Growing Up

As a mom, you have those days where you look at your kids and it seems they grew overnight. I still remember Kyra when she was Katie's age and how we read together all the time. And D--he was my little snuggler. Today Katie was swinging and her legs went on forever out of the swing. She is getting so big. And David...he can swing himself now. He still loves an "under dog" to get him going though.

Katie has made the change from baby to toddler. She was able to climb on the rocking horse all by herself. She talks all the time and it is so funny. She is just a riot and I pray that this personality stays with her. I was reading in 1 Samuel this morning and read:

1Sa 3:19
And Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground.

Oh that the Lord would be with my children and they would let none of his words fall to the ground. I pray/yearn for their salvation, but more for that I so desire for my children to have a living, in love, on fire, die to self, it's all about Him relationship with Jesus Christ. So that said...here are some pics of Katie.

Thought

I don't know about you, but there are times that God really pushes me out of my comfort zone. Now is one of those times. I begin to look and evaluate (and yes a woman become critical) of certain aspects of my life. My latest "kick" is mediocrity. I do not want my life, my relationship with Christ, with others, my role as a mother, teacher and homemaker to be marked by mediocrity. THose of you who know me know I am not a perfectionist so no fears of going to far with this...but I want more. I want it to be better...I think these are good things.
I was reading the other morning on The Huffman's blog (that is Bud & Kimberly) who are serving in Kitale, Kenya as a young married couple with a four month old of their passion to serve Christ and to love on children who do not know the love of an earthly parent much less of the Heavenly Father. You know it just made me think. If you are like me...I can so easily get caught up in the motions of "doing church" and being a part of programs without being the church to those God places in my path. It is this fine line of becoming 'jaded' per say with the system. Yet when I observe things...being a rogue on our own in pursuit of serving the Lord and a deeper relationship is not biblical either. Paul warns us against forsaking to gather together with the saints. So I will continue to seek and pursue Him, ask Him to place people in my life to challenge me and teach me...and trust Him with everything He has given me.

More Pics

Here are some more Easter pics...Katie was in a less than participatory mood that morning...

The Race is On

We had a new experience this year at Easter. After services, the children's ministry hosts an Easter Egg Hunt. Due to weather we were inside and we had kids racing to grab over 1000 eggs and candy strewn all over our fellowship hall and youth room. It was wild...but so much funny. Sorry no pics of Katie. She slept through the whole thing. I love this pic of the boys digging through the loot.

Commercial Break

Okay break in the middle of Easter stuff...as I was reading in my quiet time this morning I was reading Luke 2:25-52 and read about as Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the temple and Simeon was overcome as he saw the Messiah. Then it speaks of Anna. I love how Luke tells the details..."she lived with her husband seven years after marriage, and then was a widow until she was 84." I love that God's Word contains the details of the life of this lady who led a life of worship. It says "she never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying." You know we have the awesome privelege of coming to God ANYTIME, ANYWHERE and yet so often we go about our day without giving thought, praise, honor and glory to our creator.

Dedication

On Sunday, we dedicated Katie Grace to the Lord. In the Baptist Church, parents bring their babies (typically young...but hey we got it in before she turned 10) and stand before the church to "dedicate" or promise to raise them in the Lord. We had a large part of our family here on Easter and did it then. Why we didn't do it last Easter ..... we don't know. Anyway, she led quite a show as she "loudly" informed us she wanted down or anything else other than what we were doing. :-) She is such a blessing to our family and truly completes all of us. We know God has big plans for her as He miracously preserved her life as He knit her together in the womb.

Sorry the pictures are kind of dark. And this is a picture of the dear saint who is Katie's "other mother". Ms. Mary keeps our nursery and Katie LOVES her.....all that dedicating wore her out.

Fun Day with Cousins

We had the opportunity to enjoy a great day with my nieces TaBree and Shelby yesterday. They are on spring break and got to stay over with Nana for an extra day. We went to Mr. Gatti's for lunch and had a ball. Especially when Rody hit the jackpot on one of the games he and David were playing and David got over 400 tickets from it and picked a Mr. Gatti's basketball. I'm so proud of Kyra. In order to get the toy she wanted she started a savings account to save up. And Katie...she LOVES the merry-go-round and just squeals as she rides!!!!

Happy Birthday Dad!!

One of the exciting parts of our trip was surprising my dad for his birthday. We showed up at 9:00 Sunday night and he was really surprised. We had a great time hanging out and as I was thinking about his birthday on my way home I was just praising God for the incredible men He has put in my life. I have a dad who has taught me so much. He has taught me that I can do anything, to never quit, and to work hard. I LOVE watching him with my kids. He is crazy about them (even when they are driving him crazy). But he continues to teach me lessons even this morning when I was planning to leave early and he was unaware of this and he dropped everything he was doing (and mornings are crazy with his work stuff) to take David fishing simply b/c he had promised he would. Lord thank you for the incredible men in my life...my dad, my husband, my brother, my father-in-law & brother-in-law and so many more.

Good to Be Home

The kids and I just got home from a whirl-wind 5 day - 4 city trip. And whew--can I tell you how good it feels to walk in the house and feel like we're home. It is neat to watch Katie just totally relax when we walk in and she is just so happy and playing with all her stuff. Thank you Lord for a safe trip, for the wonderful time with friends and family and for bringing us home now to be with Dad!!

Road Trip

The kids and I made a road trip to Clovis, Grady, Roswell, and Carlsbad. Here we are hanging out with the Figgs. Kyra and Colter have been best buds since they were born.

Brotherly Love

I was able to snap these pictures a couple of weeks ago as David and Katie shared a book. It is so fun to watch them interact. David adores his little sister and she is quick to give him love when she will not anyone else.

Being Silly

I had to post these..Katie has the cutest and funniest personality. In her dumping everything out, she emptied one of our school containers and commenced to putting it on her head. Look at that mouthful of teeth. Four on top center, four on bottom center and we have 3 and are getting the fourth of our 1 year molars.

Monkey See, Monkey Do

I had to share this picture with you. One great thing about having a big sister and big brother is we learn to do things very early. This is Katie being entertained yesterday while I was working. She has seen big brother and sister doing work and so now she likes to sit with them and color...Oh and for those of you that know Blue Dog...Katie has Pink Bear

Exploring

I absolutely LOVE the age that Katie is at. Our neighbor Johnna and I watched her for 20 minutes yesterday as she would get up close to the neighborhood cat and then squeal and scare the cat off. As long as she was quiet, the cat let her get close. But she could not contain her excitement and thrill of this creature that had the most intriguing tail. She also loves to get into every cabinet or drawer and drag EVERYTHING out of it as she learns. Yes she is also learning she does not like the word "no" which she is beginning to hear frequently. She and I have a slight communication problem. She believes that mommy likes to take advantage of the cleaning opportunties she presents ... and I do just not as frequently as she presents them. But she is so cute when she grins at you as she empties the book shelf, or the candy drawer, or Kyra's pj drawer. :-) Here she is at work and starting to really explore and play with her toys.

Rodeo

Last weekend we went to the San Angelo Stock Show and Rodeo with some friends from church. It is a really big deal here and the kids had a blast. David loved the bull riding and Kyra is convinced she wants to race barrels. (Her dad is just as determined to convince her otherwise) and let her know she could be a cowgirl like her Aunt Kacey that helped on the ranch. The kids loved the petting zoo and got to pet lots of sheep, goats and a llama. And of course we had to ride the ponies. :-) After about an hour at the rodeo David was ready to go back and ride the ponies.

He Was BROUGHT UP

Luke 4:16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.

We learn a lot about Joseph and Mary in this verse. This is Jesus’ home town where he was “brought up”. To bring something, you must be going somewhere and you must take something with you. Joseph and Mary were going somewhere – they were on a faith journey. They were worshippers and followers of God and they brought Jesus on this UPWARD path with them. Any kid will GROW UP physically, but children of parents of virtue and faith are BROUGHT UP.

Ephesians 6:4 And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

Children learn by observation and if their parents are godly, and have godly habits, the children will learn these as well. For Jesus, he was BROUGHT UP in a home where gathering regularly to worship God and study the Bible was a habit or “custom”. We read that on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue “as his custom was”. We see here two godly habits that were modeled before him by Joseph and Mary and became a part of his “UP BRINGING”. One is gathering together with God’s people to worship. The other is reading God’s Word.

God really challenged me to think this morning. Are we going somewhere? If we are, are we on an upward path following Jesus? Are we modeling the life before our children? Are we BRINGING THEM WITH US on this upward path? When they imitate us, what does it look like?
God bless,
Rody

Katie's 1st Birthday

Katie celebrated her first birthday with our family when everyone came to the ranch in Roswell. (I know it is like a month later...sorry) Anyway, she had a great time. There were 2 highlights to the night...Rody playing like a kid with the kids with punching balloons and Katie eating her cake. At first she just wanted to pull the flowers off. Then she finally stuck her finger in her mouth. Then her hand, then the other one...then came the funny part. She began to "spur" the cake as she got the kicking feet into the cake. It was a mess (sorry Granny) but it was so funny.

Oh and the cake...well total disaster. For those that know me, I always do my kids bday cakes and they are a "Big Deal" in our house. Well Katie got jipped. Her's turned out awful...sorry Katie. When I die and my children are looking through old photos I'm sure Kyra and David will be kind enough to point out how pretty their cakes were, poor Katie she is the 3rd. Ugly cakes...fewer pictures of her....blah blah blah!

The Cake Part II

This girl knows how to enjoy cake!!!

More 1st Birthday Pics

This was the princess before the party!! She was having fun playing. Hanging out with Grandma Chick and drinking a little juice with Nana. D with Granny and Granddad.

Funny Pics

Here are some fun pics taken at Katie's first birthday. Katie with her sister and cousins TaBree and Shelby, me and Aunt Kacey (Rody's sis) (we were doing the college picture pose) and me and my niece TaBree...YES she is taller than me little stinker.

Matter of Prayer

Hey I have a prayer request for you all. Whether or not you are a home schooler, support it or not...any of us with kids this is a matter of prayer. Yesterday a court in California ruled that is was illegal to homeschool your children unless you have a teaching certification. I know this is a controversial subject and yes that would be ideal, but as a college graduate who holds an MBA and handles million dollar budgets for my clients, I believe I am qualified to teach my children and when I reach a subject I need assistance with, there are incredible resources available. Here is my concern...I do not believe and will not agree that our government should tell us what we can and cannot do with our children. Just as I was strongly opposed to them mandating the shot for teenage girls. I usually don't get on a soapbox about these things, but this scares me. What's next? What else will they mandate concerning our children? Kyra and I have recently studied the pilgrims and they risked EVERYTHING b/c they would not allow the king to tell them which church they must attend. Hmm.....just something to be in prayer about.

Life is Good

It's probably a good thing I could not log in yesterday b/c I had a lot to share and would have spent way too much time on here and not on the things I needed to be doing. But yesterday was one of those days as a homeschool mom that God just opened my eyes. I have lost my voice and Kyra was not feeling well and God continued to put opportunities for learning that were simple in front of us. David and I played Go Fish and worked on numbers, Kyra who read a 50 page book she got at the church library worked on a report for her dad, then we moved to the kitchen for lunch. Some days I like to have "cook time" to myself, but yesterday there were three little ones under foot...okay one. The two bigger ones were sitting at the bar talking 90 mph to me and in all the chaos I thought "thank you Lord that I have them so close". Then Dad treated us to Red Lobster and we had a lesson in manners :-) and on Lobsters as the kids got to 'pet' one and learn all kinds of things about Lobsters. Amazing, a creature in the sea that cannot swim. No wonder God doesn't want us eating them...but they are yummy.
Yesterday was a hold Katie all day kind of day and it was great!! Today we get to go get a "prize" at Target b/c David, who has been potty trained for a year, has made it 5 nights without an accidnet at night. He just decided...no more pull ups!! Now if I can get Katie in that frame of mind...haha!!!

Grandma Chick

Our family is blessed to have Grandma Chick (who turns 84 tomorrow--Happy Birthday). Chick is the official baby holder of the family and preferred adult by all the children. Why? Because she takes time to play with them and be interested in what they are doing. Here is Katie taking full advantage of that attention. I sure hope I'm that kind of grandma someday.

Katie is a true cowboy wearing her John Deere boots even if she forgot her pants.