Monday Morning Smile

I couldn't think of a better way to begin a week.

Harvest

Remember we planted a container garden this spring?  Well, it is August 15th and this is our harvest.  The peppers never took off, bugs got the squash, so all that is left are my sad little tomato plants.  There won't be any facebook photos on my wall showing off a huge pile of veggies from our home garden.  It's okay.  Aldi has veggies too :)

18 Months

Simon, you are a year and a half old!  Wasn't I just holding your tiny body on my chest the first time and breathing in the sweet smell of a little bald baby head?  Wasn't I just getting up with you several times a night?  (Actually, yes.  It was four times and it was night before last.)  Buddy, you are a mover and a shaker.  You are full of life and movement and refuse to be left behind by the big kids.  Having a lot to say, you are full of words, most of which I don't always understand.

Like your brother, and to my joy, you love people.  Everyone is a potential friend.  But even more so, you love animals, especially Ziva who you liberally hug and "pat-pat".  In fact, you are quite the hugger!  You love sitting on laps and sitting on your brother.  You are great at snuggling and I love how you still melt into my lap while we rock in your chair before bedtime.  

Your sweet spirit is balanced by a fierce temper, little boy.  You let me know of your displeasure with all-out classic temper tantrums including flailing on the floor, kicking legs, an piercing screams.  It is quite impressive.  You hate being left out, losing your toys to big brother, and riding in the car.  However, there are more quiet moments in your life than angry.  My favorite is when you sit on the floor and "read" books to yourself.  When I am in the other room, I can tell by your voice you are caught up in a story.

Pip, our family is better because of you.  You are a gift to us, especially to your brother who is your best friend.  We love, love, love you, sweet boy.  May Jesus grow you in Him and become the treasure in your heart and life.

Letter

Elijah's BFF's Lesley Ann and Claire sent him some get-well notes in the mail after his stomach virus.

Clock

Counting the chimes with Papa.

Brooks' dad used to do a lot of woodworking and especially built and repaired clocks.  They always had several in there home when he was growing up and we gave away and sold many when we cleaned out his mom's house.  When we go and visit B's dad the boys always stop and listen when the clocks in his house chime.  When E was little, Papa would move the hands of this clock to make it chime and then count the chimes with is grandson.  Now, E is too big for this but Simon's taken his place.  Boys, this is a sweet memory of something special you did with your Papa.

Ice Cream

While I had my back turned, he climbed into the ice cream maker.  Although, I think ice cream never was this sweet...

Hats

Be still my heart...

August 6

Yesterday was August 6th and four years ago it was the due date for a baby we miscarried before Elijah.  I don't think about it a lot and in fact I forgot about it last year.  I don't want to take this event and wear it like a badge shaped like a "V" for "victim" or bring it up awkwardly in conversation to make people feel sorry or weird.  However, I don't want to forget it.  God does not waste events like this one in our lives and one of my prayers afterward when I was angry, sad, and confused was that God would not allow me to miss learning from it and that I would see His goodness in it.

I love Habakkuk 3:17-19:

Though the fig tree should not blossom,
    nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
    and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
    and there be no herd in the stalls,
¹⁸ yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
    I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
¹⁹ God, the Lord, is my strength;
    he makes my feet like the deer's;
    he makes me tread on my high places.

  God answered my prayers and gave us Elijah and Simon.  I dreaded August 6, 2010 for months before it came.  By then, I was pregnant with E and comforted by his new life while remembering a lost one.  However, I do wonder the state of my heart had God in His goodness not answered the prayer for children with a "yes."  I think I would have been stripped down to nothing more than verse 19, "God, the Lord, is my strength."  God was not good because he gave us children but because he was good.  This is where I should live my life today whether I see fruit appearing or not.  

This afternoon, I had to carry a kicking, screaming, angry child to his room to calm down.  We talked about Jesus and why hitting mom is wrong and selfish hearts and forgiveness.  I worry and fear when I don't see fruit in his life.  But God.... He is my strength and I will rejoice in Him and the plans He is working out while my eyes are too finite to see.

Ladies, rejoice in the Lord where you are right now.  Snotty noses, pee-pee sheets, and screaming children.  Life is hard and most of us, especially me, have no idea what hard is.  We should ask the Christians in Iraq.  There may not be much blooming, and the buds may have a bitter taste, and your couch may smell funky  and you are very, very tired but God is at work.  Jesus died for us.  We belong to Him and He's given us the kingdom of heaven.

He is our joy and salvation, not our circumstances.  May He have mercy on me for constantly forgetting this truth. 

Smooch

Some heads just must be smooched.

Up-chuck Yuck

E woke up one morning this week with a stomach virus.  Two days, hours of tv shows,  and many loads of laundry later he is on the mend.  Hopefully, no one else will share his germs.  One day I won't have to worry about cleaning up messes, or bathrooms, or wiping bottoms, or changing diapers.  My house will be cleaner and probably smell better, but I think I will also be a little sad for these sweet (but germy) days.

Crazy Kids

Crazy kids rolling around in the monkey grass at the park