The McMillan Family

Yahweh Yireh

2010-08-09T07:12:00.009-04:00

Yahweh Yireh ~ The LORD who Provides!

10 months since my last post phew! almost a year and not a word!

Well, little did we know, in those pictures from the Taylor Reunion, (which we are about to embark upon again!) we had a little life growing inside of us. (well me to be technical about it, but our whole family was a part of this new life).

Kevin and I had gotten ourselves involved in an art gallery above the bookshelf downtown, but after finding out about the pregnancy we decided there was too much on our plate, and stepped down from involvement.

Life was slowly progressing along and in November, just before the week of Thanksgiving, I had a check up appt, in which the heart beat was not able to be detected. They scheduled me for an ultrasound two days later. But when I went home, I could not wait two days. Early the next morning, I called first thing and found out there was a cancellation and I took the appt.

Kevin had a busy day, so we dropped the kids off at my moms, I dropped him off at work and off I went to the women's imaging center to have the ultrasound that hopefully was going to tell me whether we were having a boy or a girl. After all, I was 18 weeks, that magical number where you get to find out!

As I laid on the table, I saw the baby , but it was not moving. Then I saw the technician (the same technician who had done all other ultrasounds) with a look on her face that was not the same "light in her eyes look" as with all other ultra sounds.

The baby is not moving is it? I asked. She sadly shook her head and I knew that something was not right.

I don't remember what words were said next, but I do remember, going to into the bathroom and crying so hard that I was shaking. I was genuinely afraid that I would not be able to walk out into the lobby, in front of all those people, without appearing hysterical.

I did somehow, make it back to the car where I called Kevin. I was unable to speak, but he knew from the sobs that the baby had not made it.

Oh my world shattered. The guilt, the sadness that I knew would not go away, the loss that we would never regain. As we sat in Dr. Jackson's office a few minutes later, there were Christmas decorations laying on the floor and the typical Dean Martin Holiday Cheer. I laid my head on Kevin's shoulder and I just prayed,

"God, if YOU raised Jesus, if YOU brought HIM back to life, please, breathe life back into this child." I prayed, I promised I would believe and have faith. But the baby did not come back to life, the baby had gone to be with Jesus.

The days that followed, I was so full of the Presence of God. It was amazing how HE rushed to my side and blessed me with a strange peace. Like the wounded lamb, thrown over its Shepherds shoulder, I lay there on my LORD, absolutely dependent on HIM for my next spiritual breathe.

We were admitted to Archbold that Friday, where I was induced and delivered the little one 12 hours later. As we left the hospital the next day, though I had peace, there was still a blanket of sadness that I knew was going to be my companion for the following months.

Sunday, we had a service for the baby, whom we chose to name Asapho Kainos McMillan, which means "Yahweh has chosen" (Asapho in Spanish) "an altogether new experience" (Kainos in Greek). And it is truly amazing how this name encapsulated the months that followed.

Yahweh had indeed chosen a new experience for our family. We thought the little one would come to live with us, but GOD chose to take the little on home before ever entering into this sinful world.

At the service, Dan had come to lead us in our time of saying good bye. Only family was there. Kevin wanted to share a few words, and I also read a prayer that I had written.

After the service Kevin and I looked at each other and I said to him, you need to be in some form of ministry. Dan even told Don that Kevin needed to be preaching. Kevin's heart for GOD, and the connection He has to HIM, has always been very evident to me. But in that moment, I think we both heard GOD speaking to us and telling us.....I want more of you guys than Church Attendance and quiet times, I want you full time.

But what does that look like? We set an appt with Dan (poor Dan, he has had so many Kevin and Lesli meetings where we beg him for counsel!) and told him, look we don't know what GOD is doing, but we feel a magnetic pull towards our Creator. Dan very wisely advised us to embark on a season of intense prayer, seeking out the face of GOD. He also encouraged us to endure a season of fasting.

And this is just what Kevin and I did. We sought HIM with all that we had. And HE spoke to us. Not audibly, but through sacred echos, where we heard this constant message from various different sources.

"Love the LORD you GOD with all your heart, mind, soul & strength and love your neighbor as yourself"

Through books and counselors and friends we began to see a new path that God was laying out before us. One in which we were whole heartedly seeking HIM out. Where we were not the ones doing the planning, but we were stepping back and saying ok GOD what do YOU want from us? A new path, where we genuinely were trying to listen out for the voice of GOD, instead of talking so much , that we could never hear HIS voice.

And this is where we are now. Still waiting on exactly what HE has planned for us, but closer to HIM than we have ever been as a married couple.

I heard a conversation the other day, in which the speaker was addressing the issue of unanswered prayers. Why does GOD say Ask, Seek, Knock and you shall receive, if He doesn't always answer the prayers we cry out?

He used an illustration I found very helpful. If a child asked you for a scorpion, would you give him one? But if that same child asked you for an egg, would you comply? Of course you would not give the child the scorpion, the scorpion could take that very child's life. Though the child begs, pleads and communicates his absolute conviction that he needs that scorpion, you as his parent, know that the scorpion would not be a good thing.

The egg on the other hand, would give nourishment and life and therefore you would gladly give your child the egg.

Sometimes, we beg GOD for a scorpion. Not knowing that the thing we ask for, we think it is just perfect, exactly what we need, it is good it is right, but GOD says no, it is death. Then other times we ask GOD for an egg, and GOD says very well my child, here you go.

I entitled this post Yahweh Yireh, The LORD Provides. It may seem an odd title, in light of the content of the post. However Yahweh did provide, HE gave us a most wonderful life that set our hearts back on track in living unto our Creator. Kevin and I were headed down a path of self-sufficiency, self-satisfaction, self-promotion, self. And Yahweh, grabbed ahold of us, I can almost envision HIM grabbing us by the shoulders and shaking us, while looking compassionately in our eyes, Come To ME! He says in a gentle, yet Fatherly voice.

And so we have and may we never leave.

Taylor Family Reunion on Parenting.

2009-09-17T15:55:00.001-04:00

Taylor Family Reunion

2009-09-14T05:57:00.013-04:00

This year we celebrated our Taylor Family Reunion in Carrolton GA. Kevin wasn't so sure about the outing when I told him we all had to wear matching shirts!

He rebelled for a short time, but then he gave in!

This is everyone hearing our instructions on the scavenger hunt.

This was Emily's first reunion as well. She also took a little time to decide whether or not she wanted to be a part of this clan.

I tried to protect her from everyone. But with a family like mine...this can seem near impossible

For clarification...my uncle Dewayne, the one in the underwear outerweared, was responding with true Taylor class to the first item on our scavenger hunt which was a picture with Uncle Dewayne and his underwear.

Another item on the scavenger hunt was a picture with a reptile. We found a snake!

We also had to have a picture of a mallard. There was also a picture of my Dad kissing a park ranger but for the protection of his reputation I am not including this photo.

Another item was a picture with a bunny. We searched high and low but could not find a bunny. So I invited myself to a couples birthday party for their daughter and asked if they has any toy bunny's. I found one on this box. Sadly...in spite of my creativity and ingenuity...we did not receive credit for this item!

Here is Dad in a pyramid. Another item on the list.

And me swinging on a tire swing.

Dad standing beneath an arch

Me standing in a trailor

We had lots of fun.. and tied for second to last place!

Below is a picture of Aunt Kathy, which i politely had to prompt her to open her eyes.

She obliged me quite well!

Here are three of our little ones. David, Melanie, Kevin & I were the only brave ones to bring our little ones this year. Hopefully next year there will be more playmates!

Until then, Emily will show her personality in ways only she can!

These two are only two months apart. Can you tell? Who do you think is the oldest? (Christian)

Here is everyone eating our low country boil. If you look closely...Melanie is about to scream because this is my 500th group shot!

:)

Here is a picture of uncle J and aunt Aggie.

Here is another shot after I reminded them to look like they love each other!

Here is the notorious "event" where we dress up honored guests. This year it was Aunt Aggie, Aunt Kathy & Aunt Judy's birthdays!

In case you are wondering... that is wrapping paper they are dressed up in!

Here is Uncle Dewayne wondering....did I really put my underwear on the outside of my pants?

More of the silly ladies!

Here is Mom, Dad, Emily and a tootsie pop!

Here are Mom and Dad, Christian and Emily all enjoying their time together.

The Two brothers! Oldest and Youngest.

We took several walks while at the reunion. I use to walk the trails all the time as a young girl. it was net to share with my new little family.

More eating...This time it was burgers and all the fixins'

What a smile!

All three of them...occupied by the ice cooler!

More group shots.

Daddy and daughter!

More great smiles!

Kevin and I took a trip to Atlanta to go the The High Museum of Art. We had a great time.

After the reunion...we weren't sure Kevin would ever be the same!

We had a great time and are truly grateful to John, David, Melanie, Aunt Aggie, Uncle J, and all of those who put forth so much work to make it a successful reunion.

We look forward to next years reunion and more crazy, Taylor fun!

10 purposes of parenting

2009-09-10T08:39:00.001-04:00

Many times a life of parenting can become overwhelming. I found this list very encouraging and wanted to share it, hoping you would find it an encouragement.

10 purposes of parenting

1. To model Jesus

2. To pray for our children daily.

3. To demonstrate a life of integrity.

4. To set safe and appropriate boundaries.

5. To be a student of our children's world.

6. To promote our childrens unique interests.

7. To encourage a passionate desire for truth.

8. To respect their abilities and self determination.

9. To influence their beliefs, rather than control their behaviors.

10. To shape their environment, because it will influence their hearts.

Taken From Parenting without Perfection by David Seel Jr.

trip to wakula springs

2009-09-04T06:18:00.005-04:00

Another trip we took this summer was to Wakula Springs. Before we went to the springs, we actually went to a science museum where the kids were able to touch and feel marine life!

I think Christian really enjoyed seeing the marine life move around.

Here is Emily holding a crab!

Aunt Mindy & Tyler also experimenting with the marine world!

I am not sure if you can see...but Christians shirt and face are both wet...you may be asking how did that happen? Papa. Papa. Papa. Christian were he with his mama would not have had quite an exploratory time. But with Papa, he got to splash and play to his hearts content!

Yuk!

Papa with all of his grands!

Here is a shark that we were able to see. No...we could not touch these!

Here is a picture of our Emily. We went on a boat ride around the springs. It was nearly an hour long and Emily had a great time! Christian took a well deserved nap!

If you look closely you can see there is a crocodile hiding in the bush.

On the trip home, the kids lasted about 15 minutes before they were both sound asleep!

The Smokey Mountains

2009-09-02T05:47:00.014-04:00

A quick update. Where have we been?

Not much happened in May. We all got a stomach bug and had to be rescued my Donna, who came in full force with lysol! Mom, Dad, Kevin, Emily & I were all sick. sick. sick. Like Kevin lost 10 pounds and I lost 5!

I turned 31! Ha! Am I over the hill?

In June we went to The Smokey Mountains. I am putting in some pictures below. We had a great time!

Here is Emily at our first rest stop on our way to the smokies. She has just enjoyed an altoid and a cookie!

Here is Christian...also enjoying a cookie

And another cookie!

We split meals when we are in the mountains and this was a picture of the kiddos chowing down!

Here is Emily and her favorite 2nd cousin Olivia. Olivia and Emily have been good pals at each family gathering we have had!

Bubbles are always fun. Of course Emily wants to be the one to make and blow!

This was the cabin we stayed in.

Emily had her first roller coaster ride!

Gigi And Papa enjoying their grandkids!

The three of us!

Can you tell we are related?

Unlce Chris & Ty having fun with the race cars.

Three generations!

Christian's first roller coaster ride!

Emily & Tyler had a blast!

I am not sure who had more fun...us or the kids!

cutie!

cutie tootie!

Mindy & Dad doing their traditional dare devil act. This was one of those like 50 feet high thingys that spins you around around. You know where you could die riding it! I was not a participant!

Backpacking!

Our Little Movie Star

My beautiful family!

Our hiking trail

More hiking trails

Mommy hiking.

My babies minue one! (kevin)

Mommy with the backpack

Emily's turn.

Papa and his little man.

My super cool Dad!

Group Photo

Dad and I hiking. We use to hike a lot more when I was single. it was special to have this time hiking with my family and my Dad!

Christian taking a nap!

Emily getting her own little ride!

Our journey.

The waterfall. This was what we were hiking to.

We were able to walk underneath the falls to a little creek bed

I thought I could get Christian to go swimming.

But he said it was too cold!

Emily did go swimming wihtout her clothes on!

I am not including photos of that!

A beautiful shot!

A handsome group!

Daddy's turn carrying the pack

Papa playing hide n seek

OUr journey home

In addition to our trip to the mountains, Kevin began teaching a series of lectures at the bookshelf, in the art gallery above. This was an attempt to expand his services to include marketing and consulting. I have been very proud of him as he has taken a great leap of faith in pursuing a venture all on his own.

2009-04-29T23:03:00.006-04:00

This past weekend we celebrated Christians 1st Birthday!

We started the day off with a trip to Chez Pierre in Tallahasse for a European Style Lunch!

Then we headed to The Brogan Museum to learn about natural energy.

We also went to Borders to get Mommy a coffee, Emily a snickerdoodle and we each got to get a book!

We headed back to Thomasville to have Baked Spaghetti, Salad & Sour Dough Bread at Gi Gi's house and then to the parade to meet Pa, Grandma, AJ & Abigail.

Christian had the best seat in the house! Or did Pa?

Emily and her Daddy had a great time watching the parade go by!

Emily got a kick out of the horses, motorcycles and the bands

Emily also enjoyed time with her cousins!

A group photo after a wonderful day!

Christian enjoyed some dancing in the streets after the parade was over. This is Mickey, a friend and brother in Christ.

Saturday Morning, we went to Gi Gi's for the official party. We were suppose to arrive in time to watch the race run by...but we were a little late and brought in the rear!

(but we all had showers and were at Moms by 8:50 am on a Saturday!)

I know this shot below is blurry but I had to include it. Aren't these two beautiful women!

Here is Christian enjoying his party!

Pa

Grand Pa Stan

All of our favorite people were in attendance!

Here are all the cousins! I enlisted their help in opening the presents.

Here my husband expressed his creativity!

And then there is the cake.

exploring

sampling

approving

devouring

bathing

sister enjoyed her cake too!

our spiritual grandma & pa!

After the party at Gi Gi's we went to Grandma & Pa's to swim. Somehow I didn't really get any shots of this, but we had a great time.

After swimming we came home, put jammies on and went for a walk. About half way thru we discovered this...

no nap days are always interesting!

This was aroung 7pm

We had them in bed by 8:30!

It was a great day!

2009-04-29T15:17:00.004-04:00

here is a picture of my big boy who just turned 1! He is a handful these days. changing his diaper and dressing him require an extra measure of grace as he tends to squirm, wiggle and sometimes cry as you try to go thru the motions.

but it is hard to get frustrated (although we do!) with a cute little smile like this one!

he is definitely mobile! not yet walking but getting close. due to frequent messes, we have been eating without clothing lately!

we have also been going on bike rides! this has been a great way to spend time together as a family and kevin and i have been amazed that we actually get to talk while being with the kids! here is a picture of their little cart.

they both behave very well in there which has been surprising. tonight christian actually fell asleep and emily had her arm intertwined with her brothers. it was so cute!

here is their official transporter. yes that's right kevin lugs the 75 pounds trailing behind him. i have offered to help, but kevin says he doesn't want to because he doesn't want to ride a girl bike!

i highly recommend one of these to any family that likes the outdoors and being together! they're great!

Easter at First Baptist

2009-04-29T06:07:00.006-04:00

sunday after we spent the day with don & donna celebrating easter we went home and took naps! then we went to visit our old church!

here is daddy commanding the ship

christian directing traffic

and emily, the star of the show!

these two have a special relationship. they both have to put up with mommy!

here is a great shot of pa with the heir to The McMillan Throne!

and finally...after all the fussing and fighting, we got a great family picture! never give up!

another great shot!

after Church, Emily decided she wanted to take a shot at preaching

christian decided to join her.

here is our little angel singing.

and laughing and being silly in general!

here is a video with her debut sermon and song!

Easter 2009

2009-04-21T15:31:00.005-04:00

Our Easter started with getting everyone ready. Kevin took some photos while Mommy was getting ready! That's right Dad! I am still the last one ready!

Emily was giving us her best cheeses!

After Church we went to Grandma & Pa's for lunch.

We thought we would get a few shots of the kids. I knew this would be interesting but I didn't know just how interesting!

Here is Kevin's first attempt. Come one Emily, it's time for pictures.

Cooperation as defined by a two year old!

A little better. At least now she is smiling!

Pa decided he would give it a try.

Grandma thought for sure she had the magical touch. We were beginning to loose hope. How do all of those "other" people get family pictures!

A little better, but could we maybe NOT pick our nose!

Hey, this one is pretty good except what happened to Christian!

Ah Ha! A real good picture. We only took 300!

At least one of us is smiling!

Here we go! The perfect smile!

gorgeous!

And finally a group shot! What a family!

Easter Egg Hunt in Opelika

2009-04-21T15:17:00.004-04:00

The weekend of Easter, we went to Opelika to celebrate AJS birthday. We had an Easter Egg hunt!

Can you tell these two are related?

Beautiful Family!

I really wanted to get a picture of Kev and I. Since the kids have been around we have so few pictures of us together! This is either because my hips have grown (!) or because we never are together just the two of us!

A family picture. The best we can do! Christian was obviously not cooperating!

Our Little Angel!

2009-04-21T15:00:00.002-04:00

A few Saturday's ago, my parents called and asked if they could take Emily to go see the baby chicks. A strange request...but I figured it would be a blessing for all parties involved. SO off we shipped our Emily, boots and all to see the baby chicks.

This was around 830 am.

Mom asked in breakfast could proceed chicks.

Sure, Waffle House...YUm!

Around 11:30am I call to see how things are going. Only to find out, now they are at another feed store. Why? Emily wanted to see pink chicks. SO off they went to Stones, to see pink chicks.

(everything is pink these days...pink boats, airplanes, bikes, hats, pjs...EVERYTHING. i have the feeling we will be having a pink birthday in October!)

can she eat lunch with us? asks mom.

Sure.

Here they are checking out the feed.

Precious!

At 1pm...I get a call, "can we go out to the farm?" so off they go to ride.

At 3pm, Emily came home smelling like horse, giggly like a little girl who had been with her gigi & papa all day!

God knew what He was doing when He made grandparents!

Accidents to Learn From

2009-04-20T15:52:00.003-04:00

This picture may look very innocent...but what you cannot see is that Christian has no diaper on! He simply has a shirt wrapped around his little peter.

Why, you ask, does the poor lad have no diaper on?

New Moms every where tune in to prevent experiencing such an encounter.

We had finally made it to the park. It had been a long day and I wanted to let Emily run and be free! We'll go to the park, was my grand idea! Little did I know what lie in waiting around the corner.

When we arrived at the park, I got the stroller out first, figuring I would pop Shep in first and secure him and then let Emily walk.

After getting the stroller out I moved on to Christian. Sniff, Sniff. Smells funny. Surely, he has not gone pooh after I JUST changed him. Very delicately I pull him out of the car seat so as to prevent any squishing and oozing.

I peek into the back side of his diaper and sure enough...there is pooh!

Quickly I lay the changing pad down, pull off his pants as carefully as I can and proceed to take off the diaper and clean his little bobie.

And then I remembered...there was only one diaper in the diaper bag yesterday and we went to nursery! Surely there was still one on there.

I look,
no diaper.

I am holding a naked little boy with no diaper! I can't put him on the ground, what am I going to do!

So I go around back and explain to Emily that we are experiencing delays in our departure time. She expresses her disappointment and I pray for patience.

I lay Christian in the back of the van and let him crawl around (without a diaper on) I search and search. Of course I have some hidden diapers somewhere. I know I left some back here somewhere.

I look everywhere, None.

Then I get back into the van, holding a naked baby boy.

I search the front seat, middle seat...no diapers!

What am I going to do? I really want to go for a walk and how will I explain this to my poor daughter who has already had numerous disappointments, that we have to go home without walking around the lake? (those of you without kids, have no idea how hard it can be to explain to a three year old that plans have changed. and the plans are not taking a turn for the better)

Defeated, I explain to Emily that brother has gone pooh and mommy has no diapers (three cheers for mom!) We have to go home and get him a diaper. We will have to come back to the park later. She took the news pretty well.

What, you ask did I do with my poor diaperless son?

I wrapped him up with his spare onesie (which I did manage to have on hand) and drove home.

Lesson Learned....

At the very moment I returned home, I went inside, grabbed a diaper bag and stocked it full to the brim with everything I could possible think of!

Next time I will be prepared!

In case you are wondering...when I got home, the shirt was wet!

2009-04-20T06:52:00.003-04:00

Meal Times at The McMillans

2009-04-20T06:37:00.004-04:00

So Christian skipped the whole baby food thing and went straight to table food!

We were fine with this...except that we had to get creative with our logistics...meaning removing clothing and making sure the dog is around to catch the scraps!

He is enjoying himself and especially likes roasted potatoes, grilled squash, peaches, oranges and tomato slices!

I have been successful recently at getting him to take in some food by means of a spoon (like oatmeal and peas) but he still reaches for the spoon!

We have also been trying to work with Emily on her table manners!

Kevin and I are trying to hang in there! We often recall the quite meal times we once had when it was just the two of us playing cards and then reading on the couch! Any suggestions as to how you do this with two little ones?

2009-04-20T06:30:00.004-04:00

Feeding Christian

2009-04-20T06:04:00.005-04:00

In February, we also decided it was time to feed Christian some baby food. Below is documentation of our experiment.

We tried having both grandparents over as we did with Emily. Christian thought all of this was great! He was enjoying the entertaining...

Until he got a taste of the rice cereal! Not quite what he was expecting...nor I! Emily took to the cereal like she had been looking for it all her days! Her little mouth opened wide with the first bite and every one since then! But Christian had other plans...

He decided it would be more fun to feed it to himself!

We tried several bites only to face rejection time and time again.

We did however use the occasion as an opportunity to have a bonfire and smores!

We even got Grandma & Pa out there with us!

I continued my saga of trying to get Christian to eat without much success until one morning I realized the one consistent variable was that I was feeding him. SO....I made the oatmeal a little thick and put it on the tray for him to have at it....

and what can I say...it worked! It only required a bath afterwards!

Zoinks

2009-04-12T22:58:00.003-04:00

In February we took a trip to Zoinks with Grandma, Pa, Aunt Christy & Abi. We had a great time!

Here is Grandma enjoying Baby Shep.

Emily of course was excited to be with all her family in such a fun and exciting place!

Do these two look alike or what!

I love this picture of Emily as it catches her in deep contemplation!

Kevin and I both enjoyed the time playing with the kids

Christian enjoyed the opportunity to crawl around.

Emily was really brave and let nothing hold her back!

We even took our very own try at sliding!

I guess Pa had fun playing with the camera?

playing catch up

2009-04-12T16:39:00.004-04:00

Greetings!

I have to warn you...I am going to have some pretty outdated blogs coming your way!

It has been way too long since we have had an entry and I will try to touch on the highlights to catch you all up on where we have been lately.

This year has proven to have its challenges but I feel as if God is teaching us all many lessons. Kevin has left NTS and is now self employed. We are floating along by Gods Grace, and trusting in Him to provide for our spiritual and financial needs.

Meanwhile..Emily has been enjoying coloring!

Both Christian & Emily are growing by leaps and bounds! It has indeed proven to be a challenge to keep up with the two of them! When I hear someone crying I never know if it is Emily being too rough with brother (maybe he took a toy or is getting too much in her personal space) or could it be Emily crying because brother took a chomp out of her leg! Needless to say I rarely leave them in a room unattended!

However, there are those rare moments when I take a chance and exit the room only to find interesting surprises upon my return!

Below is the story of one such occasion!

What is this?! You may be asking yourself....this is my daughter recovering from her very first "catastrophic two year old venture".

I had left Emily and Christian in the bedroom for a brief moment while I went into the kitchen to put up some laundry...I come back into the bedroom only minutes later to find both children giggling. I knew something must be terribly wrong. Sure enough...something was in Emilys hands that she was rubbing all over her face and into her hair. Next I survey Christian...yep he is contaminated as well. What in the world does she have I think to myself and then with sudden horror...I realize I had left the vasoline in the laundry basket. Yes the very same vasoline that she has requested numerous times to play with and now it is all over her and her brother!

In panic mode I put her into the tub...Christian follows us into the bathroom pulls apart the air vent and then the phone rings!

Calgone take me away!

No really I called my Mom and she solved the problem

After three or four times of washing her hair and realizing that what I was doing simply was not cutting it, I realize Mom needs to be recruited. After some searcing she reports the antedote...Cornstarch! So here Emily is enjoying her cornstarch treatment!

After a few minutes of cornstarch Emily's hair was returned to normal! Here she is having a snack after her new hair do.

Papa and Emily decided to celebrate with some dare devil play. Mom wasn't taking it so well!

My Husband

2009-02-14T14:49:00.002-05:00

I really must take this opportunity to counter my husbands comments in the previous entry.

He IS Amazing!

When I read through the scriptures how a husband is to love his wife, time and time again ,situation after situation is called to mind which clearly illustrates how Kevin loves me in the ways he is called to.

I have told him on numerous occasions that I am convinced that God brought him into my life to show me how God loves us.

There have been entirely too many embarrassing times in which words have shot out of my mouth (just this week in fact) that later pierce through my heart as I realize the ways I have disrespected him with my tone, words and often actions. And yet he still loves me. After reconciliation occurs he always embraces me with welcoming arms that harbor no resentment, unforgiveness, or bitterness.

I often feel like Gomer & Hosea. I do so many shameful things and yet Kevin continues to love me and believe in me. This is a gift far beyond any tangible, materialistic thing. One in which I am so undeserving but truly grateful.

Thank You sweetie for loving me the way you do. I know God is not through with me yet! Thank you for believing in me!

I L Y!

My Valentine (from Kevin McMillan)

2009-02-13T09:16:00.002-05:00

I used to work with a man who said "Merry Christmas" to people all year long. His point was that the birth of Christ is a blessing that we can enjoy all the time . . . i.e., every day is Christmas. The same should be true for Valentine's Day . . . or at least in my case.

If you have a wonderful wife, as I do, then each day should be Valentine's. Not just on February 14th, but every day, we should shower our wives with affection (whatever says "I LOVE YOU" to them).

Unfortunately, I often fail to remind her every day how much I love and appreciate her (just like Christmas).

As many men, I could do what our society has set as the standard for V-day (e.g., flowers, card, chocolate), or I could try to do something BIG (perhaps to make up for the past year). Several things come to mind that she would appreciate. Unfortunately, finances seem to be more restricting than ever (sorry sweetie, no trip to Italy this weekend).

However, this year I have decided to make a renewed (and public) commitment to love my wife each day the way she deserves, how CHRIST wants me to, and as an overflow of how my heart feels.

Lesli,

I am sorry that I have not shown you each day the love GOD has given me for you and expressed how much I appreciate who you are and what you have done for me, our family, and those around you. There is no one like you, and I would choose no other to be my wife and the mother of our children.

ILY
kevin

2009-01-05T04:40:00.007-05:00

Christmas has come and gone. And we will probably take down our decorations tonight & Kevin is headed back to work. We learned a lot this Christmas, although I don't know that I can put it all to words.

We tried to understand from a fresh perspective the meaning of Christmas. God taught us a lot. But we still have a long ways to go!

We tried to teach Emily about the true meaning of Christmas. Here are Grandma & Pa sharing with her a special Christmas story.

Here is Emily sharing some Christmas goodies with the residents at Green Leaf. A group of us from Christ Community sang some carols for the residents.

Emily & her friend Abi enjoyed the opportunity to be a blessing. It was so cute to hear them both saying "Merry Christmas!"

And of course they took time to play!

This is a picture of Daddy, Emily & Christian making a birthday cake for Jesus.

We were hoping that this activity would help Emily to understand the reason we celebrate Christmas.

Here is grandma enjoying baby Christian and his new hat!

This season had its share of unexpected events. Up above is a picture of Emily at the post office downtown. Life according to sweet Emily is not always seen from the typical vantage point!

Life is always full of unexpected events. But as Kevin says...we must learn to pivot!

Here is Emily and Daddy out at the farm.

Above is Emily and her Papa trying to read a Christmas Story at the farm. Papa actually had to finish the story at home.... Emily was way too distracted by all of the animals out at the farm!

Beautiful smile! Emily is a true Delight! I have enjoyed so much this season watching her curiosity and personality grow. She loves giving kisses and being held. She is a wonderful big sister and she loves to help us out with Christian. When I feed Christian, she always runs to get a burp clothe without me even asking.

On the humerous side of things...she has been putting her baby doll in time out! Should I be worried?

She is also taking after her mommy in more ways than one. Here she is imitating one of her mommies bad habits...

yes that's right...she is picking her nose!

Here is Daddy trying to read the Christmas Story to Emily. Looks like Christian is the only one who stuck around!

Here is Daddy opening up the baby doll that Mieke, from Publix, gave her.

Here is Emily showing off her special baby!

On Christmas Eve, we had lunch with Keisha, a young lady who was in 8th grade the last I checked...now she is in college!

Emily decided she wanted to eat her lunch without shoes! And certainly not sitting still! Who needs a chair while eating! Donna says Kevin also ate on the go!

Handsome! Here is Christian in a high chair! I fall in love with him more and more each day!

Cutie~! Here is Christian sporting his Christmas Jammies from Grammie.

Super Cutie!

Pouting!

I don't know where she gets this from!

Another funny thing that I have noticed Emily doing lately is burrying her face in her hands. I could not figure out where she got this from. But all too frequently, I notice that when I issue the request to change a diaper or get into a car seat and the request is declined, my face goes in my hands! Like Mommy...Like Daughter!

Siblings!

Mommy & Baby Shep. Don't you love this smile!

Emily & Daddy walking the dog. Emily loves to do this!

Emily loves dogs in general. Below is a clip of Emily enjoying Daisy at Grandma & Pa's.

Grandma and Emily enjoying their Christmas!

One of Christian's latest accomplishments is blowing raspberries. Here he is in action!

He has also become quite a handful! Changing a diaper is usually best accomplished with two people now a days. It takes one person at each end to keep him pinned down!

He is also starting to pull up...on everything! Bumping his head is an everyday thing these days!

He is still crawling and getting into everything and just as cute as ever!

And I think his smile gets cuter everyday!

We are all enjoying his sweetness! Here is a picture of his Aunt Mindy getting some Christian Luv!

This year we got Pa and Grandma a plaque with their family name on it. We are truly greatful to them for all they have done to make our family possible.

I am truly grateful that they raised the godly son & father that they did. One that truly loves me as Christ has called him to. And one that cares for our family with an unending, compassionate & understanding love. With patience, love & hope for a better tomorrow, Kevin serves our family in countless ways & I know that none of this would be possible if it were not for the countless hours of patience, creativity and teaching they poured into Kevin's life.

In our family, we are hoping to bring into our lives the same fun, love and grace that Don & Donna raised Christy & Kevin with. Those of you that know me...know the grace & fun part is a big challenge for a serious nerd like me. But I am working on it!

Christian is also sitting up....almost. He is really close but always needs someone there to spot him!

Here is Emily in her new jammies & her brothers cool new hat!

Another one of Christians latest trends is pulling up on everything! This is making me a nervous wreck because we have hard wood floors! I have found him several times up on his knees holding onto a chair or toy, looking at me like...Mommy...how do I get down?

I think our days of leaving him alone on the floor will temporarily need to stop until he is more sure footed!

Emily got a new computer! It looks like brother is wanting to share!

This year Kevin and I tried to be very intentional about teaching Emily the true meaning of Christmas. We purchased an advent book (or two or three...) and we bought Emily several Christmas books (lets just say the bookshelf was loving us this season!). We tried to do an advent reading each day with her (this was definitely hit or miss) and we tried to remind her each day of the reason for the season.

Yesterday we celebrated Christmas as a family at I think what we experienced taught us a lot about a spiritual pilgrimage in general.

1. You can't try to force a normal rockwell!

You can try to have things a certain way..but it will never be perfect. Embrace what does happen and continue to strive for what you planned.

2. There is much joy in giving! And also...much learning!

We visited a couple of older families on Christmas Eve and it was such a blessing to be a blessing and a learning experience! I always learn so much when being around older people. If nothing else..to simply enjoy the youth and life that we now know.

3. Jesus Is The Light of The World!

We went to the Christmas Eve service at First Baptist. As a tradition at the end of the service, we lit candles. The sanctuary was dark and the only light was from the candles. We were up in the balcony and as we watched the lights spreading throughout the sanctuary, I kept telling Emily, "Sweetie, these lights are like Jesus". All month we have been telling her that Jesus is a light to help us. Traditionally I think we think of light in the sense of helping each other out. And I certainly don't want to take away from that perspective. But more and more what I felt The Lord speaking to me this Season was...I am a light shining in your heart. Showing you your sin and fallen state. Showing you the reason that I came was you desperately need me. I came once before and I will come again, so be ready.

Tears were flowing through the service. As I thought through all of the shameful words and actions that have passed from my person into the lives of those around me. My heart was breaking and broken.

Later that evening, we went to Flowers to look at the lights. The jingle music was playing and the lights of gingerbread houses and Santa Claus were shining in all their glory and my heart was heavy with the weight of sin.

As we left Flowers I started singing a Christmas Carol out loud. Speaking the good news of Christs Birth...

"God rest ye merry gentlemen
let nothing you dismay
remember Christ our Savior
was born on Christmas Day
to save us all from Satan's Power
When we had gone astray
oh tidings of comfort and joy
comfort and joy
oh tidings of comfort and joy"

What comfort and joy this spoke into my heart as I was feeling the oppression of sin in my own life. That Christ had come to save me from the power of Satan. To save me from my selfishness and self.

How this merryment compares to the santa claus lights, gifts & trinkets. That Jesus Christ came from eternity to rescue me from all of the wordly entrapments that so easily entangle & ensnare.

Thank You LORD Jesus for saving me. May I know and understand this salvation every day of my life and may its effects spread into the lives of this family You have blessed me with and the community You have placed me in.

5. Don't miss the reason Christ came.

The baby in the manger came in such lowliness and humility. He didn't come demanding, insisting or disputing. Silently, HE came into our planet. Welcome this Child as He knocks on your door.

Dear Jesus come to our door. Knock and Knock until we let You in. Into every crevice. Dear Jesus Knock and Knock until we feel Your love to overflowing. Until we know Your love so intimatley that obedience is the only natural response.

As we look to the sky, let us see You in all Your glory. And just as the Shepherds LORD, let us not be ashamed to run, go and tell! Tell others of the good news of Christ!

6. Christmas Jammies

I am not sure how traditions from the past will fit into the traditions of the future. We had so many growing up. I have many pleasant memories of Christmas as a child, but by far, the most magical were the Christmas Eve services when I felt a certain Holy Reverence surrounding the Season. It is our prayer that we will learn how to teach our children a Holy Reverence from what Christ has done by coming to Earth!

And also..to always enjoy family during this special time of year!

I love the memories of sitting around dinner tables, enjoying a good meal & laughter and of course...the communal clean up afterwards!

This year Tyler got a new contraption...a ripstick. If you haven't tried one..you ought to check it out but be sure to have someone to help you maneuver it. We spent a lot of time outside playing with his new toy!

Tyler is such a good nephew. Here he is taking care of his little cousin

Overall, we had a great Christmas and pray that we will not forget all that we learned this Christmas but apply the lessons learned to our daily lives.

Finding Encouragement in Matthew's account of Christs Genealogy

2008-12-18T14:49:00.004-05:00

Dad and I are continuing to work through Renovation of The Heart. A wonderful book by Dallas Willard.

I was working thru some of the questions yesterday morning and this was the question...

"What kind of person is God actively seeking?"

Oh my...I thought to myself. Do I really want to read the list of do's and do not's and then see how I measure up? How depressing would that be!

Then I read in a devotional book on advent, some commentary on Christs genealogy. The author was pointing out some interesting facts...

Abraham begot Isaac...what about Sarahs Maidservant and Ishmael?

Isaac begets Jacob...but what about Esau, whom Jacob stole his birthright from?

Jacob begets Judah..not no mention of how Judah sold his brother into slavery.

David is in the line of Christ, but he also was responsible for an affair that lead to a cold murder and the death of a son.

Tamar is also in the genealogy, but her past is not. She disguised herself as a prostitute and seduced her father in law Judah to get a son out of him.

Rahab was a real life prostitute and she too is mentioned in Christs genealogy.

What is the deal?

Why would God choose to use a man who didn't trust in Gods provision to be the Father of Christs Genealogy. Why did God mention Jacob who cheated his way to first place and not his poor brother who was cheated out of his birthright.

Why would God use Judah and not Joseph. The patient one who endured so many hardships with such integrity and moral excellence?

Why use David who lacked self control even to the point of deceptive murder?

And why choose the unconventional pregnancy of a peasant girl to birth eternity onto our planet?

I believe the answer can be found in His Word...in John, where we read of a Samaritan woman who is so ashamed of her life, that she travels to the well in the middle of the day so she will bypass seeing her contemporaries. One day instead of encountering the mean spirit of a sour old gossip, she meets her Messiah, her Savior.

And it is at this meeting that Christ assures her..

"But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for The Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." John 4:23

Kevin calls this heart not hands.

It is so clear in Christs story throughout the old testament and the new. Jesus wants your heart! He doesn't want empty actions! He wants your heart.

He cares very little for outward signs intended for show. Yet He is extremely sensitive to the slightest inclination of the heart towards Him.

"Whoever will call upon the name of The Lord will be saved." Romans 10:12-13

When we reach the end of ourselves... we can reach God.

The irony of it all is that in so many of our "religious acts" we are climbing further and further away from God and closer and closer to the spiritual decay of self sufficiency. Is this not what the tower of Babel was all about. Trying to get closer and closer to God by our own means, our own efforts, our own plans!

When all He wants is our humble hearts and a contrite spirit.

Perhaps Abraham did not trust God in the moment of one or two decisions..but apparently God was not through with him yet!

Maybe Tamar did something as nauseating as mentioned up above...but God was not thru with her either.

And each morning, in the countless journals that can be found on my bookshelf I commit my ways to The Lord. Pray to Him. Confess to Him. Promise to Him that I will live for Him. I will remember Him all day today.

And yet, as I turn the corner and head towards the back bedroom, Genesis pushes thru Christians door CREEK says the door at 530am when I am trying to sneak out for a walk and NOT wake the children. Then Genesis shakes her collar and the sounds are like clanging symbols magnified by a microphone. The cat meows and the thought flashes thru my mind that I would like to kick the dog across the room and banish the cat to the outside realm forever!

Yuck! Where did that come from and how can I get rid of it!

And yet, a few hours later I am at the grocery store sharing my testimony.

The same hands that pen this blog, years ago, penned their pledge to never seek God. And yet my greatest desire today is to bring Him Honor and Praise. My greatest desire is for Him to use me in the progression of His Kingdom in spite of myself (and my wicked thoughts & deeds!)

Am I like David, who in one moment of passion commits an affair and in another proclaims the Mighty Hand of God?

I believe I am. I pray I am now on an upward trend. But I know I am human and I will always commit acts that make me wish I was not trapped by this flesh. But the relief is, I can always go to The Father and His arms will always be extended as long as I am turning to Him.

Return to my original question...what kind of person is God seeking?

He is seeking those that are truly seeking Him in their hearts.

Not those who are on every church committee, attend every service, even every Bible Study.

He is seeking your heart. He is seeking your spirit.

When your spirit is His, then He will use you!

May my spirit truly seek you Precious Child, Lamb of God, Servant King.

Update on Abi

2008-12-17T11:51:00.002-05:00

Just wanted to let you all know Abi is doing well. The doctors are saying she will go home soon if she continues to progress as she has been over the last few hours.

They are not sure of the cause of her seizure. But they say she is better and they are not sure why.

Donna said...we know why...God healed her!

Thank You Jesus for your provision!

Please pray for Abigail

2008-12-17T08:29:00.003-05:00

Please pray for Abigail~

We found out this morning that she has been in the hospital since 330am. She had a seizure. She is now sedated, and resting well.

They are running tests. Please pray for Don & Donna as they travel to Opelika to be with the family.

We will keep you posted.

Thanks!

Lesli

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-17T01:47:00.008-05:00

Last Friday, we had some friends over for dinner. We had a great time! Sorry Matt...I couldn't get one with your eyes open!

I love this picture of Kevin in action! I have the most wonderful husband!

Emily was a little angel and here she is working on her contributions to the meal!

This year, God put it on our hearts to have different people that are a part of our lives, share with Emily something about Christmas.

It has been so neat that as we have asked different people to share with Emily about Christmas, each person brings a different perspective to the table.

Stan Anderson helped Emily to understand that Jesus is in your heart when you ask Him to live there.

Big Papa explained to Emily that Jesus is The Reason we celebrate Christmas.

Mommy has been working to help Emily understand that Jesus is a light that shines in our hearts. And that Jesus has come to help us.

Daddy has been teaching Emily that Jesus came as a Servant King.

Here is a picture of Melvin and Christy reading Emily a story. We had asked them to share with Emily the Christmas story.

Christy shared with Emily that because of the sin in our hearts we are separated from God. But, because of this sin God sent to us Jesus, so that we could be close to God.

It has been such a joy to our entire family, as we have tried to keep our attention on Christ during this Advent Season.

Perhaps one great treasure of parenting is the lessons that you, as the parent learn! As Kevin and I have tried to use this Season to teach Emily about who Christ is...we too are learning more and more about who He is!

As we meditate on the magnitude of how eternity came to finite earth, to save broken man, we are falling more and more in love with The Christ Child!

This past Sunday, after Church, we headed over to Grammy's house to decorate Christmas cookies. Aunt Mindy & Aunt Jennifer were there. They brought Tyler, Madison & Katie, so you can only imagine the blast Emily had!

Christian enjoyed his cousins too!

Here is Jennifer with Dad. They are actually cousins.

Christian enjoyed the festivities, although he spent most of his day in the baby carrier!

The kids had a great time! It was so neat to see the different kinds of creativity each child had to offer.

Madison came up with some beautiful designs for her cookies!

And Emily tried to learn from Gi Gi the art of decorating.

She tried it for a little while...

But then got a little bored....

And did her share of sampling! You should have seen her blue mouth!

Tyler, as always was a real sport! He helped us look after Emily & Christian. And was a true delight to be around!

Even when little ones acted like little stink pots!

After decorating the kids and I headed upstairs to read a couple of stories about the birth of Christ. After I read my story, instead of an encore...Emily asked if Katie would read! This was a true blessing to watch.

I am not sure how much of this cookie you can make out...but it was an Emily original! That's right and original piece of art! That was soon to be...eaten!

Gi Gi packaged up the cookies we decorated and we took some to a local nursing home.

It was so special to see the residents light up when they saw little Emily's smile. "Merry Christmas" she told them. "Jesus loves you!"

As we neared the end of our time at the nursing home the inevitable happened! We reached the last cookie! Gi Gi promised Emily that if she would give up this cookie...she would have a very special one all her own at home.

She thought about it...

Debated...

And she did the right thing! She gave her cookie away with another "Merry Christmas!"

When we got back to Gi Gi's house, Gi Gi read Emily a classic Christmas Story. The Crippled Lamb by Max Lucado. This is a wonderful story about how God has a very special place for those who are "different". This little lamb, while he was crippled and always left out of activities the other lambs were able to participate in, he was the lamb that was chosen to keep baby Jesus warm, when He was born in the stable.

And as you can see...Emily got her cookie!

Later that afternoon, we went to pick Daddy up from work,

And traveled to The Hunnewells to see their many Nativity Scenes.

Emily had a great time checking out all of the differnt kinds of Nativity Scenes they had.

Christian enjoyed himself too!

He got lots of attention!

Emily wasespecially excited to see this nativity scene!

We were very greatful to The Hunnewells for allowing us to share in their Christmas traditions!

I think Emily learned about the wisemen from Mrs. Hunnewell. Somthing I had not really talked with her about.

When we got home, we had dinner and Emily got her PJs on. Kevin was busy working on Christmas cards and Christian and I were doing laundry. Emily was watching a movie...

And this is how I found her! She gets it honestly! My sister and I have both been know to bite our toenails!

To Us!

2008-12-14T06:11:00.017-05:00

This week Grandma came over and helped Emily to make her very own nativity scene.

We all pitched in in our own special way!

And the result was a beautiful keepsake for Emily that now resides on her dresser.

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.

And he will be called

Wonderful Counselor,
Mighty God,
Everlasting Father,
Prince of Peace."

Isaiah 9:6; NIV

This morning I came across a sermon of Martin Luther's from December 25th 1531! Wow! It had been translated by Frederick J. Gaiser and published by Word & World in 1996 to observe the 450th anniversary of the reformers death.

He had such an interesting perspective on this verse.

In his sermon this is what he emphasized.

"For Us"
for us conceived & born
for us suffered & died
for us raised
for us ascended
for us sitting at the right hand of the Father

"Given"
a pure gift
a present
nothing for me to give in return
nothing with which I can repay

"Called"
Wonderful Counselor
Mighty God
Everlasting Father
Prince of Peace

For us, Given, a Wonderful Counselor, a Mighty God, an Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace!

For us! For us! For us!

Yesterday, in our morning counseling session, Kevin and I stumbled upon yet another weed in my heart. Trust. I don't trust God to take control and lead me in the daily circumstances of my life.

Just as I don't trust Kevin to do the laundry or pick out the outfits for the kids (if we are going somewhere important), I don't trust God to decide when I will do what or how. Why don't I trust Kevin to do laundry? Because I know he will not fold the clothes the way I like or he will not have the loads done when I think they should be done. I realized yesterday morning that it is the same with God. I don't trust Him to do things the way I want them done.

(Here is Emily helping Mieke ring us up at Publix)

I want to be a good wife and mother so...on Monday I will read on mothering during nap time, on Tuesday I will read on homeschooling during nap time & on Wednesday I will work on our finances during nap time. There you have it, Lesli's plan for successful parenting & mothering.

How's that working for you? You ask,

terrible!

I am stressed out trying to make all of the cards of the day lay out so that "my plan" will work. Why because I think the Creator of The Universe can't do it the way I want it. How puny is that!

And yet, according to the scripture above He is given to me, a gift at no cost, to be my very own counselor, mighty God & Prince of Peace. Why do I not just lay myself at His feet and humbly follow where He leads!

What type of life would he lead me into? Read below an excerpt from Luther's Sermon.

“He is the kind of lord who takes the government on his shoulder—and thus a genuine lord .... A unique and wonderful lord, who wears his authority around his neck! This shows how the rule of Christ differs from the kingdoms of the world. For Christ says, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them.”

They have to exercise power, to rule strictly, and make use of the law; but they do not need to fleece and flail [people]. [All] secular governments have to rule and punish with severity; but it is [only] the villains and tyrants who fleece and flail [their people]...

But the rule of that Son who was born to us works the other way around: he carries us! We rest on his shoulders; he is our bearer.

See how Isaiah turns everything around, contrary to the customs of the world. Where is Christ’s rule, his land, and his people? Our duke’s rule includes Saxony, Thuringia, and Meissen. But Christ’s rule includes all believers, of whom he is Lord. So we are his people and his land. And where is his government? On his shoulder! This is wonderful. Christ’s kingdom is not under his feet, nor is it in Rome or in Babylon; it is on his shoulder....

We just have to put up with the fact that the godless papists, the rabble, and the peasants all have our word and sacraments. But only those are Christians who are on his shoulder, that is, those who firmly trust him and allow themselves to be carried by him like the lost sheep. To sum up: no one is a Christian who does not rest on the shoulder of Christ.

Thus, here you see the very definition of the Son, the one who carries his subjects on his shoulder. And we are those subjects! lf the foolish followers of the pope who want to kill us only believed this, they would rethink their plan. They want to carry Christ themselves, back and forth; they carry him with their works and their merits. But he will prove too heavy for them. The sheep must say [instead], “Dear Shepherd, you carry me, not I you!” It would be some crazy sheep that wanted to carry him! Would it ever get something to carry! But Christ says, “Hop on! I will carry you well—and all your sins are forgiven.” And the world persecutes this
treasure of the kingdom [of Christ]! Isaiah says, “You have the Son.” So, hop on!

We should gladly and confidently run to him, believing that he will answer for us and pay for us.
This message goes forth into the world, but I have no idea about our gratitude [for it]. “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Now, by adding these six names, [the prophet] explains how the carrying takes place. When I have time and am healthy, I will preach about that. If not, someone else will do it, since it is written in the books as well as I can preach it [here]."

Am I not like those popes Luther speaks of when I try to carry my own load. Thinking it will lead me to where The Shepherd has called me to. Instead I ought to simply follow Him. Let Him carry the load and be used where and how He has called me to be used.

Perhaps this illustration might help put things in perspective.

Emily, Christian and I are typically climbing into Mommy & Daddy's bed each afternoon around 2pm. This is our routine, as I read to them and feed Christian, they both drift off to sleep.

I always prop up two pillows up against the bed post, so as to be more comfortable. This way my back is not against the wood frame of the bed.

Well, little Mrs. Emily has her own idea of how to sit comfortably. Each day, I try to prop up pillows for her, so that she too will be comfortable. And each day, she removes them and sits up against the wooden frame. Well, until she falls asleep, in which case she typically slumps over into my lap.

:)

I often think of my Mom when Emily does this. I know she would be more comfortable with the pillows, but Emily has the need to make a decision and she is choosing to not have the pillows. I am sure it is not comfortable for her, but I let her sit how she likes.

How often, I wonder does my Mom (and in laws!) feel similarly. They see me saying & doing things and think....how much easier it would be if she would....

And yet, I persist to do things my way which may indeed be unnecessary and harder!

How much more so, as I try to tell God the best way to orchestrate my day!

Rather I should be rejoicing in His willingness to lead. And that rejoicing ought to be demonstrated by obedience!

May we all truly know the joy of resting on His Shoulder!

Big Papa's Celebration

2008-12-08T14:21:00.015-05:00

This past weekend we celebrated Big Papa's (my Papa's) 80th birthday!

We kicked off the weekend with a dinner at our house.

Papa ate up the time with his great grands!

and gigi enjoyed the time she had with baby shep!

Big Papa read a Christmas Story to Emily about the birth of Baby Jesus.

We all enjoyed the time we were able to spend with each other!

After dinner we went to Flowers to look at The Christmas Lights. Christian enjoyed his view very much! He was very attentive.

Here are Kevin & Cousin Chad showing off their pride and joy!

Tyler enjoying his Big Papa!

And uncle Keith enjoying sweet Emily!

Here is my cowgirl!

And Uncle Rick Loving up on His Kaitlin Jane!

Papa eating up time with Emily Grace. I wonder how old she will be when she gets her first horse!

Emily is a natural horse lady for sure!

Who doesn't love Chad? Emily asked for him all week long!

Big Papa with his great grand Emily Grace

The coolest thing about last weekend was we had so many baby sitters! Including Ty Ty!

Christian & Daddy got some quality time!

And the whole crew got to hang out!

I even got to ride with Emily for the first time!

I nearly had a heart attack when I saw this! Emily was two before she rode for the first time!

This is after Chad, who promised to lead Chrissy, left her riding solo with Tuffy leading the way back to the barn. Chrissy is a better spirit than I!

Here are all the great grands minus Aiden.

This is back at Mom & Dads where we had our low country boil! These are the brothers with their proud Daddy!

These are the grandkids minus Alisa (we missed you Alisa!) with Papa

Here is Papa as we had a time of honoring him.

Here is Baby Aiden with his Big Papa!

Here are the men getting lunch ready!

And here is the low country boil!

More of Daddy and Baby Shep!

Look! Its Emily with a coke! Just kidding~ That was Ty Ty's!

Beautiful Kaitlin!

Tyler is going to be such a great Daddy!

Handsome!

Dad going back for seconds!

A Good Ole' Reunion!

Mama Love!

A unique perspective!

Hey Good Lookin!

Big Papa Getting Love!

Reunion!

Chads the greatest!

Daddy & Emily wrestling!

Papa and all the great grands!

We had a great time and look forward to our next gathering!

We Love You Papa!

A Multitude of Heavenly Host

2008-12-05T15:16:00.005-05:00

"And behold, an angel of The Lord stood before them, and the glory of The Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid.

Then the angel said to them,

'Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.

For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.'

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:

'Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!'"

Luke 2:9-14

Last night we celebrated my Father in Laws birthday. As we were sitting in Papa Don & Mama Donna's living room, Papa Don called to my attention a scripture that I had read many times, but never caught the magnitude of the words.

Did you notice in the above scripture, a multitude of angels were in the sky praising God. Can you even begin to imagine what this must have looked like?

Emily's Bible says it well, in The Jesus Storybook Bible...

"They (the shepherds) turned around. Standing in front of them was a huge warrior of light, blazing in the darkness. 'Don't be afraid of me!' the bright shining man said. 'I haven't come to hurt you. I've come to bring you happy news for everyone everywhere. Today, in David's town, in Bethlehem, God's Son has been born! You can go and see him. He is sleeping in a manger."

Behind the angel they saw a strange glowing cloud- except it wasn't a cloud, it was angels...troops and troops of angels, armed with light! And they were singing a beautiful song:'Glory to God! To God be Fame and Honor and all our Hoorays!"

Can you even imagine standing in that field and seeing such a sight?

Lets not let the familiarity of this Season drown out the magnitude of the event.

JB Phillips puts it well when he said,

"By far the most important and significant event in the whole course of human history will be celebrated, with or without understanding, at the end of this Season, Advent. The towering miracle of God's visit to this planet on which we live will be glossed over, brushed aside or rendered impotent by over-familiarity....Does he (the believer), for instance, as he daily treads the surface of the planet, reflect with confidence that 'my God has been here, here on this earth'? Does he keep his faith wrapped in a napkin as a precious thing and apart; or does he allow every discovery of the truth to enlarge his conception of the God behind this immensely complex universe? And does he then marvel and adore the infinite wisdom and power, which so humbly descends to human stature? We rejoice in the fact that God has actually been here- and that is one half of the meaning of Advent."

WOW~

Are you as convicted as I?

JB Phillips mentions the one-half of advent...what is the second? It is Christs return. Let us prepare our hearts for His Coming once again.

Join me this Christmas Season. Invite the Lord Jesus into your heart again and again. Let Him examine your heart. Humbly receive correction. Gratefully receive instruction and let us prepare our hearts for His Glorious arrival onto this planet earth once again. For we know not the time nor hour, but we know for certain of its existence.

Carry your Cross

2008-12-05T05:44:00.002-05:00

"Then Jesus said to His disciples, 'If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross, and follow Me.'"

Matthew 16:24

It seems difficult to read such a statement.
Immediately what is brought to my mind are the daily struggles I face each day.

Which indeed are miniscule compared to what they could be!

The battle of time. I move from caring for the kids, to caring for the home to preparing meals, washing dishes, folding laundry and calculating finances.

When I am always asking... when is there time for me!

To read a book (on parenting none the less!) or go for a walk or simply...wash my face!

And yet these beautiful faces are always there. Looking up to me beckoning me to take up my cross and follow after Him!

The daily grind of dog hair and unending dishes. Diapers and water on the bathroom floor. No showers and temper tantrums...these are my daily crosses that I have been called to bear.

What a beautiful family God has given me to care for!

A wonderful godly husband and two beautiful children. More and More I must learn to deny myself, my needs and my wants to serve my family. The world preaches a much different message. The world tells us to look out for number one... which is you. The magazines, the self help books, the popular talk show hosts, they all preach self preservation.

But imagine the impact this will have on our families, if we are all looking out for number one? One thing I have learned recently is that conflict is sure to come when we demand our rights. But peace comes when we surrender and trust God to provide our needs.

Yes, The Lord of This Advent Season proclaims~ you've got to deny yourself if you are to follow me.

This is no easy task. (Even now, I feel guilt ridden because my husband is in bed alone reading star wars while I am typing on the computer!) I find myself each day at some point carrying my cross but grumbling and complaining all the while so that those around me must suffer too.

But this is not the cross Christ has called us to carry. If we are to carry His Cross, then it is requisite that we do so with a willing spirit. Yea, readily and gladly we must embrace the Cross He has given us to bear. For it is a glad heart that brings Him joy!

Thank You Lord for The Cross You Carried. Please help me to bear my cross each day with joy as an act of worship & service unto Thee.

"Then Mary said, 'Behold the maidservant of The Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.' And the angel departed from her."

Luke 1:38

"My eyes have seen Your Salvation"

2008-12-03T04:53:00.005-05:00

"For my eyes have seen Your salvation Which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, And the glory of Your people Israel."

Luke 2:30

These were the words spoken by Simeon about 40 days after the birth of Christ, when Jesus was brought into the temple by His parents to fulfill the Jewish custom described in Leviticus 12.

Can you imagine carrying your newborn into the quiet of a temple and suddenly, a man approaches you and proclaims your son is The Messiah bringing Salvation to a nation?

During this Christmas Season, we must ask ourselves, why did He come?

According to Simeon, Jesus was a light, Jesus Is a Light, bringing revelation to the Gentiles, bringing light to us.

We were once aliens, once strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, without God...

"But now in Christ Jesus you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ...For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation..." Ephesians 2:13-14

Simeon goes on to say in Luke, now speaking directly to Mary,

"Behold, this Child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against (yes a sword will pierce through your own soul also) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed."

This was no subtle statement spoken to Mary who was probably only a teenager.

Yes her Child would be the Peace of a lost nation, The Source of Reconciliation, but her Child would also be spoken against and cause the fall of many in Israel.

A Light shining in the darkness, exposing the hidden thoughts of many hearts ~ revealing the emptiness ~ revealing the corruption ~ revealing the hardness and pride that would ultimately bring death.

Fellow Sojourner ~ please do not allow Christs Light to ever push you into a corner of condemnation. For this was never His plan nor His intention. Only The Enemy would do such a thing.

Read His Word to you, study and praise Him as the scales fall from your eyes. As the conviction comes, fall on your face before Him ~ He will receive you with loving open arms. Receive healing and walk away, sinning no more.

"Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?

She said No one, Lord

And Jesus said to her, Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.

Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying 'I am The Light of The World. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have The Light of Life."

John 8:10-12

Jesus came as God's Chosen Deliverer. To rescue mankind from sin and death to enable them to experience eternal life to know a new quality and dimension of existense.

Jesus came to reconcile us to our Creator by bringing light into our lives.

As the light comes it will no doubt reveal darkness in our lives, but we musn't let the darkness drive us to despair. Let the darkness drive you to the restoration of The Light.

During this time, when we remember the Birth of Our Lord and Savior, draw near to Him and yet nearer still. Receive the peace that only He can offer. His arms are open wide, waiting for you, yes even longing for you to return to Him, your Abba Father.

Stronghold

2008-12-02T14:18:00.002-05:00

"I will love You, O LORD, my strength. (power & vigor)
The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer;
My God, my strength (power & vigor), in whom I will trust;
My shield and the horn of my salvation, my STRONGHOLD (a well fortified place)
I will call upon The LORD, who is worthy to be praised;
So shall I be saved from my enemies."

Psalm 18:1-3

Love Him today.
For He is your ultimate strength, power & vigor, pure & clean.
Let Him be The Rock on which you stand.
Let Him be a fortress surrounding you, protecting you from worries, fears, doubt & hopelessness.
Let Him deliver you from yourself unto a life of submission to His liberating ways.
He is your God, Your strength, power & vigor.
Trust in Him and in Him alone!
Let Him be your shield, a broad piece of armor as a defense from the ways of this world that eat away at your spirit.
Let Him be your stronghold, a well fortified place, lifting you above the defeat you feel you cannot rise above.
Call upon The LORD!
He IS worthy to be praised!
He will save you from your enemy!

Bless The Lord O My Soul and all that is within me Bless His Holy Name.

One of My Greatest Treasures & Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-27T16:46:00.008-05:00

I would like to take a moment to praise my husband. Today it occurred to me that he is one of the greatest gifts that God has given me.

Here we are when we were first dating. It was actually taken right at 4 years ago. Can you believe we have only known each other for four years!

Many mornings, Lord Willing, I get up and do my quiet time. Typically after my quiet time I will go for a walk but sometimes, when I feel led to do so, I climb into bed with Kevin and we talk.

This morning, I woke up and there was a definite lack of peace in my heart. Internal struggles have been getting the best of me and I have been quite needy emotionally. I couldn't figure out what to study for my quite time ( my Bible Studies are over). So I prayed some and then worked on some Christmas projects. I made some bread for our thanksgiving feast and then I climbed into bed with Kev. He has had quite a tough week at work and I knew he would appreciate a back rub.

As I started to rub his back, he asked me the familiar question..."How are you this morning?" When he asks me this question, we both know it is a "emotional check up". Ok.... I said in a feeble unsure voice. What's wrong?, was his reply. After a few rounds of coaxing, eventually I expelled all of my worries to him and feeling quite horrible about "downloading" my negative worries on my fella before he even had a chance to get out of bed, I apologized for the negativity I had brought into his world. He assured me...it is good to talk about it. You will feel better.

This was taken at Kevin's parents house. This too was another photo taken during our dating months.

It never ceases to amaze me the questions he asks me at these early hours, before he is fully awake. But this Thanksgiving morning he asked me..."Do you start your day with a to do list and then evaluate yourself each day according to your performance?" "Well Yeah...Duh!" I said. That is what I do each morning. I get up and pray through concerns, write our what God is speaking to my heart about how I should respond to these concerns and then I pray that He would grant me His strength to obey Him.

Unfortunately, as the day progresses, I run into moments where the pressures squeeze out the flesh instead of the spirit. I don't react to the circumstances the way I promised God I would and the result is a great shame that consumes me and I find myself walking in guilt. Many days I am unable to cross off the "to do's" and I feel like a failure for not completing the tasks I set out to conquer. I have failed to abide within my list...my rules for the day.

This guilt typically ingnites a cycle of pitiful behavior. Because I feel guilty, I act terrible and then I feel more guilt and so on....

Anyway, upon my responding affirmatively to Kevin's inquiry about my list, he replied...well there's is your problem. You will never succeed in the spiritual life if this is the way you are approaching your day.

I was totally disgruntled. Every book I read tells me to pray over the areas of my life and then make lists. Follow the lists and then you'll become the person you are longing to be.

"What does it say about lists in the scriptures?" Kevin asks me...

Pharisee I say.

Ouch!

Am I a Pharisee?

Kevin went on to talk with me through some major root issues in my life. What is at the root of your problems he asks, Satan I say. How is he getting at you? Lies. How can you battle him? Truth. Memorize scripture. There is your answer Lesli he says.

The real problem, he says is you are not living in grace. Christ died so that you would live by His Spirit and walk in Grace. I am walking carrying the law and the law in return is giving me death. The Spirit, and The Spirit alone is life.

Here we are right after he proposed. He had a surprise engagement party for me awaiting at his parents house.

Are you carrying a "to do" list? What motivates your list? Is it to bring honor and glory to our Lord and Savior? Or is it to bring yourself honor and glory? Is it to give you a sense of worth? A sense of purpose or accomplishment?

Oh brothers and sisters in Christ, How we need to let The I Am be our satisfaction completely. How we need to let Him guide our every moment. How we need to obey Him and not be a slave to our "to do list".

The irony of it all is one day this week, during my early morning walk, several leaves, beautifully arrayed with the colors of fall, gently drifted before my eyes as they made their way to the ground. It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. As the leaves drifted before me so effortlessly and gracefully I began to realize that this is indeed how Christ wants for us to live our lives. He longs for us to drift gracefully through life, from one encounter to the next. Living from His grace and as a result living gracefully with those amongst us. As we receive grace we are able to give grace and how harmoniously beautiful it is. It is the fragrance of Christs Kingdom.

This is us this past July 4th. Aren't we goofy!

"I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing...These things I have spoken to you that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. This is My commandment that you love one another as I have loved you." John 15:5,11-12

How I love the word pictures Christ gives us in the gospels! I can think of no better illustration that a whithered branch, lifeless and dead to illustrate how I feel when I try to cling to my list and function on my own strength. It is pitiful, frustrating and lifeless. But when I walk in His Spirit, there is indeed life and there is indeed fruit. I feel like the well watered garden spoken of in Isaiah~

Isaiah 58:11
"The LORD (covenant Maker) will guide you continually,
And satisfy your soul in drought,
And strengthen your bones;
You shall be like a watered garden,
And like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail."

Praise God! How blessed we are to have the soul satisfying nourishment He gives. Give me no other substitute! Give me Jesus!

So from all of this what did I learn?

1. My husband is awesome and I love him very much and I am very lucky to have him in my life!

2. I need to evaluate the motivation behind my to do list each day. Am I doing the things I am listing for His glory or mine?

3. Carry the list with me through the day but let His Spirit guide my actions. If God leads me to sit with Emily and read when I am suppose to be vacuuming I better sit and read or I am sure to whither and look like a pitiful wilted tulip in no time!

4. When you blow it. When your actions bring you sorrow and grief. When you respond so far from how you pray to respond. Don't walk in unnecessary defeat. Picture Jesus Christ Himself, reaching down a hand to you, extending grace and forgiveness. Confess your frailty to Him, Confess how you have sinned, Receive His Forgiveness and move on. Walk away with the newness of life that He extends to those who seek it. Don't waste His most precious gift. Confess your sins quickly, receive His forgiveness entirely and repent. Turn. Pivot away from the direction of death in which you are headed and move towards the life that is found in walking in Him.

Oh The Glory of Walking With Him!

How I want to thrive for Christ. Thank You Sweetie for all of the ways you help me in my spiritual pilgrimage!

Where did the Moon Come From?

2008-11-24T05:53:00.002-05:00

John 1:14

"And The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His Glory, The Glory as of The Only Begotten of The Father, full of Grace & Truth."

Consider this...

The Son of God from Eternity became human with limitations and spacial restrictions, and dwelt among us. He set up a tent, what use to be a Holy Tabernacle, and allowed for all of humanity to be in His Divine Presence. He was full of Divinity.

Imagine if Christ was standing before you today. Or behind you as you are working on your computer. What would you feel?

Would you feel the warmth of His Presence? Would there be a relief, similar to the arrival of your mother when you are sick, or the presence of your dad when you are scared?

Would you feel security in His Delightful Omnipresence? Noticing the elegance of His beauty & form. Becoming incredibly aware of His loveliness in manner, motion & action. Would you feel the freedom of His Presence, that He was looking upon you with favor? Would you feel the exquisite pleasure of His regenerating & strengthening power?

This is His Grace.

Would you feel refreshed by His honesty & integrity. A breath of fresh air. Would you delight in His Supreme Reality, confident in His Plan? No longer weary from the superficiality in which this world thrives?

This is His Truth.

He is The Author of Redemption. Buying you back from the slave market of this worlds distortions, misrepresentations and falsehoods.

He is The Author of Revelation. Dramatically Bestowing on you Divine Disclosure of Truth.

"Yea, Lord, we greet Thee, born this happy morning;
Jesus, to Thee be all glory given;
Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing.

O Come Let us Adore Him, O Come let Us Adore Him,
O Come let us Adore Him Christ The LORD"

Where did the moon come from? It came from Him. It is simply an appetizer of all that He has in His Kingdom, awaiting you.

Join Him Today.

Rejoice in Him Today!

Father we pray for Your Presence to be more real to us today than any other day. Thank You for Your Presence. Thank You for Jesus Christ!

Make Your Daddy Proud

2008-11-10T16:26:00.003-05:00

Since we have moved into our new home here I have had the incredible pleasure of going on early morning walks. I take Genesis with me and my ipod and leave everything else behind!

As I walk, I pray and talk to God. Mostly I beg Him...petition Him to shine His light on loved ones in our family and community. Then I plead with Him to give me the strength that I need for the day. That He would empower me to respond to each situation with grace and understanding.
Then I cry out to Him to forgive me for each look, each word, each thought that was not pleasing to His sight.

These walks are a true blessing and there is nothing that can quite satisfy me like a good morning walk. They are not always great. Sometimes, if there is something between me and a family member or a friend, I do not have a peace and I do not feel Gods Presence as I do when all is well with my surroundings.

Then there are the times that my routine gets messed up and I don't enjoy these walks quite as much like the other morning, when Genesis was barking (rather loudly) at a youngster walking to school and a few minutes later, she nearly broke loose out of her leash as she leaped for a motorcyclist. As if these encounters were not enough I lost the key to our house. Did I mention this was last Wednesday, the day I had to submit in my heart to president elect Obama. Kevin has been working on me to be a good citizen and not think bad things about him. I am still trying.

Any way....this morning was a great walk! Sometimes I walk all the way up to Briarcliff and I always pray that maybe I will encounter my Dad as he is headed to work and this morning I did. I was walking with Genesis and I saw Dad pullling out of the driveway. I walked towards him excited that we were able to have an early morning encounter. He pulled up to talk to me and smiled. I could tell that the visit was a blessing to him as his spirits seemed lifted. As he drove away I thought to myself...I think I just made my Dad proud.

Seeing me out early in the morning, smiling, and enjoygin Gods creation, walking our dog and simply enjoying life made my Dad proud and lifted his spirits and I thought to myself...is this how God feels when we do a kind deed or reach out to someone in need or be nice to our children and husbands!

Later in the morning I was reading to Emily ab out Noah and how during Noahs time, everyone did evil. In this story it did not say that this made God mad but that it caused pain in His heart. Wow! Not mad, but pain. This to me speaks of the awesome love God has for us and makes me want to give Him pleasure and not pain.

What can we do to cause His heart to be proud and happy and not full of pain? I pray that as you read this, you will walk away and find one thing you can do to make your Father proud!

Emliy's Fashion Show versus Mommies!

2008-11-10T16:17:00.002-05:00

As I mentioned earlier...Emily has enjoyed dressing herself. Check out these great shots and be sure to look for her on the cover of the next fashion magazine!

Compare those to how she looks when we pick out her clothes. The first outfit is compliments of Gi Gi and the second is compliments if Grandma.

Halloween

2008-11-10T16:09:00.003-05:00

This year Emily dressed up like a little cow girl! she was so cute! her baby brother dressed up as a baby duck (hand me down from last year!) and mommy and daddy even played the part. yep you guessed it...we were cowboys and cowgirls!

Emily is recently in a new stage of life where she likes things her way. I wonder where she gets that from? Ha Ha! (those of you who know me well enough...know exactly where she gets it from!) You'll notice in this picture above she doesn't look very happy. This is because she wanted mommy to wear the hat daddy is sporting! Yes we have to be very strategic these days about how we present things to her. Bath time and outings have become very interesting to say the least! I have to sneak into her room while she is in the bath tub and lay out two outfits for her to choose from so she doesn't end up pulling out her entire wardrobe!

Thankfully Emily did eventually lighten up and enjoy her evening.

Perhaps the highlight of her evening was a surprise visit from Papa~!

Little Christian

2008-11-10T16:06:00.003-05:00

Here are some recent shots of baby Christian.

He is really growing up!

When I carry him in the baby carrier, he grabs for everything. Last night I made some apple breakfast bars and in the process he tried to grab every cooking utensil that was on the counter!

One thing is sure for Baby Christian, he loves his family and his eyes brighten each time he sees us!

we're still here

2008-10-11T23:04:00.014-04:00

It has been a long time since my last entry and so much has happened!

christian is growing like you would not believe! here he is taking a sunday afternoon nap with his daddy!

this is elder hartley, one of the mormon missionaries who we have met with for over six months. he has left and moved on to north caroloina. please pray for him that he will see The Messiah in Truth! he is a wonderful young man.

here is gigi and emily at target. lots of love there! christian and i took advantage of the situation by getting a decaf raspberry mocha and shopping!

This is a photo we took on a Friday night trip to Tallahassee. Emily's friend from play group, Anna Leigh celebrated her 2nd birthday at Zoinks. Tyler joined us on our journey.

I am not sure who had more fun...Tyler or Emily. Kevin was definitely the most disappointed when he learned that he would not be allowed to jump because he had forgotten his socks! I really felt bad for him. Those of you who know Kev...know he really wanted to jump!

One major event that has happened over the last few months is we have decided to pull Emily out of play group. we feel that it will be better for her to play in smaller groups of little ones so that she is not overwhelmed by large numbers of kids. this has been a hard decision for us, but we feel certain that God will bless this decision as we have bathed it in prayer.

here is a picture of emily playing with her friend alyssa. she came over for a play date and they had a great time!

on a more positive note...we are attending some wonderful studies. kevin is meeting with a group of men on tuesday evenings and they are working through the psalms. i am meeting with a group of ladies on monday night and we are working through the psalms of ascent ( a bible study by beth moore) & then i am also meeting with a smaller group of ladies on tuesday mornings. we are working through a dee brestin study called becoming a woman of worship and it is also on the psalms. you may be asking yourself...does she really need to be in two Bible studies? the answer is emphatically....yes! ask my kids, my husband, my mom, my dad, and my in laws! i need all the spiritual training i can get! in all seriousness, i had a friend recommend that i do a word study in the psalms on every scripture reference to "rock", "strong tower", "defender" & "protector". i had tried doing this on my own and felt overwhelmed. then these two studies fell into my lap and it has been such a blessing. just to immerse myself in the provisions of the almighty maker of heaven and earth. and also, to surround myself with women of faith. women who have walked a road similar to mine. i have learned so much already and i am looking forward to the weeks ahead!

here is a picture of christian trying out his sisters high chair. soon enough it will be his! we have actually moved emily to a booster seat and she eats at the table like a big girl! we did try a season of letting her just sit at the table without a booster seat. after several meals with her running around the kitchen with butter and green bean juice all over her hands, we have decided to resort back to a booster seat until she can remain seated. mommies nerves can't handle sticky fingers exploring our new home!

although, according to this picture, emily is perfectly fine with just sitting in her very own chair! i believe she is eating pancakes with home made peach preserves...thus the nakedness is explained! believe you me... i busted out the windex after this meal! ( as we speak...emily is below the computer desk eating her exquisite breakfast of raisins and water...yes i have sticky hands all over my pajama bottoms! ~ praise The Lord I am ok with it...I think?~ I wonder how many raisins i will find this afternoon!)

in late september mom, dad, emily, christian and i traveled to birmingham for aunt cindy's wedding. she was a beautiful bride!

this is her new hubby daryl webb

emily had a great time at the wedding. here she is enjoying a cookie!

this is the chapel where cindy was married. it was such a beautiful chapel.

the following weekend we helped deliver hot dogs to the concession stand at the thomasville high football game. here is kevin carrying hot dogs. doesn't he look thrilled!

dad was happy to see us and busy as ever!

my mom is the gracious one who orchestrates all of the work with the concession stands. dad is really lucky to have all of her help!

on this particular evening, the dickeys helped out mom and dad. they all had a great time!

another neat thing that has happened is a new mentoring program that these three beautiful women have put together. they are simply reaching out to women our age and trying to help us along the journey of managing the many roles of being a woman.

this is the group we had and we plan to meet the 28th of October again! it was really a neat evening to just let go of all the facade and be real with one another. i am looking forward to our next meeting!

we have in fact moved. we love our new home and are working towards getting everything in just the right spot!

here is a picture of our three troopers who worked so hard to get us moved!

this is our cute little home! mom has spent a lot of time trying to make our home look cozy. i am afraid the outside looks more "together" than the inside right now...but we are trying to straighten and oragnize in between carrying for little ones!

here is christian at moms house. during our move, i stayed with mom while kevin and his parents worked hard to get us situated in our new home. i had layed christian on his back so mommy could go to the bathroom. when i returned from my potty break this is how i found him! he had turned over!

here is emily enjoying her breakfast at gigi's house.

here is a picture of emily during the great move. she really did have a great spirit during all of the moving and i feel that she has handled the transition well.

while daddy was busy working...this is where we spent a lot of our time. on mom's back porch swining in the swing. i could have stayed there forever. it was so peacful! as you can see christian also enjoyed it!

we gave emily lots of attention (and grace!). we took a trip out to the farm so she could enjoy one of her favorite things. horses!

christian also did well with the move. he was a trooper!

he has recently gotten his first two teeth! and boy is he getting to be more active. when i carry him around in the baby carrier he is constantly reaching for whatever is in my hands. he even cries if you try to take it away from him!

here is where we eat most of our meals in our new home. this is one of the first experiments with letting emily eat with "freedom".

here are the three stooges enjoying our red couch in our new home! (which i am very very very sad to report is currently out of commision because our cat decided to turn our couch into a potty spot!)

our first weekend in our new home, we went to a birthday party for brandon. kevin is such a wonderful daddy! he held christian almost the whole time and i was able to spend time with emily.

this is max, brandon's brother. he is such a cutie!

and here is brandon the birthday boy!

this is my friend heather. she is such a wonderful mom and here she is showing brandon the cake she made him.

here is emily enjoying her cake!

after the weekend...came emily's birthday! she is now 2! on her birthday mom, dad, christian and i took her for a muffin at kuppa coffee.

she had a great time and was a little angel. i have really been praying over my relationship with emily. (i know mom has too!). the last few months have been challenging and refining for me. i am grateful for all the God is doing in our lives, but it has been hard. kevin has often told me that children are a mirror to us, reflecting what we really are on the inside. i think for so long i was able to hide many issues that are deeply rooted within. similar to what many may think of my house by looking at the outside and presuming that the inside is all together & well put, some may look at my life in public and think many things about me that are not the truth of my core being. i have prayed and prayed that God would refine and purify me and i believe that He is doing just that in my relationship with emily. you see...i like to have control because control allows me to accomplish objectves that i have set for myself, which in turn gives me an identity. when i don't have control i get very angry because i fear i am going to loose my identity.

the truth is my identity needs to be in Christ and in Christ Alone. emily, being 2, is not easily controlled. she is in a period where things are very frustrating to her. she is constantly being told what to do and when and she cannot share her desires or wishes because she lacks the words. the result is she screams, bites, hits, throws herself on the floor and even sometimes she bangs her head against things. she has even bitten herself. i watch in horror as she throws these tantrums. i have prayed and prayed for our family that we would live lives honoring to God and i have the hardest time fitting this behavior into this picture. but i feel god convicting me that i do the same thing. when plans change or things don't go my way, i throw a fit just as emily does, but in different ways. the strangest thing is i believe that God is teaching me how to better handle releasing control to Him by helping emily learn how to handle dissapointments in a healthier manner.

all of this has really strained my relationship with emily. i love her more than any word could possibly describe, but i have been so frustrated with her at times because of her behavior and the behavior it brings out in me. i would ask that you would pray for us in this process as i believe it is a refining process. my prayers for many years have been to have authenticity in my relationship with Christ. to be the same in private as i am in public. i have been so ashamed by many of my responses to emily that i have lamented and asked forgiveness time and time again. kevin reminded me yesterday that when i learned to ride a bike i fell down many times and parenting is no different. i will make many mistakes but i must keep trying!

i am not sure any of this makes sense...initially i was trying to say that emily's birthday was dreamy. seeing her in an angelic light once again. seeing her as the amazing gift that she is from God and not the evidence of my failure as a parent, was so liberating. she was so beautiful on her birthday to me and i believe God had answered my prayer about our relationship. i made her a scrapbook with pictures from the time of her birth and it brought back so many memories of that special time.

all day on her birthday i prayed that God would help me to treat her like a princess every day. to make her every day a delight and to not be so consumed with trying to control her and make her behave a certain way (which by the way may not even be realistic for a toddler).

how could you not love an amazing girl so full of life! here she is showing off her new shoes and beads from grandma.

after her birthday muffin at kuppa coffee, emily took a trip out to the farm to visit with the horses. mommy and christian went to publix to get food. that night we had some of emily's friends over to celebrate her birthday.

here is emily enjoying her grandma!

and here is christian enjoying his grandma!

emily got lots of good stuff for her birthday, but one of her favorite gifts by far was her bright red boots from papa!

Emily had a great time playing with her friends. But the party was not yet over
After our celebration at our home on Glenwood we moved on to celebrate once again at grandma and pa's! we had a great time. Our celebration over the weekend at Grandma and Pa's was extra special because grandma judy and grandpa stan came up for the party! we had breakfast with them at Savannah Moon!

then, emily got to go with her papa and her ty ty to the fly in to see the planes.

after her visit to see the planes we let her take a nap and then it was off to the big party! while baby emily slept, her daddy and ty ty ran errands with little shep and mommy frantically tried to finish the scrapbook she was giving emily for her birthday.

here are our little party goers! they get their own special table for dinner.

here is the big kid table...

and another big kid table!

aunt mindy and uncle chris came up early to help mommy get things together to take over to grandma's. and even though we had help... we still arrived late to our very own party! (at least this time i got a shower. her birthday party at our house on monday i simply ran out of time so i had to do the quick powder brush trick after the first guests arrived!)

pa did the burgers (for both parties!) here he is enjoying his grandson..the mcmillan heir!

this is a classic photo of grandpa stan. how could you not love him! we are ready for them to move back whenever they are!

here is uncle chris. who i must confess emily always wants to pray for. whenever we pray together she always wants to pray for her uncle chris. and whenever we mention aunt mindy or ty ty she wants to make sure uncle chris is included! she loves her uncle chris!

here is my southern living, classy well mannered sister...

who has a wild side!

after dinner, i wondered into the kitchen and found grandma judy being a true grandma! she had already given emily cake! actually truth be known, emily had helped herself to a cupcake! this does not surprise me!

abigail was ready for her cake!

and so was daddy!

what you can't see here is that it took an entire assembly line to cut, plate and deliver the cake. christy cut the cake, i held a plate which received the cake, donna scooped ice cream and mindy put the fork on a delivered. how efficient are we!

here is everyone watching the auburn game. how boring!

here i am wearing a goofy hat. what can i say...you've got to find some way to have fun!

here is cutie, tootie aj!

here we are opening presents!

and more presents!

here is uncle allan with little shep at emily's party. allan loves to hold babies!

here is gigi sharing a max lucado book with emily & meredith.

here is papa toting around our sweet baby!

after the party, emily and her daddy were tuckered out! they both fell asleep on the bed...so i could put them both down without any extra work!

the next day was a very special day for us as we celebrated grandma & pa's 40th wedding anniversary. we surprised them with an unexpected lunch at their house! see the video below.

here is the happy couple!

we had a wonderful lunch and enjoyed spending time together.

we tried...

and we tried...

and we tried! these were some of the best we could get!

Last week in Bible Study, we were discussing how at times, when our circumstances seem contrary to a life of blessing it can be easy to fall into the trap of believing God has left us or no longer loves us. we have learned in the psalms that nothing can be farther from the truth. in our tuesday morning study, we have a time of worship before we get into prayer and study. this last week we sang a song that sweetly brought me to tears. this song so perfectly illustrates how i feel in my walk with Christ right now. i have prayed for authenticity in my relationship to Christ. i have prayed to live a life pleasing to God. i have prayed to be kind, loving, joyful & a woman of worship. i think in my spiritual immaturity i believed that by simply praying these things, God would see the goodness of my heart (because i was praying such earnest prayers) and grant me my request. like a fairy god mother, suddenly i would be transformed into the sweet wife i long to be. suddenly, i would immitate the life of caroline ingles on little house on the prarie. i must admit, i have been tempted to be disillusioned by the trials i have faced after praying such prayers. how readily i forget that gold goes through a refining process. a catepillar must live a time as an ugly worm before it becomes a beautiful butterfly. why would my journey to completion be any different?

you may be tempted to skip over reading the lyrics to this song, but i would encourage you to take the time to read through them. they are powerful!

I Asked The LORD by John Newton
1. I asked the Lord that I might grow
In faith and love and every grace
Might more of His salvation know
And seek more earnestly His face

2. Twas He who taught me thus to pray
And He I trust has answered prayer
But it has been in such a way
As almost drove me to despair

3. I hoped that in some favored hour
At once He'd answer my request
And by His love's constraining power
Subdue my sins and give me rest

4. Instead of this He made me feel
The hidden evils of my heart
And let the angry powers of Hell
Assault my soul in every part

5. Yea more with His own hand He seemed
Intent to aggravate my woe
Crossed all the fair designs I schemed,
Cast out my feelings, laid me low

6. Lord why is this, I trembling cried
Wilt Thou pursue thy worm to death?
"Tis in this way" The Lord replied
"I answer prayer for grace and faith"

7. "These inward trials I employ
From self and pride to set thee free
And break thy schemes of earthly joy
That thou mayest seek thy all in me,
That thou mayest seek thy all in me."

this song sweetly illustrated the fiery trials we must go through in order to truly see God. how i yearn for the destinations!

Just in case you thought the birthday celebration was over...you were wrong! we still had to celebrate kevins and Dads! kevin's was wednesday october 15th and dads was october 17th.
so....last friday we went to valdosta to look at scooters for kevin and get new boots for emily. also to pick up some khaki pants that mommy got daddy for his birthday. (i got a little behind with birthday presents this year. i got so focused on emily that my poor husband and father were kind of left behind. dad got a check and kevin got a pair of khakis fresh from a belks bag!)

above is a picture of emily systematically setting up a tea party for her little doll house figures. note...they are having their tea on a carpeting portion of the floor (compliments of brother! this is his blanket!)

christian with his development has gotten to be a little more difficult to handle than in the past. we had to lower his crib because i am afraid he might roll out! i have found him with his feet hanging out of the crib. often we find him like this, laying on his side. he is such a cutie! i could eat him up!

here are my beautiful parents eating at red lobster. this is where my Dad wanted to celebrate his birthday.

here is emily eating her mac n cheese~!

and here is daddy being a good sport! the scooter shop closed at 5:30pm which is just about the time we arrived in valdosta. we were unable to go and kevin (as usual) was great about it. ever smiling is he!

here is our beautiful family! yes i know i am bragging. but please know i am not bragging on us. i am bragging on God! My Bible study this morning was on psalm 78. which by the way i reccommend you look at if you are feeling down in the dumps. the psalm is remembering all of the mighty works that God did for the children of Israel.

delivering them from the hand of pharoah with the plagues, the locusts, the frogs, the water turning to blood.

parting the red sea

creating water from a rock

and raining down manna and quail from the sky

all of these things God did for His people and yet, while the water was in their mouth they doubted he would provide meat! after he parted the red sea they were ready to return to slavery because they thought for sure, they would starve.

how quick are we to forget Gods provision and how it saddens His heart! This picture of my family amazes me. We are not perfect...but we are together and daily we are seeking Gods face. So often I feel as if we are going to fall apart. I thing to myslef. that's it Lesli. This time you have really blown it! Nothing can repair what you have done. Or all too often after a quite time in the Word and reading a convicting scripture, I am convinced that my heart is irreparable, that they only way to "fix" me is to "erase" me or like i told kev the other day, can i just be a computer and you can program me? but am i really believing God and trusting His sovereign mighty hand? He has delivered me from so much! I could list the same number of miracles He has performed in my own life as He did in the Israelites. Perhaps even More!

God converted my soul in 1997 from a life of death and self to a Christ centered life!
He has delivered me from temperments, habbits and addictions, He has given me a wonderful Godly husband, with wonderful parents, my parents have never given up on me in spite of myself! and i have two beatiful children to God be The Glory! All of these things have been given to me yet from the time I was 12 until I was 21 I was living in the pit! and I mean the pit!

SO after all of this...why would I doubt God's continued provision in my life? I know He will provide. It simply requires my faith and patience! Praise His Name!

here is emily in all of her glory! enjoying her new bright red boots!

in case your wondering...she wore the boots to belks and books a million...with her short shorts and her pink shirt!

so after the new boots were purchased..of course we had to team them up with a whole cow girl outfit and head out to the farm!

beautiful!

this is emily's third cousin katie. when i asked her what her favorite subject was in school she said fashion! love it~!

this is katie's mommie and my favorite second cousin! jennifer~ (author of give in to motherhood)

this is madison, jennifer's oldest daughter who is a mathematician like her mom and dad!

does this photo even need commentary? is this not a papa's dream come true? i pray emily will remember this moment for the reat of her life!

have i lost my mind? this is my daughter riding all by herself! sorry about tuffys ears dad!

dad...maybe this picture will make up for the slacky ears in the previous picture!

here are the riders!

our day of riding ended with a cookout at gigi and papas house with the fulton clan. here is tyler bing a super duper cousin!

is christian trying to tell us something?

isn't he a cutie?

well, i guess thats all for now. mom just called. she is headed to the beach in a jaguer convertible with alice dickey, carla defnall, rose marie robbins, kay alexander and donna carney! boy do i want a picture of that! pray for them!

lesli~

The McMillans as of late...

2008-08-26T15:21:00.005-04:00

Currently we are facing many challenges it seems. I am ashamed to say this because I know how very blessed we are to have all that we have. A wonderful extended family, a beautiful immediate family, we have a wonderful and supportive husband and daddy (who puts up with all our quirks!) and A God who continually forgives us and continues to tries to mold us into His image in spite of ourselves.

But with that being said our spiritual pilgrimage is still up hill.

(Here is our Baby Christian, or little Shep. He is so beautiful!)

I would like to quote a book I am currently reading called The Shack. It is a lengthy quote but worth the read,

"Emotions are the colors of the soul; they are spectacular and incredible. When you don't feel the world becomes dull and colorless....So help me understand them, pleaded Mack. Not much to understand, actually. They just are. They are neither bad nor good; they just exist. Here is something that will help you sort this out in your mind, Mackenzie. Paradigms power perception and perceptions power emotions. Most emotions are responses to perception-what you think is true about a given situation. If your perception is false, then your emotional response to it will be false too. So check your perceptions, and beyond that check the truthfulness of your paradigms- what you believe. Just because you believe something firmly doesn't make it true. Be willing to reexamine what you believe. The more you live in the truth, the more your emotions will help you see clearly. But even then, you don't want to trust them more than Me." this is spoken by Sarayu a character playing the part of The Holy Spirit.

(Here is Emily, regressing. We got out the exersaucer for Baby Christian and Emily has decided she likes to play with it too!)

What we believe, what we think affects us in astronomical ways. I am reading a book with my Dad right now entitled Renovation of The Heart by Dallas Willard and the entire book is about spiritual transformation. How can we become more like Christ. The premise of the book is that, as we submit our hearts to Christ, God The Father and His Holy Spirit, our thoughts will be pure and holy leading unto pure and holy emotions or feelings and subsequent actions, relationships and as a whole, genuine, pure, authentic Christlike lives. Of the Glory of such a life, and yet it all starts in the microscopic realm of our heart. What am I doing with the issues that filter through my heart? Am I handing them one by one to The Sovereign Creator or am I clinging to them with worry and selfish ambition? This makes all the difference in the world for from it come my thoughts, feelings, actions, relationships and my life.

(Here is Kevin after he "bounced" Christian to sleep. Little man is getting some teeth so we have had some restless nights!)

The quote above from The Shack is healing. For it teaches us that in every situation we have a choice. And that choice will paint the color of our days. Are we going to choose gray and see things critically, selfishly, pessimistically or are we going to choose a shade of blue and see the freshness of each encounter, see the crisp opportunities of each situation? We have the power to choose and Gods Spirit has the power to change! What a blessing!

"Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of Gods Wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.

Summing it up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious-the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into His most excellent harmonies."

Philippians 4:6-9 The Message

(Here is baby Christian, he doesn't have a care in the world, so long as he's gotten good sleep and yummy stuff to eat! After this picture was taken, his daddy changed his clothes. We were afraid he wasn't getting circulation to his peripheral limbs!)

For me right now I simply feel overwhelmed!

We are moving in a month,

I am trying to begin homeschooling Emily, wondering if I need to return to school to get a teacher certification so that I can effectively home school our children,

I am trying to save as much money as possible to move us out of debt, which
means home cooked meals, no more dry cleaning and limited nights out.

I am also trying to keep our house clean, the laundry done, and myself somewhat appealing in appearance.

Not to mention disciplining Emily as she faces her own self will

and trying to stop and enjoy the great beauty contained withing the smile of both Emily and Christian.

Plus,keeping Kevin and I together in our marriage.

Trying to make times for us to get away alone and really talk like we use to
before the little ones came.

Did I mention I am speaking to my Dads students next week about nutrition?

(Whew! I am overwhelmed just re-reading that statement!)

But put into practice the advice of Sarayu and change my paradigm

We are getting a new home!

God has called us to homeschool and will provide me with everything I need to do it! All I have to do is obey Him!

We are called to be stewards of Gods money!

I get to cook and care for an entire family!

I have two beautiful children to care for!

And I have a wonderful husband and a wonderful marriage to enjoy for many years to come!

I feel I must give my husband credit. Today I came home from Mommy group a little (okay maybe a lot) disheartened. Emily is trying to learn how to be a good friend (aren't we all?). She continues to wrestle with expressing herself and often resorts to aggression when she is frustrated. This is generally not accepted among her peers and is hard for us all to push through.

She made it through the entire Mommy group without any incidents until the very end of our time there she grabbed Lydia, a 10 month old baby in the face. I was horrified as I saw it happening but it was too late and there was nothing I could do, except for apologize to both the child and the mother and explain to Emily how what she had done was wrong. My heart breaks for her each time this happens. I don't truly understand what causes her to do it but it is a huge obstacle for us right now.

As we drove away, all of the issues I am facing right now starting pouring in. All in the color gray. I felt defeated and discouraged. I felt like a failure and I felt as if everyone at Mommy Group probably hates me.

I came home and sought counsel from my (poor) husband who hears many of my saga stories and he reminded me of the power of optimism, not knowing that God had already done a work in my heart on this very issue earlier this morning.

Optimism...

Maybe these issues with aggression in Emily will help the two of us to draw closer together.

Maybe God is teaching me to be more considerate of others in it.

Maybe one day I will be able to help another Mommy who will struggle with the same issues?

Not to mention that this is an opportunity for me to reach out to the other Mommies on our group instead of closing myself off from everyone because I feel out of place.

Praise God that He loves me enough to work in my heart to change me and not leave me the way I am!

Here is a picture of Emily and Grandma Judy. We got to visit with her last week. What a blessing to have godly people in our lives. Even if they do live in Panama City!

Father, I pray You will work in my heart Lord. Change me from the very inner core outward. Leave no stone unturned and create in me a clean, pure authentic heart that thirsts after You. Cause me to live obediently to all that You have taught me and let me not fall into pharisee ways, knowing so many truths, but never living them out in my own heart. Oh Lord I pray You will change my heart, change my thoughts, let my emotions be pleasing to You, my relationships for Your Glory and my life a sacrifice for Your Kingdom. No more words Dear Lord, let there be actions! Let me continually look up unto You!

Let God work a new work in you today! See through a shade of blue, pink or purple. Put away the drab and the gray and see the world as God has called us to. As an opportunity to give every trial and challenge over to Him and grow closer to Him, grow more like Him as your choose to
serve Him in each challenge an every trial.

Imitate The Christ!

Running in the Rain

2008-08-19T14:30:00.001-04:00

I could certainly learn a few things from my daughter about enjoying life. Check out this video of her "running in the rain"

I am beginning to truly believe that God has blessed me with children to teach me much!
They are growing up so fast and we are loving every minute of it (except for the moments when I think I am going to loose my mind because they are both screaming!)

Here is Emily at breakfast. I have been trying to get her to eat English Muffins with whole grains and the only success I have had so far is to give it to her at snack time. At breakfast I tried home made peach preserves on top. She licked off the preserves and asked for more. At lunch, I tried cheese, she ate it off and said "cheese". Oh well! I guess I will keep trying at snack time!

Here is our sweet pea and her new big girl bed. We had many nights with all of us in bed that Kevin finally said, ok we are trying out a new bed! About a month ago, he converted her crib to a toddler bed and this has been working out really well. (sometimes) (we still have nights like last night where she slept with mommy and daddy)

Recently, she has enjoyed playing dress up with her stuffed animals. Here is her teddy bear with her PJ's on! She also has begun to try to feed her baby doll like Mommy feeds Christian. Out of respect to Emily's pride, I will not include a photo of this activity! But I will say it is quite special to sit on the couch with my daughter and her baby doll and feed together!

Can you believe this handsome fellow! He is now using the exersaucer and playing with the bells and whistles involved. I can't believe he will be four months this weekend!

He's already looking like his daddy!

Speaking of Daddy, we have a super daddy! Here is Kevin with both kids upstairs. I was downstairs cleaning up after dinner and this is what I heard from the monitor in Emily's room.

We have a wonderful Daddy!

My Mom

2008-08-13T23:40:00.001-04:00

Here is a picture of my Mom asking me not to take her picture. Sorry Mom...I couldn't resist! Don't you just love modern technology!

Sunday Lunch

2008-08-13T23:25:00.002-04:00

This last Sunday we ate lunch with my very favorite second cousin. Jennifer Upton, the far left, holding Christian, was always my buddy growing up. She was that special adult who treated you like you really were something even though you were a kid. We are so lucky (and excited) that they have just bought a home in Tallahassee. Emily and Christian have already recognized the richness in this family. Kevin and I are excited because now we have babysitters in Tallahassee!

Here is Jennifer with Emily and her daughter Katie. Katie was super patient with Emily. Emily can be a little bossy sometimes but Katie took it all in stride!

Here is Madison holding baby Christian.

And here is Emily. After everyone left, I took her upstairs so she could take a "night night". When I went to wake her up, this is how I found her. Her head is between the pillows!

She is such a cutie!

Meredith's Birthday Party

2008-08-13T23:08:00.005-04:00

This past Saturday we celebrated another birthday. Meredith turned three! Emily was so excited about her party...that she opened Meredith's present for her!

Lucky for us, she expressed her curiosity before we arrived at Meredith's house and we were able to re-package Meredith's gift!

This is Kevin, trying to figure out which wrapping paper to use.

Here is Meredith and Emily sharing a princess chair!

And of course Emily enjoyed cake!

They also had a "bouncy thing". See the video below for an expository of "bouncy thing"

:)

Christian watched the action from the side lines, but it won't be long before he joins the crowd!

As you can see...our daughter has no fear!

AJ's new growth!

2008-08-13T22:57:00.003-04:00

There was lots of talk about our cousin AJ this week! Last Sunday he asked Jesus to come into his heart! His Daddy had the privilege of baptizing him! Check out the Pierce blog for More!

www.fishbowlstory.blogspot.com

Throughout the week we talked about AJ and so Emily frequently requests that her daddy draw AJ on her magnadoodle. Above is Kevin's rendition.

Alyssa's Birthday Party

2008-08-13T22:47:00.003-04:00

Last week, we helped our friend Alyssa celebrate her second birthday! We had a great time!

Emily was happy to wish Alyssa a happy birthday but even happier to dip into her cupcake!

Christian is getting introduced to our Mommy Group friends and enjoying every minute of it! Here he is with sweet Caroline!~

We had such a good time at Alyssa's birthday party that we invited her over to play the very next day! Well...actually, we bit Alyssa as we were leaving Mommy Group and wanted to make peace. Emily played much nicer the second time around. We are so very blessed to have the friends we do. Alaina, the Mommy you see holding both Alyssa and Emily, was very gracious about the whole thing! Thank You Alaina for being understanding!

Christian enjoyed hi sown little play group with his new buddy Johnathan! They are about two months apart

New Growth

2008-08-13T22:02:00.006-04:00

Here is Emily with her Papa. Once again they are together on Tuffy!

Here is a picture of Emily reading to her brother. This past week, Christian went for a check up to the doctor. He is weighing in at a whopping 17 pounds 8 ounces! He is doing all kinds of new things. He pulls our his pacifier, laughs when you tickle him and he is playing with the bells and whistles on his exersaucer! He will be four months next Sunday! Emily and Christian are currently wearing the same diapers!

Recently Kevin and I have seen new growth in Emily as well. She has really begun to show an interest in Christian. Wanting to hold him, read to him...really to love him. This has blessed our hearts greatly! We rejoice in her embracing her brother and pray that this is just the beginning of a special friendship!

Below is a video of Emily interacting with her baby brother.

Here is a picture of Emily reading to herself. Watch how she turns each page.