Everyday Unwrapped

Emily over at chatting at the sky is hosting a party today. It is called Everyday Unwrapped - noticing the little things that happen everyday. Noticing...


your son walking out of your bathroom wearing your shoes.
noticing... the future rock stars might be in your four year old class.

noticing bright pink lipstick created by frosting...

noticing... the way a two year old loves his blankie...

noticing... the way your son's eyes stare at the world trying to take it all in.

Lord, do you notice?

1 Praise the LORD. ^[a]
Praise, O servants of the LORD,
praise the name of the LORD.

2 Let the name of the LORD be praised,
both now and forevermore.

3 From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets,
the name of the LORD is to be praised.

4 The LORD is exalted over all the nations,
his glory above the heavens.

5 Who is like the LORD our God,
the One who sits enthroned on high,

6 who stoops down to look
on the heavens and the earth?

7 He raises the poor from the dust
and lifts the needy from the ash heap;

8 he seats them with princes,
with the princes of their people.

9 He settles the barren woman in her home
as a happy mother of children.
Praise the LORD.

You have to stoop, but Lord you do! You do look... you notice all things!

Come Visit my Christmas Tree

From college through my first five years of marriage, all of my Christmas decorations fit into this small tupperware box!

Last year, the day after Christmas, mom and I hit Walmart and bought everything we could find at 75% off! This year, I was ready to begin my Christmas decorating!

Until I unpacked my new Christmas tree and started laughing out loud!

After a little fluffing (and all of our personal ornaments) our Charlie Brown Christmas tree looked just perfect in our study.

For my birthday, James bought me my first ever REAL Christmas tree! But, unfortunately, I had used all my ornaments on our Charlie Brown tree. Below, I will show you how I decorated our new 7 foot tree for less than $20!

I bought lots of wooden stars and letters (J, E, A, and Q - for our family) and went to town spray painting in my garage.

Then I modge podged some of our favorite family pictures onto small wooden plaques ($.99 for four at Hobby Lobby) for some new ornaments.

Then I filled in all the gaps on the tree with floral that I bought at Hobby Lobby! Here is the trick. Don't buy the Christmas decorations. Buy the fall decorations! They are 90% off!!!

And our tree was done - all for less than $20!!!

Don't worry, I went crazy on my garlands as well. As I stuffed things into my garland, I kept thinking, "girl, you have lost your mind. This is too much! But you know what? I love it!"

Berries? oh, yes! Feathers? You bet!

Is that an empty area in my garland?

It is... I have a huge gap...

oh, don't you worry. There is stuff laying around my house just waiting to be used as Christmas decorations.

After all, just look at my stairwell...

the wreath... well, I left the wreath a little bare...

but there are three of them.

I love Christmas! Thank you for coming to my Christmas open house!

Happy Thanksgiving!

What am I thankful for this year?

Too much to write.

I am thankful for my family. My precious husband and son. I am thankful for my parents, siblings, in-laws, and grandparents. I got the best!

I am thankful for chocolate! And how it lingers on my four year old students' lips!

I am thankful for a job that I absolutely love. I am thankful for the chubby cheeks of children who resemble my own:)

and I am so thankful for my healthy boy...

Last night, Austin and I had a conversation about my birthday today.

Are you going to get mommy something for her birthday? I asked.

Yeah, mum. I am going to get you a candle.

A candle? I asked. Oh, Austin, that's so nice, you want my house to smell good?

No, mom, I want you to be able to make a wish.

My sweet boy, I already have all a girl could want!

I wasn't kidding...

Last week I wrote an entry about Austin and order.

I promise you. I found him eating an orange this week.

Just like this.

"In Order"

But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.
I Corinthians 14:40

A few weeks ago, Austin and I went to a parade. I love parades. In just a few days, I will curl up on my couch sitting close to the t.v. and take part in one of my all time favorite traditions... "Watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade!" I love to sit and watch all the creativity float by me. I love that everything is lined up in order and goes down the street in an organized fashion. I love order. I love straight lines. I love all my cans in a straight row in my pantry. I love organization and by the way, I love my label maker.

The verse above talks about orderly worship, but I think that it speaks about God's nature in general. Our God is a God of order. Thank goodness. Our natural inclination sure does lean towards chaos, doesn't it?

Perhaps he got it from me, but Austin also loves his routines. Every morning, we enter the school in the same way. Austin opens the door on the right and then the door on the left

(I apologize to the nice man who tried to open the doors for us at school today. Although you saw me loaded down with my teaching bags and just wanted to help, my son needs to keep to our routines. I am sorry if he made your ears hurt by his shrieking loud NO!, but he was trying to tell you that every morning he opens the doors for himself and isn't quite ready for our routine to change.)

After opening both doors, he walks down the hallway peeking into each room.
"Is this mommy's classroom?" he asks in a sing song voice.
"No!" he playfully replies as he runs to peek into the next room.
Praise the Lord that my classroom is only the fourth door down the hall!
We peek into Ms. Aker's classroom for a big good morning to the turkey on her wall and then head in to hang up our book bags.

Order... even at 2... he wants this order... he craves order...

The nightime routine? Oh my goodness. James must help him turn the lights off and I cannot forget to hold him in the same way to say prayers.

Please give me order... Something in life needs to be predictable.

And so we watch the parades. The floats go down one at a time waiting until the other passes.

This made me laugh...

I saw this online and it made me laugh. I love things that make me laugh. Welcome to my life:

So You Want To Have Children?

Preparation

Women:

• Put on a dressing gown and stick a beanbag down the front.
• Leave it there.
• Every week, add another beanbag.
• After 9 months, remove 2 beanbags.

Men:

• Go to your pharmacy.
• Empty your wallet on the counter.
• Tell the pharmacist to help himself
• Go to the supermarket.
• Arrange to have your salary paid directly to their front office.
• Go home.
• Read the newspaper… for the last time.

Knowledge

• Find a couple with children.
• Berate them about their lack of discipline, lack of patience, low tolerance, and how their children run wild.
• Suggest how they can improve their child’s sleeping habits, toilet training, table manners and general behavior.
• Enjoy it while it lasts. It's the last time you'll have all the answers.

Nights

• Turn the radio on to some loud screaming station.
• Walk around the room from 5 to 10 PM carrying a 10 pound bag of wet goo while the station screams.
• At 10 PM, put the bag down, set the alarm for midnight and go to sleep.
• Get up at 11 and walk the bag around until 1 AM.
• Set the alarm for 3. Since you can’t get to sleep, get up at 2 and make tea.
• Go to bed at 2:30.
• Get up at 3 AM when the alarm goes off.
• Sing songs in the dark until 4.
• Set the alarm for 5. Get up when it goes off.
• Make breakfast.
• Repeat for four years. Look cheerful!

Dressing Small Children

• Buy a live octopus and a string bag.
• Attempt to put the octopus into the string bag so that no arms hang out.
• Time allowed: 5 minutes.

Cars

• Sell the BMW.
• Buy a 5-door wagon.
• Put a large chocolate ice cream cone in the glove compartment. Leave it there.
• Put a peanut butter sandwich in the CD player.
• Mash a box of chocolate cookies into the back seat.
• Run a garden rake along both sides of the car.

Going For a Walk

• Wait.
• Go out the front door.
• Go back inside.
• Go outside.
• Come back in.
• Go outside.
• Walk down the front sidewalk.
• Walk back up it.
• Walk down it again.
• Walk very slowly along the street for 5 minutes.
• Stop at every piece of used chewing gum, dirty tissue, and dead bug along the way. Inspect each minutely. Ask at least 6 questions about each.
• Retrace your steps.
• Scream that you have had as much as you can stand until the neighbors come out and stare at you.
• Give up and go back into the house.
• Repeat for 5 years.

Patience

• Repeat everything you say at least 5 times.

Grocery Shopping

• Go to the supermarket. Take along the nearest thing to a pre-school child: a fully grown goat. (If you plan to have more than one child, take more than one goat.)
• Buy your weekly groceries without letting the goat(s) get out of your sight.
• Pay for everything the goat eats or destroys.

Feeding a 1 year-old

• Prepare a bowl of cornflakes.
• Hollow out a melon through a small hole in one side.
• Suspend the melon from the ceiling.
• Swing it back and forth.
• Spoon the soggy cornflakes into the swaying melon while making airplane noises.
• When at least half of the cornflakes are gone, pour the rest on your clothes and the floor.

TV

• Learn the names of every character from every episode of the Wiggles, Barney, Teletubbies, and every Disney movie.
• Watch nothing else on television for at least 5 years.

Cleanliness

• Smear peanut butter on your sofa.
• Smear jam on your curtains.
• Hide a fish behind the stereo. Leave it there all summer.
• Stick your fingers in dirt. Rub them on your walls.
• Color your other walls with crayons.

Traveling

• Make a recording of someone shouting “Mommy!” over and over. (There may be no more than 4 seconds between each shout.)
• Include the occasional crescendo to the approximate decibel level of a fighter jet.
• Play this tape in your car continuously the 5 years.

Conversations

1. Start a conversation with another adult.

2. Have someone else continually tug on your pants and shirtsleeves while playing the tape prepared above.

Get Dressed

1. On a day when you have an important meeting, wear your nicest work attire.

3. Put 1 cup of lemon juice into a cup of cream. Stir.

5. Pour half of it on your shirt.

6. Saturate a towel with the other half.

7. Attempt to clean your shirt by rubbing it with the saturated towel.

8. Do not change clothes. You're late already!

9. Go directly to work.

You are now ready to have children.

My mouse!

Oh my goodness
I am going to eat him up!
Can you tell I love this little boy?

A Different Perspective

Last weekend was Homecoming Weekend at the University of North Texas. As a part of the events, the Baptist Student Ministry (BSM) hosted an alumni reception. Since Austin wasn't very interested in meeting BSM Alumni, he asked if he could take pictures with my camera. I had so much fun today remembering the luncheon through Austin's eyes. He gave me a whole new perspective on our day.

Daddy acting weird

Ryan's head

The rest of Ryan's body

girls talking

mom saying hello

looking up at dad

As I looked through the pictures I realized that life looks very different to my two year old's eyes than mine. Chair's are larger, tables are too high, adults are huge, letters are just objects.

Sure, Ryan is 6' 5", but to mom he's really not "that tall!"
But to Austin, it takes two camera shots to even get him in the picture.

As I sit at my desk tonight looking at my library books, I too feel like the world is so big. I have a paper due this week, bills to be paid, lesson plans to complete, friends to contact, birthday presents to buy... well, you understand.

And yet God is viewing our lives from such a different perspective - holding us in his hands and saying, "trust me, it's not as big as it looks."

Caution:

*** The identities of children below have been altered to protect the innocent.

A caution to all preschool parents: Your children repeat what they hear at home.

Overheard today at school: If _________ doesn't become our next President then we are all going to be in big trouble. I mean BIG trouble! (4 years old)

Overheard in the home living center: I'm just going to sit right here in this rocker, why don't you go out and buy me some cigs. (4 years old)

Last night in my own home: "Mommy, you have a naked booty!" (Austin, 2)
This is what Austin yelled to me as I walked around the house in a towel after my shower. Oh, I am going to hear stories from my child's teachers!!!


Now I want to hear from you! Tell me your funny "repeat" moments from your toddlers!

I'm so glad it's You (and not me)!

I am so proud of you!

As most of you know, I have a sister... a twin the hard way. Jenny was born in May 1976, and I followed 18 months later in November of '77. Mom's plans for matching outfits while we were toddlers did nothing to break our paths for individuality in high school. Jenny could sit at a piano and play any song beautifully by sight, I had to practice for hours for a small sticker reluctantly given by our piano teacher. In middle school, Jenny was a natural on the sports field, playing on the starting line-up from volleyball to soccer. I occasionally won a "coaches' award" for having a positive attitude while bench warming. I worked on making straight A's while Jenny worked at the Cookie Company at the Mall. Where I advanced in school, she advanced in fashion (and so many other areas!) While I was traveling to huts in Africa, Jenny was attending galas as a manager at Tiffany's. Neither path was better, just different...

And then we had boys. Almost exactly one year apart...
Drew is 3. Austin is 2.
And we are suddenly more alike than we would have ever admitted.
We love our boys more than we thought possible, and being a mom to a toddler is one of the most difficult assignments we have ever faced, and yet the most rewarding.
When we talk on the phone now we talk about our prayers for our families, that Bible verses that God is putting on our hearts, and our struggles.
Our mission is the same: following God in the midst of motherhood

So, Jenny, congratulations on your new publication in MomSense Magazine. I want everyone to read it - the article by Jennifer Dunlap (that's my sister!)

Jenny with Austin (2006)

Have I told you lately...

That I love you?

I do.

I really love you.

Something Light...

Christmas is coming!

Sometimes when you read back over a past blog entry, it sounds so heavy.
I didn't mean for the last blog to be heavy, just sharing my heart... but I also have a lot of light, fun things on my mind too - like Christmas shopping! Did you know that I absolutely LOVE Christmas. I LOVE Christmas. My favorite holiday is actually Thanksgiving... I will talk more about that later, but I also love Christmas, birthdays, 4th of July.

This Christmas, I am going to do some of my shopping through handmade items sold online by other moms. Isn't that a wonderful way to Christmas shop?

The Nester (one of my favorite blogs) is holding a party today over at her blog. She is dedicating the party to moms who create out of their homes. Check out the links. There are some beautiful things to buy without walking into Walmart! Ahhh... Walmart at Christmas is not my favorite experience. But I digress. Anyway, click on over to the Nester and see if there is something you would like to buy. (I love everything embroidered - just in case you were wondering!)

http://nestingplacenc.blogspot.com/

I'm back - I think...

It came out of nowhere... a big obstacle...
feelings of such hurt,
a desire to become secretive,
not to let anyone know anything else about my life

A lonely path,
one I needed to walk on my own.

And then I chose another path,
throw that hurt off the road

and enjoy the journey...

"Lord, we are all going to have moments of hurt. Moments when we don't want anyone to know anything about our lives because it just feels safer to not share. Thank you, father, for being completely trustworthy. Thank you, Lord, for being able to remove the ancient boundary stones and the places long ago devastated. I pray, Lord, that you would protect our family in the days to come and that you would help us to fully accept and love all of those around us. Please use us for your ministry, Lord, all of us - James, Austin, and especially me in the days to come."