Seeking

I ran across this excerpt in early December. I wanted to post it the week of Christmas, but that didn't happen. On the Eve of a new year (how is it a new year already??), I think this is a good reminder to me of where my focus needs to be in 2010.

Be diligent in your search.
Be hungry in your quest, relentless in your pilgrimage.
Step away from puny pursuits of possessions and positions,
and seek your King.
Don't be satisfied with angels.
Don't be content with stars in the sky.
Seek Him out as the shepherds did.
Long for Him as Simeon did.
Worship Him as the wise men did.
Do like John and Andrew: Ask for His address.
Do as Matthew: Invite Jesus into your house.
Imitate Zacchaeus. Risk whatever it takes to see Christ."

-from Just Like Jesus by Max Lucado

Jeremiah 29:11 is often quoted, but verses 12, 13 and 14 are left out.

11.For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
12.Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.
13.You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
14.I will be found by you," declares the Lord

What are you seeking in 2010?

Run, Run As Fast As You Can, You Can't Catch Me I'm The Gingerbread Man

Thanks to Grandma and Papa Charlie, we were able to have some fun on Christmas Eve decorating some gingerbread cookies for Santa.

I had to mix up the icing (pure sugar with a splash of milk). Fletcher begged to lick one of the beaters. I normally don't let him since what I am making usually has raw eggs, but this time I said yes. I thought Luke would enjoy it too. Boy, was I wrong. He would not have anything to do with it. You would think we were making him eat collard greens or something. You can see from the picture below that he was not happy.

Then things changed when we broke out the candy and started decorating. He used every single gumdrop on his cookie.

Then he decided to use every single candy ball on his next cookie. You can just imagine how frustrated Fletcher was getting since Luke was taking all the candy.

Note the death grip on the arm. Brotherly love at its finest.

Kevin decided to get all biblical on us. Can you guess what Bible character he made?

Joseph and the coat of many colors.

Our finished products for Santa. I let Fletcher have the frosting bag to do whatever he wanted. You can see his creation at the top. That's the one Santa chose to eat.

Looks Like Santa's Toy Sack Exploded In Our Living Room

Before:


After:

Opening a few gifts on Christmas Eve.

Luke wasn't too sure about "Harry" the puppet Aunt D and Uncle D sent to Fletcher.

Checking out the stockings.
Sadie was pouting. All Santa brought her was one lousy Greenie biscuit in her stocking.

Christmas Outakes

From Everyone On Snickelfritz Lane

We hope your Christmas is filled with joy and laughter and special memories. But most of all we hope you take time to remember the best gift we've ever received: Jesus.

P.S. Stay tuned next week for a few more Christmas related posts. We ran out of days...

Ornaments

We've tried to find an ornament each year since we've gotten married. I use the term "we" loosely because it has generally been "me" trying to keep the tradition alive (Love ya' babe). Initially, when I was newly married with no kids, I tried to find an ornament that represented something big that year. I thought long and hard and asked Kevin for suggestions. But now almost 12 Christmases and 2 kids later, I'm doing good to pop in to the 7 Eleven and carve 2009 on a beef jerky stick and hang it on the tree. Left to right.
1998 - our first Christmas as a married couple.
1999 - we bought our first house and spent tons of time working on it (thus the tools).
2000 - Sadie came into our lives. For you detail oriented people, our real dog does have a long beagle tail. I thought I didn't put any breakable ornaments on the tree this year, but some little hands proved me wrong. Tail is now in junk drawer waiting to be glued back on.

2001 - we moved to Tallahassee and bought a new house. We were supposed to move in by November but that didn't happen. Then when we finally did move in the wood floors were a mess with huge gaps in them. It was a very stressful time that year. So yes, that is a piece of wood flooring as our ornament.
2002 - The HGTV Dream House. Through Kevin's job, he had the opportunity to be the project manager for the HGTV house they give away each year. This one was in the Florida Panhandle. He spent lots of time there, but it turned out great. (This ornament looks nothing like the actual house. I just needed a representative house).

2003 - Nine days before Christmas, Fletcher was born. What an awesome gift!

2004 - Now we get to start buying family ornaments. I didn't think a poopy diaper or spit up on a burp rag would be an appropriate ornament although that did represent our year.

2005 - I started getting lazy. Found this dated picture frame ornament at Target and inserted our family Christmas picture.

2006 - Hard to see in the picture, but it is a little boy looking out the window waiting for Santa. Waiting represented our year that year. Waiting to adopt another baby. Waiting to hear about Kevin's job. This is also the year we moved to the Carolinas.

2007 - Luke joined our family. Yes, I realize this baby has blond hair and Luke's hair is brown. Two kids is a whole new ball game.

2008 - This is one of those Willow Tree ornaments called "Family". I liked it. I bought it. That is all. Side note: I realize the Willow Tree stuff creeps some people out since they don't have eyes or facial features. I'm ok with that. I have a few other pieces and their simplicity is cool to me.

2009 - Wait... where is the 2009 ornament? Time to head to 7 Eleven.

Eleven years of memories. Do you have ornaments for every year?

Gettin' Our Craft On

I'm not that crafty although I love looking at and reading about what other people have made. Another blog reminded me of the good old traditional paper snowflake and how easy it is to make. Fletcher and I pulled out the paper and started folding and cutting. He really had a great time trying to make different patterns and see what would turn out. We were talking about how no two real snowflakes are exactly alike and how that's like us - God makes each person unique. Little did I know that two of the white pieces of paper were stuck together when he cut them and he did indeed create two identical snowflakes (see picture). Gotta love those teachable moments even when I'm not sure what to teach.

By the way, the blue and green panels are new. They are in our entryway. We did not make those. Now that would be crafty! They are made of wood and let's just say you would have laughed seeing me trying to carry all three of them at the same time to the front of the HomeGoods store so I could buy them. I didn't have a cart because I had just run in to browse around. Those were the only three there and there were lots of people shopping. I didn't want someone else to buy them while I went to the front of the store to get a cart. Is that ridiculous?! Don't answer that. Finally, I got the attention of a stock room guy and he helped me carry them the rest of the way. If I get tired of the colors or want to use them somewhere else in the house, I can always spray paint them a different color!

Challenge

Why clunk around in Daddy's boring old work shoes, when Mommy's heels are much more of a challenge. Plus, they make really cool LOUD noises on the wood floors.

No Surprise

We went to the "fancy" mall in town to see Santa. Rumor has it that their Santa is better than the Santa at the other "regular" malls.


The pictures and video below probably come as no surprise to anyone.


Fletcher just reconfirmed to Santa what he wanted.


Side note: I did the portablenorthpole.tv video for Fletcher and Luke. If you are a parent, check it out - you answer a few questions online then Santa sends your child a personalized video. Fletcher was fascinated that his name and picture were in Santa's book.


Luke - not so much. Wanted absolutely nothing to do with an old guy in a red suit. He said over and over, "He scaring me."


With my mad video and picture taking skilz, I tried to switch from video to still photos in mid visit so I didn't get a good shot of either. But I think you get the idea.

The video actually came before the two pictures above. You can bet he was not happy at all.

Holy GPS

I am on a mailing list for John Piper's ministry called Desiring God. Each month he sends a letter with a brief devotional thought. This month's letter was written by Jon Bloom, Executive Director.

This excerpt below was a good reminder for me in this economy and in this Christmas season:

The Holy Family's first few years were not tranquil. They were filled with grueling travel during the hardest part of pregnancy, a birth in worse than a barn, no steady income, an assassination attempt, two desert crossings on foot with an infant, living in a foreign country, waiting on God for guidance and provisions just in the nick of time. It was difficult, expensive, time-consuming, career delaying and full of uncertainty.

And it was God's will.

The unplanned, inefficient detours of our lives are planned by God. They are common for disciples, and they commonly don't make sense in the moment. But God's ways are not our ways because our lives are about him, not about us. He is orchestrating far more than we know in every unexpected event and delay.

So when you find yourself suddenly moving in a direction you had not planned, take heart, hold tight, and trust God's navigation.

Literal Lyrics

Song on Radio: The Little Drummer Boy

Fletcher: Mom, when I get to heaven, I'm going to ask Jesus if there was really a drummer boy* there who played for him when he was born.

(*We've had the conversation that the Bible doesn't specifically mention a drummer boy. The songwriter is just describing how it might have been, but we don't know for sure.)

Song on Radio: God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman

Fletcher: That person is singing this song wrong.
Mom: What do you mean?
Fletcher: They keep saying "Merry Gentlemen."
Mom: Yes, that's part of the song.
Fletcher: Mary isn't a gentleman. She is a lady.

Luke's favorite Christmas songs so far: Jingle Bells, Frosty the Snowman and Do You Hear What I Hear?
He doesn't know all the words to Frosty the Snowman so he just sings "snowman, snowman, snowman" to the parts he doesn't know. Cracks me up everytime he does it. I like a man that can improvise!

Happy Birthday, Fletcher!

We celebrated Fletcher's birthday this past Friday with his kindergarten classmates. The jumped on inflatables and played laser tag. Many of the kids had never played laser tag before. Some didn't like the dark and others thought the packs were too heavy so they went back and jumped more. Fletcher loved it. He especially liked the fact that Kevin was on his team and they won most of the games. We won't go into Kevin's competitive nature and the fact that I had to gently remind him that these kids were only 5 and 6 and he might want to let the other team win at least once. We won't be doing a party like this every year because they can get expensive, but I hope when he is older (and in therapy) he will remember what an awesome 6th birthday he had.

Happy Birthday, Fletcher! We love you.

Dear Santa

Fletcher started asking tonight if the Tooth Fairy was real. Our parental responses, "What do you think?" "Did you get money the last two times you lost a tooth?"

Then he asked why she comes at night.

I said maybe it was because if she came during the day too many kids would want to talk to her and play with her and she wouldn't be able to get any work done.

Ahhhhhhh...I'm not ready for these conversations yet. I figured I had at least one more year.

I guess not.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

One More Time

I know I've posted this video before, but it just never gets old. Just trying to spread a little holiday cheer! I think my favorite part is around the 1:02 mark when his shoulders drop like he is a little tired.

Yesterday

Yesterday was my birthday.

Yesterday we got take out from Chili's for dinner.

Yesterday we had chocolate ice cream cake from Cold Stone Creamery to celebrate.

Yesterday I got some really fun gifts from my friends and family including a neat keychain, a new wallet, a Reisenthel basket and some cool little mini cocettes and a cookbook to go with them.

Yesterday I received countless emails and Facebook comments from friends and family wishing me a Happy Birthday.

Yesterday I received some sweet birthday cards in the mail. Even got one from our neighbors because she remember that I share a birthday with her son. How cool is that?

Yesterday morning I spent two hours at the doctor's office with Luke.

Yesterday they did a test and told me he had strep throat. It is really hard for a two year old to get strep throat. This particular two year old has had no symptoms to speak of. He has been eating and sleeping like normal. His extra stinky breath tipped us off. He had to get a shot. But a lollipop made that all better.

Yesterday afternoon I spent most of the afternoon doing laundry while Luke napped. I couldn't exactly go anywhere with a contagious toddler which is why we had take out for dinner.

Yesterday was a good day. Not exactly how I envisioned spending my birthday, but still good. I am loved by many people. God has blessed my life immeasurably more than I can imagine (Eph. 3:20).

Two of the funniest moments?
Picture this: Candles on the cake are lit. Fletcher and Kevin are singing Happy Birthday.
K & F: Happy Birthday to you.
Luke: It my birfday
K & F: Happy Birthday to you.
Luke: (louder) It my birfday
K & F: Happy Birthday dear Mommy
Luke: (even louder) No. No. Say happy birfday Wuke
K & F: Happy Birthday to you.
Luke: It my birfday.

Fletcher: Mom! I told my whole class that you are 41 years old today.
Mom: Oh... thanks (I think).

Shoeboxes!

On Monday we had the opportunity to go to one of the Operation Christmas Child processing centers for an open house to see what happens to our shoeboxes once we fill them with goodies and turn them in. I didn't get a picture of the map showing all of the countries the boxes are going to this year. But some of the countries include Cameroon, Georgia (near Russia, not the state), Iraq, and St. Kitts. The project started in 1993 and they've sent out 60+ million boxes. Each year it takes over 120,000 workers to process the boxes.

The volunteers told the children how the boxes travel sometimes by truck, dog sled, elephant and even camel! Fletcher got to be the plane.

The center was closed for this special Family Day but normally there are hundreds of volunteers along these lines sorting, inspecting, taping, and boxing up the shoeboxes to be sent to their final destinations.

Some of the boxes have very specific rules depending on what country they are going to.

This volunteer was explaining to Fletcher and his friend Noah how the boxes get sorted into bigger girl boxes and boy boxes.

It is hard to see in the photo, but there is a "Shoe Box Hospital" for boxes that come in that are damaged or cracked. Some items have to be taken out of the boxes (war toys, liquid, chocolate, etc) and they are replaced with "filler items" that are safe for the children to have.

The boxes move along these conveyor belts. The parking lot had several semi trailers that are also filled with boxes. I forgot to take a picture of that.

At the end of the tour, Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber from Veggie Tales were there to greet the kids. (Luke was here, but he isn't in any of the photos because he was strapped in his stroller eating his snack most of the time. He wanted *nothing* to do with the freakishly GIANT garden vegetables).

I think Fletcher enjoyed it and learned alot. I really enjoyed seeing how it all works. It is amazing that the place we went is only one of 6 or 7 processing centers around the country. I'd love to volunteer here one day. They told us that groups come from all over the country to volunteer (senior adults, women's groups, youth groups, etc).

When we made our boxes, we signed up with EZ Give which is supposed to allow us to track our package and see where it ends up. We did three boxes this year so I wonder if all three will go to the same place. We'll see.

No Way!

When I sat down to write this post, my handy little blogger thingy said this was my 400th post! Four hundred! It is hard to believe I've written four hundred of these things.

So I'm not sure what to do to celebrate a 400th post. Does Hallmark make a card for that?

Here's a thought. Just for fun. Leave me a comment and let me know who you are and how you know me and if you have a favorite post (with 400 it might be hard to choose). I have no idea who reads this little blog so it might be fun to find out -- unless you are a creepy stalker type in which case I would prefer that you not leave a comment.

Happy 400th post to me!

That Didn't Take Long

Mom: Fletcher, what happened?
Fletcher: Luke was touching the lights and I told him to stop.
Mom: And...
Fletcher: I tried to take the lights from him.
Mom: And...
Fletcher: The tree started jiggling.
Mom: And...
Fletcher: I don't know what happened.
Mom: Where were you?
Fletcher: We might have been under the tree.

At this point I sent both of them to their rooms because it was inappropriate for me to get video footage for the blog while they were watching. That might somehow affirm their behavior. Luke was happily playing completely unaware of the chaos he helped cause. Fletcher was crying in his room saying, "Christmas is ruined! It is just ruined. Ruined forever." Overreact much?

This could be the longest 18 days of my life.

Turn To The Right**

Luke missed his Thanksgiving party at school so on Tuesday of this week he brought home a bag with some of the things he had made.

This photo was in the back of a little "Blessings" book filled with prayers they say at lunch time and other prayers. This was inside the back cover.

I asked, "Luke, what were you doing in this picture?"

He responded proudly, "I smilin', Mama"

Oh...I'm glad he cleared that up. I thought I had mistakenly received his FBI mug shot.

**Bonus points if you can name the movie!

Lights, Camera...

There's a great little park in Tallahassee that decorates with lights at Christmas. People can drive through to look at the lights or stop and walk around. One night we drove through and Luke kept saying, "Hold hands, Mommy. Unbuckle me." So we went back the next night to walk around. It was fun just watching Luke's reaction to all of the colors and decorations.

Luke was much more interested in looking at lights. He didn't have time to pose for a picture.

Kevin took the camera and started playing with the settings and took these cool pics.

Do You Remember?

So much we take for granted...

Having a school mascot.

Learning to count to 100 without missing any numbers.

Learning to tell a joke.

Oh how I love him.

Getting Into The Holiday Spirit

Why do I see smashed guitars and heavy metal in his future?

Friends Like That

I came across this video on youtube and since we've been out of town for the last 6 days, I probably should be unpacking and doing laundry instead of blogging. So posts this week may be of the random sort.

The video is a little long, but let's face it, if you are taking time to read the blog then you probably have some time to kill. It really starts at the 1:48 mark. The amazing thing (she mentions this at the end) is that all of the participants were from all over the country. The main guy sent out lyrics & tapes, coordinated dance moves, and planned everything secretly to surprise their friend. She is a blessed woman. Just in case you don't pick up on it, she has a theater background.

Flash Mob At Church

Our pastor is preaching through the book of John. Last Sunday his text was John 4. The woman at the well. Some are familiar with the story of her transformation. But looking further we see that God really used her story to impact her entire town. These people saw such an amazing change in this woman they had probably shunned and mocked for years that they had to come and see for themselves. One person. A catalyst for changed lives.

Our church is far from traditional. They've done some pretty crazy things to illustrate sermon points. I think that's a good thing. To illustrate the above point, there was a flash mob dance in church to a lyrics altered version of The Black Eyed Peas song "I've Got a Feeling".

A flash mob is a group of people who get together at a specified place to do something (usually dance) to the surprise of onlookers. One of the most recent ones was during Oprah's season opening show on the streets of Chicago. I don't have the video of the one from our church, but it was the same dance. Picture the dance below in the first 15 or so rows in the church. Fletcher was in church with us and got to see it too.

Note: For those readers who may have little ears nearby, the original song is very catchy, but the lyrics are a little suspect. Our church changed the lyrics for Sunday. Just so you know.

The best quality video is on Oprah's website here. Watch the girl in the audience in the very front and center. But if you don't feel like clicking over, here's a taped version.

Thankful

I have so many things to be thankful for today. Here are three of my biggest blessings. One of the three was behind the camera.

Ok so I'll say what you might be thinking. Yes, I realize Luke's sweater is a little big. In some of the pictures he looks like he is missing hands. But it is such a cute sweater and I was afraid by this time next year it will be too small. So he wore it anyway.

I hope you and yours take time today to reflect on God's many blessings in your own lives.

Happy Thanksgiving 2009!