Wordless Wednesday

Christmas Merriment and Melee

I'm just now getting around to writing about this weekend because I'm pooped.  It was all fabulous, but wow are we tired! 

Poor Bray got his fill of culture this weekend.  Friday night was dinner and a show at the Alley with a couple friend of ours.  Sunday night was the annual Vincent family arts night out which included dinner at Brennan's followed by the Houston Symphony Pops (both were good but I've had far better experiences at both in the past...).  Then Saturday was breakfast with Santa at the kids' school.  We'd been preparing them that they could sit on Santa's lap and tell him what they'd like for Christmas all week.  The baby had been very clearly saying, "tractor - BIG tractor" (who does that sound like?!?!), and the little lady had been saying "baby" (as in the doll, not the infant), but the eldest was a bit muddled and settled on a tractor as well (he tends to be more interested in what others want, I'm waiting for that to pass). 

So the event was wonderful and none of them cried and they fell in love with the Frosty and Rudolph characters walking around - so much so that they began to stalk them and hug them fiercely. Not to mention all the nativity scenes out for them to play with - they are seriously in love with camels these days, go figure.

Resting before the Santa Photo Shoot by the Natvity

Loving those Camels

Who doesn't love Frosty?

This Christmas is really fun.  Now that we've had our Santa encounter, the baby walks around saying "Santha, Santha" which I have to capture on video because it is the most precious Santa you've ever heard called out.  They LOVE the tree that's up and keep taking the ornaments (all shatterproof) down and we keep hanging them higher - it's definitely not one of my Martha Stewart trees.  The presents, sadly, aren't around the tree because they enthusiastically want to rip into any of the paper - I'm assuming this will go on for a couple of years and then I'll be able to show off my presents again!  Bizarrely, they're starting to potty train themselves and I'm kind of hoping they'll hold off til the New Year because of the travel - the baby especially is doing it ALL in the potty, we're thrilled at the thought of no more diapers, but it's going to be a pretty hassle intensive time I know for the next few months.  They have hand bells and we sing Jingle Bells all around the house while they play their bells.  They even got to take presents to Baby Jesus at chapel at school last week which left an impression (a live baby in a nativity at chapel - so great that they're already learning the meaning of Christmas).  They're also reading all the time, on their own they spend time with books, especially our Christmas ones.  It's a very sweet time for us all and we're trying to savor every moment instead of getting caught up in the melee.  What a treasure. 

Reading Time

Trying Out our Christmas PJs

Waking Up

My darling boy had a nightmare or something last night around midnight and woke up crying for mommy.  Because I'd gone to a holiday party, I had missed putting the kids down for bed and really found myself missing hugging on them.  So instead of being the consistent responsible mommy, I went in and plucked my little man out of bed and brought him in to sleep with us.  He's actually probably the best about sleeping, actually sleeping, in our bed, so the majority of the night was fairly restful despite an extra body in bed.  But the best part of it was waking up this morning.  Bray and I woke before he did, and I just laid there watching his sweet little face.  I don't know that I've ever actually watched the process of one of my kids waking up.  When I get to them, they're normally already awake.  So I got to watch him scrunch up, and then stretch, and then open his eye lids, and then watch them fall heavily back down, and then he rolled over and puckered his perfect little mouth, and then back came the eye lids opening as he processed where he was and what time of day it was.  It was just precious.  He's such a pretty child, but I never really get to study his face because he's two and running around like a mad man.  But this morning was quiet and still and I got to thank God for my beautiful blessings.  He awoke before the other two as well so we even got a few extra minutes to snuggle before the day got going.  What an amazing way to start off a day. 

Sidestepping Pitfalls

We had a big interview yesterday.  We, as parents, interviewed on behalf of our children to get them into a school that I believed would be the perfect fit for them.  I fell in love with this school and was ecstatic when we were selected to interview (it increased our odds of acceptance once selected for an interview). 

In preparation, I was reading the information on the school's website and rereading our children's life verses.  I read each one and prayed it over each child from afar and the words read so fresh and new that they completely shifted my focus as I prepared.  The last verse I read was the eldest's, from Proverbs 3, and these words nearly lifted off the page as if animated in a 3D movie, "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding..."

Imagine that.  Step 1 - trust in the Lord with ALL of your heart.  Step 2 - Lean not on you own understanding.  Can you imagine the pitfalls we would sidestep if we all just did that and only that?!?!?  Forget all the other incredible divinely written words in the Bible.  What if we just (a) wholly trusted God, and (b) didn't rely on ourselves!  Not only would we sidestep the many pitfalls that befall us as we walk this winding road, we would in all likelihood be moved to an entirely NEW road that didn't even HAVE pitfalls. 

I just wrote about how recently I've heard this message that we shouldn't manipulate a situation to be God's will when it's really our own striving or desires.  I'm guilty of that.  Seriously guilty of that.  I am a Type A person that has tried to achieve my entire life.  Once one achievement is under my belt, I'm off to another one, oftentimes entirely unrelated.  But there's this careful tightrope I have to walk.  I think that God encourages me, all of us, to use our gifts and talents, and I could be just as disobedient if I sat on my hands and did nothing.  HOWEVER, if I'm trying to push my agenda instead of further His agenda all my work is in vain.  Not to mention displeasing to the God that I serve.  Oh, and it can lead to another nasty sin of mine, pride. 

If I were to, "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding," then the Bible says He will make my paths STRAIGHT.  No more pitfalls on a winding and bumpy road.  Wow.  A straight path.  A path that I can follow.  A path that won't lend itself to pitfall-induced sprained ankles and bruises. 

After yesterday's interview, we were pretty much set up for the fact that the kids wouldn't get in.  The me before I prepared my heart with prayer would have been heartsick.  The me now is at peace.  I still hope my children have the opportunity to attend this school.  I think that the academics partnered with the focus on Christ is nearly impossible to find these days and I would love for my kids to experience that.  But I don't know what the Lord has in store for them.  Only that He has a plan.  And maybe this is the plan and maybe it isn't.  As I wait to hear the news, I will remind myself daily to trust the Lord instead of myself, and maybe the first pitfall that new strategy will help me avoid will be the pitfall of anxiety.

Wordless Wednesdays

Adrift.........

I love Christmas.  Truly, it is the most wonderful time of the year.  And now with kids I'm going to get to experience it on an entirely new level. 

With that said, I've been a bit adrift the past week or so.  I really don't have anything new to write which is why I've been a little flaky on my blog.  I feel a little muddled.  I know part of it is that the kids have been so sick and that just sucks all your time.  Plus I've been slow at work which leaves me feeling a bit directionless.  I can't even really motivate myself to use that time to knock off items from my ever growing to do list.  I finished decorating the house last night, the kids "helped" decorate the tree Sunday, and I even went to a cookie baking party over the weekend, but alas, I still have lackluster spirits. 

I think some of this out-of-sortsness comes from the fact that I have a vision for what I think God wants me to do but it's just me imposing my view OVER His.  I read two devotionals yesterday that basically said that we should stop trying to manipulate a situation to make it BE God's answer or timing.  Lysa Terkeurst wrote a whole article about it which said, "I know how to strategize to make my plan seem like a great plan...what if I use these skills and talents outside God’s will? To push past God’s timing, God’s direction, God’s plan to teach me stuff in the process...It’s great to strategize and have a plan. But it’s not great if that plan stretches me so I seek “more” rather than truly seeking God."  (Click here to read the whole post.)

SOOOO, I am turning it around today.  I'm going to rest in where I am now, without being lazy, and be thankful every moment for where God has placed me today!  Plus, I've seen too much around me this week to feel anything other than over the moon at how unfathomably fortunate I am this beautiful Christmas season.  I just saw pictures of a precious baby girl who was born six weeks early because her mother had an aneurysm and had to be rushed into brain surgery and the baby delivered.  Mom and baby girl survived and have a positive, miraculous, prognosis, but they're rehab-ing with her parents and are fundraising to pay medical bills.  My friend with young children is rushing between her very busy job and her father who is in the hospital - I can only imagine that she would kill for a little of my downtime.  I have friends trying to balance the joy of the holiday with the emptiness of this being their first Christmas without a loved one.

Today God has given me an amazing time and space to celebrate this miraculous season with my handsome husband and delightful kiddos, so I will move my focus to that and to Him and refuse to be adrift. 

Luke 1 - In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.  The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

Hand, Foot and What!?!?!?

We have hand foot and mouth disease.  I use "we" loosely mind you, I technically don't have it, but I'm living with it.  Turns out, it's not a British cow disease, but rather a fairly common toddler disease that looks like the plague.  The eldest has it the worst.  The other two are getting it.  It has been ONE of those weeks. 

We had almost TWO full weeks of three well toddlers.  That occurred over Thanksgiving as well, which nearly never happens as their bodies sense when events are planned and explode with illness.  However, between a very big family Thanksgiving and a two year old birthday party to attend, I KNEW someone would get something.  I just didn't know everyone would get multiple things.........agh.

The doctor's visit for my eldest on Monday gave a relatively serious prognosis - he'd contracted something akin to the little lady's nastiness a few weeks back and was put on kiddie z-pac and a breathing treatment.  He'd had a scary high fever and I was hoping this would do the trick.  By Tuesday, the baby had it.  High fevers included.  So he went on z-pac and breathing treatments.  We have to be particularly careful with him because of his asthma.  By Thursday, darling girl started running a fever.  But when we got her into the doctor (Bray and my nanny were gone so I panicked about taking 3 two year olds to the doctor alone), the doctor was more concerned by the eldest's fairly horrific rash.  Turns out, it's hand foot and mouth disease and it's going around.  While apparently it's relatively harmless, it does result in fevers, painful rashes (around the, yep you guessed it, hands feet and mouth) and sore throats.  Plus, it's highly contagious. 

So today we're on lock down in our house and backyard.  The inside of my sweet boy's mouth is covered in sores and the doctor said he even has them on his throat.  She thinks the little lady's fever is just that she's catching the lovely HFAM and we'll see break outs soon.  We're already seeing them on the baby boy.  His hands and calves have these little red dots. 

But the poor poor eldest definitely has it the worst.  Here is is showing me his boo-boos.........say a little prayer for my darling boy: