She's got markers, so...

Keep an eye on her, Mike.  That's what I said. That's what I meant. Eva loves to draw with markers, but she's 2.5 years old, so (DUH) it's best to have a "grown-up" there to keep tabs on the process. That's why I said (in case you missed it), "She's got markers, so keep an eye on her, Mike".  His very matter of fact, "ok" made me trust that he understood. Clearly, I had far too much confidence in his understanding, because he, in fact, did not understand. This is what transpired in the 2 minutes mom was not there and she was under daddy's watchful eye.

The camera happened to be right next to me so I grabbed it after looking at Mike and saying, 

"Seriously? Look at Eva!" 

How could I not capture this moment?

She was sitting ON the art table which is situated perfectly in front of a large mirror- NICE. 

I think Mike might be thinking something like, "Oh sh*t! How did that happen so fast!?" 

Welcome to parenthood, especially with toddlers :)

At this point, I think I said something like, 

"take the marker from her!!! oh my goodness, get it together!"

Daddy was getting a kick out of how well she got that marker into her belly button.

Somehow Mommy ended up giving her a bath. 

She had also gotten the back of her neck, under her hair, quite nicely. 

The water got dark blue by the time we were done. 

It was unreal, but the camera was no longer nearby, so I didn't get to capture it. 

I got this shirt perfectly white. Thank you Crayola washable markers. They are indeed very washable :) I suppose that's part of the lesson. If you have any markers that are not not washable NOT locked away in a freakin' safe and you have kids under the age of 6 in your house, you are not very smart.

fall makes it better

It's fall. The leaves are starting to change colors and the air is FINALLY starting to feel a much less like liquid and a little more like.... freshness :)
I'm not a huge fan of what I call "the extreme seasons".  I would be thrilled with just a few weeks of summer and winter, which I actually really enjoy for a minute or two. But, I just cannot get enough of the fall and spring. They always pass too quickly and I am always dreading their end.  This year hasn't been any different. This summer was hot. There were something like 50 days that were "hotter than hades" kind of days and I was happy to see it end. Now the fall is upon us and all that comes with it. Pumpkins and Indian Corn and Apple Cider and Apple Sauce and Candy Apples and Fall Foliage.... I am in seasonal heaven!
Something about fall has made a time that is difficult more bearable. There are some things that are hard right now, not devastating or major. Life is just "LIFE" right now. Challenging and stretching, but beautiful, too. We are walking it together as a family and trying to keep our eyes focused on Jesus as we journey along.  We are believing Him like we always do, because He's never failed us, never left us. There is much to be thankful for, much to praise the Lord for, too! We have babies (nieces and/or nephews) coming (one from Ethiopia), we have an amazing family, we are healthy, and we are children of the Most High God! What more could we possibly need?
A few fall pictures...

Just a random fall day- isn't he looking like a big boy?!?!

My fall table

Sibling love on a fall morning

Springton Manor Farm

ADORABLE 

Our crawler :)

DADDY!!

Sammy loves to be upside down. Diving in his future? His daddy thinks so! 

Evangeline is our little ball of sunshine 

Mama and Samuel

Mama and Evangeline

Schooligan

So, my first born had her first day of school about a month ago. Oh my word, the cuteness was beyond me. Completely, ridiculously cute.

It all started about a year ago when I would pick up either my niece or nephew from school with Eva. She loved it, especially when we got to go inside- book fair, Christmas show, etc. She would constantly talk about Judah and Addie's school and, eventually, began to ask if she could go. By the time the school year was over this last spring, she was starting to get upset when I told her she was too little to go to school. But when I heard that Windsor Christian preschool was starting, for the first time, and "2 and a 1/2 year old class", I didn't even hesitate for a second. I signed her up and made the very stupid mistake of telling her just that (IN MAY). HELLO!!!! Add that to the list of "dumbest mom moves"...

So, she managed to wait 4 months, almost driving me out of my mind in the process, and started school on September 9th. Her back-pack was literally as big as she was- all the kids have to use the same one, provided by the school- and it served as a very concrete reminder of how small she still is. But, she was positively giddy when the day arrived. She woke bright and early and asked for 3 hours if it was time for us to leave. She walked to her class with major gusto and waited impatiently outside until the teacher declared, "it's time to come in and get started". She bolted across the threshold and didn't look back. In fact, the teacher had to bring her back to the door to remind her to "say bye-bye to mommy and give her a kiss and a hug". Hello? Did the teacher really have to remind my kid to show me some love on the first day of school? Geez Louise.

When I came back to get her a few hours later, she looked pretty disheveled (no more pigtails) and greeted me with a huge hug and a "MOMMY!!!", but talked my ear off the rest of the day about how much fun she had at her new school. Her teacher sent a few pictures of their first day and in EVERY one she had only one pig tail in. Seriously? Did I really think that my attempt to cutify her would work when I wasn't there to "re-do" her hair every 2 minutes? I mean, even then, it's usually a disaster. Live and learn. Don't even give their cuteness a second thought, because they are so cute even when they look like complete wrecks :)

She has continued to absolutely love school and she is engaged and learning. It's been amazing to watch her soak in so much.  Our Evangeline: She's one dynamite little girl.

 

Another fun day at our favorite place...

We walk

 We run

 We make friends (with squirrels)

 We discover

 We feed the fish

 We stop and smell the flowers

 We laugh

 We get wet

 We marvel at the greatness of God's creation

We love it here at Longwood.

A forever family for Israel

On July 15th, my brother in law and sister, Neil and Jill Young, got news that their referral for a 4 year old little boy in an orphanage in Ethiopia had been accepted. Little Israel was declared their son through a simple phone call. In an instant, our family has grown and will include another precious child- a new brother, cousin, nephew. What a miraculous gift from our Creator God. We are beyond thrilled and now will pray fervently for him as he is far away from his new home and probably won't be able to join his forever family for several more months.

Please pray:
-For his safety (emotional, physical, spiritual) as he waits to join his forever family
-For his heart to be prepared for his new family
-For his biological father who let him go (his mother passed away)
-For his emotional healing
-For Judah as he accepts a new brother
-For Jill and Neil as they must endure more waiting
-For safety in traveling to Ethiopia twice to finalize the adoption and bring Israel home

Thank you to each and every person who has said a prayer, sent an encouraging e-mail or made an encouraging phone call, or contributed financially- You made this possible and the Youngs are so very grateful!

Prayers for my kids

I wrote a letter to Evangeline that I shared when we dedicated her at church when she was about 9 months old. I recently wrote a letter to Samuel as well, although we still haven't publicly dedicated him. We plan to do that at the next opportunity. I thought I would share these prayers here. This is our heart for our kids, and we are not ashamed to say it to anyone who will listen.

To Our Precious Evangeline Joy,

It is hard to even begin to express the love that we feel for you. We are so grateful to God for you- our most treasured gift from the Lord. We are in awe of His goodness towards us- He entrusted us to be your mama and daddy. We don’t deserve you, pumpkin! Our God is so gracious. It’s impossible to comprehend that God has blessed us with such a perfect little girl. For the first 5 or 6 weeks of your life, every time we looked at you we cried.

Everything about your life is precious. You were prayed into the world by many people of God before you were conceived, Angel! We have watched God orchestrate each and every moment to His glory. We praise the Lord because He revealed Himself to so many people through the miracle of your life. There were many moments before you came to be that we struggled with doubt- wondering if we would ever have the blessing of a baby and crying out to God to help us understand the pain and loss we had faced. When we got the news that you would be coming we cried out to the Lord to guard and protect you. We knew that there was nothing we could do in ourselves to keep you safe. He was so gracious to honor our request and blessed us with the gift of you! It’s easier to see His purposes now: YOU are the baby God had for us! Without the previous struggle and loss, you would not be here!

Our hearts desire to honor you and your life by honoring God, who gave you to us. We pray over you every single day that God would fulfill all of His purposes for your life. We pray also that you would be obedient to the call that God placed over you even before you were conceived. Angel baby, our God knew you then and he knit you together just as you are! We pray that God would grow in you the knowledge of Him and His Word that you may do great things for His Kingdom. When you were in my womb I dreamt that you would be a witness for the Lord and that your faith would far exceed that of ours. After that dream I began to pray that God would give you a double, triple portion of faith! Your name is a reflection of that dream- Evangeline, the bearer of Good News! We believe and stand in faith that not only will God draw you to Himself and you will accept Him as your Lord and Savior, but that you will also evangelize many with the Hope and Joy that we have in Jesus.

As your daddy and mommy, we commit today to make our marriage a priority. We desire to be an example to you of love, respect, and honor towards another. We further commit to be an example of daily quiet time with the Lord. We know that our words and actions are a direct reflection of our relationship with Christ, so we promise today to make Him the 1^st priority in our home. We are not, and will never be, perfect, but we will continually ask God to grant us great favor in raising you to be the woman He desires. We ask Him also to give us wisdom to help guide and direct your steps so that they align with His Word.

As we dedicate you to Jesus, there is great joy and a little pang in our hearts. We acknowledge today that you are not ours and we surrender you to the Lord. We plead with Him to guard you and protect you, to command His angels concerning you! Mostly, we pray that He would glorify Himself through your precious life.

Today, we praise God for what we can already see is a sensitive spirit and loving heart in you. We are so thankful that he has allowed us to nurture and love you. We wait in great anticipation knowing that God loves you desperately, even more than we, and will do great things in your life. Our lives’ greatest joy is being your daddy and mommy.

We love you, Precious Evangeline.

Daddy & Mommy

Dear Samuel Elias,

What a treasure you are! Every night as we stand at your crib and look down at you, we are reminded of God’s faithfulness to us in entrusting you to our care. We are so blessed to be your daddy and mama. We know that we do not “deserve” you or your sister- there is nothing so wonderful that we have done that God gave you to us. Instead, in His infinite mercy and grace, He has allowed us to have you for a short time to raise and nurture and teach. We promise to do that to the absolute best of our ability, knowing that we must rely on the Lord to help us and give us wisdom every step of the way.

When we found out that you were coming, we immediately began to pray for your life.  We asked God to protect you in my womb and that you would grow and develop exactly the way that God designed. Again, as He has been so many times, He was gracious and honored our request and you arrived on January 16^th, 2010. When we found out you were a boy, we were absolutely delighted! We prayed fervently for another baby before you were conceived and believed God to work a miracle to bring you into the world. This is why we named you Samuel, which means “asked of God”. We chose Elias as your middle name (“the Lord is my God”) because that is our overwhelming desire for your life- that you would choose the Lord your God and serve Him with everything you are given. We pray every day that God would fulfill all of His purposes in your life and that He would help us to raise you toward that end. We are such imperfect people, though, Sam! We will fail you. We already have in some ways. We believe and trust the Lord to cover over our shortcomings so that you come to know Him and love Him in a mighty way.

We know that you are going to be a mighty warrior for the Lord. You are such a strong boy! Even now, at 6 months old, we can see this character trait developing in you and we praise the Lord for that gift. We also see that you are incredibly joyful and delight in the presence of those who love you the most. You are certainly fearfully and wonderfully made by our Creator- we know that full well and pray that you do, too, as you grow and find your identity in Jesus. We ask the Lord to grow in you a desire to know Him more and more fully each day, and that, at a very young age, He would reveal Himself to you and you would accept His gift of salvation.

We plan to publicly dedicate you to the Lord at the next available opportunity, just like we did with Evangeline. As we do that, and as we did with her, we renew our commitment to make our marriage a priority. We pray that our love for one another is a reflection of the Lord’s love for you! We also commit to making time with the Lord a daily occurrence in our home through prayer, reading the Bible, and sharing our hearts regarding spiritual things. We see so clearly that our words and our actions are a direct reflection of our walk with Jesus.

Today, in our hearts and in our home, we surrender you to Jesus. It is our joy to do so, just as Hannah did with her Samuel in the Bible. However, in all truthfulness, it is difficult to hand you over to Him. Our flesh so desires to be in control even though we know that you are in capable and loving and perfect hands. Acknowledging that you are not ours, that you are His, is freeing and painful at the same time. Yet, we rejoice that the God who has overcome the world holds you close. We pray Psalm 91 over you- that God command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways, that no harm befall you, that no disaster come near your dwelling in Jesus’ name.

We love you more than you could ever know. You are a treasure, Samuel.  Our greatest joy is being parents to you and Eva. You have made our lives richer and fuller, precious boy!

Love, 

Daddy and Mama

Terrible Sleepers

My kids are terrible sleepers. It kinda feels good to see that in black and white. I'm forced to accept it- it makes it like, FACT. They wake during the night and can't get back to sleep and they wake in the morning at an ungodly hour. JUST LIKE ME. It's so strange how this all works...
I am incredibly sleep deprived and completely exhausted, yet it takes me hours to fall asleep some nights. When I am woken a few hours later by Sam's crying or Eva's "Mama!", it takes me hours to fall asleep again. How is this possible? I grow increasingly frustrated as the minutes tick tick tick by and ask myself, "Why am I not asleep?" over and over again. It makes my husband crazy. He thinks there is something wrong with me that only medication can help, and he's probably right. But, the adolescent drug and alcohol therapist in me knows that most sleep aids are addictive, and I just don't want to go down that road. I'll take my Tylenol PM on night's when I know it's going to be bad, which helps a little, and keep on moving. Truth is, it makes me crazy that my sleep issues make him crazy. HELLO! Who's the one who goes to bed an hour early and then listens to him snore the second his head hits the pillow one hour later? It makes me crazy enough some nights that I really want to kick him- HARD. He probably wouldn't wake up. It's so unfair.
I digress- back to my terrible sleepers. Some mornings I hop out of bed in a jolly mood ready to face the day. Some mornings, I fight the urge to cover my head with the pillow and ignore the crying or the "Come on, Mama!!" Of course, I always get up and attend to my kids, although not always with the best attitude. I'm irritated and annoyed that they kept me up all night and now are waking me at the crack of freakin' dawn. But then I see those faces. Those precious little bed head, blankey wrinkled faces. And, I MELT. We face the day together and make the best of whatever it brings. When all is said and done, it's almost always a good day with my munchkins.