Merry Christmas!

Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas and a blessed 2010!

Don't forget....its all about Jesus! I'm remembering today God's perfect provision for me (and you!) in the form of a little baby, born in a manger! Thank you Lord for grace and fullness of life through your Son!

Born on This Day

Today a child is born on earth / Today the glory of God shines everywhere / For all of the world /Jesus born on this day / He is our light and salvation / Oh, Jesus born on this day / He is the King of all nations * Behold the Lamb of God has come / Behold the Savior is born / Sing of His love to everyone / Jesus born on this day / Heavenly child in a manger / Oh, Jesus born on this day / He is our Lord and our Savior* Today our hearts rejoice in Him / Today the light of His birth / Fills us with hope and bring speace on earth / Jesus born on this day / He is our light and savation / Oh, Jesus born on this day / He is the King of all nations * Today a child is born on earth / Today the glory of God shines everywhere / For all of the world * He is light, He is love, He is grace / Born on Christmas day

Christmas Pictures 2009

Just a few of my favorites.....courtesy of Brian and Amy Grissom of Rogue Art Photography

Better than the Best

You're better then the best; I'm lucky just to linger in your light.......................


Don't know how I lived without you Cuz everytime that I get around you I see the best of me inside your eyes

(lyrics courtesy of Uncle Kracker, Smile :-))


It will shock none of you that Josh and I are crazy(as most normal parents are) about our kid. He is our biggest blessing, bar NONE. I could start to go into all of the ways he is awesome and why we are so blessed, but I think I've covered most of that in previous posts. Bottom line: Owen has been God's greatest gift and most perfect provision for us. We are better people because he is our son. And ...........our biggest aspiration is that we can help grow him into a person that loves Jesus and follows hard after Him!

My Thankful List

"If you want to turn your life around, try thankfulness. It will change your life mightily." ~Gerald Good

“Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace and gratitude.” — Denis Waitley

Here are a few (big and small) things that I'm really thankful for this year:

1.Owen and Josh. They are my family...my two best boys.... two of the greatest loves of my life. Being a wife and mother is no easy thing. Josh and I are DAILY trying to figure out how to love each other better and to just....get it right! Its hard! (but worthwhile of course :-)) And parenting...we are in the thick of toddlerhood...which means discipline. Yuk. Most days are wonderful, but I have moments that I just want to cry about it all! Praying that consistency pays off down the road! At the end of the day...I'm doing what I dreamed about doing for years. I'm a wife and I'm a mother. I can't ask for much more than that!

2. Sweet Tea! (its probably rotting my teeth, but I still really love it and the favorite part of my work day is walking over to get my sweet tea at McDonalds :-))

3. Our church and small group. We love, love, love College Park. Its taken a few years, but we are finally feeling like we have found our groove in ministry....and if we get there early enough, we can find people that we know and love to sit with during service! We love our new Pastor, who speaks truth and brings it HARD every Sunday. So thankful for that! Our small group meets twice a month and they have become some of our closest and dearest friends. So thankful to share the journey with others who walk similar paths!

4. Good music, candles and cooking! I love to turn up some John Mayer, light a few candles and try a new recipe. I've really gotten into baking and cooking this past year.....I'm set on being the mom with the best chocolate chip cookies! (which won't happen because I've shared the recipe with too many other people now! :-)) Its ok....sharing is better! :-)

5. Grace. I mess things up in my life....a lot. I am immensely grateful for a loving and personal God who COVERS my life in mercy and grace. I am in constant need....and the more grace I receive the more I know that I have to pass it on.

So many things to be thankful for this year. It is so good for my soul to sit down and really think about how we have been provided for and graciously given more than we need in the past year. I hope you have a beautiful Thanksgiving and enjoy your time with friends and family!

Trick or Treat!

I am so bummed that I didn't get a family picture, or even any pictures of Josh and I separately with our little lion! It was such a chaotic time that I just forgot about it! Owen had a great time though....and I think you will agree that he makes a pretty sweet little lion! He had the ROOOOOAAAAAARRRRR down and everything!

We love Fall

Its been a beautiful, perfect fall here in the wonderful state of Indiana. It got cool in the middle of September, and while temperatures have crawled slowly back up here at the end of October, it never got hot again, which makes me happy. I've been trying, and trying to upload a bunch of pictures but for some reason it is taking FOREVER so I'm settling with the best one....


Here is Owen at Eagle Creek. I love this picture. It will definitely be framed and put somewhere in our house.
We have lots of Halloween pictures to put up to. All in good time. We had a great night hanging with bunches of friends and family. I love our house, but we are outgrowing it when it comes to hosting events. If only we could dig a basement underneath our house and throw all of the kids down there! Honestly though, we are very grateful and very blessed. Always trying to keep things in perspective!
And now its November! This is really my favorite time of year. I'm already praying that I can keep my focus on loving people and being generous...instead of getting caught up in when and where we will spend our time and what kind of gifts we will buy....cause really....its easy to loose the spirit of this season if I don't concentrate on the right things!
Happy Fall everyone...hope you have all enjoyed it as much as we have!

Family Pictures

Our dear friends, Amy and Brian Grissom of Rogue Art Photography took these pictures for us! We love them! Enjoy :-)

More pumpkin patch

We have this new photo program that lets me upload pictures directly to my blog, but I can't get it all in one entry....I'll have to figure that out....just not right now :-)

Pumpkin Patch

In the spirit of trying to keep a journal, I will continue writing on here :-)
Last weekend was basically my definition of perfection ..we took Owen to a Pumpkin Patch (in Noblesville, had friends over for Chili, Cornbread and Apple Crisp and then enjoyed a Sunday of leftovers, naps and football. Really, life doesn't get much better in my book! The temps around here have definitely been "Fall like" and I think we are enjoying the fist "REAL FALL' that I can remember in a long time....I'm usually prepared to wait out the warm weather until mid October, and its been cool for SEVERAL weeks now. I'm a happy girl :-) Enjoy the pictures. I'm working on getting a few more up.

The WatersEdge: Thoughts from Michigan's West Coast

Our Youth Pastor at College Park posted this. I liked it, thought it made sense. The end. :-)

The WatersEdge: Thoughts from Michigan's West Coast

Quick Stats Update

After a LONG over due well child visit, we found out that Owen is although still a peanut, is healthy and developmentally on track ( I think I knew he was doing ok when he busted out the alphabet song the other night and the used the word "accidentally" in a sentence! Genius I tell ya)

Anyways. Here are the stats

October 8, 2009 (2.5 years)

Weight: 23 1/2 lbs ( around 4 % on the charts....we'll take it! He's been OFF the charts since he was about 12 months old!)
Length: 37 1/2 inches (between 25-30 % on the charts)

In other Pediatrician visit news, I opted out of the flu shot and opted for the last of his HIB vaccines (a series of three to vaccinate against meningitis).

Owen also had his first dentist appt. this past Monday! Like the crazy/bad mom that I am...I forgot my camera, so I had to use my phone to take a picture....so I'll have to figure out how to upload that....but anyways, he did great! He let them clean his teeth with the electric toothbrush, floss and do floride! I was impressed! Maybe he won't develop his Mother's irrational fear of all things dental!

And at this point I should insert a cute picture of Owen, but I'm at work and I don't have acess to any of my pictures, so I'll have to come back and do that later!
So to sum up....our boy is healthy (but skinny) and happy! Yay! We are blessed.

Fall Fun

We had a great time in Bloomington on Saturday night....we attended an IU/OSU football game with our dear Ohio friends, Pete and Heather Gross. IU football is TERRIBLE (seriously...I never even knew IU HAD a football team. The only IU I have only cheered for is in reference to basketball!) But OSU fans are seriously comitted....and even though it was a complete blow-out we stayed until the last possible minute. Notice that I remain neutral in my colors. Josh is decked out in IU gear, and Pete and Heather are in OSU gear....I am INDIFFERENT! I just went along for fun and friendship! (I'm so non competitive! Josh loves that! HA!) Although....my dad is a die hard IU fan, and I DO happen to work for the University (School of Medicine) so I guess I have to stay somewhat loyal. :-)

I know I've been a blogging slacker lately, but there isn't much to update you on. Soccer season is nearly over....sectionals start on Thursday....it will be weird and wonderful at the same time not having games to go to every other night!
Josh and I have plans to go to Brown County in the next few weeks....other fall festivities include youth group bonfire at our friends home (Josh and I are working with the junior class at College Park this year....LOVE IT!), and we'll host what has become an annual Jesus friendly Halloween/Fall Party on Oct. 31. Last year we packed nearly fifty people into our teeny house....and I loved every minute of it!
I've been lazy about doing pictures because most of my pictures end up on facebook....and let's be real, I don't think there is anyone that knows me that DOESN"T follow me on facebook. Even my Grandma's are on facebook! AWESOME! (Yay Grandma Lois and Grandma Dixie!)

Owen is....well....Owen. Wonderful, sweet, growing, talkative, and right in the thick of being a fiesty two year old! He cracks me up and warms my heart with kisses and hugs on a daily basis.... When we aren't working on obedience and NOT Whining! (ARGH!) Seriously. All of our hard work WILL pay off. I know it. (Unless it doesn't, and then I'll be really, really, REALLY sad) Someday I'll just be able to say, "Owen you need to obey" and....voila! I will be grateful that I put in so much time in his toddler days TEACHING him that what we say is WHAT WE MEAN! :-) Discipline is SO NOT my favorite part of parenting! He is loving Puggles (Awana for toddlers at church) and has been promoted to an actual Sunday School class on Sunday mornings. He is telling me new things about Jesus every week. It does my heart good! We continue to ask for you to pray that God would write his name on Owen's heart! Trusting in God's grace and goodness!
Also....you could pray for us as I take a week off of work at the end of this month to.....dum, dum, dum.....POTTY TRAIN! It's that time! He understands the concept, but doesn't want to quit playing to do his business. So, Monday, October 19....the diapers come off and the big boy underwear come on....and we'll see what happens! :-) I NEED PRAYER! I've been dreading this since I found out I was pregnant with him! Don't they have schools for potty training? I'd send him for sure! :-)

Ok....the end. Hope all is well in the blog world!

Funny, Funny, Funny

This is just a cute Owen story that I want recorded :-) Humor me.

Ok, so Owen is a total sponge right now. I swear he hears EVERYTHING we say and REPEATS 98 percent of it. Knowing that, we (Josh and I) have really REALLY had to work hard at curbing our language. I'm not talking about sailor swearing here....I'm talking about dang-it, stupid, DARN and the mother of all toned down swear words," Freakin'" and "Crap". I would like to say that my dear husband is more guilty when it comes to using these sort of words, but I am probably just as much to blame. So, we didn't quite manage to not let Owen ever hear us use these words...and he's picked up on them. I had to have this conversation with him about two weeks ago:

Me: "Owen, mommy is really sorry that she said the word "crap". It is not a nice word. It is not a word that I want to say anymore, and I am going to try really, really hard not to say it. It is also not ok for you to say this word. If you are upset about something, you can say something else. Let's try this. Instead of saying "oh Crap" we can say "oh bummer"! Ok?!
Owen: Ok Mommy!

We move on from there. Things go relatively well. I really don't hear him use the word "crap" at all. I ocassionally hear, "dang-it" or "darn-it" and when I do, I remind him that we don't say that....but tell him that he CAN say "oh bummer"! I start to hear "oh bummer" integrated into his daily vocabulary.

Now the actual story...I missed out on. Josh relayed it to me. Apparently Owen was playing with something (a toy, I'm guessing), and it fell on him, or he dropped it or....yah...something like that...anyways, whatever happened, Owen's reaction was "Oh CRAP"! Josh immediately jumped in and said something like, "Owen we don't say that word" to which Owen replied "Oh. Sorry daddy. I should say OH BUMMER"!

I am STILL laughing at this! My kid is so funny! Seriously. :-) He cracks me up on a daily basis. I'm thankful for this small object lesson and reassurance from God....we can mess up as parents and still God gives grace and teachable moments. That being said, I'm making a big point to clean up my language! No more potty mouth for me! :-)

Menu and other stuff

Just Kidding.

I don't cook during soccer season. Ok. I do. Some. But not a lot. Here is why:

Monday: Josh practices until 5:30, meaning he gets home at 6:00. I teach piano lessons until 5:00. (ok, so I usually cook something easy on Mondays. Last night it was hamburgers)

Tuesday: soccer game (I don't think there is a Tuesday during soccer season where we don't have a game). We are usually home by 9:30

Wednesday: I pick Owen up after work around 5:00 and we have youth group at 6:00 (Owen is going to Puggles this year!)

Thursday: I teach piano until 5:45 and Josh has a game at 6:00. (again, we are usually home by 9:30)

Friday: I really, really should cook on Friday. All throughout our marriage its something we've kind of gotten away from. But in light of our crazy schedules throughout the fall, I'm going to try a lot harder to cook. Usually we get together with friends or just completely veg out on Friday nights.....but we'll see.

Saturday: Ok. I can cook on Saturday too....some Saturdays Josh will have tournaments, but not all.

Sunday: I can cook here too.

So...its not completely impossible, it just seems hard. Especially during the week. I'm going to try and concentrate on making the weekend meals a bit more consistently. I have majorly slacked off on trying new recipes. Anyone have anything good they want to send my way? :-) I'm looking forward to cooler weather for reasons such as chili, chicken corn chowder, chicken tortilla soup and CORNBREAD. OH YA BABY. Lovin' that stuff. Although it will probably be ninety degrees until November. I can't complain really. We've had a very mild summer. I'm just ready for fall the day kids go back to school. I even got my pumpkin candle out last night and I'm trying to figure out when I get out my fall decor. I'll try and hold off until mid-September but I make no promises!

Other Stuff:

I've started a new work schedule. I love it. Instead of working a half day every Friday, I am working all day every OTHER Friday. So every other week I only work two days. Its fantastic really. Every other week I have five days off in a row (including the weekend, but still, its good).

I still really enjoy the balance of being at home a few days, and being in the office a few days. I never thought I would be a part-time working mom, but I find that it suits me well. However, I'm continuing to pick up more piano students, which may allow me to only work from home eventually....maybe. I'm not sure that's what I want. We'll see. And then I keep thinking about going back to school.....ugggh. I just don't know. Josh is done with classes for the most part, so technically its my turn. Again, we'll see :-)

With the return of school, comes the return of routine. I like it. Most of our days are nicely scheduled. I'm back to doing spinning classes at the gym with a friend (YAY!), Josh and I are working with the Senior Highers at College Park again (we are actually co-leading together, how great is that....all I have to say is that God is GOOD!), and our small group will start back up here at the beginning of September.

Its times like these....when I sit back and think about all we are able to do, and how full our life is that I just feel very blessed. Blessed to walk through the hard times, blessed to have Owen, blessed to have a future and a hope....blessed to just LIVE and to be a family.

Oh, and Owen is great. Sometimes his cuteness overwhelms me. I'm blanking on examples of specific cuteness, but every day he does something and I just am thinking "My kid is great. How did I get so lucky? Is everyone's kid so stinkin' funny?....." and yah....you get the idea. I'm cherishing the days where I can ask for a kiss and still get one (we actually play a game where he runs from me and then comes back and kisses me...its wonderful!).....and I'm rocking him at night every time he will let me, and I'm rubbing his back every night when he asks me....and oh yah, "Momma, I hold you"....means, "Momma, please hold me" and you can pretty much know that everytime he says this, he is gonna get held. Yep. How much longer do I have before he isn't little and Josh and I aren't his world anymore? I dont' know. I don't think about it anymore. I'm just living in the present. Because God gives enough grace for tomorrow....and tomorrow isn't here yet.

We just finished a series at College Park on "How to Kill Relationships and Irritate People". It was very, very good. If you are so inclined, go take a listen. The sermons are online. I've linked to the church's website on the title of the series. We talked about Pride, Anger, Living with Unresloved Conflict and The Tongue (words).....and I found something that needed fixing in my life in every sermon. (darn it, and I thought I was getting close to perfect by now!) I don't know what else to say....except that (and I say it all of the time) but I just love our church. After moving back to Indianapolis, I knew College Park is where I wanted to attend because of Kimber Kauffman. I had listened to him on the radio enough to know that his teaching was something we shouldn't miss. We got to sit under his preaching for two years before he resigned, and I never, ever believed that I would love a Pastor as much as I loved Kimber....but Mark Vroegop (College Park's new Lead Pastor) is really in the running. :-) Now.....if we could only get people to attend business meetings and work in the nursery things would be perfect! (ha ha!) All that being said...if you are in Indy, and you are looking for a place to worship....God is DOING THINGS at College Park...He is changing lives and bringing people to Himself.....of course its not a perfect place....and you might be frustrated because there aren't a lot of extra parking places and services are overcrowded, but if you can get beyond the details that need improving, you will most likely have your socks blessed off. Ok. Soapbox on my church is over.

I think that's about it. I need to put pictures on here, but honestly we haven't taken a lot lately. I'll try and fix that. Just know that Owen is as cute as ever....and he recently got a haircut making him look about 18 years old and I can't stand it....I'm keeping his curls next time!

This post is way too long to comment on, but hopefully my family is satisfied enough with this to know that we are alive, we are busy, but we are happy :-) Happy (almost) Fall!

Not me Mondays!

Ok. So I've gotten out of the habit of doing this, but I'm going to try again....because its really fun! Actually, its more fun to read about what other people and other people's kids have "NOT DONE", but you know.....I guess I should be brave and do it too. So. Here we go!

1. On Saturday evening I started to have an arthritis flare up, SO....on Sunday morning I totally DID NOT take a vicodin that was two years old (given to me by my OBGYN for my heroic efforts in childbirth) and think I would be completely fine to go about my day. The vicodin did NOT make me deathly ill and I certainly did NOT spend the day moaning and groaning in my bed about how sick I felt. My arthritis flare up? Totally gone. The effects of the seriously questionable vicodin I took? Still lingering today.....oh well! LIVE AND LEARN and BE SMARTER!

2. I did NOT make a big grocery shopping trip with Owen on Saturday in which I DID NOT forget something that I've had on my list for like five weeks. Salt. Seriously we have NO salt in our house and for some reason I just can't see it on my list or I can't remember it for the life of me when I have no list. Our food is (NOT!) :-) very bland lately! Also, I DID NOT forget the salt and I also DID NOT come home with at least ten items that weren't even on my list. Like doritos and chocolate milk. I mean I would never keep junk food like that in my house....and I definitely DID not just eat doritios with my lunch today! Nope! I don't even like the cheesey goodness of a dorito! NOT ME!

3. On Sunday, when I was gorked out on vicodin, I definitely did NOT choose to ignore my two year old who had wandered into our bedroom/ master bathroom and thought it would be fun to flush the toilet 200 times. I was in between consciousness and I definitely did not keep thinking "Josh is in charge, he will come in and see what Owen is doing. I can just lay here and take no responsibility to whatever happens". Nope. I'm always a responsible mother, even when gorked out on narcotics.

4. Lastly, (barely managing to recover from my date with vicodin for our kick off leaders meeting for Senior High Youth Group last night) I did NOT of my own free will steal baby Luke from his mother, Emily, and proceed to smell his sweet baby head and rock back and forth with him like a crazy person who has never held a baby before and because Luke is super tiny and petite (and I mean NOT super tiny and petite) I did NOT nearly throw out my back and cramp up my arm by holding him for ten minutes. No, fifteen. It was definitely AT LEAST fifteen minutes and I am certainly not a wimp. Shew. Good thing spinning class starts back for me this week! I definitely DON'T need to bufff up!

Owenisms

(Or just some cute stories about our kid)

Inspired by something cute that Owen did this morning, I thought I should take a few minutes to record some of the funny things he has been doing.

-This morning Owen was coloring at his little table in our "dining room" (I put dining room in quotes because...well, its not really a room, just a section off of our kitchen and living room that we put our table in :-)); announced that he was done coloring, put all of his crayons back in his plastic baggy, pushed in his chair and neatly stacked his coloring book and other books on his table. I watched all of this with a small smile on my face....after all....I am the cleanie of the house, and I sadly admit that on days that I am at home I sometimes trail after Owen cleaning up his mess. Maybe he's catching on. Oh dear. What have I created? :-)

-He has learned to say the letter "W" and he is really proud of himself. Its the only letter that he couldn't pronounce for really long time. We are also working on spelling his name...he is SO close!

-Josh told me this story. The other day Owen was sitting in our bed watching something (Sid the Science Kid, maybe?) and he looked over to our night stand where my diamond earrings happened to be lying (lying, laying? I can never quite remember...sorry Dr. Sauders and Mrs. Rust!). He looked over at Josh and said: "Dad. I want those. I take them. K"?...and went to grab my earrings! Thankfully Josh didn't let him...and I've learned to set them out of my little klepto's reach! But seriously. How funny is that?

-He loves all things soccer. He talks all the time about being a soccer player and going to a soccer game. Good news. In a week his wish will come true. Josh's first soccer game is August 17....and we will spend the next two months living and breathing soccer. I'm afraid that if Owen DOESN'T end up a star soccer player playing for the World Cup someday I might actually be disappointed! (just kidding of course!) This kid lives and breathes soccer. Josh brought him home a little goal the other day and Owen is in heaven.

-Owen asks us everyday to go to church and to go to school. He loves his "Sunday School Class" at College Park, and I'm really excited because he is going to get to go to Puggles this year while Josh and I head back to senior high youth group to be sponsors. (Puggles is Awana for toddlers!) I think he will love it!

-He is speaking really well....sometimes in sentences, but sometimes not. I can almost always figure out what he is saying or what he wants me to do. It's great being able to communicate with him...now to teach him French and Spanish! :-)

-His evening prayers are incredibly cute. Usually I will ask him to pray first and then I will finish . His prayers usually go something like this: Dear Jesus, pray Bayey, pray Cabey, pray Roxy. And Pappa and Gamma's house. And Patches. And Bandon,Header (Heather). AMEN! (Sometimes he remembers Rachel, sometimes not! Don't worry Rach, I always catch you if he forgets!) :-) Oh goodness. The cuteness just overwhelms me!

Anyways, I am loving these days. He is becoming such a little person and its so much fun to watch him grow. I mourn the passing of his babyhood, but with deep appreciation that God allowed it to be such a sweet time. I try really hard to stay in the present with him and enjoy each moment for what it is. The days are truly gone too fast. Once again...I'm incredibly humbled and grateful for the gift of our son. God truly is so good to us!

Owen's new room!

We've finally gotten Owen's room put together! I love it! The colors turned out GREAT (I think) and I think it will be a room he can really grow with.
All of this being said....Owen is STILL sleeping in his crib! I'm just NOT moving him until it doesn't work anymore. He has only tried to get out of his crib on one occasion and this resulted in him falling flat on his back (this was nearly a year ago) and he hasn't tried it since! So. We've decided that sleep is too precious of a commodity to mess with until it is unavoidable!

So for now.....all of Owen's toys have been moved to his big boy room and he is loving having a new space to play in (since his "toy room" has been closed off for the last month and most of his toys have been packed away for the re-model!)

We still have "surfer boy" decorations to hang on the wall....and I'm still keeping my eyes out for a better storage system for toys, but all in all....his room is great! We love it! Can't believe my boy is old enough to have a little boy room. But this does free up the nursery a bit....hmmmm....(sorry no announcement!) :-)