blessed beyond measure

This is for my boys. Not for right now, so Trey and Aden, if you are reading this and you're still shorter than I am, please skip it and save it for another time. Please. But please, do come back and read it when you're older. This gut-wrenching post has taken me weeks to write after months of it swirling around in my head. It will be too long, too personal, and not nearly as positive as I like to keep the blog content. (Dear few readers, if you're not up for a marathon or some sad recaps, there will be lighter posts to come soon.) Somewhere over the last eight years, this blog became how I remember everything. It's a wonderful thing, an active and ongoing scrapbook of you boys' lives, the place where I try hard to record our favorite memories, important milestones, and life moments that shouldn't be allowed to slip away. And while I hope and pray that you will remember the good, it seems you should also know that not everything was good all the ti...

As always, December has filled itself up with plenty of holiday merriment. A family scouting trip, where Trey got some good experience at making shot charts. A trip with Giga and Poppop to various stops around the lake to see train collections. This was fascinating, especially the ones that Aden got to operate himself. For our church program, Aden was slated to be a shepherd, though sickness prevented him from being in the live show. This is him at rehearsal: And here is Trey operating the sound board. He's learning so much from his Daddy. On Aden's last day of school for the year, his class put on a singalong program. Aden also played a special part by holding a giant (fake) ax and pretending to chop down a Christmas tree. Wish the phone had held out for video of this. He's standing behind one of the kids holding a tree picture, waiting to chop her down. And then Christmas at home. Thanks to the generosity of some very dear friends, we were able to gi...

Love incarnate, love divine Star and angels gave the sign Bow to babe on bended knee The Savior of humanity Unto us a child is born He shall reign forevermore Noel, Noel Come and see what God has done Noel, Noel The story of amazing love The light of the world Given for us Noel Son of God and Son of Man There before the world began Born to suffer, born to save Born to raise us from the grave Christ the everlasting Lord He shall reign forevermore Noel, Noel Come and see what God has done Noel, Noel The story of amazing love The light of the world Given for us Noel We wish you a blessed holiday season filled with the peace, hope and joy of our Savior, Jesus Christ Merry Christmas

The nerves and anticipation ran high on Saturday morning as we prepared for the first of what will likely end up being hundreds of basketball games for Aden. He really, truly was nervous, our little Taz. But he had good reason to be. A gaggle of too-vocal family members in the stands. A team counting on him to basically be their leader. And then the other team, pawing like angry cats trying to get the ball away. That's a lot on a five-year-old. But he handled it with grace. And played fantastically. Played pretty good defense, ran the point like a boss, and got an assist for five out of the six buckets his team scored. The only hiccup came when, toward the end of a melee of an offensive possession, Aden was wide open under the basket. A teammate passed him the ball and the aforementioned gaggle shouted in unison from the bleachers, "SHOOT!" Aden handed the ball to his coach and told her quietly, "I don't want to shoot today." He seemed to be ...

The holiday and winter seasons for us just wouldn't be the same without basketball. We are a basketball family. The boys love it. Trey probably a little more than Aden at this point, as Trey is either playing ball in the kitchen or watching it on TV with any free moments he has. But he still refuses to play on a team. Which (excuse me for whatever motherly bias is in this statement) is a huge loss for the institution of basketball. Kid. Got. Skillz. And anxiety issues. So he won't play. To our extreme frustration. Aden, while not as devoted to the game as Trey, has chosen to play on a team and has quite the talent himself. Blue eyes was practically born dribbling a ball, and after only a few weeks of practice with his team, has been made point guard. First game ever on Saturday. We are pumped . Then Brandon, besides being obsessed with the sport in general, coaches the boys' varsity team at the school where he teaches. The boys and me, my folks, and Brand...