don't blink...~

...or you will open your eyes to find your sweet, sleepy newborn baby girl is a wide-eyed, smiley, wiggly bundle of smiles.

...you will realize you missed an entire season while you were snuggling.

...you'll find that your two year old found all the preschool puzzles and has learned that it's so much fun to throw the pieces down the stairs. Repeatedly.

...that that same two year now speaks in complete sentences and has an utterly delightful stutter. And says things every day that melt your heart like, "Me loving you, Mommy. Me loving you." And you secretly smile that he is your blondie and his head is still charmingly on the um...larger side.

...your second baby princess is now six and is no longer a little girl. And that she would most definitely take issue with being called a baby princess seeing as how she is quite often found leading a pack of boys to the secret hide out in the woods and can out run just about all of them.

...your first baby princess is now a young lady, truly on the verge of womanhood. And you will be delighted to realize you really are becoming very good friends, and not enemies.

...your oldest son grew in not only stature but has attained a level of maturity that you and your husband are astounded by.

...that your almost eight year old son still likes to hold your hand in public and realizing that brings untold joy.

...your four year old son has grown amazingly tall and is, in fact, your first left-handed child and the people at the art center really are amazed at his artistic ability, and not just being nice. And you will smile because he is still your Mr. Charming.

...you are now 29 and a half and you have almost arrived at the "magical" age you always felt was truly a grown up. And that there are now quite a few mothers out there that are younger than you are. And that is an odd feeling.

...you will open your eyes and be delighted to find that boy you married (when you were just six years older than your oldest daughter) is truly your favorite person on earth to be with. Still. By far. And you still think he's pretty cute.

...but when you do blink, you will open your eyes to look around and you will know that God is good. And you are blessed. And the boundary lines have fallen for you in oh, such pleasant places.

...and if you are smart, you will close your eyes, and take it in, and write it down. And you will remember and be reminded, yet again, that He, the Giver of Good Gifts is faithful. And you will be thankful.

~O Giver of Abundant Life...may I never forget...

...

wedded bliss, little people style~

You know you're parents to little people, and you've been married for awhile when for your 12th anniversary you take your kids out for ice cream to celebrate.

You know, I'm just saying... :o)

blessings from myr~praying Scripture over your children~

Some of you may know my mother in law, Charlotte. All the grandchildren call her Myr. (What do you want to be called when you're a grandmother? I want to either be called Myr, Nana, or Amma, with an "ah" sound.) If you know her, you are blessed. She is completely, without a doubt, one of the most amazing woman I have ever met. She and John don't have a computer, so I don't even have to say that :o)

I am going to write a post based on these five hand written pages of Scripture Blessing that she gave to Glen and me many years ago. I found it this week as we were cleaning off our book shelves, and thought I should type it out here in case it ever gets lost. It is quite long, so I am going to backdate it, and add it to my {Encouragement}: Treasuring Your Children links.

When I say Charlotte is an amazing woman, I mean it. She married her first husband, Bob, and they had four children, whom many of you know. Between all of us, there are soon to be eighteen grandchildren. The Lord has heard and been faithful to her prayers, as all of her children and their families are following the Father, without exception. Bob died of melanoma when Glen was seven, and when Glen was twelve, she married again, to John. They tried to have children of their own, but were not able. They soon became foster parents to Jeremy and Christopher, who have severe retardation and autism. They have had them for approximately eighteen years now, and devoted their lives to taking care of them. She also has kept all of her grandchildren once a week, pretty much since they were born. The older ones don't go every week anymore, but almost all of the younger ones do. I cannot tell you what a tremendous blessing this has been to me! She has the most giving, sweetest spirit, and I am so grateful the Lord has blessed me with such a wonderful family. In so many ways she has been a mother to me, as my mother and I don't really have a mother/daughter relationship.

Now you all know why Glen is so wonderful! Mothers, let us pray for our children! Let us speak life and blessing and the Word over them! The rewards are immeasurable!

I'm not sure how much time she spent on it writing out all these prayers and blessings, but it is such a treasure to us. Not only did she write this out, but she spends a fair amount of time in prayer for all of her family every morning. She reads the Word, she journals, she prays, and she writes blessings. I am blessed.

love notes from ethan~

Part of what I started my blog for is just for me to look back years from now and remember things. So some of this is really just for me, but as I find it pretty sweet, hopefully it will bring a smile to your day too...

Two memories I have from Ethan...


Once, when Ethan was probably late three, early four maybe, he walked into my closet with me as I was getting dressed up to go somewhere. I must have been dressing up more than usual, because Ethan came over, hugged me around the legs and kind of started swaying back and forth. He looked up at me and said, "Mom, sometime can you dress up and dance with me slow like this...?"

One thing we do around here is the children take turns having "errand day" with me. I go and do errands on Saturdays and the kids rotate weeks getting to come with me. The others get to stay home, play, and do projects with Dad. This past April, when I was within a few weeks of giving birth to Haven, Ethan and I were walking into O'Charley's for lunch (I typically let them choose where to eat lunch, which means I get to enjoy everything from Jasons Deli..yum! to chicken mcnuggets..yuck! to O'Charley's). Ethan grabbed my hand and was just holding hands with me as we crossed the parking lot and walked into the restaurant. Now, as he is a grown man all of five years old, I very much appreciated this public dispplay of sweet affection, so I looked down and smiled at him. That's it, all I did was look down and smile. And you know what that kid said? He said, "I love it when you smile at me, Mommy..."

For all the messes, laundry, meals, kitchen cleaning...did I say laundry (?) and everything else, I wouldn't trade places with anyone in the world. I, among all women, am truly blessed...

true love~

nothing says "i love you, mom," like bunches of spontaneously picked flowers and leaves...

unless it's from the five year old, and then nothing says "i love you" like some "shiny" rocks....

some women measure love by jewelry or other finery....well, you can give me a pile of flowers and shiny rocks any day...

note from ethan~

after a couple of warnings, a certain five year old earned himself a spanking from dad.

we let them draw and read at night in bed, so a little while after they had been in bed, dad received some mail...

"Dad, I love you, but I don't like when you give me spankings..."