It's Christmas time and the livin' is easy!

Wow - what a Christmas!  Opening gifts with a two year old and a 10 month old was a lot of fun, and it was a lot of work! It started on Christmas Eve at Scott's parents' house with a yummy dinner and lots of fun. There are now 10 cousins 11-years and younger. We all bring presents for the kiddos to open and it's a hoot!

Christmas morning was spent at our house. My mom was in town to enjoy Christmas morning with us. Both babies woke up around 7 a.m. It takes Ella Beth a while to wake up in the morning, so if you can believe it...she wanted to eat breakfast BEFORE opening her presents! Silly girl!

Ella Beth got a Dance Cam and it is loads of fun! It hooks up to a TV and Ella Beth is on the screen dancing. She just giggles and giggles - it's fun to watch! She got a HUGE chair that she loves to sit in. Her favorite gift was her American Girl Bitty Baby. We went through a list of names before Ella Beth settled on Laney.  (Laney was the name we had picked out if Landon had been a girl, so it's fun hearing that name in our house!) Ella Beth also got clothes, a high chair, bibs, and burp cloths to go with Laney. That doll hasn't left Ella Beth's side since she unwrapped it!

(Ella Beth got a book from her Waumba Land teacher, Ms. Tracey. Look how big her new chair is! Mommy likes to sit in it, too. :) )

 

(You can see Ella Beth on the TV. She was in new dress-up clothes, and she was dancing non-stop at Nana & Papa's!)

Landon got a chair...well, actually just a blue cover to replace Ella Beth's old pink one. ;) He got lots of toys - all of which make noise and keep him entertained! He got some fun flip books, clothes, jammies, and socks. His favorite present was a set of cars that pull back and then take off. He chases them around the house non-stop.

 

The morning after Christmas we went to Scott's sister Karla's house for breakfast and more presents.

 

 

It was a wonderful Christmas this year. Ella Beth talked about baby Jesus and His birthday every day leading up to Christmas. We sang Happy Birthday to Him, too, which was just too sweet! Christmas was so much fun for Ella Beth. She got into everything! She loved receiving presents, but she also enjoyed giving them, too. She was so proud when her cousins opened up gifts from her. Landon definitely had fun playing with the wrapping paper. He also cut a tooth on Christmas day! He now has two upper teeth and one lower tooth. Since he has taken so long to cut any, they are all coming in pretty fast now. We need to buy stock in Infant Motrin. ;)

I hope y'all had wonderful Christmases, too! I can't wait to see what next year brings!

God's whisper

Something that I have realized about myself is that I expect God to shout, not whisper.  Because of this, I wonder how many times I have missed God's gentle voice.  In 1 Kings, the story of Elijah fleeing because he thought that God would not protect him, has given me pause lately.  I suppose because I am an "immediate gratification" kind of a person, I am often impatient in waiting for answers. 

When God appeared to Elijah while he was in hiding, God simply asked him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"  He was asking him where his faith was; did he not remember how God had always protected him and provided for him in the past?  Andy Stanley says, "Today's worries often overshadow God's past faithfulness."  Very true.

I've been thinking about where I have missed God's whisper.  Landon is just now starting to sleep through the night consistently.  (He will be 10 months old next week.)  I have been in tears countless nights begging God to please help Landon sleep well so that he can be rested, as well as Scott and me.  There have been times when I have been beyond frustrated with God because he didn't answer my prayer by miraculously allowing Landon to fall asleep right then and sleep all night.  (See that immediate gratification glitch I have?)  However, throughout all of the past months, I missed God's whisper. 

Since Landon turned a month old, I honestly can't remember being exhausted during the day. 

Hindsight. 

God's whisper was Him simply giving me the energy, strength, and attitude to survive on minimal sleep for a very long time.

Not to say that I don't crash every night around 8:30, but that's not when my children, my husband, or my job need me.

There are other areas in my life where God has faithfully whispered, but the realization that God truly never lets go makes me want to listen even closer.

Is God whispering something in your ear?  Be still; listen.

Unwelcomed drama

Yesterday afternoon, December 5, 2008, around 4:50 p.m. Ella Beth had an accident.  A severe accident.  She had just tee-teed on the potty.  She was calling me in there so that she could wash her hands.  However, in the 5 seconds that it took me to get there Ella Beth decided to climb on top of the toilet and try to climb over to the bathroom counter.  She didn't make it.  I was there just in time to pick her up immediately, but I couldn't reach her before  Ella Beth landed on our ceramic trash can - which shattered and cut her forehead open. 

Blood galore.  Blood everywhere. 

Scott got Ella Beth and put towels on her head.  I called Scott's parents...this is the exact conversation: "Cleve, I need you to come here NOW.  We have to take Ella Beth to the emergency room.  We are leaving Landon in his crib."  He said, OK, and I hung up.

Now, they got there right before we left so we didn't end up leaving Landon alone...but I think we would have.  I'm talking blood everywhere. 

I had to work on keeping Ella Beth awake on the drive to Scottish Rite, but we arrived within 25 minutes.  They took us promptly back.  Now, she had calmed down pretty well on the ride there, but once she found out that the nurses and doctors were going to have to take off the towels and look at her head, she lost it.  I'm talking screaming uncontrollably!  They took one look and immediately said, "That's going to need stitches."  We figured, but had hoped for a good cleaning and a butterfly.

Once they cleaned it, we could all see bone.  Nice.  They put some numbing cream on her head, and then they gave her a sedative to help relax her a bit.  We had to put her in a straight jacket...literally...and the doctor stitched her up.  4 stitches total.  We were told that she will probably have a scar, but that is fine with us.  We were just so relieved that she didn't end up having a concussion.  Thankfully, the scar is horizontal so one day it will blend in with a wrinkle. ;)  Hopefully, with Mederma and vitamin E, it won't be too noticeable; but like I said, we're thankful for a scar and nothing worse!

Here are a few pictures:

  

Unfortunately, Ella Beth's boo-boo has not slowed her down any which has kept me stressed out and on edge all day.  I have repeatedly freaked out when I could just see another accident waiting to happen.  I'm praying that she makes it through this recovery without re-injuring her head.  We have to go back to Scottish Rite Wed/Thursday for her stitches to be removed.  I honestly don't know if I'll be able to handle that.  You can pray for me, too!

I can feel God moving in me

Today at work I had the most awesome experience.  I was able to worship our Mighty God with my boss, my "big boss," and my co-workers.  We celebrated the wonderful name of Jesus together as we sang worship songs and took communion together during our all-staff meeting.  How amazing it is that I work in a place where the mission is "To lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ."  I truly enjoy working at North Point, but after such an amazing staff meeting today where we celebrated in our almighty Father's name...it makes my "job" so much more fulfilling.  Even though I am a teeny-tiny part, everything everyone does at NP helps lead other people towards our mission.

At our staff meeting today, I stood with my friend Ashly.  I worshiped the Lord with my friend who has undergone a tragedy beyond anything I can imagine.  There were times when I was lost in prayer talking to God about how I don't know how Ashly is standing, let alone here to worship Him.  There is not a day that goes by where I don't think about Ashly and pray for her broken heart.  My heart still aches for the loss of Brooks.  But I am confident our God is a loving God because her tragedy has not broken her spirit.  I lifted my hands as we shouted, "God loves us.  Oh how He loves us."  He truly does.

In church yesterday, Andy said something that I thought was profound.  He said that God often doesn't speak to us unless He knows we are going to obey.  I thought that was absolutely amazing.  How true it is, too, isn't it?  Think about it, when we are at our limit - when we are desperate for an answer - isn't that when we can truly hear God speaking?  We are so willing to obey because we have exhausted all other options.  Wow.  Think about how being an obedient child of God would allow us to hear Him, hear the Holy Spirit's wisdom speaking straight to us, all of the time.  WOW!

I don't know about you, but my prayer for the next week/month/year (however long it takes) is to become a more obedient child of our Heavenly Father because I want to hear from Him.  I want to hear His guidance and His tender words of love and understanding.