The Gunk Inside of the Pumpkin

Our sermon Sunday was like an arrow into my heart. And it pierced deep and reminded me that I am a sinner. It was about unclenching your fists on what your holding on to so tight and give it freely as an offering to Christ. Because he opened not only his hands but his arms and let go not of time or money but his life. To save me. The things I need to let go of is my "self". MYSELF. Just get up, do it, get it done. Cross things off the list. Without excuses. Be the person God made me to be.


We were carving our pumpkins this week and thought about how this is what I want God to do to me. Hollow me out. Scoop out the gunk. Toss it out. Punch some holes in me to show I am not perfect(as if there were people who would think I was!) and put His light in me so it shines out to others.


Then I started to think about what is my gunk. My gunkiest gunk that is stinky and sticky. What do I need to get rid of? What do I need to confess? One thing is jealousy. I am a jealous person. I am jealous of moms who get to stay home. I am jealous of women who are good at their job. I am jealous of my sisters. I am jealous of people who have a fitness routine. I am jealous of people who cook dinner for their family every night. I am jealous of people who belong to Bible Studies. I am jealous of pregnant women. I am jealous of women who have style. I am jealous of my friends friends, who get to spend time with my friends when I don't. I am jealous of people with lots of comments on their blog posts. Satan uses jealousy to create dissatisfaction with my life. I am blessed beyond what I deserve. Why do I feel like I deserve to have things? Why do I get jealous over things I have control over? Because I am a sinner and I need God. I NEED GOD. And He knows that. And he loves me. Even gunky, stinky, and sticky.


With God's help I can open my clenched fists and open more of my life to God and stop watching life go by and feeling sorry for myself because I can't keep up. Just run.


Here are some pictures of our pumpkin carving and painting!

The Pumpkin Patch

Saturday we took Noah to the Pumpkin Patch at Old Baker Farm. It was also their festival weekend so there were a lot of people and a lot going on. It was a good thing we took Nana and Mimi. It took four adults to keep up with Little Man. We had a fun day and enjoyed being together. I think we were all tired afterwards but it was well worth the fun we had. Some of the highlights were Noah yelling at the goat, attempting to take a family photo, Noah's face when he saw all the pumpkins, the yummy food, climbing haystack, being with our moms and Noah riding toy tractors. Mimi took bunches of pictures. Here are some of my favorites: Some of the important things I will take away from the day are:
- two year olds and photo shoots don't go together
- cows are better far away from their patties
-not everyone agrees with my philosophy that you can never have enough pumpkins
-Noah must now have a tractor for birthday/Christmas as he has not stopped talking about it
-memories are more important than naps
-it takes a village
-I have really gained some weight in the past few months and triple chins do not make cute pictures, I will be working on that pronto!
- Pumpkins are best when they are shared and carried by your husband

Until next year pumpkin patch.....

The Hero and His Sweetness

Noah's costume has been decided....

Isn't he a cute super hero?? Right now he isn't so sure about his cape. We are reading some cute Halloween Books about costumes and super heroes. I hope it grows on him.

Tonight we had a sweet time in the rocking chair. We said prayers and he thanked God for Emy and baby. And giraffes. And Spots. And mommy. Aand many others.

After prayers, I asked Noah who loves him..."Daddy. Charlie".

I asked him if mommy loved him.."yes".

I asked him how mommy could show him. Kisses? "Yes!"

"What else?" I asked.

"Rock me."

Isn't that the sweetest???

Noah had his yellow truck and his Auburn truck. He was running them up and down my arms. He said, "Down the street truck. Look, two trucks."

He really is turning into a little person. And I love him.

The Day that Wouldn't End

This is a typical mid week day of the work week of a teacher with an almost two year old. Be careful or reading it may make you just as tired as I am now. Or you might find parts of it as humorous as Mimi did.

5:15 AM - My alarm goes off in plenty of time for a cardio workout and devotional. I hit snooze.

5:25 AM-My alarm goes off again. I turn it off. In my head I am justifying why I am not getting up to workout for the millionth day in a row.

5:50 AM I get up and get in the shower. I am taking Noah to school today because Adam is about to leave to cover a story in Anniston. I get ready in a hurry.

6:25AM- I get Noah up and dressed. Jeans, Spider Applique Shirt, and shoes. Where is is jacket?? I guess his winter coat will do this morning. Time for breakfast that sweet Adam made the night before. I pack my lunch and load all our stuff in the car.

6:50 AM- Noah is still eating breakfast. I pry him away and pack the leftovers for him to eat at school.

7 AM - I am prying myself away from Noah at school. Brooke was there to greet him. He barely noticed me leave. I hate to go. I am thankful again that Adam usually takes him.

7:30 AM- Detention starts. I scramble to get the classroom ready for kids. Get the computer up and running. Warm up my hot tea. Pray over the day.

9 AM- I am trying to determine if that bottle one of my students is sipping on is really juice or something else.

11AM- Twenty five minutes left in my prep period. Quizzes made, two sets of papers graded, parents emailed, class blogs updated, six weeks test study guides made and copied. Panic starts to set in. Third period is coming.

12:15 PM- I get a Facebook status update from one of Noah's teachers. It has been a long morning. I start to worry as to what that means.

12:30 PM- Lunch is five minutes away. I have moved four kids into new seats, assigned three detentions, stopped two kids from launching rubber bands at each other, and stopped a spitball war. (Yes I do teach high school kids).

1:37 PM- Third period walks out. Shoo.

3:17 PM - Bell rings in three minutes. Making a list for the grocery store and Barnes and Noble.

4:10 PM- At Barnes and Noble. Picked up the present and now frantically trying to find the Max and Ruby Halloween Book for Noah.

4:35 PM- Back in the car. Not enough time to go to the grocery store without Noah. Fun...

5:01 PM- I am struggling to get Noah, his overflowing backpack, lunchbox, napmat, artwork, winter coat, and the lost blue jacket into the backseat. He breaks away. Into the road. I drop the stuff in the road.

5:15 PM- Noah, Max and Ruby Book, Auburn Truck, and Spots are all in the car buggy at Winn Dixie. I turned to look for lemon pepper (to make Megan's new dish she shared). I turn back to throw it in the cart and surprise! Half our items are in the aisle. On the floor. And Noah is grinning ear to ear. "On the floor!" Yes it is on the floor.

5:35 PM -We are checking out. Somehow a Pineapple Upside Down Cake Mix got in our buggy. The book, Spots, and the truck are on the conveyor belt as well.

5:45 PM- B and Ms. J meet us in the garage. I unload groceries and start dinner while B and Noah play. Noah and B share dinner and I stuff my face with Macaroni and a hot dog. Healthy.

6:25 PM- Noah and B decide to play outside. This consists of running around the block. Chasing eachother. Noah would catch B and give her a big hug. And then she would say, "Noah got me". Then they would hold hands. Adorable. Until we got to this. Just your average neighborhood sink hole. I picked Noah up and bit me. He got a spanking. Then he wanted to kiss my boo boo.

7:15 PM We are in the bathroom getting ready for a bath. Noah decides he needs to potty. Fully clothed. While drinking juice. I think that defeats the purpose. Then somehow the juice ends up in the big potty. "Oh No!"

7:30 PM- Bathtime is over. I am on the phone with PaPa. Noah is covered in hives.

7:45 PM- Adam walks in the door from an equally long day. He takes over storytime. I kiss them both goodnight. And hank God yet again for my husband!

8:10 PM - I am in the bubble bath with a glass of wine. Praying for the next day. Forgetting about the laundry and housework. Maybe tomorrow!

I love the stage Noah is at. He may absolutely wear me out. But he is also adorable, funny and sweet. I think I know why people start coffee habits.

The Twenty Three Months

We are one month from Noah's second birthday. Unbelievable. Just in one month Noah's words have quadrupled. He is truly growing into a little person and moving away from that little baby. I am excited about his birthday. I am not nearly as emotional as I was before his first birthday. Last year's party was all about animals. This year it will be things that go! Esp. trucks, cars, trains, and planes! Noah's favorite things. Maybe Adam will wear his Auburn sweatshirt ;) In honor of Noah's 23 months I will make a list of 23 things Noah loves right now:

1.Charlie kisses (he begs for them)

2.Choo Choos

3. Diego

4. Ar Bars (Cearel Bars)

5. Brooke

6.pumpkins

7. putting things in his backback

8. trucks

9. his Bible

10. Jesus

11. cheese

12. playground

13. outside

14. Miss Jennifer's car

15. running around the block

16. Brooke's plastic red shovel

17. sitting on the couch

18. his parking garage and cars

19. lions on the computer

20. milk in his Deigo cup

21. juice

22. calling people on his phones

23. talking non stop (wonder where he gets that?)

The Pumpkins With the Pumpkins

Just a few shots of the afternoon with Brooke. They enjoyed the wonderful cool weather and the front porch pumpkins. A sweet start to the weekend.

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The Prayers

Every night in our rocking chair Noah and I read stories and the Bible and we say our prayers. I lead our prayers by thanking God for our day, family and friends and then praying for specific needs for each of them. I close with the Toe to Head Prayer and praying for our little family. This week I started getting Noah to say , "Thank you God." And then I ask him who we should thank God for. After a week of working on it tonight's prayer was pretty sweet. "Thank you God. Charlie. Daddy. Mimi. Papa. Nana. Trucks. " It was a unprompted pretty sweet list. I am sure it will grow over time. But its a great place for my little man's prayers to begin!

The Storybook Bible

I am very hesitant to post this. Because if you are currently pregnant (esp. with a nephew or neice of mine, that would be you... Emily, Robin, and Jenny) we will probably be giving you this book as a present. It is so precious. It is the The Jesus Storybook Bible Every Story Whispers His Name By Sally Lloyd-Jones. The stories are sweet and they all point back to God's love for his people and our rescue through Christ. The pictures are beautiful. Noah adores it. He carries around his Bible begging to be read to from it. He loves to look at at Jesus. We can't wait to share it with other precious children! So resist the urge to run out and buy it(Emily, Robin, and Jenny).

The reason I am ruining the suprise is tonight's story. I have cried over many of the sweet stories but tonight's was especially meaningful. I had to share some parts of it.Tonight's story was based on Matthew 6 and 9 and Luke 12. It was entitled "The Singer". It discussed worry and how Jesus told the people that God does not want us to worry because he provides in abundance for the birds and flowers and we are far more important than birds and flowers. (Why is this such a hard lesson to learn???) Here is the unique twist on the story that got to me tonight,

" Jesus knew that God would always love and watch over the world he had made an everything in it- birds, flowers, trees, animals and everything! And, most of all, His Children! Even though the people had forgotten, the birds and the flowers hadn't forgotten- they still know their song. It was the song all God's creation had sung to hin from the very beginning. It was the song the people's hearts were made to sing: 'God made us. He loves us. He is very pleased with us.' It was why Jesus had come into the world: to sing them that wonderful song; to sing it not only with his voice but with his whole life-so that God's children could remember it and join in and sing it too."

Are you singing your Love Song to God? Are you singing God's Love Song to the world??

And all this from a sweet children's storybook Bible.

The Good Man in Training

I married a good man. Adam is the most involved father and husband I know. He pulls his weight and mine. I love the model he is for Noah. Just look how helpful Noah has become under his guidance!

He helps with the shopping!

And takes out the trash!

What a good little man in training!