Heaven Rejoices

The first time I saw you I knew that God had blessed me beyond what I could understand. I fell in love so completely, so powerfully that I could not contain the tears. Smiles tired my face. You and I are soulmates. But not in the sense that we'll spend a lifetime together. No, in the sense that I could personally understand Mary's love and adoration for her precious Son.

You were the happiest baby I've ever known. You were full of smiles, predictable, content, and oh, so cuddly. You loved to be near me. And I relished every minute of it.

Now you are a growing boy. You've got the skinned up knees to prove it. You have great ideas about how to make things work. You have the most incredible green eyes and soft blond hair. And you are beginning to understand your relationship with God. You still make my heart skip a beat when you slow down enough to gaze into my eyes and it hurts inside to know that your affection will someday go to another. She will be a blessed woman.

I'm so grateful to be your mom. To help you grow and mature into the man God has created you to be. To laugh with you and cry with you. To teach you and train you and invest in you completely.

Happy Birthday, my sweet Joey! You're not a baby anymore. YOU ARE FIVE YEARS OLD!! And I can tell that it's going to be a wild ride.

I have monkeys in my trees.

We don't have climbing trees by any stretch of the imagination. We have two tiny pear trees and a patch of mesquite trees by our back fence. But if it's the least bit climbable, my Mary is going to try. And Joey, of course, will insist on being hoisted into the tree to sit next to his adventurous sister. Since this day we moved all the landscaping stones from around the base of the tree and added a bag of bark mulch. Just in case...

32 days left...but who's counting?

Mary and I were Idol buddies this past year and I bought concert tickets to take her to Houston to her first concert. She loved that she could stay up late with Mommy and cuddle and giggle as we voted for our favorite singers and laughed at the judge's comments. I can't wait for next season to start - I'm sure she feels the same way. I'm grateful that she and I have something that is exclusively ours so we can carve out a little girl bonding.

Backtracking: AWANA Awards Ceremony

I really do want to post on everything that has happened this summer. For my own benefit I'm trying to keep events journaled so that if I have my blog printed as a book for the kids there won't be big chunks of time missing. I guess I'll do the best I can.

Here are a couple of pictures from our year-end award ceremony back in May. My favorite Sparkie pictured there completed TWO books this year. The typical goal is to complete a book a year, but since I somewhat cheated her out of a year of Sparks by enrolling her as a first grader, she was motivated to complete two books. She learned all of the books of the Bible, Psalm 23, the Gospel Wheel verses and lots of other foundational truths. My favorite Cubbie finished his two years of Cubbies and will be starting Sparks in September. He couldn't be more excited.

I'm so proud of my little ones and all the hard work they've done to hide God's truth in their hearts!!

A Special Blessing

I'm scared of my blog right now. I want to post. I want to catch up. I want to start 50 posts about all the things that have happened since May 21st. I want to lock myself in my room for hours and claim back some ME time. I don't think that's going to happen so I'm going to have to just get over it and move on.

As is usually the case, I don't know what's good for me. I can't imagine the way that God will bless me before it happens. If someone had told me ahead of time that a car accident would prove to be the sweetest blessing in my life, I would have scoffed. George is recuperating wonderfully. His injuries were so minor in comparison to the possibilities. Financially we've been blessed in all directions. But the greatest blessing has been the closeness that has developed as a result of spending all of our time together for such an extended period of time.

Our marriage is stronger. Our children are closer still to their dad. And we're entering into a period of personal and spiritual growth that is so exciting and thrilling. We've been able to pour ourselves into our ministry at church. As we take on a leadership role in our church's AWANA club we've been able to set meetings, clean closets, engage in training opportunities. I can't even imagine that we'd have been able to devote the time and attention we have to this ministry if George had been at work every day. It's as if God said, "Hmmm...I've got some work for the two of you to do so I'm going to clear your calendar for you." The summer has been busy and exciting and we've been able to work together to get kids to doctor's appointments and work on some much needed home organization.

It is so very true. We have no idea what to pray for or how God can work in our lives. All he asks is that we put our trust in Him, make ourselves available to Him, and follow His lead. And it's in situations like these when I am able to rest completely in Him.

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28