And later in the day, Ethan decided to make his own roller skates! He rubberbanded his shoes to toy train blocks and skated around and busted! What a fun, creative boy!
More to come over the weekend!
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Cowboy Cantina & Homemade Roller Skates
Yesterday morning, I went upstairs, and this is what I saw... Sydney said it was The Cowboy Cantina. All I have to say is she is a pretty good shot, thanks to lessons Ethan has given her!
And later in the day, Ethan decided to make his own roller skates! He rubberbanded his shoes to toy train blocks and skated around and busted! What a fun, creative boy!
More to come over the weekend!
And later in the day, Ethan decided to make his own roller skates! He rubberbanded his shoes to toy train blocks and skated around and busted! What a fun, creative boy!More to come over the weekend!
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Monday, May 10, 2010
One Less Tooth!
Sydney lost her fourth tooth last night! She walked around with that tooth hanging by a thread for 2 days before it made it's final departure! On Sunday at church, she kept pushing it out of her mouth and closing her lips around it so she would look like a bunny rabbit! She even did this to Hunter when we went up to take communion!!!
Our Little Bunny on Mother's Day
Our Little Bunny on Mother's Day
Look how loose it was!
And she is now one tooth less!
Friday, May 7, 2010
Ethan's 2 Birthdays
Ethan had his 5th birthday party in April!! It was an army theme, and Col. Chandler (Jeff's dad) and Grammy made that party rock! The games, the cake, the decor...it was all fabulous. I'm very lucky to have such wonderful party planners...really all I did was send out the evite and order the BBQ for lunch!
Ethan received a BB gun for his gift from us, which he totally did not expect because we kept telling him he had to be 10 to get one. Jeff set it up just like the scene in A Christmas Story when Ralphie gets his BB gun. Jeff even wore his "You'll Shoot Your Eye Out" shirt for the occasion. Below is a video of Ethan opening his gift.
Ethan's second birthday happened this past Tuesday night, May 4 (Uncle Jason's bday!) as he was born again, this time into the family of God. Being in a believing family, he has been exposed to the love of Christ, the doctrines of sin, repentance, forgiveness, and grace since birth, and we have all had many conversations about what it means to be a true believer in Jesus. How we come to Him totally unworthy because of our sin, and exchange our sin for His righteousness...His perfect righteousness that we could never begin to dream of earning or deserving...just becoming righteous and accepted by the Father through our simple belief in Jesus as our Savior...accepting our position as children of the King!
Ethan began asking Jeff about taking communion while Jeff was reading the Bible to E & Sydney Tuesday night. We have many times talked about how communion is for those who fully trust Jesus, and that we wait to take it until we really do believe that Jesus is our only hope, otherwise we encourage hypocrisy, and have our hearts hardened toward it. And while in the past he has said he believed in Jesus, there was something different about Tuesday night. We sensed he had a genuine understanding of his sin, his need for a Savior, his inadequacy to ever be good enough, his knowing that the love of God was not dependent on Ethan's behavior, but rather on what Jesus has done for Ethan. So we had the joy and privilege of praying to our Father with our son in the name of Jesus Christ for forgiveness and giving thanks for Ethan's faith.
The below verse was quoted at Ethan's baptism when he was 3 months old. How cool to see God's covenant at work in him!
Ethan received a BB gun for his gift from us, which he totally did not expect because we kept telling him he had to be 10 to get one. Jeff set it up just like the scene in A Christmas Story when Ralphie gets his BB gun. Jeff even wore his "You'll Shoot Your Eye Out" shirt for the occasion. Below is a video of Ethan opening his gift.
Ethan's second birthday happened this past Tuesday night, May 4 (Uncle Jason's bday!) as he was born again, this time into the family of God. Being in a believing family, he has been exposed to the love of Christ, the doctrines of sin, repentance, forgiveness, and grace since birth, and we have all had many conversations about what it means to be a true believer in Jesus. How we come to Him totally unworthy because of our sin, and exchange our sin for His righteousness...His perfect righteousness that we could never begin to dream of earning or deserving...just becoming righteous and accepted by the Father through our simple belief in Jesus as our Savior...accepting our position as children of the King!
Ethan began asking Jeff about taking communion while Jeff was reading the Bible to E & Sydney Tuesday night. We have many times talked about how communion is for those who fully trust Jesus, and that we wait to take it until we really do believe that Jesus is our only hope, otherwise we encourage hypocrisy, and have our hearts hardened toward it. And while in the past he has said he believed in Jesus, there was something different about Tuesday night. We sensed he had a genuine understanding of his sin, his need for a Savior, his inadequacy to ever be good enough, his knowing that the love of God was not dependent on Ethan's behavior, but rather on what Jesus has done for Ethan. So we had the joy and privilege of praying to our Father with our son in the name of Jesus Christ for forgiveness and giving thanks for Ethan's faith.
The below verse was quoted at Ethan's baptism when he was 3 months old. How cool to see God's covenant at work in him!
Acts 2:38-39Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call."
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Freed To Live!
It's April 6 and we have the slip n slide out! The warmth of the sun and the new life of spring is coinciding with some new life and light inside of me. We have lived in NC for 3.5 years now. For the first year or so I was pretty happy living here. I was meeting lots of people, and even though I was not forming deep friendships right away, I wasn't expecting to, as I figured it would take about a year to feel settled in a new place.
Sydney on the Slip N Slide
About 2 years ago, I began to feel discontent with where we live, like it was too far out and causing me to be isolated. Last winter, I really began to feel the effects of isolation and loneliness and started to open up to Jeff about how I was feeling. He had lots of good ideas for ways to combat those feelings, and ways for me to form deeper friendships, but I think I was so stuck in an attitude of self-pity that I just wasn't even listening.
This past fall/winter, we did decide to put the house up for sale to move into Winston, and for lots of good reasons. We have a strong desire to have community where we live, to not just sleep and eat in Arcadia and do all of life in Winston. So in order to be closer to Jeff's work, friends in town, church, and activities for kids that living in town offers, we put the house on the market in January.
Reid shoots his "gun!"
I have seen God work miraculously in selling homes before, such as our last house in VA, so I knew that we would live where He intended, and each day, I would remind myself that "today God has me living here in Arcadia. This is the day the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it." But I think my mind was still so stuck on things being better once we just moved into town. I know it effected my attitude toward the kids, Jeff, and my general perspective on life. My idolatry of living in town and my living each day in survival mode really robbed me of the joy of living.
In February I went to our church's women's retreat. The theme was "Delight Your Soul In The Richest of Fare!" And there I saw how I don't look to Jesus for life, joy, fullness, satisfaction, and perfect peace, the things He offers so freely. I look to my circumstances and what will make me happy. The problem with me is that I change my mind so often that I go back and forth on what will make me happy. And what a sad way to live life, just thinking of what will make me happy.
Ethan plays near his bamboo tent. The rocks underneath is the "bed" he made for Sydney to sleep on in their tent.
A couple of weeks after the retreat I met with a woman at my church gifted in counseling and walking through issues with others. In such a gentle way, Wendy helped me to draw out some unhealthy thought and relational patterns I had developed over the years. The Holy Spirit was working in me to show me self-protective strategies I had come to embrace, keeping people at a distance to not really know me (which is rooted in fear- they might not like me if they really know me!) My self-protective ways had become so ingrained in me to the point of it being like me putting on metal so I wouldn't let others in. She asked me how I would describe myself, and I didn't have an answer for her. It was so disturbing to me that I didn't know how to describe myself (beyond the superficial, of course), and it was a real eye opener.
Through this conversation and conversations with some friends of ours (which Jeff somehow got me to really open up with this set of friends and make myself vulnerable) and the work of the Holy Spirit drawing me closer to My Father (I had become so that my relationship with Him was dry and more about what I knew in my mind and less about a real closeness with Him), I saw that the primary cause of my isolation and loneliness was not living 20 minutes from town, but was instead me keeping people at an arm's length, thus isolating myself. Once I was stripped of this, my only legitimate reason for needing to move was being closer to Whole Foods and a few other places. (You can laugh here, it's meant to be funny!) A couple of weeks ago, I pulled down the for sale signs.
Other contributing factors included newly developing friendships with neighbors, and once again seeing how wonderful it is to live where we do! Where else can we have these gardens, nature walks at the farm next door, loads of room for the kids to run and ride bikes, connect with nature in our own backyard, etc.? My heart delights to stay here!
Farmer Tilley tilled up his land today.
Much more importantly than where we are living are the things the Spirit has been at work with me on.
*Take off the metal! Let people in to know me, be real, make myself vulnerable.
*I am indestructible! Risk doesn't seem so scary when I remember that I am in Christ and can't be destroyed.
*Live life as a journey, not a checklist. Looking at my life as just what needs to be done is death. The Spirit gives life!!
*God's sovereignty is not some lofty idea. It's real and impacts every minute of my day.
Sydney on the Slip N SlideAbout 2 years ago, I began to feel discontent with where we live, like it was too far out and causing me to be isolated. Last winter, I really began to feel the effects of isolation and loneliness and started to open up to Jeff about how I was feeling. He had lots of good ideas for ways to combat those feelings, and ways for me to form deeper friendships, but I think I was so stuck in an attitude of self-pity that I just wasn't even listening.
This past fall/winter, we did decide to put the house up for sale to move into Winston, and for lots of good reasons. We have a strong desire to have community where we live, to not just sleep and eat in Arcadia and do all of life in Winston. So in order to be closer to Jeff's work, friends in town, church, and activities for kids that living in town offers, we put the house on the market in January.
Reid shoots his "gun!"I have seen God work miraculously in selling homes before, such as our last house in VA, so I knew that we would live where He intended, and each day, I would remind myself that "today God has me living here in Arcadia. This is the day the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it." But I think my mind was still so stuck on things being better once we just moved into town. I know it effected my attitude toward the kids, Jeff, and my general perspective on life. My idolatry of living in town and my living each day in survival mode really robbed me of the joy of living.
In February I went to our church's women's retreat. The theme was "Delight Your Soul In The Richest of Fare!" And there I saw how I don't look to Jesus for life, joy, fullness, satisfaction, and perfect peace, the things He offers so freely. I look to my circumstances and what will make me happy. The problem with me is that I change my mind so often that I go back and forth on what will make me happy. And what a sad way to live life, just thinking of what will make me happy.
Ethan plays near his bamboo tent. The rocks underneath is the "bed" he made for Sydney to sleep on in their tent.A couple of weeks after the retreat I met with a woman at my church gifted in counseling and walking through issues with others. In such a gentle way, Wendy helped me to draw out some unhealthy thought and relational patterns I had developed over the years. The Holy Spirit was working in me to show me self-protective strategies I had come to embrace, keeping people at a distance to not really know me (which is rooted in fear- they might not like me if they really know me!) My self-protective ways had become so ingrained in me to the point of it being like me putting on metal so I wouldn't let others in. She asked me how I would describe myself, and I didn't have an answer for her. It was so disturbing to me that I didn't know how to describe myself (beyond the superficial, of course), and it was a real eye opener.
Through this conversation and conversations with some friends of ours (which Jeff somehow got me to really open up with this set of friends and make myself vulnerable) and the work of the Holy Spirit drawing me closer to My Father (I had become so that my relationship with Him was dry and more about what I knew in my mind and less about a real closeness with Him), I saw that the primary cause of my isolation and loneliness was not living 20 minutes from town, but was instead me keeping people at an arm's length, thus isolating myself. Once I was stripped of this, my only legitimate reason for needing to move was being closer to Whole Foods and a few other places. (You can laugh here, it's meant to be funny!) A couple of weeks ago, I pulled down the for sale signs.
Other contributing factors included newly developing friendships with neighbors, and once again seeing how wonderful it is to live where we do! Where else can we have these gardens, nature walks at the farm next door, loads of room for the kids to run and ride bikes, connect with nature in our own backyard, etc.? My heart delights to stay here!
Farmer Tilley tilled up his land today.*Take off the metal! Let people in to know me, be real, make myself vulnerable.
*I am indestructible! Risk doesn't seem so scary when I remember that I am in Christ and can't be destroyed.
*Live life as a journey, not a checklist. Looking at my life as just what needs to be done is death. The Spirit gives life!!
*God's sovereignty is not some lofty idea. It's real and impacts every minute of my day.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Virtual Christmas For Gran
We were supposed to go to Raleigh today to celebrate Christmas with my mom, grandma, aunt and uncle, and Andrew & Angie and I was going to see my high school best friend Leena visiting from CA for her baby shower. The snow we got is beautiful, but kept us from our trip, which was a huge disappointment!!! The below video is for Gran to see Sydney and Ethan opening their Christmas presents from her.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
My Birthday
My birthday was Friday. See the half eaten ice cream cake? Jeff brought it home around 3pm, and I could not wait till after dinner to eat it! So, Sydney, Ethan & I each had a piece while Reid napped.
Here's a close up of the cake. We were missing our 4 candle, so I decided to be 33 again. I should have picked 26, though! :-) Sydney decorated the cake with one of her LPS toys.
Good to the last drop!
Sydney & Ethan made me bookmarks for my birthday!
Grandma & Reid at church Sunday night.
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