The Joy of Our Boy

Life with a son is such fun. Around here hubby and I are always grinning and/or laughing about the antics of our son. I am somewhat envious of the carefree, fun-loving attitude he has. All life is an exploration and adventure to him. He MUST play in every puddle, examine all nooks and crannies and make every sound possible. I love how everything he does is done with excitement and zest!

One recent weekend, it seemed that every time we turned around, he was tearing something up! He wasn't trying to be destructive; He was just trying things out. Take this for example:

See the nice gash in the floor? That was made when he tried to roll one of his Hot Wheels cars under the closet door.

Obviously, it was too big to fit! When he tried to get it out, it scratched the floor. When we discovered it, we tried in vain to get it out without doing more damage. So, hubby took the door off the hinges to retrieve it!

That same weekend, our son managed to write all over himself with a Sharpie and take a pair of scissors to an expensive shirt his Daddy had bought him! Umm...those two explorations got him in a little trouble, needless to say.

But then he redeems himself by being so adorable!


And by being so funny!

Even when he won't cooperate long enough to get a good Easter picture, I can't help but grin at him.

In spite of all the "trouble" he gets into, he still manages to steal his mamma's heart. What a joy to deal with his escapades.


Disclaimer: No representation is made that there is more joy of our boy than of our girl. She is equally a joy (I mean just look at that adorable smile in the previous picture). This post just happens to be about our son's recent behavior.

A Dry Erase Education

The following is an article my husband wrote last week for our church's newsletter. I enjoyed it so much that I want to share it with you.

One Christmas my children received a dry erase easel from their grandparents. What great fun we have had cleaning dry erase marker off the windows. It is designated an educational toy and I think the parents are the ones getting educated.

Lately, my 4 year old son has become quite the artist. His drawings on paper and the dry erase board range from the family to all types of mammals to Curious George. The craziness is how recognizable his drawings have become.

Over a week ago I was summoned to the dry erase board for an art display. There on the board was Jesus Christ on the cross. He even added red marks where the nails pierced the hands. The preschool artist explained the picture to me in detail, but it needed no commentary.

So I asked, ”Why did Christ die on the cross?” He responded without hesitation, “To take away our sins!” Time stood still for me. I know we tell the Bible’s stories and give some explanation, but having it recited back with an illustration by a preschooler is an awakening.

He has not received Christ as Savior yet, but the seed is planted. He knows why we have Easter. Yes, he likes the eggs, the bunny, and the chocolate. He learned these things because we taught it to him. He knows other things like our favorite college teams, race car drivers, and the channels for hunting. Why?

We indoctrinate them! How do our children know the stories of the Bible? Do they hear us speak of the God we worship? Do we celebrate Easter with the Christ or candy? They recognize teen pop stars but who is Jeremiah? Does he have a show on the Disney channel?

My son helped remind me of how much we do and do not teach our children. (By the way, thanks to you who teach my children). So, I want to borrow a statement from Rick Burgess and his wife. Leah and I have this philosophy, but I want to use Rick’s statement. “What really matters is that we raise Warriors for the Kingdom of God.”

Just a reminder: Will our children be Warriors for the Kingdom of Christ or the kingdom of culture?

Fighting for the Heart of my KING and my Children,

Joel

Note: I know readers outside of Alabama may not know who Rick Burgess is. But it would be well worth your time to check out his website. I especially encourage to listen to this sermon.

Brokenness is realizing that Jesus is all I have.
Hope is realizing that Jesus is all I need.
Joy is realizing that Jesus is all I want.
-Lawrence J. Crabb

*This is quoted as nearly as I can remember it from Sunday's sermon. I apologize if is not exactly word-for-word.

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 77 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

For Your Funny Bone!

If you like this, you can find this and much more over on You Tube! Search for Tim Hawkins

The Ultimate Gift

A question posed in Sunday School today asked, "How does it make you feel that the Creator of the Universe gave His Son for you?" The discussion prompted me to think about gifts.

I was recently given a gift (which I posted about here and here) that was totally unexpected. It was a gift given to me by the sacrifice of the giver. It was given to me out of the goodness of her heart....not because it was Christmas or my birthday. It was given to me "just because." This gift was so humbling to me, and I felt overwhelmed with gratitude. So much so that I felt incapable of truly expressing my thankfulness.

As I contemplated this gift, I was reminded of an even greater gift: the gift of God's Son. The salvation provided me through Jesus Christ was given to me through sacrifice. Christ died in my place to take the punishment for my sins....the ultimate sacrifice. God gave me this gift, not because I deserved it or could ever earn it. He gave it to me just because of His grace. How can I ever express my gratitude?

The humbleness and overwhelming gratitude I felt when receiving an earthly gift is just a fraction of the humility and thankfulness I should feel toward the Almighty, Gracious God. As you look toward the celebration of Christ's resurrection next Sunday, ponder the wholly undeserved sacrificial gift He gave to those who repent and believe.

"But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light..."
I Peter 2:9 NKJV

My Son

Who knew sidewalk chalk was meant to be used as body paint?

Where in the World Is....Destin, Florida!

Kelley's guess was the closest...Panama City. You were on the right track choosing a beach location.

We spent our three day anniversary celebration in Destin, Florida. As I wrote in my previous post, two of the three days were stormy and very wet. So we were THRILLED when the sun came out! It was gloriously beautiful and we couldn't wait to get out in it! After two days of eating and shopping we were in dire need of the outdoors and physical exercise.

We walked on the beach.....


We ate at a YUMMY seafood restaurant that was right on the beach....

We took in an ice cream shop. Because after all, a wonderful seafood meal MUST be toppped off with ice cream. Right?

And believe it or not, we even did some more shopping.

Then, we drove over to Seaside Beach and got our bikes out. We took our time riding through this beautiful seaside community. If it looks familiar to you, it's because this was the site of the filming of the Truman Show. It is one of those places that looks like what you would imagine the perfect town to look like.


A community event was taking place with a live band. Do you see the pond in front of the stage?

That may look like it is supposed to be there, but it's not. It was created by the two days of downpour that I think I've mentioned a couple of times. If you were having any doubt about the rain, I think I've presented enough enough evidence to prove I'm not exaggerating.

We were blessed to have the opportunity to get away and to have fun being together. I am so grateful for the husband with which God has blessed me. I am also grateful that God has given us twelve great years together.

"Where In The World Is...."

(Sing the title to the tune of the Today Show's "Where in the World is Matt Lauer?")

My Hubby and I celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary recently (It was the same week as my hubby's birthday). It has been a long time since we've done something extra special for our anniversary. Before having children, we used to go snow skiing on the weekend of our anniversary. But (as I've blogged about before), being pregnant and having small children kind of put a halt to that.

So, this year we set off to have a weekend to ourselves. We booked a hotel, got some friends to agree to care for our children and started getting excited about a getaway! I had visions of romantic out-of-door walks and evening breezes, etc.

Unfortunately, the weather had different ideas. This is what the view from the hotel room looked like for two days:


No romantic out-of-door walks here! We had to revamp our plans and since the only activities not out doors are eating and shopping, we did a lot of both. Here is a self-portrait on our way out to eat and shop:


Here is a picture I took at one of the shopping/eating areas we frequented. Notice the puddles of water? When I say it rained for two days, I don't mean some sweet, measly pitter-patter of water....I mean the kind where you get the bottom six inches of your jeans wet just getting from the car to the door.

It did finally quit raining, and day three of our trip boasted beautiful weather! I'll tell you more about that later. In the meantime, can you guess where we spent our three day anniversary get-away?

(P.S.) It wasn't anywhere exotic nor did it include islands.

(P.S.S.) If you know me IRL and you know the answer, don't give it away!

(P.S.S.) Here is a picture I took at one of the places we ate:

There Are a Few States Left to Vist!

At the top of my list of states left to visit would be Alaska and Hawaii!

Meanwhile, I love to think about all the places in the United States I have had the opportunity to visit.

Once, when I was in my early teens, I told my Dad that I wished I could travel as much as he had. His response was, "You will."

It turns out that he was right. Thanks to choir tours, college Spring Break trips to friends' homes, family vacation adventures and my hubby's work related travels, I have been able to see most of the United States.

There are just 16 states left to see, and by looking at the map below, I see I need to make a lengthy trip to the North/Northwest!



create your own personalized map of the USA


Thanks to Mer at Life at 7000 feet for finding this fun map!