Overwhelmed!!

So a lot has happened since I wrote about my 2 miralces. Grayson barely has a trickle coming from his nose and we are praying that it will totally clear up by the weekend when we will be travelling. As for the other miracle, it was tied in to our finances. God has been so gracious in His prvision. Over and above what I even asked for or imagined that would be! Yesterday we were able to pay so many bills and even begin to make Christmas giving lists. Giving is such at the heart of who Trevor and I both are, and we are proud to see Grayson developing that too! I don't even know all of the places where the money came in from, and honestly I don't need to know! I am so overcome with gratitude and thanksgiving. I have seen the Lord work in my life only a few times like this, and never in this kind of a need-it-now situation! What a difference a week has made. I began praying for these miracles last Wednesday, and before the week is up, I am blown away! May all of the granters of this miracle be blessed in unspeakable ways for allowing God to use them to touch our lives in great and mighty ways!!!

But the biggest surprise of all came today, just a little while ago. This kind of stuff just doesn't happen to people I know, let alone me. Trevor left to go to work and quickly returned with 2 wrapped gifts and an envelope addressed to our family! My cellphone began to ring which is random because we have had them turned off due to cost. It had a wierd ring, which means my phone didn't recognize the number, so I didn't pick it up. After it rang 3 times in a row, I finally answered and the person simply said, "An elf left you an early Christmas present on your front porch. May God bless your family" and then they hung up! We decided to open them up right away. The gifts were for Grayson. An addition to the growing GeoTrax train collection that he loves. And one of the new trains that go forward and backward--of course the fire truck! But when Trevor and I opened the card to see who it was from and what it said, a stack of bills came pouring out. Trevor and I just let them drop to the floor as we just stared at each other, began to cry, and whispered quiet thank yous to God!!

God has been so gracious and giving to us that we can't stand anymore! The family of God and other friends have blessed us beyond measure this Christmas. If you are reading this, and you know somehting about this secret elf, please pass this along to them. We have already begun to pray that blessings be rained upon those individuals who have touched our hearts. This has been a great opportunity for me to talk to Grayson above the love of God, and how He passed along the wish for us to receive these gifts and given us a great surprise.

Thank you for your prayers that have been lifted up. And thanks be to God for His unspeakable gifts! Thank you for hearing our cries and responding with quickness and abundance!!

Christmas Transformer: Madness into Gladness

Thus the title of our program in Kids Thang. It was amazing to see how God pulled everyone together to make this a really great drama for the kids and adults. And for those of us involved, we were blessed too! We were able to have almost our entire team together this past Sunday morning as we sent the message to the children that Christmas is not all about the lights, decorations, music, endless parties, gifts, etc. It's about that little baby in the manger. "And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in the manger..."

God, thank you for all the individuals you called together to be a part of the K.Thang team. Thank you for the talents and gifts that you have given each of us and the medium by which we can be crazy and wacky and use them for You!! Thank you for the friendships that are shared between the members of this team. We hope that you were pleased with our production on Sunday, and that the children got the message loud and clear. We felt Your presence, and both hours went off with very few minor glitches.

Soon, all of our children will be able to benefit from this amazing team and the gift of K. Thang!! (Some of them are already reaping the benfits of the "Cove" upstairs!!)

"Cindy Lou Who" or so Natalie called me as she busted a gut after seeing me on Sunday!!

Christmas Blessings

This weekend we had our last few celebrations before Christmas Day. Friday night was our small group party. Natalie and Kevin opened up their home once again in what turned out to be a very busy weekend for them! Dinner was pot-luck style and the boys were all over the place as usual. A group of 9 boys, all between 1 and 6...you imagine! Our little Callie slept through most of it! There was an ornament exchange and dessert. What I will take away from the evening is the memory that in the last year since we met around that same table, our lives have all had joys and sorrows and shared memories and individual triumphs. And these families have become our family! The friendships we share, the times of bonding conversations and tears, the laughter and humor, the outings and playdates, the phone calls and e-mails and blog entries, the prayers and Bible study times...we love all of you guys very much! Merry Christmas to all of our dear friends!

Mini Miracles

So if you know it say it with me: "God is good...(all the time)... adn all the time...(God is good!)" Okay so that is from my LU days, but I loved it when the whole crowd reupts into this little chant. Trevor and I have been praying for 2 miracles this week, Grayson's health being one of them. We have yet to see these miracles granted and fulfilled, but we know that God in His sovereignty and perfect timing will answer and provide. We are already seeing the beginnings of God's hand and are very encouraged. The family of God, you our Christian brothers and sisters in Christ, have been encouraging and a blessing to us in more ways than you all know. It's one of those things, when you break down the little pride issue and share with people, you allow God to open up and use others in your lives in mighty ways. We will continue to trust God and know that these 2 miracles that we are praying for in theis next week will be granted fully!! We know God can and will do amazing things! We are His children seeking to do His will in our lives, and He promises to be right by our sides, guiding and providing for our needs! Lord, we give you priase in advance for what You are going to do in our lives this very week. And for all of our friends, please pour out extra blessings on them as well, as they have ministered to us greatly!!

Health Updates

Today is Monday, and Grayson has yet to return to a normal temperature and keep any liquids or solids down. We had to go to the doctor! I knew that the doctor would help. Grayson's little body just couldn't shake this on it's own this time. We have only had to take Grayson to the doctor one other time in his life. He doesn't necessarily like it. As we going over to Patient First this evening, he said as long as he didn't have to have a shot it would be okay that we take him!

Well.....we got there, waited our good ample amount of time, and got the prognosis: ear infection and positive strep test. We were shocked as his symptoms didn't seem to match (or at least what we were thinking)! But that wasn't the worst. Because Grayson hasn't been able to keep anything down, they couldn't give him an oral medication. They were going to have to give him a shot. It took Trevor and 2 nurses to hold him down whilst he screamed to get this little needle in his thigh! It worked wonders. He came home a different little guy-talking, standing, joking. So far the toast and ginger ale has stayed down and he has been peacefully sleeping since 8:00.

Oh but I'm not done.....Trevor has been in the bathroom over the bowl since Grayson went to bed!!!!! I can't get sick!!! Not this week, and not with 2 boys to take care of. Please pray for me that I won't get anything. I've been going to the Y and sweating out any possible chance and drinking lots of water! It better work! And needless to say, Grayson's week of fun at my parents in Lynchburg will not happen!

We gotta all be well soon, this week is insanely busy and the Christmas holiday is fast approaching!

Obviously, this was before the shot was administered!!

My Heart is Swelling

SWELL #1:

Thursday was my birthday, and although I had already celebrated in Lynchburg with my family, Trevor and Grayson made the day special. Trevor let me sleep in and got up with Grayson. After I got up, I began to scrapbook. Grayson and Trevor worked in the kitchen making breakfast for me as breakfast and the food are among my favorites. Grayson wanted to pray as usual, but as went to hold hands, he insisted that we all fold out hands and bow our heads instead. I had my camera right beside me and couldn't help but interrupt the prayer with a picture. Grayson might just end up teaching me a few things about prayer and the simplicity of it!! I love you Trevor and Grayson for making my day extra special!

SWELL #2:

Friday, I am sitting in the Office working on the computer, when Grayson calls for help from the other room. I walk into the room to find this...

I couldn't help but laugh out loud! He's in the kitchen sink and the food is...

What's a mom to do but laugh, laugh, laugh, give the munchkin a big wet kiss, take a picture, and then get him the food he needed off the floor for his "soup" he was making me for lunch. What a man--he even knows what I love to eat for lunch in the winter!!

SWELL #3:

Today is Saturday and we had a lot of plans for today. But we awoke early this morning to the sounds of Grayson throwing up. I won't do the details, but he been fighting something off all week. How does this tie in to the title of heart swells? Well, how is it possible to watch someone heaving over the toilet bowl, change their soiled clothes several times, kiss their yucky faces, breathe in their nasty breath, and just be so filled with love? I guess I have a little maternal bone in me after all. Believe me, it almost makes me hurl to listen to anyone else, but to stand there beside little Grayson and just wipe his brow and nose, and mouth...Trevor had to run out this afternoon, but Grayson was sleeping peacefully on the couch, woke up and wanted to be held, threw up all over, and laid his head back down gently and fell right back to sleep. Sweet boy!! I'm afraid Trevor has had the brunt today though--nastiness all down his shirt, pee on his pants, poor guy!! As was the tradition started by Trevor's Mom when he was a boy, we all nubbled on a little McDonalds tonight for supper. Grayson and Trevor are in the room watching the Polar Express and he seems to be doing great! Thank you Lord!

Home Schooler-NO!!!, but Teacher just the same

So I know that at this age they sop up everything like a sponge. I know Grayson's mind is ripe for learning and that his mental capacity is more than I think. Weeks ago Grayson started talking to me about letters and numbers, counting and writing his name. We were talking about pre-school, school and learning. I told him that my mom taught me my letters and numbers adn how to read books. "Well, learn me, Mommy" is what I got in response. The rest of that drive he was recognizing numbers and letters on signs as we drove through town. That was weeks ago and he hasn't let me forget.

As a trained teacher, I wasn't reluctant to teach him, I just didn't know where to begin with the whole thing. I didn't want to overwhelm him and me. I have taught kindergarten age before, but he is 3 with no formal learning experience! I ventured up into the attic and sorted through some of my teaching stuff and pulled down a few things. I just figured we would start with colors, shapes, numbers 1-10, and the letter 'Aa'.

I came out this morning to find Grayson laying on the floor and instead of watching cartoons, he was looking through my teaching books I had left out on the coffee table last night. OKAY, Okay, okay Grayson...I hear you loud and clear!!!!!

We sat down today after the Y and a shower. We went through shapes and colors and did some sorting in the crayon pocket chart (which I hung with nails to the wall!). We did number recognition and counting and talked a little bit about less and more. We moved from there to singing the alphabet song and correcting some of his favorite blunders when singing the letters ('e' was 'key' , the famous 'l,m,n,o,p' was something unrecognizable!! and 'x' was 'yex'). Then we started with uppercase and lowercase 'Aa'. I wrote the letters, he traced, we glued popsicle sticks and pom-poms to make the letters, and I guided him thorugh free-hand writing the letters.

Who knows what we are going to do tomorrow! I know I want to do nursery rhymes and a lot of other phonemic awareness activities, but I guess I should just start witht he basics. I just don't know whether to do the sounds with him or not, is he too young?! I guess we'll figure all that along the way. he loved his time of learning today. As long as he is content and wanting to do more, we'll keep at it.

SUCCESS FOR DAY ONE OF GRAYSON'S SCHOOL DAYS!!!!!

For Uncle Joel...

Okay, Joel. Three blog postings in one day just for you! I know I haven't posted a lot since the summer, but I am going to get back to my usual at least once -a-week blogging!! ENJOY! I love you!

For everyone else, sorry it's so much to read at once! There's a lot going on this time of year, and these only scratch the surface!

Church decorations

The Church had a workday putting up the decorations one day before Thanksgiving. Grayson and I stopped by to help for a little while. Grayson got to go and play with Mrs. Linda while I helpoed in the children's wing. Jessica and I had a good time chatting while we hung garland and tried to get a fake tree look full and "real". I think it looked great!

I picked up Grayson to leave, and as we exited the Church, the ladies were putting the ornaments on the trees in the Welcome Center. He asked if he could help and proceeded to pick out a few decoratiosn and place them on the tree. All the while, he talked up a storm to these ladies, that I think got their laughter in for the day listening to him. Thank you for your servant's heart Grayson! You're always wanting to pitch in and help out whatever it is. I learned servanthood from my parents,a dn I am glad to instill that in you too! God is pleased by your actions!

Playhouse Disney

We rushed back from Lynchburg for Sunday afternoon. We had a date with all of Grayson's favorite friends. No, not 'Adesander' or 'Hamton'. But rather, Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, Tigger, Pooh, Darby, Little Einsteins, adn Handy Manny. The Playhouse Disney Live Tour came to the Scope!! It was a great show and we had tickets in the 2nd row!! We've been staring at the tickets for months as Trevor purchased them back in the Spring! Flash photography is never allowed, but I snuck a few pics. We all 3 had a marvelous time. It made us ache for a trip to Disney!!

Thanksgiving...Work?!

We left for Lynchburg to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with my family. It's the first year since Grayson has been born that we were with them for Thanksgiving. Grayson and I prepared some special crafts for the day before we left town. We made placecards for teh table. He wasn't too crazy about the fingerpainting, but he loved getting his thumb colored to make the print for the 'body'. We didn't have brown paint, so we colored our thumbs with washable marker!

On Thanksgiving morning we got up and had donuts and other breakfast specials before sitting down to watch the opening of the Macy's parade. We have had the privelege of being there to watch it in person, but it's always great to see it on TV too. Before long, the sounds of a chainsaw filled the neighborhood. My Dad was out back cutting down brush and trees in the backyard behind the pool. He was clearing a place out for a new pool house to hold the furniture in winter and double as a changing room for the summer! Mom said he needed something to do with his days off!!

So we all changed into our grubs and spent the rest of the morning clearing brush, stacking new firewood for mom and the fireplace, and adding to the brush pile by the road that the City would come by and pick up. Mom spent the morning inside prepping the turkey and all the fixings.

Grayson and I went on a leaf walk to collect various colored leaves for yet another "turkey" craft. This one we had fun doing. Although Grayson has yet to master control with the glue!!!We all sat down to eat, famished from the work outside, and looking clean, although not as dressed up as usual! Mom, the food was fantastic as it always is. Grayson said he needed to the prayer, and I don't think any of adults could have prayed a better thankful prayer. He is becoming quite the "prayer". "Those who don't help prepare are on dish duty!" said Mom. So as we were all out helping Dad, all 5 kids were on dish duty, but with that many people it was done quickly.Dessert and games finished out the evening. On Saturday, my youngest sister Megan treated us all to a pancake breakfast. This tradition was started by me when Megan was a kid (we are 10 years apart). I used to get up early on Saturday mornings with her, and we would make pancakes and watch Bugs Bunny cartoons! Thanks Megan!!