Snow Day!

Technically it was an ice day. Regardless of the name we had no school.  Woo hoo!

 Mommy doesn't do cold.  Mommy does snuggling under a warm blanket, hot chocolate, game-playing and movie-watching, but Mommy doesn't do cold.  

Thankfully Daddy does.

I always love an unexpected day home with my people.

My Brother

Today is my brother's 47th birthday. Instead of wishing him happy birthday, I'm gonna do the next best thing I can do and pay tribute to him.  I want to share a few things I have learned throughout the years from my big brother.

He taught me to be a tom boy. We played with Matchbox cars all the time. We would make race tracks in the dirt for our cars with little hills to jump. We always played with those plastic horses, too. That is until I would lean too hard on a horse and break its leg. Then he got angry with me and we would have to stop playing for the day.  I tried to play Lincoln Logs with him and build erector buildings with him, too, but I wasn't too good at either of those. We used to shoot his BB guns, but I guess I wasn't too good at that either since I shot him in the leg once. That's when he taught me that Mom didn't  need to know everything we did.

He taught me not only to take care of my parents, but to be there and have it done before they even know they need it.

He taught me to make my no be a no and my yes be a yes.  Steve knew what he wanted and what he didn't want and that was it.  Period.  There was no wishy-washy and no guessing on what he wanted. When his mind was made up that was it and you knew it.

He taught me to pursue my dreams. Find something I like and make it happen. Steel Kreations was his hobby he turned into a business. And that boy was talented. If someone wanted a design, he made it happen, and it happened with excellence.

He taught me to think about what others were thinking.  Let me clarify, not to think about what others think of  you. He couldn't have given a rat's a** about what others thought about him. And that's a good lesson as well.  But what I mean is that he was constantly thinking of others' needs and wants.  He did more than just think of them; he acted on it. He gave the most thoughtful gifts, and he helped others whenever or however they needed it, without any thought of getting something in return.

He taught me do the things you love with the people you love.

He taught me to take time to do the little things to show my family how much I love them.

I wish he would have taught me to be a better cook.  Man, he could smoke a mean meat, can some tasty cinnamon pickles, and whip up some fantastic pies.

My husband wishes he would have taught me his organizational skills. He has a million tools in his shop, each one has its own little home, and it stays there. One could not merely sneak in and out of his shop because he would know you were there every time.

There is such a hole in our hearts. It will never be filled again. It hurts.

God did not make this happen, but He will help us get through it. He tells us we will share abundantly in Christ's sufferings and through Christ we will share abundantly in comfort too. 2 Cor 1:5  Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Matt. 5:4  And Psalm 30:5b tells us weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.

God promises to comfort us who are left here on earth without Steve. But He assures us even better things for Steve and all those we have lost. 1 John 2:25 This is the promise he made to us--eternal life.

Our God is a god of love. We know he gave his only son so that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
2 Cor. 4:18

For the rest of our lives in this world, we will miss you so much, Steve.  But I trust in the Lord that I will see you again.

Eli's Born Again Birthday!

For it is by grace  you have been saved, through faith--and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast.

Ephesians 2:8-9

This precious boy is saved!

Tonight Lijee asked Jesus to be his savior.  

I know he's barely 4 years old and he doesn't totally understand.  But for now his little bitty four-year-old heart is filled with Jesus. 

Can I get an amen!

I also know when asked of his salvation story he will not be able to remember this exact moment, whilst getting ready for bed with his Mommy and the bigs. But what an awesome thing to not be able to remember a time in your life when you did not personally know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.

A shout out to Daisy for faithfully praying for this moment, as well as planting the seeds.  Eli told me he already asked Jesus into his heart once with Daisy.  >3

Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

Hebrews 7:25

Laughing Horses

Elijah and I fulfilled our duty as  good Fort Worthians by attending the annual Stock Show and Rodeo last week.  Sadly enough, that particular day they were in-between  livestock so there weren't a lot of farm animals there.  We did, however, see some chickens.  For a brief moment I actually missed Harold, who laid an egg a day, and Zues, who would jump up to eat dog food dangled from my fingers.

Then I wanted a horse as we walked through the equestrian building.  I would not, however, want to do calf roping.  I feel sorry for those little guys when they get their necks yanked so hard they fall down and then rough-housed when their legs get all tied up.  Bless their little hearts.

My country roots were coming out apparently, because along with the chicken and horse I really wanted an alpaca after the petting zoo.

Pardon the fingers…Lijee needs some work on his photography skills.

We played on lots of tractors,

including a cabbed one that had a special little seat so we both could sit in it.  I sang "Thank God I'm A Country Boy" while driving us around and dumping loads of dirt from the bucket on things for a good 10 minutes.

We also spent time playing in animal cages,

as well as running through worms.

 As we were leaving we walked past a horse that did a half-neigh.  Eli said he wasn't sure if that horse was neighing or laughing.

I Ain't 'Lion'--Our Lijee Turned 4!

When The Birthday Boy picked a lion party for his birthday, I started planning all things lion. He then decided he wanted to go somewhere instead of have a party at home. After weighing several options he decided upon Build-A-Bear. Not much to do with lions, but Build-A-Bear it was. I could do cute lion invitations, paper goods, cake, maybe he could even build a cute lion instead of a bear…it would still be a cute lion party.

Lijee wanted M&M cookies, so I tested my skills with an M&M lion cookie cake on his actual birthday, assuming it would be cute and I would do it again for the party.  Umm, no.

We looked around, but unless I wanted to spend as much money on the cake as the party itself, I could not find a lion cake. We saw a turtle cake and he wanted that for a hot minute, but I talked him off that ledge. I hate to be type A, but I couldn't throw a turtle into a lion party at Build-A-Bear. He picked some very plain cupcakes with white icing and a few party sprinkles. Not as cute as I had in mind, but it beat a turtle.

It all came together and not one child had a second thought to the lion theme, or lack there of.

Oh, to make me feel better and stay with the theme I painted a lion face on him that he loved.  He ran around growling at all of us when he saw it in the mirror.

The Birthday Boy

Here's the flat bear.

 Rubbing the bears' hearts before they stuffed them in. On their backs because it always has your back, your legs because it always plays with you, your heart because it always loves you.

 Decorating bear boxes to take them home.

 Eli's watching the stuffing as it goes in.

 Aw, Fluffy!

 Bathing the bears.

 Fluffy all stuffed, bathed and dressed.

 As The Birthday Boy, Eli got to ring the bell.

 Lijee was in charge of the guest list.  He invited his best friend from church and his best bud from the gym.

 Here is the plain white birthday cupcake.  Here he looks as excited about plain white cupcakes as I was.

 We love you, Lijee!

 And Fluffy The Bear is safely heading home in his box.