Eli's Birthday Dinner

We met GG and Papa at the airport in Charlotte, watched some cool jets take off, and then stopped at The Cheesecake Factory for dinner and dessert.

So many choices!

Eli was so cute when the servers came and sang Happy Birthday to him! He had a giant piece of cake that was as big as him!

He shared with Toby!

Happy Birthday Eli!

A little boy turned 4 at our house this week! He woke up and had his place at the breakfast table decorated, a present to open and Lucky Charms for breakfast. It's tradition!

Then he went to preschool and celebrated St. Patrick's Day and his birthday with his class.

Toby joined the class party too!

What a big boy! 4 years old already!!!

A Word for 2011

I've never been much of a New Year's Resolution maker, or keeper for that matter. Joining the masses with a new diet and obligatory gym membership just seemed like a recipe for failure to me. If I need to change something about my life why wait for a new year to do it just because everyone else is doing it?


As 2010 was coming to a close however, I found myself feeling differently. With 2011 on the horizon I felt some things stirring in my heart and a feeling of preperation and expectation taking over. I sent BJ a text message one day that said, "I am pregnant with expectation." That one got his attention.


We closed 2010 at my parents' house in Florida and were blessed to have some time on New Year's Day to steal away on a date. I had my notebook with me and planned to scribble down some measurable goals during the fifty minute car ride to the gulf coast. I'd been praying though, that God would give me a single word for the new year to sum it all up. A word that I could put in my pocket and carry around with me.


God delighted me with a swift reply to my prayer and as He often does, gave me a bit more than I bargained for. It's a simple four-letter word really, but the weight of it prevents me from folding it neatly and stashing it away in a drawer at the end of January.


RISK.


Really God? Am I ready for this? Can you trust me with such a thing? I don't want to fail you. How God?


I could feel Him smiling at me, me of little faith.


A word like that would normally send my mind reeling with possibilities. And not in a hopeful, exciting, eager sort of way. But in a what exactly is this going to cost me sort of way.


But His peace is like a river in my soul.


And in my heart I heard,


I will show you.


We are nearing the end of February and this much I can tell you. He is faithful. And good. Little by little He is showing me how to risk my life for Him.

No eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him.
-1 Corinthians 2:9b

*Mom, I am not literally pregnant with child. I was just using the expression to convey that something was up in my spirit.

To be continued...

Mr. Egg

Yesterday was a gorgeous day in North Carolina. I took the boys outside to run free and absorb some vitamin D. Eli insists on wearing his bike helmet every time he rides his bike. He's my cautious but curious and outgoing firstborn. Toby is into taking risks and climbs everything he can hike his leg over, but he is also in a stage where he doesn't like anyone but me (he'll settle for BJ) and I cringe everytime he squints, frowns and gives the sweet old lady who talks sweetly to him at the grocery store a look that says, "Back off old lady! You're not my mama!" Hopefully he will move past this seperation-anxiety/I-hate-everyone-else-except-the-people-who-concieved-me stage soon.

So we were hanging outside and Eli was up in a tree when our neighbor, Mr. Egg came home (his name is actually Mr. Ed, but Eli insists that it's Mr. Egg and everytime we try to correct him he wins the battle by virtue of sounding so cute). Eli loves, no, he adores Mr. Egg. How did he ever get so lucky with having Mr. Egg as his neighbor? He talks about Mr. Egg all the time. He'll see something that reminds him of Mr. Egg and say he wants to see Mr. Egg. Mr. Egg has not one, not two, but three pick-up trucks, a couple of small boats, a structure that looks like a life size Linkin Log cabin behind his house (BJ once asked him what it was and he said he had built it for his own boy to play in years ago). He has four chocolate lab hunting dogs, a deer target, a classic car he works on, handmade birdhouses, random golf balls, and a farm down the road with a herd of cows. Mr. Egg lets Eli play fetch with his dogs, tells him the dogs' names even when Eli asks for the 25th time. He tells Eli all about his cows and calves and gives him random golf balls to keep.

When Eli saw Mr. Egg he waved excitedly and Mr. Egg invited us over to see something new. So I helped Eli out of the tree and Toby whined for me to hold him and not let him go (see above) and we walked over toward Mr. Egg's old pick-up truck. When we got there Mr. Egg told us that he trapped a raccoon on his farm "for some guys to run their dogs with." Luckily I have a storybook about North Carolina's state dog, the Plott Hound, who hunts raccoons so I had a vague understanding of what he was talking about.

Mr. Egg lowered the tailgate and sure enough, there in a cage was the gray and black masked rodent with beedy black eyes. It stared and growled at us and I warned Eli to not get too close because this here was a wild animal. Mr. Egg shoved a stale piece of bread at the raccoon's nose and Eli kept saying, "Aw, he's so cute!" The pitiful thing was cute but I couldn't help but stare at it's long claws and wonder if it was rabid. But Eli just loved studying it even though he couldn't touch it.

Eli soon grew bored of the raccoon after it hid its face in the corner of the cage. He then asked Mr. Egg if he could see the dogs and we walked down to the dog pin where Turbo, Booger and the other labs live. Mr. Egg let Booger out and Eli played fetch with him, tossing the slobbery rubber toy and then he ran to hide behind Mr. Egg's legs because Booger is bigger than Eli and he's been knocked down a time or two by the massive hunting dog.

Yes, Eli is a blessed boy to have Mr. Egg as a neighbor, especially since we live so far from grandparents. God is looking out for my little boy's heart and that is a tremendous blessing for his mama's heart too.

Hodgepodge of Recent Pictures and a Special Announcement!

My little man loved running around outside at Mema and Grandad's house last month!

Sunrise and 100 year old Pecan tree at my parents' house.

I love this picture of my sweet boys. Toby had gotten too close to the water and Eli went after him, turned him around and walked him back to safety.

Eli kept his clothes on until my camera died. After which, he shed his sweater, shoes and socks and rolled up his pants and had a blast playing in the chilly water.

A couple weeks after we got back from Florida it snowed!

Cheese!

Toby feels bad for Eli when he gets sent to time-out.

My boys doing what they do best. Playing hard and making messes. Eli likes to build Toby "rocket ships" on his bed.

BJ is going back to school! He was accepted into the Master of Arts in Marriage and Family Therapy program at Liberty University! He starts online in a couple weeks. He will also take some of their intensive classes (which are a week long) on campus which is 2 hours away in Virginia. We are so excited! Please pray for our family as BJ begins this journey.

Vicks Vapo Rub-A Family Heirloom

BJ's mom G.G. flew down from Michigan to see us this week! On Thursday morning Eli started to run a temperature. The poor guy was feeling pretty miserable. That night he was up coughing quite a bit at all hours. He asked if he could sleep on the couch (he likes to sleep there sometimes) so I moved him there. Well, G.G. heard the coughing and commotion and God love her, decided to come downstairs to see if she could help. She brought down a jar of Vick's Vapo Rub that she'd brought with her and I rubbed some on Eli's chest and he finally went to sleep.

I went back to bed and told BJ that his mom had brought down her Vicks Vapo Rub, which tickled him because, according to him, she used to slather him with it all the time when he was sick as a kid. Maybe you remember the commercials for Vicks Rapo Rub...

Or if you're older this one, which is especially sweet and reminds me of Toby!

Well, G.G. had to leave on Saturday, but she forgot her Vicks Vapo Rub. That night Eli was up again coughing and having a rough time so I got up and grabbed G.G.'s Vicks. This timeI noticed something a little funny about it.

Enter exhibit A:

Upon further examination I saw this:

Exhibit B:

(Expiration: NOV 97. I don't think that's 2097. No, folks, we're talking 1997. As in last century.)

That sweet G.G.! Not only did she have just the thing that Eli needed to feel better! She had blessed us with the very same jar of Vicks that she probably used on his daddy so many years ago! It's like a family heirloom! And after putting it to my nose again, you know what? It smelled fine. Hadn't lost one bit of its potency!

(We love you G.G. I hope you don't mind us sharing this story, but it sure gave us a good chuckle! We hope you are laughing too!)

Some Pictures from Christmas

GG has informed me that I have fallen behind on updating my blog. Well, there is a reason for that. Besides staying busy keeping up with my little men (and big one), I have filled up BJ's Mac with photos! Oops! Please don't tell his place of employment (they actually own the thing). While I save my pennies for an external hard drive (or my own Mac *sigh*) GG and Mema and any other lovely followers of this thing will have to bear with me.

In the meantime, here are a few shots from Christmas in Florida!

Following family tradition of baking and cutting out Christmas sugar cookies. They are wearing aprons that were made for me and my brother by Great grandma Speers who is 90 years old!

Mema helps Eli with the cookie cutter.

The finished product. I ate way too many of them!

Toby and his feast! This was dinner when we arrived after the 10 hour journey!

Giving a concert and wearing Grandad's glasses!