My Grandson!

1*7*2015

Twelve Years Ago...

We welcomed our first son into our lives.  We had chosen his name when we were still engaged ~ a full decade and four daughters before that November night in 1997.  It was like finally meeting someone we had been waiting all those years to see.


Now...
He looks like his daddy ~ he always has ~ except his curls are blonde ~ for now ~ I always wanted a boy with blonde curls and big blue eyes.
He is almost as tall as me, and his feet are bigger than mine.
His voice is beginning to sound a little less like his sisters' and younger brother's.
He builds robots, and mows the lawn, and serves as an usher, and helps teach children's Bible class, and is the senior puppeteer on the team...
He is growing into a young man ~ right before my very eyes.
I couldn't be any more blessed...
or proud.

Happy Birthday, J~Man!

Thankful Tuesday ~ 10 years with Lulapalooza

LORD, thank you for this wonderful boy you blessed me with 10 years ago!  I Thank you for his easy-going personality and his Snoopy-like laugh.  I thank you for his desire to play games with me or cuddle with me on the couch.  I thank You for his quiet, calm, contemplative side as well as his exuberant, jumping-up-and-down, living-every-moment-to-its-fullest side. 

I pray that he will grow in wisdom and stature and in favour with You and with men.  I pray that he will hunger and thirst for righteousness, and that he will be a man after Your own heart.  Bless him and keep him and cause Your face to shine upon him and be gracious unto him, O LORD.

And please help me to be the mama that he needs each and every day and never to forget what a blessing he is.

 

Happy Birthday, Toodles!

I hope you had a good day.  I am so glad that you were born seven years ago today, and I am thrilled that I get to be your mama.  You truly are my spring baby.  You are butterflies and flowers and fairies.  I like it that you still don't mind being my "little girl."  So, enjoy your Polly Pocket and your paints; tomorrow we will read one of the Flower Fairy stories together.

I love you!

Happy Birthday, Frap!

Happy Birthday

                to my second born

 

Happy Birthday

                to the infant who put herself on a 3-hour feeding/sleeping schedule

 

Happy Birthday

                 to the nine-month-old who got chicken pox

 

Happy Birthday

                to the poor little toddler with food-allergy-induced-eczema who couldn’t sleep for more than twenty minutes at a time

 

Happy Birthday

                to the 17-month-old who used words like “actually” and who climbed to the top of the great big slide at the beach park all by herself

 

Happy Birthday

                to the two-year-old who was obsessed with pockets and who would put herself in time out if she wanted to throw a fit

 

Happy Birthday

                to the four-year-old reader and math wiz who yelled out the answers to her big sisters' problems

 

Happy Birthday

                to the little girl who couldn’t stop after making herself cry for a game of pretend with her sisters

 

Happy Birthday

                to the child who just could not come home from a 15-minute visit to McDonald’s or the park or the library without a phone number or an e-mail address of a new best friend

 

Happy Birthday

                to the adolescent I watched become a leader among her peers

 

Happy Birthday

                to the hard-working teenager who paid her own way on several mission trips and to the generous teen who paid the way of others

 

Happy Birthday

                to a young woman with hopes and goals and plans to travel to Greece, to do more mission work, to love the Lord with all her heart, mind, soul, and strength, to live her life exuberantly

 

Happy Birthday, Abi

May all your dreams come true!

Happy Birthday Izzybella!

I loveth thee!

I cannot imagine what my life would be like without you in it.
You consistently amaze me. 
You are clever and beautiful and talented beyond belief. (You most certainly did not get that from me.) 
I love being your mama, and watching you define and refine who you are.

dreamer of dreams

singer of songs

a camera lens your contemplation

artist

poet

philosopher

You totally rock.

There is a tide in the affairs of men.
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat,
And we must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures.
Julius Caesar Act 4, scene 3, 218–224

May you live all the days of your life.
- Jonathan Swift

I cannot possibly be the mother of four teens!

or

Happy Birthday Sgt. Elf!

Wow, you are 13 years (+ one week) old; how did that happen?!
I am so glad to have you in my life.  You are so smart and independent and determined, and even though those are the very things that you and I often clash over, they really are good qualities that you possess.  You are also hard-working, loyal, clever, and funny.  I not only love you, but I admire you.  It is a wonder to behold the young woman you are becoming.  I look forward to watching the next 13 years and beyond.

"For I am confident of this very thing,
that He who began a good work in you
will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus."
~Philippians 1:6

There was a star danced, and under that was I born.
~William Shakespeare

A very (very!) belated Happy Birthday to J~Man!

Well, you have been 11 years old for almost two months now, and I still don't know that I can quite believe it.  You have gotten so much taller in the past year which makes it seem a little more real.  It won't be long until you  are taller than all of your sisters and me.  But you aren't just growing physically.  You are also maturing into a young man who frequently amazes me. 

You are:

• Just


• Observant


• Sincere


• Hard-working


• Unselfish


• Adventurous


• Brave


• Resourceful


• Encouraging


• Nice
  


• Dependable


• Affectionate


• Not like anybody else

and I love you oodles & gobs!

But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law, which Moses the servant of the LORD charged you, to love the LORD your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cleave unto him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.
~Joshua 22:5

Dear Lulapalooza,

Wow! I can barely believe that you are nine years old! I hope that you had a wonderful birthday yesterday. I loved watching you playing with all of your new things; you seemed to be really enjoying yourself. I still remember so clearly that November early morning when you were born ~ the day before Thanksgiving. Of course, we were very thankful for you then, and we are even moreso today. You are such an amazing boy. You are kind and gentle, smart, athletic, and fun. I love how patient and caring you are with animals and younger children. I love listening to you read and watching you run and jump and climb. I love hearing your laugh, and I am glad that I get to hear it often. I am glad that you are not too big to still want my hugs and kisses and sweeet dream wishes. And, mostly, I am just so very happy that I get to be your mama.

 

Youth is happy because it has the ability to see beauty.

Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.

~ Franz Kafka

 

For {you} are his workmanship,

created in Christ Jesus unto good works,

which God hath before ordained that {you} should walk in them.

~ Ephesians 2:10

 

Happy Birthday, J~Man!

Thank You, Heavenly Father, for the blessing of J~Man.  Thank You for bringing him into our lives.  Thank You for the things he has taught me and all the fun we have had over the past ten years.  Thank You for his warm smile and his sense of humour.  Thank You for his intelligence and his diligent pursuit of the truth and his searching big blue eyes.  Thank You for his thoughtfulness and compassion.  Thank You for his desire to follow You and be like Jesus.  Thank You for him.

Blessed is J~Man
         Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
         Nor stands in the path of sinners,
         Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
 But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
         And in His law he meditates day and night.
 He shall be like a tree
         Planted by the rivers of water,
         That brings forth its fruit in its season,
         Whose leaf also shall not wither;
         And whatever he does shall prosper.

~Psalm 1:1-3

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

~Romans 15:13

Thank You, God, for Lulapalooza!

1. Thank You for his birth on this date 8 years ago.


2. Thank You for his wispy white-blonde hair and green eyes.


3. Thank You for his gusty laugh.


4. Thank You for his exuberant embraces and sweet kisses.


5. Thank You for his keen intellect, artistic aptitude, and athletic ability.


6. Thank You for his quiet independence.


7. Thank You for his desire to know, love, and serve You more.


8. Thank You for the overwhelming blessing and privilege of being his mama.

My son, eat honey because it is good,
      And the honeycomb which is sweet to your taste; 
      So shall the knowledge of wisdom be to your soul;
      If you have found it, there is a prospect,
      And your hope will not be cut off.

Proverbs 24:13-14 

Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Peter 1:2-8

but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.

2 Peter 3:18 

I LOVE YOU, LULAPALOOZA!

Ten Things

 

Here are ten randon thoughts I wanted to share about my 10-year-old girl:

1. She arrived 3 days "early" and has been in a hurry ever since.


2. She was born on Ground Hog's Day ~ a date which I could previously never remember and now will never forget. (It's a good thing she didn't see her shadow~LOL!)


3. I always wanted a red-haired girl and she's the one. (Technically, she's strawberry blonde, but it was red when she was born.)


4. I love to watch her skate.


5. She has a heart for evangelism.


6. She loves to pray.


7. She's gonna be a great drummer.


8. She knows how to encourage me without being too perky.


9. She's way smarter than I am.


10. She truly is one of my favourite people.

I love you, Faithsteroni!

Happy Birthday!

 

    . . . to Sergeant Elf ~ a.k.a. sk8rtink7

Here is one of my favourite stories:
When she was about 6 years old, we were discussing something that she had learned in Pioneer Club that week.  She said, "The sun revolves around the earth."
I said, "Actually, the earth revolves around the sun."
She said, "My teacher said that the sun revolves around the earth!"
I said, "Perhaps you misunderstood her, because the earth revolves around the sun."
We went back and forth this way for a bit, with her statements becoming more emphatic each time and my explanations getting more detailed (translation: boring) each time. 
Finally, in exasperation she declared, "Well, that is what I meant!"
To which I responded, "Well, people don't know what you mean; they only know what you say.  You need to say what you mean."
To which she responded, "Well, in Faith~World that is what it means!!"

You can read her big sisters' birthday tributes here, here, and here.

Happy Birthday J~man!

Number 1 son is 8 years old today; what a great job it is to be his mom.

 

I always wanted a boy with blue eyes and blonde curls.  We chose his name when we were engaged, but had to wait ten years - and four sisters - to finally welcome him into our family.  He was worth the wait! He was our first homebirth and our first Texas baby as well as being our first boy. He is hardworking, generous, thoughtful, and kind.  He became a Christian this year, and is now discipling his younger brother.

 

My son, if you receive my words,
      And treasure my commands within you, 
So that you incline your ear to wisdom,
      And apply your heart to understanding; 
Yes, if you cry out for discernment,
      And lift up your voice for understanding, 
If you seek her as silver,
      And search for her as for hidden treasures; 
Then you will understand the fear of the LORD,
      And find the knowledge of God. 
For the LORD gives wisdom;
      From His mouth come knowledge and understanding; 
He stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
      He is a shield to those who walk uprightly; 
He guards the paths of justice,
      And preserves the way of His saints. 
Then you will understand righteousness and justice,
      Equity and every good path.

~Proverbs 2:1-9

Thankful Thursday (Happy Birthday, Lulapalooza!)

I thank You, dear God, for the sweet boy You entrusted to me six years ago today.

I thank You for his belly laugh, his goofy sense of humor, and his hugs.

I thank You for the honour and joy of being his mama. 

I pray that he will continue to grow in wisdom and stature

and in favour with You and with man.

 

Happy Birthday, Lulapalooza!