Baby Nate

Seven years ago today at 3:21 pm in Monterey, California, Nathan Todd T. entered this world. He weighed in at a hefty 9 lbs 12 oz and was 22 1/4 inches long ... a big boy! Nate was born with a head full of hair ... and it stuck up everywhere. He was all of 2 seconds old when the nurses began to ooh and aah over his dimples. His eyes were a bright blue, and never that dark, muddy blue that so many babies are born having until their eye color changes. Once Nate's hair turned blonde he looked just like a California Beach Boy baby!

Here are a couple of pictures of baby Nate for you to enjoy:



This is a picture of two week old Nathan. It was the first professional portrait we had taken of him. You wouldn't believe how hard I worked to get his hair to lay down flat! It was unreal how that hair stuck out everywhere!



When Nathan was about 10 months old, we visited Yosemite National Park. By that time, he had the Beach Boy look going on with his light blonde hair and big blue eyes. I've always liked this picture of Nathan because this is the way I think of Nathan when I remember him as a baby ... smiling with those big dimples and bright eyes. He was always so huggable ... still is, but don't tell anyone that I said that. Apparently, being huggable isn't cool for 1st grade boys.

I've said it before and I'll say it again ... the best parenting advice anyone ever gave to me was this: The days are long, but the years are short. It seems like I've turned around a couple of times and my baby boy is 7 years old! I look at him and can't believe this is the same baby who was so quick to smile. He was born knowning how to use those dimples to melt my heart!

It's hard to look at the baby photos and think that this is the same baby who had ear infection after ear infection after ear infection during that first year of life. In fact, he was so sick so much that we made 30 trips to the pediatrician during his first year of life ... and yet, I recall him as a very happy baby. Well, happy unless we were riding in the car and then he screamed non-stop. This is also the same little one that flat refused to eat baby foods. Nate was toothless until he was over a year old, and yet at around 6 1/2 months he decided that if a food looked like it might be intended for babies to eat then he simply wouldn't put it in his mouth. The little guy just gummed everything! Nate was my quickest baby to reach all the big milestones: smiling, cooing, laughing, talking, sitting up, pulling up, standing up, walking, running. It seemed that Nathan was born determined to catch up to his big brother.

Now Nathan's my little artist. He spends much of his time drawing, or creating things. He loves animals and nature and science. He is hoping to find a microscope under the Christmas tree ... and maybe something to dissect, too. Some days, like when I'm talking to him about dissecting things or watching him paint a picture or see him riding his bike up and down the driveway, it is hard to remember him ever being such a small baby.

But then I recall that some things haven't changed. He still has blonde hair, bright blue eyes and great big dimples. He's still a loud and dramatic child, though mostly I think of him as having a quick laugh. He still loves to eat. He still has frequent ear infections, and goes to the doctor more than his brother and sister combined.

And his smile still makes my heart melt.

Why I Read Aloud to my Children ...

As a parent, I'm fairly diligent about only a few things: teaching my children about God and His ways, bedtimes, hygiene, and reading aloud.

Personally, I love reading. I always have, and I suppose that I always will. And, as a teacher, I knew that reading was one of the most important educational skills that children learn. Somewhere, long ago, I read an article about the best way to raise a reader was to make reading important in your home. It stuck with me and to this day I think of it quite often. That's why when I became a mom, I set out with a goal of raising my children to be excellent readers, so that they would grow into adults who were well-read and fully capable of learning by reading.

One of the ways I do this is to diligently spend half an hour or so reading aloud to the kids every single night. It's a practice that I started when Joel was maybe 2 months old. Every night, after we brush our teeth, we spend a little while reading before heading to bed. It's just what we do in our home as part of our bedtime routine. I usually read 1-2 picture books to Julia and then a chapter or two from a longer book to the boys (though Julia usually attempts to listen as well). I love sitting all snuggled up on the couch with the kids, reading from a good book. And what fun when we discover a book that we all love! (You can look on my sidebar and see a list of all the chapter books I've read aloud this year.)

I guess it probably doesn't come as a surprise that my boys are great readers. In fact, both boys were extremely early readers. Joel began reading shortly before his 4th birthday. As crazy as it sounds, he taught himself to read. Six months later, Joel decided to teach Nathan to read. I thought it was cute to see the two of them sitting together on the couch with a book between them, Joel pointing to each word and saying it while Nathan pointed and repeated the words back. I never gave much thought to if Joel's reading lessons were really working. However, it wasn't long before my mother (a first grade teacher) and I realized that Nathan was really reading and had not just memorized the words to his favorite books. He was just 3 years, 2 months old. We were astounded to say the least! Both boys not only learned to read amazingly young, but developed their reading skills with astonishing speed. I really didn't have to work to teach them to read. It sort of happened without much effort on my part. Now that they are 8 1/2 and 7, it is hard to remember a time when the two of them couldn't read. In fact, Nathan has even asked me if he was born knowing how to read because he doesn't remember a time when he couldn't read!

However, Julia has been a different story all together. To begin with, she's never shown as much interest in reading as her brothers ... until this summer. Suddenly, you could see the wheels turning. Julia began asking me to tell her what certain words said. Several times she cried when her teasing big brothers wouldn't let her play because she couldn't read yet. And many times every week, Julia asked me to teach her how to read.

We worked hard on learning letter sounds and I showed her how to sound out short words. I could tell Julia was working hard and wanting to read so badly, but so far it hadn't all come together for her. After school began, Julia began to bring home little pamphlets from school with short stories for the kids to "read." The kids read them over and over at school, and then brought them home to read to their parents. Julia was thrilled to have something that she could "read" and yet we both knew she had just memorized the words in those little take-home readers. I hate to admit it, but that bothered me. Even though I knew that some children weren't ready to read until age 6 or even 7, I still harbored some worries that maybe Julia wouldn't be able to learn to read very easily or that she would always struggle to learn reading skills.

Last Sunday evening, Julia brought me a stack of easy readers that she wanted me to read aloud to her. As I looked at thebooks, I noticed that they were books that we didn't read often, so I knew she hadn't memorized them. I also knew these books were probably easy enough for her to practice sounding out words. I felt like maybe it would be good for me to gauge how her reading skills were progressing in order for me to be better able to help her learn to read, and so I said, "I think I'd rather listen to you read those to me." She started to whine, "But I can't read, Mama!" So I assured her that I would help out anytime that she needed me to, but that I wanted her to try to read by herself ... at least one of the books in the stack.

There we sat, side by side on the bed ... Julia picked up the first book and read the first page. She went on to read the 2nd and 3rd and 4th pages without missing a single word. She had to ask me for help with one word on the last page. Julia put that book aside and picked up the next one. Again, she read and correctly sounded out each word in the book. It wasn't until Julia read the 3rd book through that she realized she was reading! Then she got so tickled at her success that she didn't want to stop. There wer about 8 of these little books. She read them all to me, and then read them all again! She kept saying, "I'm reading! Hey, you boys, I'm reading to Mama! I can read to you, too!" Of course, the boys, who've only been wanting their sister to read for the past 3 years, began to cheer and raise quite a rucus over Julia's success. We were so excited that it was quite sometime before we had all settled down from the celebration of Julia's reading success. That night, Julia went to sleep with her stack of easy readers held tightly in her arms. I love it!

This week happiness is being able to say that I'm the mother of 3 readers. Now, if I can just get them all raised to be adults who love the Lord with all their hearts, minds, souls and who remember to brush their teeth twice a day, then I'll really feel like a successful mother!

Nate Turns Seven!

Nate (yes, you read that correctly ... Nathan wants to now be known as Nate) is turning 7 on Thanksgiving Day. We celebrated with a party this afternoon. He requested a CARS party, so that's what he got. Even though normally I prefer to do anything but a character party, this one was actually fun to plan. Nathan came up with a lot of great and creative ideas, and that helped me get into the theme.

As always, the cake is an original creation made by me, with some guidance and assistance of the birthday child. Here are some pictures of our cake creation.









My favorite part of Nate's party was that our friends Stacie and Taylor drove over to attend. They came several hours early and we enjoyed a nice long visit before the party. Here's a picture of Nathan and Taylor playing with one of his new toys.



One quick story about my November baby ... Nathan was born Nov. 27, 2001. That year, Thanksgiving was on Nov. 22nd. The following year, Thanksgiving didn't fall until Nov. 28th. Nathan didn't celebrate his first Thanksgiving until after he turned 1 year old. Even so, I'm always glad the Lord saw fit to allow me to be Nate's momma.

Without Fear (edited version)

I have this homeschooling friend who recently became a single mother. She wrote about how she was looking for ways to bring in extra money so that she could continue to stay home full time rather than put her children into school and return to work. I read those words and paused for a second, wondering if I had not tried hard enough to figure out a way to continue to be home with the kids. After all, putting the children into school wasn't part of my dream for this life. I wanted to admire my friend for her desire to continue to live her dream. But as I reread the words, I noticed something else there ... FEAR. I realized that she seemed to be fearful ... maybe fearful of the change in her life or perhaps fearful of the public school system.

I know all about fear. I have done many things in my life based on fear, including choosing my college degree. I *knew* what a teacher did and it was comfortable to imagine myself doing the same sort of work. I was fearful of choosing a different career ... what if I failed or didn't like it. And so, I became a teacher. Once I was in the classroom, I didn't really enjoy the work. I love children. I love learning. I do not like attempting to teach a classroom of 25 pupils. And yet, for so long, I was fearful of doing anything else because of the unknown aspect.

I was also fearful of moving away from my hometown ... what if no one else liked me. What if all these people here like me because of who my family happens to be or because we go to church together. And, once I started homeschooling, I was fearful of putting my kids into public school ... for a myriad of reasons. I lived in fear. It wasn't a debilitating fear. I functioned fairly normally. But fears drove my decisions.

During the summer and fall of 2007, I was extremely fearful of Matt leaving our marriage. I tried as hard as I could to keep him from leaving. Looking back, I can see that it was fear that drove how I responded to him. Nothing I did worked, and that great fear came to pass. But ... and bear with me on this because it is hard to explain ... when he uttered those words, "I want a divorce. I want out of this marriage." there was this click in my heart. At that moment, the biggest part of the fear was gone. It didn't totally go away at that moment and there were some times in the months ahead when I was extremely fearful. Yet , at that moment, it was as if in my heart I knew I would survive this. This thing I had been fearing had actually happened and I hadn't fallen over dead. But I also knew that I was going to have swim or I would sink ... so right then and there, in that remote cabin in North Carolina, I made the decision to swim for Paige rather than to sink for Matt.

Let me make one thing clear ... I would have sunk WITH Matt. I would have fought for our marriage forever, with him fighting right next to me. But when he wanted out, when he refused to give me any hope of reconciliation, when he gave up the fight for us, then I began to refuse to sink for him. (I hope that makes sense. It's not a decision that I ever thought I'd have to make. However, we all know that a marriage is made up of two people ... and sadly when one person bails out of the marriage, the other will not be able to keep the marriage floating by themselves.)

Since that time, I've had to make a lot of decisions. I decided to return to work. Six weeks later, I decided to change careers. Last March, I decided to file for the divorce, which was probably the hardest decision I've ever had to make. There have been other decisions, but these were the big three. Making decisions has done several important things for me:

1. I've gained confidence in God and in His guidance offered to me. As my trust in Him has increased, my fear has decreased. I don't live in the same kind of unhealthy fear anymore.

2. My decisions have brought about opportunities I wouldn't have had otherwise.

Because I returned to work, I put the kids into school ... which has been a blessing to us all in a number of ways. I won't go into all that right now, but all those fears have turned out to be a lot of wasted mental and emotional energy on my part. And yes, for all those with curious minds, I would go back to homeschooling in a heartbeat. Yet, I'm glad for this experience of having my children in school. And if I ever do find myself back home, I know I will appreciate it more and be a better stay-at-home mom because of it.

Because I returned to work, I was able to afford a lot of new furniture ... meaning that now I don't have to sit around on the same sofa I used to sit on with Matt, and I now own the matching bedroom set I always wished Matt would allow us to purchase. Probably best of all, I was able to pay off a lot of debt.

Because I changed careers, I had to begin to work on my Master's degree. It was something I should have done long ago. In fact, there was a time earlier in my life when I had goals of earning a doctorate. I don't think that is still a goal I have at this point, but I'm happy to be continuing my education.

Because I filed for the divorce, all court appearances (from now until the kids are grown) will be in my hometown, on my turf. He will be the one who has to incur travel costs anytime we have to amend our divorce decree, which considering the ages of our children will be likely at least once before they are all grown. By taking the lead, I refused to allow him to call the shots anymore. That may seem insignificant or petty unless you know the entire story. I won't put that all out here, but it is suffice to say that reclaiming a bit of control in a situation like ours isn't an entirely bad thing.

Those decisions were incredibly tough to make, but in the long run each one has helped me to move on in my life, process the grief and begbin to refocus on my blessings. Learning to trust the Lord to help me make decisions has helped me to overcome the fear and to empower myself through Him.

I read an interesting quote tonight: We must give up the life we dreamed of, in order to have the life that is before us.

No ... this isn't the life I dreamed of. I have lost a lot of my dreams. I no longer homeschool. I probably won't have the opportunity to live in a wide variety of places or travel the nation/world with as much ease as I did as a military spouse. I'm a single mom, and it is an incredibly tough job. And yet, I can't sit around moaning about my life now. If I did that, I would not only have lost what I had then, I would be losing what I have now as well.

I know that the Lord does not intend for us to divorce our spouses. I would never ever recommend it to anyone. But it happened and with it my life changed. I could continue to sit in one spot, clinging to the little things I could continue to grasp (like homeschooling). Or I could step out in faith toward God and give myself fully to Him, even though it would mean dramatic changes. I'm glad I chose the latter for even though life today certainly isn't a bed or roses, there is far too much right in my life for me not to embrace it with a heart of thanksgiving.

The thing about life is that it goes on every day. Good days, bad days, dark days ... life goes on. Happy seasons, sad seasons, seasons of confusion ... life goes on. And really, when it boils down to the nitty-gritty day in and day out life, I'm incredibly blessed. Every day I wake up to 3 beautiful children, who cause me to laugh and smile and occasionally pull my hair out. I have a cozy house with a beautiful view, a good job that pays me enough money to cover the bills without having to stress too much. My minivan is able to get me to work and home again every evening. The dog loves me and hates the cat, and the cat loves me and hates the dog ... that in itself reminds me that life is pretty much as it should be. Day in and day out ... life goes on. And, until the day I die, life will go on. So though I can't choose much of what will happen to me while I'm living, I can choose to live this life with a smile and a determination to love those around me. I can choose to enjoy every day, being thankful for the blessings (both big and small) that touch my life. I can choose to wake up every morning and embrace life that day ... even if it is different from all the ones before it. And, through Christ, I can live my life without fear.

Don't panic. I'm with you. There's no need to fear for I'm your God. I'll give you strength. I'll help you. I'll hold you steady, keep a firm grip on you. (Isaiah 41:8)

I know today is Tuesday

Last weekend, Julia was given several large bags of clothing by a friend of mine who has twin daughters several years older than Julia. So this past week, she had a glorious time wearing these "new" clothes.

Well, in this bag was probably 50 pairs of little panties. Now, normally I wouldn't probably go for sharing panties ... but these practically looked new and since I knew where they came from I felt okay about letting Julia wear them ... especially considering how enraptured she was with these undies. You see, I only buy solid colors or white panties. I don't typically indulge my girl in underwear with characters or sparklies or other little extras. But these panties had all the bells and whistles. There were glitter panties and sparkly panties and panties with words. There were princess panties and holiday panties. Every kind of panty imaginable! Julia was elated to say the least.

Every morning Julia had to sift and sort her way through the panties, debating over which wonderful pair to wear that day. On Sunday, we ate lunch with my parents after church. Julia was quick to run go show her grandparents her new panties. On Monday the kids were out of school, but I had to work. My parents watched the kids, and again Julia showed off her lovely panties to everyone. That night, we had a serious talk about how panties were private and that she could not show anyone her panties ... no matter how special or beautiful the panties might be.

On Tuesday morning we were running just a bit late. Julia, of course, was in the middle of panty choosing. As she was going through this very slow process, I happened to notice a pair of panties with a Disney character and the word "TUESDAY" written across the front. I grabbed them up and said, "Oh Julia! Look at these! These panties have the word Tuesday written on the front and today just happens to be Tuesday. You definitely need to wear your Tuesday panties today." Julia thought about that for about half a second before she agreed to put them on her little body.

According to Julia's teacher, that morning during the calendar circle the class was trying to figure out which day of the week it was. Julia was the only one who knew. She announced to the class, "Well, I KNOW today is Tuesday because I'm wearing my Tuesday panties!"

Oh, well ... at least she didn't lift up her dress and show them her Tuesday panties!

From the mind of a 5 year old

Julia has strange tastes in names. Really ... I'm not kidding. Most of the times I can't even begin to pronounce the names she comes up with for her dolls. For example, her Bitty Twins are named Honna (long o) and Sonis (short o). At first, I thought she might have meant to name them Hannah and Sonya, but just didn't pronounce them correctly. No. She's adamant that the names are Honna and Sonis. She also has a doll named Tanfee and another named Rikadill. Truly, I worry over what she might name any future children.

So tonight Julia and I went to pick up some supper from a local restaurant, and stopped in at our local Fred's Dollar Store for some sodas. As we came out, I made a comment about Fred's always being the same old Fred's. (I dislike shopping there, but occasionally I feel the need to step back in and see if I like it any better. Every time I discover that Fred's is the same old Fred's. One day I'll learn.)

Anyway, Julia got confused by my comment and asked to see Fred. So I said, "Fred is a person's name but it is also the name of this store. I don't particularly like the name Fred or this store, so please don't name any of your future babies Fred, okay?"

Julia: But Mama ... What will I name my baby?

Me: Oh, Sweetie, that's the great thing about being a Mama. You get to pick whichever name you like. What name do you like?

Julia: Hmmm ... I'll have to make something up.

Me: Well, not exactly. You could just think about names that other people have that you like the sound of and then you can use those names for your babies when you grow up to be a mommy.

Julia: No. I don't want my babies to have to share their names. I'll just make something up.

Did I mention that I'm really worried about what my future grandchildren might be named?

Nathan's New Recipe

Nathan has designed a new holiday recipe. He wants to share the recipe so here is how to make his special dish:

Baby Jesus

1 can of crescent rolls
8 hot dogs

Separate the crescent rolls into 8 triangles. Cut each triangle into strips. Wrap the strips around the hot dogs. Bake in the oven according to the crescent roll directions. The hot dog is "baby Jesus" and the strips of crescent rolls are the swaddling clothes. (Nathan actually got his idea from a Halloween recipe he saw in a magazine called Mummy Dogs. He basically renamed it and decided that he wouldn't add the mustard or ketchup dots for eyes as those were kind of spooky.)

We tried Nathan's recipe tonight and it was rather tasty ... even if it was a slightly weird to eat a hot dog Baby Jesus.

As I was happily anticipating Thanksgiving tonight, I thought I'd share my extended family's unique tradition ... Thanksgiving breakfast.

Each Thanksgiving morning, my dad's extended family hosts a large breakfast. Most years, it numbers between 60 and 75 guests, but in years past we have numbered over 100. We have it in a old rec building (that we affectionately call The Outhouse) that is located behind my grandfather's house. It's got a large stone fireplace at one end and an old wood-burning stove at the other. By the time everyone is present, you can hardly move for all the people standing around.

My dad and his brothers will start cooking at around 5 am, and breakfast is served around 7:30 am. We cook biscuits and bacon on the old wood-burning stove. The rest of the food is cooked in the kitchen in my grandfather's house. We indulge in turkey and ham, grits, scrambled eggs, and other dishes such as fruit salad, breakfast casseroles, cinnamon rolls, etc. It's sort of a potluck as most everyone will bring something to share. You never know just what will be included in the spread of food, but whatever is there tastes wonderful for it is cooked and served with love.

I just love those Thanksgiving mornings ... it's crowded inside The Outhouse, and yet I'm cozy and secure as I'm surrounded by so many people I love. And the smells are wonderfully rustic ... from the fire in the fireplace and the stove to the good foods wafting in the air to the chill that tingles in my nose when I step outdoors. And speaking of the chilly outdoors, that's actually where many of the guests will eat on tables that have been set up for the occasion. It doesn't matter that you can see your breath hanging in the air or that your teeth chatter. We all still head outside with our plates piled high, to sit shoulder to shoulder in the autumn morning coolness. I suppose we've all learned over the years that the hot chocolate tastes better when you are cold, and the best warmth is the one that rushes over your body when you step back inside to fill up your plate with second helpings.

After the guests leave, my family will clean up in just enough time to watch the parade. Later on, some of my aunts and uncles and cousins will move on to other relatives houses to continue their Thanksgiving eating. There are years that I do as well, though usually my parents, siblings and I will have our turkey with cornbread dressing dinner the night before Thanksgiving. Often times I think about how my Thanksgiving is over before others have had time to really get started cooking, much less eating. But then I realize that I've got all day to enjoy parades, football games and naps without worrying about what's burning on the stove!

I'm looking forward to sharing Thanksgiving Breakfast with so many people I love... and thankfully, so are my children. It makes me happy to think that this will hopefully be a tradition that is continued to be passed down through the generations.

Disappointments

This morning I awoke to the news that we had elected a new president ... not the one I had voted for yesterday. I was disappointed that my candidate didn't win, but also because I knew I would have to break the news to Joel who would be very upset.

As I thought about telling Joel, I was reminded that this life is full of many disappointments. Some of them are the results of our own actions ... consequences that we must pay for making poor choices. Some disappointments come to us by the way of another person's poor decisions. So often we forget that our sins rarely affect only us, because the action ripples out and touches everyone around us. And then there are just some disappointments in life that simply happen, not from the result of sin or poor choices. Life just doesn't always go our way. (As my mother has so wisely said many times, "Life's not perfect, and it's the disappointments here on earth that make us long for the perfection of heaven."

As I prepared my heart for the conversation I knew I would soon have with Joel, I began to think deeper about how some disappoinments for me might give another a reason to rejoice. There are many people in the USA that are celebrating today, joyful over the newly elected president. They do not feel disappointment over the election results. It is the same lesson I learned from play jr. high basketball ... win or lose, when the game is over and a winner is declared, shake hands and say "great game." If you played your best, you have no reason to feel bad that you lost. So because I love my democratic friends and relatives, I cannot allow my own disappointment to ruin their good fortune.

Furthermore, the results of this election should give everyone in this nation reason to celebrate, for we have overcome so much of the damage caused by slavery by simply electing our first black president. The civil rights movement has come so very far over the last 50 years, and we can joyfully acknowledge that with this election.

As you might guess, once Joel woke up he immediately asked about the election results. And, at first, he was disappointed, but not as disappointed as I thought he might be. We were able to talk together about how God is in control even when things we don't like happen, and that we have no reason to feel upset or filled with worry. Joel and I committed to praying for President-elect Obama, just as we prayed for President Bush. We also agreed that we would allow ourselves to feel disappointed today, but after that we will let those feelings go and focus on being good Americans. Finally, Joel said, "Mama, do you remember how you said that you remembered a lot of people in your family didn't want Reagan to be elected, but he was a good president. Maybe it will be the same way with Obama. Maybe he will be a good president, too."

I hope and pray that Joel is right.

16 Things

Over on Facebook, I was tagged by a friend to share 16 things about myself ... 16 little known things that others might not know about me. After spending way too uch time writing up those 16 things, I decided that I'd share it over here for my family and friends who might not see it on Facebook. Enjoy!



Maybe you know or maybe you don't know that ...

1. I am the oldest child in my family, as well as the oldest grandchild for both sets of grandparents and the oldest great-grandchild for 3 of my 4 sets of great-grandparents.

2. During my marriage to Matt, I moved 14 times in 14 years. Sometimes, it was just a move across town ... but each move still involved packing up every little thing in to a box and then unpacking it on the other end, even if it was just 2 miles up the road.

3. I have lived in 6 states: NC, LA, CA, GA, VA, and TX.

4. In addition, I have visited 15 other states: MS, AL, FL, SC, MD, KY, TN, MO, AR, OK, KS, NM, AZ, WA and OR. I've also visited Washington, DC.

5. Despite all my traveling around with the military, I've never been out of the continental US. However, I have a passport and am definitely willing and ready to travel to a foreign country if ever the opportunity arises.

6. I do not like canned peaches ... not even in cobblers or pies.

7. I used to show lambs as part of my 4-H club experience.

8. I won 1st runner up in the 4-H state egg cookery contest when I was just 9 years old.

9. If you can't tell from the previous two facts, I loved my years as a 4-H'er. Fortunately for me, I'm now working as a 4-H agent. It's a job that I really enjoy ... well, at least most of the time.

10. I don't watch very much TV. In fact, I haven't had my TV at home turned on in over 2 weeks. The last time it was turned on was so that Joel could watch a weather channel special on hurricanes. I'm not so much against TV, as it just bores me.

11. I also don't enjoy watching movies at home. A movie in a theater is ten times better, so if I've got to watch a movie, that's definitely where I want to view it. Even at that, I could probably think of a dozen things I'd rather do than go see a movie.

12. I graduated valedictorian of my high school class. It's not a hard feat when there are only 21 graduates, though.

13. I adore solid black animals. Currently, I have a black dog (Jingle-Belle) and a black cat (Domino). I think it all goes back to when my brother Reid was born ... for some reason, around that time my parents gave me a solid black kitten that I named Kitty-Baby. I loved that cat. Ever since, black dogs and cats make my heart melt.

14. I collect teacups... not teapots or tea sets. Just teacups. I started collecting them when I was around 12 years old.

15. I love to read. I can't go in a bookstore without buying at least one book. My kids have more books than the local library, or so it seems. (Then again, our library is so small that I don't imagine it would be too awfully hard to out book them.) I spend at least half an hour reading aloud to my kids every single night.

Last one ... thank goodness! It was hard to come up with 16 things! So, for #16, maybe you know or maybe you don't know that ....

16. I am nearly debt-free. I'm not quite there yet, but I'm working hard on getting that way. I still owe on one small credit card that I hope to have paid off by January 2009, and my mini-van. I'd like to find myself totally debt-free by the end of 2009. It's a goal, anyway.

That's my 16 things!

The God of the Bible

In Genesis, He's the breath of life

In Exodus, He is the Passover Lamb

In Leviticus, He's our High Priest

In Numbers, the Fire by Night

Deuteronomy, He's Israel's guide

Joshua, He's salvation's choice

Judges, He's Israel's guard

In Ruth, the kinsmen's Redeemer

1st and 2nd Samuel, our trusted Prophet

In Kings and Chronicles, He is Sovereign

In Ezra, He's the true and faithful scribe

In Nehemiah, the Re-builder of broken walls and lives

In Esther, He's Mordecai's courage

In Job, the Timeless Redeemer

In Psalms, He is our morning song

In Proverbs, He is our wisdom

Ecclesiastes, He's the time and season

In Song of Solomon, He is the lover's dream

In Isaiah, He is the Prince of Peace

In Jeremiah, the Weeping Prophet

Lamentations, the Cry for Israel

Ezekiel, the Call from Sin

Daniel, the Stranger in the Fire

Hosea, the Forever Faithful

Joel, the Spirit's Power

Amos, the Strong-arms that carry

Obadiah, the Lord our Savior

Jonah, the great Missionary

Micah, the Promise of Peace

Nahum, our Strength and Shield

In Habakkuk and Zephaniah, He's brings revival

In Haggai, He restores that which was lost

In Zachariah, He's our fountain

And in Malachi, He's the Son of righteousness rising with healing in His wings

AND THAT'S JUST THE OLD TESTAMENT

In Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, He is God and Messiah

In the spirit filled book of Acts, He is the reigning fire from Heaven

In Romans, He is the grace of God

Corinthians, the Power of Love

Galatians, Freedom from the curse of sin

Ephesians, our Glorious Treasure

Philippians, the Servant's Heart

Colossians, He's God and the Trinity

Thessalonians, our calling King

In Timothy, Titus, and Philemon, He's our mediator and our faithful pastor

In Hebrews, the Everlasting Courage

In James, the One who heals the sick

In 1st and 2nd Peter, our Faithful Shepherd

In John and Jude, He's the lover coming for His bride

AND in the Revelation, in the very end, when it's all over, said and done, when time is NO MORE. He is and will always be the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Prince of Peace, Son of Man, Lamb of God, The Great I Am, Alpha and Omega, God and Savior

He is Jesus Christ the Lord...

HE IS EVERYTHING THAT YOU NEED!

(I recently saw this posted on a Christian homeschooling message board. I'm not sure who the author is or where to give the credit, but it is a wonderful reminder to me of just what a mighty and amazing God I serve!)

All Dressed Up

We had such a fun Halloween!

The day started off with a field trip to a local pumpkin patch. Actually it was a church that created a large pumpkin display and offered some fun games, storytelling and other pumpkin activities. The school was taking the K-2 classes, so all 3 of my kids went on this field trip. For that reason, I took off of work so that I could tag along. Here are some of the pictures I took:

Julia's Kindergarten class



Julia with her best friend, Bailey.



Nathan's 1st Grade class (Nathan's grandmother, who he calls KayTee, is his teacher. She's on the back row.)



Nathan with his best pals, Colton and Avery.



Joel's class



Joel with his friend Numan.



Joel with his friend Zavian.



After school, Joel had his hippo-therapy (or horse lessons, as we call them). When Nathan, Julia and I went to pick him up, we discovered Joel painting the horse! Nathan and Julia got in on the act as well. What fun they had giving the horse a new look! You can really say that this is a "paint horse!"



And last, but certainly not least among the day's events, was dressing up to trick or treat. Here's the three of them standing in the yard.



Joel, dressed as Abraham Lincoln. Joel's only wanted to dress up as Abe for the past 3 years. I was worried the costume would look cheap, but it turned out looking really great on him! He kept referring to himself as AL, which cracked me up for some reason.



Nathan was a superhero of his own design. He wore Batman's cape, Superman's shirt, the Flash's helmet, Wonder Woman's red boots, and had green arms like the Hulk (or maybe it was Aquaman). At any rate, he was decked out in the creation that was totally his own. He called himself SuperDude. (Originally, he was called himself Amazo, but a few days before Halloween he changed the name.)


This is SuperDude's hat up close. His mother was frantically working to get this hat created just minutes before it was time to trick-or-treat. After making the hat and painting SuperDude's arms green, poor mom was almost too tired to take everyone trick-or-treating!



SuperDude strikes a pose! What a guy!



Little Miss Julia fell in love with poodle skirts this year. Here she is decked out in her 1950's outfit. She loved twirling in this skirt!





We now have more candy that we can possibly eat. The kids spent most of the day on a major sugar high. I'm going to hide it all tonight so that we can dole it out bit by bit over the next several MONTHS. Really ... we have so much, it should take to next Halloween to eat it all! Santa will not have to spend any money on stocking candy this Christmas!