Gratitude

I haven't blogged in a looonnngggg time! Time gets away from me when I have my hands full to the brim with so much wonderful goodness each day!

In the last week a friend of mine from college gave birth to her first daughter, Emma Grace. Emma spent twenty minutes on this earth, in her mommy's arms, before she went home to meet Jesus. Seeing my friend go through this with such grace and faith in the Lord has really been encouraging to me. It has also given me so much perspective.

I spilled my coffee in my lap. I ruined my favorite blouse in the wash. I changed 13 disgusting poopy diapers today. The kids tore up my magazine before I got to read it. I burned dinner. My kids fought with me or didn't nap as I wanted them to. All of these things would rank on a list of "bad day" items and many of us would ask for a "re-do." But then I started thinking about my friend who is leaving the hospital without her sweet baby tucked snuggly into her carseat in the back of the car. How she would LOVE to change 13 disgusting diapers, have a horrible nap day, not get to read her magazine, burn dinner because the kids were distracting her.... It is all about perspective. My bad day would equal a dream come true to her. Talk about a convicting attitude adjustment for me!

Since I've had a bit of a perspective change this week, I wanted to thank God for the very things I most often whine or complain about. :-)

JACOB

Jacob, my buddy, my right hand man, my smarty pants. I love my Jacob, his inquisitive mind, his thoughtful ways, his eagerness to learn. Recently Jacob and I have been having wonderfully deep thought provoking conversations about Jesus. I thank God that I get to be his mommy and watch him tuck truths about the Lord into his sweet, three and a half year old heart! How I long to see the day Jacob declares Jesus is Lord!

GRACEMy sweet little Gracie Beth. What a fun little personality you are developing! You love to copy and mimic and are discovering all that you can do with your throat, voice, and face! You are my sweet, contemplative, petite little girl. You are so reserved and quietly take it all in, following your brothers where ever they might lead. I pray one day you will follow a Christian husband as sweetly and lovingly as you follow your brothers today. I see your wheels turning, little girl, and I pray that one day all of this talk with make sense in your mind and you will know who is the Giver of Life.

JOSHUAJoshua, my big man, crazy man, silly boy, and fearless one. Joshua, you are full of courage and trust. You are my true example of how to live life with full abandon--happy and free--filled to the brim with joy. You march to your own beat and explore all that God created with complete joy and freedom. You are curious to your own demise. Nothing compares to walking into your room with you jumping happily in your bed, facing the door, happily waiting and jabbering for someone to come set you free from your crib! Oh Joshua, how I pray that one day your will tame your reckless abandon and harness your curiosity and funnel it all into leading others to know and love Christ. What a leader you will be one day if you are able to do this!

Thank you, Lord for trusting me with these.....

Joshua

Dear Little Man,

Today it was your turn for mommy to sit and rock just you. I love every inch of your little boy-ness! You're growing so fast and getting harder for me to fit you into our little tummy to tummy snuggle. Your wrists have puffy baby fat rings around them and it looks like you've got a rubber band around your arm all the time pinching into your skin. Even your palms are puffy and plump and I love it! Right now your eyes are as blue as the bluest of skies and I hope they don't change one bit! I don't know who you got them from, but I adore them. You've got mommy's short stubby eye lashes, but son, if you keep those bright baby blues the eye lashes won't matter a bit!

You are my happy boy. So bright and cheerful each day! Your whole body wiggles with delight when I come in to tell you good morning! You love to chatter and giggle. I love to just rub your soft baby head and it works out well because you love, love, love to have someone rub that sweet soft little head of yours. You'll close your eyes up tight, give a content little moan, and cover your face with your hand as you drift off to sleep. I love it that you cover your face when you sleep. It is what makes you, you!

I try to imagine you as a little boy or even someday as a teen and I just can't! I love everything about your disposition and I hope that you are well blessed by the Lord in this life. You will always be my sweet little Joshua, my little boy, my little man. I love you sweet boy!

Love,

Mommy

Recipes in Review

Last week I mentioned that I was going to try out two new recipes for Amish Baked Oatmeal and Bananaberry Freezes. Here's the Burri take on them:

AMISH BAKED OATMEAL:
This one was delicious! It was easy to mix up, quick to throw in the oven the next morning, and reheated well. I definitely recommend serving it with warm milk over the top. I think this would also freeze well. Just mix it up and when you get to the refrigerate overnight part, put it in the freezer. Defrost overnight in the fridge and it should be great! We will definitely be making this one again (especially since I can buy almost 3lbs of oatmeal at Aldi for a steal!). We had this for a summer breakfast, but I can definitely see us making this many times for a hearty winter breakfast. Someone also told me baked oatmeal is great with canned peaches (with syrup) on top...might have to try that!

BANANABERRY FREEZE:
This one was also a hit, though I think the guys liked it better than I did. Jacob kept asking for more of our "special drink." We had some to drink with our breakfast and then I froze some in Popsicle form. Chris and Jacob have both enjoyed them frozen--I didn't try them. While I thought this was good and loved that I knew 100% everything in them was healthy and fresh, I still felt like it needed something more. The recipe linked here says you can add any citrus beverage and then mentions the use of OJ. I think OJ might give it the tang and zip that I thought it was lacking. I will be trying OJ next time.

This week I haven't really ventured out for anything new. We've made some yummy traditional treats though, like Oreo Cookie Cake and No Bake Cookies. I hope to try this recipe for Southwest Roll-ups in the next week or so and put them in the freezer for some quick meal options. I'll let you know how it goes! It's hard to believe, but it also almost time to dust off my blender and start working on building up the freezer stash of baby food! Joshua and Grace will be old enough to start baby cereal in a week! I bought all my baby cereal for Jacob, but this time around I hope to make more of my own using--you guessed it--the 3lb container of cheap oatmeal! :-)

What about you? What are some of your favorites?

Sweet Grace

I found over the initial months of parenting three children I was in survival mode (aren't we all?). I realized I was lumping Joshua and Grace together into this category of "the babies" (never "the twins"--for some reason they just don't feel like twins to me...). Recently life has slowed down some. Joshua and Grace are sleeping through the night, they are mastering how nap time works, and we're settling into a routine that works for all of us. Now I am trying to take time out for each child to just focus on them and let them show me who they are.

Jacob and I get plenty of time one on one still since the babies take a morning nap. We also try to use some of the help Grandmama provides by doing things together while she's watching the wee ones. This week Joshua and I took a walk just the two of us with him in the front pack. He LOVED looking all around and fought off sleep as long as he possibly could.

Today I wanted to dedicate this post to sweet Grace. We'll talk more about the others another time.


Dear Pretty Girl,
My little Grace, you are just what your name means. You show me each day the grace of God in His amazing gift to me--YOU! You are my sweet pretty girl. Today during naptime you had a hard time settling down. Joshua was asleep and Jacob was playing quietly, so I rocked you for a good twenty minutes. I rocked you, and only you, and got to enjoy just you. I feel sad sometimes that there isn't enough of mommy to go around. I don't get to hold and snuggle and memorize all about you like I did when I had just Jacob. I don't know when I've actually spent quality time just rocking with you. But today the house was quiet and it was just you and I, little sister, and it was glorious! I rocked you till those long, dark eyelashes of yours gave up and kissed your cheeks. I patted your little bottom and rubbed your sweet little head and just had time with you. You are my precious, itty bitty, wonderful Grace and you were fearfully and wonderfully made!

I wonder sometimes what God will call you to be. I pray for your future husband and that he will be a man like Daddy; hardworking, strong, patient, and kind. I pray you will be able to fulfill the desires of your heart and one day be a mommy like I am. I pray for you to guard your sweet little heart until the right time comes.

For some reason I feel great weight when I think about raising you, sweet little Grace. I feel the weight to raise you to be a godly young woman and the pressure for me to teach you how to be submissive, yet strong and quiet, yet bold. It all seems so complex, but I know God will give me the grace to teach you all that you need to know.

I love you, Pretty Girl, and I can't wait to get to know you more and more.

Love,

Mommy

Berries and Other Yummy Goodness

Now that I am at home, I've had more time to become more adventurous in the kitchen and try lots and lots of new things. I've been trying to do new recipes each week and I'd love to post them occasionally.

This week starwberries were on super duper sale at our local Aldi (I LOVE Aldi, by the way). Being the strawberry lovin' group that we are, I decided to stock up and try my hand at freezing them this year. It all seems simple enough and Jacob had a lot of fun helping!

Mmmm....look at all that red juicy goodness!

Jacob was an outstanding washer and dryer of the berries (and he snuck a few to eat too....)!

This is what 5lbs of strawberries look like while you let them dry. It sure sounds like a lot more than it looks like!

So this weekend, we plan to give our strawberries a try in this recipe for Bananaberry Freezes. It sounds like it is right up Chris and Jacob's alley! I also hope to use this recipe for Baked Oatmeal this weekend. Mmmm....comfort food!

"B" Babies?

Well, we have successfully gotten Jacob to give up his "B." It really wasn't that hard. He occasionally asks about it, but the memory is rapidly fading. He went on his boyhood trip to play Putt Putt with Daddy last weekend and it was lots of fun! It was definitely much harder for mommy than it was for Jacob.

Are we raising the next generation of "B" babies? It is a bit early to tell, but I think they like them..... Thank you Great Grandmama Neva!

Grace is enjoying a ride in the swing with her "road rag B."

Joshua is assuming his sleeping position with his "road rag" too. He is so funny. He ALWAYS covers his face right before he goes to sleep!

It is still early (though Jacob was clearly attached to his "B" by this point), but we are curious to see if the "B's" will have the same "magic powers" Jacob's "B" had!

Summer is Here!

Summer is in the air for the Burris family! We broke out the baby pool and had some fun splashing around!

My three sweeties: Joshua, Jacob, and Grace

LOVE the drip on the very tip of his nose!

Joshua is just trying to make sense of it all. He had FUN!

Grace wasn't into getting wet (such a girl), but she sure did enjoy watching her brothers!