Our Complete Family

Toby just loves Caris.  He is a proud big brother and always wants to hold her, which he rarely gets to do because she's always on the move crawling everywhere!  On a rare moment on Christmas day while visiting my parents, I was able to snap these photos: 

When Bruce and I were planning our family, we had always talked about having three or four kids.  After we had Toby, he was definitely done with three. I never quite had a peace about it.  As morbid or as cynical as it may sound (in my "planning" mode), I was concerned that if we ever quit with three and something happened to Toby, we would only have two children left (and obviously I know there is no guarantee with our other kids too).  It may sound silly to think such a thing, but for us, I felt in our old and gray years, we would wish we had more.
Anyway, all that to say that God had a new and better plan.  Caris was not a planned pregnancy, but she has been the biggest blessing.  When I was pregnant with her, I was truly fearful of how Toby would react to her.  Whenever any little baby, crawler or toddler would come near him, he would scream and cry...NOT quite the reaction we wanted him to have with his new brother or sister.  We did not find out the gender of the baby, because even though Bruce and I are mega-planners, we like the surprise.  I truly had a feeling about this one, my pregnancy had just a few differences - not HUGE differences, but little subtle things that didn't happen with any of the other pregnancies.
When Caris was born, he just loved her - and has always loved her.  I think God knew that he needed to be a "big brother" and I know that as Caris gets older, she will "mother" Toby too.  Caris has been a HUGE blessing to our family.  She is the happiest baby ever, easy going, but also silly - with a fun sense of humor.  I have truly enjoyed all the little things about having a normal, healthy newborn, infant, and now crawler.  Simple things like zip up jammies, hearing her talk, watching her cruise across the floor - things I didn't appreciate as much as I should have with Conor and Garret, and didn't experience with Toby.  God has given me a second chance to really truly enjoy every stage.  And the day Toby met Caris, he was in love at first sight.  I am so glad that God's plans are not my own, and that He chose to bless us with baby Caris (who is one next Friday!!), the perfect completion to our family.

New Year's Rededication - Humility

Humility!
I hesitate to even blog about this because it means I'm really putting myself out there, sharing struggles...then again even thinking that someone would care enough to read I am writing sticks a knife in the heart of what I will write about - Think about it.  Why is blogging and social networks so important?  Because we feel important putting our thoughts out there knowing someone will read them - knowing someone will "like" them or comment on them.  At the root is it pride - wanting someone to read and comment, someone to care? O f course it's not all prideful, we are sharing - sharing our lives with friends and family, but these thoughts have caused me to pause before I just go venting about the latest problem of my day on facebook! :)

Humility - it is something that one of our pastors preached about a few weeks ago, and boy did it hit home.  I felt like he was speaking directly to ME.  He spoke about the Power of Humility..he said, "Humility is possessing such a complete spiritual awareness and comprehension that God is ALL, that I am brought to absolute and total nothingness before Him, and thus, the complete abandonment of self and self-will."  How do we get humility?  Not by striving, trying harder or having self-discipline...it's not something we can just work at - it's being alone with God every day, to know Him, so He can create humility in us.  Before we do anything or go anywhere, we go to the cross to get rid of our pride, and go to the throne for the power of Christ. When we possess humility, it is the key to possessing God's grace, posessing His mind, and possessing His hand. (by the way if you would like to hear an audio of the message, click here.  There are actually three messages in the series, the one that I'm speaking of is titled "The Power of Humility")


The part that really hit home is that our time with God needs to be more important than sleep, more important than whatever we stayed up late the night before doing (ahem, blogging or facebook!!)  that causes us to sleep in and not be able to go to the cross and the throne...I know that pride and selfishness is innate in the human heart, it's the root of most of the sin and evil in the world - think about it any type of crime you can think of, the root is pride and selfishness. 

So, my New Year's Rededication is to go to the throne and to go to the cross.  I know that I have wandered far too long.  I want purpose in the activities of every day - purpose in what I am teaching my kids, purpose in my relationship with my husband, not just flying by the seat of my pants, wasting precious time.  I was reminded this Christmas season through some very tragic deaths that life is short, life is too precious to waste, and people need Jesus - they need to see Christ in me.  The only way that I can do that is to be humble enough to give up "My agenda" "My plans" to see what God has for me today.  "Who does He want me to serve, want me to share Christ with?"  The task seems daunting at times, but I know that it's the only way; my strongest desire is to be used, to be purposeful, no regrets - all for the glory of God.

I have been reading "My Utmost for His Highest" by Oswald Chambers...and here is January 5th's post:  He was talking about the life of Peter and how the first time Jesus asked Peter to "Follow Me" it was easy in a way, he followed easily out of the fascination with Jesus.  Then he came to the place where he denied Christ and his heart broke.  Then, he received the Holy Spirit, and Jesus says again, "Follow Me"..."this time it was a following in internal martyrydom."  And this is the part I really needed to hear:

"Between these times Peter had denied Jesus with oaths and curses, he had come to the end of himself and all his self-sufficiency, there was not one strand of himself he would ever rely upon again, and in his destitution he was in a fit condition to receive an impartation from the risen Lord...No matter what changes God has wrought in you, never rely upon them, build only on a Person, the Lord Jesus Chrsit, and on the Spirit He gives."
I pray that I have come to the end of myself, that I'm not relying on the previous changes Christ has done in me, and I'm ready to humble myself before Him to change Me and make me useful for His kingdom...that is my New Year's Rededication.

A Christmas Scavenger Hunt

We are still doing our Advent Activities.  Over the weekend, the whole family had a sleepover at our friends' house.  It was a lot of fun, and nice to play one of our favorite games "Settlers of Catan", but then not have to pack all the kids up late at night and head home.  On Sunday night we got in our pajamas and went to something around here called the "Fantasy of Lights". It's a big display of Christmas lights at the Alum Creek State Park. The proceeds this year benefit "Recreations Unlimited", a very cool place that provides different types of camps for kids with various special needs.  Other Advent activities have included, frosting cookies, completing Christmas mazes, word scrambles, and other such puzzles, and participating in fun activities. 







Kids in their pajamas getting ready to go look at Christmas lights!



Today the boys did a Christmas Scavenger Hunt.  Conor, Garrett, and Toby followed the clues and searched around the house for some Christmas Sugar Cookies at the end.  They had fun; it's always challenging thinking up clues that rhyme! :)

Today was finally our kids' last day of school, so we are officially on break.  Caris hasn't been participating in the Advent Activities, but she's being cute in her own way, anyway!

Ring the Bell!

Advent Days 10-14
So, the advent activities have been a lot of fun, if not a lot of work.  The cinnamon applesauce ornaments look and smell wonderful with the pine of the Christmas tree.  Wish you could smell it, you would be in "sense" overload - it smells wonderful.
Advent Day 10: Popcorn, hot chocolate, and The Grinch
Tonight we popped some real popcorn in a pan, made hot chocolate and watched the old "Grinch Who Stoel Christmas".  It was a lot of fun, and I have found I prefer popcorn in a pan to the microwave kind any - day (Plus it's probably healthier!) 
Advent Day 11: I purchased the book "God Gave us Christmas" by Lisa Tawn Bergren and we read it together.  If you aren't familiar with this series of books, they are really great.  Other titles include:  "God Gave Us Heaven" "God Gave Us You" and "God Gave Us Two".  I bought them for a great deal on Christian Book Distributors Web-site. 
Advent Day 12: Tonight we played Christmas bingo - (borrowed from my friend Cassie).  When I was in college for education, we had a saying "Don't reinvent the wheel!" and so that helps me not to feel guilty for borrowing others ideas!  The kids enjoyed that too.
Advent Day 13: Tonight was "Ring the Bell" night.  For the past few years Bruce's office has volunteered for the Salvation Army to ring the bell outside of Kroger stores to collect money for them, and last night was his turn.  We had talked about the boys going with him, and Caris and I strolling through the store while they had a turn or two.  By the time last night rolled around, I was not really feeling up to driving the kids 30 minutes to the Kroger where Bruce was. I had been running errands all day (morning) and then again after picking up Conor from the bus stop, but decided it was still a good thing to do, and a way to teach them to give back and serve others.  (Toby ended up staying home with our nurse because he didn't get a nap, AND he's been getting sick!)  So, we went.  I stuck around for a few minutes, got a few groceries, and then came home to put Caris to bed.  When the kids got home, Conor mentioned that they collected more money than normal because they were with dad - Maybe every volunteer should bring their kids with them!  It was a great experience for them, and one we will probably do again next year.  No pictures this time; I forgot my camera; I'm still trying to get into the habit of photographing everything! :)

Braces or Not?

I went to the orthodontist on Monday for a consultation this week.  I'm considering getting braces.  I have always been uncomfortable about my crooked teeth and feel like my upper teeth stick out way over my lower even when my mouth is closed.  We do have some insurance, so it would help cover, but I'm just wondering if the pain and suffering is going to be worth it.  I am a candidate for Invisalign, but they are more expensive, so we would probably stick with traditional.  I'm also finding more and more that I clench, grind, and that as I get older my front teeth cross over each other more; hoping with braces that as the years go by that having braced them now will help them not be as crooked later.  Any thoughts? Advice?

Advent Activity - December 9th:  Coloring photos and writing letters or our sponsored child Jean Paul.  This is what the kids did tonight; we wrote a letter to Jean Paul, and made pictures for him for Christmas.  It was fun to see the difference in the coloring: Conor's nice and neat snowman, Garrett's snowman, and then Toby's scribbles! (Caris just watched).  It was also a little eye opening - it's no secret that Toby really doesn't like to color or draw.  They are working with him on it at school - making straight lines, circles, the letter "t".  It's hard sometimes to see how far behind Toby is than his peers - he can't even draw a circle let alone a person or a snowman, but he's making progress.  The other day he did ask me to draw, and he did write a nice "t" all his own.  Back to our activity - after drawing, we spent some time praying for Jean Paul.
Our little guy is from Peru and we have been sponsoring him for several years now.  I realized that we should do this activity once a month - every month, and not just on Christmas. 

New Christmas Traditions

I am going to go ahead and post twice in the same day, only because I wanted to share something new I'm trying this year.  I can't take credit for it, I borrowed the idea from my friend Cassie, who also borrowed the idea from another mom she knows!  Both of these fellow moms have children with Spina Bifida, and Cassie (although she lives in Texas) is a dear friend, and we've actually had the opportunity to meet once.

Anyway - we started the idea late, but I decided to also do an Advent celebration, and each day the kids open a wrapped present box and do an activity that is written inside.  I wanted to get a Advent calendar type box with doors that open (like Cassie's), but couldn't find one this year that wasn't falling apart.  So I wrapped my own presents, and the kids have been opening them. 
Dec. 5th - we decorated the Christmas tree and went to Toby's "A Kid Again" party.

Dec. 6th - we made our own Christmas ornaments out of paper and are putting them on our "Jesus Is" Christmas tree. The ornaments say something about who Jesus is..

Dec. 7th - the kids ate a special frosted Christmas cookie - the kind that are extra thick with frosting from the store
Dec. 8th - today (thanks to my sister Shauna) we made Applesauce Cinnamon Christmas ornaments

What you don't see is that in between some of this time, I was rolling out dough and doing some of them myself as the boys ran around playing, and our nurse was getting Toby ready for bed.  We had a few glitches, and when the recipe says roll out the dough in between plastic wrap - DON'T use waxed paper instead - there's a reason to follow the recipe...

Christmas Decorating

Conor

Wow, it has been a very long time since I have blogged; things have just been really crazy around here.  I keep saying I will do better, and then it doesn't happen.  Hopefully, I can do better.  This past weekend, we FINALLY had a chance to get our Christmas tree and decorate it. We did buy a real tree (from Lowe's), but at least it has that pine smell that I love so much. Every year I say it's going to be different - that our Christmas tradition of decorating the tree isn't going to be crammed into other scheduled activities, and every year it is. This year was no different, and it's been frustrating; but I'm trying to roll with it. I did want to post a few photos of decorating the tree and the house for Christmas this year. Over Thanksgiving, we did get the chance to visit Bronner's Christmas Wonderland and get our yearly ornaments for the kids (and an updated one for our family - now complete!). It was a lot of fun, and the kids really enjoyed the lights. If you have never heard of Bronner's - it's the World's Largest Christmas Store - open year around. It also was the place where I had my first job ever - I worked five seasons there. Of course growing up we called it the "tourist trap" and didn't like it so much, but now it really is a fun place to take kids and they have absolutely EVERYTHING Christmas.

Here are some photos:

Garrett decorating the tree

Hmmm..wonder where we purchase our ornaments?



My new favorite decorations (the red trees)



Trying something new



Our new family ornament



The mantle

Our real live tree

10 years - Bride & Groom! :)