blessed beyond measure

In a quick update from last week, the lizard lived! While working outside last weekend, we took the bag out of the vacuum and set it on the porch. I walked onto the porch at one point to see him sticking his head out of the bag, then later in the day the bag was empty. So either he lived or one of his friends came and removed his body. Anyway, does anyone know what "ice cream doggies" are? Trey asked for this even before getting out of his crib this morning, and I have never heard him say it before. He kept repeating it, and I finally said, "Trey, I have no idea." And he says, "Tay, I ha no deeeea. Peez, Mommy? Ice ceem doggie??" Any suggestions are appreciated.

Have I said I very much prefer this blog to Facebook? Facebook makes me nervous. Anyway, it's been a while. Here are some random things we've been up to: - This weekend, we'll be having around 30 people at our house. Our small group, which continues to grow by leaps and bounds (4 new babies in 2009 with 2 still to come), is coming for a cookout. This has led to all sorts of beautification projects around the house - spreading mulch, tilling the garden, pressure washing, clearing of junk piles, trimming bushes, putting screens up in the porch windows. I took off a few days in honor of the event, but Brandon has done most of the hard work. Trey has been helping too, even surprising us sometimes. I had intended to do a separate blog post called "Climate Control" for this picture, but forgot. Here you go: That would be a Fisher-Price umbrella from Trey's Sand and Sea table on the tractor. In their defense, it was ex-treme-ly hot and humid. - The garden con...

This is late in the day, and really don't have time to post today. But when classic funny stuff presents itself, you just can't resist. As Trey was waking up from his nap, out of the corner of my eye I see some movement on the floor. It is...a lizard. In the house. Yep. I'm not much of a critter girl, but lizards and frogs and such aren't terrible things if they are outdoors and not too close to me. But not in the house! So hmm. What do I do? He's probably too fast to smash, and even if that worked, how on earth do you get lizard guts out of tile grout?? Hmm. How do I get him outside? As I'm pondering he is scurrying into the bathroom. Nowhere to hide in there except to crawl up into the baseboard heater unit. OK. So when Brandon and I got married, we had a little unspoken agreement. I would handle managing the house/cooking/laundry, he would handle the outdoors. It might sound a little unbalanced, but also on his list are to handle intruders. Hu...

For our first corn-picking of the year, the Lord gave us 61 ears. From that, one ear was bad and had to be tossed to the cows; three ears were set aside for dinner; seven "ugly" ears had their kernels cut off to make one pint for freezing; and the remaining 50 ears were bagged for freezing. This is a beautiful thing. If the evil raccoon will only stay away, we'll get at least one more good picking in a few weeks. Thank you, Lord God, for your provision and the miracle of watching things grow.

Lately, Trey has been helping us in the garden. Not "helping", but actually helping . While we are picking beans, he stands between the rows and moves the bucket along with us. And if one of us gets too far from the bucket, he will come and get our beans and take them to the bucket. He also wanted to be involved in snapping the beans, so we sat together and snapped what wound up being five canned quarts. He doesn't quite have the technique down yet, but he would snap each one and then hand it to me, saying "Hee go, Mommy" (here you go), and I would break the ends off. I know the "helping is fun" stage won't last forever, but we are so glad to have an extra pair of hands willingly and enthusiastically helping us out in the garden. The true test will come in the next several days as the corn comes in. Praise the Lord, except for the handful of stalks that our friendly neighborhood raccoon has torn down, it all looks very healthy. After having o...

IF you should ever decide to go to VBS, and IF the VBS theme is Australia, and IF you want to be the center of attention, and IF you accomplish that by playing the didgeridoo, and IF you play it for 15 minutes nonstop, just be aware that this could happen to you: Poor Brandon's lip was swollen up for hours. Everyone thought he had eaten something he was allergic to, but it really did come from playing the didgeridoo. And in case you haven't heard of one before, here is a didgeridoo, a rather large Aboriginal instrument from Australia that sounds like a ship's horn.

Toddlers are so much fun. Being part of the two and three year old class has been much better than I thought it would be. Figured I would have pulled all of my hair out by now. Nope. Other than the whiny, selfish moments that come to all kids (and adults too!), it has been great. I know they're too young to understand the stories and songs. They will never remember making the crafts or playing the games. But I will remember. I will remember for Trey, and I will remember that it is actually possible for me to talk to someone about Jesus. Why can't I do this with adults?? Through being physically drained and sleep-deprived, the Lord is granting me a spiritual mountaintop right now. Here are some things I'm thankful for this week: - Bubbles, and anyone who invented anything related to them. Specifically the long wand that makes lots of big bubbles. The way the bubbles make formerly-ADD/destructive children remain in one place for a few minutes and smile. The way they make form...

This week is brought to you by the word "tired". Pretty bad to already be tired while going into a week where you know you'll be on your feet constantly and maybe get 5 hours of sleep each night. But it's a good tired. Sleep is overrated anyway. I don't really believe that, of course - just trying to be a good sport. Vacation Bible School began last night at church. Brandon has taken over his annual role as media guru, and is taking pictures and video for the big presentation on family night. Hopefully we can share some pictures throughout the week. And I am teaching the 2's and 3's. I debated about this for a long time before volunteering. Trey did not enjoy VBS much last year , crying and crying whenever the grandmas or I left him in the nursery. I really wanted him to enjoy it this year, and figured that might be more likely with me around and available to him. The kicker, and the reason Brandon chided me for taking the role I have, is that Tr...

As if Trey doesn't already look and act enough like his dad, now he has to start dressing like him. Um, except for the pants. Not sure what happened there. Trey loved this outfit, and doubled over laughing several times when he couldn't get his feet into the shoes without falling down.

I've had this post in mind for a couple of days, intending for "the war zone" to describe our dinner table lately. And indeed, it does. Trey has always been the best eater. I mean, adult-size portions even of healthy food. He loves green beans, tomatoes, squash, any and all fruit. For the last week or so, though, he has been a madman at the dinner table. It's been like pulling teeth to get him to eat anything , even things that he typically likes. He has hardly eaten any dinner this week. He uses all methods of distraction to keep from having to eat - saying the blessing dozens of times, singing, trying to put his feet on the table, asking for all manner of snack and activity to do after dinner... When Trey gets really angry, he'll either fake-cry as loud as he can for as long as he can, or slide his plate across the table, or, even worse, throw his food on the floor. This does not go over well. Back to "the war zone". Unfortunately, as of toni...

For Trey's second birthday, we opted out of the big bash and decided to go to the zoo. It was such a great day. Walking the path to the zoo with Dad... and the grandmas. Birthday boy!! Trey checking out the exhibits with Daddy, Granddad, Papa, Nana, Giga, and Nene, with Mama taking pictures, as usual. Looking for monkeys, getting a little bit tired of the animals. Luckly, there was a playground right in the zoo! We also rode the "zoo choo". Trey was a little out of it during this time. Then on to the picnic, where we chowed down on sandwiches, chips, watermelon, and...cupcakes!! Oh, and Dr. Pepper, of course. Trey even blew out his own candle this year. He did very well opening presents too, though we had to coax him not to stick with one gift too long. Just to round out the trip, Trey had to visit just one more playground with Nene. What a precious day. Full of relaxed fun and lots of memories. I found myself checking the clock all day, remembering labor and every...

Last Saturday was date night, and Trey went along with us. We did BOGO Ruby Tuesday's (yummy), then went to Walmart and Lowes. Textbook definition of fun. Side note: Have you seen kitchen appliances lately? Refrigerators with freezer drawers on the bottom. Ranges with five burners and a warming drawer on the bottom. Dishwashers with two separate drawers so you can run a small or large load. All stainless steel and shiny. There is absolutely nothing wrong with our appliances right now, and praise the Lord for that. But when the time comes that we need new ones, forgive me for hoping the ones I saw at Lowes are the only ones available at the time, so I won't have a choice. Anyway, while riding home we hear Trey grunting in the back. Brandon turns around to see Trey tugging on his shoes. A minute later they hit the floor. Silence, more grunting. Then an agitated, "COME ON, SOCK!!!" Trey is tugging on his sock with all his might. It finally pops off. In the rearview, I ...

Last night during Trey's devotions, Brandon was telling the story of David and Goliath. Here is some of what could be overheard: "And Goliath, he was 9 feet 6 inches tall. Would have been great for the basketball program." "David got his slingshot, then God opened up a can of whoop-tail." "Then David took out his sword and chopped Goliath's head off, 'cause back then that's how you knew you got beat." Gotta love it.