Voting

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Things I want to remember about my sweet Brady:

  • he wants to be a fireman when he grows up
  • Chris and I were hugging in the kitchen and Brady comes running in saying "got room for one more?" and started hugging on us... LOVE it!!
  • he is very into the weather....in the morning when we have the news on in the kitchen and he is eating his cereal, he gets very excited when the weather comes on and watches it intently.  When the 7 day forecast comes on the screen he is looking for which days have the sun graphic on it and which days have rain clouds on them.  After he intently watches, he broadcasts it to Chris and I.  This morning he informed us: "There are 5 clouds in the weather.  One in the West, one in Texas, one up North, one in America, and one uh....somewhere else."  Chris asked him if he was going to be a weatherman when he grows up and he said: "I would love to do that, Daddy."  So we discussed how maybe when he grows up he could be a weatherman on t.v. and he said "how can I do that?  I can't fit inside the t.v."  gotta love it!  we then continued to explain how it works and then he said he would practice downstairs with his "weasel" (his art easel)
  • he is wearing flip-flops for the first time....and he LOVES them and feels like quite a big guy in them.  we were running errands a couple of weeks back at Big Lots and he found a Batman pair he wanted so now he is a big guy in flip-flops. 
  • he is wearing sunglasses with purpose this spring as well.  Chris bought him a pair of Disney Cars sunglasses at Dollar General the other day and now he has to have them on when he is outside or in the van...looking at him in the mirror with his shades on is awesome. 
  • he is obsessed with the word "SERIOUSLY?"  he says it OFTEN and with the right inflection and the right timing.  We discovered he picked it up from his Daddy.
  • some of his favorite people right now are the Kims (are next door neighbors and dear friends).  Grayson is 7 months older than Brady and Olivia is 6 months younger than him....a true blessing for Brady and his parents as Chris and I really enjoy Amanda & Stefan's company as well.  We are constantly discussing how Brady is a Kim stalker because he has to know what they are doing and where they are at ALL times and he is ALWAYS asking about them.  "where are the Kims?"  "what are the Kims doing?".  Our favorite is when he referred to them a couple of times as his Kims.  "Mommy, I want to go see my Kims."  How endearing.  Then one day before nap while we were praying I was thanking GOD for friendships and Brady interjected with "yes, GOD, thank you for my Kims."  I guess it is official....they are HIS Kims!!

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Some of the latest comments from my sweet Brady:

  • every time he sees a cross now - since learning about Easter - he says "look, Mommy, there is the cross where Jesus died."
  • we practiced riding his bike in front of our house the other day and he gets real nervous thinking he is going to fall, even though he, of course, has training wheels on.  I was trying to encourage him by telling him how to pedal and I said: "See bud, you are doing it...that is great.  When you know how to pedal and ride you can go wherever you want....you have the freedom to ride, to go...isn't that cool.?"  He said: "Yeah, Mommy, I am going to ride to the beach."  I LOVE it, a man after my own heart!
  • after doing my usual tasks around the house with my dear boys...Brady looks at me and says: "Mommy  you are doing a great job.  You are my best Mommy."
  • praying before his snack yesterday after school, unprompted, he says: "Thank you Jesus for my day.  Thank you for our blessings.  Thank you for my snack.  Thank you for dying on the cross for me."  PRECIOUS!!!
  • Tonight at dinner when Brady was playing with his fork I said: "Brady put your fork down please." with a bit of an annoyed voice (this is something that has to be said OFTEN).  He said: "Mommy I need it.  Stop being grumpy, Mommy" without even skipping a beat or being funny.  Chris and I had to hide our faces to not laugh in front of him.
LOVE this boy!!

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Easter Blessings

Easter is amazing to me.  I mean I LOVE Christmas...who doesn't?  How could you not?  The season is joyous, magical, festive, and just plain fun!  The reality of Easter is tough...thinking about what Christ endured - what HIS Father, our Father endured on GOOD Friday for US ME is phenomenal...absolutely phenomenal!    What Christ did on Easter Sunday for is nothing short of miraculous...I mean who else do you know that has risen from the dead?  Me....no one, just Jesus....just the son of GOD, just the Savior of the world, just MY Savior....Really??? "just"?  "just" doesn't cut it...."just" indicates "justice" and where is there justice when you consider all that Christ endured...blameless, HE who was without sin?

This Easter season while we had fun with Brady with all the parties, festivities, crafts, egg hunts, etc. I really wanted to focus on what Easter is....what this day represents.  I had a hard time with the wording...it is not pretty what our LORD suffered through...there is nothing romantic, magical, or mystical about being flogged, beaten, or crucified.  Explaining this to a 3-year-old is tough...you question yourself as to the extent of the details, the depth, how honest....but again, I don't want to romanticize it.  We had a few conversations come up as we discussed the fact that Easter was approaching. 


  • Brady - "I don't want Jesus to die"
  • Brady - "He came back to life?"  "When I die will I come back to life?"
  • Brady - "Why did Jesus have to die?"
  • Brady - "Jesus is in heaven?  I thought Jesus was in our hearts?"
Then we had a cool dialogue after Brady came home one day from preschool the week of Easter.  He told me the story of Easter.  "Mommy the bad mans killed Jesus and put a crown of thorns on his head.  This gave him a boo boo and he had circle boo boos on his hands.  They hurt him Mommy and it was very sad then they put him on a cross and he died.  The good guys rolled away the rock in front of the cave and he wasn't there, Mommy.  His friends couldn't find him because he rose from the dead....Jesus rose from the dead!"  I was so impressed by his knowledge and his retelling of what he learned from Mrs. Janey (who was thrilled to hear that he retained it and it made sense) and the toddler picture Bible that she used.  This led to great conversation in which we talked about Jesus, sin, inviting Christ into our hearts - in which he clearly stated "I have invited Jesus into my heart, Mommy" - I am not sure he is quite capable of truly understanding that yet so we will continue to have this open communication, prayer time, Church, and his Bible teaching in school, of course.  That is something only Christ will truly know.  Perhaps my prayer of Brady coming to a saving knowledge of Christ at an early age will come to be...perhaps sooner than I ever imagined. 

It is not enough to say Thank you, Lord, but without any other words - Thank you!!!

Thursday, April 1, 2010

I DID IT!!

I ran a half marathon.......13.1 miles!!! It was hard as h#!! but I did it!!! I committed to this back in November and after a long 3 1/2 months or so on Sunday, May 7th I did it....completed a half marathon.  The training did not go as I would have liked....bad weather, no treadmill, injuries, illnesses, breastfeeding, work, nap schedules, husband's work schedule, preschool schedule, not having the schedule match-up with anyone to have a steady partner, etc....but I did it!!!  Did I mention that I did it???  I am still in shock at times!

It was a great location...Seaside, FL....GORGEOUS!!! A pretty flat terrain...perfect time of year for Florida...early March...perfect sponsors....Vera Bradley and Jim 'N Nick's BBQ......the best ladies anyone could ask to do this with and enjoy a weekend at the beach with:

Deana, Kerry, Brittney, Leah, Christine, & Dara.........love these girls!!!  I would have NEVER done this without them!
Sweet Brittney....a collegiate cross-country runner who encouraged me all along and came WAY down to my level to do this with me and, figuratively speaking, "carried me across the finish line" (although not long past mile 10 I thought she might have to literally carry me across).  What a GREAT girl, wonderful cousin, and - more importantly - fabulous friend!!!  Love her!!
Did I mention it was at Seaside, FL....the GORGEOUS beach!