some really nice gifts and a great variety.

His new word he said today was "B"! His word for balloon!


We had a really great time celebrating!

Happy Birthday my Sweet Boy!

Looking back to this day 1 year ago, I never imagined how one little boy could fill my heart with such joy and love. Caleb has truly brought contentment and joy to our family! The first thing my doctor said when they pulled Caleb out was "He's a big bruiser with a nice round head!". I will never forget that day looking at this little boy and wondering how our life was going to change after having 2 girls. It is so different but in a really good way! He is a piece of my heart that I didn't know needed to be filled. I can't even explain in words what it feels like to have a son. Only those of you who have boys can understand! Every time I look at him I am reminded again and again of God's delight in giving us our heart's desire, AND His faithfulness.










This was our 1st family photo. Oh the joy!








This little guy wasn't so little! All 9lbs. 7oz. of him!











This has been one of my favorite photos of him. I love his blue eyes and sweet smile.









So happy and content. A daily reminder to me to try and be like that!











Don't you just want to squeeze him! He actually just recently reached another milestone! His pediatrician was a little concerned about his gross-motor development because he wasn't crawling as of 11 months old or so. Well, he is army crawling EVERYWHERE! They were also concerned that he couldn't get to sitting up from his belly. We had an appointment scheduled for the Early On program to come and evaluate him. Well, he just recently started doing that too! It may seem like a small thing but I am very happy that he is figuring these things out on his own and growing healthy and strong.
He has 10 teeth so he likes to have food he can chew. He likes weird food! We just discovered he likes lemons, olives, and refried beans. He is picky about normal foods babies like to eat but he will eat the weird stuff! For instance, it has to be boxed mac and cheese and not the Gerber kind. He will only eat certain kinds of dry cereal and yogurt. The boy knows what he likes!
He absolutely adores his sisters and Adrianna has taken to carrying him around the house. He loves books and toys that make noise or light up. He also has a few words in his repertoire: Cracker, uh-oh, baby, ball, and mama. He also loves to look at me, say uh-oh, and THEN drop the item he has in his hand! We are having so much fun enjoying him and seeing all the new things he is discovering. We are blessed beyond measure!

Control Freak Mom

I have been reading this great book called "Real Moms" by Elisa Morgan & Carol Kuykendall. It has been so freeing to read this! I would recommend it to any mom out there who needs some encouragement that the things you are doing are good enough! I wish I could just copy and paste the entire thing because it is so good!
This chapter is one of the many that stood out to me. It's called "Control Freak Mom- Real Moms can't control how their kids turn out". This has been a big fear of mine since before I even had kids and especially now that Adrianna is in school. I want to take away all the bad things that have happened and will happen to any of my kids. I want to protect them and create this safe world for them. I want to be there to diffuse teasing and sadness.
But I can't. I can't control every aspect of their world.
I think we as moms have this allusion that if we do everything right, we can have the desired result we want with our kids. Who determines what is "right"? There is no formula for this and there is no "right" way to do everything!
I often wonder if I have done something wrong when my child has an issue or struggles with something. This book reminded me that my job is to help shape who they are, not make them who they are. God already did that!
A Psychologist was quoted saying: "In a production-oriented society, it's only natural that a mother will want to create a perfect product to prove to herself, her own mother, and the world that she's done her job well. We mothers are judged not only by our behavior, but also by our children's behavior, which we can influence but not control".
It's like our own self-imposed report card! We try and base our success as a mother on our children's actions and what other people think. There is an incredible fear of failure when we have this mentality!

I am a confessed perfectionist. Yep, it is something that most of the time I want to get rid of. I struggle with those tendencies every day. I am trying not to unintentionally and intentionally impose that on my kids. God created them as a unique blueprint. It is my job to raise them up in the way God has already designed them. I have to learn what I can control and what I can't. I can control my heart and attitude. I can control how much I pray for my kids every day. I can control the way I listen to God's voice telling me how to live and what to do. I can't control how they turn out.
We always hear the verse "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it". Prov. 22:6. The authors say "In other words, raise a child in his way, in the way God made that unique child to be, and when he is old, he will, indeed, be the person God made him to be".

We are all on this journey I think. We want all the best for our kids and we want them to be safe. I am learning to let go every time I drop Adrianna off at school and watch her walk confidently up to her line and wait to go in the building. The Lord keeps telling me "Let her go, I've got her in My hands". Boy is that hard!
I guess this whole not needing to control everything should be pretty freeing! That is if we can live that way! I think this will always be a struggle for me. I know what I need to do, I just need to remember to surrender it every day! It's kind of dumb that I sometimes feel safer when I don't let my control go. Like I can do things better than God can!

Real Mom Story:
"I wish" by Susan Tuggy
(I modified a few things!)

I wish I could keep you from getting hurt....
no cuts,
no bruises,
no tears.
I can't.
But I can....
give you a princess bandage,
or put some nice cold ice on your owie,
or hug you tight enough to squeeze the tears out.

I wish I could make every day sunny and warm...
no storm clouds,
no cold winds,
no smoggy air.
I can't.
But I can...
give you and umbrella,
or find your warmest jacket,
or do something fun with you inside our home.

I wish I could cook only your most favorite foods every day...
no spices,
no squishy squash,
no funny fish.
I can't.
But I can...
have you try one very small bite,
or put ketchup on it,
or serve it on your favorite plate.

Oh, how I wish I could keep you from getting sick...
no runny nose,
no chicken pox,
no tummy ache.
I can't.
But I can...
help you blow,
or rub lotion on your spots,
or rock you in my arms till you feel better.

I wish I could say everything just right...
no cranky words,
no hurt feelings,
no bad days.
I can't.
But I can say...
"I'm sorry,"
or "Please forgive me,"
or "Will you ask Jesus to help Mommy?"
Now that I can do!

I am praying that I can release my control on my children and trust wholly in the God who made them! He can take better care of them then I can!