Jesus is walking in my heart

I picked Brooks up from school yesterday and he said "Mom, Jesus is walking in my heart".
I love our little Wee School,
Valentines,
I am sure they taught him that Jesus is in his heart.
And Brooks take away was "Jesus is walking in my heart".
I can't wait for the day when he really knows what it means to have Jesus in his heart.
I do believe God will answer that prayer of mine, that Brooks would ask Jesus into his heart.
I love his innocence right now.
I love that anything I teach him right now he accepts it with no question.
I love his excitement for life,
his excitement for "special treats", and movies, and friends over to play, school, Wuamba land, the gym, Mom2mom.
He loves playing with other kids, he loves new things.
I love who he is becoming. I love his excitement for anything and everything.
I love his imagination that is growing everyday.
I want to take advantage of these young years to teach him and show him how to love God and love others.
It's a hard job most  of the time but it is simply the greatest.
I love being a mom,
it's the hardest thing I have ever done and the most amazing thing I have ever done.
When people ask me about how I am doing in me new role as a mom I tell them that it's amazing that something can be two extremes. So hard and so amazing.

Update,
a quote I must document,
After him saying all week that Jesus is walking in his heart,
yesterday Brooks said "when I eat my food it goes down right past Jesus"
The words that come out of his mouth are the best!

Ford's 1st Birthday!

Happy Birthday precious Ford! ( about a week late)
Our first year with you has been sweet!
You are truly a joy.
You have been such an easy going baby.
We can't wait for another year to discover more of who you are.
Brooks loves you and loves to make you laugh.
You are you and you are perfect.
We love you to pieces.
I know God has great plans for you buddy!

1 year appointment stats:
height- 29.25 26%
weight- 22lbs 73%
Head- 46.5 63%
You are crawling like crazy and pulling up and walking with help but not on your own yet!
You're a great sleeper and love your milk and will eat anything!
You love baths and watching your brother!

You LOVED your cake!

my favorite!

Christmas 2013

Today has been a wonderful Christmas day.
Very low key and enjoying our little family.

Trip put Brooks to bed tonight and asked him what his favorite thing about today was.
And he said, "My favorite thing was that I got to play with you a lot".
Wow
Of all the "presents" he got today, Trip's "presence" was his favorite. (I am such an amazing writer aren't I? You see what I just did right there?)
But really, that's a beautiful reminder of what is most important because it is easy especially with kids now to get caught up in all the gift giving and wanting to make your child's Christmas "magical".
He really does just want us around to play and spend time with him.

Christmas is and I think always will be my favorite holiday.
I love all that comes with it, and now with kids it's all so so so fun watching them get excited about everything.
But I love the hope that Christmas brings. Because the older I get the harder this world seems.
The more hurt I see in peoples lives, sad, horrible things.
And I always wonder how people can make it through this life without the hope of Christ.
The hope that Jesus brought.
Without it, nothing has meaning, nothing really matters.
So I leave with what I think is my favorite Christmas Carol,  Oh Holy Night.

Oh holy night!
The stars are brightly shining
It is the night of the dear Savior's birth!
Long lay the world in sin and error pining
Till he appear'd and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn!

Fall on your knees
Oh hear the angel voices
Oh night divine
Oh night when Christ was born
Oh night divine
Oh night divine

Led by the light of Faith serenely beaming
With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand
So led by light of a star sweetly gleaming
Here come the wise men from Orient land
The King of Kings lay thus in lowly manger
In all our trials born to be our friend

Truly He taught us to love one another
His law is love and His gospel is peace
Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother
And in His name all oppression shall cease
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
Let all within us praise His holy name

A few iphone pics from the last few days......

He loved his brothers toy the most

Learning to stand in his crib

Silent Night

Piper waiting for Santa

Brooks and Mason checking on Trip

update

I feel the need to write some stuff down about what the boys are doing.
I don't want to forget these days.

Ford is almost 11 months old. Hard to believe he is quickly approaching 1 year!!!
He is so fun, he is so smiley, and he is so busy!
He loves to sleep, he takes two great naps usually, sometimes just one long afternoon nap.
He sleeps later than Brooks. I think he is going to be a bigger sleeper than Brooks.
He usually goes right to sleep without crying (unlike his big brother)
He loves to watch Brooks and Piper.
He is great in the car.
He is crawling all over the place.
Loves baby food.
Not really pulling up yet.
outgrowing his car seat!
He is about 22 lbs and he is my little buddy!
He is our "chill" baby and I love watching him grow

Brooks is more fun by the day! We always say that we wish we could freeze him

He is rapidly approaching 3 years!

I look at pictures of him and wonder how he has gotten so big!

He says the funniest things, and absorbs everything around him.

He loves school, and he just told us this week that his best friend is Luca in his class.

Teachers say he listens well, he loves music class, and he has a great smile :)

He loves playing with other kids in general, especially his cousins and Daye. 

He LOVES all his cars and trucks and is asking Santa for more cars and trucks.

He is super excited about Christmas time and his new Elf who he named Chippy.

He believes everything and his excitement is awesome. I wish I could bottle it up.

He loves Mickey, and Bernie, and his grandparents.

He is potty trained and very particular about what he wears.

He loves Sharptop Cove and the Chandler boys!

He loves talking about the "campers" with Young Life and loves going to club with daddy.

He loves babysitters and pizza.

He loves Aaron Murray and the Georgia bulldogs, and often wears his jersey to bed.

Or he loves his superman and batman shirts with capes. 

He hates getting his clothes wet or dirty!

He doesn't like to try new foods.

He is a cautious kid, and is hesitant to take risks with most things.

He loves his cowboy boots, and his rain boots.

He does not like to wear jackets. 

He loves wuamba land at church.

He is a chatterbox, especially in the car! 

He brings us so much joy and it is so fun to discover more and more about who he is and who God is creating him to be. 

donuts with daddy before school, being silly

painting

strutting his stuff at Sharptop

before seeing the Rudolph puppet show

Life is full! 

Thankful

I will praise the name of God with a song and will magnify him with Thanksgiving
Psalm 69:30

So so much to be thankful for today and everyday.
Thankful for family, friends, and health
and most importantly the hope found in Jesus that gives this crazy life purpose.

I pray I can have a thankful heart everyday and every circumstance that comes my way.

Burts Pumpkin Patch 2013

so very thankful for these precious boys

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sprinkles

Just a brief entry to capture a quick thought.
I have so much I want to catch up on here, Ford's 9 months, the mountains, the pumpkin patch,the beach, halloween.....
and thoughts from this incredible book that has been so good for my soul in this season of my life,

a quote from this book,

"This journey of mothering is a challenging marathon of moments, hours, days, months, years, and decades. And yet, in each moment, God has sprinkled across our paths beauty, love, and joy"

Lately I have felt the challenging marathon of moments but I had a sprinkle moment tonight when Brooks ,without any prompting, got up in my lap and sat inches from my face and asked me to read his Elmo book to him and then asked me to sing to him with a huge grin on his face.

I am trying to stop and appreciate these sprinkles of beauty, love, and joy. 

These sprinkles are evident every day, somedays they are just harder to find, but they are there!!

Because you are you and you are mine

Dear Brooks and Ford,
I treasure you both,
you are part of me,
you are my heart,
I have moments when I just need to write it down.
I love you,
I can never say it enough.
I love you just because you are mine,
that is all,
it's not because of anything that you do,
it's just because you are mine.
I love you because I can.
God gave me that ability,
to love you just because.
So remember,
I love you because you are you and you are mine.
I love you Brooks because you are you and you are mine.
I love you Ford because you are you and you are mine.
Nothing you can say or do that will ever make me feel differently.
That is all.
Love,
Mom

And remember what we say every night before bed....
God loves you the most and knows you the best