A Blessed Christmas

I enjoyed Christmas more this year than I have in the past.  I think this was mostly due to Cooper.  It is much more fun to share Christmas with a child, and now he is old enough to be excited about it, though he still doesn't completely "get it."

A lot of people asked us if we were doing the Santa Claus thing.  No.  We read him books about Santa Claus, but told him they were just stories.  We gave him gifts, but didn't try to pretend they were from Santa.  I'm not judging other parents who do things differently; that's just the way we decided to handle it.

We're also trying to keep the focus on Jesus and not on materialism.  Even though he got gifts, we didn't really play that part up beforehand.  We talked about Jesus' birthday.  As it got close, I told him that Jesus is so important, that we all get presents for His birthday.

I intended for it to be small, but we ended up getting him quite a bit.  The poor boy just wanted to play with the presents he opened, but no, we would take one away from him and shove another one at him to open.  Oh well.

My brother and his family weren't able to come, but we invited a couple from church (the lady who introduced Don and me) over for brunch, along with my parents.  It was kind of quiet, but nice, really.

Don has been off for about 3 weeks and, other than spending a night in the hospital just before Christmas after passing out in church (another story for another day, but he's fine now), we've been enjoying all the extra time we've had together.  It's going to be hard on Cooper and me as well as Don when he has to go back to work, but I guess we'll adjust.

Happy New Year to all of you.  May 2013 be a year full of blessings.

Twenty-Six Months Old

Wow, long time/no blog!  It's been a busy month.

We went to Michigan to visit with Don's family for Thanksgiving.  Cooper had a good time hanging out with his cousins.

While there we had a belated celebration of Don's parents' 50th anniversary.

Cooper sang in the children's program at Community Bible Study.  His teacher had to hold on to him the whole time so he wouldn't run away.

We put up our Christmas tree and began getting ready for Christmas.

We went to a birthday party for Jesus.

We went Christmas caroling in our neighborhood.  Cooper and I are on the far left (he's in a stroller).

So, as you can see, we've been doing a lot of celebrating various things.  It's been a fun month.  I am looking forward to Christmas more this year than I have in the past because Cooper is excited.  We are trying to play down the materialistic aspect of it, but still . . .

This month also brought a brief stay in the hospital for Don after he passed out twice last week.  Hopefully that problem has been resolved though.  It hasn't happened again this week, which is a good sign.

Merry Christmas to all of my blog readers!

Twenty-Five Months Old

Time marches on.  And it seems like it's marching faster all the time.

"They grow up fast," everyone tells me.  "Enjoy every day."  And I do.  Though, of course, some are easier to enjoy than others.

We have had a lot of nice weather this month, and Cooper and I have tried to spend as much time as possible outside, whether in our yard, at the park, taking a walk, or wherever . . .

We've been to visit the neighbor's chickens,

"mowed" the lawn,

or just sat around.

He is putting words together more and more, learning his colors, letters, numbers and shapes.  He remembers and repeats pretty much everything he hears, so Don and I have to be careful not only of what we say, but also try to control what he sees on TV and hears in public.

We can't control everything, though, and that's why we spend a lot of time in prayer, for ourselves as parents and for God's protective hand on Cooper.

This Thanksgiving, I am thankful for so many things, and high on my list is the privilege of being Cooper's mom.  I sure do love that little guy!

The Aftermath

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. “  Isaiah 55:8

I was shocked.  Stunned.  NO WAY could America have elected Obama AGAIN!  NO! WAY!  And how will we survive four more years?  What will become of this country??

Since then I have had a little time to mull it all over.  And I have talked to other well-informed Christians who are not depressed about it all.  And I have questioned why.

What am I putting my faith in?

Was I putting my faith in Mitt Romney, that he could undo the damage that I perceive Barack Obama has done and thus save our country? 

Or was it in the Republican party?  Even though I wasn’t thrilled with Romney as a choice, I was sure that any Republican could do a better job than Obama!  After all, Republicans know what’s right.

Maybe it was in the American people.  I can sort of see the logic people had in electing Obama four years ago.  They were ready for change, and he promised to bring it.  They were willing to give him a chance.  And indeed he has brought change, but it has all been negative, in my opinion.  We’re much further in debt, prices are rising, and the future of our healthcare is at stake.  Socialism threatens to rob us of our freedom.  I believed the American people would see all that and make the logical choice: to remove Obama from office before he does any more damage.  Just vote him out, like they have done with bad presidents in the past.

Guess what?  All of these people have failed me in what I thought they should do. 

So what do I have left?

Oh yeah.  God.  The One who never fails.  The One who others I know are putting their hope in, those people who have remarkable peace about all of this.

I didn’t forget Him altogether.  I did pray daily about this election for months, believing that He would answer my prayer by putting a good Republican in office, and that would be His means of saving our country.  Of course.  It was logical.

But my way of thinking is not always God’s way of thinking.  I don’t know what His way of thinking is.  I don’t know how He can be using all of this to work all things together “for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).  But He is.  He may be using this to discipline us as a country.  Can anybody claim we don’t need  or deserve that?  Or He may be using it to protect us from something worse that we may never even know about.  Maybe it is to teach us or bring us to revival.  Or maybe all of the above.

Thankfully, God IS in control.  Thankfully He has a plan.  But He does give us a role: “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”  II Chronicles 7:14.

Our vote has been cast.  And if you’re like me, you didn’t win.  Thank goodness God is in control.  Let’s bow before Him and plead with Him to heal our broken land.

Halloween

I just don't know how I feel about Halloween.  I have read a lot and talked to a lot of different people, and the perspectives vary widely, even among Christians.  I've heard everything from it's evil and we should have no part of it, to it's just for fun and there's absolutely nothing wrong with it.  Up until now it wasn't really a problem for me not to take a stand either way, but now I have a child to raise.  This year, he doesn't really know the difference, but likely by next year, I will need to make a decision about what I am or am not going to let him do.  Don leans more toward the "harmless" end of things.

For the last month or so, a number of people have asked Cooper what he was going to be for Halloween.  He gives them a blank look.  He doesn't even know what they're talking about.  Rather than get into a philosophical discussion, I just tell them that he isn't going because he doesn't know any different yet, he has never had candy before, and I don't want to start him on that before he is old enough to even care.  Which is true.  Why feed a kid something that is bad for him when a bowl of applesauce is a "treat" to him?

But in the end, I did cave a little and decided to go to a celebration at a local church called "Awesome Autumn."  After all, someone had given us a cute doggy costume that just fits Cooper right now, and it all sounded like something he would enjoy.  Maybe this type of thing will be a good compromise for future years as well.

They had "trunk"-or-treating, plus hayrides, "bouncy things" to jump in (I couldn't get a good picture of that), games and even donkey rides.  It was a nice day (though a little windy), and we all went and had a really good time.  There was nothing scary or potentially evil involved.

I'll be giving out candy on Halloween night.  I figure maybe it's a good way to minister to our neighbors in some sense.  Anyway, hopefully Cooper won't feel like he's missing out on anything.  And maybe by next year I'll have made a prayerful decision about how I'm going to handle it all.

A Weekend to Remember

Last weekend my brother's family paid us a quick visit.  Unfortunately, we probably won't see them at Thanksgiving or Christmas, so they wanted to come when they could.

They didn't stay at our house, but Cooper and I went and hung out with them for a bit on Friday morning at the friend's house where they were staying.

The girls had fun dressing Cooper up.  Then my brother then tried to help him look a little more "manly."

On Saturday our whole family got together at our house for lunch and fun.

Grace and I did a flute duet.

The kids did a fashion show with their cool guitar sunglasses that my mom gave them, while Don accompanied them on his guitar.

Cooper opened still more birthday presents.

Cooper LOVED playing with his cousins, but he wore himself out.  Uncle Andy read him a story before his nap.

It was a fun weekend for everyone, I think.  Hopefully it won't be too long before we get to see them all again.

Celebrations

Cooper and I both had birthdays last week.  I turned, well, old, as evidenced by an increasing amount of gray hair and decreasing ability to read without glasses.  Oh well.  I'm thankful for every year God gives me.

For Cooper, it was the big 0-2.  Yes, my sweet baby is a terrible two!  Actually, he hasn't really been that terrible so far.  We had a great visit with Don's parents this weekend, who came to help us celebrate, and my parents also joined us on Sunday for his party.

He got to eat cake

and open lots of presents.

He loves his new "Wheel"

as well as the other things he got.

 I'm not sure where we're going to put them all.

In spite of several difficult things that have happened, I would have to say that these past two years have been the best two years of my life.  I have so much to be thankful for!

A Day to Remember

This past Saturday was my dad's 77th birthday.  Wow, that's old!

Since my brother and his family moved to Boone, NC, we don't get to see them all that often, so I suggested to my brother that maybe we could all meet in Knoxville (the halfway point) on that day.  He was agreeable.  My dad was thrilled with the idea.  My mom joined us as well.

We decided to meet at the Cracker Barrel in Kodak, TN, just east of Knoxville, since there was a UT game that day and we didn't want to get caught up in the crowd.  After lunch we drove to Jefferson City to Cherokee Dam Park and spent some time there.

My niece, Grace, who has recently started playing the flute (which thrills me to no end), gave us a mini-concert.  

Before we left, his grandchildren sang a lovely rendition of "Happy Birthday" to my dad.

 

All in all (well, aside from that), it was a wonderful day.  It was great to see my brother and his family, and Cooper loved hanging out with his cousins.  I believe my dad, as well as the rest of us, were very blessed by it all.

Happy birthday, Papaw!

Twenty-Three Months Old

Wow, what a month it's been!  Cooper is growing up so fast, learning so many new things!  His talking has increased dramatically.  He can say almost anything now, though still just one word at a time usually.

He loves to work puzzles and can keep himself entertained for longer periods of time than ever before, which is nice for me.

We have had lots of nice weather lately, so we have been spending as much time outside as we can.

Don and I celebrated our 7th anniversary in August (which was also Don's birthday).  We went to dinner at Hermitage Steak House to mark the occasion.  Yes, Cooper went with us. ( :

We had our first day back at Community Bible Study in late August.  Cooper is in the 2-year-old class this year, which means he is taught Bible stories, and gets to sing, do crafts, etc., which I am very excited about.  He loves to go.  Here he is on the first day, with his "pack." 

I can't believe he will soon be two.  Time is passing quickly, but we are enjoying every day of it!