Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Giving Thanks

Although Gracie and Rocky share a room, Rocky is usually up from his nap before Gracie. When Gracie finally does wake up, he loves to go with me to get her. His favorite thing to do is to get into her crib with her. Here some pictures of their adventures. Gracie's "big sister" expressions are priceless!

I'm not sure what she was doing here, but her face is so funny!

Here are some pretty flowers Lou got for me "just because." He's so sweet! When he came home, he told me not to come to the door, so I knew he was up to something. He tried to coax Gracie to carry them in to me, but she wasn't very cooperative.

Rocky and Daddy snuggling on the couch

Play time!

Gracie with her crazy, after-nap hairdo!

This year, since I am currently not pregnant, nor have I just delivered a baby as in the past few years, we decided to have Thanksgiving at our house. Everyone pitched in and brought different parts of the meal, and we really had a blessed day, thanking the Lord for His faithfulness and His provisions. I enjoyed the excuse to do some baking. I love to bake, but rarely do it since it's too dangerous to have around the house! So, here are some new recipes I tried...candy corn cookies

and chocolate spice cake

Auntie Elaina and Rocky snuggling after Rocky got up from his nap

Thanking God for our little ones...

Grandpa and Rocky

Daddy and Gracie sporting their shades at the breakfast table

Mommy and Gracie being silly!

Rocky and Gracie sharing a laugh

On the phone again...she's so girly!

So cute!

I'm not sure what Rocky was thinking, but I love this face!

It was hard trying to decide which pictures to post. Usually, the kids are too busy to want to cooperate for a picture, and the last few days, they actually have been looking and smiling. Amazing! Just in time for Christmas pictures! It's so funny. Even now, looking at their pictures, I still get so choked up sometimes. I can't believe that God gave us two precious little ones! I am so thankful to have them; it's hard to remember what like was life before they arrived. Sure, we have our fussy, difficult days, and there are times when I would like some adult conversation. However, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. I'm so glad to be home with them, to love them and teach them and watch them grow.

"Behold, children are a blessing from the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is a reward."
~Psalm 127:3

God's Providence

Gracie playing with her tea set, one of her favorite toys. She'll put a cup down in front of you and say, "Careful, hot!"

Rocky giving hugs and kisses

Rocky and Mommy being silly

So sweet!

We thought we should post a little video of Rocky, too, since Gracie's had all the video posts lately. He's learned to pull himself up to standing and here is the evidence! He is learning so fast these days!
This has been a week when we have been continually reminded of God's providence. No surprise, Lou's been teaching on this at Bible study for the last two weeks. We may have our plans, but the Lord has a way of changing them. He has been reminding me to trust Him and not hold too tightly to my schedule as we've had a week of two sick kids. It seemed like Rocky was getting ready to drop his morning nap, and I planned to work on the transition this week, but then he got sick. I wanted to make sure he got plenty of rest, so I held off. He still didn't sleep overly well, though. Once again, the Lord reminding me I need to be flexible.
Then, today, the kids seemed to be doing better, so we went to the grocery store. I was coming out of the store, and I wasn't paying attention and I tagged someone's side view mirror with my shopping cart! The mirror was left dangling beside the car!! So, I left a note on the windshield with my name and Lou's cell number (I had also forgotten my cell phone at home). A little later, she called, and thankfully said that if Lou could fix it, that would be fine with her. Lou fixed it and in the process, got to talk to her about her need for Christ. She told him that she would be in church on Sunday! Please pray that she comes. Praise the Lord for His providence and His sovereignty!

Counting One to Ten...Almost

Gracie seems like she's losing some of her camera shyness. I was able to get a little video of her counting to ten. Lately, she's been skipping five, as you'll hear. We'll work on that. We are doing well, praise the Lord. Rocky is growing and changing more and more each day. He's crawling, standing, pulling himself up to standing (especially when he's supposed to be napping), and basically keeping me very busy. Maybe I'll lose a few pounds chasing him around! Gracie is adding to her vocabulary. She's picking up quite a bit from me. The other night Rocky was fussing because he wanted to eat, and I was still cleaning up the kitchen. Gracie came over to him and said, "Patience, Rocky, patience!" Or as I mentioned in our last blog, we've been working on teaching Rocky obedience. He finally is starting to get the message. When he went for the cabinet he's not supposed to get into, I told him, "No," and he turned away. Gracie went running over to encourage him and said, "Good boy, Rocky!" She's so funny.
On another note, be on the lookout...you may see Lou's sister Elaina on TV. She's been doing Jenny Craig for a while now with great success, and she entered their "Ideal Size" competition where she had to write an essay. We recently found out she's in the top three finalists! She's flying out to L.A. in November to film a commercial, and if they like hers the best, she wins! So, we may have a celebrity in the family! We'll keep you posted.

ABCs

I finally got a video of Gracie singing her ABCs. Actually, it's E through Z (She started singing before the video started recording). Usually, when I pull the camera out, she stops whatever she's doing and says, "No...shy!" Unfortunately, the lighting isn't the best, but at least we got it! This has been a bit of a challenging week for us. Rocky is teething and also starting to express his displeasure when he's told "no." We've been working on obedience more intently now that he's started crawling and going for things like the floor lamp. I forgot how hard this is in the beginning. It makes me appreciate Gracie's obedience even more and gives me hope that Rocky will learn. We just have to be consistent and trust the Lord for patience. Please pray for us in this.
Praise the Lord for the fall weather! We've enjoyed taking walks outside this week in the cool air. We live on a small cul-de-sac, and Gracie loves to walk down to the end and back. There are several things we have to stop and look at on the way--the red house, the moss patch growing by the road, the fire hydrant, etc. Today, Gracie collected pine cones, and we put them in a planter on our step. It's so fun to watch her get excited about such simple things! She's talking so much now. It's great to be able to communicate with her. It's funny to hear her say things and then realize that she's picked up certain expressions from us. Lately, when she's eating, I'll ask her if she needs help getting food on her fork, and she'll say, "I got it!" Then, I started realizing how much I say that when I'm all set with something. If I can get a video of her saying it, I'll post it.
Over the last few weeks, I've started reading The Gospel According to Jesus by John MacArthur. We just got the anniversary edition from Grace to You. I'd actually never read it, so I thought it was about time I did. I have really enjoyed it. It's amazing to me to read different passages from the gospels that I've known my whole life and realize how much was there that I had missed. Yesterday, I finished the chapter on Jesus' encounter with the rich young ruler. It's so sad to see him choose his wealth and position over Christ, and it made me wonder what I'm holding on to that I need to submit to Christ. When I really stop and consider the value of Christ, I'm convicted by how foolishly I value other less important things.

"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world but forfeits his own soul?"
~Matthew 16:26

Birthday fun!

On October 1st, Gracie turned two! We had a family party for her on Monday night. She definitely likes cake! She asked for it for breakfast the next day! (We said no).

Getting every last crumb...

"Happy Birthday to you..."
Here we were actually singing to Lou; his birthday was on October 3rd.

Opening gifts

Gracie with her cousin Maddy (I couldn't get both of them to look at the camera at the same time. Gracie doesn't like having her picture taken lately. She'll tell me, "No...shy.")

Reading her cards...

A quick shot of Rocky and me...his hair really is blonde!! Lou's dad said that Lou's hair was blonde until he was about seven. Rocky certainly doesn't get it from me! We are all just about recovered from our bout of colds. The kids have been glad to get out of the house again and go for walks on our street. It's really starting to feel like fall around here--leaves changing, cool wind, sweaters!