pix

i just love this picture of the boy leaving his first ever egg hunt.

revelation

i've never been one to stay current with a journal or diary. the best of intentions usually peter out by january 3. so, this blog thing seems like it's here to stay--especially since my hoards of adoring fan depend on it for their daily sustenance and spiritual guidance (i'm so full of it).
any way, having never been the one who journals regularly, it's been an interesting revelation to go back and read about things that were important to me on those particular days. it's sort of a autobiography in process. this is who i am and what i do; it represents me as well as anything, short of actually being me.
that leads me to the trend that i notice--i write more about my family than i do about the things God is teaching me. and while we are all called to love, nurture, care for and provide for our families, what does this say about my priorities? the best thing i can do for my family is to be living in the presence of God. if He's not speaking to me, it's probably because i'm not listening to Him--a whole separate issue that i'm accountable for.
please don't misread what i'm saying--i love my family dearly (and those 5 measly words cannot contain the full amount of love i have for them), but i love God more--or at lease i'm supposed to. Jesus drew the comparison of love of God and love of family. His words lead us to understand that the love for God should be so vast and great that the love of family pales and looks as pitiful as hate. we don't hate our families, but we love God that much more. am i doing that? am i expressing to Him? do i brag about Him as quickly as a post a picture of my baby?

Heavenly Father, thank You for Your patience. Your grace is much needed, especially in times when i need to refocus my blog writings.

musings on the weather

• rain, rain go away. come again another day--baby israel wants to have a birthday party.
• it's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring--nothing new here.
• doctor foster went to glo'ster, in a shower of rain; he stepped in a puddle, up to his middle, and never went there again--which would mean i could never leave nor enter my own home, there are these types of puddles everywhere!
• april showers bring may flowers; mayflowers bring pilgrims--so, what do march showers bring? more snow?
• one misty, moisty morning when cloudy was the weather--that's about everyday this week

traces of chocolate

this is proof that grammy gave him chocolate cake. he's remarkably clean, though. that is, until he got sleepy (from all the turkey) and started to rub his eyes and ears and hair.

helper or adventurer?

israel likes to "help" with household chores.

• he likes to help kara shut the dishwasher (whether it's fully loaded or not)


• he likes to vacuum (actually, it's hide and seek with the sweeper. he's not scared of it, but he giggles and runs from it)


• he likes to fold laundry (aka - pull it out of the basket and chew on it or throw it on the floor).


• now, as you can see, he likes to help wash the clothes. we just can't tell if he's a helper or adventurous!

another milestone

as you know, dum-dum suckers are a big deal to children. they make a nice treat, but aren't king-sized. israel didn't take long to fall in love with them. he likes all flavors (which is good because we give him the ones that no one else in the house enjoys).

lesson learned

while i admit i'm still very new to this parenting thing, my mother is not. you'd think she'd realize a few things. on the top of the list of "things grandmothers ought to know by now" is this: never feed chocolate cake to a 1-year old at 6pm!
it took israel almost an hour to unwind and relax and finally go to sleep last night! but, the pictures of bare-fisted cake eating are very cute--soon to be posted, i'm sure.

wednesday is really the big day, but our preview party was yesterday. thanks to grammy & preacher papaw for hosting a wonderful dinner and party for israel. we couldn't make a full day of it and a couple of people were absent due to work commitments (aunt kim & kara louise), but still, the few hours were really nice. turkey and stuffing, mashed potatoes, mashed cauliflower (better than it sounds) and cake & ice cream.