"I don't want to be like the Pilgrims!"

Every year, my heart is burdened to focus on the true meaning of each holiday we celebrate. Nowadays, our holidays are so commercialized that I find myself spending lots of time searching for creative ways to emphasize the real reason for our celebration of days like Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter. And I not only want my children to know why we celebrate, but I want them to look forward to the celebrations each year and I want to develop deep, lasting family traditions that we all look at with fondness, excitement and anticipation.

The year Jackson turned one, I found several books to help me get started on my path toward discovering and teaching the real reason for celebrating some of our holidays. I got several books on Thanksgiving and this is the first year that Jackson's been old enough to really start grasping the information. For about a week, we read "...If You Sailed on the Mayflower in 1620" by Ann McGovern.

[Does anyone know how to underline text in blogger?]

This book is 80 pages and it's written in a question/answer format. We read the book before naptime and before bedtime. I could not believe Jackson's continued interest in the book, his ability to comprehend and remember things from one day to the next, and his ability to summarize what we'd read. I had a BLAST reading this book with him and I highly recommend it!!

One evening last week, we went to the library while Jason was studying. We got lots of Thanksgiving books including "Squanto and the First Thanksgiving" by Joyce Kessel.

Jackson was briefly introduced to Squanto in "...If You Sailed on the Mayflower in 1620." Out of all of the library books that we checked out, "Squanto and the First Thanksgiving" has been his favorite. We read it just before his nap on the day after our library trip. The book is 48 pages long (with plenty of pictures). The books talks about how Squanto was taken from his family and sold as a slave two different times. Both times, he was able to return to America, but on his second return, his entire tribe was dead. A neighboring tribe took him in. The Pilgrims landed at Plymouth about a year later. After a hard winter and half of the Pilgrims dead, Squanto decided to help the Pilgrims. He stayed with them for the rest of his life teaching them about the land.

As I read this book to Jackson, I could not get over the sovereignty of God. So often, we view hardships that come our way as unfair. Our lens is so zoomed in that we can't see the big picture. God had a plan for Squanto and a plan for the Pilgrims. Had Squanto never been taken to England, he would have never learned English. If he hadn't been taken to Spain, he would not have heard about Christ. And if he hadn't learned English or Christ, then he probably would not have helped the Pilgrims and they would not have survived.

I can't help but think of Joseph and how his brothers sold him as a slave because they were jealous of Jacob's love for him, and then Joseph was wrongly imprisoned while he was in Egypt. But what man meant for evil, God meant for good.

What man meant for evil, God meant for good! Do we see our circumstances this way? I know that I don't every time. Do we trust God with every part of our lives...even the bad parts, the hardships, the difficulty, the unfair times? I've been learning in Bible Study Fellowhip (BSF) that God is sovereign over all of our affairs and that His plans will not be thwarted. Who am I, then, to think that I will make a mistake and put myself out of His will when I am actively seeking Him! There is such freedom in believing that!!

Now let me wrap this up by getting back to Squanto and the Pilgrims. When Jackson woke up from his nap, Jason was home and Jackson recapped the entire book for him. I could not believe some of the stuff that he remembered. He asked Jason to read him the book again before he went to bed. When Jason came down, I asked him how he liked the book. He said Squanto's compassion on the very people who sold him into slavery and killed his entire tribe (from Smallpox) amazed him. I hadn't even looked at it that way. Isn't it amazing how God speaks to us in different ways?!

In all of our Pilgrim readings, one thing Jackson has learned is that Pilgrim children worked very hard. This morning, I asked him to stop riding his scooter and help me unload the dishwasher. And this was his reply, "I don't want to be like the Pilgrims!!"

In His Eyes, We're Perfect

What is wrong with this picture?

I was tempted to correct him, but then I decided I'd let him figure it out over time.

On second thought, maybe that's how God sees us? He makes us in His image just exactly as He wants to. We are the ones who see something different. Why is it that we consider those differences imperfections? God doesn't make mistakes. His plans are perfect.

I wish I would trust Him more during this season. I wish I would trust Him to change me. I wish I would believe in my mind AND heart that He has a beautiful purpose for these hard and lonely parenting days. I wish I would stop thinking that I'm so important that I might mess up something He has planned to do in me or my children. I feel out of control. I'm sure that's exactly where He wants me...so I'll learn that He's in control and I need to depend on Him and not myself.

And all of this came from looking at Mrs. Potato Head and her little spud...

That's What Sisters Are For

I got this card in the mail from my sister Meredith yesterday. I laughed so hard when I read it.

We had a long conversation until after midnight the other night. (And let me just say how thankful I am for her in my life. I am always thankful for her, but I am especially thankful for her in this season. This is the hardest season of my life so far, and it's an incredible blessing to be able to talk to her as I walk through my days.) In a more lighthearted part of the conversation, I told her that I'd eaten two pints of really amazing gelato in a 24 hour period. She tried so hard to not make me feel to bad about it by confessing to eating two cookies from Whole Foods. Two cookies from Whole Foods! We're not comparing apples to apples. Two cookies vs two pints of ice cream. Hmm, Let me think...yes, no comparison. I don't know what got into me the night I bought the ice cream or in the 24 hour period in which I ate both pints. Perhaps this was a symptom of PMS?! It's been so long since I've had it. I'll take pregnancy and breastfeeding over PMS any day!

Baby Reader

Allison loves little books. She loves big books too but she really enjoys holding, carrying, and now reading little board books. The past two days, I've caught her reading to herself. It is music to my ears!

A Night of Thanksgiving

For the month of November, our family is creating a Thankful Tree. Everyday, we each write down something that we are thankful for. I'm hoping this project will help each of us develop an attitude of gratefulness. I chose to do a tree with leaves because the leaves will multiply quickly and I want Jackson (well, all of us really) to see how many things we have to be thankful for. I want us to see the abundance of our blessings.

Normally, whenever we sit down to write down our many thanks (we've done stuff like this before), Jackson lists off all of his material possessions. While I think it is wonderful that he's thankful for his bike, scooter, comfy pants, train set, electronic train, backpack, light saber, light-up toothbrush..., I would love to hear him mention people or events or circumstances. I know that he's only 3 and that my real goal is to get him in the habit of verbalizing thanks for all of his blessings (and, let's face it, material possessions are big blessings to small children (and adults too)), but I still hope for the time when he'll talk about something other than stuff.

Tonight, my heart was blessed beyond anything I had hoped for. I must admit that I was prepared to write down one of his toys on his thankful leaf. And as I'm typing this, I'm recognizing how terrible it is that I get internally disappointed yet outwardly joyful whenever he's thankful for one of his personal belongings. I should be THANKFUL that my strong-willed three year old is willing to participate in our thankful tree. Wow. I certainly needed a little heart check!

So, we're sitting at the table finishing our meal and I ask Jackson, "What are you thankful for today?" He was sitting on his knees in his chair, he looked over at me with the sweetest expression on face, and said, "I'm thankful that Allison did not die when she swallowed the battery." My eyes filled with tears. My heart swelled inside. I could barely get a word out.

I never blogged about this event, but on September 25th, Allison swallowed a button battery. We didn't even know she had swallowed it. The next day, I changed her diaper after church and it was blacker than black. I tried to remember if I'd fed her anything that would cause it to be so dark (like frozen blueberries) but I had not. I examined her stool a little bit and noticed something reflecting a bit of light. As I looked closer, I noticed that it was a battery! It was one of those small button batteries that you put in pocket-size flash lights. I googled "swallowing button batteries" and called Poison Control just to be on the safe side. I felt confident that she was okay since she had passed the battery and wasn't displaying any negative symptoms (other than the black stool), until the lady at Poison Control told me that the black stool could indicate internal bleeding and google referenced articles of children who have died from swallowing these batteries. Great! Still at peace that she was fine, we (the whole family because we all like to be together in situations like this) took her to the ER. Four hours later, she was fine.

While we waited at the ER and then again on our drive home, we talked about how this all happened and why. We know that if Jason had changed her diaper, he would not have noticed the battery because he probably would not have paid such close attention to her stool. Neither would the nursery workers if Allison had pooped while at church. Since everything turned out to be okay, why did this have to happen? Why did I have to change the diaper and find the battery? We spent an entire Sunday afternoon at the ER with two exhausted children...and for what reason? I feel confident that I changed her diaper and found the battery and that we went through the whole ordeal simply to stop and praise the Lord for His sovereignty, His goodness, and His watchful eye. The battery could have lodged itself somewhere in her digestive tract and eventually killed her like has happened to other children, but it didn't. We had no idea that she swallowed the battery, but God knew. How often do things happen to or around us or our children that we are oblivious to and God protects us from harm or death?! I am positive that it happens often. This event caused us to praise Him. This event showed us the sovereignty of our God who controls all things and works all things according to His purposes. We could not stop thanking Him for protecting our little girl. We talked a lot to Jackson about thanking God for keeping Allison safe and protecting her from terrible harm. Apparently, he was listening!

Jason and I were overjoyed with his thankful leaf. And if that wasn't enough, after I wrote my leaf, Jackson looked at me and said, "Mommy, I am thankful that you are my mom." Then, he looked at Jason and said, "Dadda, I am thankful that you are my daddy." Our hearts could not have been squeezed any tighter.

And then he said, "Mommy, I'm also thankful for the backpack that Daddy bought me. And Mommy, I'm thankful that you bought me my scooter." I replied, "Daddy bought you that scooter too." He looked at me again and said, "Mommy, I'm thankful that you bought me my scooter." And before I could remind him that it was from Jason too, he looked at Jason and said, "Daddy, I'm thankful that you bought me my scooter." He had understood that it came from both of us, he just wanted to personally thank each of us.

(I did not purposely write in two different colors. I started with blue. When Jackson added to his thankful leaf, Jason was writing his leaf and using the blue pen. I did not try to discount the writing that is in red.)

What a night of thanksgiving! What more could I ask for?! And if that wasn't enough blessing for the day, there was more to come. We got an entire evening with Jason! Jason and Jackson put puzzles together and Allison and I played together downstairs (something we don't get to do very often). We all had so much fun and Jason and I had great quality time with our kids. Jason and I even bathed them together, which we rarely get to do because he's usually studying.

Jackson has to hide in their room to do puzzles because Allison loves to take them apart.

Crashing their party:

"In everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5:18

Costumes and Fall Fest

Every year, I struggle with what I want to do on October 31st. Before I had kids, it wasn't a big deal. Now that I have kids, I find it more difficult. Should we wear costumes? Should we trick or treat? Should we go to the church fall festival? I think the answers to all of these questions are personal decisions.

For me, I have a hard time with the darkness of Halloween. For example, our zoo has been doing a thing called ZooBoo. "ZooBoo is ten fun-filled nights of horror and things that make you go boo at the Montgomery Zoo." When I was at the zoo with my kids on Saturday afternoon (ZooBoo is in the evening and I knew nothing about it until I got to the zoo), there were chopped off heads, bloody hands, skeletons, etc. everywhere and there were signs talking about demons. Personally, I don't do horror or scary things and I certainly don't welcome demons. This is the part of Halloween that I don't care for. But little children dressing up in cute costumes and hoping to fill a bag with candy seems innocent and fun. This is why it is always hard for me.

I want my children to have fun dressing up in costumes. Who doesn't love to dress up?! And I want them to experience the thrill of getting lots of candy. What child wouldn't be thrilled with this?! At the same time, I want to protect them from the darkness of the holiday. As an adult, I want to protect myself from the darkness of the holiday. And above all of that, I want to honor the Lord in my decisions. In His Word, He tells us to stay away from witchcraft, wizardry, sorcery, divination, mediums, spiritists and evil things and to pursue holiness and to meditate on things that are pure, lovely and true. By participating in trick or treating or attending a fall festival, am I not acting in accordance with His Word?

Last year, we chose to let Jackson trick or treat. It didn't set well within me so I knew that I didn't want to do that this year. This year, our church hosted a fall festival. I wanted to go, but I wondered if going was kind of like putting one foot in the Word and the other in the world. I know this might sound ridiculous to some, but it is something that I need to find a personal peace about.

We decided to take the kids to the fall festival but we didn't get costumes for them until Sunday after church. Talk about last minute! I really wanted to make Jackson an airplane costume and I would have loved to have dressed up Allison as a bubble bath - I LOVE homemade costumes - but Jackson kept saying that he wanted to wear his own clothes to the festival. (He also said that he would only go in costume if he could wear a leotard like the ones Mallory and Landry have - our neighbors from Oklahoma.) On Saturday night, he finally agreed that a costume would be lots of fun, so buying a costume on Sunday after church was our only option (other than staying up all night, which I was not going to do).

The pickings were slim, of course, but we came up with:

A busy little bee:

and a race car driver:

There costumes actually fit their personalities and interests pretty perfectly!

Our church hosted a great fall festival. There were so many fun games and activities. I only took these pictures and then put the camera away to enjoy my family and the other people attending. These photos are of the indoor toddler/preschool area:

They had to climb through this little tunnel to get a lollipop off the tree.

Allison loved the ducks in the water. She loves all things water!

After attending the fall festival, I have to say that I think it was a great idea! There were so many people attending from our community. People from our church had gone to parks in all different areas of the city to invite people to come. Amazingly, we saw some of those people at the festival. During the last thirty minutes, everyone gathered into the gym and heard the gospel using a carved pumpkin. There were so many children and parents hearing the love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ. Many of those people would have been walking door to door in search of candy; instead, they were at our church having fun, being loved on, and hearing about the sweetest gift anyone could ever want. Now that can never be bad!

I'm so thankful that we went to the fall festival. I think October 31st is a day that I'll devote to prayer every year...asking the Lord what He wants me to do and where He wants me to go. One year it may be trick or treating, and the next year it may not. I'll leave that in His hands! It's so much easier that way!!