A Few Sweethearts

Tony takes a break from his story to cheese it up

for Momma with her camera! :)

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Night night!

How precious are sleeping children?!?

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Ian with Tyler

Ty loves being the "big brother" to all our little ones!

And the little ones love getting his attention!

Wet Chalk = Paint

And LOTS OF FUN!! Sorry for the mess, Mommas!

But I Don't Wanna!!

Is that a quote from my 4 yr old or his mother?? Well, there's really no wrong answer here, because Tyler certainly says it often enough. The sad thing, though, is that it's also been my response for quite some time now to my own Abba Father. Not consistently, not at every corner, not to every request or demand He places on my heart...just here and there, just when it's the stuff my humanity holds to the tightest. But just as I want the best for my Ty, God wants the best for me. I can't accept that answer from my son, and my Father won't accept it from me.

I'm a little hung up lately on just how stupid I am. I've tasted and seen that the Lord is good. I have. I know it. I believe it. Or do I? Really? For some dumb reason I still want to hold onto the hopes and dreams and well...sins, I guess, if you wanna get right down to it...that I think make (or will someday make) me happy. Yep, that's me. I'm trading in my real, honest, nothing compares to it JOY for some form of happy. Hello??!! Why can I sit here and write this and know that it's completely stupid yet walk away and still be suckered into it.

Ugh. I ramble. C. S. Lewis is so much better at this. I've read so much of him that I'm not sure which text this comes from, but it was in my devo last week. Here...my heart, his words:

"When we want to be something other than the thing God wants us to be, we must be wanting what, in fact, will not make us happy. Those divine demands which sound to our natural ears most like those of a despot and least like those of a lover, in fact marshal us where we should want to go if we knew what we wanted.

"He demands our worship, our obedience, our prostration. A man can no more diminish God's gory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word darkness on the walls of his cell.

"But God wills our good, and our good is to love Him. That is, whether we like it or not, God intends to give us what we need, not what we now think we want. Once more, we are embarrassed by His intolerable compliment to us, by too much love, not too little."

Lord, thank you for not letting me settle. Thank you for being altogether good and determined to fill me with only the best...YOU! Thank you for your unmatched patience as I stumble and whine, "but I don't wanna..." Thank you for your love and grace. And for your voice that calls me back time and time again.

Four Year Old Charm

My Tyler is full of it! We went for haircuts this evening, and I'd had a kinda rough day so I wasn't totally excited about having to take him out anywhere at all. But he was a total sweetheart. Total. As we were leaving the salon:

Mom: (exhausted) Thanks for being so good tonight. I really appreciate it.

Ty: You're welcome, Mom. It was my pleasure.

Mom: You're so cute. (sigh of relief that the day is coming to an end)

Ty: You sure do look beautiful with your hair all curly and that pretty pink shirt on.

The real beauty of it all--he wasn't buttering me up for anything. He's just that sweet. Sometimes I find it impossible to believe even my husband when he says I'm beautiful. I guess I've just spent so many years calling myself ugly that I actually find it nearly impossible that he could really think I'm anything but. Preschoolers are honest though! May be silly, but he totally made my day. What a great son. What a lucky Mom!

The Strength I Need

Here's a portion of my devo for today. It encourages me beyond words, so I thought I'd share with you:

from A.B. Simpson (1843-1919), Missionary and pastor...

"A precious secret of the Christian life is to have Jesus dwelling within the heart and conquering things that we never could overcome. It is the only secret of power in a believer's life. People cannot understand it, nor will the world believe it; but it is true. God comes to dwell in us and is the power, the purity, the victory, and the joy of our lives.

This enables us to say with Paul in that beautiful passage in Philippians, 'I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.'

With this knowledge I go forth to meet my testings. It keeps me pure and sweet, as I could never keep myself. Christ has met the adversary and defeated him for me. Thanks be unto God who gives us the victory through Jesus Christ. What will your day bring?"

Simple, I guess. But true...and what I needed today.

Twinkies

Tony & Garrett

Happy Labor Day

What a fun 3 day weekend! What a nice break from the ordinary! Sometimes that's all it takes to feel refreshed, just something out of the usual rut of a routine. A little "extra" time to enjoy some of the people we love most.

That's what we did with our weekend. While some may see the long weekend as a chance to get extra work done, I happen to be really thankful for the chance to use those extra moments just to "be" with some special people...

Friday evening we took the boys and met Steve's parents in the park we always played at when we lived with them in Mt. Juliet. We had some fun times on the playground, took a nice walk, and enjoyed some great conversation. I had the opportunity to learn some things about my father-in-law that I never knew before. It was a blessing to have the chance to just talk to him and Steve's mom, too. I look forward to the next opportunity to get really get to know them better...just as people rather than in-laws, if that makes any sense! :) I guess after almost 6 years of marriage, I'm finally starting to relax and quit worrying about making sure I have their approval. I know that sounds dumb, but I guess I'm just dumb like that. After all, their son and I have created the 2 most adorable boys in the world...how could they NOT love me, right?!

We came home Friday night and watched Arthur (Ty's favorite show for the past 2 1/2 years!), as that's just part of our nightly bedtime routine. Tony actually watched with us for the first time, so that was fun. He talked the entire time, but he sat still. And that was a first, too! That wild child doesn't sit still to watch anything on TV...yeah, yeah, I guess that's good and all, but it sure has always been nice to get that 30 minute break TV could provide when it was just Tyler! Bad Mommy, bad! :)

After we got the boys to bed, Steve and I spent some time playing one of our favorite video games. How romantic, huh? It actually can be, though, cause we played a racing game...and those of you who know me at all know that cars kinda "get my motor runnin." Hehe! Seriously, we had a nice, fun night together! I'm glad we put off doing the things that probably should have been done in order to just enjoy some silly fun together. That's really good for a relationship and so easily squeezed from our busy lives and stressful days.

Amanda and I spent the day out together Saturday. We shopped and had lunch. And periodically called the men to make sure they were being good, as they were wonderful enough to keep the boys with them while we were out. How perfect that we have sons, huh? They get to hang with the daddies while we ladies do girl stuff for the day!! Manda and I had a great time!! We've GOT to make sure we get out alone together more often. We spent the day making fun plans for what is about to become a preschool in my home rather than just kids running around all day. More about that later, though, cause I haven't addressed all my parents yet about the amazing changes in the works!

You can all be in prayer for that, though, for a smooth transition to what I wholehearted hope to create in our home for "my" kids. For now, I'll just say that I've always known I wanted to be a teacher. I've always thought I'd teach highschool or college, but God is continually opening my eyes to the potential I have to be a "real" teacher here and now, where HE has placed me. And to be quite honest, I actually feel like if I can pull this off it might BE my life's work. This may not be the waiting ground. This may be IT! I am sooo excited and will no doubt be talking more about it as it all unfolds! (Believe me, I'm even more shocked than you are...but I do serve a God who can do ANYTHING thru ANYONE!)

Okay, so, the weekend. Saturday night we had dinner at Amanda and Darrell's house. Then Sunday morning they picked us up, and we all went to church together. I got to spend the whole day with my best buddies...and the night, actually. Yep, we played highschool and had a sleepover! How fun! We put the kids to bed and watched scary movies till we couldn't keep our eyes open any longer. We didn't make it to sunrise like we could back in highschool though! Go figure! :) And I sure did need my nice long nap this afternoon. Man, I'm getting old!

Now it's bedtime for the boys again. And the long weekend is winding down. Time to be a responsible adult again. I've got a lot to do tonight to get ready for a new week. Normally at this point I begin to wish I'd spent more time doing the "important" stuff during my weekend so I could relax before it all starts over. But tonight I'm just thankful. I really enjoyed taking the time to nourish all of these important relationships this weekend. I think it was a beautiful way to spend our "extra" time.