My Son, the Engineer

Sometimes the boys play so creatively. Yesterday was one of those days. Jackson was playing in the yard and started using some old pipes and guttering that was laying around. (We bought a fixer-upper… and we always are!) He connected it and put bowls or buckets between each piece. It was so cute! So… I let him turn on the water hose for a couple minutes to try it out. Once, he had a pipe going up the ladder on the slide so it could go down the slide and catch another pipe at the bottom. I love it! It never worked like he thought, but it made it almost to the last pipe by the end of the day. He was so excited when it went into the bowl before that last pipe! My son… a genuis 4-year-old! 🙂

The Big Event

We’re all smiles today! It’s been a whole season since the kick-off of the last big event!

The ramps are in place, the gas cans are filled.

The blades have been sharpened, and bolted back on!

We’ll miss Daddy! We have to kiss him because he’ll be gone… two hours!

It’s time, it’s time! It’s mowing season!

The Lady I Call "Mom!"

My mother…

What can be said about such a constant in my life? Someone I always counted on to be there. Someone I wanted to follow and grow up to be like. How can I begin to count all the ways she has encouraged me and uplifted me? What can be said of all the times I have laughed at her, and all the times she laughed at me? All the times I’m sure I embarrassed her as a toddler, and she embarrassed me as a sensitive teenager? 🙂

As time marches on, and youth is no longer as much on my side as before, I see more wisdom in my mother. She has such strength! Of all the things I admire about my mother, I think the biggest thing that stands out to me is what a godly wife she is! She has made a life of making her man happy and she has done a tremendous job at it! I have never heard my parents fight in my life. Never! There are so many things she modeled as a sweet, caring wife for my entire life. I learned so much from her.

Thank you, Mom for encouraging me. You never fail to give me a kind word about my daily struggles. You let me know that it’s okay to feel overwhelmed with my little ones and my messy house. You tell me that I can do it and it will get better. You tell me to rest when I need to, and sew when I want to… within reason! 😉 When something exciting happens, you are the first person I want to call. When I want to do some serious shopping, you are the one I want to go with. You are my best woman friend on this earth! I love you! 🙂

Happy Birthday, Mom!

The Daddy I Love!

Today is a special day, and has been for my entire life! It is the day I share with my Daddy, celebrating our birthdays together! When Mom was expecting me, I was due on his birthday, and Daddy told her they weren’t going to the hospital until that day! And good thing it worked out, or Mom would have been miserable!

I want to share a few special things I have learned from my Dad. He is a man of few words, and little emotion. But he is a big man, and in my book, a man after God’s own heart. What I have learned from the wonderful man I call “MY DAD”:

• Don’t worry about what others think. He has always been a man who did what he thought was right, despite what anyone else thought of him, or how they judged him. He has been the man who was faithful to church when hardly anyone else in his family was. (That has since changed since several others are now 🙂 He kept us in Christian school and home school, despite people telling him we should go to school so we could play ball. There were many times in my high school and college days when I would get worried about what others were thinking or saying. And Daddy would reassure me that I was doing fine and needed to stop worrying about what others think. It was a rock in my life.
• After Pawpaw Snow died in 1997, we were driving back that night after the funeral. I knew Dad was very sad and I had seen some tears in his eyes throughout the evening. On the way home, he said, “You know, God’s grace really is sufficient.” And that stuck in my mind. I have never forgotten it. He was sad, absolutely! He would miss his dad. But he was trusting the Lord in His grace, and that spoke volumes!
• My Daddy taught me that we go to church! It so saddens me in the day we live, that so few children are taken to church. They don’t even know how to sit quietly. Many have never even heard the name of “Jesus.” But my Daddy took us. We knew when we woke up on Sunday morning… we’re going to church! And because of that faithfulness, I’m so glad I have known the Lord practically my whole life. And many struggles have been taken from me because of this. Not that I could never do wrong!! But I’m thankful that the “choice” of church attendance was taken from me. I’m glad they didn’t let me make my “own decisions” when I was a child!
• This one is far less touching… he taught me to drive! Mom and I were joking the other day about how she was horrible to learn to drive with. She has always been a high-strung panicker! So, Daddy was always our choice for the passenger seat when we were learning. He was so calm and quiet. He would gently tell us, “Okay, you need to start slowing down now.” 🙂
• He also taught me to keep up with things. He took very good care of his personal things. He never threw things around or left something laying out in the yard. If one, just one of his thirty ink pens was missing off his desk, he immediately knew. I will never understand how he knew, but he did!
• Men should work! My Dad has worked in the same job for about 35 years now. The same job! He doesn’t always love it, it is a job after all. But he has always worked! No wonder marriages fall apart. I could not respect a man that didn’t work. Daddy taught me that!
• The importance of your marriage… my parents will be married 39 years this spring. They have a wonderful marriage. He has always taken great care of Mom. He adores her, and laughs at her and calls her cute. He’s not too “macho” to hold her hand in a store. Therefore, his wife adores him! Many questions were removed from our early marriage because of the amazing examples I had seen patterned every day of my life. My Daddy taught me how important yoru marriage is, and I’m grateful.

There are SO many things I could post of my Dad. I love him. I recently read a book called Strong Fathers Strong Daughters. It is a tremendous book and I highly recommend it. As I read it, I realized what a rock my dad has always been for me. I knew he was always there. I could count on him. I wasn’t afraid of him. I didn’t wonder if he would come home drunk at night. And I firmly believe that because of these things, I have trusted God. I believe that parents ARE God to a young child. All my little boys and girl know about God is what I tell them, and what I am. That’s what my Daddy did for me… taught me about God. And he taught me with his life, not just his words.

I love you, Daddy! Happy Birthday!

Mom and Dad this summer meeting Eva

Not Enough!

Bows, and ribbons. Flowers. Headbands, hats. We’ve got it all. What we don’t have is…

enough hair!

Well, we tried. Five months is not a sufficient life span to grow enough hair for pig tails!

Piece to the Puzzle

Jackson got a floor puzzle for Christmas. He loves it! It is 2×3 feet. He is getting pretty good at putting it together. He needs some occasional help, and generally whines a lot during the process. But he’s getting better!

Jackson turned 4 on December 28! 4! I can’t believe it. He is growing so fast and getting so independent.

• He’s starting to like drawing and cutting.
• He can write an “A.”
• He can unload the dryer.
• He can put on all his own clothes, the right way. 🙂
• He can put toothpaste on his own tooth brush.
• He can quote some Bible verses.

He’s our big boy and we’re thankful for him!

Sweet Leggings

My Eva girl in sweet leggings. I love her. I just love to dress her up. I love her bows and frills. I love her 23 hours a day! There is that one hour in the middle of the night when “like” is a better word than “love.” But seriously, I know she is growing so fast, and will soon outgrow her night feedings. Pretty soon, she’ll start pulling off her headbands. Pretty soon, she’ll be under my feet when I’m busy.

I’m glad she’s still little.

A Glimpse of Heaven

It is with a heavy heart that I blog today. I rarely blog about extremely personal events because I don’t just want anyone to read them. But today, a college friend is remembering the year anniversary of her baby girl being born beautiful and healthy, taking her home, and holding her while she took her last breath at a precious two days old.

It was a horrible experience, to say the least. I will not even try to write of the depths of sorrow their family endured. I cannot understand. I do not want to be able to understand, for only a first-hand experience could make it hurt like she hurt.

What I do know is that to lose a baby is very heart-breaking. Over the past few years, we have miscarried two precious babies. Those were black, rayless times in my life. But God carried us through them, and proved His grace to us!

My first miscarriage was in May 2006, before I had any children. It was the hardest. I felt like we’d waited to long. I felt like there was a beautiful reward for us…just out of reach.

The second miscarriage was in October 2010. We already had our two boys, so it seemed much easier. We knew we wouldn’t be childless. But it was still very heart-rending, and I spent much time in tears. But very soon after that, we found out we were expecting Eva, and God used that to heal me.

Recently, the Duggar family miscarried a baby. They shared a picture of that baby’s hand on her hand. There was a lot of controversy about the photograph, and whether or not they should have posted it. But I’m so glad they did!

You see, I have nothing tangible from my babies. My miscarriages were early, within one week of finding out they were on the way. That made it SO much easier. But in a way, I would love to have known if they were boys or girls, or one of each. I would love to give them a name, and seal a place in my heart. I would love to have a picture, and a favorite outfit they wore, something to hold onto. But I know that with that sweetness would also come a much bigger hole in our lives.

I’m so thankful for Heaven where loved ones are quickly moving. Our babies are there. They are with Jesus, and I know we will be all together again.

Is my story sad? Yes, it is sad, but not compared to so many others. But I’m thankful that the story WILL have a happy ending, for Heaven is real.

The (Eva) Joy of Our Lives

Our precious little Eva is almost five months old! That is so extremely hard to believe, considering the last two weeks of my pregnancy lasted three months! But nevertheless, she is such a sweet part of our lives. We love to cuddle her, and love on her. She gives us the biggest grins! It’s amazing how such a little person, in such a short time takes such a big place!

Little screamer, cute though she may be:

Dressed in her church bonnet:

Love her sleeping cheeks!

Contagious smile:

Watching movies with the biggest brother:

Yes, she’s our girl!

Cloth Diapering Adventures

So, we’re trying cloth diapering around here. 🙂 I have done a lot of research on the internet, and talked to other moms who cloth diaper. The primary reason is money. Diapers are SO expensive, but they are definitely necessary!

There are SO many options out there. Some of the big names are BumGenius and FuzziBunz. Honestly, I would love to use these diapers! They are SO adorable! But if the main reason to cloth diaper is because of cost, these are too expensive. I mean, you may spend around $500 (probably more) to diaper your baby until potty-training, but I needed a cheaper way.

Then I discovered the Econobum system. They boast “Diaper your baby for $100.” So, hey, I can do that! I ordered a sample for $10 on amazon.com. It was one prefold diaper, and one one-size cover. I really liked it!! As I researched more, I discovered the Snappi. This way, you can use old-fashioned prefold cloth diapers, (which are super cheap) but without the pins.

So… I’ve been using all these discoveries on Timothy. I’m very happy with the results. 🙂

Here’s the plain cloth diaper fastened with the Snappi. It’s very easy!

I want to mention that one time, I didn’t have the front layer (the wings) under the back layer where I had the snappi fastened, and it was digging into his skin. Poor little guy!

The Econobums waterproof diaper cover… I love it! It’s supposed to be from 8-35 lbs. See all the snaps? It’s very adjustable. I just think it will be very bulky on a little one. And I’ll wait to use them on Eva until she’s a few months old. It still has a row to go on Timothy.

Cute little soft bottom!

I tried them at night once, and I probably never will again. And I’m not going to put them on Timothy when we’re going out. It’s just too much mess. You have to have a bag to put the wet ones in, and they’re so bulky to pack. So disposables are still our friends, but just using them some has helped already. We haven’t bought diapers in 3-4 weeks.

I still have a lot to learn. I’m learning how to deal with the dirty ones… it’s just so much more complicated. But so far it’s going good, and I just wanted to share my finds!