blessed beyond measure

As a little background, it is almost scary how well Trey can read. When we do devotions, Trey has his own Bible and either follows along with the words as we read, or we ask him to read the verses, helping him with a word here and there. How amazing to hear your child read God's Word. Anyway, last night it was just Trey and me for devotions. We read 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18. Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. We talked about it for a long time, especially the concept of praying without ceasing. We named things and people for whom we are grateful, and I was able to again reinforce my oft-quoted motto of, "Behind every complaint is something to be thankful for." After we prayed, Trey asked to keep reading his Bible a while before the lights went out. Couldn't refuse that, so I went to the kitchen and did my chores especially quietly so I could listen to Trey read. He pretty much ...

He drives me absolutely crazy, and has totally captured my heart. Aden is well over 21 months old now, and has developed by leaps and bounds since the last update. We hold conversations. Real ones. He understands pretty much everything we say, though he doesn't always care what we say. I understand a lot of what he says. It's about time. Continues to love the bath. And eating. Maintains one single dance move, the bounce. Sings "Jesus Loves Me", "Deep and Wide", and "Twinkle Twinkle". Extreme jock versions of each one. Knows several letters and designates pairs of things as "two" whatevers. Uses the word "no" with abandon. When told "no" or removed from a temptation, hits himself in the head repeatedly. Loves his Mama more than anything in the world. The whole wide world. Lets me read to him. Finally! On occasion, reads to himself. The current favorite is "Ny Ny Muh" ( Good Night Moon ). Has not ga...

There are 24 days until Easter. I have known since January 1 how many days there are until Easter. Why? Because I am swallowed up. January 1 through Easter Sunday is drama season round these parts. What began as an idea by one of my very best friends in 2007, sort of a "wouldn't it be cool if..." (yes, I ♥ the Fresh Beat Band and would watch it even if I was all by myself) , came to life in 2009 and has exploded into an annual all-encompassing labor of love. Our church's Easter passion play, The Cry of Christ . I have written about it in parts every Easter, here . This year is different. Toward the end of 2011, our Associate Pastor was called away to embark upon a church plant. He was the drama's director and basically a very solid and capable contributor to every single sub-team that made the drama a reality. He worked his stinkin tail off for this thing. Before he left, he met with my aforementioned friend and me, who were his assistant directors, to best...

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There's not been much blogging lately. Part of it is that I'm pretty sure a grand total of five people read the blog, and I'm fairly certain none of them want to read about my frustrations with daily life. The other part of it is that I don't really want to remember my frustrations with daily life. After all, though I am thankful for what few readers I have, the precious people who care enough about my family to want to tune in to a Trey and Aden schmooze-fest, the true purpose of the blog is to be my fallback when I'm so stinkin frazzled that my memory just completely goes. But do I really want to remember that we've all been sick so much? That about every other day this year I have cleaned up someone's puke? That I think I've gotten maybe two full nights of sleep this year? I'm so tired. Do I want to remember arguments with Trey? My daily, er, hourly parenting failures? My utter impatience? No. If I had my way, none of this stuff would have h...