Daniel Memorizes Proverbs 1:7

This past week we learned Proverbs 1:7, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.”. I love hearing Daniel say his Bible verses. Hopefully as the summer goes on, we can learn a new verse each week.

Rediscovered

I’ve decided to “rediscover” my blog.  I’m hoping to keep it as an online journal of moments with my family, so its basically a blog for myself.   Thursdays I’ll try to keep my posts on “Give me Five”, and hopefully be able to squeeze in some other posts through the week.  For now, I’ll highlight Daniel’s 4th birthday….

 

We had a monster party, complete with a homemade monster cake.  He loved his cake!  And when he had his friends over, which only two showed up, he had a ball running through the house acting like monsters.  He was literally dripping with sweat by the time it was over!  The next day, on Saturday, Bryan’s family came to visit and again Daniel and Josiah both had a ball playing with their cousins.  It is such a blessing to watch my children have fun!  We celebrated with lunch, the leftovers of the monster cake, and lots of fun gifts.  We suprised him with a bike, which he love, and then he enjoyed opening the rest of the gifts from family.  On Sunday, his actual birthday, we celebrated just the four of us with a nice breakfast.  After church he was able to open the rest of his gifts from us and some from Grandmother.  All in all it was a busy weekend, but boy did Daniel have a blast!!

 

Daniel with his new bike...he loved it!

Singing the happy birthday song to Daniel

God’s Good Gift: Moments

There is also a book, One Thousand Gifts, which I’m ordering now and can’t wait to delve into!

Give me Five

In attempt to help me journal on my blog, on Thursdays I’m going to try to do a series around the number 5.  Random, I know, but hopefully it will help me to write some things down I might others let slip by me.  So, here’s my list of 5 today:

5 Ways to Start Running

1.  Make a plan and be commited.  Remember its about progress, not perfection.  You are more likely to accomplish small goals than one large goal.  My goal right now is simply to get out 4 days a week and increase my run/walk ratio by 1 minute a week.  Once I reach a 10/2 ratio, I’ll re-evaluate and set a new goal.

2.  Shoes are very important…get a new pair!  Which I did back in the fall, so I’m good on this one.

3.  A consistent warm up and cool down (with stretching) for at least 5 minutes will keep you from much pain.

4.  Pace yourself.  Remember, slow and steady wins the race.  Running to hard to soon will only lead to injury.

5.  Enjoy it!!  Pretend if you have too because by the end of the run you will be glad you made the time and effort for it.

Things that make me smile

1.  Having a fun and relaxing morning with my family.  Daniel slept until 8:30 this morning…VERY unusual for my active little guy!  Josiah was up as usual, so we started on breakfast:  eggs and Grandmother’s banana bread, (Josiah had a whole banana as well…he requires a banana every morning:)).  Then Bryan was off to work and I cleaned up before playing with my boys.

2.  Reading to my boys.  I’m so thankful they enjoy books!  Recently Josiah has started bringing a book to me and tapping my leg to indicate he wants to sit on my lap and read the book with me.  And Daniel enjoys reading too.  We just read The Bee Tree (a Christmas gift from Grandmother) and he loved it! 

3.  A good run.  Which I failed to get up for this morning.  I managed to negotiate with Bryan at about 5am that if he would come home early from work then I would go run this afternoon. 

4.  Ice Cream and chocolate! 

5.  Love from my children.  Right now Josiah loves to give hugs, and Daniel is all the time telling me, “Mommy, I love you.”

Mother’s Love

A beautiful painting to commemorate my third baby who God called home to heaven in His mysterious sovereignty.  I’ll never know God’s purpose in my miscarriage, but this painting reminds me how I will never forget this precious life I held in my womb for 10 weeks.  It was painted by my friend Charlotte and based on my ultrasound picture taken at 6 weeks and 3 days.  She used color and form to speak the emotions of my miscarriage (and I think it speaks to anyone who has lost an early pregnancy).  It is a perfect painting that speaks more than words can describe, nevertheless I’ll try to put a few words to it. 

In the top left corner there is a darkness which Charlotte painted as the storm.  It represents the chaos, the confusion, the sadness, and the disappointment of the miscarriage.  Then there is the large heart…my favorite image of the painting.  It represents the womb that once held my baby (as seen in the smaller heart).  I love the image of the womb as a heart…it is SO true, isn’t it!?!  And the significance of the smaller heart comes from the only picture of my baby taken by ultrasound at 6 weeks.  The baby was so small the only identifiable part was the heart…and it was beating.  The smaller heart inside the larger heart is actually a heart-shaped hole through which the light of God’s faithfulness and lovingkindness shines brightly, forming a rainbow-shaped heart in the rich green.  The rainbow points to God’s covenantal love and faithfulness which my baby now fully knows in heaven.  It also represents the hope and beauty that God’s grace brings in the storm.  The rich green depicts the new and abundant life given by God through Christ.  It represents the peace we have in Christ even in the midst of the storm.  The brightness in the top right of the painting reflects God’s power, sovereignty, grace, mercy, lovingkindness, and joy all of which God has worked in my heart through this experience.  God’s light is embracing the heart, even forming wings on the heart to lift it unto Himself.  I love the mystery of not knowing the details about my baby’s characteristics, because I am confident that I will know in heaven and I’m at peace to wait until then.  And, while I will never hold my third baby in my arms this side of heaven, I know that my baby has now been made whole and knows by sight what we, as Christians, know by faith. 

I plan to hang it in my nursery (which is Josiah’s room for now, but hopefully will hold another baby in God’s time) where I know it will be a perfect reminder to us of God’s love through our miscarriage.  To learn more about Charlotte and her work, check out her website at http://www.caramiasart.com/.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Daniel’s Lettuce Garden

It’s not completely Daniel’s lettuce garden, I’m actually the one who usually eats salads.  But, I wanted a lettuce garden and so Daniel helped Papa plant one.  He had a ball planting the garden and watching it grow.  And for lunch today we had salads made with lettuce from our garden.  Daniel even ate TWO bowl fulls!!  He is very proud of his lettuce and I’m so excited to see his enthusiasm.  Here are some pictures from our lettuce garden…

the lettuce about to be planted

learning to prep the dirt for planting

"Look mommy, mud!"

planting the lettuce

Fun in the Fall!

 The cooler weather, refreshing rain, and leaves changing color all remind me of how much I love the changing of seasons.  And with the fall so comes all the fun fall festivities.  We’ve had AU’s homecoming, Concord’s Country Fair, preschool fall festival, and tonight we went trick-or-treating in the dorms at AU.  We also managed to squeeze in a pumpkin carving, Josiah’s first haircut and a family photo shoot (which I’m soooo excited to see the pics, but I’ll have to wait a few days).  What a full week we’ve had…and it ain’t over!  Tomorrow we’re rising early and heading through the mountains to go visit Grandmother in Kentucky!  Can’t wait for the beautiful scenery of eastern TN and KY!  Here are some pics from this week’s festivities…

Painting a pumpkin at AU's homecoming

Josiah enjoying his ice cream sandwich

Daniel enjoyed the ambulance the most at Concord's Country Fair...can't imagine why:)

Sir Daniel the Knight with Josiah his apprentice