This is it!

Today is a busy day -- finishing several gifts, hemming new pants, packing for IN, family December birthday party. And Matt gets here TOMORROW! Has it really been 2 weeks? Seems like so short and yet horribly too long. I get to have coffee with Beth and Thea tomorrow morning...and meet Bella!

Judah and I made cookies together for the first time last night. It was more of an introduction to cookie making since it was precut cookie dough. But I let him stand on a step stool and watch me do it, let him taste the cookie dough (which of course he loved), and explained to him the basics of baking. It was such a precious time alone with him!

Waiting and watching the goodness bake up!


Look who really does have Momma's eyes. ;-) Although, his seem to still have a touch of green because they are not as dark amber brown as mine.

Autumn just gave us a LOAD of boy clothes. I am so thankful! And they are all adorable, of course! I also found some new jeans for the boys at Target. They are the bomb! They're dark denim and more fitted than most baby/toddler jeans (which are the baggy straight leg type.) I love them! Elijah is wearing them in his full length photo; but I cropped it close, too, so you can see his cute face. :-D

Thoughts on a Friday Night

Happy Birthday to Brenda, Matt's mom!

We're pretty much over our colds...but Judah now has pink eye. So he's on eye drops every four hours for the next week -- lemme tell ya. If you've never tried to get eye drops into both eyes of a 19 month old, you've never really lived! :-P Just pray he gets better soon and that no one else in the house will get it.

Matt should be taking off pretty soon for his trans-Pacific flight. He's probably gonna write more on his book, sleep, and take in all the movies they show on those long flights. He'll live Saturday twice, arriving home in MD around 9:30 cst. Only one more week go without my Love...Europe for a month is gonna be a humdinger. I just try to keep perspective by remembering all the soldiers wives who live life without their hubbies for much longer than a month, their hubbies are in peril, and their hubbies miss ALOT more of their kids' lives...some even miss the births of their babies. A month will be hard, but God gives grace to meet the need.

We just watched The Nativity Story. It really is a great movie -- you should rent it! Or just buy it and save yourself several trips to Blockbuster. ;-) I had two deep, amazing thoughts this time around:

1) If we were alive during that time, Herod's soldiers would murder BOTH of my boys because they are both under two. Not only would I grieve loss twice over, I would also grieve being made completely childless. It made me relfect on all those mothers who lost their precious boys because of one man's greed, pride, and fear. So much sorrow surrounds the story of Christ, and yet He came to bear those very same sorrows. I am blessed to have two sons, and I pray even more tonight that they live up to their names -- "Praised Hero of God" and "My God is Yaweh, Exalted and Strong."

2) One of the greatest analogies of Jesus Christ is that He is our Great Shepherd. He came into the world humble and unnoticed, just as shepherds lived their lives. He is a picture of gentle strength as He lovingly guides His Flock.

And who were Baby Jesus' very first visitors?

Humble, lowly shepherds who lived their lives unnoticed lovingly caring for their flocks...until a whole host of angels gave them notice of a baby who was born to save them, their Messiah and King.

Remember why we celebrate!

We All Made It

The boys and I are in LR. Matt is on the other side of the world. All are safe. :-D

The boys and I have bad colds. Matt has no jet lag. :-)

The boys and I are chilly and ready for Christmas. Matt is in gorgeousness. :-P

Four nights down, twelve to go. 8-|



Getting used to each other. Dune is warming up to Judah...I think. At least Judah still has all his fingers and toes.


My fun, new yoga pants and the Nikes my Momma gave me -- I love them! I have seriously wanted pink and grey tennis shoes for quite some time. Thank you, Momma!


Merry Christmas. Everyone!

To stress or not to stress?

When I think about all I have to do before leaving Thursday morning, I wonder to myself "Does it just seem like alot but I have plenty of time to do it all...or should I really be stressing (in a good way) to make sure I get it all done?" And here I sit blogging. :-P

We just returned from meeting the boys' new pediatrician for 'Lijah's 4mo appt. Yep...he's a hefty boy. :-) Height was 25.75 inches. Weight was 16 lb 13.25 oz. Head circ doesn't matter because I watched her measure it wrong -- the tape wasn't around the widest part. He's above average in height and weight, but they don't give me specific percentiles here which is kind of a bummer but no biggie. The nurse was nice, and Dr. L was superb. Not the grandfatherly type that Dr. C was, but he is very friendly and you can tell he loves kids. He talked to Elijah like a peer. It was really cute to see and I giggled quite a bit. All in all, Elijah is a very healthy kid with a nondescript rash. :-P It just showed up today. We've been having some nursing issues, and most everyone has concluded he's just gettin' hungrier. I'm bummed Matt and Judah didn't get to come and meet him, but I guess they will get the chance. It's not like this was the last time we'll see him. :-) Oh, and they are still using paper charts...so that was kind of old school but nostalgic.

Here are some cuties I took the other day. We were just having a grand little play time together.




And just think...many of you readers get to SEE these cute faces in person this weekend!

Pray for me though...it's getting pretty difficult to think of being so far away from my huzby for so long. This is me when thinking of coming to Arkansas...

:-D :-( :- :-) :-{ :-( :-D :- :-{ ... 8-\

Brought to you by the number 2

TWO picture posts in less than 24 hours...and I just took a TWO hour solid nap!!! I seriously can't remember the last time that happened!

Last night was our church's Thanksgiving dinner. It's the biggest one I've ever been to, all 180 people. It was a lot of fun, though Matt had to take Judah home soon after we ate. He only got a one hour nap yesterday and was out of sorts, hyper, disobedient, and whiny. I got to stay with Elijah, so Matt gets the next function. :-) Here are some people that we are becoming good friends with and other church members...

This is Hannah and Nathan (Tara is in the background laughing in the just Hannah pic). They are our same age/same stage friends that we have a lot in common with.


This is Robin, a take-charge kind of lady who loves our boys (esp. Judah, I think). She is also my small group leader and just got NANC certified. Laura, her middle daughter of 3, is one of my favorites! She is so much fun to be around, LOVES Judah and Elijah, has the most beautiful voice, and a wonderful heart of service. She's the one who insisted she come babysit and kicked us out on a date...and is doing so again this Friday, forcing us to go out for dinner rather than a short date. :-P


This is Steve and Lois, a couple in our small group. They came over for football and pizza last Saturday...and she left some of the simplest, tastiest coffee cake ever!


This is Tom and Sue, our pastor and his wife. We have our membership interview with them next Wednesday...and a Thanksgiving waffle/pancake breakfast with them this week...starting at 7:00am. Sheesh!


This was my experimental dessert that I took along with yummy mashed taters. They are carmel topped cheescake bites dipped in chocolate and garnished with a pecan. I've never made cheesecake, never cooked anything with carmel, never dipped anything in chocolate. AND it was a combination of two different recipes. But they were gone in a flash. I actually had people follow me out of the kitchen as I carried the platter to the dessert table. :-P


I'm not entirely sure who these ladies are (Matt took the pic), but I do know the one on the left is from Liberia. One thing I love very much about our church is the incredible diversity. I sat with a family headed by parents who are originally from Nigeria (seen in background, actually). There are Koreans, Indians, African Americans, Hispanics, Chinese, and who knows what other countries are represented. And it's not just little pockets. The entire church is a great mix, not mostly Caucasian. 'Tis wonderful!


On the left is Lyneer (sp?), a pediatric resident and "adopted" daughter of Robin. She's given some great advice already -- including switching Judah to WHOLE milk instead of soy. I keep forgetting to mention that huge change! Judah's been on only whole milk for several weeks, and it has been oh so nice. In the middle is Lilly, a 14 year old who is rarely found without a child in her arms. She adores all children, and even gave me a babysitter business card. I talked with her about it, and she will either accept payment or not. She honestly doesn't care because she loves kids so much. She's gonna babysit during our membership interview. As I sat holding 'Lijah last night, I realized how LITTLE I get to hold him when I'm with church people. Somebody else always has him. :-P Lilly even held him for an hour while he slept.


The sweet children's choir. They were just too cute!


Ah, my little Mustang. He donned the hat and slippers himself. You should hear him talking now. Still needs a mommy or daddy around to translate for others, but his vocabulary is increasing EVERY day. And he does that thing when toddlers just babble at you with even the right inflections, but you haven't got a clue what he is actually saying. You just know he really means whatever it is. :-P He also is very taken with Italian food lately -- ravioli, spaghetti, pizza, ceasar salad... He had his first kid disappointment on Saturday when Matt took him to our new Family Christian Store to meet Bob & Larry...who didn't show up when they were scheduled to. They did get 2 Veggies for only $7 though. :-)


If you haven't seen the previous post, be sure to check it out. Lots of cute pics in it!

Happy Thanksgiving Week

The boys and I made a new memory the other day by going on a blustery cold fall/winter walk and gathering some pretty leaves. After donning our winter gear (mine and Elijah's were gifts from some Cali friends), I put 'Lijah in the stroller and let Judah walk. Such a fun time -- Judah especially loved pushing Elijah by himself. :-) My mom topped the day off with a GORGEOUS Thanksgiving bouquet and a sweet note.

The trees are beyond words right now. Imagine this...EVERYWHERE.


Here's the beautiful bouquet from my mom...even with a little pumpkin tucked inside.


My adorable sons. Period. Paragraph. The End.


Goin' on our red, runny nose walk!


I hope all of you have fabulous plans with family & friends and enjoy this time of year with all its colors, smells, tastes, sweaters, and memories.