"Halloween has come and gone"-- Charlie Brown
And considering its now November 8th, we have a LOT to catch up on!
This Halloween was probably the busiest Halloween ever!
I guess that happens once you have kids huh?
...and it doesnt slow down from here....
We jumped from a squadron halloween party to a base wide halloween event (indoor trick or treating) to our own little halloween celebration at home!
PHEW!
And yet, Elyse was still moving around like a crazy girl!
Here was a picture of a birthday dinner celebrating with a friend-- We ordered a sushi boat... and our sushi came in a BOAT!
They weren't kidding when they sushi boat!
I had no idea....
Man, I missing out!
It's crazy to realize our little mover has gotten so big... unbelievable...
I think she is surprises hersef as she does new things and does them properly, always getting smothered with praises... or gets herself into trouble.
And that is where the monster comes in.
Yes. There is a monster in this posting.
(I know it's November, but humor me here!)
And don't worry:
The king has conquered even this beast.
As Andrew and I have been doing a parenting study with our bible study lately, God has been kind to reveal my own heart to me.
And wow. Its gross.
It isn't just the little pesky sins that people sweep under the rug or try not to let bring them down.
It is anger. Yes, anger.... deep in my heart.
Deep anger runs out of the heart and into hands that want to solve problems with pure force.
Towards my family, towards my pet.
Towards loved ones.
Harmful and hateful force.
A force that, after realizing and restraining, has brought me to my knees in shame and guilt at the mere thought of using force.
Sometimes, the force came in jerks or forceful grabs when rules were being broken or a life was in danger of peril or harm.
Sometimes it came in yells or very unloving ignoring when my little needed attention.
Yet, even as the enemy planned this awful temper and anger to condemn me, God was planning good to come from it.
Good to come from this horrible probem.
"..if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and wil forgive their sins and heal their land."--2 Chron 7:14
What an amazing God we serve.
He not only wants to forgive us.
He wants to heal us.
He wants to change us.
He wants to make our hearts anew...
Make them beautiful.
Speaking of beauty, check out these beautiful snowflakes he lead us to on our walk:
There is such detail to these little lovelies, it amazes me!
She's obviously a natural ;)
On to some Halloween show-n-tell:
Pumpkin carving!
Andrew's is on the left, and mine is on the right.
I like his better
(to make it better, there was a squirrel on the other side-- Rocky and Bullwinkle style !--Thought I got a picture of it, but guess I forgot to)
Our Halloween tradition: treat bags, powdered donuts (baby had the unpowdered version), and apple cider... yum!
And check out this candy we heard featured on Fox News and Parenting magazine:
Unreal: Candy Unjunked.
We got it at Target.
It tastes just like the real deal... except its better for you than the real deal!
Yum!!
Oh, and while Andrew was gone on his trip to California we went to Walmart and bought a sled!
Elyse LOVES her sled!
...And Eli just loves everything about winter.
Just up until recently, I have started running in the snow again.
Here is how you do it:
Step 1: You need Yak Traks (I think that's how you spell it). No slipping!
Especially if you are pushing a baby :/
Step 2: Make you child into the Christmas Story child... you know, has so many layers that he/she can hardly move? Yup. That's what I mean.
Step 3: Do your thing: RUN! Try to enjoy it, but just do it fast enough where your dog and your baby don't turn into a block of ice! YIKES!
Anyways, Elyse was rewarded for her patience with my insanity with her own little kitchen set ;)
Ok, so I really made it for her toys to find another home besides my kitchen floor!
And so far, it is working....!
We will see for how long...
It was made completely out of foam, felt and cardboard, and some left over paint from other projects. Best part: it took one day.
Yes, that doesn't give me any hope to keeping it longer than a year, but at least we will have some fun with it while we can.
Yes, that doesn't give me any hope to keeping it longer than a year, but at least we will have some fun with it while we can.
Too much fun!
The litte red and white flags were made by a girl in Andrew's squadron.
But isn't this awesome??
We just keep it in the garage now for winter play.
Remember how I told you Andrew went to Cali for a few days??
Well, here is the contrast from his world and mine....
And at the same moment I received the picture, guess who decided to dump a whole thing of sugar over her head?
Yup.
Little miss mess hersef.
...Oh, how California sounded so good.
But I also had to turn off the phone before I really let bitterness take root! Haha!
So we did. We played with flour and the popcorn mix I made for our trip to Cali...
Did I mention we had been trying all week/weekend long for a flight to meet my friend in Cali and Andrew?
One of the reasons we have not had a typical weekly posting was because I was continually preparing for this trip.
Well, to say the least, it didn't work out.
My friend got sick and Andrew was super super busy.
So we stayed here.
No big.
Elyse and I ended up getting sick anyways! Haha!
But our sweetheart never fails to think about us, even many miles away!
He brought this back from Downtown Disney.
And I couldn't WAIT to put it on her!
The morning Andrew came back, this is what I woke up to.
Elyse was champing it up with her spoon!
Ok, back to the Minnie outfit ;)
(hehe! Can you tell I am a total mouse geek??)
As soon as I could wash that little outfit of hers, I did.
We both put on our Mickey mouse apparel and had a Mouse party!
She gave me some model shots too...
Haha!
This past weekend, my friend threw a Pinterest craft party! It was a blast.
I decided to work on something I had been eyeing for a while (and Andrew had been requesting):
A growth chart.
(the unfinished one on the left is mine, the one on the right is a friend of mine's! Love hers!)
I hope it turns out the way I had hoped. It just needs a sanding and stain now.
Anyways, back to other happenings...
Food poisoning.
Yes, bad enough for the hospital food poisoning.
The only ones that didn't get sick was Elyse and Eli.
Praise God!
It all started on Election night and lasted until today.
I'll spare you the gory details, but let's just say it was not anything I wish for people to go through.
Ever.
Andrew also went to the hospital too, but he ended up being more functional than I.
I'm so thankful too because SOMEONE had to take care of Elyse!
I have never been so nervous about who was going to help us if something happened to both of us!
But God is kind.
So kind to give us a small group who is always reaching out to care for us;
family that prays for us and calls to makes sure we are doing ok;
friends and neighbors that will leave the comfort of their homes to get groceries for us, offer to care for Elyse;
we are so blessed.
And through knocking me out, God also gave me time to think about the life that he calls us to.
One that looks so much different from the world, one that raises a new life for us to follow.
One that tells monsters their time is over,
telling them to leave for good so the Spirit can sweep it out and fill it with good!
What answered prayer for me!
A desperate prayer was answered in an unpleasant way, but it was the only way I wasn't going anywhere, and God could have me still, hear him out, and healing could come upon this land.... my land.
Even through this bad, God brought much good.
And I am thankful.
Goodbye monsters in October. In my past.
Hello days of thanks, headed my way....
Thanks for reminding us that we all have monsters in our lives...but we serve a God that is SO much GREATER!!
ReplyDeleteI love you, miss you...want to come visit ;/ SO glad you are recovered from the food poisoning. I'm praying for you...
Mom