God is love!

Being a parent has certainly allowed me to reevaluate God's love for me.  This is true for many reasons, but recently, I am so thankful that God loves me in spite of my selfishness, unreasonableness, and constant need to control.  I see Zeke struggling with those sins and realize what a mess I could be to God.  BUT...

I am HIS child and He does not see me as a selfish, unreasonable, control freak.  He sees me as pure and blameless as I continue to seek Him and surrender things to Him.  Yes, this is an ongoing process, for sure, but all I have to do is ask, and He wipes my slate clean.  How grateful am I!

I want to love my children unconditionally.  I want them to know Christ and accept God's love in spite of their imperfectness.

Now for some updates about what we've been up to lately (note: I'll write Adalynn's update next week with her 9 month pics)!

It seems each day is full of moments I want to remember.  Zeke makes me laugh, causes me to be in awe, and causes me to draw nearer to God (otherwise, I'd go crazy...see above!).  He is full of personality and opinions.  We continue to pray that his strong will may be used for the Kingdom of God someday in a mighty way. 

He loves to run and play outside with Browning, play on his playground, and just get dirty (he is a typical little boy, after all).  He is also very analytical and structured.  He continues to enjoy sorting things, counting, reading, and has recently started enjoying coloring.  We have started home school lessons a few days/week where we discuss character qualities such as compassion and kindness.

He wanted to set it up just like the box!

"Mommy, 12 of them have 2 wheels and 3 have 3 wheels."

While Gregg was out of town, our neighbor down the street came over and picked up our pine straw, laid it in the beds, and mowed.  He went and picked up 2 guys he knows who are in need of work from across town.  I was able to pay them, but our neighbor wouldn't accept pay.  He is incredibly kind and it was a perfect way to show Zeke kindness in our everyday life.

We have also been practicing writing Z-E-K-E, but his fine motor skills are not quite there yet.  We will continue practicing with no pressure until he is really developmentally ready.  He has a great time coloring.  This was the first picture where I think it clicked when I said, "Stay in the lines!" (we gave it to our new next door neighbor to show kindness)

Because I am a HUGE fan of Christmas decorations, we have started decorating already.  We have been talking a lot about Zeke's nativity scene.  He's very interested in the three wise men because we told him he would receive three gifts at Christmas just like Jesus did (although one of his is from Santa and two from Mommy and Daddy...I don't think Jesus got a gift from Santa!).  Anyway, I let him smell my frankincense and myrrh essential oils.  I showed him my gold earrings too, and he asked to smell them..ha!  We are enjoying reading Christmas books and watching BOZ and Veggie Tales Christmas DVDs as well.

"Happy Birthday, Jesus""

Lastly, I want to mention the quick, but much appreciated visit from my mom while Gregg was out of the country.  She drove down after BSF on a Thursday and had to leave Sunday at noon, but we got a lot done (hung art, organized some of the garage, moved curtain rods, patched/painted, went to Walmart, she sewed) and had such a great time together.  Words can't express how thankful I am for her!

Vinyl wall art ~ 1 Corinthians 10:31

We placed this in my laundry room/pantry...I love it!

Cloth Diaper Reveiw

Occassionally, I have the opportunity to write a guest blog post for some of my blogger friends.  A couple of months after Adalynn was born, I wrote a cloth diaper review for, "Your Thriving Family."  Adalynn and I tested a Lotus Bumz diaper!

Just click on the underlined "Lotus Bumz Review" below.  You'll also see a little picture of tiny baby Adalynn! ~ Lotus Bumz Review

And here is a recent picture of Adalynn...just for fun!

Baby gator and police man

It is November 2, 2013 and I put the kids in their "Halloween" costumes today!  We didn't do anything on the 31st and actually didn't have ANY trick or treaters come to our home.  Apparently, we live "out in the country!"  That is okay with Gregg because he gets to eat the candy!

This year we continued to wrestle with the idea of celebrating Halloween.  We don't like the history behind it, yet we know that is not what most families in our culture are celebrating.  We also don't want to just go along with the masses because "everybody is doing it."  We want to be intentional about how we raise our children.  We do not serve sugary candy to them, so we also have a hard time getting them all dressed up to go to other people's doors to ask for it!

My friend Sara, wrote a thoughtful post on the subject: I'm Struggling with Halloween this Year

A good friend and I had a conversation about this recently.  She reminded me that we do not have to make a decision for the rest of their lives.  We can take it a year at a time.  In her neighborhood, they feel like they would be alienating themselves from their neighbors that do not know the Lord if they didn't participate in some small way.  They do not wear any costumes rooted in witch craft (devils, witches, ghosts, etc.), but do dress up and socialize with their neighbors.  In Americus, families generally go to the historical part of town where the houses all look a little spooky (in my opinion).  Our neighbors are mostly older couples, so it is not really an issue here.  

Hopefully we will find a new church home soon.  Many churches have fall festivals, trunk or treat, etc., so that might be an option to allow our kids to wear costumes.  As my mom reminded me, I used to start planning my costume for the following year the day after Halloween.  I just liked to dress up for fun (maybe that's why I became a ballerina)!

I'd like to create a dress up bin for the kids (like Sara mentioned in her post).  Why not dress up randomly throughout the year?!!

If you are reading this and you take your children trick or treating, please do not feel judged by me (us).  We support your decision and honestly feel torn about ours.  However, Gregg and I still do not feel peace from the Lord about taking the kids trick or treating quite yet.

Now for a little fun.  Here is a little comparison of Zeke and Adalynn in the gator costume as infants:

Now we get to look forward to giving thanks and celebrating Jesus' birth.  Happy fall and God bless!

Adalynn is 8 months old!

I was amazed that I was able to keep track of Adalynn's month stickers while living in the apartment, etc., but somehow they have been misplaced now that we are in our new home.  I had to improvise and use an "8" block for the photo this month.  I think it still turned out great! 

Here are some other shots from our impromptu late night photo session...

As you can imagine, I was very pleased at how much she enjoyed playing with the little ballet slipper! 

She is getting stronger, and more interactive with each day that passes.  She likes to go from sitting to laying down, and rocks on all fours like she wants to crawl.  I know it won't be long until she is mobile!  We are continuing to slowly settle into our new home and thank God every day for all of His blessings!