The kids were being extra cute tonight so I was able to catch the on video in all their cute-ness! Charlotte has found a favorite book (Baby Bear, Baby Bear, What Do You See?") and likes to sit and "read" it to whoever will listen. Mostly that means that she turns the pages and loudly says, "see?" but it's so cute!
Timothy learned the books of the Old Testament and I tried to get it all on tape, but unfortunately this past fall when our camera's memory card screwed up, we had to use an old one that we had at home already and it doesn't have as much space on it so it cut out before he was finished...and yes, he leaves out a few books in the middle, but he was very passionate singing it!
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
Crazy Hair
Charlotte's hair is driving me crazy! It's getting longer, which I like, but with all this dry weather we've had, her hair gets all static-y (if that's even a word) and then it just does not behave at all! I'm trying to let it just grow out and hope that it thickens up soon, but we'll see...I did manage to get it into a ponytail the other day, she looked so grown up! So here are pictures of her crazy hair...and a couple random ones of Timothy :)
Monday, January 18, 2010
Picture Post
It seems like I've been lacking in posting more than a few pictures at a time on here, so I thought I'd try and do a little better. These are just ones from this weekend, but the kids were all happy and cooperative, so it was easy to take lots of pictures!!
My brother's oldest boy, Hadley, came over with my mom to watch the Cowboys lose yesterday and when Timothy saw what he was wearing, he wanted to put on his "number nine" shirt too. They played a lot of football while we were watching the game...and then decided they wanted to have a tea party...
For all those times I said I wasn't crafty...look what I made! Charlotte's single bow holder was getting pretty crowded, so I decided to try and make some new ones. I thought it turned out pretty good, but I told Brandon now she needs more bows!!
They're perfectly fine to have their pictures taken separately...
But this is what I get when I try to take their picture together!
Charlotte still likes to pose for the camera...usually she'll say "Cheese"!
And she's such a little mommy, she loves to take her baby for a walk!
My brother's oldest boy, Hadley, came over with my mom to watch the Cowboys lose yesterday and when Timothy saw what he was wearing, he wanted to put on his "number nine" shirt too. They played a lot of football while we were watching the game...and then decided they wanted to have a tea party...
For all those times I said I wasn't crafty...look what I made! Charlotte's single bow holder was getting pretty crowded, so I decided to try and make some new ones. I thought it turned out pretty good, but I told Brandon now she needs more bows!!
They're perfectly fine to have their pictures taken separately...
But this is what I get when I try to take their picture together!
Charlotte still likes to pose for the camera...usually she'll say "Cheese"!
And she's such a little mommy, she loves to take her baby for a walk!Tuesday, January 12, 2010
All About the Girly Girl
Timothy has decided that he doesn't like having his picture taken, so I just really don't have any pictures of him from this past week. Charlotte, on the other hand, will sit and smile all day long for me, so I get lots of pictures of her! Just thought I would give a little update on life in our house.
Timothy started back to school last week and has really been doing well there this month. His teachers tell me every time that he's had a good day and he seems to be remembering things better, like recognizing letters and numbers and even the sounds that some of the letters make. He's also drastically improved his manners lately, not sure what the reason for the change is, but I welcome it! We're still working on treating his sister nicely, not sure why he can't figure that one out, but oh well, I'm sure it won't really get any better or worse for a long time!
Charlotte seems to be changing every day. She is talking so much more now and we regularly hear "bye bye", "nite nite", "baby", "tweet tweet", "ruff ruff", "dada", "timothy (tu-tee)", "water", "drink", "please", and her personal favorite "NO NO". She is the queen of "no". She is so cute when she says please though, I'll try to get it on video. She loves to find her belly button and her eyes and nose. She LOVES her babies lately too, and that's pretty much all she plays with. She puts them in the stroller, for rocks them, she feeds them, she invites them to her tea parties, she wraps them in blankets and tells them nite nite, it's so sweet to watch her with them. She also still loves to read books and will just bring one to you and turn around and plop down in your lap. She has learned how to climb onto the couches, so we have to be careful now! Crazy to think she'll be 18 months old next month!
Anyway, just wanted to give a little update on our lives here. Not too much going on, just trying to get back into routine after the holidays, trying to get the house organized, and trying to get these kids back on a schedule!! I'm looking forward to this month because not only did it mean the start of Ladies Bible Class, which I look forward to every week, but I also have Mentoring Moms in a couple weeks and then our church Ladies Retreat at the end of the month...AND, since my mom is in town, we've already gotten to go on one date and hopefully can squeeze in another before the month is over!! Life is good here, we are blessed!!
Timothy started back to school last week and has really been doing well there this month. His teachers tell me every time that he's had a good day and he seems to be remembering things better, like recognizing letters and numbers and even the sounds that some of the letters make. He's also drastically improved his manners lately, not sure what the reason for the change is, but I welcome it! We're still working on treating his sister nicely, not sure why he can't figure that one out, but oh well, I'm sure it won't really get any better or worse for a long time!
Charlotte seems to be changing every day. She is talking so much more now and we regularly hear "bye bye", "nite nite", "baby", "tweet tweet", "ruff ruff", "dada", "timothy (tu-tee)", "water", "drink", "please", and her personal favorite "NO NO". She is the queen of "no". She is so cute when she says please though, I'll try to get it on video. She loves to find her belly button and her eyes and nose. She LOVES her babies lately too, and that's pretty much all she plays with. She puts them in the stroller, for rocks them, she feeds them, she invites them to her tea parties, she wraps them in blankets and tells them nite nite, it's so sweet to watch her with them. She also still loves to read books and will just bring one to you and turn around and plop down in your lap. She has learned how to climb onto the couches, so we have to be careful now! Crazy to think she'll be 18 months old next month!
Anyway, just wanted to give a little update on our lives here. Not too much going on, just trying to get back into routine after the holidays, trying to get the house organized, and trying to get these kids back on a schedule!! I'm looking forward to this month because not only did it mean the start of Ladies Bible Class, which I look forward to every week, but I also have Mentoring Moms in a couple weeks and then our church Ladies Retreat at the end of the month...AND, since my mom is in town, we've already gotten to go on one date and hopefully can squeeze in another before the month is over!! Life is good here, we are blessed!!
Thursday, January 07, 2010
Back to Life...Back to Reality...
Well, the holidays are over and life is back to normal around here. Timothy went to school this week, Charlotte and I went to Ladies Bible Class, classes were back to normal at church...it's been so nice to have routine again! I know I haven't posted pictures in a week or so, and thought that I should get some new ones up. We went to IKEA last weekend and they were having a GREAT sale, so we got the kids a little table and chairs and they love to play on them. We set up Charlotte's tea party set on it, so they sit there now and eat their snacks, too cute. Charlotte has become very attached to her baby dolls (babies) lately, and carries them around the house with her pretty much all the time. Timothy is addicted to the Cars game that he got to play on the Wii, so he knows every day when Charlotte goes down for her nap that he gets to play the Wii. Anyway, here are the pictures, enjoy!!
Changin' It Up
I decided to start a new blog to keep family things separate from "me" things...so check it out if you want www.matthew25leastofthese.blogspot.com.
Wednesday, January 06, 2010
Things That Make You Go Hmmmm....
I learned today that the average age of a homeless person in San Antonio is 9 years old...yes, I typed that correctly, 9 years old. On any given day here, there are 4,000 homeless men, women, and children. Of those, 31% are families with children and 70% have been homeless for over a year. Then I thought, 4,000 is probably a small number compared to larger cities (i.e. New York, Atlanta, Chicago, etc.), and that gave me hope. I recently read two books that have changed even further the degree to which I view every person in my life as Jesus (in the sense that, I would do anything for Jesus, and He commands me to love Him first and then love others as myself...so if I would do anything for Him, why can't I love others in that same way?). The books, "Same Kind of Different as Me" and it's follow up "What Difference do it Make?" were written by the same authors, Denver Moore and Ron Hall. If you haven't read them, please do, their story is amazing and very challenging.
In the second book, Denver talks a lot about being homeless and gives a lot of insight into what we, as Christians should be doing to really help the homeless. It made me realize that, while these people need physical resources such as food, clothing, shelter, etc., they also need Jesus. They need to know that Jesus loves them. And you know how they're going to know that? When we show them. Giving the way Jesus commands us to is about more than just writing out a check on Sundays and trusting that your elders will give it to the right missions. While this is good, and necessary, it cannot be our only act of giving to others. Jesus demands our time, our presence, our hearts more than our money. I don't have a lot of money to spend, most of you know that I was laid off last year and while I'm still drawing unemployment, it's not like we can afford anything we want, yet God provides. But I can give myself, I can do more than just roll down my window and toss out a few dollars to someone and roll the window back up again before the chilly air outside hits me.
A few weeks ago, the kids and I were going somewhere (probably WalMart) and stopped at an intersection. A man was there holding a sign that said he really wanted a cheeseburger and a job. I had some extra cash so I rolled down the window and let Timothy hand it to him (he LOVES to help!). I asked the man his name and he told me I could just call him Mr. Priest. He's an african american man, and older, probably in his 40's or 50's. I told him I would pray for him and he said that he would pray for Timothy, that he would grow to know what's really important in life. I drove away crying. Today, as we drove home from lunch, I saw him again. The kids and I circled around until we ended up at his side of the intersection and I rolled down the window and handed him a bag of blessings (socks, an emergency blanket, hand warmers, water, food, chapstick, etc.) and told him I remembered him, that his name was Mr. Priest and that I had been praying for him. He told me that God had heard my prayers because He's been keeping him warm the past few nights! I asked him what else he needed, what else I could bring him and he told me all he needed was prayers for a new job. I told him I would get right on that, and then he asked me where he could come and worship with me (praise God!) so I told him the name of our church and he said he knew right where it is!
I am praying every day for this man. He has touched my heart and I pray that God will bless him with a job. I don't know if he has any family, but I pray that God will help them and keep them warm this winter. I hope he is able to come to church, I forgot to ask him what kind of work he does, but I'm sure there's someone there that can help him. Isn't that how this is supposed to work? We're supposed to take care of each other, because God has blessed us beyond what we could ever imagine. Do you think that maybe, if we all chipped in our time and our love, that we could change this world? Even if it's one person at a time, it can happen, right? In "Crazy Love", the author writes that God is all-powerful, and even though we waste our time asking Him why so many people are dying of starvation, He has more of a right to ask us that same question.
I didn't mean for this to be preachy, these are just things that have been on my mind lately and I know this is my first post of the year and I promise that I'll follow up with a family update and pictures, but this is where my heart is this year, and this is what I'm going to focus on this year. I hope that God continues to bless you and your family, and I hope that you continue to show His love to everyone (EVERYONE!!) that you meet!
In the second book, Denver talks a lot about being homeless and gives a lot of insight into what we, as Christians should be doing to really help the homeless. It made me realize that, while these people need physical resources such as food, clothing, shelter, etc., they also need Jesus. They need to know that Jesus loves them. And you know how they're going to know that? When we show them. Giving the way Jesus commands us to is about more than just writing out a check on Sundays and trusting that your elders will give it to the right missions. While this is good, and necessary, it cannot be our only act of giving to others. Jesus demands our time, our presence, our hearts more than our money. I don't have a lot of money to spend, most of you know that I was laid off last year and while I'm still drawing unemployment, it's not like we can afford anything we want, yet God provides. But I can give myself, I can do more than just roll down my window and toss out a few dollars to someone and roll the window back up again before the chilly air outside hits me.
A few weeks ago, the kids and I were going somewhere (probably WalMart) and stopped at an intersection. A man was there holding a sign that said he really wanted a cheeseburger and a job. I had some extra cash so I rolled down the window and let Timothy hand it to him (he LOVES to help!). I asked the man his name and he told me I could just call him Mr. Priest. He's an african american man, and older, probably in his 40's or 50's. I told him I would pray for him and he said that he would pray for Timothy, that he would grow to know what's really important in life. I drove away crying. Today, as we drove home from lunch, I saw him again. The kids and I circled around until we ended up at his side of the intersection and I rolled down the window and handed him a bag of blessings (socks, an emergency blanket, hand warmers, water, food, chapstick, etc.) and told him I remembered him, that his name was Mr. Priest and that I had been praying for him. He told me that God had heard my prayers because He's been keeping him warm the past few nights! I asked him what else he needed, what else I could bring him and he told me all he needed was prayers for a new job. I told him I would get right on that, and then he asked me where he could come and worship with me (praise God!) so I told him the name of our church and he said he knew right where it is!
I am praying every day for this man. He has touched my heart and I pray that God will bless him with a job. I don't know if he has any family, but I pray that God will help them and keep them warm this winter. I hope he is able to come to church, I forgot to ask him what kind of work he does, but I'm sure there's someone there that can help him. Isn't that how this is supposed to work? We're supposed to take care of each other, because God has blessed us beyond what we could ever imagine. Do you think that maybe, if we all chipped in our time and our love, that we could change this world? Even if it's one person at a time, it can happen, right? In "Crazy Love", the author writes that God is all-powerful, and even though we waste our time asking Him why so many people are dying of starvation, He has more of a right to ask us that same question.
I didn't mean for this to be preachy, these are just things that have been on my mind lately and I know this is my first post of the year and I promise that I'll follow up with a family update and pictures, but this is where my heart is this year, and this is what I'm going to focus on this year. I hope that God continues to bless you and your family, and I hope that you continue to show His love to everyone (EVERYONE!!) that you meet!
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