Questions from an almost 4-year old...

So, my child is very inquisitive. And very verbal. Seriously - anyone who knows him says he talks like a grown up. Too bad he doesn't reason like one. :-) Anyway, here's the deal... last night was a particularly hard night for me and Jacob. He was a little too defiant for my liking (he really pushes my buttons some days) and I had had it. I yelled - I know, what a horrible thing for a mommy to do, but this bloggy thing is all about honestly, right??? I yelled loud and sent him up to his room to "think about this ugly attitude and come out when you can be sweet." So a half hour later, and much screaming from him and mommy needing a timeout downstairs, I sat my sweet little man down to have a talk. I was calm and apologized for yelling but explained to him the importance of obedience and respect for his mommy and daddy. I told him about a couple of Bible verses and explained that because we believe the Bible is our instruction book that we should do what it says, because that makes God happy. He asked me, "mommy, is God mad at me for being ugly?" Well, I wanted to cry at that point - I was really getting a glimpse of how sweet his little heart an be. Then, the conversation somehow started to lead to the Cross. Jacob was very inquisitive and 100% interested and clued into what I was saying. I tried to use kid-friendly words to describe what happened on the Cross. He kept asking me to tell the story again and again - each time asking more questions and wanting more clarification. At one point, he said, "mommy, do we have a picture of Jesus dying on the cross?" I started to say no, but then he said, "I think we do - down in our living room." Sure enough, we do. We have a beautiful framed print of Jesus dying on the cross with John 3:16 scripted beside it. Now, please keep in mind that we had never ever pointed out that picture to Jacob. It's been there since before he was born, but we never mention it. (shame on us, actually!) That should remind us that kids are so observant and are watching every single thing in their surroundings. It didn't end there though. At nite nite time, we always tell Jacob stories and say prayers together. Last night, he wanted the story about the Cross - over and over and over again. Then during prayer, he wanted to do it and he thanked Jesus for dying on the cross. Amazing. And today at play date at Aunt Rachie's house, the first thing he asked her was, "Aunt Rachie - do you have a picture of Jesus dying on the cross?" We found one of Walker's picture Bibles and I read him the story several times.

I know this is a little long and I'm rambling somewhat... I'm still trying to process all this. I desperately want my kids to understand the power of the cross and what it symbolizes. I want with all my heart for my kids to choose to obey and love Jesus with all their hearts, souls, minds and strength. I have been praying for them since before they were born. The reality that it's our job to teach them these truths leaves me humbled and scared, if I'm being honest. God, my prayer today is that You give me the words to help my precious little guy understand what the Cross means and all that it stands for. May the stories his daddy and I share with him now stick with him all the days of his life.

To infinity and beyond!

So we had so much fun today making rockets and a school bus out of some cardboard boxes. I've been saving them for a while and Billy kept saying... "can't I throw them away now???" Well, honey, we put them to good use. Fun times. AND, didn't Jacob do a great job writing his name? Yeah!!! I can't even describe in words how grateful I feel to be working part time right now. I am praying for extra patience and I will now be the primary disciplinarian and am working extra hard to teach the boys about God and how important obedience is... My extra time with the boys is nothing short of a miracle and I want to make the most of every.single.second.

Wordless Wednesday... just doesn't get any sweeter than this!

if you like to talk to tomatos...

What fun we had today! Our dear friend Rachie (go visit her at babywebbsite.com) told us last night that Bob and Larry were going to be at Lifeway today and asked us if we wanted to go... well, of course we did! And we had so much fun. For those of you who don't know who Bob and Larry are, they are the main characters from the Veggie Tales - a sweet Christian-based cartoon and my kiddos love them. Heck, I'll admit it... I like them too. A lot. :-)

Happy Birthday to my very best friend!

Happy Birthday my love! Hope your day is super special! In honor of your 35th birthday, here are 35 things I love love love love love about you!

1. your faith in God

2. consistency - what you see is what you get with you and I love that. You are the same at home, at work, with buddies, with judges.. What a great quality!

3. your willingness to help out so much at home - we really are partners and I couldn't do this whole "home" thin without you!

4. your positive attitude

5. your total and complete acceptance of me

6. your willingness to "get your hands dirty" and help change diapers. :-)

7. you are the best daddy!!!

8. I love when you read books to the boys - even when you want to watch ESPN

9. your patience (Lord sure knew that I'd need a patient man!)

10. your kindness towards others - our little family, but also just everyone

11. your genuineness

12. your willingness to take charge of our finances - balancing the checkbook, receipts, all that stuff that I'm just not very good at!

13. You are a very thoughtful gift giver

14. you work hard to find us babysitters fairly frequently so we can have date nights

15. you are a genuinely happy person - I love that. It's evident that you have the joy of the Lord in your heart.

15. I love that you check in with me frequently when we're apart! I love getting little text messages or phone calls during the day. I never get tired of hearing your voice.

16. your passion for sports (even though I don't always seem supportive) I love that you love sports and all things "manly."

17. Your willingness to lead our family toward Christ

18. Your selfless attitude

19. Your support for me whatever I do

20. I love that you are my "go to" person (think Meredith and what's her face on Greys Anatomy...)

21. You are my biggest fan - you encourage me to exercise, you cheer me on at work, you support my "wild hairs"

22. You love my cooking - and I love that you appreciate that. :-)

23. your tolerance of my silly questions - like "mmm, honey, what's your biggest regret in life?" Or "mmm, honey, if you could wave a magic want for our kids, what would you wish?" - and of course I always seem to ask you those questions when you are literally 95% asleep at night. :-)

24. you are very funny

25. you always make me listen to the words of songs - I just don't pay good attention to them

26. you really do complete me - we make a good team! In parenthood, you are patient when I'm about to pull my hair out. At work, you are positive when I'm about to scream my head off...

27. I love that you love the same TV shows that I do - we have such fun watching our shows.

28. you tolerate me picking at you - pulling hairs, pulling stray eyebrows, getting rid of unwanted hair... :-) sounds gross, but I do like it.

29. You always make me feel safe. I never ever once think about checking the doors at night, because I know you've already done it.

30. You go the extra mile to make me feel loved - you go out late at night to get me gas in the car if I need it, you go get me Nestle Quik when I "NEED" it... without even questioning how silly it may be.

31. You honor me as your wife and always say nice things about me to other people.

32. Your innate ability to be a great daddy to our boys - you are really a great dad!

33. you keep my secrets - I can totally trust you!

34. You are honorable, reliable and giving

35. I love you more and more every day! I have no doubt that God created you just for me! Here's to many many more years of "doing life" and serving God together.

Happy Birthday America!

July 4 has always been one of my favorite holidays. When I was little, my family always got together for a cookout at my pappaw's house. He loved fireworks. My mom and my Auntie Pat didn't like the little whistling chasers or firecrackers, and my dad, who's a little bit mischievous, would always sneak up on them and light them right around them. Fun times. Now, we're making new traditions with our little family and I love that too. We've had a very busy weekend! Friday, our friends the Gaithers came over and the boys enjoyed fast wagon rides down the hill and several games of chase. Mommy got to snuggle with baby Charlie who is OH SO CUTE! Saturday, we played with our caterpillar sprinkler and went to a cookout/hayride at Ms. Maureen's family's house and Sunday, we went to church and then went swimming at Susan and Bryan's and THEN went to a wedding reception... Whew - I'm tired just typing all that. The boys were troopers with all that ripping and running and had so much fun. I don't think I've ever seen dirtier or more tired boys. But, I just couldn't let the day get away without some fireworks. So, I got a little (I mean teeny tiny - embarrassingly small) bag of fireworks and we did them in the driveway right before bedtime. Here' s the cool thing about having small children though... they thought my meager little fireworks were AWESOME and they kept saying "thanks mommy for getting us fireworks." Literally, we had about 4-5 little fireworks and the boys just clapped after each one. Such fun! I'm so thankful to live in this country where we can worship freely and not live in fear every day. Thank you Jesus for that! Hope your holiday weekend's been packed with family time and that you feel as blessed as I do!

(oh - nite nite time wasn't so much fun... that's a post for another day though.) :-)

My little guy's not so little anymore!!!!!!!!!

So, I was going to do a post about all the fun we've been having lately and I will do so, but instead, I'm shamelessly using this post to get some advice from my bloggy friends out there. So, my Jonathan has decided that cribs are for babies and apparently, he just doesn't think he's a baby anymore. Two nights ago, he climbed out twice and we put him back in bed both times and said beds are for sleeping. Last night, he did great going to sleep, but he woke up at 6, climbed out and came downstairs. Nap time today was no better. I put him back in his crib about 8 times I think. The final time, I put a couple of books in there...that seemed to work and now, he's snoring away. I've read on the Internet some tips and I basically did what most of the tips said... be consistent and firm. Make no eye contact and keep putting him back. I kept putting him back, but in all honestly, I did sing the Barney song to him ever blasted time I put him in today. So, at least tonight, I'll know better. Here's my question though... should we (GULP) go ahead and take the crib down and transition him to the toddler bed? Or should we just try to train him to stay in the crib? I've watched his gymnastics-like moves as he catapults out of the crib. He's actually quite graceful and some how lands on his feet every single time. So, I don't really think he'll hurt himself, but I just don't know what to do about the crib thing...Anyone with wise words for me here? THANKS!!!