Christmas Stockings- finished!!

Yes, I know it's August and Christmas is still a long way away. But, if Amelia had her way it would be Christmas all of the time and we'd always listen to Christmas music :) Last year as I made gifts for people I was struck with thought that I have not made my children or myself anything. Don't get me wrong- I love making and giving gifts. But, I also want my kids to benefit from my craftiness (really it's just my ability to read and follow directions).

So I set out to make our family Christmas stockings. I knew if I didn't start in January I wouldn't be ready for Christmas 2009- HA. My goal was one stocking a month finished in April- well since it's not April you know how that turned out! Anyway, Amelia and I ventured to the craft store with our coupons and found lots of yarn. I wanted her to help pick out the colors.

We found green and brown for Ian, pink and brown for me and then came the decision point. What color for Amelia? What color for Emery? Amelia's wisdom, "The same color for both of us mom, we are sisters and we should match. That's the way it works." Me: "Are you sure you don't want your own color and a different one for Emery?" Amelia: "No, we should match, we are sisters and always will be." AWESOME! So, they ended up being dark pink and brown.

I'm really happy with how they turned out and Amelia was a great cheerleader during the whole thing. Always asking how the stockings were coming along and asking to see them. I'm hoping to create a love of crafting in her, but that will be up to her! So, I know they aren't traditional Christmas colors, but I love them just the same. They don't match our fancy decorated tree, but I love them just the same. They for sure look homemade, which is why I love them. Can't wait to tuck PJ's, some gum and candy in each one this Christmas Eve :)

What's Emery up to?

While Amelia's been adjusting to school and getting used to life as a student Emery has had some adventures of her own. I figure a picture is worth a thousand words, so this post is like 8,000 words long :) Enjoy...

Ready to potty with her potty seat and book- the girl knows what she wants, even if she can't say it, she can show it! (and no I'm not potty training her, but she's trying to potty train herself!)




Enjoying some chili for dinner, good thing it was bath night!




"Helping" dad with his sit-ups by jumping up and down on his tummy.




Getting some quality big sister time.




Sporting some pigtails which stay in for about 3 seconds flat...




Wanting to be like big sister and insisting on her own backpack. We can not leave the house each morning without it!




And last, but not least. Since she's playing solo she can find new spots to "hang out" and enjoy the view.

Be Strong and Corageous

That's been our mantra for Amelia as she headed off to her first day of Kindergarten. I figured she'd be fine going to school, excited, independent, ready to take on the world. Well, I guess I was wrong. She cried (a lot) at meet the teacher and has talked about how nervous she is. When asked why she's nervous she says, "I'm afraid I won't make any friends and that I won't do a good job on my homework." Man, is she me or what? I remember the same fears. Not from kindergarten but changing elementary schools, going to Junior High, Senior High, College and starting new jobs.

Well, in His infinite wisdom God used His Word to speak to our family this past week. Of course He did :) Last week for the high school Bible study that we lead we studied Joshua. We read about what God told Joshua right before he lead a huge group of people into the promised land. BIG JOB! Well, we talked to Amelia about what God told Joshua right before his big event. We asked her, "Do you have a big event coming up?" "Yes- going to kindergarten." So we read her the following verse from Joshua 1:9

"Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."

"Well, what do you think?" we asked. She said, "Can we read it again at breakfast before I leave for school? So I can remember it all day long." And no joke, she has been reciting that verse all weekend getting ready for school. So today we read it again, gathered our courage and headed out the door. They were some bumps along the way, and she was nervous for sure, but I could see her little mind working that verse over and over again.

I'm excited to pick her up and see how her first day went. What she liked, what she didn't like and if she ate her lunch! I'm just so thankful that we can hide God's Word in our hearts, that we have access to Bibles, that we have access to education so we can read our Bibles, and that God wants to speak to us. I would have never ever in a million years picked that one verse out of that huge book to give her comfort. But God did and that's what makes it so awesome.

PS- sorry about the italics- something funky is going on with blogspot...

My Goal List

Yes, this post seems misplaced in Mid-August because it feels like a New Year's Resolution List, but I'm doing it anyway!

Why am I doing this now? Well, when we were at Christ In Youth we received a "kingdom challenge." The sealed envelopes were handed out to us as we entered the auditorium that day. They ranged anywhere from not buying clothes for a year and donating the money to the poor to vacuuming your church worship center once a week. My challenge was to do family devotions once a week for a year. Well, the high school girls in my group were a little disappointed with my challenge- not sure if they wanted to see me sky diving for Jesus or what, but there was an audible sigh when I read mine. "That's easy for you" they said. "You already do that," and so on. Well guess what- I DON'T already do that. I do my own devotions, but not as a family. So it got me thinking, I really should be doing this- obviously :)

Then, of course I couldn't leave it at that. Ian's challenge had me wanting to challenge myself more as well. See, early in the week he realized that God was calling him to do something big to raise awareness for what's going in Mexico, just south of us. So, he's decided to ride his bike 207 miles to Rocky Point, MX. Then, a few days later, he got his kingdom challenge.

"Do not put gas in your car for 1 month and donate all money that would have been
spent to an environmental cause you believe in."

WOW- talk about a great way to train for a bike ride- riding your bike to work :) God's cool- huh? Well, it got me thinking about different areas of my life and were I need to work in some more discipline. So, here's what I'm thinking for myself as well as our family. We'll see how it goes :)

Personal Goals:

• Spiritual: Listen to one Reasonable Faith podcast each month
• Physical: walk 3xweek, Pilates & Lift 3xweek, Abs 2xweek
• Mental: Read 1 book per month
• Emotional: Go to bed by 10 pm and wake up by 6:15 am (I need lots of sleep)

Family Goals:

• Spiritual: Do devotions once a week (what started all of this!)
  
• Physical: Get back to our Sunday morning activity like hiking, riding bikes, etc
  
• Mental: Use only kind words and watch our tone of voice
  
• Emotional: Play a game once a week
  

So, we are off and running. We had our first devotions last week and Emery checked out about 2 nanoseconds into it, but Amelia loved and so did Ian and I. My book for this month is Birth Order by Kevin Lehman, I'm way behind, but hope to catch up soon :) And, because the weather was AWESOME this weekend we went to the park and ate breakfast this Sunday. YEAH! Just wait and ask me in September how things are going :)