Multitude Mondays - Week One

Thanksgiving has reminded me of all I have to be truly grateful for. It's unfortunate that on this one day a year we continually give thanks -- something that should happen every day of our lives. I have to admit, I come to the Lord all too often with more prayer requests than thanks for everything he has blessed me with. One of my daily prayers is that I see the hand of Lord in everything, so I can constantly remind Emily (and future children) of God's truths. I am hoping this list will help me be thankful for EVERYTHING he has placed in my life, and as a result, nurture thankful children, as well.

The idea comes from the blog, A Holy Experience. I love what writer Ann Voskamp says about her experience...

"Too often I miss him, oblivious, blind. I don't see all the good things that He is giving me, gracing me with, brushing my life with. True, he is everywhere, always. But maybe, before the Gift List, I thought of Him as further off, not so close. When I started to see all the things that I love bestowed upon me, I started to see Him as near, present, everywhere, showering me with good things. Seeing the things I love all around me gives me eyes to see that I am loved, that He loves me."

Today I start my running list of a thousand gifts and every Monday I will add to it. Would you like to, as well? It's about making our life all about worship and experiencing God's transforming powers.

Here we go...

1. My wonderful husband who loves me unconditionally.

2. The timing of our first great blessing. That I currently have an 18 month old who amazes me everyday.

3. My fluffy puppy who keeps me company when my husband is far away and the babe is in bed.

4. My Bible.

5. All the Word has revealed to me.

6. My alone time with the Lord that I attempt to fit in every morning before our little one wakes up.

7. Hearing the voice of God through others.

8. Trick-or-treating bags carried around as purses that put smiles on little girls' faces.

9. Women that encourage me by their faith in the Lord.

10. Realizing that I am not a horrible mother and that others struggle with the same things I do.

11. Pumpkin spice muffins.

12. Blogs that encourage and inspire.

13. Doing dishes every night and hearing the uncontrollable laughter coming from bath time with Daddy.

14. A new little one constantly moving in the womb.

15. That Emily folds her hands any time she hears the word "pray" or "God"

16. Fake Christmas trees that don't need to be tended to.

17. Christmas trees that are already strung with lights that are perfectly spaced out.

18. Our Christmas decorations that went up the day before Thanksgiving.

19. Setting out our nativity set for the first time.

20. Remembering every time I walk by our nativity how important of an event this was.

Daddy lessons

This Thanksgiving, we are especially thankful for Daddies who teach us valuable life lessons. Without them, there are some things we would just never learn...

What do you keep in your purse?

For a solid two weeks leading up to Halloween, Emily carried her trick-or-treating bag with her everywhere she went... to the grocery store, to church, to friends' houses. Her interest in it finally died down, but we still keep it around the house for her to play with. Today she insisted on taking it to church with us. I find it funny the things she feels necessary to bring along inside it. Usually it is a basic grouping of toys, but today she brought an odd assortment... 5 baby washcloths, her sippy cup, and a plastic condiment bottle.

Yep, that is what I keep in mine, too.

Our little dancing queen

Halloween festivities

If you remember from last year, I have a new found love for Halloween. I think I started setting out decorations about mid-September, despite the 90 degree weather. Then, I found this amazing little dress that I was dying to make. Once upon a time, I thought I would get into sewing. That was before I learned it took multiple days to make an outfit. This halloween outfit was definitely worth all $10 I spent and very fast to put together.

I asked her to pose, and this is what I got...
We also carved pumpkins this year. Emily was having a blast, as you can tell.Daniel's is the way impressive one in the middle, mine is full of Texas pride, and Emily's is the lame uncarved one on the left.
Since it was 85 degrees and incredibly humid, we didn't put her costime on until the last second. She absolutely LOVES her trick-or-treating bag. I will post more on her new "purse" later -- it's too funny. She insists on carrying that thing everywhere we have gone the past week, including church.

You can tell she loves her costume. I was impressed, though. After the first minute of trying to get it off, she didn't tug at it anymore. I guess she gave up.

We really only trick-or-treated at one house. I think she was confused as to why a stranger was putting something in her beloved purse. In this last series it appears as if she is a pro, but I don't want to mislead you. She was just holding her purse, walking up to the Boyle's where we spend most of our time anyway. So really, it was like any other day to her.

I'm sure she will love Halloween next year.

And maybe we can get some cooler weather?

She is finally growing up

Daniel always gives me a hard time for wanting Emily to grow up. It's not that I want her to be 25 all of the sudden, I just have always looked forward to the age where I can start doing arts and crafts with my children. (I can't tell you where it all went, but I use to be a very creative person.) I mean, all we are talking about here is her being a year of two older. Then, if she wants, she can stop growing and stay that age forever. Is that really too much to ask?

Well, at my last OB appointment, I decided to drop Emily off at daycare. You have no idea how hurt I was when I went to pick her up and found out they did arts and crafts. I was suppose to be the one to introduce that to her! In all honesty, though, I had no clue she was even old enough to paint. (I constantly underestimate her.) We can hardly eat our food without making a huge mess, so I thought painting was out of the question.

I decided it was time for us to start coloring, painting, and making things. I basically copied the daycare's idea of Emily painting leaves for fall and we made some for family. Of course, with the short attention span, we only lasted about 15 minutes, but it was fun while it lasted.

I couldn't find the smock I was looking for, so we painted naked. Being the great Daddy that he is, Daniel came home and showed her how to paint on her body. I tried explaining to him that even though she is so young, it is important that we start teaching her lessons, such as paint is for the paper... not for your body. He insisted that this lesson was not a fun one. We left it at that.

Do all parents feel this way about wanting their child to grow up? I have a friend Esther, who has a baby younger than Emily. She commented to me that she can't wait for her child to be Emily's age. But then, I look at my friend Leah who has a 2 year old, and I can't wait for that. I keep thinking it is because she is my first. I assure myself that I will enjoy the others more when they are younger because I will have an older one doing the things I have been waiting for. I guess we will see.

The things you do for the deployed men overseas...

I know, I know. I haven't blogged in forever! To tell you the truth, I haven't felt super bad about this fact until I realized that important people in Afghanistan are depending on my posts.

Blogging will resume tomorrow.

Sorry Jarrod!