Beautiful Broadmoor

By a really funny "turn" of events, we were the winners of an all-expense (well most) paid trip for 2 to Colorado Springs to stay at the Broadmoor - 2 nights/3 days. We were told it was a fabulous resort, but what would we know of fabulous resorts. I smiled and nodded and thought we were very lucky.

By "turn" of events, I mean that Dad won the trip by turning the game wheel at an employee appreciation dinner for his company and gambled the prize he won on the wheel to win one of the bigger grand prizes. And, of course, he won. The fact that he won the Broadmoor trip was hilarious in several ways (you'll just have to wonder) and I think I laughed at that the rest of the evening. This was in May.

Ok, back to the trip. Having an amazingly busy week leading up to the trip, I did absolutely no thinking about it or packing for it until after the Halloween carnival at school the evening before we left. I got home about 9pm and we were driving to the airport at 7am the next morning. I really couldn't tell you what I had packed, if anything went together and if I even had the right clothes for the weather in Colorado Springs. Being exhauasted, I had no choice but to take a short nap (short flight) in our first class seats. Dad had cashed in some upgrades so we could fly first class on our 5 star trip. Thank goodness the flight attendant woke me up with warm cookies so I could fully enjoy our comfy seats.

Our landing was smooth, rental car pick up was quick and the drive to the resort was fairly short. Driving onto the resort grounds was a bit overwhelming. The gate guard stopped us to confirm we had reservations and from that point on, we were Mr. & Mrs. to everyone. They put a printed tag on our dashboard and every time we drove up, the valet attendants were so numerous and calling us by name we had trouble knowing which one to tip. We got there a bit early and our room wasn't ready, so we checked our luggage and did some walking.

We found a place for lunch and then decided to get the car and drive up to Seven Falls and Garden of the Gods for some sightseeing. There is so much to do in the Colorado Springs area and you don't have to drive for hours to get to it all.

This is the entry to Seven Falls. Look at that tree growing right up through the little building!

Our camera battery died (like completely) just as we drove into Garden of the Gods, so we spent the next hour exploring the Colorado Springs area looking for a Best Buy.

When we arrived back at the Broadmoor, our room was ready and they called the bell man while we went on up to our room. He arrived shortly with our luggage and I swear I thought he was moving in with us. He walked in with our luggage and pulled the luggage stands out of the closet and started setting up the suitcases. I really though he was going to start unpacking them for us. He stood there (invading my space - you know how I am with my space) and proceeded to tell us everything we needed to know about the area. If I hadn't been so exhausted and still reeling from the sudden altitude change, I might have heard more of what he said. I was at a 45 degree tilt the whole time he was increasing his tip. He was a very nice man and he got a very nice tip by the time he headed out the door 15 minutes later.

We did a lot of walking around the resort. The fall colors were amazing and the whole atmosphere was so peaceful. We stayed in the main building, but there were at least a dozen other buildings as well surrounding the lake in the middle of the resort.

We rode the cog train to the top of Pikes Peak. These trees are actually growing straight up - that's how steep the grade was up the mountain on this train! It was so cold at the top of Pikes Peak and the air was so thin, we could hardly breath outside in the wind.

Outside the resort, the colors were beautiful (the Senior Open golf tournament will be held here next year). And inside the buildings, the decor and details were amazing.

One of our many nice meals, we enjoyed dinner our last night at one of the classy spots on property: Summit. Very contemporary and VERY good. And very green. Everything was green...

And speaking of green, I'm saving up to go back to this place. It was a WONDERFUL getaway...

A Halloween First

What a beautiful night. You never can tell what the weather is going to be like on Halloween. You can plan a costume well in advance, but sure enough whatever you have painstakingly put together is exactly what you don't need to wear for the weather we end up having that night.

As we discussed costumes a month or so ago (I need plenty of time to put off making whatever the big costume selection will be each year), we ended up perusing the corner of the closet where the plethora of costumes have collected over the years of my handmade Halloween costume obsession (those plastic masks we had to wear when we were kids scarred me for life).

The girls were all delighted with trying on as many costumes as possible. I realized at that moment that I had created something wonderful. I no longer had to give each child a needle and thread at 5pm on Halloween to finish sewing the last little bit of their costume (you laugh, but there was one year of serious insanity). We now had so many costumes to choose from that they could all still wear something from the past and I was not going to be making any type of Halloween costume this year. I heard bells. I think I saw a bright light. After the little bridesmaid/flower girl dresses, I could SO handle this insane disappointment. (insanity seems to be a recurring theme here...)

I had no idea what everyone was going to wear this evening. It was kind of fun being surprised and seeing what they would come up with. (not fun cleaning up after it...)

Bit's getting to that age where "costumes" are in question. If you have a dramatic personality you can get away with an outlandish costume. A fat lady ran down the street earlier this evening and Santa even visited us. They were both taller than I was... So, Bit's non-dramatic personality chose to wear her cross country uniform. Of course, it was complete with make up and shimmery hairspray. Heidi has a Halloween bandana on here, but it's hard to see. I really wanted to find her a fluffy ribbon-y type thing, and I haven't had much luck making a decent looking one myself.



Bear actually stuck with her original decision to wear one of my old cheerleading uniforms. Although, she went through a few other choices this afternoon - most of which are still in disaray on her bed.







Little Buddy really surprised me. Costumes aren't as easy (and in as great a number in my closet) for boys. I thought he would end up wearing his taekwando uniform again, but he ended up getting out his old baseball (from 3 years ago - guess it was a little big for him...) and putting together his own costume. He got out his baseball pants, Yankee hat and matching blue socks, a navy baseball jersey and some old cleats we happened to have in his size. He even drug (banged) his plastic bat all the way around the block with him.


Little Girl actually dug something out of the dress up box! One of Bit's old dance costumes from when she did a song from "Cats". We had thrown away the ears at some point, but shimmer hairspray and a funky up-do make everything good. And a pink nose with whiskers were at the top of her list to complete the look.






And so we went to our next door neighbor's house as we do each year first thing out the door. But that's where things got weird. We didn't stop there. We actually went trick-or-treating around our neighborhood. It was very odd. This was the first time since I can remember (had kids) that we haven't had a big event at our church on Halloween for the kids to go to. It was very odd.

I actually had to coach them in the ways of trick-or-treating. I think some other parents need some coaching too. Like only going to houses where you know the people and only if the porch light is on. (Hello! If the porch light is off and it's 8:30, that means stop punching on my doorbell! We're going to bed!) I'm serious!

Thank goodness it was a low-key Halloween! I had to do it alone since Dad's in Las Vegas. Definitely where I wouldn't want to be on Halloween!

Orange Belts

Bear and Little Buddy tested for their orange belts today and passed by the skin of their little teeth. Their taekwondo schedule has been a little tight these past few weeks as the class schedule changed and conflicted with other things we have going on - like church on Wednesdays. Needless to say they worked hard these past few weeks in class to make sure they knew all the sequences they were supposed to have memorized. I'm told they are NOT called sequences, but my Korean is not too polished and I couldn't begin to even pronounce or spell what they call the series of moves they have to know.






Little Buddy thought his funny poses were good for the camera...














Mom personally likes the smile in this shot... :-)




So glad to have the camera lens repaired. Hadn't realized how BAD it had really gotten! (Although these do look a tad fuzzy - too much sudden movement...)

Heidi just loves sick days...

Little Girl is at home with strep... Heidi doesn't mind at all.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Let's see, only 11 candles on that cake?










Dad was out of town just before his birthday (and functioning on 3 hours of sleep here), so we managed to make a special red velvet cake (his favorite) for him while he was gone. Found a new recipe (that I managed to mess up slightly) in the latest Southern Living for a Peppermint Red Velvet Cake. Looks like a candy cane inside! Awesome Peppermint Cream Cheese Frosting!

Oh, and here's one of Little Buddy, too. He got a bike for his birthday (before we made the cake), so he wanted his cake to say "Happy Bike Day"! (Wow, you can really tell a difference in the pictures since we got the camera lens fixed, too! Dad's pic is much better!)

No critiquing my cake decorating skills!!!

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

It's finally happened. God has given us a bright light. Most of the time, it's just a tiny spec and I squint hard to see it there. But, we have been given a shining ray of hope!

Little Buddy has earned his LEADER BADGE for the first time!

This is an amazing accomplishment in his 3rd year of elementary school. And the tears of joy flow.

You see, a leader badge is a special thing at our school. Kids with leader badges get special privileges like walking in the hall without having a hall pass. And getting to eat at a special table in the cafeteria when they want. And sometimes there are spontaneous celebrations for anyone with their leader badge. It's a school-wide incentive to help kids be on their best behavior; to follow directions and "Do Their Best" (or DYB - Do Your Best - as the kids always say each morning during announcements).

It's based on a color system. Blue - excellent day, Green - good day, Yellow - not-so-good day, & Red - bad day. They get two warnings before each "color change" and the warnings are coded according to the infraction (Little Buddy's are usually talking and not following directions...). Leader badges are awarded at the beginning of the year after 10 straight days on blue.

Little Buddy started out having a pretty good blue/green year. Then, he had a string of blues. He was so proud of himself. We held our breath as we neared #10. On day 11, as I drove around the corner in the car line, I craned my neck to see him standing in the line out front. I caught a glimpse of something glinting in the sun light. There it was around his neck. His very first Leader Badge. I cried. He got in the van and looked at my face because he knew I would be crying and he gave me a big hug. He was so proud of himself.

A change really has come over him. He is working so hard and trying to do the right thing. I asked him one day what had changed to make him make such good choices in 2nd grade. He looked at me like "you mean you don't know" and said, "Of course I've changed. I got baptized and Jesus is in my heart!" Duh, mom...

And so, that badge of honor hung around his neck for 2 whole weeks before he finally slipped to green for two days. He was so disappointed, but I told him I was proud of him for earning his first leader badge and keeping it for so long. He would do his best and get it back in a week.

Thank goodness he only has to have 5 straight days on blue to earn it back now. One down, 4 to go! Oh, I can tell that 2nd grade is going to be our turn-around year!

Don't Breathe

More Anita Renfroe. My mom brought this one to my attention. I've never heard of her before! Where've I been?!

The Mom Song

Finally caught this on the radio. What a hoot!

More wedding pictures

More pictures from Aunt Cynthia's wedding. And Uncle Keith!

Remodel - Crown Moulding

I am going to attempt to document our remodeling adventure this past summer. However, as I peruse the pictures I am realizing that as complicated as the whole project was to work on, so it is to put in writing! We didn't finish one part and then go to the next. We had several sections ongoing at once.

We started with painting. Ok, I started with painting. I wanted to get that mess out of the way while the floors were still "old". However, floor work began even while painting continued. Laundry room tile first (good practice area, since it would always be covered with those machines!). Kids' bathroom tile came next. Painting was still ongoing.

As the kids' bath was finishing up, the master bath was begun. However, somewhere in all that, Dad starting ripping all the carpet out of the house. The whole house. Everywhere but the bedrooms that were going to be replaced. No carpet. Just concrete. Felt like a camp cabin. It was lovely. So, the kids' bath was completed and the master bath was begun. However, somewhere in there, new baseboards had to be painted, cut and installed in the laundry and kid bath. Ok, so the master bath is underway. It was a long project. We got a little creative. It was complicated.

The carpet guys were coming soon, so we had to get the master bath tiled, grouted and sealed before they came. Then came the new carpet. However, before the carpet came, we had actually halfway begun the kitchen tile because all the furniture was out of the kitchen when the new carpet was installed. Oh, and I was still doing some painting, because when the carpet guys got there that day I had doors out that I was putting another coat on. Did I mention I began repainting all the doors and door mouldings? Oh, and we got Little Buddy's room repainted just before the carpet guys came, too, because we wanted to get rid of the one red wall he had in there. The kids helped with that one. Lots of touch up is still needed in there...

Ok, so carpet was in, kitchen was still in progress, new baseboards were continuing to be installed in all the newly tiled areas. We finally finished the kitchen and got all the furniture back in there, however, we didn't seal it for a while because we had a problem with the grout that got stuck in the little divots in the tiles. I wanted to clean out the divots, but we had to let it cure for a week before we could put the stripping cleaner on the tiles/grout. Well, after a few weeks...we gave up cleaning out the divots and just sealed it. The look grew on me and no one else seemed to notice that it wasn't supposed to be that way.

In the mean time, we had begun the Pergo in the family room. We got all the way down the kids' hallway and felt fairly finished. Started getting the baseboards in the family room, entry and hallway. Oh, and in the kitchen that had finally gotten sealed. We left the "best" for last. "Happy Father's Day", Dad wanted to get it finished. I told him he couldn't work on Father's Day, but he was obsessed with it. However, I had to make it difficult because we still hadn't repainted the last room, the Study. That was where we had put most of the junk from other rooms and it was still a complete disaster. I made him so mad, because I told him we HAD to repaint that room before doing the floor. So, we did and 24 hours later, the paint and floors in that room were complete.

By the end of that week, we had most of the baseboard work done and were just left with a long list of touch up areas to complete. We still have a list. The list will be in effect for a while. We're tired. From Mother's Day to Father's Day, we worked almost non-stop. We went to New York for a few days after Father's Day and work hasn't been the same since. So, here's my other dilemma with writing and posting pictures of the remodel. We're not really done! However, if I don't go ahead and post some of this, it will never happen. And you'll never see how proud we are of ourselves for what we learned and accomplished this summer! I guess it's kind of like making those dresses. They're far from perfect, but what a feeling of accomplishment knowing we did it ourselves! We're ready to go build a new house somewhere... NOT!

Well, after all that rambling, here are the first pictures of something I know we did, but I don't have listed above because I don't know where it came in the process! I know we did it, but WHEN did we do it?? Don't know.

Click to play Make your own Smilebox

Seamstress...NOT!!!

Aunt Cynthia got married this weekend!! Her neices and nephews have long awaited this wonderful day for her. Or, for them. The girls have long talked about getting to be in her wedding. Did she have a choice or did they ask what color their dresses were going to be?? They were engaged Memorial Day weekend. They were married Labor Day weekend. Not a lot of planning time. So, she went right to work on planning and preparing for the festivities. Somehow, after a bit of shopping, I got roped into sewing the 4 junior bridesmaid/flowergirl dresses for the neices. We went shopping down on Harry Hines for fabric and even though I laughed at the pattern's "easy" labeling (aren't they all??), I thought I would be able to manage the crepe-backed satin fabric and all the wavy ruffle things for the 2 smaller dresses.

So, since we were in the middle of major remodeling in our house, I tied the fabric up nicely in a bag and put it in my closet to protect it from all the glue, dust and paint we had spread all over our disastrous abode.

My 3 girls were so nice as to remind me often of how many weeks were left before the wedding. I think I may have even said "shush" to them once. With a smile, of course. So, after we got back from vacation in early August, I pulled out the table I had bought at Sam's two months ago just for this project, dusted Bear's sewing machine off (hers is much better!) and got to work. Things were going nicely until I hit "the tiers". Did I spell that right? Maybe it should be "tears". If I hadn't been so darn frustrated with those stinking tiers, maybe I would have shed some tears. I started wondering how long it would take to FedEx the whole mess to Amy in Colorado and have her do it.

And then, Mawmaw came over and in her smooth and angelic way asked me if I was using the rolled hem foot for the tiers. A what? Thirty years of sewing. Never heard of the thing. We looked in Bear's machine booklet to see what feet came with her machine. There was one foot in the pack that wasn't in the book. After some online research, we found that it was...a rolled hem foot! Mawmaw hadn't used one, but she knew her mom had and at least knew what it was used for. So, between the two of us, we figured out how the foot worked, practiced on some extra fabric and voila! A hem that didn't look like crap! Well, it was way better anyway.

Don't the girls look lovely in their dresses? Don't look too closely.

Still, I would have gladly paid $100 per dress for each girl rather than tackle that project again. I was so frustrated with all those dresses and fabrics! It is a good feeling knowing that I made the dresses for the girls, but I also know how bad they looked because they could have been so much better with a professional seamstress!

I'm so glad the older girls wanted dresses without the ruffles. (Bear, Bit, Little Girl and cousin Jillian.)

Here's a slideshow of various pictures from the wedding. We didn't take many pictures with our camera, but I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of shots the THREE PHOTOGRAPHERS got.

Click to play Make your own Smilebox

(trying out a new slide show website I came across - ran out of storage space over at PictureTrail!)

How Could I Forget?!?!

How could I possibly forget Heidi's first day of school picture?! Poor girl! I didn't mean to leave you out, sweet girl!


Yes, she moped around the house and finally landed on the arm of the sofa in a dejected, lost and lonely sort of "humph."

Her eyes moved, but her head stayed put as she watched me walk around her taking pictures. She looked pitiful!

School's IN!!!

Did Summer seem extra long to anyone else? I know we got a late start, but those 2 extra weeks seemed more like 2 extra MONTHS! I think everyone in our house was overjoyed on Monday when they finally got to go back to school. Bit wasn't quite as excited, but she was a little apprehensive about having Athletics first period and what that was going to be like. She began her first workout yesterday as her physical papers were finally in order and she was groaning this morning about getting out of bed for her 6:30 workout today. I told her today was nothing like tomorrow would be so get to moving! (such encouragement.) She's decided to do Cross Country (Dad's excited) and she ran her first mile yesterday. She was discouraged about her time (11 minutes), but I told her it was better than mine! She gave me a look...


I was on my own taking the kids to school on Monday, so it took a while to make it around to everyone's class.


Here they are walking in...









Little Buddy has an orderly, neat, young and pretty teacher this year. I don't know her, but I know his teacher last year had a big part of making sure he had just the right teacher this year, so I think it's going to be a good fit for him. He's already gotten a note about talking too much... We can't expect miracles, but I do think this year will be a notch up on the behavior ladder! Surely!

Little Girl is excited about her own desk and her own locker.

The locker part was what she kept coming back to when asked about her favorite part of the day!

She's a big first grader now, so she gets to be treated more like a "big kid". She's so fun and giggly.

Well, Bear wouldn't stop talking to her friends when I finally got to her room the first day. Could be a concern, but I got a note from her teacher this morning saying Bear is a sweetheart! She said she was so respectful and she listens, participates and follows directions. Oh, I dream of the day that someone says that about her brother!!

Snake Handling

This post is dedicated to Mawmaw & Aunt Cynthia with love. Enjoy!

In getting ready for Aunt Cynthia's wedding, we "unearthed" some fun for the kids ... a nest of just-beginning-to-hatch baby snakes in the pile of fresh mulch delivered for the flower beds around Aunt Melissa's backyard! Uncle Phil assured us they were Boa Constrictors which, at this size, aren't constricting a whole lot.

Ethan holds the snake out for everyone to see. He's the only brave young'in to begin with. Although, Little Buddy is chomping at the bit to get his turn.


























Little Buddy proudly holds the little pet - or is the little pet holding on to Little Buddy??
















Bit says, "Ok, I'll give it a try." But her face says, "Ok, I gave it try! Now someone take this thing off of me!"












Bit's skin crawls as she can still feel the creature crawling on her...














Bit gets over being all "girly" and gives the snake another try.




Dad holds one of the 5 little snakes that were found as they dug through the mulch. The kept discovering more freshly hatched eggs! Some of the little snakes still had little umbilical-type things attached to them!

Little Girl says, "Y'all can have all the fun you want over there with those slithery things! I'll just sit here in the Barbie Jeep and pretend like I'm driving FAR away!"

Being a Runner

I am a runner. Yes, I hear you laughing... There is something in me that just wants to run, though. (Yeah, I know, maybe it's "away" from the chaos that ensues my house at times...) But, I am stepping out and putting this "out there" in writing, so I can't back down. I've used several excuses. There was the leg surgery. And before that it was the pain and discomfort that came from the oddity of that extra muscle. I would start again and there would be the lump and all the mammograms and MRIs to follow that 3 month ordeal. (And I wasn't even the one who ended up with cancer!) Well, I started up pretty good again this past spring and so came the ovarian cysts. It's always something... And I'm sure there will always be something. That subconscious laziness of not wanting to put my body through the agony of getting started again. That first mile is always the hardest! But, I'm tired of being tired and I'm tired of being so big and I'm tired of excuses.

I shall ice my leg/foot when it hurts. I remember Dad doing that for months on his knees when he took up running again after a 12 year hiatus. Of course, I thought he was crazy. Training for a marathon...why would anyone want to put their bodies through that?? (I thought as I stood on the sidelines of the finish line in Austin 6 months pregnant with Little Girl.) But, something about those crazy healthy bodies (not perfect, mind you!) struck a chord in me (along with the reminder of the 9 pounds I'd gained over the past month of pregnancy!). I was 31 years old and I actually considered doing a bit of running. Maybe only a mile or two - who would want to do more than that? Besides, I always got a cramp in my side every time I had to run anywhere in high school. And my face always turned beet red within a few moments of exertion! So unattractive! But when Little Girl was barely 6 weeks old, there I was heading out the door to run to my nearest street corner. Whew! I had made it to the corner. Secure in that distance, I soon set out for the next corner. And within a few weeks I found myself all the way around my block. And soon I was training for a 5K! I remember the fear I had the night before the first race I ran in Houston. It wasn't a 5K but 4 miles! What if I didn't finish?? What if I was the very last person who did finish!?! But I did finish! And I went on to run 3 half marathons over the next 2 years. And then I had to do something about the pain in my foot... And it's been downhill ever since.

I want to run another half marathon!! By golly, I might even want to run a full marathon!! Whatever, I just want to run. It's a strange feeling.

And so I step out with this commitment (for whomever might even be reading) so that I may be held accountable. If you must, you can say "doesn't look like you've been running much lately". However, a simple "how's the running going?" might be better received... :-) I don't aspire to be rail-thin or have that "perfect" body. Shoot, I gained 5 pounds when I trained for my first half-marathon! (How depressing is that?? All muscle, I'm sure...) I do, however, aspire to be healthy. I'm too young to feel old yet!





Here I am finishing a half marathon (13.1 miles!!) a few years back - Bit & Bear ran across the finish line with me. (Notice the beet red face!!) Not too much giddy-up in my step there, but I really am "running" to cross the finish line...



This I shall do again - red faced and all!

Heidi Happenings

Haven't had a dedicated "Heidi" update in a while!

Her biggest news is that she had surgery at the beginning of June. In addition to her "no puppies here" procedure, she had to have an umbilical hernia repaired. Without the hernia, t'would have been an easy in and out procedure. With the hernia, she stayed overnight, had several stitches and was put on activity restriction for a week. Would have been much simpler for us had we not been getting new carpet the day she came home from the vet! The house was turned upside down and we had a dog we had to keep still and quiet. And with her silly looking cone, she had a hard time getting comfortable anywhere, much less in her crate! We found a VERY small area to put her big comfy pillow and she was pretty much fenced in with all the furniture upheaval in the house.

Heidi likes visiting with the neighbors.

Heidi loves her people and their beds.

Heidi absolutely LOVES her new Bumble Ball. Here's a completely worn out puppy. We had to replace the batteries TWICE the first night she played with the ball!

Another funny tongue picture . . . (new kitchen floor - no baseboards yet.)

Baptism in the Park

This post is a follow-up to "Preacher Boy".

We had VBS the first week of June and on Wednesday, June 6th, as we were wrestling the kids into bed after their 5th trip to the kitchen for a drink, Little Buddy comes in to tell us that he just asked Jesus into his heart. We've had many discussions about this over the past few months, more in the past weeks, but you could tell from his voice that this was serious and sincere. Here's the story:

Little Buddy had gone in Bit's room as they were turning out their lights and asked her what it felt like when Jesus was in your heart. She tried to think of a good way to help him understand, so she told him it was like one of his friends trying to get him to do something he shouldn't do and he knew in his heart that he shouldn't do it. Very simplistic, but an analogy that worked for him. They prayed together and then he came in the kitchen and told us. I sat down and talked to him some more and felt certain that God was indeed calling his little heart. He sat on his bed and prayed a prayer all his own - no repeating or being told what to say. Oh, how I wish I'd had a video camera in the room or enough time to write down everything he said! That was the most sincere and heartfelt prayer I've ever heard from a 7 year old. He covered all his ABCs (Admit you're a sinner, Believe Jesus died for your sins, Claim Jesus as your Lord and Savior) and asked Jesus in his heart. The moment went by all too suddenly. It was a beautiful prayer.

Shortly after that, it was announced that a special baptism service at the park would take place in July. Having had visions of what could happen in the baptistery at church by energetic boys (seen this video??)...

...we kind of thought that this might be a good option. Little Buddy was concerned about having to go into the lake water, but with all the rain the lake was too mucky, so they had to bring in a portable baptistery. There were almost 40 baptisms that afternoon!

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Share Photos - Free Video Hosting

Now, if only God made it easy for us to leave our old ways and embrace the new . . . Little Buddy is still the same old "Little Buddy" in many ways, but I think God works on him just a little more each day. Or maybe He's working on me . . .

Preacher Boy??

This post was begun in April 2007 and edited over the last few weeks.

Little Buddy does at least one thing every day to amaze me. And most of the time, it is the shake-your-head-and-smile kind of thing. Maybe it's God's way of shining a small ray of hope down on us after some other unbelievable thing he's done that we are not smiling about. Maybe. He's always been a little ahead of his sisters. He read earlier than they did. He "got" math earlier than they did (whew!). He notices things. He asks questions. In general, he's just really sharp. I've seen it in his eyes since he was a baby. I can remember holding him and thinking that there was just something different in those eyes than I had seen previously in the older two. I also thought it was just me with a little more mothering experience under my belt. Or maybe it was my lack of sleep since those eyes were looking at me ALL THE TIME it seemed . . . that child seemed to sleep SO little! He actually didn't start sleeping through the night until after his baby sister did - literally! Thank goodness Little Girl was so easy going! God knew exactly what I needed when she turned out to be a girl instead of another little boy like I'd prayed for! God always knows best!

And so, I know that God knows what is best for Little Buddy. And even though sometimes I feel so unqualified to be his mother (what do I DO with the boy??), I do know that God chose me to do so. And I do so with MUCH prayer!

Over the past couple of years, he's had quite a few shake-your-head-and-smile moments regarding God. Here are some highlights of some of those moments:

One night before turning out his light, he told me about the verse they were learning in Upward soccer - John 3:16. ("For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever may believe in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life.") I have never seen anyone (much less a 5 year old) so excited about John 3:16! The thought of living forever in Heaven was astounding to him. And so began the discussion of his soul and what happens to our bodies when we die and so on and so on . . . He was fascinated. And he had an unbelievable grip on the whole idea of a soul! It was amazing.

At breakfast one morning, he asked me if we were Jewish. Seems that there is a boy in his class that says he is Jewish (they've obviously been discussing religion at school . . .) and he didn't know what that meant.

Just recently, he was telling me about some boys he knows at school and an argument they had at recess one day (1st grade). He was so mad at them because they didn't believe in God. My 7 year old son was having a discussion about God with his friends at recess in public school. Wow.

We love listening to him pray. It's like listening to him have a conversation with God. It's fun to hear. I think he can pray "better" out loud than I can. I'm more of a private pray-er, though.

His list of things to be when he grows up changes quite often - or more precisely, grows longer quite often. He wants to be an astronaut. He wants to be a pilot. He wants to be in the Army so he can drive the cool tanks and stuff. He wants to be a construction worker so he can dig big holes and drive the tractors and back-hoes. We choked on our food one night at dinner when he said he wanted to be a grave digger. What's with that boy and digging holes? He saw a garbage truck parked in a neighborhood one afternoon and it looked like the driver was taking a nap. He decided that looked like a great job. Drive a great big truck and then stop for a nap whenever you want, too! Cool. If he fully knew what a storm chaser was, he'd probably want to do that since he's absolutely fascinated with the weather.

I, however, wouldn't be surprised if the boy turned out to be a preacher . . . Isn't it that those kids who cause the most ruckus at school end up being some of the best teachers? And isn't it so with some of the bigger handfuls at home that end up being the some of the best preachers? Only God knows . . . and in the meantime, I pray . . . if not for Little Buddy, then for myself!

Stay tuned for the next update, posting soon!