Online Baby Guessing…

See the logo up top for ExpectNet?

Please click on it and go to our baby game.
There, you are asked a few questions, and then can guess Scooter’s birthday, gender, weight, and height.
We’ve done this since Champ, and enjoy seeing the guesses. We also print them off and keep them in the baby book.

The game name is

SCOOTER5

Thanks, so much!
We appreciate it.

Sisters….

are so awesome. ♥

God has a plan and a purpose for our families. I am so glad that I am not left to make the decision for who joins us. I surely would have gotten it all wrong.
Sometimes it takes my breath away when I remember how JB and I thought our family would be complete with two beautiful little boys. We most certainly were not LONGING for a girl. In fact, as we were preparing for Baby Number Three, I was 100% sure I wanted another boy to join us. How convenient it would have been for clothes, bedrooms, boy-toys, etc. If we had stopped, or if I had gotten what I thought I wanted, we would have missed Skeezix.
The world would be such a different place without her. While her first three years were rather, shall we say, intense… she has become the sunshine in our home. The first to offer assistance, the first to listen and recall what was said to her, the first to offer a prayer in someone else’s name, Skeezix rains down cheer on our home.
And what about the little sister? Well, I can’t imagine if she hadn’t joined us 21 months later. To think that at one point we thought, “Oh boy, now FOUR… that would be CRAZY!” Of course, in her case, we obviously very much hoped God would see fit to make number four a little girl. The symmetry-loving head on my shoulders could have wanted nothing else. But I admit, I was afraid to hope. I had myself convinced she was going to be a boy and I remember, after a painful back labor delivery just lying on the bed in great relief waiting to hear what I had delivered. The doctor’s voice rang out, “It’s a girl!” and my hands flew to my mouth in a joyful cheer! TWO BOYS AND TWO GIRLS!!??!! AMAZING AND WONDERFUL!
Just as the boys are Brother-Buddies [don’t try to separate them! please!] these little ladies have grown to be Sister-Buddies the last two years.
When the boys are chin deep in their studies, the little ladies keep themselves busy.
When the boys are off doing big-boy things, the girls enjoy playing with the boys’ toys!
And Skeezix does a tremendous job looking out for Angel.

Chuck E. Turtle's

After spending the day [yes, the DAY] at Chuck E. Cheese’s, Champ saw fit to recreate the fun at home.

The Skeeball was everyone’s favorite!

Angel won this game of Whack-A-Mole.


THESE KIDS ROCK MY WORLD!!!

Children are a blessing

Odd little title.
Even odder that this post doesn’t have pictures of happenings in our house.
But I need to get this off my chest and my own blog is as good a place as any.

I don’t understand our culture’s attitude toward children.
They are awesome. They are amazing. They ARE a blessing.


When I was a new nurse, in my first full-time job, I worked with a lot of mothers. I learned a lot from these women, professionally and personally. One thing I took note of and started to buy into was the idea that kids were nice and all, but also a bit of a pain. It was very common for me to hear comments about how they couldn’t wait for school to start, or how they could not wait for vacation to be over. Some even joked that they worked to get away from them. One woman even took her children to child care on the days she WASN’T working for her “mental health.”

Then another woman started to work on the floor. She had actually been an employee years before and was coming back to work per diem. Cathy didn’t speak about her two sons that way. She loved her sons. She spoke highly of them. She looked forward to their company. What was more, she and her husband were working to adopt a third child. This was such a different attitude for me to see and one that sunk in. Furthermore, this woman was starting to homeschool her older son. Homeschool? What is that??? I knew years later that God was setting down some seeds in MY life. [Today Cathy is one of my dearest soul sisters, and the mother to 7.]

Just a few years later, JB and I started our own family, and God really began working in our lives. Or frankly, we allowed ourselves to be part of what God was preparing to do in our lives. Our first son rocked our foundations in such a huge, and wonderful way. The magnitude of what we were doing — raising kids — was not lost on us. It has been a wonderful journey that finds us now preparing for our fifth arrow.

Which brings me to my concern… why are children the ENEMY? Why is there this prevailing attitude that they are a burden? Oh sure, people will acknowledge how much they love their children, but why do they behave as if these beautiful, young souls are keeping them from more fun, or better things?

Here is a question I always want to ask these parents, but don’t in the name of politeness —
If your children are so unpleasant that their own mother and father need a break from them… why do you think other people want to be around them? Seriously. If the people who would presumably lay down their life for their kids need to be separated from them to “regroup,” or “refresh,” or “hear myself think,” etc., what is the rest of the world supposed to do with these youngsters?

I contend that something must be going on, or frankly, NOT going on, in their discipline style. Why is distance from their children the answer?

If the noise level is too high, correct it.

If the attitude is disrespectful, address it.

If the bickering is continuing, put a stop to it.

My children are not perfect. Good grief no. They are sinners, just like I am. They need discipline and instruction. Not just so that our home life is pleasant, but so that they will, hopefully, grow up to be men of valor and ladies of virtue. So that they will be bold and strong servants of the King. So that they will be a witness in the world. And to borrow a phrase from my pastor, so that they will be against the world, for the world.

When things get “hot” in my house, this isn’t time for Mommy to grab a latte or take a night out on the town. It is time to figure out how to revive order. There is nothing wrong with doing those things because you are looking forward to catching up with a friend. But when it is an escape from home… we need to ask ourselves what is wrong with our HOMES?

What saddens me the most, is when Christian women partake in this children-bashing. Amongst Christian women, there is a real sense of principle to not bad talk, or bash husbands. We all seem to respect and honor our husbands and do not take the low road and speak ill of the men we have committed ourselves to. But yet these same women speak disdainfully of their children. They perpetuate the culture’s attitude rather than promote the alternative.

My kids are works in progress, JUST AS I AM.
God hasn’t bailed on me. He doesn’t take a break from me to “regroup,” “refresh,” or “hear Himself think.” He never takes a “mental health day.” Why should I?

Philippians 1:6 And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.

Silliness

I headed up the stairs to get something and saw a creation at the top. I headed back down for a camera, and on my second trip up, saw someone peeking…

Champ and Angel were playing while Beau and Skeezix were doing school.
“Shhhhhhhhh,” they told me. “We are hiding until they are done.”

They were found moments later… [how is it kids hear conspiracies from three rooms away, but can’t hear give directions in the same room???]

They tried hard to all fit…