Early Will I Seek You

Psalm 63
1 O God, you are my God,
earnestly (or early) I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you,
my body longs for you,
in a dry and weary land
where there is no water.
2 I have seen you in the sanctuary
and beheld your power and your glory.
3 Because your love is better than life,
my lips will glorify you.
4 I will praise you as long as I live,
and in your name I will lift up my hands.
5 My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods;
with singing lips my mouth will praise you.
6 On my bed I remember you;
I think of you through the watches of the night.
7 Because you are my help,
I sing in the shadow of your wings.
8 My soul clings to you;
your right hand upholds me.

Throughout my Beth Moore "Breaking Free" Bible study, I've read so many applicable verses of scripture that have touched my heart. We sing this particular psalm in a song at church...right now I'm working on seeking Him "early" and trying to get up and do my devotions and exercise before Daddy leaves for work. I've been a miserable failure at it so far - please pray that I would be able to do this each morning! This morning I woke up after Shawn left (we had a late night) but before the kids, so I still did both. God is good! Even when we're not!
Last night we took Joshua to the park just before the sun went down to get out some energy. Caleb also enjoyed the sunshine for a little while. It's getting colder out each day, but yesterday was beautiful. Earlier in the day, Shawn went to a friend's house to watch the football game, so Mom came over and brought Grace along. She treated us to McDonald's (at Grace's request) and Joshua & Grace played and played together. They ran all around the house hiding and finding one another. Joshua was sad to see her go (she had a soccer game that afternoon). He said, "Bye-bye, Grace" forlornly. Grandma took Joshua to her game, then, and last night as he kicked the ball around the house, he told us he was playing soccer like he had seen Grace.
Joshua is really into shoes these days. When Grace kicked hers off, he put them on. I had to get the camera!

Joshua woke up from his nap upset, so Grandma rocked with him a little bit on our office/play room/Ebay central area/storage room/paperwork avalanche and he fell right back to sleep. So did she! That gave me time to do laundry, clean our leather furniture, and do some other household things. I also cleaned the bathrooms last night and Shawn vaccuumed, fixed the cable to our bedroom TV, and got a few other things done around the house. We had a productive weekend all in all. He hung the sheer curtains in the good living room, and we discussed what projects are yet to be done around the house. Shawn was so sweet last night as he told me he wants to get some things done since he knows it means a lot to me, and I mean a lot to him. He's the best husband in the whole world. I also try to do things for him, like getting all his laundry done and neatly hung so he doesn't have to iron, cooking meals (on Friday night we had an amazing pesto alfredo tortellini pasta with parmesan and bacon crumbles and tonight we're trying bruschetta chicken), cleaning the house and taking care of his children. While these things also benefit me, I do them because I truly love my family. Thank you, God, for blessing us!

Keep Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'

Last night, I put Caleb in his crib on his belly before grabbing Joshua to get his jammies on. When I looked back in, Caleb was already on his side almost completely onto his back. I screamed for Daddy to come and see his youngest son rolling...only I scared little Caleb Luke who cried and rolled right back onto his belly. Poor kiddo! Sorry for scaring you! Great job on rolling already!

Lots of New "Firsts"

Caleb has been growing in leaps & bounds. He's doing pretty well with being able to hold his head up on his own and doesn't mind belly time as much any more. Daddy also tried sitting him in the Bumbo today for the first time, and our little Caleb Luke did very, very well. As much as Joshua enjoys being snuggled in and held while singing, Caleb enjoys being sat up and able to look out. He enjoys being held - especially because it keeps him warm - but he prefers to see out and look around rather than good old fashioned cuddling. It amazes me how different the boys are already!Caleb got his first pair of shoes today from Grandma. They're so cute! He was wearing courdoroy pants and a button-down dress shirt and I was going to get a picture - but he messed that outfit and is now in his jammies instead. Such is life! I got paged out of the service because lil' Caleb Luke was woken up by a little baby crying and then couldn't get calmed back down himself until I rescued him. He was red all over, and I mean ALL over...I've never seen anything like it. They asked if he'd had shots lately or anything that would give him an allergic reaction - no, nothing! As soon as he calmed down, the redness went away, but it still scared me. I'll keep an eye on him and see if it comes back.

Caleb laughs a lot. He loves to giggle at Joshua mostly, but he also smiles and laughs for Shawn & me. He likes to make eye contact and be talked to...it doesn't take much for him to grin and show his adorable dimply cheeks. He also enjoys toys now and will grab onto things that you hand him. In the above picture, he's trying to grab Joshua's hand, and Joshua is loving every minute of it. Caleb also loves to swing, loves to keep moving, and loves looking up at the birdie mat that was Joshua's when he was a baby. In that way, the boys are very similar.Joshua has slept through the night the past two nights...only Caleb hasn't slept well at all. So, tonight, I'm going to try the nursery. He's still been sleeping in the pack 'n play in our room so I hear him well, but I'm ready to try anything to get more rest. On the other hand, I know this is a season and part of me misses rocking the Bean at night and singing to him in the nursery with him all snuggled up in my arms. The time does go quickly! I'm reminded of that every Saturday night now at church - may we all learn to cling to Jesus for His hope and enjoy each day of the lives we are given!

A Successful Shot

Joshua LOVES hats. Here he is wearing his Daddy's Redskins hat that lights up. He put it on backwards all by himself.

I was so proud of Joshua today, over and over again. First thing this morning, I took him to get his flu shot. As I put him in the car, he got anxious and said 'Baby! Seat! Baby! Mommy, Baby!' I realized he was frantic that I forgot Caleb. I explained to him that it was just Joshua & Mommy going out. He still wasn't okay with that until I told him that I left Caleb with Daddy at home. Then he thought about it and said, "Bye-bye, Daddy." He understood Caleb would be okay. What a good big brother! With my brain these days, I'm glad that he's a good helper in reminding me of things. :)

I explained on the way to the Kissel Hill office that we were going to the doctors, which he repeated. He didn't mind that I held him to get to the office (normally he would ask to get down instead of being held), and he was okay when we went in. I held his hand and explained that he was going to get a shot and it might hurt a little bit, but it was no big deal. I told him to squeeze my hand if it hurt. The nurse gave him the shot and a big tear rolled down his cheek, but by the time she gave him some animal crackers, he had forgotten all about it. I was sincerely impressed and told him over and over again how well he did. He let me hold him the entire time out to the car. I'm getting my flu shot this week, and so is Daddy. We must remember how brave little Joshua was when we're seeing that needle coming!

Joshua loves Caleb so much that last night during belly time, he got on his belly, too, to entertain his brother. Sooo sweet!

Afterward, I went and picked up Caleb Luke so Daddy could get some work done, and we also picked up Grandma and went shopping for new sneakers for the Bean. Joshua did pretty well at the Stride Rite Outlet, too, and I bought him a pair of sneakers and Mom bought him a pair of brown shoes and Caleb a little pair of blue shoes that are adorable (thanks so much, Mom!). When we dropped Grandma back off, Joshua was just devastated. He wanted so badly to go inside with her, but she had just painted her hallway and with his asthma, we weren't sure how he would do. He cried as we pulled away, until we got down the street where the cows are. He said "Cows down on grass? All wet!" I had explained to him that the cows lay down when it rains. He told me all day that it was "all wet!" and repeated "rain." I love this age of repeating (for the most part!).

When I was feeding Caleb this morning, Joshua dug out my old 'Elizabeth' doll baby and held her close, patted her on the back, and tried helping her walk. He'll be a great Daddy some day!

Joshua has been helping Daddy as Shawn is doing things around the house, and I am working on a writing project (and taking a few minutes to blog). The Bean got a time out today when he hit me after I told him no...can't remember what about now. I immediately took him to time out and he sat there while I picked up Caleb who was getting tired of being on his belly. I asked Joshua to come to me instead of the typical me going to him. He wasn't too sure if he was allowed to get up, but I asked him to please come right over to me so I could explain to him eyeball-to-eyeball that hitting is absolutely unacceptable. He came right over and said, "Sorry, Mommy!" It melted my heart. Shawn & I have been trying to get him to apologize with little success - we try to say sorry to each other and explain to Joshua what it means. Today, I think he may have understood. It was so sweet. I reinforced that there's no hitting and gave him a big kiss. My little boy is growing soooo fast!!!

A Thief in the Night

Well, the Good family hit an all new low this week...without even realizing it. It all started on Wednesday night after supper. As we were cleaning up, we discussed the need for a new trash can since the foot/step opener is broken on ours. Since Linens 'n Things is going out of business, we decided to check out trash cans there. After walking around the entire store, we found the selection of trash cans at the far side of the front of the store. Unfortunately, they were still well over a hundred bucks, so we opted not to buy one. Instead, we headed over to Home Depot to continue browsing things for our home. Even though it was frigid outside, Shawn moved Joshua & Caleb out of the Linens 'n Things cart into a Home Depot cart before going in even though the stores are right next to each other. I can say that my husband ALWAYS wants to do the right thing. (Which is why this story is so funny...)


We walked all through Home Depot. One of the first things we saw was our bathroom floor tile on sale, which you could buy by the piece. Since one of our tiles has shifted, we thought this was a great find! Shawn picked up three to be safe and placed them in our cart behind little Caleb Luke's carseat. We continued to look around at carpet vs. carpet tiles vs. area rugs. We moved on from there, checking out paint colors (we're thinking about painting our family room - not sure that we want to take on a big project right now, though). We picked up a few pamphlets of samples and kept going. But, Joshua was getting tired of being in the cart at that point, so we let him walk. After a little bit, we decided maybe we had been shopping long enough with two little ones. Caleb was getting hungry and almost eating his arm, and Joshua was restless. As we left the store with our cart, we discussed the logistics of who should carry who or should we take the cart across the parking lot. We opted for Daddy to take Joshua and me to carry Caleb (the opposite of what we did on the way in). As I grabbed the carseat, I noticed the paint pamphlets, which we had completely forgotten about.

When we got home, we all got into our pajamas, and I drank a nice cup of hot chai as I fed Caleb. We chatted about house renovations and started cleaning out our old entertainment center that we're planning on getting rid of...and it still didn't hit me, until later that night. We had picked up floor tiles! We had put them in our cart! And, we had taken the cart out of the store...not stopping to pay for them! Since it was pitch black out, I never even saw the tiles when I was in a hurry to grab Caleb and get him in the car out of the windy weather. I saw the paint pamphlets, but not the tiles. Hopefully a clerk found them and put them back. Either way, I think we can be classified as shoplifters now. Shawn & I laughed - and I was horrified at the thought that someone could have accused us of stealing as we left the store! He said that the workers probably saw us with two young children, stumbling throughout the store in our tired stupor and had mercy on us.

So, we stole and ended up with nothing in the end. And, we really wanted the tiles! Haaaa!!! So, now we can say "been there, done that" for shoplifting. Please forgive us of our sin!

Running Around...All Over Town

I can't believe it's been almost a full week since I last posted, but we have been busy!!!

FRIDAY

On Friday night, we had invited friends out to dinner who couldn't make it. We decided to go out on a date anyway, taking my mom up on her offer to watch the Bean while she was watching Emma. Grandma said Joshua & Emma had a great time chasing each other around downstairs while we had some Mommy & Daddy quality time. Shawn & I went to restaurant after restaurant where the wait was overwhelming, finally settling on Red Lobster for supper. Caleb Luke was a good boy in his car seat, and we had a nice time. Thanks, Mom, for watching Joshua!

SATURDAY

Saturday morning, I headed out with my sister Becky to "Dish It Up Dinners" in Elizabethtown. There we prepared seven meals each to take home with us and put in our freezer. The meals were more expensive than if you'd prepare them all at home yourself, but you didn't have to worry about recipes, shopping for ingredients, or clean up from the prep. We had a fun time together making our food. Unfortunately, DishItUp is closing this month since one of the gal's competitors offered her money to close. So, if we want to try it again, we'll have to find another spot. That afternoon, Shawn & I ate a Philly Cheesesteak Stromboli I had made, and WOW was it good! Hooray!

Saturday afternoon, Nonie & Poppy picked up Joshua to go to a pumpkin patch, which didn't pan out because of traffic. That evening after he came back, we all went to church as a family. The sermon was again from Ecclesiastes and again the video of a baby turning into a toddler turning into a child turning into a teen turning into a graduate turning into a married man turning into a father turning into grandpa turning into a widow and then a memorial sign was there. I once again bawled at it. Oh, how quickly the time does fly! We had put an outfit on Caleb that we distinctly remember the Bean wearing...now he's two and giving us 'tude! Thankfully, we have hope for eternity through Jesus Christ! One point that was made during the sermon was that it was better to have one fist full and a quality life than two fist fulls and you have to work all the time to support your lifestyle. How true! I'm so glad I'm able to be home with my boys even though sometimes "two fist fulls" looks appealing.

This weekend was also busy, busy, busy with a large writing project. While I was happy for the work, it added to my stress. And, I watched a Beth Moore video since I'm doing the Bible Study "Breaking Free," which I would HIGHLY recommend to anyone!!!

I realized that Saturday was Joshua's 25-month birthday AFTER the day passed. Sorry, buddy!

SUNDAY

Sunday, after getting very little rest at all, we went to an A/V team luncheon at Fiorentino's after church. Mom was gracious enough to watch both boys at our house so we could enjoy the thank you lunch. When we got back, we packed up both kids and headed to small group. Unfortunately, both our kids were horrendous there. This is the second time in a row that Caleb has cried the whole time. And, Joshua tends to steal other little girls' toys. I was embarrassed when we left. Please, Lord, deal with my pride and help me to do what's best for our family!

We decided that Joshua is no longer going to climb into our bed at night. This was a tough decision since we both love to cuddle with him. But, he didn't sleep much all weekend, which meant we didn't sleep much. I decided it's time to make the plunge. So, Sunday night, we didn't get any sleep as we kept taking him back to his room. Shawn did his fair share of it, too, as I fed Caleb. I think Caleb would have slept better had Joshua not been screaming and waking him. It has been a rough couple of nights. Please pray that the Bean gets used to sleeping on his own again! He breaks our heart when he yells out "Momma! Daddy! Sleepy with Josh!"

MONDAY

Monday morning after very little sleep, I watched two of Jen's kids while she went into Grace's school. That afternoon since the boys both napped, I finished the writing project. Hooray! I also finished another Beth Moore video for this week since two were on one tape. While I didn't nap, I got a lot done. Shawn was gracious and brought home Subway for dinner, knowing that we were both exhausted. We bathed the boys early that night and tried getting some sleep. Joshua is still stubborn and not sleeping well. Pray for us! We have to break this bad habit we've allowed him to form.

TUESDAY

Tuesday morning, I actually felt refreshed when I woke up, and we got ready and headed to the MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group. I got there late, but I didn't really care. I tried to relax and not rush so my kids would be in better moods. And, it worked! For the first time, Joshua didn't cry when I put him in his class. I had a great time there getting to know other MOPS, and we did personality profiles. While I've done this many, many times, it was interesting to see what each member of the rest of the group was. Talking to my leader, who is the gal also from small group, she made me feel better about how my boys behaved on Sunday night. She said she was concerned at her daughter and hadn't even noticed the Bean or C-Love. I think she's pretty honest, so it did make me feel better. I also invited the MOPS over to our house for a play date in a couple weeks. I've been feeling like we need to make this house a blessing not only to us but also to others...so here's my attempt!

Last night I made hamburger helper for dinner. Simple, quick and easy. I made veggies with it, and Joshua didn't eat a bite of anything but bread. So, he didn't get a snack later, which we've been guilty of. I realized that if dinner seems edible to me, then he needs to start eating what we give him and not waiting for junk food later at night because we fear he'll starve.

I'm convinced we live in the best neighborhood ever. Last night as supper was almost finished, we got to see a parade. It was the students of Nitrauer Elementary School (along with their parents and families) parading in their costumes through our development. They were escorted by police in front and a firetruck behind. Even though it was cold, Daddy had been playing with the boys outside as I was making dinner, and we all went out to see the very adorable dressed-up children. Joshua's little friend Evan got out of the "line" and came up to him to give him a high five. Other neighborhood children waved to us, and then we saw my sister and her family. Joshua loved it! I think even Caleb was amused, as were we.

WEDNESDAY

So, this morning since the Bean didn't snack last night, he woke up HUNGRY! I quickly dressed the boys and got them both eating, even though I was so tired from another night of stubbornness from the Bean. [Joshua actually woke up without a voice. So, when we were doing his puzzle, he told me the mouse "squeaked" and could barely get it out...it squeaked at the end. So cute!] Today we colored and watched Sesame Street (Joshua likes the Cookie Monster, the Count with the number of the day and Elmo so far) and I put chicken-fried pork chops in the crock pot for supper, and I also took the boys outside for a nice walk around the neighborhood. It was freezing! It's windy today and all the leaves were blowing. I love fall! I just miss it being lighter out at night. It's harder to get the kids outside since it's cold early in the day and darker sooner at night.

TOMORROW

Tomorrow I'm being evaluated at MU. Please pray it goes well! I must run and finish dinner!

Sleep

I remember the Bible verse, "Do not love sleep or you will become weary." However, these days I think both Shawn & I are craving just a little more. I'll be honest, though, I took a nap today. For the past couple of nights, or should I say weeks, Joshua has not slept through the night. Two nights ago, I think he needed a breathing treatment. He woke up Monday with a yucky cough and then that night he seemed out of sorts. Since he was coughing, he didn't want to sleep laying down. The next day was the same for his nap, but I caught him with his blankey on the couch after I had changed Caleb's diaper. He was so exhausted he found a way to pass out that was on his terms. My little buddy is stubborn like his momma!Thankfully, whatever the cough was seems to have disappeared as quickly as it came. I'm praying he makes it through the whole night tonight. He's already in bed (9:30 pm) so I'm heading there soon myself. Last night he came in and climbed up with us around 1 am. I didn't even realize it at first. We must get a king size bed or start putting him back in his own room until he learns he can't climb up with us, no matter how cute (or how sick). He loves to sleep nose-to-nose with Daddy and says 'more sleepies Daddy' meaning that he wants them to lay down together. With me, he likes to lay with his back in my chest and me snuggling with him. It's so darn cute...that gets us every time.
Caleb, on the other hand, is on his third night of sleeping through the night in a row. I'm so proud of him! He hasn't been eating well the last few days, though. He'll eat for a couple minutes and then give up. His diapers are still wet and soiled, so I guess he's getting enough. Hopefully this passes or I get used to it and learn not to worry. Both boys were pretty happy today, but Caleb slept a lot of the day away. I've been loving the warmer weather and hope it continues to stay nice; although, they say tomorrow is only supposed to get up into the 60's. We'll see! Good night!

Big Shoes to Fill

When Daddy kicked off his shoes today, Joshua put them on. It was so adorable and yet ironic...he really does have big shoes to fill to follow in his Daddy's footsteps.

Do the Crime, Do the Time

This morning, I was giving Joshua more practice with using silverware by having him eat dry cheerios with a spoon (is it awful that I don't put milk on yet because I'm afraid he'd wear it and we'd have a big mess???). As I turned around to get my cup of tea, the entire bowl was dumped on the floor. I'm not sure if it was an accident or not, but something tells me it might not have been. Either way, he got down and picked up every last one off the floor, except for the ones that got trampled in the clean up (which I got then). Do the crime, do the time!

Happy October Birthdays!

Happy Birthday, Grandpa Ginder! Joshua saw your picture and said, "Papaw! More Papaw?" Hope your day on Monday was a special one - after all, you celebrated with Christopher Columbus...
Also, Happy Birthday to Uncle Brian. Here he is showing the kids how to use their "knock out kid." Hope you have a special day!

Hands On House

Yesterday morning we met Miss Julie, Jude & Kate at the Hands On House. And we had fun playing!
The first stop was some car thing that didn't work out so well...too advanced for Mommy. So, we ended up going into the face painting area. Joshua did NOT want his face painted, and wiped off the red paint that Miss Julie put on his cheeks, making him look like he had blush on. She put a pumpkin on herself (she's much more talented than I am at such things) and Caleb ended up with an orange dot on his cheek that I cleaned off before we left that area. The next stop was sorting eggs...a big hit with the Bean! The chickens lay the eggs, and as they come down you put the good ones in the carton and the bad ones (the plastic ones that had a marker making a crack) into the hole for 'bad eggs.' I think Joshua could have stayed there most of the day, but his friend Jude was off and running the grocery store!

Next we followed Jude into the grocery store. Jude & Joshua both cracked me up in there. Jude was running the cash register. Since he's not used to manually entering the numbers, he held any item up that was given to him to the register itself and said "Beep!" like he's heard at the checkouts. So sharp! Joshua immediately went and stocked his basket full of bread and desserts...hmmm...what does that say about our diet???

He added healthier items later. The cool thing is that this place has fun things for older kids (there's a grocery shopping list they can try and the items are priced so they can add things up, etc.) but it was just as fun for the little kids to go shopping, make sandwiches and run the register. For Jude, everything was $2.

Next, we left to go to the Land of Make Believe. There were tons of dress up costumes, finger puppets, and much more to look at! A little girl gave Julie & me fake flowers to smell - she was adorable. We all got dressed up, except for Caleb who was napping.Joshua was a dinosaur. Julie put the costume on him, and he left it on until I helped him remove it. I was impressed! Jude was a firefighter, I was some sort of dragon, Julie was a court jester??? and I forget what hat little Kate put on.Jude & Joshua enjoyed the puppet show put on by Miss Julie.Next, Jude put together blocks for his daddy, the architect. Joshua & I went back to that station later so he could put them together. He wasn't thrilled when his building collapsed.He did find a toy that reminded me of my little "Light Bright" when I was little. He loved putting these sticks in the holes that glowed. Again, I think he could have stayed there for hours. But we pressed on to see what else was around the corner.Next we went to the land of recycling. This was a little over the Bean's head, but he enjoyed some of the different things the toys did.His one true passion there was the germs. This little machine explained why it's important to scrub your hands, and you hit the buttons to make the soap knock out the germs. He did a great job, and literally threw a fit when I made him leave this station. Thus, it was time to go.

From there, we went to Grandma's house for lunch. She had just returned from vacation and Jen & her four kids stopped in, too. We had pizza, french fries and chocolate chip cookies...the lunch of champions! It was a great day! Thanks for inviting us to a fun day at the "Hands House," Julie! Thanks for lunch, Grandma! Hooray!