First comes LOVE...

In this cold and dreary February the talk is about love. It is everywhere you look.

Every first grader has a notebook that they bring home once a week. The child writes a letter and the parent writes a letter in response. This week Maleah wrote a letter about her valentines party. I noticed as we were making her valentines that she paid particular attention to the stickers that she applied to each 'tine. I think partly because she is reading now and partly because she is beginning to discover what this thing called love really is.

I took some time in her letter this week to let her know that there are lots of different kinds of love. The biggest and best kind, being God's love for us.

This is real love.
It is not that we loved God, but that He loved us...
1 John 4:10

I told her that He loved us so much that He sent Jesus, his one and only Son, to die for us. That is so much more than any parent I know could bear. What an amazing and powerful sacrifice!

Unlike the mattress I will strap to my son's back the minute he begins to play football, there is no lock and key for my daughter's human heart. It will undoubtedly get stomped on, squeezed tight, left alone, or broken more than once in her life. I just hope and pray that she will always remember that the Lord's love for her, and that it will never fade. Love is the essence of God. Love is what motivates Him to do what He does for - down to the last detail - even when we don't love Him in return. Knowing that should give tremendous meaning to our lives. God's unconditional love for us should motivate us to love others unconditionally. Love isn't even an option. We are commanded by God to love others.

A new command I give you: Love one another.
As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
John 13:34

Dear Lord,
Help me teach my children that unconditional love comes only from our Heavenly Father. I want them to know that God does not help us because we deserve it; He helps us because He loves us. I pray that they find their self-worth in God's unconditional love for them, not in their accomplishments. I want them to know that loving God is the greatest thing that they can do.
Amen.

Tomato soup, anyone?

she found it...

her voice, that is:)




*for Grandma Judy, Happy Birthday!

one foot in front of the other...

Little Nora has officially graduated to 6 month size outfits. She is eating well. She is still working on the sleeping through the night thing.

Addison, being the older sister by 11.5 months, is hitting a slew of milestones. Today, she crawled DOWN the steps to the basement for the first time. She is taking one nap a day now and she asks for milk by using sign language. She can also say 'please' and 'more' using baby signs. Growing up in a house with older siblings is tough. Appropriate things for a 5-7 year old are deathly dangerous for a toddler. So, she has learned the word "no", and the consequences of ignoring it. She will point her finger and shake it right back atcha, but she won't touch the scissors if you tell her 'no'. She can successfully take her socks and her diaper off. She can climb pretty much any chair or end table. She will throw things away if told to do so. We started potty training a little. I started by giving her a chocolate chip every time she sat on the chair because she was afraid of it. She now sits when asked to and eats her chip, stands up and pees on the floor. I am still ironing out a few wrinkles in that lesson. She loves to pick up things and put them away, especially if they go in baskets or containers. Right now she is at my feet putting the pens in and out of the can I use to store them. I am pretty proud of her accomplishments. She is starting to initiate dressing herself so today when I was folding the laundry, which she loves to put in and out of the baskets, she promptly took out an item and put it over her head. Upon closer inspection I noticed it was a pair of my underwear. At least we laugh a lot around here. It's good for you. Go out and get yourself a toddler, they're good for your soul.

Hey good lookin...

Whatcha got cookin?

Today was BEAUTIFUL! In the direct sunshine my thermometer reached almost to 60! The kids played outside while dad was working on the garage. They kept borrowing my kitchen utensils to make a 'secret' recipe. I think Addi was the taste tester:)

Dad got it in his head that he was going to insulate the garage this week. Thanks for the help uncle Steve! Get those annoying birds outta the rafters, would ya?

Ditto

It's only Wednesday and already this week I have managed to;

• get myself behind in the 17 pages of homework from Bible study,
• volunteer to write a grant that is due on Feb. 17
• promise the firstborn and second born to make homemade valentines
• get really far behind on laundry
• severely under cook and severely overcook dinners
• buy formula only to find my shipment in the mailbox AFTER I caved and bought some
• forgot to send money to the school with daughter every day this week

Hope your week is stress free...

In way over my head

It took me four hours to get Addi down for a nap today. Nora has been going through a growth spurt and is not sleeping but for about an hour or so at a time. I am so exhausted. You should hear the things that come out of my mouth. I can't even understand it. My husband says it's 'mommy is too tired' language. I asked Gavin to 'take out the laundry' yesterday, and 'make sure it gets all the way to the garage this time,' I said. He just looked at me. Maleah gives him a look that says something to the effect of, 'she never really gets it right, Gavin, just try not to listen to her'...

My sister in law has a detached retina. WHAT!?? I can't believe it either. After some research she and her doctors concur that it is due to aspartame, you know, the sugarless stuff in soda and gum. YIKES. My sister told me years ago that it causes cancer. I promised my sil never to let my kids chew another sugarless stick.

She is scheduled for surgery sometime this week. I could use a couple of prayer warriors because she has two kids 5 and 3 and her husband, my brother, will be in charge of the household for the next few weeks while she recovers. That in and of itself is a frightening thing. She is supposed to regain her vision (the blurriness is why she went to the physician in the first place) but there is the chance that she could be blind in her left eye. They have no health insurance. She is still recovering from a broken rib which she cracked while she was coughing. I know, I think of poor Job every time I pray for them...I pray that these trials will bring them both closer to the Lord. I know He is waiting for them to ask for Him. I can't help but to hope and pray that they do.