Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Graduation and here comes summer.

It seems I have two graduates on my hands.

The first is 34 years old. The second is 5 years old. Both graduates and both alike in so many other ways!

Burrito officially graduated Pre-Kindergarten on Friday. He received his official diploma and was so excited....as evidenced by the look on his face! He has become increasingly goofy when he knows his picture is being taken.
And so with graduation and the end of school comes summer break. We actually started our "official" summer on May 8 with our first swimming experience of the year. I was too lazy to haul out and blow up our little swimming pool so I improvised with this:
And I think they thoroughly enjoyed themselves!


And the best part about it....with the added bubbles, this swimming experience also doubled as a bath!



Wednesday, May 20, 2009

PreK End of Year Party

I simply cannot believe that this Friday is Burrito's last day of Pre-Kindergarten. This year has gone by so quickly. The classes celebrated today with a party at the park. And they all wore shirts that they had made earlier with their handprints that say, "Growing in Jesus!"

It started with a parade of kids and music shakers.

Then they moved on to some relay races, sack race and water balloons.

They played so hard that they needed a snack and drink.

Then came the finale....tug of war! Even Noodle was able to participate in this one! And they won!
All the kids were given a medal, a punch balloon, and a popsicle as a reward for their efforts. It was a fun, beautiful day!

Monday, May 18, 2009

Righteousness not Results

As Noodle and I set out for our Monday morning errands today, I just had this feeling of needing to hear the Word. Listening to talk radio or a bible program in the car is not as easy as one would think....at least not in my world. Burrito and Noodle are quite the talkers, especially in the car, and not just to me but to each other as well. My chances of being able to hear anything were a little better with just one child with me, so I started surfing the channels to find something good.

I landed on Focus on the Family. I like Dr. Dobson and most of the things his program has to say, but my ears perked up when he spoke of Beth Moore. I first "met" Beth back at Passion 99 and instantly fell in love with her fireball delivery! Dr. Dobson was introducing this segment, as it was originally from the National Day of Prayer meeting that he and his wife Shirley attended in D.C. a few weeks ago. Beth was a speaker but did not get aired over the radio waves that day. Man, am I glad he chose to air her segment because it was rich...and it only lasted about 10 minutes. That girl can say more good stuff in 10 minutes than I will ever in a lifetime!

This is some of what she said:

God calls us to righteousness not results. She gave many examples of this in the Bible, one being Isaiah. He was a prophet that God used to speak to His people but the people did not listen. So why didn't Isaiah just give up? If they weren't going to listen, why should he keep speaking to them? Because Isaiah knew God's call on his life, and it wasn't about the results or the outcomes of whatever he said or did. God knew the people would not listen. Isaiah saw that the people were not listening. But obeying God's call and command on his life produced righteouseness, and that is far more important and fruitful than results.

My mind immediately jumped to the book I have been reading with a group of mommies called Shepherding a Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp. We have learned many, many things as a result of reading this book but for me, maybe the most important thing I've learned is that my responsibility as their mother is not to produce this certain type of person that I think is good and right and loves the Lord. That, of course, is my desire but not my responsibility. No, my responsibility is to train and teach them what is right and good and pray that the Lord would mold them into men after His own heart. I cannot produce or control that. My calling is to train and teach. A focus on righteousness, not results.

Beth Moore then recounted a story of some friends who had a son. These friends were very successful doctors, had always done everything right and had great plans for their children. It was not long after birth that it became apparent that their son, Gabriel, had some learning disabilites. He was diagnosed with severe seizures and at age 15, could only write one word, his name. And he couldn't write his entire name....just the first 3 letters. She relates that he did perfect on the first letter, "G", but then the "a" was always just a circle, that he never remembered to put the tail on the circle to make it a lowercase a. And the "b" was always inverted so it looked like the letter d, and then he would always follow that with a period. So everytime his mother or father would pick up a drawing that Gabriel had done, it would have his name scribbled at the top and would look like this: "God."

A reminder from the Lord that it is righteouseness, not results, that matters to Him.

What He is doing in my heart is the real treasure, not the results we may "see" here on this earth.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

So proud

Yesterday was John's last final to complete his coursework for his Masters of Humanities. It is quite amazing to me to look back on the past few years and think of all the sacrifices of time and sleep he joyfully made to complete this degree. He still has one paper to write and then a comprehensive exam to be taken this summer but then he will be officially done!

So proud of you babe for doing all that you have done for your career and for your family. One more reason for me to love you all the more!

Thursday, May 7, 2009

this and that

Spring has definitely sprung around here and with temps rising into the 90's today with about 100% humidity, I would dare say summer is just around the corner. My favorite right now is taking pictures of the boys with flowers and populating my flower pot collection on our front porch. I am not a big fan of flowers in flowerbeds, just because you have to replace them each year and that just seems pointless and costly. So my solution? Plant them in pots! You get the same pop of color, just in smaller doses for a lot less! Don't you just love these?!?!?
This picture of the boys is at our local zoo. I wish all those flowers were at our house!
Spring also gives us quite an itch to improve our yard. We had some decent landscaping to work with from the previous owners but we've added and deleted or improved a few things. John and I finally agreed on a flowerbed stone and I think it turned out great!
And this is our friend E. I think the boys are pretty taken with her, what do you think? And this baby girl has thighs to die for! There is nothing like sweet squishy baby thighs. Almost makes me want to have another baby.....almost!

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We are T minus 6 days from John being finished with grad school! Can you hear the shouts of joy coming from our house? The Lord has been so good to us during this time, providing an employer to foot the bill for this education, sustaining me as I parented alone at times, and giving strength and endurance to John as he balanced work, school and family. We are formulating a plan to celebrate....a couples only trip, a family vacation trip, a fun party....which one will we choose?

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Mother's Day Tea

I love being a mom. Though it is a job that never ends and the pay is certainly not adequate, I would choose no other job in the world. And if you are a mom, I bet you would agree. There is nothing quite like the snuggling and affection from your very own child. I love my boys and it is always nice to be appreciated, and I felt that today at Burrito's Mother's Day Tea at his school.
The tea began with all of the students coming out in the hall to greet the moms and seat them at their little tables. Burrito had made this sweet little placemat and flower for me and we were asked to bring our favorite tea cup. I drink hot tea and coffee out of the same cups and this little green one is one of my favorites for both.
We were also given a little journal with our child's picture in it as a gift. So sweet!
Burrito served me some snacks and then sang a few songs before it was time to leave. Each student also read a sentence of what they like to do with their moms. Burrito said he would like to go to the beach with me. Sounds good to me, ha!
None of the pictures I took turned out very well. Taking a picture of eleven 5 year olds is tough! :)
This is a group picture of the class
And this is a picture of Burrito's teacher, and his best little friend C, who we love!
Thanks Burrito for making me feel like a special mom today!

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Nonna takes on the boys....

In a mean game of basketball.

Okay, well not mean, but some serious hoop-making was made.


We loved having Nonna spend time at our house and I was just amazed at how well she kept up with these boys of mine. I just totally love that she was more than willing to shoot some hoops with her great-grandsons. Even in the cooler, cloudy weather.





And here they are shopping at our local hardware store. I love hardware stores....way more than malls. I love to change things, fix things, create!


And my most favorite moments as of late: perfecting our golf swing with dad! We so appreciated the nice young man who let our boys try out this "adult" experience. John is an excellent golfer and I can't wait for the day when all 3 of them head to the golf course to play.



I think miniature golf is in our summer future!
Thanks Nonna for a great weekend. I've always admired and appreciated your love for John and now I get to see that same love extended to my 2 boys! We love you!