Emma and Me

Emma and I put up our nativity scene today. Daddy was outside putting lights on the house (don't feel sorry for him, as much as he complains he's pretty proud of himself when they're done) and Miley was asleep, so Emma and I busied ourselves with the nativity. She was so excited to help. She carefully unwrapped every piece and helped me put them all in place. She listened so intently as I told her the story of the baby Jesus. (Well, first she was calling Him "Baby Moses," but that's ok. I straightened her out...) Anyway, she was so quiet and attentive as I told her the story. If you know my Emma at all--she's NEVER quiet and attentive. She's as busy as a bee 24 hours a day. She never sits still. But it was the strangest thing. It was like she knew that what I was telling her was important. She was quite appalled to find out that the baby Jesus was born in a barn, but was ok with it when I told her there were just no hospitals around. (Ok, I know, that's not the exact reason, but she's 3. I had to modify a little. I just don't think she's quite old enough to understand that Herod had a vendetta against all Jewish baby boys and that it just so happened to be tax time....) She was of course most interested in the camel and the sheep, but you know, she still got the story. I told her that Jesus was born to be our "forever friend," and she seemed to really like that part. I know she understood a little because later in the afternoon she reminded me that baby Jesus was in His mommy's tummy just like Miley used to be in mine. That made me smile and warmed my heart to know that she understood--at least in her 3 year old, innocent way.

My favorite time of year

Well, here we are---Christmas time!!!! I love Christmas. It's my favorite time of year. I love winter, I love snow, and I LOVE Christmas! I love Christmas even more now that I have kids. It's so cool to see Emma all excited about Christmas. She keeps asking me if it's Christmas yet. She was so excited when we put up our Christmas tree. She'll go up to the tree and just look at it forever. She'll rearrange all the ornaments ten million times until she has them exactly where she wants them. (I used to get all worked up about my tree looking "perfect" but I realized last year that my babies will only be babies for so many years. There will be plenty of years left for the "perfect" tree when they're older.)

We have a new addition to our home for Christmas this year. We now have a Christmas elf whose name is Rudolph. He came to our house on Thanksgiving night and he's been there ever since. He watches Emma all day long and then at night he goes to the North Pole to see Santa and tell him if she's been good or bad that day. He lands in a different spot in our house every morning and silently watches her each day. You can't touch the Christmas elf though. You can talk to him all you want, but if you touch him, he'll lose his magic and he won't be able to fly to see Santa anymore. I'm telling you, the Christmas elf is quite magical when it comes to getting 3 year olds to listen and behave. EVERY house needs a Christmas elf!!!!

I'm really excited about Christmas for another reason though. I can't wait to tell Emma the true Christmas story. The story of Jesus is the most beautiful story ever told and I want Emma to know the story well. She's really into stories right now and I know she'll love it. I want to make a birthday cake for Jesus with her and show her our nativity and help her learn the story so that she can tell it back to me. There's nothing that will excite a parent's heart more than to hear your baby telling others about Jesus!

Fall pics

We had the day of from school on Veteran's Day this week, so I took my girls to Cape and had their pictures made at Sears. I think they turned out great and I just wanted to share them with you all!

Washing Feet

The message this weekend at church was really awesome. The story is one of my favorites in the Bible, even though I hate feet. The story is in John 13, and it's about when Jesus washes the feet of His disciples as a sign of servitude and love. Jesus does a household chore that no one ever wanted to do. It was disgusting; people walked through mud and dirt and animal poop on a daily basis. Yet, it had to be done, and the Master becomes a slave to prove a point. He picks up the basin, and washed His followers' feet.

Dad compared this story to the only other time a "basin" was mentioned in the Bible. Right before Jesus' crucifixion, the crowd was screaming, "Crucify Him!" Pontius Pilate grabbed a "basin" and literally washed his hands in front of the people and said he was choosing to do nothing about the crucifixion of Jesus. Wow. That took some nerve.

So the question we're faced with, is what are we going to do with our "basin?" Will we wash our hands and choose to do nothing to serve others or will we pick it up and become a servant by washing our friends' and families' feet? Ok, I know what you're thinking. Well, at least I'm thinking it, and I'll be totally honest about it. I hate feet. My brother used to think it was hilarious when we were growing up to stick his stinky, sweaty feet on me. It would LITERALLY make me gag. My dad's feet gross me out. My husband's feet, are actually nice for "man feet" but I still kick him when he puts them on me in bed at night. Right now, I can handle Miley's feet, but even Emma's 3 year old feet gross me out sometimes. I HATE FEET. However, we don't have to actually wash people's feet to have a servant's heart. (PRAISE GOD!!!) We have to simply act on a need when we see it. We should take that next right step and just give whatever we have.

There's this little girl who goes to the babysitter with Emma and Miley. She's two years old and has the prettiest head of blond curls. Her mom and dad are split up and someone different picks her up everyday. She never knows what family member may pick her up at the end of the day, and she asks me every afternoon when I come in where her Mommy is. I have to tell her I don't know. I hate it. She's taken to me though, for whatever reason, and once I tell her I'm not sure where her mom is, she comes to me with arms open wide and says, "I want to hold you." So I pick her up and snuggle and rock her for a few minutes before I take my own girls home. It absolutely breaks my heart. One afternoon with big tears in my eyes, I told Cindy (the babysitter) that I could hardly stand it, that the little girl just breaks my heart. She told me she understands and that it's like that everyday, all day. I just want to bring her home with me and make her mine. To show her stability, consistency, and LOVE. I told Cindy that I'm so glad she watches her because at least there is one place where the little girl knows she'll be every day and that she'll be loved and taken care of. I know it's not much, but holding that little girl every afternoon is what I'm choosing to do with my basin right now. I can't fix her life, I can't take her home with me, I can't make her parents take better care of her, but I can hold her. And love her for a few minutes. That's all I have to give right now, and I'll give it. Gladly. That's all God asks us to do, just the next right thing. Where's your basin? On the table, where you can convienently wash your hands, or on the floor in front of someone, washing their feet?

Pumpkin Patch

Saturday we took the girls to Beggs Family Farm to pick out pumpkins. It's sort of becoming an annual tradition, I guess. My dad had told Emma a couple weeks ago that we were going to go to the pumpkin patch and ride the wagon out to pick our pumpkins. She's been so excited forever! Friday night I reminded her that we were going to the pumpkin patch the next day and she could barely sleep. She was up before 6:00 am. She wandered into my bedroom and said, "Mommy! Can we go to the punkin' patch now?" It was so cute! We all had a total blast and Emma got to pick out everyone's pumpkins. I love these family days we get to spend together!

Facing Our Lions

This weekend I am serving as Experience Director at church. My job is simply to "be in charge." I'm usually very good at "being in charge." Leadership and organization are two of my spiritual gifts. Really, though, I'm sort of the "go to" person. If there's anything that needs to be done or taken care of, I'm the point person who gets the job done. I really enjoy this job and being able to use my spiritual gifts to help services run smoothly. One of the really cool things about being an ED is that I get to participate in and hear the message 4 different times over the course of a weekend. Sometimes God speaks to me in different ways over the course of the weekend. Tonight, it only took hearing the message once to hear God speak.

The message this weekend is about being afraid to take a risk. Dad introduced us to an Old Testament guy named Benaiah. I have to admit in all my years listening to Bible stories with a flannel graph, I didn't recall the story of Benaiah. (If you don't either, you can find him in the book of 2 Samuel, chapter 23.) Anyway, Benaiah went down in a pit on a snowy day and killed a lion. He went down there with the PURPOSE of killing the lion. He went LOOKING for the lion to KILL it. Wow. How often do we go looking for our own lions, with the purpose of killing them out so that we can be better followers of Christ? If we're going to live up to our potential, if we're going to be all God created us to be, we have to kill out anything that hinders our walk with him. We have to risk facing the lion so that we can fulfill the purpose God has put us on earth to accomplish.

So what's your lion?

My lion is people. Two people actually, whom God has placed on my heart. The first person I need to go to and work out some things that have caused a wedge in our relationship, but I'm scared. The second person is someone I want to invite to church, but I'm scared. I'm praying about when these conversations need to take place, but I know they need to happen soon. I will not be afraid anymore. I will trust in Him, who gives me strength. I will face my lions.

Will you?

Back to school

Well, I'm back. Back to work, back to the real world. It was so wierd going back. I felt like I had been gone from the building for years, when in reality it had only been about 3 and a half weeks. My sub did an awesome job for me (she even had all the papers graded when I got back) and most of the kids were glad to have me back (I think). I so miss my girls though! By the time we all get home from work and have dinner, it's time to take baths and go to bed. I miss just sitting and holding my girls. All summer after I fed Miley, I'd sit and hold her and snuggle for about an hour after she was finished. She'd slowly fall asleep and then I'd lay her down. After I laid her down I would hold Emma and snuggle as we watched one of the ten million episodes of "Spongebob Squarepants" until she settled down for her own nap. I will say it has been nice having some adult conversation again. However, I went back on Monday, September 8, and I believe it was Wednesday that I told my mom I'm just ready for summer vacation!

Gifts...

Sunday morning I was laying in bed with Miley on one side of me and Emma on the other, between Jason and I. Miley's cradle is next to my bed, and she now sleeps in her carseat, in the cradle (acid reflux). Emma has her own bed in her room, but she has now gotten in the habit of visiting our bedroom in the middle of the night. She does a good job of going to bed on her own, but if she wakes up at night, she'll come climb in bed with Jason and I. (Any advice on correcting this would be appreicated!) So anyway, we were all laying in bed together and I was the only one awake. I had just fed Miley and put her back to bed and I was trying to go back to sleep myself. I was laying there, just looking at Emma and I thought to myself, "I just can't believe that God has entrusted me with such a beautiful baby." I know she isn't a baby anymore, but really, she'll always be my baby no matter how old she gets. Then today I was holding Miley after I fed her and we were talking back and forth (she's totally in to cooing and grunting at this point), and I thought, "God is so incredible that He can take a few cells and shape them into such beauty." It's amazing that God allows us to give birth to and raise our children. He could've picked any other way for people to be "born" into our world. He couldv'e just zapped humans into existence every few days, or some other wierd way that would seem "normal" if that's all we knew. Instead, he chooses to let us be a part of the whole experience. Maybe I'm a little emotional today or some other strange hormonal thing, or it may be the fact that I'm looking at the end of my maternity leave from school and it's almost time to leave my girls every day, but I just had an overwhelming sense of thankfulness for my babies today.

God, thank you so much for my girls. I never knew that love for another human being could be so deep and full until I became a mother. I love them more than words can express and I thank you so much for entrusting them to me. I pray that they will both grow up with a total reckless abandon when it comes to serving you. Help them realize that Your dreams for them are bigger than any dreams they could dream up on their own. Draw them both to You so that they learn to love You and serve You. Help Jason and I teach them how to love You and show them what it means to follow You. I love You.

Babies...

Today I went to a baby shower for a friend of mine. She's having a little boy on September 9. I'm so excited for her. What's so funny is that her other son is 11 years old. They weren't expecting to have any other kids, so they of course got rid of absolutely everything that remotely had to do with a baby. It was so awesome to see all her friends there to support her. I'm so pumped for her to see once again, after 11 years, what a total miracle it is when God sends a family the beautiful gift of a child! And really, on the inside, I'm thrilled to have someone else who is getting up in the middle of the night right along with me!!!

Never mind, I figured it out!!!

Emma

Girls

Ok, so my computer is doing something wierd and it will only let me add one picture per post...

Pictures

Sisters...

Jamie and I took the girls to Cape last week and had their pictures made together. They turned out so sweet! I had some made of each of them separately, of course, but I love the ones of the two together. When Jason and I found out we were going to have another baby, we really wanted it to be a boy. However, now that Miley is here, I can't imagine things being any different. I'm so excited for my two girls to grow up having each other. I love my brother with all my heart, but I have a feeling there's a certain bond between two sisters that's different than one between a brother and a sister. I'm so glad my girls will have each other to talk to when they're not sure if they want to talk to me or not. I know this could get them in trouble... I'm thinking of the teenage years when they're not going to want to tell me anything! Still yet, I hope and pray all the time that they always rely on each other and have an everlasting connection that will keep themselves grounded. Here's to my two beautiful girls...

I'M BACK!!!!

Holy smokes, it's been a long time!!! A lot of you know, but some of you may not, that I've had major technical difficulties at school since Christmas. All blog sites were blocked from access on school property...not a happy subject with me. I had of course then forgotten my password and wasn't able to get on my blog for awhile. I finally have access again, although I have to go to my brother's house and thief his wireless connection. That said, I hope to be a little more consistent with my posts.

Of course, the biggest thing that's happened to us since Christmas is the birth of our second little girl. Miley Sophia was born on June 23, at 12:06 pm. She weighed 7 lbs, 5 oz, and was 19 1/2 inches long. My labor was very easy and was over very quickly, however, THANK GOD for modern medicine and spinal blocks!!! She's absolutely beautiful and is such a blessing in our lives. There was some concern about her health in the middle of my pregnancy because her umbilical cord only had 2 arteries instead of 3. The concern was mostly in regard to kidney problems, but thankfully, she was born with no complications. The doctors say that everything looks great and all her organs are functioning appropriately. I know her kidneys are great, because this kid pees more than any human I've ever seen! I've thanked God a million times over for keeping His hands on her during her creation and forming her perfectly, according to His perfect plans. She beautiful and amazing. I'll add a couple pictures when I get a chance. Right now Miley is screaming bloody murder, so it'll have to wait! Until next time!!!