Our Gingerbread House!

Every year, it is Phil and Jody's tradition to get together with the girls and make a fun Gingerbread House. This year's actually turned out pretty good! We've had some questionable Gingerbread Houses in the past, but this one was a keeper! (Nice icicle work Phil!)
Of course the girls loved it and there was no shortage of licking frosting off their fingers and sneaking candy.
Brynna was especially proud of her contributions! She threw her arms up after putting some candy on the house and and triumphantly said "Yay, I did it!" Jody was marveling at how much she had grown in the past year. She really is such a big kid now!
Maryn also just continues to amaze us with how she's grown in the last year. This was serious business to her and she was concentrating so she could do it just right! (The band-aid on her head is to cover up the stitches we had to go get on Friday night. You'd think with all the trips to Urgent Care, I'd given birth to a couple of Mexican wrestlers or something! Oh well, the excitement never ends!)
Justin's brothers, Aaron and Adam, didn't want to miss out on a good time! So they came up with Phil and Jody to have some Christmas fun with us. Justin and Adam were not exactly the life of the party for awhile there....
In Justin's defense, the poor guy was totally sick, so we'll forgive him. It was later determined that Adam was storing up on brain power, so that later on he and Jody could beat the pants off the rest of us at Scrabble! So to keep the party going while the beauties were sleeping, Aaron got a jam session going in the kitchen to a little Jack Johnson with Maryn and Brynna. Yeah, it's not Christmas music, but in our family, you can never go wrong with a little bit of Jack!
Since Phil, Jody, Adam, and Aaron will all be in Arizona with Justin's sister, Kristen for Christmas, we decided to go ahead and let the girls open a couple of their presents from them now. They were out of their minds with happiness!
They got cozy robes from Grammy and Gramps and a cool storybook theater kit from Adam and Aaron. Both of which we could not pry from their fingers even after they slept off the excitment this morning! Thanks for such a good time you guys, we love you!

And a Child Shall Teach Them...

My Aunt Jody sent this story to me and I just loved it. I found tears streaming down my cheeks as I read it. Hope you enjoy it too...

A Baby's Hug ~

We were the only family with children in the restaurant. I sat Erik in a high chair and noticed everyone was quietly sitting and talking. Suddenly, Erik squealed with glee and said, 'Hi.' He pounded his fat baby hands on the high chair tray. His eyes were crinkled in laughter and his mouth was bared in a toothless grin, as he wriggled and giggled with merriment. I looked around and saw the source of his merriment. It was a man whose pants were baggy with a zipper at half-mast and his toes poked out of would-be shoes. His shirt was dirty and his hair was uncombed and unwashed. His whiskers were too short to be called a beard and his nose was so varicose it looked like a road map.

We were too far from him to smell, but I was sure he smelled. His hands waved and flapped on loose wrists. 'Hi there, baby; hi there, big boy. I see ya, buster,' the man said to Erik. My husband and I exchanged looks, 'What do we do?' Erik continued to laugh and answer, 'Hi.' Everyone in the restaurant noticed and looked at us and then at the man. The old geezer was creating a nuisance with my beautiful baby. Our meal came and the man began shouting from across the room, 'Do ya patty cake? Do you know peek-a-boo? Hey, look, he knows peek- a-boo.' Nobody thought the old man was cute. He was obviously drunk. My husband and I were embarrassed. We ate in silence; all except for Erik, who was running through his repertoire for the admiring skid-row bum, who in turn, reciprocated with his cute comments.

We finally got through the meal and headed for the door. My husband went to pay the check and told me to meet him in the parking lot. The old man sat poised between me and the door. 'Lord, just let me out of here before he speaks to me or Erik,' I prayed. As I drew closer to the man, I turned my back trying to sidestep him and avoid any air he might be breathing. As I did, Erik leaned over my arm, reaching with both arms in a baby's 'pick-me-up' position. Before I could stop him, Erik had propelled himself from my arms to the man.

Suddenly a very old smelly man and a very young baby consummated their love and kinship. Erik in an act of total trust, love, and submission laid his tiny head upon the man's ragged shoulder. The man's eyes closed, and I saw tears hover beneath his lashes. His aged hands full of grime, pain, and hard labor, cradled my baby's bottom and stroked his back. No two beings have ever loved so deeply for so short a time. I stood awestruck. The old man rocked and cradled Erik in his arms and his eyes opened and set squarely on mine. He said in a firm commanding voice, 'You take care of this baby.'

Somehow I managed, 'I will,' from a throat that contained a stone. He pried Erik from his chest, lovingly and longingly, as though he were in pain. I received my baby, and the man said, 'God bless you, ma'am, you've given me my Christmas gift.' I said nothing more than a muttered thanks. With Erik in my arms, I ran for the car. My husband was wondering why I was crying and holding Erik so tightly, and why I was saying, 'My God, my God, forgive me.' I had just witnessed Christ's love shown through the innocence of a tiny child who saw no sin, who made no judgment; a child who saw a soul, and a mother who saw a suit of clothes. I was a Christian who was blind, holding a child who was not. I felt it was God asking, 'Are you willing to share your son for a moment?' when He shared His for all eternity. The ragged old man, unwittingly, had reminded me, 'To enter the Kingdom of God , we must become as little children.'

If this has blessed you, please bless others by sending it on. Sometimes, it takes a child to remind us of what is really important. We must always remember who we are, where we came from and, most importantly, how we feel about others. The clothes on your back or the car that you drive or the house that you live in does not define you at all; it is how you treat your fellow man that identifies who you are.

Christmas Cartoons

This is my all-time favorite photo of the Grinch! It makes me laugh every time I see it!

Well it's obviously been a few weeks since I updated the ol' blog. The couch has been all I've been able to focus on for about the last month, for the most part. This pregnancy has been by far the rottenest yet. I went to the doctor this morning and discovered I have actually lost 3 lbs. because I've just been so nauseous and sick. Ironically, Justin is in the middle of one of his busiest months work-wise and has had to be gone a lot. So, the poor kids have been held hostage in their house by their sick Momma! They have been very sweet for the most part though and are taking good care of me! The girls and I have been watching A LOT of Christmas cartoons together, trying to get into the spirit of the season with our 75 degree weather here in Georgia! They love all the old cartoons I used to watch when I was little and since it allows me to just lay down, I love it too! Their favorites are Frosty the Snowman, Charlie Brown's Christmas and one of my personal favorites, How The Grinch Stole Christmas! I swear my brothers and I had every line of that movie memorized as kids and even still to this day I can repeat almost the whole thing! It's pretty funny! We have managed to squeeze in a few fun things like jumping in the leaves at Grammy and Gramps and going to the park with my friend Laura and her boys. Justin, Maryn, and I made Christmas goodies together one night and Maryn and I also built a Gingerbread House together at her school this morning. So we have had some fun lately, I just haven't caught any of it with the camera! I'm looking forward to hopefully getting my energy back in the next couple of weeks though, so we can start taking some pictures for this sad ol' blog and making some more fun family memories!

Look out for Mr. Stork!

I guess I should say you all need to look out for Mr. Stork! It won't do me any good to look, because I've already been targeted by that sneaky ol' bird! We received word that he will be making his delivery to our home on or about July 10th. Just in time for a belated birthday present for one very excited big sister named Maryn!

For any of you that know Justin, you would know that he adamantly has sworn that he was absolutely and totally done with having kids! And oftendays when my children were running circles around me, I wondered if there was some wisdom in that! So when I took a pregnancy test after feeling especially exhausted around Halloween, I was SHOCKED and I mean, SHOCKED to see that it was positive! I thought, "Oh boy! How am I gonna break the news on this one? Justin is going to be totally stressed out!" But he totally surprised me the next morning when I told him. He wrapped his arms around me and kissed my forehead and said "I am so happy! I'm not quite sure how that happened, but I'm so happy!" He then told me that for a few weeks he had been thinking to himself about us having another baby eventually. He certainly wasn't expecting it to happen that fast! But he was excited and at peace with our unexpected news. Can I just let you all know how much my husband continues to wow and surprise me everyday?!I can't not imagine sharing my life with and raising children with anyone but him. He is such a keeper and a total blessing in my life. The Lord knew what he was doing when he brought us together. And we are so very excited to be welcoming another one of His precious, little spirits into our home and our family.

Our Little Indian

Maryn attends a Methodist Preschool that we just love, just up the road from us. This morning they had the 4 Year-Old's Thanksgiving program "A Thankful Day" in the school's Sanctuary. It was so touching to see all these little people file into the chapel with their fingers over their mouths, perfectly reverent. The teachers were all dressed up like pilgrims and the children like Indians. I helped out in Maryn's class last Monday with her and her little classmates, painting their Indian costumes for the program. It was fun seeing how well they all turned out and everyone looking the part.

They shared the Thanksgiving story with us through songs and sign language. I think I was just feeling a bit over-emotional, but the sight of all those sweet children, sharing with us what they had worked so hard to prepare, brought tears to my eyes. It made me so thankful for the association we have with our good Methodist neighbors. It's nice to know that in a world that emphasizes differences, we have found a wonderful common ground that celebrates our similarities. Our belief in God and teaching our children that He loves us so very much. Our family's life has been blessed as we have watched Maryn just bloom through the association with all her friends and wonderful teachers at her school. Maryn made us laugh while on stage, because she was really into her performance. In true Maryn fashion, after each song while all the other kids just stood there while the parents clapped, Maryn took great big bows turning from side to side after each song. After one song about a turkey that hid from the farmer, so everyone had to eat Chick-fil-A (...to all you Westerners, Chick-fil-A is a Southern staple! Yum!) on Thanksgiving Day, one little kid yelled out "That was a silly song!" Justin swears it was Maryn and honestly that wouldn't surprise me. It was pretty funny! Brynna had a great big grin on her face as she watched her big sister. She can't wait until next year when she gets to go to school there too! Justin and I were sharing a hug in the kitchen after we got home. We know for sure what we are thankful for this season, among all our many blessings, are our two little women!

Aaron's Home!!!

Yay! Justin's brother Aaron just returned home Wednesday morning, from doing missionary work for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, in Peru for the last two years! (If you want to know more about what he was sharing, go to http://www.mormon.org/) It has been so fun having him back home! He cracked me up because I was fully expecting him to come home a little weirded out by being back in the States, since he had been living in some pretty primitive situations in the past two years. But, in true Aaron fashion, he was just as excited and boisterous as ever! He just kept saying "I'm in the United States of America!" The first thing he did when he got in the house was tear his shoes and socks off and run around bare foot in the carpet! I never really thought about how great carpet is, but then again, I've always had it! Then he had the ultimate show and tell. His suitcase was like Mary Poppins' bag! He just kept pulling more and more stuff out. Below is a VERY small portion of the stuff he bought home! I've never seen so much stuff made out of animals in my life! But it was cool to see how the Peruvian people use their resources.
Then after he was done showing us all his stuff, he cranked up the Peruvian music and started salsa dancing with Maryn around the living room. It was just so much fun to see how excited he was to share with us what life has been like for him the past couple of years. The girls love all their uncles so much, so it was really fun watching them reunite with yet another one home from their travels! We love all of you! Thanks for checking up on us! And to Uncle Dando we wish you a very Happy Birthday today!!! We love you!

Forrest Gump

If you want a peek inside the window to my brain and see what I think and feel and what motivates me, all you have to do is watch the movie 'Forrest Gump'. It is one of my all time favorites. I guess it's because I feel a lot like Forrest myself in a lot of ways. And the ways I'm not, I hope to be. Here's ten reasons why...

1. He was simple and he didn't worry about being something he wasn't. He knew who he was and he was true to that all the days of his life. I have been through those times in my life, where I was constantly held back by my own perceived inadequacies. What a waste of time. We are here on this Earth to fulfill our own individual purpose. The only voice we need to listen to in discovering that purpose is the Lord's or the voices of the inspired people He puts in our way.

2. Forrest only had a few true friends in his life. But if you were his friend, no matter how far the distance or years or circumstances, you knew you count on him no matter what. His arms and heart were always open. I hope all those dear to me know I feel the same way.

3. He had his fair share of bumps along the road of life, but he never let it defeat him. He was an optimist and handled things as they came. There is no use spending a lot of time worrying about the things you can't control. I strongly feel our adversities are our greatest blessings if we will allow them to be.

4. Forrest had the rare ability to be still, to think, and to take it all in. He took the opportunity to look at the stars in amazement, to watch the sun rise and set, to hear the rustle of the wind through the leaves and just breathe. And when the moment presented itself "He just ran."

5. When the whole world looked at him and saw nothing but mediocrity, he found within himself the ability to shine and do great things. And on top of that, he just took it all in stride.

6. Forrest set out and saw and experienced the world, but at the end of the day, home is where his heart longed to be. I grew up a geographical mutt, never really sure where to call home. I would love to someday have that house that the girls bring their husbands and children home to and the moment they walk through the door they are saturated in memories and they know that no matter where life takes them, they can always come and be at home.

7. Forrest never felt entitled to anything. Anything he had or acquired he worked for with his own two hands. And even after he found great wealth, he was quickly willing to share it with others. I was just shy of 19 when I married Justin. We had no money, no plans, very few possessions, and a love that brought us together beyond what we could even understand. So we came into this new life and we just started to work. And we worked, never expecting a handout from anyone. Now we look back over the past eight and a half years and we feel a sense of pride, that what we have, while it may be modest, we earned.

8. Forrest stood up and spoke out for what he thought and believed, without fear. I love the scene where Jenny takes him to the 'Black Panther Party' and her boyfriend hits her and Forrest jumps on him and starts beating the snot out of him. It didn't matter that it was dangerous there or that he was an outsider. He didn't wait until it was convenient, he knew "He should not be hitting you Jenny." and he wasn't afraid to say it.

9. He treated all people equally. It didn't matter if you were the President of the United States or a poor boy from the bayou. They were all the same in his eyes. It's a comfort to know the Lord feels this way too.

10. What he lacked in smarts, he made up for in wisdom. This one is especially meaningful to me. I love to learn, but I'm a simple girl. No big degrees or accolades hanging on my wall. But, when I stop and think about it, I would rather sit next to a wise person than a smart person any day. I will always appreciate Forrest's simple wisdom and the lessons illustrated so well in his life. I know that life eagerly awaits to teach all of us similar lessons that will lay the groundwork of the legacy we leave. And I hope someday, when I'm old and wrinkly, my great-grandkids will come and sit down next to their Nana Sarah and I too will have little tidbits to share with them that they will remember me by.