December Photo Sampler

Here are a few photos I got off the camera of the boys having fun.

Parks and Wyatt playing in Duke's Christmas present, a new cage to stop him from eating household items.

Wyatt getting his revenge on Parks by locking him in the cage, although I think Parks was having more fun with this than Wyatt.

My new recruits.

We were on our way to great-grandmother's house on Christmas Eve, but daddy had to stop off at work for a little bit.

The boys at Oma's house wanting to get outside to play with the big kids.

Everyone sharing and getting along while they play with one of their second
cousins and his trucks.

Father and Son

In a retrospect of the recent Christmas season, I caught myself in a special moment shared with one of my sons.

We were playing with one of their new Christmas toys. I remember the moment for a couple of reasons. The first was that we were sitting on the floor together with him sitting directly in front of me with his back to me and my legs wrapped around him and his play area in a way that almost enveloped his whole world. The second detail was the particular toy that my son was playing with. He had recently received a barnyard playset, complete with animals, barn, and crops.

He was sitting their almost unaware of me while he tended to the duties of his work on the farm. He was busy with his own world and would only turn to me for affirmation of what he was doing or for me to fix something he became frustrated with. Other than that, me tying his shoe, brushing his hair or giving him a kiss on top of the head went unnoticed. And then, this thought came to me...

Am I really much different in my daily life in my relationship with God? I go about, in all seriousness, acting out the duties of my occupation while God surrounds my life and showers me with His love and care. How often do I sit with my back to Him and only turn to face Him when I am frustrated or if I seek approval for my actions? As these thoughts faded from frontal lobe, I gave him another hug that he shrugged off and decided...let's go get some CHEESY PUFFS.

The aforementioned toy

Logan

I saw this video (or heard this audio) on one of my favorite blogs today. I can only aspire to be as wonderfully domestic as this lovely woman is, but that's not the point of my post. That's a whole 'nother topic for a different day.

I know I have heard this before, but it really hit me today. I guess because my boys are getting bigger and really starting to understand what we're saying and what's going on around them. I feel the gravity and responsibility of being their mama more each day. Am I really up for the monumental task of parenting these two little ones? Making sure they are fed and that they get enough sleep is a piece of cake compared to what I'll soon be up against. Whew!! I've been overwhelmed with this the past few months...and in prayer about it quite often. As I listened to this today, I thought first of all that this little boy, or shall I say young man, really has a lot more figured out than most grown adults. My prayer is that my precious boys would someday understand their salvation and the gift our Lord gave us the way Logan does.

The Everybody Project

Since moving in March, our family has been involved in the creation of a new church that is a Strategic Partnership with Andy Stanley’s Northpoint Ministries. In that time, we have really seen the development of welcoming environments and sound Scriptural teachings.

During 2008 the church has been meeting in temporary locations, never being able to call any one of them home. At the beginning of the New Year, our church plans to move into a more permanent facility. Last week , the leaders signed a long-term lease on a new facility that will allow the church to create these safe enviroments in a permanent location. We are hoping to be moved into the new venue by the end of January and are making a push to raise the funds for the cost of construction to renovate the facility to fit the church’s needs.

The Everybody Project was created to invite individuals to assist us in the goal of furthering the work of our church home. Ultimately, Auburn church’s mission, like NPM’s, is to lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. If you feel led to join in this mission and help us meet our goal, please read the excerpt below from Auburn Church’s blog, www.auburnchurch.blogspot.com, on ways to give.

The Everybody Project is an opportunity for attenders/members, who make up the body of Christ at Auburn Church, to help raise support to create safe, irresistible environments in our new facility located at 1667 Shug Jordan Parkway. The cost associated with creating these environments is right at $100,000. So here's the plan to reach our goal.

All of us working together to ask 1,000 people to give $100 each over the next 10 days for one life-changing message that's for everybody! This is a great chance for you to share your story of how God has changed your life through His church. Please check back often as we daily update how close we are to reaching our goal at auburnchurchonline.org. To learn more about how to make your $100 donation, click here! The Everybody Project begins Monday, December 15th and ends on Christmas Day.

Thank you for doing your part! Thank you for creating a church that unchurched people want to attend. Thank you for continuing to share the life-changing message of a right standing with God that comes from God through faith in Jesus Christ that is for everybody!

Christmas Photos

Below are some picture we had taken by a friend of ours in search of quality pictures for our Christmas cards. You can check out her work at Terrible Speller. We had a great time that day and a lot of fun doing it.

Wyatt, our newest walker. Like most things that he does, it takes him a little longer to do something initially, but his learning curve goes straight up from there.

Wyatt would eventually warm-up and cut loose, as you will see, but Parks would not smile for any of the photos.

"Wha'cho talkin' about Willis?"

This is supposed to be a picture of them giving kisses, not a pre-fight standoff before a heavyweight bout. Personally, I think it resembles the latter more.

All together now.

We both love this one.

I told you Wyatt would warm-up. He is really enjoying his new sense of freedom with walking. He rarely is caught crawling anymore.

Mommy and our little man.

"For real, what's up with all the picture taking?"

The Lighting of the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree

This year we decided to scale back on the Christmas tree a little and go with a 4.5 ft Target special for a few reasons. One, we are in a transitional dwelling that would not accommodate a normal size tree without losing a couple of main pieces of furniture. Two, Duke has been on a recent destruction rampage when we leave the house for any length of time. A few casualties have been the remote control, throw pillows, and an arm cushion to one of the boys' chairs. Don't worry, we're working to get this issue resolved. Three, we were not sure how the boys could handle glass heirloom ornaments within such ease of reach and we wanted something they could enjoy without breaking.

This is a video of the first time we plugged in our Charlie Brown tree for the boys. As you can see, they were a little excited about this strange occurrence. Why were mommy and daddy bringing a tree in the house? Why were pretty, colorful lights covering this tree? Why were mommy and daddy putting it within reach? Fortunately, the novelty beyond this first encounter has faded. Now, there's no screaming or prodding. They simply point and pause upon passing by. We have enjoyed the beginnings of what we hope to be lifelong Christmas traditions in our family, but it will probably be another year or so until we can explain the "reason for the season."

Also, I am very proud. They are both saying "da-da," clear as a bell. You will hear a little of it on the video. By the way, one of my favorite parts of the whole thing is when they both decide to take a drink break in the middle of their Christmas cheer.

Walking Wyatt

This is a video of what has become part of our evening bed time ritual. It involves, as you can see, daddy crawling around to the various nooks and crannies of the boys' room popping out and scaring Parks and Wyatt. The boys' have also discovered that Daddy is a good ride-on toy as well. We also take time to read a book or two. Their favorite right now is The Moon Shines Down, by Margaret Wise Brown the author of Goodnight Moon. As if you couldn't tell by the fact that Parks doesn't put it down the entire video.

Besides showing you all how goofy I can be, it also shows Wyatt walking. He was released from physical therapy today. Apparently, in this instance, he's like our second child. We have all kinds of video of when Parks learned to walk, but somehow failed miserably in capturing Wyatt's first steps. We wanted to post this before it got too late to be relevant. It has really opened up a new world for him. He is interacting with the other kids at preschool more, largely because he can keep up better. He and Parks are starting to play, argue, and interact more at home as well. Enjoy. I am working on editing a couple other videos that we hope to get up soon.

SEWING 101

I decided some time ago that I wanted to try my hand at sewing. (This is Randi, by the way. I have a pretty domestic husband, but the most sewing I'm going to get out of him is a button.) So, I took a beginning sewing class back in September and was able to complete a corduroy longall for Parks. The people at the local sewing center were kind enough to allow me to use their embroidery machine to apply a cute applique on the outfit as well. Between not having my own machine and several deadlines at work, I had been unable to sew Wyatt's matching outfit until now. There really wasn't a real sense of accomplishment after finishing Parks' outfit because I knew I still had another whole outfit to sew. I ended up working on it over our very boring Thanksgiving holiday and they donned their new outfits for preschool this morning. I was so proud. Too bad Parks' was sewn so long ago he's almost outgrown it. Wyatt's fits perfectly. I now have several projects lined up, most of which I need to finish in the next couple of weeks. I think I might have the bug.

Below is my attempt at capturing photos of them before school this morning. Can you tell the container drawer is our favorite place to play?