A Birthday

Today is my husband's mom's birthday. She is my children's Gran. She is my mother-in-law, my MomMom, my friend. And many other precious names to many other people!

My heart aches as I begin to put words together in my mind for this post... how can I describe the beauty of this woman to you??

We love her so much and we are secure in her love for us. She leaves no doubt in our hearts of her abounding love for us. 

I cannot find mere words to do her justice...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lord, thank you for this woman. Thank You that You loved her first and so she loves... and loves, and loves. How beautiful she is, You well know, for You are as enraptured by her as we are, indeed even more so, I am sure. 

Thank You for her life, on this day, celebrating her birth. How many people You have touched through her, only You know. We are blessed. Blessed.  

B-l-e-s-s-e-d. 

Happy Birthday Dear Gran-MomMom!

XOXO

Babies and such...

Nate and I and 'our' babies. haha.

The dear friends that I have been babysitting for had their second child and I have been getting some baby time with little Alex for a bit while his big sister, Aliese, gets some time with Mommy to herself, which is always good. Aliese will be two in February and I started watching her a couple of days a week, two years ago, when Amber went back to work after maternity leave. Alex was born on Thanksgiving last and Amber's maternity leave will be up the end of February and I will get to have Alex and Aliese two days a week.

Nate's 'babies' are the d-o-g-s. We have to spell it because Daisy, our pug, doesn't believe she is a d-o-g and gets her feelings hurt when we call her one. Lola, the pug/beagle mix next to her, has been with us for a couple of weeks and seems to be fitting into the fam fairly well.

Jacob is an imaginative, building machine! Not only does he build the kits to 'code' as per the directions, but he can build even better creations all on his own! Almost every weekend, he comes up with some great thing he has built out of his own imagination with legos or lego bionicle. Great stuff. He is amazing. He is also full of mischief lately and pulling quite the pranks! He pickpockets Nate's phone from him. The other day, Nate thought he caught Jacob trying to GET his phone from him, but actually he caught Jacob putting it BACK! He had swiped it, TOOK OUT THE BATTERY, and was slipping it back into Nate's pocket! He is quite hilarious!

And I have to tell you this great story about Miss ELL. She is our girly-girl for lack of a better way to put it. She loves Pretty.

 When she was about two years old, I thought I would go off my rocker, because all she wanted to wear every day was a pretty dress that swung out when she twirled. She would not agree to wear it until she twirled to see if it did what she wanted.

Now, when Gran was here, we thought it would be fun to give her a foot massage/soak/pedicure. Ellie was very excited about the idea....until,

it came time to rub Gran's feet.

Now, Gran has some of the purdiest feet I've seen, this is by no means an unpleasant task!

But our Ellie-girl had a bit of a struggle with it and wasn't quiet about it!

Sweet Gran, thankfully, was able to take it in stride and Ellie 'got through it'. Ha!

Maybe someday when she buys a professional pedicure she'll give the sweet thing an extra tip!

Ah, life lessons....

I love my chil'ns!

Latest...

This is Lola, she is a pug/beagle mix. We are giving her a try.

AND PHOEBE LOST A TOOTH! AND she did it all by herself!

Cutie-pants huh.

Mama Says... (I loved this and cut and paste it from my sista-friend, Vicki!)

You get what you get and you don't throw a fit!

Pretty is as pretty does.

Clean as you go!

Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without!

BE SWEET!

Don't say anything you wouldn't want said about yourself.

Be a peacemaker!

Pray about it.

Keep looking, it is around here somewhere.

Treat others the way you want to be treated. (the golden rule)

Get a Kleenex!

Wash your hands!

Wear socks or your feet will stink!

Maybe for Christmas or your birthday.

We give, don't take.

Time for a ten-minute tidy.

Thank you Lord!

Did you brush your teeth?

Is everyone buckled?

Did you know Jesus' first miracle was water into wine.

Let's Pray...

Goings On

Here is the wondrous tree Phoebe picked out! She did a great job, didn't she!

I have been craving my mama's fudge for about 3-4 years, since we moved away! So finally, I feel inspired to cook, bake, and make since it the season for goodies! My mama's fudge is my fav and my first attempt at the recipe was a success! Nate helped! Yay! Thanks, Mom!

Not so easy to get a good pic of the magic of a decorated, lit up Christmas tree. I personally, like the fuzzy pic better. Don't you?

See below if you are a detail person. :) haha

Happy Birthday, Natey! (*updated 12/17/09)

More to come...

I need to scan a few. But just look at him!

In lieu of 14 regular stick candles, I used a little creativity (certainly not b/c upon getting ready to light and sing, I dig through entire cupboard and drawer to find I have no little box of stick candles!) and used the "Its the Big 1" candle from when Nate turned One! Plus a "3" candle and one little stick candle!! What?! It was fine! Besides the cake was yummy, and we sang and he blew out some fire! OK?! :)

Touches my heart

The following is an excerpt from the very beautiful end of my Esther Bible study by Beth Moore. I did this study on my own this summer and I loved it. I have been very in love with Esther's story since my dear friend, Bethany, gave me a novelized version of the story to read called Hadassah, One Night with The King, by Tommy Tenney. This ending in my workbook absolutely chokes me up every time I read it. I want to live my life so that the telling of my story is honoring to my Storyteller. Lord, help me...

 One day on the hillside of the new Jerusalem, surrounded by a crowd of glad hearers, the divine Narrator will tell the story of one young woman’s life. It will not be Esther’s. It will not be your teacher’s. It will be yours.

The story will begin something like this: “Once upon a time, in the days of the great and glorious Jesus, King of the vast empire of heaven and earth, there was a little girl who thought she was forgotten. Her name was Adrian but the King called her Beloved. This is the story of how she won His favor.” And with all the drama and emotion a great storyteller can muster, the Rabbi will read the congregation your whole Megillah. The listeners will groan. Bite their nails with suspense. It will be a raucous affair. With every mention of the villain’s name, the crowd will heckle and jeer. Then at the height of the story, when hope seems lost and her life and loves most threatened, He will say these words to the crowd:

“But if only she’d known, she had come to royal position for such a time as this!” By faith alone, to her face she will fall… then to her feet she will rise, ready to do what deliverance demands. Then the Rabbi will quote her resolve: “And if I perish, I perish” and the crowds will stand and cheer! For what if she does perish? Is that the worst this world’s wicked Haman can threaten? On the day that she does, this is what will happen: She will put on her royal robes and stand in the inner court of the palace, in front of the King’s hall. The King will be sitting on his royal throne in the hall, facing the entrance. When he sees his queen standing in the court, he will be pleased with her and hold out to her the gold scepter that is in his hand (Esth 5:1-2).

And she will approach.

And cast her crown at His feet.

“God rewrote the text of my life when I opened the book of my heart to his eyes. (Ps 18:24, The Message)