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!