With Sadness and Joy

I had planned to write much sooner than this but our plans are not God's plans. My dear grandma passed away on Friday, December 12. I flew back to Nebraska for her funeral and a few moments with family. I was literally gone only about 48 hours from the time my plane took off! While it was a beautiful tribute to her life, it was also bittersweet knowing that the grandma I love and cherish will not be around to make memories with my children. She was, as my brother wrote, "the perfect grandma; the kind every kid hopes for and dreams of." She really did make the holidays wonderful and special. In memory of her, I thought I would make a list of all that has been special to us so far this Christmas season.

1) Knowing that none of the following is possible or as meaningful without the God who sacrificed so much for us.

2) Family and friends, near and far.

3) Watching Elijah teach his baby sisters how to clap.

4) Christmas Tea with the ladies of Grace E-Free.

5) Setting up the Christmas tree - and then again two more times when an eager 2 year old pulls it down.

6) Having snow and watching the kids play in it.

7) Christmas music.

8) Singing Christmas songs with Camden at naptime.

9) Kaiya and Reyna getting their first teeth 2 days apart.

10) Grayson convincing us to have hot chocolate every day.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Thank you daddy for praying, loving, wrestling, snuggling, reading, feeding, changing, singing, playing, working and being with us every day. We love you and appreciate you!

Celebrating Paul today and thanking God for him,
Monica, Grayson, Elijah, Camden, Kaiya and Reyna

Camden's Prayer

I just wanted to share this short prayer with you. Camden says this prayer 99% of the time at night before bed. You'd think it would seem repetitive but he says it with such sincerity and volume that you can't help but smile.

Camden: "God is great. Dear God, help us help mommy and daddy and all my family are great. In Jesus' name. Amen."

Thank you Jess for writing about the 7 x 7 prayer goal. It is something that I desire to become a habit for all of us.

Sweet Elijah

I had one of those "gulp" moments today. Most of you probably have another name for it - like "aha moment" or "the light went on". I describe it like it feels to me. Let me go back in time a little bit so you can understand where this came from.

About a year ago, Elijah and I started clashing. It seemed like any button he could push with me he did. This has continued and I have felt really guilty about some of my thoughts. I actually had a conversation with Paul one day and said, "I love Elijah - deeply and beyond words - but I don't really like him right now. I don't think we would be friends if he was our age. He is always loud, insensitive, selfish and whiny."

Okay - if you remember, this is also the boy who also says things like "I love you - wherever you go I go" and "I am going to live here forever." The latter of which he said today - while I was in the bathroom. I told him to wait for me outside the door just so I could have a little privacy (who am I kidding?) and he wouldn't budge. I asked him why he wanted to stay and never leave. His simple response, "Because I love you."

It only took a few minutes for those two scenarios to mesh together, and I gulped. I realized that is what God goes through with us every day. I can be selfish, whiny, unteachable, ungrateful - did I say selfish? The list could go on. What is amazing is that God loves me. He wants to be with me and never leave. I don't even deserve it and could never measure up, but He doesn't ask me to. All I have to do is love Him back. I know this and am beyond thankful, but I was grateful, yet again, for a child's love to put things in perspective.

My Team

Well, here's the whole team. I figure I better start calling them "team members" now so they are prepared when Paul hands them all jerseys, balls, bats, racquet's, etc. In this picture the boys are building with play-doh. They might tell you that yesterday was a near perfect day - playing outside with ice and dirt, warming up with hot chocolate and playing with play-doh. I would have to agree because the messes were fairly minimal! The only small disaster occurred when Grayson decided to mix the black, white and green play-doh colors together and Elijah was devastated to learn that it could not be reversed. I calmed him down by saying that now they had a really cool new color that no one else had. That will only work for so long!

Now, for the shocking news. For those of you who have so diligently teased Paul about his McDonald's addiction, and there are many of you, your work is far from over! He had a physical last week, which was great, and the doc had no concerns. Just today he got his lab results and they, too, were fabulous - too fabulous??!?? His cholesterol was only 141!! Now, I had mine tested a couple years ago and it was 162; a number that the doctor was completely thrilled with. So, while I am greatly relieved that my husband is a healthy man, I have to say, "go figure"! Before he ended our conversation on the phone this morning he said, "Well, I guess I need to go celebrate." We all know what that means.

I am ending with a request for help. I am trying to add music to this blog and can't seem to figure it out even though all the sites say it is sooo easy. If you can help, let me know. Thanks!!