A Little Side-Tracked

We're supposed to be decorating the house for Christmas...

but we got a little sidetracked!

The Provider

You know how sometimes God does something for you and you just really want to tell people about it? It may not be a big thing in most people's eyes, but to us it's just another reminder of how the Lord provides and knows your needs. Well, here's our story...
As some of you know, Caleb has been struggling with wheezing and allergy type stuff for a few weeks now. Jonah also struggles with eczema, allergies, and some asthma at times too. Caleb has been taking all sorts of medication, but I haven't seen the kind of improvement that I was hoping for. Also, as a mom, you hate giving your child medicines that you're not sure what they're really doing to your child's body! Sometimes it is necessary, but I want to do everything I can to prevent having to give medicines to my little ones. On Monday I was supposed to stop giving him a couple of the meds he was taking and I was so frustrated because he still wasn't better. It was one of those frustrated mommy moments where you feel like everything is falling apart because of being sick and tired of it and overwhelmed. I had a sort of tunnel vision I guess, and all I could think about was how I could get my little one better. After some unnecessary worry, and some desperate prayers I decided we should try an air purifier. I researched and the ones that seemed to be the most effective were $600! Not exactly in our budget, but I really felt like we should get a good one if we were going to spend the money. We were also going to have to wait a few days for shipping, because I couldn't find this one anywhere but online. I was just about ready to pull money out of savings, when my husband said let's just wait. Being the "fix-it right now" kind of girl that I am I did not want to be patient! I wanted my child better, and I wanted it right now! (Sounds very similar to a two year old fit, doesn't it?) Well, I begrudgingly listened to my husband and said okay we'll wait to see if we can find a better deal. Lo and behold, if my husband didn't find the exact brand air purifier on CraigsList that day! It was even a step up from the one we wanted! The family was in the military and they were trying to get rid of it before they moved, because it is a little large. It ended up being a fraction of the original cost and only six months old and still under warranty, and we got to pick it up that day!
Caleb and Jonah have both woken up with significantly improved symptoms, and Caleb's wheezing has improved drastically. Being the natural pessimist at heart that I am, I want to think in my head that they'll probably get worse again tomorrow, or that it was probably just the weather changing that made them better, but whatever it was I am thankful to God for some relief for my boys over the last couple of days.
A lot of people, would say "What a coincidence!". I say "Thank you Lord"! What a great reminder that He always provides - ALWAYS!

Holiday Vacation

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving holiday! We had such a great time - here's a quick recap of what we did! On Wednesday, we met some of our family from Adam's side at the Gaylord Texan hotel in Grapevine. G.G. and Grackle (Adam's grandparents), Uncle Collin and his girlfriend Amy, and Tootsie (Adam's mom) all joined us for a two night stay. We had a little trouble with the whole check-in thing when we got there - in fact we had to change rooms 2 times, which is not that fun with two little ones trailing along! But we survived and we were all so happy just to be together. That night we ate at a wonderful Mexican food restaurant in downtown Grapevine, and then we went back to the hotel for an exciting game of Cranium! One tip for this game is don't let Tootsie be the drawer!! She gets so tickled at her drawings that somehow when we were supposed to be guessing "dog" all Amy and I could come up with was "United States" and "Utter". I must say that the ladies smeared the men two nights in a row on this game!

On Thanksgiving Day, we enjoyed the huge buffet breakfast, swam in the pool, ate Thanksgiving dinner at Luby's and, visited Mrs. Clause and her live reindeer, and just enjoyed the company of family! While we were eating at Luby's we had a big surprise snowfall! The biggest flakes I've ever seen. Adam and Jonah ran out and caught snowflakes in their mouth, a first snowfall classic! Snowfall is definitely a shock on Thanksgiving in Texas! It didn't stick of course, but it made the moment seem a little bit magical! Oh yeah- after that we caught a little of the Cowboy game too - go Cowboys!! We also ended the night with reminiscing stories and playing our own version of Balderdash. Amy's brother, John, joined us for dinner and games, he definitely got a taste of our zany family!

Oh - Uncle Collin and Grackle had a little too much fun with my oldest son! As they were all sitting by the indoor river in the hotel, they proceed to try and convince Jonah to jump in the river and ride the big fish that's in there. Jonah really did not want anything to do with it, but with the convincing of one precious uncle and grandfather, let's just say he was shirtless, shoeless and sockless by the time they decided to stop him! It's always amazing to me the power of a little testosterone and a challenge! Uncle Collin - I will return the favor to your kids one day!

Overall, our trip was so wonderful. I wouldn't necessarily say it was relaxing (I don't know if that word exists with a 3 and 1 year old ), but it was definitely worth every minute!!

On Friday, we ventured to my parents church fellowship hall in Freestone, Texas. Of course we were already running late, and lo and behold our oldest had to go the bathroom! Why does it always seem to happen that way? My family always made fun of me when I was little, because they said I knew every bathroom in the state of Texas! Can I help it if I had a small bladder?! That's a whole other conversation...

All of my family was there (Aunt Donna, Uncle Dennis, my cousin Brandon and his wife Michelle, Byron and his girlfriend Bekah, my grandparents Pappa and Annie V., Papa John and Mama Gina, my sister Michelle, her husband Jason and their two kids Landry and Logan, my brother Mike and his daughter Myka)!

We had a a huge meal complete with all the trimmings, including my mom's fantastic chicken and dressing. It has little pieces of chicken in it and it is wonderful! It was my Mamma's recipe and her legacy lives on! After we ate, we had our annual football game! Jonah kept running up to everyone saying, "I feel a tackle coming on!". As a little boy, he just enjoyed getting to run freely, tackle people, and make as much noise as possible! Isn't that every little boy's dream!

It was just so nice to be all together with family this Thanksgiving! I remember my grandparents saying that when I was little, but I don't think you really appreciate it until you have a family of your own! Family is precious!

Almost Thanksgiving!

Today we had a pretty plain, but eventful day! We went to get flu shots - yippee! The boys did really great and there weren't even any tears involved. We have a super nurse that does it so fast that they never know what hit them, literally. Sometimes I don't even see her do it! What a blessing of a nurse, it sure does prevent a lot of heartache for everyone.

After that, we ran a lot of errands around town. We went to the library where Jonah took our books inside all by himself! It was so precious to watch him pulling his big rolling backpack all by himself filled with tons of books. When he got to the door it took him about 5 minutes to actually get through the door, using a very unique approach might I add! It was so sweet to watch his determination to do it all by himself! I actually know the librarian in there so I knew he was in good hands! When he got back to the car I told him "You're going to make me cry because you're growing up too fast, pretty soon you'll be all grown up and leave me". He said, "Don't worry Mom, I'll never leave you!". I'm quoting him on that one in about 18 years!!

The pictures are of Jonah in his homemade car, and Caleb eating a flag. He was waving it around all cute and then I got the camera out and this is all he'd do!

AARGH!!

Anyone want to join the "Mother's of Strong-Willed Children Club"? If so, drop me a line!

My Perfect Date

Tonight I got to go on a date with one of the cutest guys in the world - and it wasn't my dear husband Adam. Jonah was my date tonight, and we had the best time together!

First, I took Jonah to gymnastics where he did such a great job following directions and just having fun. Jonah requested "The Apple Place", aka Applebee's, so we headed there for a lovely dinner for two. Jonah was such a gentleman the whole time - opening doors for me and ordering our food, his Daddy has taught him well! The highlight of our evening was Jonah leaning over and laying his head and my shoulder and telling me, "I love going on a date with you Mom"! He could have asked for anything at that point and I would've probably said yes! We then ended the night by getting hot fudge sundaes from McDonalds. (By the way, what happened to the strawberry and caramel sundaes at McDonalds? Caramel was always my favorite as a kid and they don't have it anymore!) As we were driving away, Jonah said that he wanted his chocolate ice cream on a cone. I told him that hot fudge sundaes don't come on a cone. His reply: "Then what day can you get them on a cone?!" It took me a minute to figure out that he only has one definition of the word Sunday! What a fun (and exhausting) age this is!

*By the way - Caleb is feeling much better. Thanks for the prayers everyone!

Sick Little Caleb

Well, we just got back from the doctor again and Caleb has pneumonia! We're back to trying new medicines now!! Please pray for his little body to heal up!

Quick Update

I'm posting this for my sweet mother-in-law who is in need of a new posting! I'm just glad someone enjoys reading about our life!

Yesterday, we had a wonderful visit with our great friends Donald and Lisa. Donald actually preached for Adam yesterday - his last sermon in the great state of Texas (at least for a while). He and his wife have accepted a church in Grundy, Virginia and they are heading there in about 2 weeks. We will be praying for you Donald and Lisa - and we know the Lord will bless you for your courage and obedience in following his will!

On another note - Caleb is still wheezing so I'm taking him back to the doctor today! He got sick Lightfest night and he's been on all sorts of meds, but I haven't seen any significant improvement so I'm taking him back today. Please pray that we can kick this sick thing - it's not only emotionally exhausting it's about to "copay" us to death with all the medicine and doctor's visits! Thank the Lord we have insurance though, or I don't know what we would do!

The picture above is of Caleb when we went to a pumpkin patch at a local church. We could never seem to get both boys to cooperate for a good picture of both of them, but this one did turn out cute!