my cute chunker

i love the chub...kiss it all day actually. i can't believe i actually lived life without this child. I feel that way about each one of my children, because I certainly cannot imagine living without them now that they are as much a part of my life as the air I breathe. It's funny...even though I am home with them everyday and even though I plan to homeschool them, I often feel as if I don't pay them enough attention. I am so aloof and lost in my own thoughts all day that i continually answer them subconsciously and half-heartedly. Some days I have been so selfish with my time as I continually shoo them out the door to play outside so that I can accomplish what I want to do. And then I realize that I didn't really care to listen to them tell me about the dream they had the other night or the game they just made up. It is now my desire to completely stop what I am doing (when possible of course) and look them straight in the eye and give them my undivided attention as they share with me what is so important to their little hearts. After all, the day will come when they don't run to tell me every exciting thought that pops in their little mind. I will probably miss these days, which is only natural, but I don't want to regret them. I want to look back and know that I enjoyed my children and their excited little chatter. I want to delight in their stories and innocent play.

happy for spring

the sky was so blue and the grass so green, the tree just had to be climbed...yea! spring is here at last!!! we've been waiting for you, but not very patiently, I must confess...

see? rain can be fun!

The Cake

Yes! It is finished at last! Making this cake was like giving birth. One minute I'm telling myself, "I am never doing this again! How did I get myself in this mess?!" And the next minute I'm thinking, "well, maybe it's not so bad...I could do this again..." And then it's one a.m. and I'm exhausted and I just wish it was all over and I never agreed to do it...and then I give birth to the sloppiest cake I have put a spatula to. I was so disgusted by the way this cake turned out that it actually caused physical pain to look at it. (That part doesn't remind me of birth. I found all of my babies beautiful!) But the Lord is good to me. He provided beautiful fruit to cover up my ugly creation. I also have the greatest sister-in-law a girl could have...Rachel is so awesome. I will cherish our laughter as we tried to place the top tier on the cake and I cried out, "can you find the hole?" She almost dropped the cake and I was pretty nervous. Things are so funny when you are delirious from exhaustion. We stood in the rain arguing over her taking her share of the profit...I couldn't have done it without her...I think that's the fun in doing cakes...working with someone to create something and sharing the failures and the triumphs...i don't think i like to work alone. I know I will need someone to laugh with the day I drop the cake on the ground and my face lands in the buttercream...

Naomi's Tooth

Ahh, she lost it at last! Nanny pulled it for her and she is soooo thrilled!

naomi on regeneration

Naomi showed me a disturbing picture she had drawn. A wicked and violent snowman is shooting arrows that have electricity in them at a helpless stick man. I encouraged her to draw something positive and cheerful. I had completely forgotten that our devotions that morning were on regeneration. Evidently she had not. She came back with a new picture. A happy "person" experiencing a changed heart. How encouraging.

She informed me that the little "person" hovering over the heart is the Holy Spirit. Oh Lord, please bless these precious times in the morning and cause them to be fruitful.

These are her actual drawings...

mamma's buttercups

I was very pregnant and determined to plant one hundred bulbs to enjoy the spring after my little girl arrived. Who knew we would be enjoying them four years later and that same little girl would be a precocious four year old posing for the camera like she's the greatest thing since white bread?

daddy's swing

Who knew the hours that would be spent on a simple piece of wood and some rope? Sometimes the best toys are simple and homemade. Especially when made with the love of a Father. There have been days I have heard singing come from two little girls who managed to share this swing...although not for long before the flesh decided there just simply wasn't enough room for the both of them...

our little house

we are happy in our little house on the hill. we watch the seasons change out the window and the pitter-patter of feet increase as the years go by. may this little house be overflowing with happy children who are content in their little house with a swing daddy made and the buttercups mamma planted...