Christmas

It was a terrific Christmas season.  I love this time of year.  Every year I find myself thinking more and more about the incarnation.  About God's greatest gift.  About how much He must love us to give us His Son.

And then there were the other gifts.  This is the aftermath, obviously.

Good gracious.

I also find myself in a quandary over how much gifting is enough.  In terms of the presents, what does a Christ-exalting, worshipful Christmas look like when you have four children?



And in other Christmas related news, our oldest three children sang at our Christmas Eve worship service.  I couldn't be more proud of two of them.

What is he doing?  Seriously.  I ask myself that very question A LOT.

Even with his finger in his eyeball in front of our entire church, I love him.  At least with his finger in his eyeball you can't see all the snot that was surely dripping down his face.  The kid is a faucet I tell you.

Merry Christmas and Happy 2012!

Haircuts

He hates 'em.

Girlfriends

I took Maya to a birthday party this afternoon.  Her little friend from school turned 5.  This little friend is so precious and I adore her whole family.

We talked about this party for weeks.  Then we counted down the days.  And when the time came for the party I think Maya got overwhelmed and barely smiled the whole time.

But I had fun at least.



Time to head to the par-tay.

With the PRECIOUS birthday girl.  I love this girl, and her baby sister, and her family.

And here she is trying to pick a dress.  It was a dress-up birthday party.  How fun is that?!

Forgive the strange green tint of the previous photo.  I don't have great photo-editing skills.  I'm jonesin' for Photoshop Elements but I'm pretty sure even Photoshop Elements can't make bad photos turn great.  Or maybe it can...hmmm...

Gettin' her makeup did.  Not sure about the strange expression on her face.

Gettin' her hairs did.  Bout to get a sprinkle of pixie dust.

Again, not sure about her expression.  She was really sort of nervous, I have no idea why.  I'm learning this  about my girl.  She can be really shy at times.  And modest.  She didn't want to take off her t-shirt and jeans to wear the Tinkerbelle dress.

Keep up the modesty, sis.  The world could use one less hoochie-mama.

I'll teach you about hoochie-mamas when you're 27.

I love little girl birthday parties.  So. darn. cute.

The proof is in the jumping

I read a Pioneer Woman tutorial about aperture and shutter speed and exposure and everything in between. She claims over and over again that she isn't a professional but I think her pictures are every bit as good as any "professional" I've ever seen.

So I decided to play around with the Shutter Speed Priority setting on my camera.

What better way than to shoot the kids jumping on the trampoline.

I know, I have a looooong way to go but I am having so much darn fun with this camera.

*This post is brought to you by Papa and Grandpa.  Papa bought us our much loved trampoline in the first place.  Grandpa just replaced the net for us since we can't seem to keep from tearing gaping holes in it.

A Sneaky Treat

The other night we were telling our friend Jeremy about our elf, Hammer.  Jeremy is a clever fellow you should know.  He's very creative.  An artist.  A poet.  A candlestick maker.

Just kidding on that last part.

Anyway, his best quality is probably that he's a terrific friend.  We love him.

So today we found a very cryptic note attached to a stack of four candy canes, sitting on a chair on the front porch.

The note read:  "To Grant, Hank, Maya, and Paige.  You are so special!  Merry Christmas.

Then it said:  "I tamed a chupacabra, and rode him through the night, to spy on naughty children, with my hammer at my side."

The work of Hammer the Elf...or a really good, really special, really creative friend?

He included a note with each candy cane.  Whoever it was behind this mystery gift knows my children well.

"To Grant, brave and true, leads the charge of his valiant crew."

"For Hank, strong and kind, a mighty sword with a gentle mind."

"Pretty Maya, spry and keen, laughs and leaps like a fairy queen."

"Little Paige, hearts she steals, while laughter follows at her heels."

Mr. Jeremy, we love you so so much.  And Ashley and Izzy and JK too.

Oh No She Di'int

This girl grabbed a man's bottom today.  Not her daddy's bottom either.  She took both hands and grabbed both cheeks and squeezed.  

Then she got embarrassed when she realized what she'd done.  Then I got embarrassed when I realized what she'd done.

Fingers crossed this is not a sign of things to come...

Ugh, I just love her down to my toenails...

Pioneer Woman posted something about 10 things she loves about her dog, Charlie.  I love Pioneer Woman, and I'm sure she adores Charlie.  But she COULDN'T POSSIBLY love Charlie more'n I love my Jasper.

Look at this face.  This soft, furry face that becomes more white each year.

Look at those teeth.  A show dog she is not.

Ugh.  I love this dog.  Even when she's stinky, which is all the time.  Even when her breath is bad, which is all the time x2.

Just a thought...or maybe it's a suggestion?

I think you should listen to Alistair Begg.  I wouldn't even know of him were it not for the suggestion of a dear friend.  She hears him on the radio on a program called Truth for Life.  He has a delightful accent and his Bible teaching is good.

I also recommend John Piper.  He will never steer you wrong because God's Word will never steer you wrong.  And Matt Carter and Jeff Mangum at Austin Stone deliver good teaching too. David Platt is also wonderful.

I am so thankful for good solid Bible teaching.  It might be the only really good thing to come from the internet.

Dogpile

The temperature outside has no bearing on my kids' energy level.  And if they don't get to play outside at least a little everyday, then we have this kind of thing in the evening:

And then we have this kind of thing:

His little sister saw an opportunity and took it.

Then we have this kind of thing:

Whatsa matter, buddy?  You mad that she stole your pants?

It's a small price to pay for some cooler weather if you ask me.  

Not Lovely or Admirable or Excellent or Praiseworthy

I'm thinking about pulling the plug on Facebook.  Again.  I got back on about 9 months ago, after being off for 9 months.  Most people assume it's a time suck and that's why I'm getting off.  That's really not it at all.

So I'm not ever one for cutting a story short but I think I just have to give you the short version on this one. It ain't good for me.  I'm "friends" with people that I want to de-friend but then they are friends with other people I don't want to de-friend and it's just too complicated to try to de-friend people nicely.  I don't think there is actually a way to nicely de-friend someone on Facebook, is there?  So long story short, I think I'm gonna pull the plug.  Facebook just isn't any of the things the Lord (by way of the Apostle Paul) exhorts me to think about.  It's not lovely or admirable or excellent or praiseworthy.  And since the Lord changed my life so completely, I kinda have to go with what He says on this stuff.

Pandora...and Christmas...and Mothering

Classical Christmas on Pandora is so great.  Maybe I love this station so much because I grew up going to a Presbyterian church and now we go to a non-denominational church and I'm starved for hymns.  I never thought I'd say that.  But here I am, 33 years old and I miss some elements of a traditional worship service. The musty smell of hymnals and pew Bibles.

And so much for things I never thought I'd do...or feel...or think.  I drive a beige minivan for crying out loud.

On an unrelated topic, I love Christmas so much.  So why are none of my decorations up?  I feel slightly behind.  I'm usually decorating for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving.  I have only redeemed myself in one Christmas-related area.  My children have watched A Christmas Story twice and Elf once.  I count it one of my greatest accomplishments this month.  Kids are never too young to learn about the Double and Triple Dog Dares.  And I'm sure I don't even need to tell you how good television is for brain development.

On another unrelated topic, I get to hold this baby girl again tonight.

JK, you are precious and so is your sister.  Your parents are like family to us.

Hello, I look like the Joker with those cheekbones.  Yikes.

Hammer

Our elf is officially on the shelf.

He made his first appearance the other night.  Naming him came down to two choices:  Hammer and Shoot.  I voted for Hammer, as Shoot the Elf just didn't sound right.  He took a spill the second night he was with us, and face-planted on the tile floor in the foyer.  Apparently elves are a resilient bunch because we found him perched atop this basket in the morning.

Close call, Hammer.  Thanks for the drama.

Every now and then...

Usually after we visit Chris's tiny, tiny hometown I get a hankerin' to move there.  Or somewhere close to there.  It's a good place.

Maybe one day we'll do it?...



And this guy...this guy would love it.

This is my youngest boy.  I say 'youngest' but he's really only two months younger than his brother. Figure that one out.

He is soft-hearted and kind.  He's a friend to everyone.  His bedtime prayers go like this:  "Dear God, we hope we have a good time.  Thank you for our food.  Amen."

His mealtime prayers go like this:  "Dear God, we hope we have a good time.  Thank you for the food what Mommy made.  Amen."  Yes, the "food what Mommy made."  I have no idea...

His anytime prayers go like this:  "Dear God, we hope we have a good time.  You love us God.  Thank you for our food.  Please help that person be okay."

Apparently my child really hopes to have a good time.  And he really likes food.  I hope this is not a reflection of our ability to model appropriate, God-honoring prayers.

Love you, sweet Hank.

When friends get together...

We sometimes eat this:

Mmmm.  Papa Murphy's.

And we sometimes drink this:

Mmmm.  I was blessed, indeed.

And the menfolk sit and do this:

"Dude.  Check out this app.  I can add a mustache to the pictures I take."



The womenfolk like to talk.  Oh, and we also like to surf the web for disabled adoptable Ukranian children.  It's a sad world.  But what better use for an iPad?

I hope the day comes when you do bring home that precious disabled Ukranian child, my sweet friend.


In the meantime, we'll continue to eat pizza and compare iPhone apps and dream of adoption.  Cause six children, all age six and under isn't enough...

Thanksgiving 2011

Small towns make for great holidays, in my opinion. Nothing to do but figure out how to have fun with your loved ones. Lucky for me, Chris has a wonderful family.

So to Merkel, TX we went.

Here are the loves of my life outside the Heritage Hall where we have Thanksgiving.

From left to right: Hank, Grant, Paige, and Maya.

Stinkers. All of them.

Just kidding.

Not really. They really are stinkers.

Okay, these two aren't stinkers.  Meet my husband and my nephew.  My husband will never be a stinker but my nephew might.

My husband can do anything.  He can work all day, then come home to help me make dinner and bathe dirty little people and feed the dirty little people and wash the dirty little people's laundry...all with a smile on his face.  Oh how I love this man.  

He can also juggle Clementine oranges quite well.

And my nephew...this little boy has stolen my heart the way my own stinkers did.  I love him so much already.


And here's my oldest girl.

A few things come to mind when I look at this picture.

1)  She is made in God's image.  (God must be beautiful.)
2)  She whispers in my ear that Grandpa is her boyfriend.  (Let's keep it that way.)
3)  She can NOT put her shoes on the right feet.  (EVER.)

Maya, your mommy has done you a hair injustice to publish this photo with your hair lookin' all crazy and what not.  Good grief.