Live Well, Love Much, Laugh Often

Christmas Card 2011

2011-12-20T10:38:00.000-08:00

May the deeds of the day and the truth in my way speak of you...

2011-01-09T18:29:00.000-08:00

As we sang "May the Words of My Mouth" tonight during the service at Ekklesia, Emori leaned over to Larry and said, "Dad, this song makes me feel like I can hear God and that God wants me to go give away all my toys for Jesus." Larry said, "You can think of it that way, God does want us to be free with the things we have, but another way to surrender would be like, well, being kind and loving to the friends at school that you like and even being kind and loving to others you don't like." Emori said, "But Dad, I like everyone. There aren't any kids at school I don't like."

And this is true, I've never heard her say she doesn't like someone (although she does stand up for herself when necessary).

...I can learn a lot from her.

Prayers for Paw Paw

2010-06-21T15:02:00.000-07:00

All of our girls LOVE their Paw Paw, especially Aubri. She has her Paw Paw's eyes and has always had a special affection for him. He has cancer, and Aubri has prayed for him every night since we found out. Last night she prayed that "the medicine the doctors gave him would fight off all the viruses attacking his body." At age 4 she seemed to know and understand so much about it I assumed Larry had explained this to her. But then she continued on to thank God for "Sid the Science Kid (a PBS tv show) so she can learn about viruses...oh, and Dora to learn Spanish" :)

(photograph by Emori:)

Surprises and Giggles

2010-02-28T12:56:00.000-08:00

A little fun in the leaves:)

He's Got The Whole World In His Hands

2010-01-20T07:25:00.000-08:00

As I kissed Emori good-night she had one more question (she always does--usually she says I have one more science question:).

She asked, "So the earth is really like, round? like a ball?" To which I replied, "yes."

She said with disappointment in her voice, "Well, I just used to imagine that God had the earth in his hands--like there was his hands, then the dirt, then seeds and grass and everything else."

Larry and I smiled at each other, but then as we walked down the stairs we both said, you know that's a beautiful picture. If I were a better artist I would paint it for her and us.

But what a great image of God and creation.

I had always envisioned the earth sitting in strong hands--and from the looks of google images so have most people. Instead of a disconnected ball sitting in a man's hands, Emori saw the creation, our world connected to and coming from the Creator.

The pictures our minds create say a lot about how we view the world.

I'm reading "Living the Sabbath", and Wirzba's words struck me:
"Our power, in other words, is never really our own. It is a borrowed power--a gift--since it depends upon, moves within, and always partakes of God's power. Manna is but one example among the many gifts we need to be sustained every day, gifts like clean air, photosynthesis, soil regeneration, energy, communal support. When we forget these gifts, or when we fail to see them as gifts and mistake them to be ours by right or by our own effort, we falsify who we are. We overlook the fact that our lives are everywhere maintained by a bewildering abundance of kindness and sacrifice." (p. 36)

Image found at: http://fc02.deviantart.com/fs49/i/2009/149/e/e/In_Gods_Hands_by_Tourash.jpg

So where is Jesus?

2010-01-19T17:39:00.000-08:00

Tonight we read to our girls the story (from their children's bible) of the last supper when Jesus washed his disciples' feet and had the passover meal with them. They really enjoyed talking about what was on the dusty, dirty feet of people back then...cow poop, chicken poop, etc:) As we read the part about the bread and the cup, Emori recognized that we do what Jesus did at Ekklesia on Sunday nights (take communion). Aubri was still concerned that there was blood in the cup, but Emori reassured her that is was "only something like a grape juice" and "mom and dad wouldn't let us drink blood anyway." :)

Tonight was the first night Aubri really asked me questions about Jesus (Emori has a profound theological question to stump us daily:). She wanted to know how Jesus died. I told her without going into great detail. Then I talked about how He came back to life to show us that we can have new life and a full life living the way Jesus showed us to live by loving God and others and serving others.

Then she asked the question that Emori asked a few years ago and made us think about how we as parents talk about faith with them. She said, "So where is Jesus? Is he inside my heart right now?"

She knew this expression because we gave the "easy" answer to Emori years ago about Jesus being in our hearts...and Emori, of course, took it literally. One day Aubri had been jumping around, and she said, "Mom, I feel my heart beeping really fast." To which Emori replied, "Oh, its ok, its just Jesus running around in there." :)

So how do we answer the question to our preschooler of "where Jesus is" without opting for a well intended expression that has almost become a cliche of pop Christianity? I pray we can help our children take Jesus out of the heart shape box we've put him into that fits well into our comfortable American lives. We pray we can live in such a way that our children see Jesus in the face of the hungry, thirsty, forgotten...which means they will actually have to SEE and know hungry, thirsty and forgotten people. We pray they recognize Jesus when we gather with our faith community and share the joys and sorrows of life. We pray they recognize him and follow his beautiful dust.

Christmas Traditions

2009-11-30T05:17:00.001-08:00

Christmas is a special time of year for most, but it is extra special for us because our firstborn, Emori, was born on Christmas Day. She LOVES this time of year, and so do her sisters. Each year we drive around looking a Christmas lights on a weekly basis, and we visit "The Lewis'" several times. We made our first of many trips on Saturday to the Lewis'.

Kennedi (now 2 yrs) really enjoyed it...she was so funny. She sang "Oh, Christmas Tree" to the top of her little lungs through the entire first half of the lighted walk.
My favorite thing that she says these days (although it has nothing to do with Christmas) is, "Oopie, Days". I assume she's trying to say "Oopsie Daisy"--don't know where she got that from, I don't think we say, but she sure does--a lot:)

I personally love celebrating Advent with our children as well. Last night we started our Advent readings of Yolanda Brown's book. We have tea-light candles that turn on (safer:), and they light their candle and say the prayer for the day together. Although there is not always "peace on earth" while we are trying to get dressed for bed or get our candles ready or read, the girls (and Larry & I) really do love this tradition that helps us look forward to the big celebration of Emmanuel.

5 Things Our Kids Love About Hotels

2009-08-08T18:54:00.000-07:00

"We do not remember days, we remember moments." (Italian poet Cesare Pavese) To be so young, our girls have actually traveled a good bit, and we have lots of fun, sweet moments to keep in our memory! Recently we traveled through 5 states spending 7 nights in 4 different places. Lots of hours on the road for little ones, but the much anticipated reward always awaited them...THE HOTEL!

They remind me every day to appreciate and enjoy the little things in life.

5 Things Our Kids Love about Hotels:

1. Pushing Buttons: Yes, 3 road weary preschool girls can and do push your buttons, but that's not what I'm talking about. Who knew pushing a button on an elevator could be so much fun and such a source of competition. They race to the elevator to see who will be the winner and get to push the button. And why do manufacturers put the emergency button right within reach of the chubby fingers of a 2 year old? Kennedi actually managed to push it on this trip, and it dialed 911 directly! We could hear the operator, but soon realized they could not hear my repeated apologies...oops:)

2. 2 Beds 1 Room means the first thing our girls do after running into the room is test the distance between the beds to see if they can jumping across from one bed to another (thanks to our friends the Droddy family who taught them this exciting pass time:) If they can't make the distance, the beds make great substitutes for a trampoline...don't tell the hotel owners:)

3. Bars of Soap. Yes, a hotel is where our girls discovered this little phenomenon existed. I had not realized that they had never seen a bar of soap. We use liquid soap at the house. The first time they saw it, they said, "Woe, cool, what is this? Can I have it?" Oh the fun a bar of soap brings until you take a bite:) Kennedi discovered on this last trip that it doesn't taste as good as it smells:) They race to the tub to get to play with the soap!

4. Popcorn in Bed with Coffee. We usually stay in a Holiday Inn Express (reward points:) which has microwaves in the rooms. This is the only place they get to sit in bed and eat popcorn while watching a movie. The coffee cups with lids make great "spill-proof" cups. No matter what the liquid is inside the cup, its still "coffee" according to them when it comes in the coffee cup:)

5. POOLS. Its just not "vacation" if there's not a swimming pool. Our kids are especially thrilled when the hotel not only has a big pool but also has a "little pool with bubbles":)

Fathers Day 09

2009-06-29T12:38:00.001-07:00

Click here to view this photo book larger

"Mom, do we go to church?"

2009-05-25T12:54:00.000-07:00

The week after Easter, Emori wore a sun dress to preschool. I'm assuming someone asked her if it was her "Easter Dress" because as soon as I picked her up she asked, "What's an Easter Dress?" I explained that some people wear a special dress on Easter Sunday. Then she said, "Do I have an Easter dress?" I said, "Well, the dress you have on can be your Easter dress if you want." She said, "Sure." Problem solved...and it didn't cost me a dime:)

A few days later she came home and said, "Mom, do we go to church?" Good question. I said, "Well, we ARE the Church. We live our life showing God's love to others and live our life with others who are trying to do the same thing, so we are together the church. Now, there are buildings that people call 'church' and people meet there to talk about God. But for us, church is not a place we go, its what we are."

She said, "Oh yeah, I know, so everyday we love God share it with people and that makes us church. And when we go to Ekklesia (on Sunday nights), we are with people who love God." I said, "You got it, babe:)"

Mama-Daddy

2009-05-25T12:33:00.000-07:00

Kennedi turned 2 last month. She is a funny girl, and is the entertainer of our family. She sees the world as her audience. One funny thing she does is that she calls Larry "Mama-Daddy". Its so funny. Most of the time she calls him by this name:)

When she first started doing this, Larry posted on his Facebook status that he "wonders if he should be concerned that his two year old daughter is calling him 'mama-daddy"" The president of the university saw him later that afternoon at a receiption, and she came up to him and said, "How's it going 'mama-daddy'?" Ha! You never know who's reading your FB status.

Emori Gives Herself a Haircut

2009-03-15T20:10:00.000-07:00

I caught Emori after she had cut her hair and just as she had begun to start on Aubri's! I said, "What are you doing?! Why did you cut your hair?!"

She responded by asking, "Your not supposed to cut your hair with scissors?"

Guess I should have been more specific with her. :)

Aubri's First Communion

2009-03-15T14:34:00.000-07:00

Larry and I grew up in a faith tradition that usually does not allow children who are not baptized or "members" of the church to take part in communion/the Lord's Supper.

That perspective changed for me Christmas Eve of 2007 when we participated in the Christmas Eve service at Court Street United Methodist Church. Emori was turning 4 yrs old and wanted to walk up with me when it was my turn to take Communion. I told her she wouldn't be able to take it, but she could walk with me. When it was our turn, Bruce Case (Court Street's pastor and one of our favorite friends:) knelt down and told Emori that this bread and drink represented Jesus and said some other really beautiful things as he invited her to participate in Communion. I thought, why don't we let kids participate?...that's crazy that we don't. It really was a beautiful moment for me as a mother.

Our children participated in Communion last Easter during our Family Experience time for our preschoolers at our church, but I decided that they should come into the service with the adults when we take Communion one week. They had not been present during the service, but Larry and I slipped out when Communion began and brought Emori and Aubri in. Now I realize I should have prepped Aubri better. This is how it went:

Aubri took a piece of the bread and I helped her dip it in the cup. As she opened her lips to put the grape juice soaked bread into her mouth, the person holding the cup said, "This is the blood of Christ shed for you". She jerked the bread away from her mouth, made an awful face and said, "Ew, I don't wike it" as she shoved it my way:)HA! I don't blame her:) At least I know now she wouldn't put "blood" in her mouth:) ha.

Oh well, we'll explain it better next time...or just stick to Communion during the children's Bible story time.

Emori shares a lesson for Black History Month

2009-03-15T14:11:00.001-07:00

Emori is very interested in President O'rock Obama, as she calls him. I think she's so intrigued with him because she relates being a President to a being king (and our girls are REALLY into the whole Princess/royalty thing). I watch the news too much, and she always asks questions about what he's doing.

Here's a little more background to the subject of this blog entry: This year on Martin Luther King,Jr's holiday, we read a children's book about Dr. King's life...and Emori remembers EVERYTHING.

Ok, so we were at a local restaurant with another family. This is a conversation I overheard between Emori and her friend, Colleen, as they were looking at a poster for Black History month with pictures of famous African Americans on it. (Strangely, Obama didn't make the poster). And this is really what was said:)

Colleen (pointing to the face of Dr. King on the poster): That's Barack Obama

Emori: No its not. It doesn't even look like O'rock Obama.
That's a really nice man who was shot by some bad people. Mom, who's his name again.

(I say "Dr. King")

Emori: Yeah, Dr. King was trying to help people and some really bad people shot him and he died.

Colleeen: No, he did not die.

Emori: Yes, he did die. They shot him and he died.

Colleen: No, my teacher said he didn't die.

Emori: Well, your teacher is wrong! Some really bad people shot him and he died.

(To Colleen's credit, she had MLK confused with Nelson Mandela who she learned about in school:)

Glad to know Emori is confident in what she knows.

Emori's Food Boxes for Kids

2008-11-11T17:21:00.000-08:00

Emori was concerned for the children in our area affected by the detainment of one or more of their caregivers due to immigration issues. She asked if she could make a box for her friends at school to bring items. The next weekend we were tailgating with LuckyDays at USM and she asked, "Can I get the college kids to bring food too?" She made another box for campus donations. Aubri enjoyed helping make the boxes and loading the donations as well.

This is a news story that was done on the project by Kim Ward from WHLT here in Hattiesburg.

Oobies, Apples and Crocka-Doddles

2008-09-19T06:51:00.000-07:00

This is a post I've meant to make for a while now. Aubri who just turned 3 has a unique, funny and beuatiful way of say things as 2-3 year olds do. One day she told me that she did not want to wear a particular shirt because "people will see my ooobies!" then informed me that actually I have oobies and she only has "apples". Guessed what she is talking about yet? "Oobies"="Boobies" and "Apples"="Nipples". Ha. One evening as she was laying on Larry's chest she looked up at him with her big blue eyes and said so sweetly, "Daddy, I wike you oobies". :) The words "apples" and "oobies" are used often in this house as our girls love to run around shirtless!

In April Aubri came home from preschool with a "treasure" from the "treasure chest". It was a plastic alligator. She said, "Wook mom, I got a CROCKA-DODDLE". I think that's a great name for it:)

This summer she would say (while doing a little dance), "We goin' to 'nachez'". I had no idea where she heard about Natchez, MS or why she would celebrate going there. But after a few weeks I realized what she was actuallly saying. We were taking gymnastics...and she loved it...so she was trying to say "nastics"...it just sounded like "natchez":)

Glorieta, New Mexico

2008-08-02T15:28:00.001-07:00

Guess who did all of paddling???? Same person who took the picture!!!
And guess who wanted to go faster and farther??? Not the person who took the picture!

--

The Beach

2008-05-24T21:00:00.000-07:00

We went for a quick trip to the beach, and we had so much fun! Kennedi loved it. She played in the sand and wanted to run into the ocean waves (as best as her little legs could get her there). We really had to hold on to her:)

Aubri was in heaven being able to dig in the sand, make "sand angels", etc. As soon as we hit the sand the first day she and Emori immediately laid down and rolled in the sand...we had just gotten off the board walk and weren't even close to the water!

Emori loved it too. She especially like jumping into the waves. Although she got stung by a jellyfish our last morning there...it was DRAMA:)

We were getting into the van to go eat, and as usually it was a JOB getting them all rounded up and strapped in. While trying to buckle Aubri in, I used a firm tone of voice with her (really, I wasn't yelling:), and she looked up at me with those huge beautiful blue eyes and said, "Mom, why you bein' so mean?" As if to bluntly remind me to chill out...come on we are at the beach...have fun...get over it. I did:)

Mommy and Me Tea Party--SW-EEET!

2008-05-24T20:35:00.000-07:00

I had to rush from a receiption for Larry's PhD Graduation to a Mommy and Me Tea party where Aubri and Emori were waiting for me. I went into Aubri's room first. All the mom's were already seated with their children enjoying cookies and koolaid. Aubri was excited to see me and had been waiting on me to have her cookie and koolaid. I sat down, and she got up and served me a cookie and drink before she got one for herself. She really is an especially sweet kid! She's 2 and served me first. Then she poured me some imaginary coffee from her tea pot...she knows I like coffee:)

When I went to Emori's room, she was very excited to see me also. Of course she wanted me to meet all her friends, and then she wanted me to introduce my self to the other mother's and ask their name. She'd say, Mom that's Cambry. What's her mom's name? Will you ask her mom her name? She's so funny.

Oh, these girls are such a beautiful gift:)

Colbey

Kennedi is turning 1 and saying much

2008-04-18T18:09:00.000-07:00

Kennedi will turn 1 yr old in 2 days. She says Mama, Dada, Bye Bye, Swing Swing, Thank you, All done, uh oh, peep pie, there she is (all of these are mostly tones, but we can distinguish them clearly:). She loves to dance to music, and she sings along really well to songs. She took 2 steps today, and tonight when we were showing Daddy he said "Go, Girl" and she said "Go girl!" Later she was sitting with me and wanted to get down to walk and said "go girl!":)

She loves dogs...she goes crazy when she sees one.

She gives closed mouth kisses. And says, "mmm" when she kisses.

Who Knew Rocking Could Be So Fun?

2008-04-05T11:31:00.000-07:00

Ok. So my 11 month old has decided that it is way fun to rock in a rocking chair that is too big for her but gets mad if it doesn't rock for her (I have to make it rock). So rocking is definitely a community/group event in our house. I am amazed at how demanding children can be but then again I am even more amazed at how demanding we adults are on others. We want our ways and we want to be rocked constantly but only when it works for us and only if I don't have to exert myself! Its a new adventure everyday in this household from high fevers all week, emergency rooms, nasty tasting antibiotics, poop somehow on the wall, to kids creeping into you bed during the middle of the night and me being too tired to do anything about it. They know when we are weak! My life is full and it is good.

Soccer Already?

2008-03-07T10:20:00.000-08:00

Well, I guess we are now soccer parents.... Emori (my 4 year old) has started soccer. Life may never be the same. She is a good foot shorter than everyone else but she is not scared. In fact she said it was fun because everyone was bumping into each other.... I guess that would be a good way to approach life. At what point do we start seeing the "bumping into" part of life as an agitation. I hope to learn from these soccer years and celebrate the "bumping" I get to do as I walk through this life.

Thankful

2007-11-25T20:49:00.000-08:00

This is the season of remembering to be thankful. Boy to we have much to be thankful for, family, friends, faith, and full lives. This was our first Thanksgiving with 3 girls. We have a 3.75 year old, 2 year old, and a 7 month old. Live is fast to say the least. They are up early, often, and at all hours. The weird thing is that I wouldn't trade it. My family has made my life full.. I just thought I was busy before!

As I watch my oldest daughter, Emori, wear her turkey hat proudly (it is made of construction paper) and wish family and friends "I hope you have 5 fat turkeys and a happy Thanksgiving" I try to burn the sight into my mind so if I live to be old it will be a fun memory to have every year. I wish I could make this stuff up but its too good. Kind of like the time Emori was potty training and number 2 was always a tough experience (constipation). The way she would make potty time fun was to decide she was making some animal shape and letting her imagination help her perform her business. On Christmas Day 2005 (she turned 2 because she is a Christmas baby) she proudly proclaimed that she made a baby Jesus popo and give him a teetee crown. Funny stuff. I am thankful that I can't make this stuff up!