Moments

 Sick Grant and myself, waiting for the dr.


favorite moment from the day: snuggling with my favorite four-year-old at the dr.'s office. reading Cat and the Hate while waiting.  In all of his congestion he was reading along with me and chatting about the pictures.  As bad as I feel that he's sick, the {1 1/2 hour} wait for the dr. gave me such good time with him before I leave for Africa!

[re] learned today: our lives are so, so short.  Choose to do stuff that will count for eternity!

said one million & thirty six times today: I know you don't, buddy. 

{in response to "I not feel well, momma}.

frivolous thing i'm most thankful for right now: Diet Coke.

song i'm listening to right now:Lead Me by Sanctus Real

[okay....now it's your turn! you answer these 5 things.]

Monday

 gracie. 

A week from today, I'll be in Africa.

Kind of mind-blowing, really.  I'll be across the globe, serving, for His Glory.  

My to-do list is long.  Today I'm definitely feeling the pressure of leaving in 5 days.

My heart overflows, too.  Overflows with thankfulness that I just get to GO.  With hurt for the orphaned and oppressed.  With anger at injustice.  With awe at the God we serve.

As I tackle the to-do list, it's with excitement. anticipation. 

praying for God to use me, use our whole team, to be a light in darkness.  

to be used in some small way to share the love of Christ.

Off to make soup. and enchiladas. and pack. and clean. and read. and organize. and play.

Hope you're having a good Monday!

Silly Gracie

Leaving for Africa soon.

Although I'm beyond-words excited, I am going to miss my sweet kiddos terribly.

 Soaking up all their sweet silliness before I go.

Moo

This girl

loves her moo.

So much, she even wants to eat with it.

Oh, how my heart loves the way she loves her moo!

Happy Monday Morning!

 

:my newest favorite tights on the cutest baby girl:

I sit, with my coffee, next to a not-so-baby-boy who's also still waking up. Our plans for today?

Laundry

Combines and Thomas the Trains

Closet Organization
(yes, I'm serious about the closet stuff).

Moos and Doggies

play doh

physical therapy for the moo-lover

groceries

and a whole lot of giggling and zooming around the house!

Better finish my coffee before all of the fun begins! 

And blooooooow!

After the sick left this household {that has had way more than our fair share this winter of it!}, we were able to celebrate our favorite-4-year-old's birthday.

So, happy 4th birthday, sweet Grant!

You are the one that made me a mom!

You are the one that made the years of infertility treatments and losses so very worth it. You are the one that made me sing the miracles of swaddling and swinging. {and swinging some more}. You are the one that made me educated and confident about breastfeeding. You are the one that made me love pushing dump trucks and vroom-vroom-vrooming cars.

You are the one that makes me make willingly make scrambled eggs at 6:45 in the morning. You are the one that makes my heart melt when you scrunch up your nose when trying to be serious. You are the one that makes me so proud of how energetic and willing you are to try new things. You are the one that makes my heart melt when I see how compassionate you are to your friends.

You, Grant, are the boy I cherish. I adore how easy going and chatty you are, and how excited you get, just about life.

I love your pure silliness, your love for all things messy, and your sweet, sensitive heart. 

 May the next year bring your heart closer to the One who loves you the Most.

Four

This sweet boy of ours is four today.



And he woke up throwing up.

Poor guy!!

So, we moved the birthday festivities around and he sat around, in his fuzzy-jammies-from-last-winter-that-he-loves-so-much-that-we-still-squeeze-him-into-them, watching Curious George and sipping clear liquids.

I loved on him as well as I could today, getting him the food he wanted (a little bit of white cheese and a little bit of yellow cheese and some bread to make it real yummy okay mom?), and snuggled him when he wanted.

Not the birthday we had planned for him, but my heart was still so thankful that I could be here, taking care of my sick, sweet boy.

The sweet boy, who, when recently making meatballs with me, just blurts out: God isn't here.

Caught of guard, I paused and responded, "nope, God is here...we just can't see him. God's always with us and takes care of us."

Grant stared back at me, and in his sweet way of furrowing up his nose and eyebrows said, "ooooh, yes, God IS here.

Let's share meatballs with him".



Somehow, I think God would love meatballs from a just-turned-four-year-old.