Activity

R thought his "activity" (i.e. nativity) needed a stable. So, my creative, innovative, imaginative son kicked his fisher price horses, cows, and farmers out of the barn to make room for the Baby Jesus. Hilarious and sweet and mindful...all at the same time. Notice the little blonde dog. He was not part of the nativity set that R's Nana gave to him, but (supposedly) he wanted to worship the Baby Jesus, too. Sorry there isn't a better view of Jesus, but it is kinda crowded in the Fisher Price Stable.

Makes me think...am I kicking out the extra in my life so that Jesus is always front and center to be worshiped and adored in my heart?

Christmas Cookies

Really, I just had to share this picture that my friend Courtney took of R yesterday. We had our MOPS small group Christmas Bunch, and everyone had a great time...especially the kids (who were totally hyped up on pumpkin bread, baked french toast, Christmas cookies, and icing.) Most of them just licked their icing stright off their knife once they had sufficiently loaded their cookie! Thanks, Courtney, for taking this great picture of my little one.

Cousins

When we were in Florida, my sis-in-law had a photographer take some pictures of our boys. Can you even believe these boys are related?!?! But, even though they look nothing alike (believe me, they ARE related by blood)...they play so great together and we had a great time. I am just grateful for the pictures to remember their time together...that doesn't happen often enough!!! If we lived closer, I feel like R and S could be best buds. Such sweet boys...

Christmas Tradition

Today was the official kick-off to Christmas for me. We shopped months ago, decorated weeks and weeks ago, and baked yummy treats last week. But today was THE DAY the Christmas begins for me. A local church had a live nativity that we attended this afternoon - twice. (Once was just not enough for my little R.) We also drove around Candy Cane Lane to see the lights. But the best of all was hearing my son pray tonight after devotions...

But, to back up a little bit...

I love Christmas and the traditions that means for our family. I honestly probably do a better job at teaching the Christmas story to R than I do Easter. R still struggles with Jesus as a grown up, so we have concentrated our efforts on Jesus as a baby/little boy and his reason for coming from that angle. Anyway, we have regular family devotions reading various parts of the Christmas story during the month of December, and we do these names of Jesus ornaments put out by Family Life named "Adornaments". These ornaments go over various names of Jesus and what they mean. R's prayer tonight made me realize that the traditions are not for naught!

"Dear Jesus,
I just want to thank you for who you are. Thank you that you came as a baby to die for our sins. Thank you that you are our door to heaven. Thank you that you are our Good Shepherd, our Savior, and our Immanuel. Thank you that you are with me all the time. Amen."

Thank you, God, that R is learning about You through our meager attempts. Thank you for using us to teach another generation.

Disney, Baby!

So, we had a great time in Florida...on the beach, eating seafood, seeing family, and going to DISNEY WORLD!! We had a fabulous time.

R said "I want to LIVE here, or I at least want to work here."

So...here (I hope) is a picture of R with his favorite Disney character...the famous, whacky, witty duck himself. Move over mouse!!

Haven't Managed the Picture

Well, I am not as smart as I think I am. After Thanksgiving I will try to figure out how to post a picture, but we are taking our little one to DISNEY the week after Thanksgiving. Actually, we are spending Thanksgiving at my brother's house in Florida, and the visit just includes a couple of days driving over to Orlando. We are super pumped.

Incidentally, the best creative idea I have had this year...Mickey Mouse and friends have been sending R letters about his trip to Florida. Included in the letter is always some small token or gift that he will be able to use on his trip. So, he has received...

• a paper chain to help count the days until we go (because I hate the "how long/how many days" question)
• a pack of gum for the plane ride
• a card game for the trip (we have a 6 hour layover on the way there)
• a small bit of spending money for Disney (to try to eliminate or reduce the "can I have" question)
• a new t-shirt with a favorite Disney character
• Instructions on what to put into a "packing pile"...I'm hoping to reduce my work today!

I would have bought each of these things anyway, but it is super fun to have him get them in a letter sent (from my husband's office) to R. He is LOVING getting mail, planning his trip, collecting things in his packing pile, etc. Never mind that half of the toys that he owns are presently sitting in his packing pile. Ha!

So...I will work on the picture when we return. I'm praying for a picture of R with the Mouse himself! R is scared of Bucky Badger, so I may just be dreaming...he thinks those characters at sporting events are too big!

By the way, I have found a favorite new blog that I wanted to share. Check it out this one is full of wonderful ideas to do with your crock pot! I've been trying to use mine more often, so I have bookmarked this page...http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/

Happy Thanksgiving! I'm going to pack; why am I blogging?!?!?

Picture Posting

This is my first attempt at posting pictures or video on a blog. Let's see how I do!

The below pictures are from the highlight of the summer -- our own personal tour of the the fire station. Fireman Joe was such a good sport and gave R a tour of every inch the fire station -- and spent almost two hours with R answering his questions about the life of a fireman. Needless to say, R, our resident firefighter, was THRILLED!



Okay...I'll come back to this. Wasn't successful first try.

Update - December, 2008...picture, obviously, managed. Why did I think that was so hard?!?!

Email and Facebook and Blogging, Oh, My!

It is blowing me away these days how many ways there are to communicate without ever REALLY communicating with someone. We email instead of (or in addition to) calling or letter writing. Now, we facebook little notes instead of a honestly "respectable email." And then, here I am writing a "blog letter" to my mystery readers. Since people are only finding my blog quite by accident instead of by my invitation, I still feel pretty anonymous. Is that really a good thing?

But, I have to laugh at myself. Within the last couple of months, I became part of the Facebook community. Yes, I know, I feel it too...I am too old for such craziness. But, it is fun and many of my highschool and college friends are using Facebook as well. It has been such fun getting re-acquainted with old friends without a huge time committment. Considering the craziness of my life with a 4 year old with special needs, I need things that can be interrupted at a moment's notice!

So, I'm on Facebook. One of my friends posted a video of my son playing the guitar with her husband and "tagged" me with it so that we could watch it. (It is a REALLY cute video, by the way.) Well, her husband commented on the video, and I wanted to send him a return note thanking him for taking the time to jam with my little one. So...I tried to comment to him three different ways. You see, on facebook you can 1) comment on someone's status, 2) write on their wall, or 3) send a message viewable only by them. So...I tried, and tried, and tried. I couldn't write Matt a message at all! How could this be? Did he block me somehow? Did he limit my profile to only a few little things I could view about him? Am I not as cool as I thought I was? I know our friends, Sarah and Matt, are cute and cool 23 year olds, but...

Well, I wrote a cheeky yet breezy message to Sarah, Matt's wife, letting her know that I felt totally uncool because Matt had limited my ability to write him notes. She had the joy of returning my message with the information that......

Matt and I weren't even friends on Facebook!

........and the humiliation and embarrassment were HUGE. It never occured to me to check to see if we were facebook friends and not just real-life friends. I have laughed at myself for two days! My sweet yet honest husband informed me that I had taken six steps forward toward coolness by joining Facebook, but that I had taken four steps backwards by my blunder in front of cool 20-somethings. Oh, well. I guess I'll just have to settle for being cool in the eyes of my little one...for now!

Now to see if I can post a picture for your viewing.

Why am I doing this blog?

Why, exactly, am I doing this blog???

I think I was having a knee-jerk reaction to 1) many of my friends having blogs that are very entertaining and thought provoking, and 2) needing an outlet to vent, and 3) having something on my mind after our latest trip south.

I am, however, questioning whether or not this is a good idea.

On another note, I have settled back into the midwest rather seamlessly...if you count still wearing orange today, Friday(Go Vols!!). Orange on Fridays is the most natural thing in the world to me; I have been doing this as long as I can remember. This morning, I clothed both myself and my little one in orange without even thinking about it....but the preschool teachers and moms did notice and comment. My husband would be proud; I was more or less embarrassed. I think I'll change my shirt before I pick my son up from school today.

missing tennessee

This being my first official blog entry, I thought I would explain the title.

It's not that I'm not grateful that my sweet husband has a job...because he does have a terriffic career that is well-suited to him.

It's not that I'm not grateful for my home...because I am slowly falling in love with the house that we have been working on and remodeling for a year now.

It's not that I don't love my little corner of the world...because I wouldn't trade my roles of wife and mother for anything. I absolutely love my husband and my little four year old boy, or "my two boys."

It's not that I don't love my friends...because I am grateful for friends in the place that I live.

But...I really miss the South. I am, in truth, displaced from the South to the midwest. We have been in the midwest for four years now and I am thankful for a community of people -- anywhere I might be living. But, we were in Tennessee last week visiting family and I noticed a stark contrast in cultures. No wonder our country can't agree on issues such as politics because basic cultures are so vastly different in various regions of the country.

In the South, people would find it weird and rude if you didn't wave as they drove past while you were out for a walk. In the midwest, or at least my neighborhood, people wonder why you are waving. Same basic idea and contrast for talking in line at the grocery store or the pickup line at preschool. I miss the slow-paced relational way that the South has. I miss pleasant chit-chat throughout the day as you pass people. I miss the weather, but don't get me started about that...