Can't Get Enough...

Been walking down memory lane with some video clips lately and came across these gems.  I seriously can't get enough of watching them.  Over and over.  And over.  The cute-odometer is off the charts. I especially like Gavyn's take on the word "Playdoh" in the first video and "Lightning McQueen" in the second.



Could this little boy ever have been that little?

And the Winner Is...

So on New Year's Eve, Kekoa wrote his first letter.  I was not aware it was happening, but he asked Grandma M. for a piece of paper and wrote this to my Mom/his Grandma Barb (with little to no help except to ask Grandma how to spell words and later to have her get out her address book for the envelope):

It reads:

Dear Grandma P...,

I wonder what you been doing so I'm writing this letter so you will write a letter back.  I wish I could call you, but I don't have a phone.  I hope you have the frogs (referencing the favorite basement residents at Grandpa & Grandma's farm).  (Heart), Kekoa

I have absolutely no idea what this drawing is of.  I'll have to ask him.

As an avid letter writer in my youth... I kind of thought for a moment my heart would burst.  And secretly wished he was mailing it to me.

Becca Becca Boo

Grieving today over the news of losing dear Rebecca yesterday.  Five years ago we were celebrating birthday number three with her. Spunky little thing.  Hardly seems possible.  So thankful God holds His children close at times like this.  I never know what to say.  I never know what to do.  Just hoping somehow in my awkward way I can convey that I love deeply and care beyond measure even when I don't understand completely.   Becca Becca Boo, we are so going to miss you!

This beautiful picture is courtesy of Raimie from The Prairie Hen's Nest.  I just captures her "essence".

Jenga Life Lessons

Life isn't always a game, but I suppose we could learn a little about life parallels from Jenga and how we remove things carefully and strategically to keep things from tumbling down.  If things do tumble down, then we laugh and rebuild and start the process all over again?

I am decidedly calmer and happier than I have been for a long time after a few weeks of turmoil.  God has definitely been speaking to me in ways only He can.  I've been listening.  Now to work on the obeying part.

This weekend was one of the better weekends I've had in awhile.  It involved a lot of time with good friends and family.  It involved some "heart" exercises with good, profitable conversation regarding "keeping our souls continually in our hand" (Psalms 119:109) and forgiveness.  I enjoyed the thought that just because we've forgiven someone doesn't mean we have to trust them.

Daddy and Kekoa went to the men's basketball game with some friends, so Gavyn and I had our own little date involving a game of Jenga, a visit to Perfect Games, pizza and hot fudge sundaes at McDonalds.  You can have some pretty awesome conversations with a six year old.  Have I mentioned I love my boys?

Happy Monday, everyone!

January's Change - Letting Go #1

I decided my 2013 New Year's resolution would be to decide on one thing to change every month  and work toward that end.  I finally settled on my first one this morning and it is decidedly about "letting go".

There are a few people I have been holding a grudge against.  More specifically, four that come to my mind immediately.  An outsider looking on might be surprised about who they are.  There are other more likely candidates in my life, who strangely, are not the lucky recipients of said "grudge".  This morning I decided my January is going to be about letting go of these.

Last night, two of these people crossed my path.  Very suddenly and unexpectedly we were face to face with each other and I found myself involuntarily smiling and saying "hi" to them, by name no less, before my brain had time to register who they were.  I think they were as surprised as I was.  So, I want God to change my heart to reflect my involuntary reaction.  And I am going to actively seek out the other two individuals and bare my heart to them and tell them I am wanting to move on.  To put the past in the past and move forward.  No grudges.  No awkward silences in passing and intentionally not looking at each other when we are in proximity.  No pretending that one another do not exist.  No elephants in the room.  No walls.

Whether or not my chagrin has been justified, it is not worth it to carry the weight of silent resentment around.  I've needed to make this change for awhile now.  Why not in January of 2013?

"Let us be the first to give a friendly sign, to nod first, smile first, speak first, and - if such a thing is necessary - forgive first."

Happy "New" Year, everyone!

More Butterflies

Once upon a time, a friend gave me this:

It says, "I am thankful that in God's design He planned it so your path crossed mine."

I don't think I have ever been aware of being so deliberately cut out of a person's life before.  Not by life or distance or lack of time and opportunity, but simply by lack of desire.  To be perfectly honest, a huge blow to the ego.  After all, who wouldn't want to be MY friend? (Please note that, yes, I am indeed poking fun at myself.) Strange creatures we are, aren't we?  It is also a strange thing to sit back and watch it happen.  Ignorance is bliss?  At first it hurts.  A lot.  And there is a certain side of you that makes a desperate mental scramble to devise an action plan for "saving" yourself... to make the cut, if you will.  Then there is anger mixed in with no small amount of wonder about whether or not you were ever an important part of their life at all.  And that whole cycle repeats itself indefinitely until finally... you give it up and you just don't care.  If you are female, the "don't care" ebbs and flows, but will eventually flatten out into a straight unemotional line.  And at last, you just stop trying to save what can not be saved and you sit back and play along and while it's a sad, anticlimatic demise (I'd prefer a knock down drag out fight to pretentious smiles and pretty words ANY day), it is also rather amusing to be experiencing it with the cold detachment of someone watching it all "go down" from the outside.  2013 has most decidedly set itself up to be the year of "letting go".  So here's to being more "wise" about the relationships I invest myself in and trusting that even though I might not see or understand it, God always has a reason for bringing people into our lives. He has a plan.  He always has a plan.  I don't have to understand it.  I just need to make sure I am submitted to Him so I can play the part in it that He wants me to.

Some changes, we don't choose.  But there are changes we can choose.  To that end, I am resolving to try and make one change in my life each month. Afterall.   "Without change, there would be no butterflies."  Here's to "more butterflies" in 2013.