What God Has Been Teaching Me, part 1

I was downstairs in the dark rocking the baby.  And by rocking I don't mean sitting in a chair rocking back and forth.  What I really mean is pacing.  I was pacing the baby.  He doesn't like it when I sit down.  Bummer.  So I was rocking him again.  It was the 3rd or 4th time he'd woken up from his afternoon nap that day.  It was the 3rd or 4th time I'd rocked, errr...paced him, that nap.  It was just a repeat of the events of the morning but there was something different this time.

My attitude.  I should clarify.  My attitude, aka my heart, hadn't really changed.  It was just being exposed this time.  And it was ugly. 

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Let me go back even farther.  As new parents of Caleb, we became very schedule oriented.  We fed on a schedule, slept on a schedule, played on a schedule.  He followed our lead nicely.  We patted ourselves on the back proudly, though it was very clearly God who allowed such efforts to work.  When we added Elliott to the mix, scheduling remained helpful and beneficial but he wasn't doing it by the book like Caleb did.   It was then that I received some of the wisest parenting counsel I had ever been given.  My friend Jill told me, "Angie, when you are making decisions regarding how to care for the new baby, remember that you need to decide based on what will serve the entire family, not just the baby."  Her advice and care was foundational for me and helped us to think more clearly as we made various parenting decisions.  This meant feeding little, underweight Elliott in the middle of the night until he was 11 months instead of letting him cry for hours so that we could all be more rested.  This meant letting Elliott fuss during the day so I could train Caleb.  It really helped us to think that way.  

Fast forward a bit and add another baby boy to the family.  What a blessing Gabe has been to our family.  He is sweet.  He is a flirt.  He is content.  He is long and fat.  He is sensitive.  He has a crazy swirl in his hair that results in one tuft sticking up all the time.  He has some crazy gas issues that make him endlessly burpy.  He has Long QT.  God has used this precious little boy to change me.  I cannot believe the good works He has accomplished in my heart through the events of this little (big!) guy's birth.  But he is not through.  He is still working.  I have a looooonnnggggggg way to go.  

This little mini series is just going to be about some of the things he's teaching me through being a mother to three precious boys, one of whom has a heart condition.  

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So back downstairs I was pacing with Gabe.  I was frustrated that he couldn't stay asleep.  I was sad that I was frustrated.  I was annoyed that I couldn't get anything else done.  I was discontent with the lot God had given me for that day.  I was angry that I couldn't let Gabe just cry it out (per doctors orders!).  I felt a lot of things all at once, not many of which honored the Lord.  But He was kind.  He gently started to speak to me and helped me listen.  This quote sums up what God has been teaching me:

"The person who would do great things well must practice daily on little ones; and she who would have the assistance of the Almighty in important acts, must be daily and hourly accustomed to consult His will in the minor affairs of life."  -Emily Judson (wife of America's first foreign missionary, Adoniram Judson)

stay tuned....

Oh Poor Neglected Blog...

Oh poor neglected blog....

...I haven't forgotten about you.  I write on you in my head all the time.  Trouble is I usually can't type them because I'm rocking a baby to sleep, or bandaging a skinned knee, or folding another load of laundry even though last week's laundry is still in baskets, or reading Skippy Jon Jones for the 3285th time, or building forts with couch pillows, or feeding a baby, or working on a house project, or trying to get a few uninterrupted moments of sleep.  I love doing those things.  Don't get me wrong,  poor neglected blog, I much prefer them to you.  Sometimes I think I'd rather blog than do those things.  But that's not really true. Anyway, poor neglected blog, I'm going to try to write on you.  Mostly because I'd like to record the events of life somewhere.

I want to tell you about Gabe being born, Gabe being in the NICU, what God has been teaching me, parenting, our new house, just to name a few.

All in due time, poor neglected time.

A Family of Five

3 little boys leave me no time to post but I had to share these amazing photos that our friend, Brandon, took of our family (mostly Gabe!) a couple of weeks ago.  He did an awesome job!  Check them out here.

Which one is your favorite?

P.S.  For those of you who check back regularly, I promise I will post soon about Gabe's birth, our time in the NICU and how Gabe is doing now!  We are so grateful for your prayers and God's sustaining grace.  We are beyond blessed.  

Let it be noted that on this day in history....

....Caleb ate half a pear, a pretzel rod, an entire 6 oz. yogurt, a half a box of macaroni and cheese, a whole apple and 4 graham cookies before asking to be excused from the lunch table.

What will I feed the kid when he is a teenager?

We're In Like Flynn!

Guess what, we live in our new home! Remember how we thought we were going to get to move in October? Yeah, not so much! God was so faithful to provide during our time of transition, long as it was, and continues to bless us as we dwell in our first home. We've been here just shy of a week now and feel so blessed at what God has provided.

I bet you're dying to see some pictures. Seeing as how we completely overhauled the basement I would be remiss if I failed to tell you how excited I am to show you how great it looks after the hard work of many, especially my dad and Ben! But you'll have to wait:) After I upload pictures after I find my camera cord after I take pictures after I hang things on the wall after I decide what and where to hang things after I have enough energy to do so, THEN I will show you. Don't hold your breath. 6 weeks till baby is due and I am T-I-R-E-D!

Until then, sit back and enjoy this conversation that Ben and I overheard Caleb having with his Larry Boy toy in the van this morning. He was the voice of both and had no idea we were listening.

C: Hi, who are you?
LB: I'm Larry Boy to the rescue. I am a superhero.
C: Oh, but Jesus is a real superhero.
LB: Oh. Who is Jesus?
C: Well, Jesus is the Son of God. He died on the cross to take away my sins. Now he is in Heaven with God.
LB: Oh, what god?
C: You know, THE God who wrote the BIBLE!
LB: Oh, ok.

It's Been a Long Time...

...and I'm still not going to take the time this moment to update you. Please forgive me! Someday I'll post pictures of birthday parties, and Christmas celebrations, and our new house, and where we've been in between, and how baby #3 will come in approximately 8 weeks, but for today you're going to get a cute Caleb moment. And I must say, my children do and say some hilarious things!

This morning I was sorting MOUNTAINS of laundry piled high in our room. I had my baskets all set out and Caleb informed me that he would like to help. He's never really done laundry sorting before so in an attempt to simplify things I asked him to find all of the red things and put them in a certain basket. He did that purposefully for a while, jabbering about super heros to me the whole time, and then asked me where to put a pair of jeans that were, quite obviously, not red. I explained that I was sorting things into 3 categories: bright colors, dark colors and whites. He informed me that he would put the jeans in the dark colors but that the pink shirt he was also holding should go with the bright colors because pink is like red. The whole time we were sorting I was marveling at how helpful he was being, not to mention faithful. He has a hard time completing tasks and THIS, my friends, was no small task. I'm not exaggerating when I say we were sorting for 10 minutes. As I was encouraging him for being faithful to help complete the task we started and how that was God's grace in Him he said, "Yeah, mom, and someday when I grow up I'll have to do laundry all by myself and I'll have to sort it...... Or mom, maybe God will give me a wife and she will serve me by doing my laundry."

God, would you please be so kind to bless Caleb with a Godly wife who will indeed delight in serving You by doing His laundry. Until then, God, would you help me raise this boy to seek not to be served, but to serve!

Caleb's Big Day

You might recall from last year that Caleb loves combines. Ever since my Uncle Ronnie had us to his farm to pick corn in October '08, Caleb has not stopped talking about, dreaming about, and pretending that everything is a COMBINE! You might call it a bit of an obsession.

As harvest time rolled around this year, Caleb excitedly talked about the opportunity to "go pick corn" again at Ronnie's farm. We have watched the lone remaining farm by our house in the suburbs these past 12 months and discussed and learned together about more parts of farming than I would have imagined possible for a 2 year old. From plowing to planting, to seeds sprouting and growing, to finally the combine coming out of the farmers shed in preparation to pick "the brown corn stalks because they are dried out now". (That was an exciting day.)

We have sat alongside the road in our van watching (you might call it [corn-] stalking, pun intended) the farmer as he went up and down his field with his massive "Red Case Combine" picking soy beans and corn. We have moved closer to watch the farmer empty his load into the wagon. We have done a u-ie to follow the tractor down the road to the grain bin. All this because I love my boy and my boy loves to farm!

The farmer we have been stalking, I mean watching closely, was finishing up his harvest around the same time we got the call from my dad to say Ronnie only had 50 acres left. We better come soon. So I packed the boys up and we drove to Iowa to pick corn. And Caleb's dreams came true :) And he hasn't stopped talking about it.

Here are some pictures of our day at the farm, well, more precisely, our afternoon and evening on the farm-- nighttime only added to the fulfillment of dreams. To drive the combine at dark with the lights on, WOAH! What a blessing to make memories with my little farmer man! Here are the best shots of our time with direct quotations from the man himself. He sat on my lap and told me what was happening in each picture and I wrote exactly what he said! Enjoy.

"I'm driving in the skid steer. I was scooping Grandpa Kenny up using the orange levers and the black levers. And I lift it up and dump Grandpa Kenny. And Grandpa Kenny said Uncle Ronnie could give me a ride in the skid steer but I said no I didn't prefer one."

"This is me standing by the bean head. I just saw it right there. It was this big" (motioning with his arms.)

"Me driving a tractor."


"Look! There's the combine right there. CORN HEAD! COMBINE! And there is a cat and Lady under the corn head. "


"Now I'm climbing up the ladder."

"COMBINE!!! I'm just staring at it."

"Look there's me driving a combine! Pretending to drive the combine. And I'm just driving Elliott. Look, Mom, I'm pretending to drive a combine."

"Grandpa, Elliott, and me. We're in the combine."

"Picking corn in the field. Look, I'm picking corn. When I was in the field I saw a tractor bailing hay. A John Deere. Grandpa said it wasn't John Deere but it was green so it was a John Deere."

"Elliott is just standing in the corn cobs."

"The shoot is coming. The auger. We're getting ready to shoot the corn out into the wagon in Uncle Ronnie's pick up truck."

"The corn is coming out."

"Why is the door still opened? I'm driving the combine."

(He had nothing to say about this one. At one point, Grandpa Kenny, Grandma Lou, Caleb, Elliott and myself were in the combine picking corn. This is Elliott thinking "What in the world is going on?" He doesn't share the same affections for combines as Caleb, at least not for riding in them. I think it was too loud for his taste.)

"Look there is a night combine. It has a corn head on. And I'm in it."

"The night combine still."

"That is the corn coming out of Uncle Ronnie's wagon and going into the grain bin. It goes through and then up up up up."

"Uncle Ronnie and me and Grandpa.
Dear Uncle Ronnie, Thanks for letting me drive your combine. Thanks for letting Grandpa drive your combine.
Dear Grandpa Kenny, Thanks for letting me come to your house.
Love, Caleb"