God loves him more than me...

    Yesterday was an interesting day.  Out of the blue Eli shared with me that the other night he had a nightmare and began to describe the contents of the dream to me.  It was a pretty intense dream and we spent some time talking about it and praying against the lies that the enemy had said about God.  The main jist was that he had been chained up and Jesus could not come and get him because he was too busy healing people.  Pretty intense I know, but what happened later was so cool that I had to share this.  We prayed and God spoke to Eli that he is never too busy to come to his rescue, no matter what. 

   So this morning when Eli woke up he came to our room and said, "Dad, Mom, God came and spoke to me in my sleep."  Ofcourse we wanted to hear more!  He said while he was sleeping he felt something on his back and he said, "Hey, What is that?" Then he realized it was God sitting next to him and rubbing his back. Then God said to him, "I am never too busy for you." Then he went back to sleep.

   WOW!!!!  We were amazed and thankful to the Lord for driving this point home so well.  I am thanking God again this morning that He cares for and loves my kids more then I ever could (after all, they are really HIS kids just on loan to me for a while).  He cares so much that a little 4 year old would know and trust His character...how much more for you and me!

Cherish the thought...

I have the most amazing son.  He regularly shares his deep thoughts with me and I am consistently amazed at the things that he thinks about! Everything from using his piggy bank to go to Orange Leaf to who will make sure he can drive to the grocery store to buy stuff for him and Callie if Grant and I die soon.  I know the latter is a little morbid but its such a picture of his personality.  He is a care-taker and an amazing big brother.  What a gift!

Today he whipped out another deep thought that I wanted to make sure and cherish! We were walking through the valentines section at Walmart and he asks me, 

"Mom, what should we get for Jesus?"

     "What do you mean?"

"Like a present. What should we buy for Jesus?"

     "Well, what do YOU think we should buy for him?"

"Well, maybe a BIG shirt because He is really big?" And he points out a pillsbury doughboy shirt that says "Poke Me" on it. (the joys of not being able to read). "This shirt is HUGE, maybe this one!"

    "Thats an interesting idea. What is the present for? Like a birthday present or just to tell Him we love him?"

"Mom, like a present."

    "Ok, how about some M&Ms?"

"Oh great idea!........Mom, how are we going to get them up to Him?.....OH! I have an idea! When it starts to snow we can call the wise men and have them come get the M&Ms and take them to baby Jesus!"

   "Wow, thats a good idea"

"Mom....do the wise men even have a phone?"

   "I don't think they do."

"Well, HOW are we going to reach them so they can take the M&Ms for us?!?"

Then we talked about how Jesus is always with us and He probably wants to eat the M&Ms with us...which was an idea he seemed to like a LOT.

Oh to be like a child in how we see God.  I think Eli put a big smile on Jesus' face today. 

Christmas 2011

This year's Christmas was by far our favorite yet! We started out on a quick trip down to Dallas to have Christmas with Grant's parents. 

Here is Eli opening his big present, a Cars Geo Tracks.

And Callie ripping into her new baby stroller that she was convinced she could fit into.

We came home from Dallas and spent Christmas Eve and morning just the 4 of us at our house. It was such a sweet time being together!

Pretty good pic for not having an extra person to take it!

Me and my girl!

Could she be any cuter when she's excited? We let them open a present after dinner.

Both presents were actually for Eli but we knew Callie wouldn't care. She got to open one of them and that was enough for her I think.

Eli got some army men and some lego star wars pajama pants.

Callie insisted on putting the pants around her neck and kept them there the rest of the night.

After presents it was bed time for Callie and then the 3 of us watched the Nativity Story with the fire going.  I LOVE that movie! And we decorated some treats for Jesus' birthday party the next morning.

All the wake-up moments were captured on video but it was so fun! We woke the kids up with red and green balloons because every birthday party needs balloons!

Here is Eli enjoying a birthday brownie treat.

Happy girl

Blowing out the candles on Jesus' birthday cinnamon rolls for breakfast.

One of my favorite moments is captured in this pic. One of the main things Eli wanted for Christmas was some glow-in-the-dark planets and stars for his room.  When he opened them up he said, "YES! This is what I was hoping for!" They only cost $3. Sometimes its the little things that bring the most joy.

Callie got some play food for the play kitchen.  Our sweet girl got a nasty rash all over her face and body as a reaction to a vaccine that lasted a while. 

One of my favorite gifts! Being 36 weeks pregnant made bending over really difficult.

After almost 3 years in OK I figured it was time to own some OU apparrel so Grant hooked me up with a hat.

Callie's big gift was this ball pit that she and Eli both loved.

After we finished opening presents we packed up and headed to Missouri to have some time with the cousins and my parents. More presents and more fun!

Thanksgiving 2011

This year for Thanksgiving we headed to Missouri to my parents house to meet up with my extended family.  There are a bunch of us and I am so thankful to be from a family that truly enjoys being together!

Above is a picture of my amazing grandparents. They are truly heroes to me! They have lived their whole lives loving and serving Jesus no matter the cost and I am forever grateful to them for paving a way for me to know and follow God.

For a family picture everyone wore their favorite sports team shirt. 

We had a great time relaxing and letting all the little ones be together!

This was about the best family pic we could get.  When Callie wants to be sweet there is no one sweeter... but when Callie doesn't want to cooperate there is no turning her (yet)!

The cousins with grandma and grandpa.

Love this pic! Such a great shot of her personality!

Before we went home we tried to get a Christmas pic of the grandkids...but the kids had other plans. Here is Callie looking so beautiful! Too bad she wouldn't smile or participate with the others.

My favorite of our photo session. Big bro trying to be sweet, little sis trying to escape.

 Funny Callie wouldn't smile without her snack in her hand.

Dance party break?

We never did get a really good group shot but oh well. I guess thats par for the course with a 4, 2, 1, & 5 month old crew.

When we got home it was time to decorate for Christmas! Eli had a great time helping hang the ornaments this year.

Disney World!!!!

In October we headed to Disney World and had an AMAZING vacation!

Callie is SO grandma's girl! She wouldn't sleep on the plane with me or Grant and as soon as we connected flights with my mom she was over to her and out! Not very fair but VERY welcome!

When we got to the hotel there was a voice mail waiting for Eli....A happy birthday message from Mickey and Minnie! He was pretty excited about that!

Callie playing with grandma!

We have soooo many pictures so these are just a few of the highlights.

Daddy and Eli on the way in to Hollywood Studios.

Callie loving her new outfit!

Getting ready for the Star Wars ride. It was a little intense for him but he made it through.

Not loving that it was Eli's turn to wear the shades.

Callie was a parade magnet. They all loved her.

Family pic on the Nemo ride. Callie had just woke up.

Loving the ferry rides

Eli really enjoyed getting to look through the maps and help plan out our routes. 

Tea cups

Sweet kisses from Daddy

Grants "favorite" ride.

Eli got totally "pirate-ized" and decked out.

Meeting Mickey. Eli LOVED it, Callie was NOT happy with all the characters coming to meet her. She smacked Donald in the face for getting too close. What a funny girl!

He would not be happy for me posting this picture! Grant was not thrilled about the ponchos.

One of our highlights was coming back to our hotel each night and partaking of the dessert bar. One of Eli's favorite memories for sure!

Saying goodbye and THANKS for an amazing time!