Letter of the Day = Lesson of the Year!

So, the letter of the day yesterday was "J" - a popular letter at our house. :-) So, you'd think that "J" day would be an easy one for me. Well, I had so much to choose from, I focused on three specific activities: Jesus dying on the Cross, Jack and Jill nursery rhyme (we even acted it out... so funny!), and finally, the story of Jonah and the whale. We had much fun doing art and telling the stories on our chalk board. Of course, there's no more powerful story than Jesus on the Cross, but honestly, I was struck by how much my boys seemed to learn about Jonah. And oh my word, me too. The Bible encourages a childlike faith and teaching these stories to my boys is helping me do that. I love their questions. Here's some of their questions about Jonah: Why didn't he just obey? Wouldn't that be easier? Was he scared in that fish? Did he want his mommy? How did the fish find him? Here's some of MY questions that arose too - Why does God love us so much that He's willing to give us second (and third and fourth) chances when we deliberately disobey him? Why is disobedience so enticing? Why is it so easy? What blessings have I missed because I simply didn't want to do something God told me to do? What if He chose (chooses) NOT to give me a second chance when I disobey?
Wow - didn't expect a simple letter of the day to have such a profound impact on me. Thank you Lord for continually teaching me. Even through my children.

Lunch Conversations

I have so many bloggy ideas running through my head... so many in fact that they are probably up there fighting in all that unused brain space that used to be occupied by fully functioning brain cells that turned to mush when I became a mommy. So, stay tuned, hopefully I'll get to empty out my brain and my computer chip soon, but today's post is so special. Today at lunch, the sweetest thing happened. Jacob said, "i love you mommy." And I said, " I love you too, bug." Jonathan said, "i love you mommy." and I said, "I love you too sweetie!" Jacob then said, "you know who else is here that loves us?" Jonathan said, "WHO?" Jacob said, "Jesus." Jonathan said, " I don't see him." So then they ran back and forth to the living room to see Jesus - we have a picture of Jesus on the cross in the living room. After a few minutes of them running into the living room, I decided to bring Jesus to the table so they could see Jesus and eat at the same time. Well, what happened next is definitely in the top 5 all time favorite moments of mommyhood thus far. Here's the conversation:

Jacob: Look Jonathan, here's Jesus on the Cross. He has lots of Boo Boos."

Jonathan: Boo Boos? I want see.

Jacob: Boo Boos are from the crown of thorns and the roman soldiers because they were mean to him and cut him and hurt him with a stick.

Jonathan: Jesus Cross?

Jacob: Then he was up on the Cross with nails.

Jonathan: (pointing to the verse beside the picture) What's that?

Jacob: That says God so loved the world that he gave his son Jesus.

Then Jacob told him the whole story verbatim from his little Bible - even getting the details about Judas in there. Then he said, "you know what Jonathan? JESUS IS ALIVE."

Awesome, don't you think? I think Jacob will be saved early and I pray that God will use his life in mighty ways. Jonathan too. Wow... my heart is full of praise today and everyday for these sweet boys. Even when I feel like I might pull my hair out some days. :-)

momma feels sad!

Okay, so this is a confession of gargantuous proportions (I have no idea if gargantuous is even a word and if it is, heck if I know if I spelled it right). My big boy hurt my feelings tonight in a big way. Now, you must know that I was awake last night fighting the good fight with Jonathan - he is out of his crib and we are in full sleep training in the big bed mode- from 1 am til 4:30 am. So, admittedly, I'm a little tired and thus, probably more easily upset. Tonight, Jacob has been 99.9% perfect. and .1% mean and hurtful. We played outside in the sprinkler and he didn't want to come in, but finally he complied. While I was bringing him inside, he said "I am angry with you and I'm not living here anymore." I just said, "okay honey. You can be mad at me, but you still have to follow the rules." Then, he was downstairs mumbling things about me and I could hear them, but I chose not to say anything. He's entitled to vent, right? Even if it is to his little Mickey figurine. So after about 5 minutes, he turned back into "sweet 99.9% perfect Jacob" for most of the evening. Until bedtime. He was not a happy camper and screamed bloody murder for a few minutes. Again, I said, you can be mad, but you still have to obey. He went into his room and I gave him a kiss and said, "I love you very much, even when you scream." He said (THE WORDS EVERY MOTHER DREADS TO HEAR) "I don't love you and I want a new mommy." To that, I said calmly, " okay, but it's still bedtime. I love you. You hurt my heart and I'm not telling you stories right now. I want you to think about your words and how hurtful they are. If you continue to use hurtful words with mommy, I will take your TV out of your room tonight" (GULP). And I didn't tell him stories. I kissed him and walked out. Billy's in there right now telling him nite nite stories. Jacob came out and apologized and gave me a hug, which I know was sincere and very very sweet, but why is it that my heart really is sad about his words? I mean, come on... he's 3 and I'm 32. I know better. And he's very very sleepy, obviously.
On another note.... I'm happy to report that as of this moment, Jonathan is happily snoring away in his big boy bed. Here's praying tonight is much much much much better than last night. I know you can do it big boy!!!! Mommy and Daddy believe in you!

This post is made possible by the letter "C"

So, I've been trying to be somewhat creative the last few days (primarily because it's been so stinkin' hot outside) and we've been featuring a letter of the day at the Stover house. Well, we're three days in and you guessed it, today's letter has been "C." The order of pics in this post is kind of backwards... I should have posted the pic I wanted first last, and I can't figure out how to move it all now, so carry on. Ignore my backward post. :-)



And, of course - what a way to top off the "C" day by (drum roll please) TAKING DOWN THE CRIB!!!!! Holy moly, my baby is getting so big. The Crib said it's final goodbye today after last night, our little Houdini got out with a 6 foot mattress stacked up against the only way we thought we could escape. We've had it turned around, and against the wall for several months. We even used a kitchen chair on one side to keep him in. BUT, the thud I heard over the monitor last night was the last straw as he somehow managed to climb out over the tallest part. I really thought he'd broken his neck. This little crib has been a fixture in our house for over four years. Hard to believe. I was a little sad tonight taking it down. I must admit! But, I'm happy to report that another little bambino is going to get to use it. We're so glad that our friends Anna and Chris are gonna get some good use out of our beautiful crib. There's a few little teeth marks, but other than that, it's in great shape. Maggie Sue - here's to many many wonderful dreams in this bed sweetie!!!!!!




This was loads of fun... we gathered all the stuff around the house we could think of that starts with "c" - well, mommy did most of the gathering. I was way more into this project that the boys were. :-) Here' s just few of the treasures we found around the house: cashews, Clubhouse, cars, computers, candles, circles, carrots, cooking spray, cash register, checkbook, cresent rolls, Curious George, crayons... Fun Stuff, let me tell you!










Fun pics of ice Cream Cones with Cherries

These are two pictures of Jesus Christ dying on the Cross (by Jacob). I know you can't see the details, but oh my - amazing. There are orange tears. There's a sign that says king and the little dots are the nails. Oh and there's the two "bad guys" beside Jesus too.

prayer time

Okay - so I know I just posted one of these, but I want to remember them forever, so here's another one.

Jacob:
Dear Jesus,
Thank you or dying on the cross and thank you for loving us. Thank you for making us. Thank you for making Andy-Tales and I pray that he had a great day in Haiti and thank you for Mommy and Daddy and TVs. We love you God, Amen.


Totally unscripted and unprovoked. No coaching at all. I swear! And just for clarification, Andy-Tales is one of our dearest friends and one of our ministers at church. He just got back from a mission trip to Haiti. We mentioned it every time we passed Andy-Tales' house the week he was gone and would say things like," oh I hope Andy-tales is safe in Haiti." We tried to explain what a "mission trip" was. Jacob is a sponge... taking everything in. Andy-tales has left his mark on many people - the Stover house is blessed because of him!

Nite Nite Prayer from Jacob tonight

Dear Jesus, we love you and we just thank you for dying on the cross and for loving us and for our house and being God's son and for my mommy and daddy and Jonathan. Thank you for healing those people in the Bible and making that man's eyes better. That was cool. We love you God, amen.