Little Wheels Turning…

Our refrigerator is fixed!

The repairman spent the afternoon working to fix our sad and pitiful appliance and while he worked, B and I played. I had/have about a million things that I wanted to get accomplished around the house this afternoon, but decided that playing with B needed to be priority.  Really B helped me make this decision, he was pretty whinny when he got home from a school yet not quite ready for a nap, it was almost as if through his whines he was saying “Mommy, please just play with me, don’t just put me in front of my toys!”…and I gave in.

I will probably regret this decision in the short term and be more overwhelmed with the endless to-do list later this weekend, but know that in the grand scheme of things, I will be glad that I chose playing over housework.

Recently, a friend cleaned out her kids’ play room and asked if B might be interested in any of their old toys, specifically a little play house and small slide.  I told my friend that we would be ELATED to have new things to play with, then picked the toys up and B has been busy exploring ever since!

Today as we  played, I found myself wondering just how fast the little wheels in his head must be turning? It was as if the concept of cause and effect “clicked” in B’s little brain as he played with his new toys this afternoon.

B would crawl over to the slide with a ball in his hand, stand up against the slide, place the ball on the slide, let go of the ball and watch it roll down the slide, onto the floor and through the door of his little play house…over and over and over again! After a bit he would crawl through the door of the house to try to retrieve a ball, of course get distracted by the house, play with it and then crawl back…

Oh, to be a kid again!

Here’s the play-by-play…

Crawl to the slide with a ball…stand up…

Ready, Set…ROLL……!

Go and find the ball…

Get a little distracted…

Resume the search…

In…

Out…

Take a break to look out the window at the beautiful afternoon outside…(with the ball in hand).

I have to say, much better than house work…and way more rewarding!

Thank You Lord for developing B’s little mind, please continue to bless those little wheels as they turn. Amen.

Thank You!

Thank You Lord for the spring.

Thank You for the blue sky.

Thank You for the cool breeze.

Thank You for the sunshine.

Thank You for picnic lunches.

Thank You for friends.

Thank You for the Botanic Gardens where we can walk.

Hill Country Hoop-A-La

We were blessed by the opportunity to take a little “mini vacation” last weekend by heading south on I-35…we made a little pit stop in Bear Country and were able to catch up with my youngest brother and parents for a bit. We enjoyed visiting with G, had a great dinner and of course enjoyed some coffee from my favorite coffee shop in the entire world!

We said our good byes and then continued our drive south in anticipation of seeing some precious friends, the K family. The K’s used to reside in Cowtown, but recently moved to the Hill Country…(their son, T, was born 7 days before B) we have really enjoyed getting little glimpses of their new life…

We were greeted to the Hill Country by a fantastic idea from J K, he suggested that we get in the car and drive to The Alamo Springs Cafe (alamospringscafe.com) to experience Texas Monthly Magazine’s Best Hamburger in Texas (2009)…we obliged and were quite impressed by the cafe experience. The burgers were gigantic and tasted fantastic!

 

 

 

 

After eating, we explored the area around the cafe, we hiked down to an old rail road tunnel. J & C were totally in their element, they had their boys and they were ready to put some lessons from The Dangerous Book for Boys (dangerousbookforboys.com/) to work. C was able to convince us to take a path that was a little of the beaten path…we got a little lost, but through ally enjoyed the experience, it brought several laughs!

 

Later that night, J was gracious enough to make dinner for us…it was delicious!
On Sunday, we enjoyed a token trip to the Bear Moon Bakery & Cafe (bearmoonbakery.com) before church. We had only been for lunch prior, but were both overwhelmed by the pure “goodness” of the breakfast buffet…by far one of the best meals C & I have enjoyed in a long time…B even enjoyed eating a pancake!
After breakfast we headed to church. It was so neat to see where the K’s have plugged in. They are really blessed to have the community that they have. B got to play with their son, T, in the nursery, both boys seemed to have a fantastic time playing with all of T’s friends.

After church, we enjoyed a lazy afternoon hanging out outside while the boys took naps. After nap time, the boys played and enjoyed eating an outdoor lunch.

Later, C & J decided that we all needed an adventure. We packed up and headed to Guadalupe State Park. The K’s are so blessed to have a state park practically in their backyard! C & J graciously carried the boys in baby bjorns as we hiked along the river!

I think I over heard C asking B if he could orient him to the map…to which B kindly obliged!

No, not the most masculine photo ever taken, but truly priceless!

B’s head was on a constant swivel…he was quite fascinated by the wind and water.

I can’t think of a good caption for this photo…I love the way B and T are looking at each other…

 

It was so neat to spend time with R, she and I trained with Team in Training a few years ago…I miss our Saturday morning runs…hiking along the Guadalupe River with our boys was the next best thing!

The trees along the river were incredible…the roots were all woven together and a lot of them exposed. There was such evidence of our Great Creator on this hike.

 

Taking a group photo was a little difficult…let me paint a picture, C found a place to set the camera on, C set the timer, C running back to get in the photo himself (all with B bobbling in the baby bjorn)…it was pretty funny!

If this photo depicts our family’s future, I better be ready for adventure! Oh, how I love having boys in my life!

 

“SOOO BIG” (T’s cute T-ism)

 

It got pretty cool as we walked, T donned his winter hat, he was less than thrilled when he realized that R had tied it around his neck…it meant he couldn’t pull it off!

We walked to a near by restaurant for dinner later that night, B and T looked pretty cute in their high chairs at the end of our table…they munched on tortillas while we ate dinner. At one point, B was holding a piece of a tortilla and T leaned over to take it out of his hand…oh, do I wish I could understand the conversing that went on between the two of them! A woman sitting at a table near us asked if the boys were brothers!

After dinner, we started to get the boys ready for bed and realized they hadn’t gotten much good play time. So we let them stay up to play, the playing started with their clothes and hats on…and quickly turned into this…we couldn’t resist the photo opportunity that the hats and diapers could provide…

 

It was hysterical, J started playing the guitar and T crawled up to it and truly started to dance…imagine that little diaper swaying back and fourth…we laughed so hard! The next morning, these two faces are what we found greeting us at the kitchen threshold…it is as if both are saying…”we are ready for breakfast, can we come in…please?”

R & J were so sweet to make breakfast. R made special pancakes for B and T while J made some fantastic home-style fries.

 

T with his pancake…

 

B with his pancake…

 

both boys very much ready for a good morning nap…time to hit the road!

We stopped at McAlister’s (one of my favorites) for dinner and sweet tea on the way home.  I love the bumper sticker on the back of the high chair…

 

 

 

 

 

We had a fantastic weekend! As we drove home C and I talked about our highlights from our time away and realized that we each had several favorites. We are so grateful to have had the opportunity to go away for a couple days, to spend time with family and friends and to come home refreshed. 

J & R thank you so much for hosting us, you all are so gracious for opening up your home to us…we had an absolutely fantastic time! We miss you but are so glad that you all are happy in the Hill Country…and can’t wait to visit again soon!

Crazy Life Change on I-35

While B is enjoying his morning nap, I have felt convicted to type a post about a life changing experience that C and I enjoyed this weekend. 

C likes to listen to audio books, they have become a huge part of his daily commute between home and work.  Last week, C asked me if there was anything that I wanted to “read”/listen to on our way down to the Hill Country this past weekend.  I didn’t have any good suggestions so per his sister’s suggesting and seeing the title on John Piper’s blog, C down loaded Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God by Francis Chan and I am so glad and thankful that he did!

Listening to the book left both C and I convicted on multiple levels and spurred on some incredible conversation between the two of us (as B slept in the back seat) about our own personal walks with our precious Lord and Savior.  I found myself frantically searching for scrap pieces of paper in my purse and in the glove box of the car to take notes on and write down different scriptural references.

I am still processing a lot of what I have heard, but here are a few tid-bits that I wrote down, that I found myself convicted by, I am still processing it all:

“the point of our life is to point to God.”

“if life were stable, I wouldn’t ever need God’s help”

“the greatest knowledge we can ever have is knowing that God treasures us”

“too much of the good life becomes toxic in regard to our spiritual lives- it chokes God out slowly”

“lukewarm people think about life on earth more than eternal life”

“lukewarm people are slaves to the god of control, they don’t live by faith because their lives are structured, they don’t have to depend on God.”

“partially sanitized lives (thinking you are doing what is right with your own power) does not equal holiness”

“Jesus’ call to commitment is clear, He wants all or nothing”

“God desires a posture of obedient & surrender from us”

“God deserves the very best I have, not the leftovers (of my time, money, thoughts)”

The entire book is filled with references to verses that are both  familiar and new that support these tid-bits. It also shares testimonies of people all over the world who have crazy relentless love for Jesus Christ.

I would highly recommend this book. It is by no means a feel good, warm fuzzy type book…it is deep and it goes places that aren’t comfortable…but places of comfort aren’t necessarily places of growth!  I am humbly realizing that much of my life is spent in lukewarm territory, I do want to dare to be crazy…to be crazy in love with my Heavenly Father… to be crazy grateful for my salvation…to be crazy aware of His provision and blessings in my life  and to be crazy deliberate in my efforts to share my faith with others!

 

p.s. Thanks for suggesting the book Aunt B! We are so grateful!

Lessons to Learn from a Smelly Refrigerator…

We were blessed with a fantastic weekend with family and friends south on I-35 this past weekend…I will be sure to post photos of our adventures soon…

But…

When we got home (late last night) we were welcomed home to a big fat stinky bummer!  I opened the front door, I and was greeted to a nasty, disgusting, repulsive smell…as I walked inside  I thought to myself, I changed the diaper pail before we left, I took the kitchen trash and recycling outside, did an animal die in our house…what could that be? I walked into the kitchen to investigate and much to my surprise and disbelief  discovered our refrigerator to be oozing rotten food and the floor under the refrigerator bowed and buckled due to the amount of moisture that had pooled and sat for an entire weekend…DISGUSTING & quite a WELCOME HOME!

C and I were quick to put B to sleep and then got to work. I lit some candles and then threw everything in both the freezer and refrigerator away while C frantically searched for the owners manual for the fridge in hope that we might find a telephone number to call and a learn that everything would be covered under the manufacturer’s warranty.  No such luck with the warranty, but thankfully the previous owner of our house purchased the fridge through a company that would allow us to purchase a new warranty (which is cheaper than a new refrigerator) and then would send a repair person out to try to service very sad and stinky fridge.  Thank You God for that blessing!

 

After securing a plan, C and I worked to clean the kitchen floor and then headed to sleep after realizing what time it was. As we laid in bed, trying to fall asleep and wrap our heads around this unanticipated problem we both realized how totally blessed we are. Yes, we we had to throw away all of our food.  Yes, our house smells! Yes, our new floor is bowing and buckled in places.  But there are people, who probably don’t even live that far away from us who aren’t even able to have refrigerators. Or if they do, maybe they can’t afford to turn them on. Or, if they can afford to keep them on, maybe they can’t keep them stocked.  C and I  know that it will be a major expense to get everything fixed and up and running again, but we ultimately  know that we will be able to have milk, bread, butter, eggs again in the not too distant future….and we fell asleep so grateful for that! 

So as hard as it is to admit this,

Lesson # 1: Food that is supposed to be kept cold, need to stay cold…otherwise it STINKS!

Lesson # 2: Hiccups in life happen. We can choose to let them overwhelm us, or we can allow the Lord to teach and refine us through them.

“Thank You Lord for allowing our refrigerator to break! Thank You for reminding us to keep an eternal perspective! We humbly admit that this perspective has not come from ourselves, but from Your gentle reminding. Thank You for Your provision! Amen”