Ms. Bette

But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”  Matthew 19:14 

We began to visit Ms. Bette periodically after her husband, Mr. Don, died.  The oldest members of our church, the two of them were something of a legend.  Mr. Don lived a long and Godly life before passing away last January at the age of 88.

Ms. Bette wasn’t ever quite the same after that.  Her family moved her to assisted living, and, while she always kept a cheerful spirit, she did occasionally mention that she hoped to be able to move back home.  She also showed me a large picture of Mr. Don one day that she told me she got out when she was lonely.

Cooper loved to go see her.  She laughed at his antics, and she always had interesting things for him to look at.  He would give her big hugs which brought tears to her eyes.

The last few times I called her, she said she wasn’t up for a visit.  She just didn’t feel well.  Then her family announced that she was going into hospice care.

This past Sunday morning, Ms. Bette joined Mr. Don in heaven.  I have no doubt that the reunion there that morning was a joyful one for both of them.  And I'm sure her joy in getting to meet her Savior was greater still.

That afternoon, I told Cooper that Ms. Bette had gone to heaven.  He began asking me about heaven and about Jesus, things we had talked about before, but not in so much detail.  I hadn’t tried to lead him to accept Christ because I felt he was still a little young for that, but that day, he asked me if he would go to heaven too.  I told him he would if he asked Jesus to be his Savior.  We talked about sin and why he needed a Savior.  He showed an understanding of his sinfulness and of the sacrifice Jesus made for us on the cross.  Then I prayed with him to receive Jesus as his Savior. 

I believe he fully understands, as well as an almost-four-year-old can, what he has done.  He has since told several people that he asked Jesus into his heart.   He has talked more about heaven and seeing Ms. Bette again.  Of course, Don and I will continue to teach him about Jesus as he grows, making sure he understands it all. 

But for now, I am resting in the fact that Cooper knows Jesus and is saved for all eternity.  And I know that Ms. Bette would be thrilled to know that her death had played a role in that.

Remember Me?

I guess I got out of the blog mode for a while.  But I'm back.

We've had a busy couple of months.  Cooper, now 3-1/2, is changing and growing every day.  Not only are his clothes getting too small, toys are being outgrown, and Mom and Dad are having to adjust to new attitudes and situations, deciding where to extend new freedoms to him and where to hold our ground while being constantly challenged.

We've had a fun springtime, getting outside once again and enjoying the sunshine.

And the mud.

Don's work schedule has been an adjustment for our family, mainly having him work every other weekend.  It was hard for me when I realized he had to work on Easter, but we got through it.  Hospitals don't stop for weekends or holidays.

We ordered a butterfly kit, receiving 5 live caterpillars, watching them turn into chrysalides and then into butterflies before letting them go.  This was an interesting project for all of us, and Cooper still talks about it.

I've been spending a lot of time working in my garden.  I have enlarged it once again and have it mostly planted now.  We got TONS of strawberries, which I planted last year and really didn't have to do anything to this year except cover them to keep the birds out, and pick them.  Now we're getting a few blueberries for the first time.  I planted them several years ago and just this year figured out that I needed to cover them too.  Apparently we've been providing quite a feast for the birds over the past few years.

Our Community Bible Study class ended for the year last month, and they had their usual end-of-the-year children's program.  As usual, it was more cute than anything else, except maybe chaotic.  Still, I'm thankful we can both be a part of this program.  Cooper has learned many Bible stories and songs, and it's an opportunity for him to be with other children from Christian families, and for me to study the Bible and fellowship with other adults.

Cooper went to his first baseball game recently, the Nashville Sounds.  It was kind of sentimental for me, as my dad used to take my brother and me when they first started playing in the 80's.  This is their last year to play in their old stadium, so I was glad Cooper got to see them there, and I got to see them one more time.  I'm not a big sports fan, but I do like going to games every now and then.

And now it's summer (well, not officially, but school is out, Memorial Day is past, and it's HOT, so I consider it to be summer).  We have joined the Y, and Cooper is taking swimming lessons this week and next.  He loves the water, and I enjoy it too.

We're looking forward to some visits from out-of-town family members and more.  Hopefully I'll stay in the blog mode and be better about writing more faithfully.

Thirty-Nine Months Old

I'm still here!  I've just been grossly neglecting my blog lately,  I've been caught up in doing my family tree on Ancestry.com, which has been sucking up most of my computer time, but now I have cancelled my subscription, at least temporarily, so I can get on with the rest of my life.

Don's new job is going fairly well, though it's hard work.  He comes home exhausted in the afternoons, but he's thankful to have a job.  His new schedule has been a bit of an adjustment for all of us; I'm trying to get up with him at 5:00 a.m., which involves going to bed earlier, which involves getting Cooper to bed earlier, which involves starting earlier to get him ready for bed . . .  Plus, Don has to work every other weekend, which has been kind of hard.  Hopefully at some point this will change so that at least he can be off on Sundays.  It does make us all really cherish the Sundays when we get to go to church together as a family, though.

It's been a pretty rough winter, weather-wise, at least by Nashville standards.  We had some of the coldest temperatures we've had in several years (and a really expensive electric bill) and very little relief from the cold, dreary days.  We had ONE nice, sunny day recently, last Saturday.  Thankfully, it was Don's Saturday off of work, and we all went to the park together.

Cooper got a little guitar with some of his Christmas money and has been "playing" it all the time:

He's playing it right-handed here, but most of the time he has it upside down and plays it with his left hand.  We think he's left-handed.

He's finally mostly potty trained!  Well, at least during the day.  That has been quite a journey, involving a lot of frustration, bribery, dramatic celebrations, and more, but I'm thankful we seem to have made it.

He got his first "real" haircut a couple of weeks ago (I'd been cutting it myself).  He did great, and afterward we went to Cici's next door for lunch.

We went to "Discovery Center" one day with my mom, a local museum sort-of-thing for young children.  Cooper had a great time!

We're still doing Community Bible Study (this picture was taken by his teacher)

and MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers).  I met another 47-year-old mom there!  She has a 4-year-old boy.  We've gotten together a couple of times for play dates, and Cooper and her little boy have hit it off as friends.  I'm so thankful to have someone that I feel like I can relate to.

Thankfully, other than at Christmastime, we've all stayed fairly healthy this winter.  I'm believing that spring is just around the corner (at least I hope it is!), and I'm starting to think about what I'm going to plant in my garden this year.  I can't wait to get to go outside without bundling up, and to feel the warm sunshine on my face!

Three Years Old (and then some)

Hi.  Remember me?  I haven't forgotten about my blog; I've just been involved in some other projects and have been neglecting it.  So . . . I'll try to cover two months in 1 post.

My baby boy is three now!  Since our birthdays are only three days apart, we did most of our celebrating together.  We went out to eat, and Daddy made us a chocolate pie for dessert.

Cooper got a bicycle helmet, which he LOVES, and a dump truck, which Don is a little jealous of.

He got a number of other things, including a new wagon (a hand-me-down from a friend of mine) . . .

. . . and a new "big boy" bed!

We also celebrated on Cooper's birthday by bringing cupcakes when we had lunch with our friends that we go out with after church most Sundays.

On the Sunday before Halloween, we went to "Awesome Autumn," which was a Halloween alternative at a local church.  Cooper wore the same costume he wore last year, which he had almost, but not quite, outgrown.  He still looked pretty cute in it (at least in his mom's opinion).

We've been going to "craft class" at my friend Debby's house every other Monday, which has been fun for both of us.

We also went to Pump It Up one day with some friends from my MOPS group, where we climbed and bounced and slid down slides and did all sorts of things that reminded Mommy that she is not as young as she used to be.

The weather has been mostly nice (though we did have our first snow a few days ago -- the earliest I ever remember, but it was short-lived).  We've been making the most of the nice weather, though, and getting outside as much as we can.

We've been working on potty training.  It has not been as easy as I had hoped, but we're making progress, slowly but surely.

Don is still unemployed.  This has been a longer journey than we ever expected it to be, but we're surviving.  Hopefully something will come along soon.  As we celebrate this season of Thanksgiving, we are thankful that, though this year hasn't turned out like we expected it to, God has provided for our needs, and we are all healthy and doing okay.  Life comes with bumps in the road, and I think we will look back on this one and be able to see the good in it.  God doesn't always do things according to our plans, but His plan is far better, and we are holding on to that knowledge.

Thirty-Five Months Old

Wow -- I can't believe the big 0-3 is just around the corner!

We've been enjoying the waning days of summer.  We've had a little cooler weather, but still mostly warm, and we've been getting in all the water play we can, which is especially nice when Cooper gets filthy "working" in the garden.

Speaking of my garden, it is still doing well.  We've got quite a few things still coming in, including my experiment for the year, loofah.  Yes, just like the sponge you may have used for your bath.  This is what they look like, growing on a vine.  If all goes well, I'll soon pick them, peel them, and wash them, and we'll have lots of loofah sponges . . . probably more than we'll be able to use for the rest of our lives.  Oh well.

We had a visit this month from my Aunt Gene, my mom's oldest sister, and her husband, who live in Richmond, Virginia.  They are both in their mid- to late-eighties but are doing remarkably well.  This is my mom on the left and Aunt Gene on the right, at McNamara's, the Irish restaurant where we ate with them, one of our favorites.

We started back to Community Bible Study a few weeks ago.  Cooper, who had been really looking forward to going, decided when we got there that he was going to be shy and laid down in the doorway of his classroom, refusing to go in.

In the end though, with a little coaxing from Mommy, he went in, and had a wonderful time.  I am loving watch him grow and develop a heart for Jesus.

He also loves music and goes about the house singing and playing his keyboard or whatever other instrument he can find.  Don and I are glad of this too and look forward to seeing what musical talent he will hopefully end up developing.

For Labor Day, we had a church picnic at Long Hunter State Park.  We went on a 2-mile walk around the lake with a few friends from church and saw lots of cool wildlife, including several deer.

My friend Debby decided to do an art class for preschoolers at her house.  We have just been one time so far, and Cooper really enjoyed it.  We will probably do that twice a month.

  

Whew!  It's been a busy month, but a fun one, for the most part.  Don still doesn't have a job, though he has a few possibilities in the works.  This has definitely become a lesson in relying on God.  Hopefully he'll have something soon.  Meanwhile, we're making the most of his time at home and enjoying the extra time we are getting to spend with him.

Wilson County Fair 2013

Wow -- two posts in one day!  What is the world coming to??

We've been doing a project with Cooper where we have him put a marble in a jar every time he obeys the first time we tell him to do something.    We told him when he got his jar filled up, we would do something special.  We didn't say what it would be, because we didn't know how long it would take him to fill it up.  You can read more about this here, if you want to.

So, his jar was almost full, and he has been talking about going to the Wilson County Fair ever since we went last year.  This week we were down to just a few marbles, so I told him if he could get his jar full by today, we would go to the fair.  He worked extra hard, and dropped his last marble in last night.

This morning it threatened to rain, but in the end it was actually pretty nice weather for the fair, so we went and had a good time.  He got a few extra indulgences, like a ride on a "stagecoach" (I'm not big into fair rides) and some cotton candy. 

His favorite part, I think, the thing he most remembered from last year and wanted to do again, was this:

Whatever.

There were lots of animals which he enjoyed petting,

and some big tractors for him to climb on too.

All in all, it was a fun day for all of us.  Even Nash, though he didn't get to go, got a special souvenir from the pet exhibit.

I think Cooper considered it a good prize for his efforts, and hopefully the new skills he has learned through this project will carry on for a long time.