First Things First

Yes. . . I know I've been slacking for quite some time in regards to making any sort of update on this blog and I have many fun pics to share from the last few months, but first I must share with you all a bit of the celebration we had this last weekend for our beautiful little Evie. That's right. . . she turned 2 on Saturday!!! We had a family party and joyfully gave thanks for the 2 years of life God has blessed her with and for the many miracles he has worked in her little life thus far. His goodness & mercy is truly incredible & awe-inspiring & we are beyond thankful. Here are some pics from her special day:

 

Our beautiful birthday girl!

The Family

She lit up & loved when we all sang "Happy Birthday" to her.

She loved to look at  her cake but decided she didn't want to eat any when the time came.
So she had some m&m's instead!

Opening gifts on Grandpa's lap.

Playing with some of her new toys.

Ben's First Christmas Program

Yesterday morning Ben had his first Christmas program. It went well & he remembered the words to all four of his songs like a champ! Thought I would share a little of it with you. . . enjoy!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Out of the Mouths of Babes

Tonight as Brian was doing our daily Advent reading:

Brian (reading): "Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand."

Ben (interrupting): "What are tablets?"

Brian: "They are large slabs of stone..."

Ben (interrupting again): "Oh! I thought they were like a Kindle."


HA! We don't even own a Kindle! This kid cracks us up!

Some Serious Catching Up!

So A LOT has happened since the last post I made on here & that is precisely why I've not had the chance to post in a while! Instead of writing a book about all the happenings, I'll let all the pictures do the talking.

Our biggest boy turned 5!

How wonderfully God has blessed us with the gift of our Ben. We love him incredibly!

The birthday boy & the cake of his choosing.

Driving the cars in the "mud"!

Decorating his birthday treats for school.
Can you tell that someone likes sprinkles?!

They love Auntie Aubrey!

There is a serious shoe fetish around here!

Evie especially enjoys putting on big people shoes. It happens at least once almost daily!

A Thanksgiving Vacation to Phoenix!

In summary, the kids did amazing on the airplane & thoroughly enjoyed seeing their Uncle Jeff. 

We all had a lovely time & enjoyed our adventure!

Out of the Mouths of Babes

When we first moved into our house a few years ago I made throw pillows for our couches & from the beginning they NEVER managed to stay on the couch for longer than ten minutes at a time. More often than not they would be scattered across the living room floor being crawled over & jumped on by the little people in our house. It is something that has driven us a bit crazy, especially Brian. Well, the other night Ben & Cedric decided to have a pillow fight with these pillows by throwing them across the room at each other & this is the brief conversation that took place:

Brian: "What are you doing?!?"

Ben & Cedric: "We're having a pillow fight!!!"

Brian: "It's not ok to throw those pillows in the house."

Ben: "But I thought they were called throw pillows?"



HA!! We never even thought of it that way!

Why Not Halloween?

I am no theologian, but as a Christian it is my responsibility to think thoroughly about everything in my life & act according to what God says in his Word about it. And as a mother seeking to raise my children in the fear & admonition of the Lord, this responsibility seems to take on more significant meaning, because now it's not just me who is being affected by my thoughts & actions, but the hearts of my children as well. So this brings us to Halloween. I know many people think we're a bit strange & don't understand the big deal about celebrating Halloween, because after all, it doesn't have to be all about zombies & witches & blood sucking vampires, right? But I would argue that even though there are people, even churches, who choose to have harvest celebrations where kids dress up like little lambs & firefighters, they are still taking part in a holiday that was founded on the fear of evil spirits & the worship of false gods and in modern times has become more a celebration of witches, goblins, & demons. We choose to not celebrate this holiday not because we're ultra conservative christians but rather because we strive to be like Christ in every aspect of our lives & we believe Halloween is a holiday that celebrates things that oppose this goal.
Halloween or All Hallows Eve is the day before All Saints Day, a day spent celebrating the righteous saints throughout Church history.  Much like the development of Mardi Gras, a day of indulgence, which is always the day before Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent.  Interestingly enough, most people in our communities today would probably know more about Halloween than All Saints Day, and more about Mardi Gras, than Ash Wednesday . . . but it wasn't always that way.
Now let me clarify that there are arguments for Christians to celebrate Halloween & we do not "look down upon" or judge others who choose to partake in this holiday & if children came to our door looking for candy we would cheerfully give them a handful, we simply choose not to partake ourselves because of our convictions.  Instead, we choose to celebrate a significant day in our church history, Reformation Day, which falls on October 31st as well.  We do not simply desire for this to be an alternate option for our children to have fun outside of the usual Halloween celebrations, but rather we are seeking to be faithful & desire to celebrate the works of Christ & the faithful Christians who have gone before us. (To learn more about Reformation Day you can go here: http://grantian.blogspot.com/2008/10/reformation-day.html.)

And there you have it! A short explanation of why we don't celebrate Halloween . . .  in case you were wondering. ;)

Out of the Mouths of Babes

As I was sitting on the bathroom floor the other night helping Evie finish up a bath, I noticed the neighbors dogs start barking (which is not unusual) when in walked Ben with one of his random, lovely, hilarious ideas...

Ben (in all earnestness): "You know, Mom. I think every time a dog barks it leaves a bark behind & that's where wood chips come from!"