Quick Before I Get Sidetrack'd

Little has reached the age where she wants to help with lots of things around the house. She is very good at getting a diaper from the package and throwing away wet diapers. She helps with the laundry – her favorite parts are putting laundry back in the hamper after I’ve sorted it and closing the dryer door (because what better sound is there to little ears than a loud slam?).

One of her favorite tasks is helping to load and unload the dishwasher; she runs to the dishwasher anytime she sees – or senses – that the door is open and usually wants to play in the dirty silverware and knives (exactly what she needs to be doing, right?). Matt and I try to load/unload at times when both of us are home – so one can keep Little distracted – or while she is eating and strapped into her booster seat.

Today, however, I didn’t get everything unloaded before she finished her lunch. She immediately made a beeline for the dishwasher and began trying to get the bowls out of the rack to hand them to me (silverware tray had already been removed). It is really cute when she is actually attempting to help and I didn’t have much left to unload, so I let her continue to “help”. After we had emptied everything from the racks, Little shut the dishwasher door (see comment above about dryer door – the girl enjoys closing doors) and I thought that we had completed the task.

I was on the phone with my Mom and continued to talk and to work on something at the kitchen counter. When I heard the dishwasher door open again I didn’t think much about it; it was empty, not a big deal. The next thing I know I look down to see her pushing the bottom rack of the dishwasher across the kitchen floor! Apparently she thought it was a good idea to remove it from the dishwasher and go for a joy ride. She rolled it into the living room, stayed in there for a minute, and then brought it back into the kitchen.

And all I could do was laugh because she just looked so cute (and funny) pushing the dishwasher rack around the house!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are happily gearing up for Christmas.

Christmas is my favorite holiday. I’m not sure exactly why it ranks above Thanksgiving or Easter or even Fourth of July, but I’ve always loved the Christmas season. There is something about the lights and the decorations, the wrapped packages and spirit of giving, the music and the traditions that make me smile.

Matt and I try not to get mired in the stress that the season can bring, and we try to stay focused on the real reason for Christmas instead of focusing on the consumerism that society fosters. Now that Little is getting old enough to participate (although still very limited participation) it is time to begin creating family traditions that she will carry through life just as we carry those of our families. What exactly will this entail? I’m not sure yet.

We started with a decision to stay home this year for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day (we’ve traveled to family every Christmas since Matt and I began dating); we will miss celebrating with our extended family, but this is what we want for the future of our family (and what better time to start than the present?). We will attend a Christmas Eve worship service either at our church or another church in our area. We will try to begin instilling in her from an early age an appreciation that Christmas is a season set aside to reflect on the birth of Jesus and what that means to us as individuals, family, and beyond. We will decorate our Christmas tree and our home. We (or at least Momma) will bake goodies for us to enjoy and to share with our friends and neighbors. We will attend and host Christmas parties. We will give and receive gifts. We will incorporate traditions from my childhood and from Matt’s childhood with new ideas and activities to create a Christmastime that is specific to our family.

This is a new phase we are entering into with the holidays, and it will be fun to see how our ideas, activities, and traditions unfold through the years to come. Now we’ve just gotta get the tree up so the season can truly begin!

I would love to hear some of the special Christmas traditions that your family has created if you would like to share in the comments.

There are so many ways in which I’ve been blessed and so many things for which I am thankful, but in reality, all that I have and all that I am boil down to the fact that I’ve been adopted as a child of God and an heir to the glory of heaven.  This is the one thing for which I am most thankful.

Quite a few years ago I accepted the gift of salvation that God freely offers to us all.  Although I have stumbled over the years, I have never looked back or regretted the decision I made on that day.  The love, mercy, and grace of God have so overwhelmed my life and my family that I can’t even imagine (and don’t really want to) what life would be like without my faith.

I am constantly learning, growing, and being recreated by the gentle hand of the loving Father.  I continue to struggle, I continue to fail, but God in his mercy continues to pick me up, to set me back on my feet, and to allow me to continue.  This year I have been challenged, I have been corrected, I have been told “no”.  I have also seen the hand of God at work in my life in amazing ways and he has used events, people, and circumstances to stretch my faith and to draw me closer to him.

I am thankful that he is sovereign.  I am thankful that he knows how things will work out and what will happen even before I know there is anything going on.  I am thankful that he is unchanging.  I am thankful that no matter what my circumstances might look like that I can trust that God is in control so there is no need for me to worry.  I am thankful that he knows what is best for me.  I am thankful that he grants me peace beyond all understanding.

I am thankful that he is a just God.  He is a God who is perfect and cannot be in the presence of things unholy; he is a God of perfect and righteous judgement and wrath.  I am thankful that he is a God who knew that I would mess up but who deferred my judgement.  I am thankful that he sent his son to walk this earth, to die on the cross becoming my sin so I could be reconciled to him and invited into his presence and his family.  I am thankful for the blood of Christ that covers me.

I hope and pray that you know the God whom I love and serve.  If you are a fellow Christ follower, I am thankful that you are a brother or sister and that we will one day walk the streets of heaven together.  If you are not in that place, I am thankful that the Holy Spirit will continue to pursue you because God desires us all to come to repentence and be reconciled to him.

May you each have a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving holiday.

The ladies at MamaSpeaks have put together a nice gift guide for your Christmas giving needs this season.  The guide is divided into several categories: Rockin’ Tot, Girly Girl, Daddy Dearest, Knocked Up (for the mom-to-be in your life), Baby Makes Three, and Toy Joy; so there are ideas for people of all ages and areas of life.  They are also giving away great prize packages in each of these categories!  Check it out by clicking the MamaSpeaks button in the right sidebar.

Okay, I haven’t done so well at posting one thing I’m thankful for every day this month.   Oh well, I have tried to conciously take time each day to thank God for at least one thing.

Here we are a couple of days prior to Thanksgiving and I have a few pretty significant things to post about for which I’m thankful.  Today I’ll tackle some of them in list form and I’ll have a separate post tomorrow, then I’ll be absent for a few days as we celebrate Thanksgiving with family (you would have never known if I hadn’t said something, it’s not like I’m here all that often these days:-)).

1.  I’m thankful that I took the opportunity to participate in a Bible Study Fellowship class this year; I’ve talked about joining a BSF study a few times the last couple of years, and finally made the commitment back in September.  We are studying the book of Matthew, and I have been blessed by the lectures, the group discussions, and most of all by the time I have spent in the Word of God.  I am thankful for the leaders who give so much time to make the study what it is.  I am thankful for the other women who participate (especially my group) and speak life and truth into each other’s lives.  I am thankful that God is using this study in my life and the lives of so many women across the globe to draw us into deeper relationship with him.

2.  I am thankful that we will be able to spend time with Matt’s family this Thanksgiving; his parents, sister, and brother live about 10 hours from us, so we don’t see them as often as we would like.  I’m sorry that we won’t get to spend time with my sister-in-law and her family; they will be missed.  However, I’m thankful that the reason we won’t see them is because she is about 4 weeks from delivering a brand new, healthy, adorable nephew for us.

3.  I am thankful for good friends.  Over the last several years Matt and I have lived in cities where we are not near family, and our friends have become like family.  I am thankful for my friend Nicole who I left behind in East Tennessee, but who I still talk to regularly and see when we have the chance.  I had a very tough time when we first moved about 2.5 years ago, so I am thankful for my friends in our current city who have made living here a great experience.  I am thankful for the chance I had to eat lunch with my friend Diane last week.  I am thankful for the time I was able to spend with several of my girlfriends on Sunday.  I am thankful for the way our lives touch, the way we interact, and the way God has blessed my life with such wonderful women.

4. I am thankful for the precious Baby Boo who is growing and developing inside of me.  I am thankful that we had a good ultrasound yesterday and that Boo is happy and healthy in there.  I am thankful that God has chosen to gift our family with a precious baby boy this time around.  And on that note, here is a picture of mommy and Boo at 18.5 weeks (and yes, those would be short-sleeves and shorts I’m wearing today):