Christmas last night

We celebrated Christmas last night with our family. Yes, it was two days before Thanksgiving. But I had a few reasons for doing it that way. So, here are some pictures. It was a blast! Their enthusiasm was so encouraging and fun. And our filet mignon dinner was dee-lish!

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We have an 8-month-old!

Our Pookie Bear is eight months old today. Time does indeed fly. Here is a recent picture.

"There's Another Blogpost Right There!"

I find myself saying those words quite frequently lately to our eldest. He is always saying precious, hilarious things of late that I am wanting to record!

So, today's adorable question was, "Is Jesus a redhead?" I said, "No," (thinking that Middle Eastern people are dark). He said, "Then why does it say, "sac-RED HEAD?" You see, we had been listening in the car to the hymn At The Cross, and the words say, "Would He devote that sacred head for sinners such as I?"

Is that not the funniest? You know, it really makes me wonder what else goes on in their sweet little heads that they don't ever actually ask us about!  :)

Two Good Questions Posed by the Wake

Yesterday was pretty cute. For the first time ever (after five years!) our firstborn noticed that when I go potty, my hands are free. He said, "Mommy, why are you not using your hands? Why aren't you pushing your 'pee pee' down?" So I had the joy of telling him that girls don't have "pee pee's" -- that girls have different parts.  :)  I think he found that pretty interesting!

Then today was precious. I introduced him to the words "safety pin." He saw a picture of one in a school book, and when he did, his question was, "Mommy, what does a safety pin save?" It took me a couple of times of asking him to repeat it before I even understood what he was asking. Then I got it. Adorable! Makes sense, right? Something called a "safety" pin should save something!  :)  So I got out a real safety pin and showed him how it "saves" our fingers from getting pricked if we put the pin inside the covered part.  :)

I love kiddos. Especially mine!!!!!!

Pic o' the Pook

Couldn't resist posting this.

Bundled Baby Boys

It was 35 degrees this morning when we ventured out this morning for our walk and bike time. For the first time we donned our winter coats to stay warm, and then came home and had cocoa!  :)  Here's a pic of my sweeties prior to going out.

Mr. Mobile!

Guess who's on the move? That's right....our Pookie Bear!  :)  This week I set him on the parquet kitchen floor, he saw something he wanted, and away he went! Little cutie pie....it's an army crawl he's doing--not full-out on-the-knees crawling. It's pretty precious how he drags his body along. In this picture it was our bag of Halloween candy he was going for! Darling sweet precious punkin-headed adorable little guy!  :)

First Field Trip

Yesterday we visited the Creasy Mahan Nature Preserve for our first-ever field trip for Biggest's schooling. It was the last day of sunshine prior to the rain and cold rolling in, (so the forecasters said) so we snatched up the opportunity and headed out. It was a good time. My favorite part was making a new friend in the parking lot by "accident." She's a sweetheart and pastor's wife, and by God's grace, He ordained our random meeting. The boys and I went to the playground with her and her friends and hung out before the field trip began. Then we jumped back in the van and enjoyed being in the great outdoors with other homeschoolers. We went for about an hour-long hike and learned about trees and different animal fooprints and what turtles do to keep warm in the winter. It was fun. Boys climbed trees, the Redhead kicked leaves, the Pook took a ten-minute nap in the sun, and a good time was had by all. After the hike, we viewed the dioramas in the nature center and marveled at the bearskin and the size of the turkey and the hiddenness of the baby deer under the wagon. One of the things I liked best was seeing the gargantuan leaves produced by one of the trees out there. I've never seen anything so huge!!!!! Take a look----

Neighborhood duckie delights

God is so generous with us. When we lived in Nassau Bay, we loved having a pond in our neighborhood and ducks and geese to feed there. We left that behind when we moved into Houston two years ago. Little did we know that when we moved here, we'd end up in a neighborhood once again where we had that. We didn't even realize it until after moving in. But sure enough...there they are, and we love to go see them and fill their bellies with crackers or unwanted stale bread.  :)  Here are some photos of the other day. We have had unusually warm weather the last week, and we're cramming in a bunch of outdoor things before we're all locked up for winter. Thank you, Jesus.

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Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!

The other day, after we had read our Bible story for the morning, Biggest realized that the next story in line began the New Testament portion of the book. With this revelation, he started jumping up and down and going nuts and screaming, "Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!" When I asked him what he was so excited about, he told me that it's because the New Testament is all about Jesus, and we get to read about that next. Wow. To quote the book Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse, "That's just about all I could say was 'Wow.'"

There have been indications for a while now that the Holy Spirit is at work in our sweet eldest boy's life. He does things often that make us think that God could possibly be drawing his little heart to Himself at a young age. We sure hope so. We know it takes time for that to be tested and proved, and we shall see what God does in years to come. But we seem to be off to an encouraging start. The next morning, I came down to the basement to find Biggest going through the New Testament portion of the book with our Redhead, and with each page, pointing out and saying, "Jesus." "Jesus." "Jesus." "Jesus." "Jesus." May he remain this enamored and pumped about our Lord in His Word!!!!!!!

A little encouragement for you today after the election

This appeared on our homeschool loop today, and I liked it. It helps!

A True/False Quiz

True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, Jesus will still be King.

True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, our responsibilities as
Christians will not have changed one iota.

True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, the greatest agent for
social change in America will still be winning the hearts and minds of men and women
through the gospel, not legislation.

True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, my primary citizenship will
still be in this order - (1) the Kingdom of God, (2) America, not vice-versa.

True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, the tomb will still be
empty.

True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, the cross, not the
government, will still be our salvation.

True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, our children will still be
more concerned with whether or not we spend time with them than with who is President.

True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, my neighbor will still be
my neighbor, and loving him/her will still be the second greatest commandment. (Do you
know the first?)

True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, the only way to see
abortion ultimately overturned will still be winning men and women to a high view of life
through the gospel of Christ.

True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, the only way to see gay
marriage ultimately defeated will still be winning men and women to a biblical view of
marriage through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, my retirement will still not
match my treasure in Heaven.

True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, "Jesus Is Lord" will still be
the greatest truth in the Universe.

True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, we will still know that God
is in control.

Finally....a Mama's Boy in the Bunch!

God has given me three beautiful bouncing baby boys. Not until this one, though, has he given me a mama's boy. Our sweet Baby Yook (as #2 calls him) loves his mama--number one. I cannot say that I am sad about this truth.  :)  In fact, I'm quite loving it. Never before have I experienced the joy of Baby crying the second he perceives that I am leaving him. I am clearly the one he prefers. Everyone in our house loves Uncle D. But when the darlin' precious Snookerdoodle is handed over, what does he do? He cries. Even Daddy gets the shaft sometimes because if the Doodle is feeling fragile, then yes, even Daddy deals with tears--if it's Mommy's arms he has left. What do I have to say about this? Well, to this I say, "YES! It's about time!"  :)

Halloween Cuties

Batman, The Pirate, The Turtle, Daddy, and I enjoyed our Halloween activities. We went to church for a Trunk or Treat and then walked the oh-so-busy neighborhood to see folks and get candy. Here's what my guys looked like for the events!  :)

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My Love of Leaves

If not for Jesus, I might live for fall leaves. That's how ga-ga I am over them! Today Hubby said, "You know, we'll see them again next year."  :(  (This is after I have spent about 45 minutes taking around 80 pictures of neighborhood trees)!  I hope I never lose my giddiness over the amazing beauty of God's creation in fall leaves. Now, I just need my heart to adore, treasure, and celebrate Christ with this same passionate fervor. Mold me, Lord Jesus, to do that, and please receive my humble worship as I exult in what YOU have so marvelously made!!!!!!

As you watch this slideshow, there are two things to note: One is that we live on the corner of Juniper Springs and Willow Springs, so you can figure out by that that yes, there is a picture or two of our house in there. Secondly, know that the slide show is long, so you need to listen to the song about one and a half times through before you get to the end.

Now, relish with me the beauty of Christ displayed in our neighborhood on November 2, 2008!

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