Happy Birthday Grayson!

To our dearest Grayson,

We have known for a while now that you were getting to the place where salvation was imminent. You have been curious since Easter (of 2008) about the story of Jesus dying on the cross. You have asked many questions and we could tell you were trying to sort it all out. You seem to really grasp the concept of God's love for everyone and that He made a way for us to have a relationship with Him. We can only have a relationship with Him personally when we accept His gift of salvation, and come before Him with a clean heart.

On the way to school on Friday morning, December 12, 2008 I heard you talking in the backseat. This happens often and I always discreetly turn down the radio or music so I can hear you. This day you were definitely talking to God, but I couldn't hear everything you were saying. As we pulled into the parking lot, you asked or rather commented on how everybody does bad things so everybody must get to go to heaven. I explained to you that yes, everyone does do bad things. Yes, God loves everyone very much in spite of the bad things we do. But no, not everyone gets to go to heaven. We continued having the following discussion as best as I could simplify it for a 4-year old: God can't let people come into His heaven that have sins in their heart, or have a dirty heart. We are only allowed into heaven if we believe in God, know that we need Him in our lives, and believe that He died on the cross because He loved us so much and He wanted to take our sins away and give us a clean heart.

You told me that you knew that Jesus died and that you wanted to have a clean heart so that you could go and be in heaven with Jesus some day. Oh how I wanted Daddy to be there when you made such a big decision. I asked you if you wanted to pray with Daddy after school, but you were definitive in your answer, "No, it can't wait Mommy! I have to pray now!" So I climbed into the backseat and held your hands as you prayed to receive Jesus as your Savior. As we opened our eyes, you were smiling from ear to ear! And as I started to get tears in my eyes, you asked why I was crying and I tried to explain to you the importance of that moment to me. I also explained that today was your Spiritual birthday. Your birthday in April is when you were born into our family, but on that special day we could celebrate because you were born into God's big family!!

I took you into school, only after having to climb back into the front seat because all of the child locks are on in the back. I went straight to buy some balloons to bring back to school for you. You loved the surprise. It just happened that we were going to Lynchburg for the night to see the Living Christmas Tree at TRBC. I called all of our family in Lynchburg to tell them the good news and see if anyone wanted to join us for supper that evening to celebrate. It was Elijah's birthday that day too, so his family couldn't make it and Uncle Darren and Aunt Tracy were out West skiing. The Sargeant family all joined us for supper to celebrate your day. Daddy and I gave you some special books to mark this day.


Grayson, we are overjoyed at the momumental decision in your life. Yes, Daddy thinks I went overboard with the balloons, dinner plans, and gifts. But I just wanted you to have something to look back at and always remember your special day that you became a member of God's family. One day, when we walk the streets of gold together, we'll be able to introduce you to the spiritual giants who have gone before us, paving the way. And I will just beam with pride as you look into the face of Jesus one day and He calls you His Own!!

The "Blur" of 2008

This season has been a little bit of a blur for me. I am a little jealous of some of you as I read your blogs and saw all of the relaxing family memories you all made together this year. I don't know if it was the packing/not-moving, a husband who wants to squeeze every bit of holiday fun into a couple weeks, me working, or the travelling, but this season was an absolute blur for me. I know we did a lot and enjoyed a lot, but it didn't feel like Christmas, and for that I am sad. I feel like I talked about Christmas a lot, but never slowed enough to let it sink in, fester with joy for a while, and make family memories to last a whole year! I'll just share a few stories and pictures from the blur that was Christmas 2008.

Here's how it all broke down for us at our house: we began the week before Christmas halting our moving date, so decided to get the Christmas stuff down and put up a tree at our current residence. We didn't even put the usual light display and all of the ornaments on the tree, but it was still one of the best trees ever!! Grayson had a blast putting the ornaments on. I love that each ornament tells a story. I know many of you have your pretty trees, but ours is always one of memories and stories. Besides the tree, we had a few candles that made it out of storage boxes, but that was it for decor!

As I stayed for our Sunday Christmas program at church, Trevor and Grayosn flew to Mickey's to spend a few days celebrating with Trevor's parents. I flew straight from church on Sunday to join them for dinner with Cinderella and Prince Charming. Days at Disney are always fabulous and we never tire of going to the "most magical place on earth". It is an amazing place to be at Christmas time. The fireworks shows, riding all Grayson's favorite rides, a few autographs, breakfast with Mickey and the gang, enjoying the resort to the fullest, amazing food, monorail and boat rides galore, etc. We even were able to hear Steven Curtis Chapman read the Christmas story and lay out the gospel message at Epcot one evening.

We flew home literally in time to change clothes and head to church for the Christmas Eve service. Thinking that the service was family friendly, we took Grayson, only to realize about 45 minutes in that this was the real deal. It was pretty neat though because Grayson got to partake his first communion with Trevor and I (Oh, I guess that posting has never made it out yet!! PS everyone---Grayson accepted Jesus as Savior on 12-12!!!!!!) We had a great dinner that night, McDonalds! A true treat for everyone!! Sigh! Grayson got to sleep much later than usual, I followed much later than my usual, and Trevor made it to bed in the wee hours of twilight.

Grayson gave us all a great gift by sleeping in until almost 8:00!! We did stockings, read the Christmas story from his Bible, sang a few songs, prayed together, and then divulged on the tree and the gifts. Trevor's is going to be lovin' his new Wii system, I joined the ranks of the other ladies with a super fabulous new camera (which I'll have to take the classes to be able to use!)and an iPod. Surprisingly, Grayson opened all but one gift and stated that "Santa must not have been able to get me the guitar this year. Maybe next year!" He had not even noticed it leaning up against the windowsill in the protective white bag with a large ribbon it, with a sticker labelled 'Special Delivery from the North Pole'!!! After opening his special Santa gift, he found that Santa had sent him a map and clues to find a secret gift. Santa had delivered a gift to our new house. So Christmas morning at 11:00am in pajamas, we all drove to our new house to follow the map to Santa's special gift. Parked in the garage was a fire truck powerwheel!! He was so excited and is already an excellent driver. For sure he can't wait for us to move so he can enjoy it every day!

After all of the morning fun, we showered, unpacked a little, and repacked a quick suitcase. We needed to be in Lynchburg by dinner time!! We stopped by the Boyers to drop off some treats as we wouldn't be able to be there after all for the Christmas luncheon. The drive to Lynchburg went by fast! We were so thankful for a Wendy's in Petersburg as it was the only food joint open on Christmas Day!!! In the busyness of the morning, none of had eaten breakfast or lunch before we got on the road.

We arrived in Lynchburg in time for supper, and then had another round of Christmas stories, songs, and more gift-giving. Grayson (well all of us for that matter!) are extremely blessed by our families. Poor little guy really can't wait to move, as many of the gifts went straight to the moving pile and didn't even make it out of their packaging! As one of my friends said, he will have Christmas all over when we finally move!! We were able to relax for the day on Friday and play some games and have some more good food with my family.

We came home Saturday for Trevor to be at church Sunday. Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday were great family days, although Grayson picked up some sort of bug and was sick to his stomach a couple times on a few different days! It was random. We got a lot accomplished for our new home, I got a little work in, we packed boxes and threw a lot away together...we just chilled out as a family. That is exactly what I needed, just a week too late maybe! Grayson's bedroom got painted at our new house (thank you Denise!!), and the rest of the upstairs is ready for the finishing touches (thank you David!).

Wednesday was New Year's Eve and Trevor had a Lock-In at our church with the teenagers. He rested for some of the day and then headed out at 7pm. I got Grayson to bed and then actually got a lot of work done. I rented a couple of movies but ended up falling asleep really early! Trevor came home New Year's morning at 8:30am and obviously slept the day away. Grayson and I stayed busy away from the house so he could sleep, even making it over the visit sweet baby LauraBeth!!

The last couple of days were equally relaxing, just trying to reorganize the house, take down the tree we barely enjoyed, run some errands together, etc. Today it was back to the grind as work beckoned me. And there it was, 2 weeks that went by with a blur, but with a few relaxing days squeezed in, I'm ready to face the next few weeks that will prove to be crazy busy!! Moving day is really bearing down on us now!! bring it on--I'm ready! The New Year of 2009 is off with a running start!!

FYI

I am loving all of your holiday stories, memory-making moments, lazy day crazy anecdotes, etc. Keep writing and sharing and know that Jayne is reading, laughing, praying, getting good ideas, and everything else.

Also, due to getting new custom cabinets in our kitchen (which are going to be marvelous by the way!) we have had to push back our moving date until the first week of January. For sure a little frustrating here, but 24 hours later, I'm almost done fuming!!! Hehehehe! We'll slow down the moving process and enjoy more of the holiday season instead. The smiles are still on the upswing here!

Small town parade

Although we don't live in a small area, our Christmas parade definitely has a small town feel to it. We had some snack foods left over from Thanksgiving, and it will be the last year that we live ON the parade route, so we hosted a few of our friends for a chili-snack-food dinner and parade festivity. It was a great time chatting, eating, watching The Grinch and then making it out to the curb just in time for the first floats to arrive. We love the parade...all the fire trucks, boats, marching bands, dance troupes, etc. Grayson's does not in the least love the sounds that accompany a parade as we had to go inside to retrieve him as he escaped the sidelines to not be so near to the sounds of the drums and horns!! We had a great time, and the weather was perfect! Thanks to all of you for the "roasting" you gave me afterwards for my birthday, especially for Dave's comments about my "shoes"! Love all of you and your friendships that we cherish. Hope ya'll had a great time too!! Next year it's tailgating, and parking early like everyone else!

Santa finally came, and on a space ship no less??!! I love the excitement of a child!!

Another "First"

Yes, we have been bowling before, but only ever in our hallway in our home. We bought Grayson a play bowling set at the consignment sale a couple years ago and pull it out every now and again. We love to bowl!!! In fact, a couple weeks ago we bowled at home and kept score and Grayson actually beat me!! Those pictures are posted here as well.
But the big news is the first real trip to the real bowling alley!! Trevor works with a group of middle school boys and they were going for an event with church. I met up with Grayson at the alley after church. Trevor said he was absolutely beside himself so excited. Apparently he was so excited, he didn't even take his jacket off at church all morning!!! When I arrived, he was talking so fast I couldn't keep up. He gave me a wristband, took me to get my shoes, helped me pick out a ball, and showed me where to put it. They were already in the middle of the game and I had missed his first and only strike!!! Oh well. Besides the bumper guards so no ball is a gutter ball, they had this metal contraption that Grayson would put his ball on and then push it down the slope to let it roll down the alley. Needless to say, he scored better than me. We all had a great time!! Too bad bowing is so expensive, or we would be tempted to go again really soon! Maybe a special treat for an afternoon out of school! Anyways, it was a huge hit!!

Aren't bowling shoes awesome??!!

Countdown for the Company

Yes, we are in the middle of 2 countdown's at our house: Christmas and moving day!! The company is scheduled for 2 weeks from today...aaaaaagh!!!! So thus it has begun. Not only the single busiest time of the year, but the single busiest thing a person/family undertakes, and yes, we're doing it all at the same time. Here's to the lovely decor that has begun to take over our home, and no, it is not of the red or green variety!!

Christmas Countdown

One of our favorite memories from childhood was having a way to count down the days until Christmas. When we saw this tree calendar in a catalog we both had to get it ordered for Grayson. We hung it after he went to bed on Sunday night and filled it with goodies, ornaments, gift cards, etc. When he awoke Monday, December 1 morning, he noticed it right away. I explained to him what it was and that only once a day and only one day at a time, we were going to get to remove something from the tree. Day 1 was a penguin jingle ornament for the tree, Day 2 was a chocolate star and mini Santa, Day 3 was an "arches" gift card which he promptly enjoyed for lunch today.

It is fun to share old traditions with our own families!! Here's to only 22 more days until the jolly one arrives!!