More Brave

My Mom asked if Haley would be interested in singing her song, "Dear Jesus, it's your Birthday" (see link to the right) for the Christmas Eve Church service in Guymon. I thought it was highly unlikely considering she cried at the school Christmas program. However, we got her a little play microphone and she was singing and dancing like a rock star all day Christmas Eve. We went up to the church for a trial run that morning and it was terrible. She wouldn't even hardly stand on the stage. Oh well. It was worth a shot.

That evening, there were a few other children sharing a song or piano piece and it came time for Haley to go up and she insisted that she was ready to sing. I was skeptical as we ascending the stairs on the stage. I went with her holding her hand and sitting beside her as she stood on the top step. I started to sing and she just looked at me. I whispered, "If you don't want to sing, it is ok we will just go sit down." Well, she wasn't going to sit. She was going to sing. She grabbed the mic (which unfortunately wasn't working) and sang her sweet little song about Jesus' Birthday.

As we were driving home I asked her how she found the courage to go up on stage in front of everyone and sing and she said without hesitating, "God sent me more brave...a NEW brave!"

Isn't that what we all need sometimes, a little more brave. More brave to love others, more brave to step out and share our lives with those in need, more brave to follow God's will or more brave to just be who God created us to be.

That's my prayer for the New Year... that God would give me a New brave like He did for Haley to step out and be radical for Him!

(The picture is Haley after the service at home leaving a cookie out for Santa with a note she wrote herself: That night she prayed, "Thank you God for this wonderful day and thank you for the birth of Jesus at Christmas. AND, please help Santa have a safe trip as he delivers all the presents. Amen.")

Santa on his way

Tonight as Haley prayed, she finished by saying, "And dear Lord, please don't let any presents fall out of Santa's sleigh on his way to Oklahoma!" She said it with complete reverence and sincerity. So sweet. The beauty of belief!

Not too late for leaves

I know, it looks like it is just now fall in Texas. Here we are in December taking leaf pictures but it just takes a while for them to fall off the trees in Texas. The kids were having so much fun playing in the leaves we didn't have the heart to tell them all it was really naptime. Who needs sleep when you have fun friends!

Little Helper

Evan LOVES tools and loves to help his daddy with any project. Sometimes, it is just too dangerous or too difficult a task to let Evan help. Yesterday, Jed was working on the installation of our new flat screen tv when Evan started whining for Jed to pick him up so he could see what Jed was doing above the mantel. (When we moved into the house the only request Jed made was that he could have a flat screen tv above the fireplace. In exchange I got to pick out the house we purchased so it turned out to be a good deal. Unfortunately for him, we put a dollar amount limit on how much we could spend on the tv and put the money in savings and he waited a year for the tv he wanted to drop in price enough to fit the budget.)

So, Evan started to get really frustrated because I was cooking dinner and Jed wouldn't hold him up to watch the tv installation and he headed out the room whining. The next thing I know, Evan is dragging the stepstool from Haley's bedroom through the kitchen. I just laughed and shook my head thinking why is he dragging that thing through the house. Weird. I just went on cooking. Then, I looked up and he had drug it all the way over into the family room and sat it down on the floor next to Jed and hopped up on it as if it would make him tall enough to help his daddy. It was sooooo precious!!! What a little problem solver. It is so sweet to see him trying to be involved with his dad's work. Dad loves it too!

Oh, and here is a picture of the tv installed. Our sweet engineer neighbor, Josh, spent 3 hours helping Jed hang it. We just have wires to deal with and then we are ready to host some football bowl game parties!

Dress Up Girls

Are you seeing double? Maybe. These sweet Cinderellas are playing, baking and having a great morning together!

Christmas Dress

I couldn't resist posting this sweet little Christmas dress photo. Haley wore it to the Church Lessons and Carols program and managed to sit QUIETLY through an hour and a half program of songs. WOW!

The Boys

Despite his runny nose and cough, Evan enjoyed the Christmas program on Dad's lap. I tell you what, they are two peas in a pod. Well, except for the crazy loud talking and screaming Evan insists on pursuing every day.

Santa

We finally went to visit Santa at the mall today. Haley was so excited. I asked Evan if he wanted to see Santa and he said, "no". So, Haley sat on Santa's lap alone this year. She didn't mind at all. She hopped right up in his lap and he told her he could tell she was a very sweet and very good little girl. Thankfully for me, when he asked her what she wanted for Christmas she said, "a magic wand". She has been keeping this long list for months with all these big gifts like a bicycle, dolls, etc and all she could come up with was magic wand. You never know what she'll say these days but I think we are off the hook for anything fancy and big this Christmas.

Since Evan is a little scared of Santa, he did enjoy the Polar Express exhibit that they had at the mall. He was climbing all over the display and I had to strap him into his stroller screaming to get him to leave things alone.

Pitiful Christmas Program

The program at Haley's Preschool was actually precious. It was only our sick little Haley that was quite pitiful. On Tuesday I picked Haley up from school and they told me it would be a minute before they brought her to the car because she was throwing up in the hall. Nice.

My mom was in town to see her school program on Thursday so we had a little more than 36 hours to try to get her in ship shape. No such luck. We spent a good 36 hours still getting sick and only a few hours the day of the program under our belts with her well. She wanted to try to attend the program so we went. She even said she felt up to walking up with her class to the stage to sing. Not so good. The poor girl had been in bed for 2 days straight and only eaten a minimal amount of food in the last 48 hours. By the end of the song her eyes welled up with tears and the teacher had to lift her off the risers and carry her out. Oh well. At least we got it out of our system before the holiday.

Taking care of sick kids has to be the hardest part of having young kids that I couldn't imagine until it happened to me. It has been a long fall of illness at our house and I am really looking forward to some snot free, cough free, tummy bug free days!

Flower Girl

Today Haley was the flower girl for our dear friends Clint and Kim's wedding. It was precious! She threw petals happily down the long aisle at Christ Church. It helped to have Mom, Dad and G-Daddy standing at the alter rail encouraging her as she walked. She was really sweet and I was so thrilled that even during nap time she was able to hold it together and walk down the aisle with a happy face. YEAH! And, it was amazing to be a part of such a wonderful union between two sweet friends. Clint is finally married and has a beautiful wife and precious new 4 year old son. Praise the Lord:)

Christmas PJs

Nothing cuter than Christmas pj's. I love the kids' matching jammies this year with sweet little snowflakes. Luckily for them they don't make a ton of matching brother sister outfits or I might not be able to resist!