I Can Do All Things...

...through Him who gives me strength (Philippians 4:13). This is my current mantra.

For those of you who don't know, I am scheduled to have oral surgery on Tuesday, February 2, to have my wisdom teeth removed. It is something I should have done years ago and have put off for longer than I should have. I went for a cleaning a week ago and got "the lecture" again and was reminded (not so nicely) by my dentist that it will be much easier to go through this with a toddler who is becoming more self sufficient than to wait until I have two kiddos on my hands to keep up with, or, worse yet, to get caught mid-pregnancy with kiddo #2 and have seriously painful teeth that I can't have removed with the benefit of being completely put out. *Sigh* Everything he said was true, much to my disappointment. While kiddo #2 isn't necessarily happening tomorrow or anything like that, I figured now was as good a time as any...it is the dead of winter, I don't really want to be out and about anyhow, so why not hole up in misery and at least feel like I am staying in for a purpose BESIDES the nasty winter weather outside?

To answer some of those frequently asked questions:

• Why did I wait so long to do this? I haven't had problems with my wisdom teeth. Two of them have developed cavities and my mean 'ole dentist won't fill them. The only solution is to remove the teeth.
• Are you seeing a dentist or oral surgeon? Oral surgeon!!! Are you kidding me?! A million dollars wouldn't be enough to coax me into the chair of someone who doesn't do this day in and day out. I want a pro.
• Will you be awake or asleep? See answer above. Are you kidding me?!?! A million dollars wouldn't be enough for me to be awake for this procedure. I will be completed sedated (IV anesthesia) for the entire process.
• How many are they taking out? All four. If I'm going to be miserable, I'd rather just be super miserable and get it all over with at one time. I do not plan to have oral surgery again....in this lifetime....if possible.
• How do you feel about this? Terrified!!! I know I survived child birth, but this is a whole other ball game. I have never been put under anesthesia before, I am really odd about having procedures done in my mouth (seriously--even freak out about a run of the mill cleaning), and I fear the whole recovery process. I just can't wait for this to be over with and put far, far behind me.....a distant memory.

What can you do for me, you ask? Well, since you can't really trade places with me and go have my teeth removed for me (darn!!), I'll go for the next best thing. Pray!! And don't just wait to pray till Tuesday when the procedure occurs. Pray NOW! Pray for calmed fears/anxiety, strength, courage, and supernatural PEACE. Ladies and gents, I don't mean to act like a kid about this, but these kinds of things really get me worked up. I've already started losing sleep over this. Pray for rest. Pray for the procedure; that the surgeon will move quickly and easily, that I will rest comfortably throughout it and not have any experience of pain. Pray for my recovery. I am so thankful Chris will be with me the day of the procedure, my mom-in-law the day after (to keep Jacob), and my sis-in-law for day three (if needed and to be toddler entertainment). I am thankful for the sweet friend who is making a meal for my family the day of the procedure (you mean they don't want to survive on yogurt and applesauce for several days too?). Pray that I will have a swift, smooth, easy recovery and be back to myself in no time. Aside from praying, what can you do for me? Save your horror stories for someone else! I don't want to hear them. If you had a great, easy experience, then by all means, feel free to share. But if you were miserable, got dry sockets, had an infection, or were down for days on end....I don't want to hear it! I refuse to believe I will have one of those horrific experiences.

Thank you all for your support, encouragement, and love. This will not be easy for me, but, "I can do all things through HIM who gives me strength."

22 Months

Dear Sweet Son of Mine,
Twenty-two months ago you came into this world, took your first breath, and in and instant, became the single best thing your Daddy and I have ever done together. How have we come so far so quickly? How are we just a couple months away from celebrating your 2nd birthday?

You are a growing boy. Your feet have outgrown your shoes (and buying new winter shoes in January, when all the spring sandals are coming out, is a bit more challenging than expected), your legs are too long for your pants (which required a mid-season wardrobe update), and we can't keep up with how often we ought to trim your hair. Your vocabulary has exploded and you say new words every single day. You are mommy's helper and love to"meanup" (clean up) your toys. You're into counting and count all the time. Backhoes completely rock your world. You've figured out that grandparents are totally awesome and will play with you endlessly because they think YOU are totally awesome. Bob the Builder and Boz are your favorite things to watch. Today was the first day you didn't scream hysterically when we dropped you off for nursery at church and you no longer take Road Rag to church or in the car. You still adore your "B" and snuggle with it at bedtime and nap time. You know how Family Worship works and you think in order to "pway" you need to get off Mommy's lap, set down B, and sit on the floor. You love to march with us as we sing Lord's Army. You love to remind mommy that you are becoming independent and have figured out that we can force food into your mouth, but you don't have to chew it. You have the sense of direction of a messenger pigeon and always seem to know where you are. You know what exit "Andue" lives off of and where the "guckies" are. You are good friends with Yay-yah (Ella) and think Mr. Bock (Breck) and Miss Nonna (Donna) are super cool. Mommy is your snuggle bug and Daddy is your hero. You are our joy...joy never ending.

Sometimes Mommy loses patience and can be strict. Sometimes Mommy spends too much time on the computer or cleaning the house and sometimes Mommy is more worried about when to get the groceries done than she ought to be. For those missed moments, I am sorry. I realize as I write this that time with you will simply vanish and I have to cling to every moment I have while you are little. I will try harder to read books, play, and make every moment with you, my sweet son, matter.

My dream for you, Jacob-boy, is that you will grow to be a man like your Daddy; a man who honors God, loves his family, and works hard to support them. I pray you will have your Daddy's strength and patience and the deep love he has for those he holds dear. I pray you will seek Jesus with all your heart at an early age and that your Daddy and I will do all we can to nurture a hunger for His word in your heart.

Jacob, I wish I knew how to tell you, in toddler words, how much I love you and how deeply it pierces my heart to hear you echo back to me in your singsong voice, "Iou" (I love you) each night as I leave your room. Unsolicited hugs and kisses make my heart melt and my love for you grows. I could stand in your room and watch you sleep for hours. Someday, when you have a little one of your own, you will understand how this love grows deeper, richer, and more precious with each day that passes. Every night as I tuck you in I think to myself, "I can't love him anymore than I do right now, in this very moment." But when I wake the next morning I already love you more than the night before. You are my miracle baby...the son I longed for for months and months; the baby I doubted I would ever have. Then God blessed us with you and what a gift you are. Do you exasperate me? Yes. Do you push me to my limit? Yes. Have I cried over you? Yes. Do I have moments I think I am going to break and can't do it anymore? Yes. But does a second of goodness with you overshadow all of the bad? A resounding YES!

You are my little man, my little miracle boy, my twenty two month old Jacob. I love you my sweet son.....more than ice cream, more than chocolate, and more than bubble gum. I love you to the moon and back. I love your silly side, happy side, mad side, inside, outside, front side, and backside. As one of our favorite stories says, "I love you through and through. Yesterday, today, and tomorrow too!"

Love,
Mommy

Recent Jacob-isms

It has been a while since I updated my list of recent Jacob-isms. Whenever I do this, I always seem to draw a blank of all the funny things he says. I'll do my best.

• 1, 2, 3, 4...... : "ooin, tfoo, free, foo, fife, gix, wemen, gate, nine, nen!"
• Aunt Wendy: Wemen
• Aunt Fred: Fret
• Andrew: Andue
• Joe: Doe
• Mr. Breck: Bock
• Miss Donna: Nonna
• Ella: Yay-yah
• Self Control: Fef Noll
• Obey Mommy: Bay Mommeeeeeeeeee
• Amen: Min!
• Pray: Pway
• Thank You: Gee goo
• Treat: Geek
• Ashes, ashes: Ashi, ashi
• Oink, oink: Oin-oin
• Clean Up: Meanup
• Music: Megick

Jacob's favorite thing to say is "k" for okay. At first I wondered where he got that from and then I realized that I say it all the time! His response to most things currently is, "k" or "no k." His vocabulary has exploded since Christmas. It has been so much fun as he learns new words each day!

Family

My sister's family was saddened by the loss of one of their friends, Tracy, recently. Tracy was a young mom to Madison (4 years old) and proud wife to Joel. She lost her battle with breast cancer last week and has since gone home to be with the Lord.

My sister and her family needed to come to Cincinnati, OH to say good-bye to their friend and they needed someone to help watch their boys while they were attending the funeral. While it was a sad occasion, it was a great reason to get the cousins together! Jacob, Jennifer, Andrew, and I were able to make the trip north to spend some quality time together. Unfortunately, my sisters got to capture the better cousin pictures and I don't have them saved to my computer, so I can't load them here. You'll just have to watch for my next round of Shutterfly photos to come!

To top things off, as I was getting ready to head out on Friday afternoon, I discovered Jacob looked like he was coming down with pink eye. Indeed, he did, but thankfully we had some drops left from the last time he had it that we could use. We did our best to protect the rest of the boys from getting it, but one of them did right after they got home from the trip. Bummer!

Here are just a few photos. We took the boys to the Cincinnati Children's Museum.

Jacob at the sand table.


Jonathan driving the bulldozer.


Anderson checking things out at the water table.


Having a blast playing "chase."

What is family for if you can't count on them to help you out in your time of need? We are so thankful we had the opportunity to help my sister out at this time. What a blessing this unexpected time was with them! Wish we could do it more often for happier reasons.

B-O-Y!

I am the mama of such a B-O-Y!

When I put Jacob down for his nap, he had his shirt on.

When I went to check on him mid nap, I found this.............

You can just see the dark gray of his shirt peeking out from behind his toosh.

And when I went to check on him at the tail end of his nap, I found this.............

Yup, no doubt about it. He is a boy, through and through!

Train PJ's!

While we were in NY we were blessed to receive a MOUNTAIN (literally three giant tupperware tubs worth) of hand-me-down clothing from my sweet sister-in-law. We've now got clothes ranging in size from 24 months on up to 4T! Sweet! It helps that her son was born in March and so was mine and they seem to have grown on about the same curve!

While we were sorting, we came across a set of Thomas the Train PJ's. I saw them and thought Jacob would flip about them and absolutely love them, but was sad to see they were marked a 4T. We tucked them away in the pile of things to bring back to KY and I hoped that when the time came that he was in a 4T he would still be so pumped about "nains" and such.

As it turns out, I have not had to wait to see what his reaction would be. During a session of some further sorting and moving items from my sister's house to my house, Jacob spotted the Thomas the Train PJ's and pulled them from the pile. He wore them over his clothes that day and later that night I stashed them in the laundry pile to be washed. He loved wearing them and just kept pointing to the "nain" on his pants! I was shocked to see that they kind of fit, but reminded myself he had them on over all of his clothes, including a bulky sweater.

This weekend I did the laundry and once again, Jacob spotted the Thomas the Train PJ's in the pile of laundry. He only spotted the shirt first so he pulled that out, brought it to me and said, "On?" I asked if he wanted the shirt on and he said yay, so I took that as yes and stuffed his puffy sweatshirt sleeves into the shirt. He wore the shirt all day. Literally. He put it on before his nap and didn't ask for it to be removed until right before he ate dinner and had clearly become hot. After his nap he also spotted the pants and asked for me to put those on him too (over his regular pants, no less) and he pranced and paraded around the house feeling awfully proud of his fine Thomas the Train PJ's. Proud as a peacock. When he got hot and asked for them to come off, I thought I had escaped the meltdown that was pending when I had to remove them.

We took a bath and would you believe, nothing would do for bed tonight other than the infamous 4T Thomas PJ's? Amazingly they fit in the waist and the shirt, honestly if we'd waited till he was in a 4T would have been too small, so he is wearing them tonight. The sleeves are too long and the pants are too long (rolled at the waist AND the legs), but he is one happy boy, sleeping soundly in his lovely hand-me-down Thomas the Train PJ's. Don't you almost wish you had some just like it?

Pre-nap discovery of the top and sporting it so happily over his shirt.

Post-nap discovery of the pants and requesting that I put them on.

Post bath, finally with no clothes on underneath. One happy boy to get to go to bed in his hand-me-down, two sizes too big, Thomas the Train PJ's. It is the simple things that make him happy...

Snow Day!

We had a decent snow fall this week in the south, so we got pretty excited about it. Here are some photos of our fun. We didn't get out till almost dark because "Mr. Grumpy Pants" had his own agenda that day so the photos are a bit dark. We'll have to try for more during the day.

What better way to spend a snowy afternoon than helping mommy make brownies?

Mmmmm....."nyummy!"

Helping Daddy shovel the driveway. So much snow for us southern folk! Nothing like I used to get as a kid in Upstate New York, but certainly a good bit since I've lived in Kentucky!

Helping to shovel with the garden spade. Yes, I know my child has no mittens on. He HATED his mittens because he couldn't figure out how to get his thumbs in the right spot so he basically lost the use of his hands with the mittens on. He was furious with them, so they had to come off.

Just standing in the snow, checking it out, and watching even more fall. Taking in the wonder of it all.

A friend of mine posted on her facebook that she was reminded by the the pure, bright whiteness of the snow that this is how clean Jesus washed us. We are free from sin and washed without blemish. I don't think I'll ever look at snow the same way again.

"...though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson..." ~Isaiah 1:18

Fitness? What is Fitness?

It has almost been two full years since my baby was born. Probably about three months prior to his birth I quit walking or attempting to workout. I have not "worked out" in the true sense of the word since that time. I am a bit impish about even openly admitting that. I despise being sedentary. Now, don't get me wrong, I walk a good bit when the weather is good...I love to load Jacob up in the stroller and briskly stroll through our neighborhood, but that is the extent of my fitness routine for the last two years. AWFUL!!!

I had been whining internally to myself about changes that were occurring in my body and also sadly admitting to myself I wasn't willing to do anything to change it.

Then I read the chapter about circumstances in the book Lies Women Believe and the Truth that Sets Them Free by Nancy Leigh DeMoss. I had been convincing myself (lying to myself) that if my circumstances were different, I would be different. "If only I had more time or worked a different schedule, then I would start better habits and work on improving myself." Not true! The truth, as aptly pointed out by DeMoss in the book, is that my circumstances reveal who I really am and if I am not content with my present set of circumstances, then I won't be happy with another set. You know, the whole concept of the grass being greener on the other side. So I decided to stop lying to myself, stop being a victim of my present circumstances, and do something! The book also taught me that I may not be able to control my circumstances (my present schedule), but I do not have to allow those circumstances to control me. So I grabbed life by the horns .......

.......and bought a workout video. Yes, I am a dancing, hopping, weight lifting fool....thankfully in the privacy of my own home. I have decided to start small in my commitment and grow as my health and strength improves and as I learn that indeed, there is time for me to workout in my hectic daily routine. So, I am committing myself publicly here to workout at least three days a week (most likely Th-Sat) and then anything beyond that is bonus. I would prefer to be able to spread the days out and not have it all concentrated in one time, but life is not perfect, my schedule is not perfect, and this is when I have time, so this is when I will do it. Chris is a huge supporter and has agreed to help me remain accountable to this new commitment. Jacob had a blast on day one and thought it was all a game; he danced and clapped with me and even tried to sit on me during the crunches portion. NO, this is not a resolution. This is a choice to no longer be controlled by the circumstances around me; to claim the truth of God's word that I can be content with the circumstances He has graciously blessed me with for the time being.

So, I have successfully completed day three of my new routine and I will say, I rather enjoy it. I've started with a sculpting video to tone my muscles (no, I do not want to lose weight...I just want to be fit and toned). They also offer a cardio video and it is becoming apparent to me that the cardio may be necessary since I am so completely out of shape, some of the sculpting would be easier if I was better fit in this area.

We'll see how it goes. It is going to take some work, some planning, some schedule rearranging, but I want to try my best to stick with my 3 days per week for at least a month. I'll keep you posted on my progress. Feel free to check in with me and ask me how it is going. The more people cheering me on, the more likely I will be to follow through!

I'd like to challenge you to examine your own life. What circumstances do you allow yourself to fall victim to? Will you claim God's truth for your life and refuse to be controlled by your circumstances?

"I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want." Philippians 4:11-12.

Obey Mommy!

Jacob and I had a trying day yesterday. He was in an off mood (just grumpy) and was not at all interested in being obedient. So all day long he kept hearing me say, "Jacob, you need to obey mommy!"

I guess he has heard it enough times now that he can say it. So whenever he gets in trouble now, he will not only immediately nod his head (this is yes ma'am) he will also say, "Ahbay Mommeeee." This is his blanket response to everything. It is quite comical. If only we could get this to translate into practical application!

The next step is, "Who do we glorify when we obey Mommy?" Jacob: "Gock." Gock=God. Then after he says "Gock" he will say, "Bahble" (Bible) because as we all know, God is in the Bible! And, depending on the mood of the situation, he may follow all of that up with a moving rendition of the hand motions to "Deep and Wide."

Our boy is growing and is slowly getting things figured out. It is so much fun to watch him grow!

We made it!

Just a brief post to let you know that we made it home safely from our trip to NY. No fears....we are not stranded in a 50 inch snow drift!

Jacob was an AMAZING traveller on our return trip, which was straight through-12 hours. He did even better on this leg of the trip than he did during the trip North, which was split into two segments! We were so thankful for a happy boy who was eager to entertain himself and able to take a couple little naps.

Now it is back to reality. Back to work, back to routine, back to the everyday (and perhaps even a little mundane). And you know what? It feels.....good! I love my home, I love my job, I love my family. Life is good! Praise God that we are not victims of our circumstances, but rather, objects of His grace and mercy!