Joel Thorne -- 12 months

/

Joel is 12 months now.

I cannot believe that my baby is one year old.

It is a bittersweet feeling.

We are so thankful that God has blessed us with Joel Thorne

for an entire year.

At the same time, it is the end of an era for us.

It is the end of our time as a family with a baby.

Although we look forward with anticipation

at what God has in store for us,

we look back with tears, knowing that

this time has slipped by.

If you cannot tell, I simply cannot get enough of this little man. 

(hence ALL the pictures of him in basically the same pose!)

Lord Jesus,

You have given us such a gift in Joel Thorne.

We have learned so much through the pregnancy

with him, through the birth and now through his first year.

We look expectantly at what You will teach us

during this next year.

Thank You again, for being the Giver of good gifts.

Amen. 

"I can help you over here, Ma'am."

I am feeling old these days.

It wasn't that long ago that I would hear

"Miss, can I help you?" when I was at Target or Home Depot.

But now, I never hear "Miss."

Instead I hear "Ma'am."

"Right over here, Ma'am."

"Ma'am, is this what you are looking for."

"Glad I could help you, Ma'am."

The word "ma'am" does not sit well with me.

It rings in my ears for minutes after it has been spoken.

It makes me feel old.

Then, I had an appointment to get my eyes checked.

The doctor dilated my eyes and I could not wear

my contacts or my glasses.

I had to go to a waiting area to pick up some new

contacts because my prescription has changed

quite a bit in the past 5 years.

(yes, I have not been to the eye clinic since BEFORE

Samuel was born! Yikes. Needless to say, the

opthamologist was not too pleased with that!

I tried to explain to him that I have been a little preoccupied

with my kids. His response, "Are they graduating yet?"

Ha!)

So, I was in the waiting area which was actually the same

place you choose new frames.

I thought I could look around a bit for some new frames for

my new prescription and I could not see anything!

That really made me feel old.

I mean, I know I need glasses or contacts but I used to be able to

distinguish some things without either.

Not anymore.

And while the older kids have been taking swimming lessons

I have been sitting with Joel on the tiled pool-side floor.

My body has ached each time I get up.

I finally found a mat to sit on in a different area and

was explaining to the other (READ: younger) moms that I was moving to the

mat from now on to sit and I said,

"I'm turning 35 this month and I am really feeling my age lately.

Sitting on this tile floor really hurts my body. I need to

sit on that mat."

They chuckled, I chuckled (nervously) and went to my mat.

Later, in the locker room, one of those moms said to me,

"You are 35? You don't look older than 28."

Another one said,

"My goal is to look like you after I have 3 kids and am 35."

These things have got me thinking quite a bit about aging.

2 Corinthians 4:16

Therefore we do not lose heart, but

though our outer man is decaying, yet

our inner man is being renewed day by day.

I confess, the comments referring to me as "ma'am"

have led me to "lose heart."

 My "outer man" is decaying.  

That is obvious.

And that is natural.

Yet, I praise God that my "inner man"

is being renewed day by day

through His Word invested in my life.

So, the next time you see me, feel free to call me "ma'am."

I am working on trying to get used to that

new greeting.



Samuel -- 3 and 1/2

Katrina -- nearly 6 and 1/2

Joel Thorne -- 11 months

Our little girl is growing up

During June Katrina has successfully attempted some firsts.

She went on her first sleep-over.

She has a new dear friend name Lily and after VBS a few weeks back

Lily invited Katrina over for the night.

Needless to say, Pancho and I had a harder time than Katrina!

We are so used to her flamboyant personality within our home

on a regular basis that she was dearly missed.

The next night we had Lily stay with us.

I thought it would be extra fun to pretend the girls

were staying at Hotel Duran.

I welcomed them inside, showed them to their room

and gave them their key.

The hotel had an outdoor pool which was open during

the afternoon as well as the property's playground.

Later in the afternoon the hotel shuttle

transported the guests to a local bowling alley

where they bowled two games.

After dinner the hotel hosted a craft night

where the guests made tie-dye shirts.

The evening ended with a movie in the hotel theater with popcorn.

In the morning the guests received a continental breakfast

in bed.

It was a great time and I hope created a great memory

in their minds.

Last week Katrina ventured to Camp Forest Springs

for their First Adventure Day Camp.

It was an exciting time for her to be a camper,

even if it was just during the day.

There were four families from our area that planned to drive

daily so we were able to carpool and each of us took one

trip there and one trip home with all four kids and it

worked incredibly well.

I picked the kids up on Wednesday, the second-to-last day of day camp.

The trip home was great!

The kids sang the songs they had been learning.

They all shared a high-light and a low-light

(to be sure, the low-lights were VERY difficult to think of, most were

things like, "I didn't like archery because I did not hit the target even one time.")

They told me about the food and the activities.

3 John 4

I have NO greater joy than to hear of my children walking in the truth.

While Katrina was away I was struck with how little I pray for her

on a daily basis.

What I mean is, when she is with me I do not pray for her like I did

when she was away overnight with Lily or at day camp.

It was like I was having a Katrina-fast.

I praised the Lord for the incredible blessing that Katrina is to me.

I begged the Lord for her safety.

I pleaded with Him for her heart to be bent more and more towards Him.

It was a wonderful time of prayer for her and a

wonderful time of fellowship for me with my God

who has gifted me with Katrina for nearly 6.5 years.

Jesus, thank You for reminding me of the importance

of praying for my children. Thank You for the

opportunity to have a Katrina-fast.

Help me to pray for all three of them even when

they are with me!

Just Living Life

We have been quite preoccupied living life these days.

A while back a friend asked me if we video tape our children a lot.

We really do not.

She said that she tries NOT to so that she can truly enjoy the

moments AS they are taking place, instead of being uptight about

catching everything and every activity on camera and

then TRYING to relive those moments that she really

didn't partake of at the time.

That was an interesting response and one that definitely resonated with me

and where we are at in life.

Of course, we have captured some things on camera.

But as I look back over the past month, many things have

happened where I failed to take out the camera.

However, the images are etched in my mind and I will cherish

them for years to come.

So, as June comes to an end we are content living

the life God has called us to.

It may seem ordinary to some, but it is a joy-filled

ordinary life to live!

 

Joel Thorne -- 10 months

Kryptonite

  

Pancho has enjoyed Superman for years.

He knows the story inside and out,

frontwards and backwards.

He has done a good job of getting me hooked into the

story line too.

He has waited at Best Buy on the day

after Thanksgiving to get the latest season of

Smallville ("every story has a beginning").

He has done a good job of getting me hooked into the

story line too.

So good, in fact, that our youngest child's name

stems from the movie Superman.

(please comment if you know who I am referring to

in the story line; I'd love to know if you know!)

Well, lately I have been thinking a lot about Superman.

And kryptonite.

If you do not know the story line at all,

for this post you must know that Superman

has super-human powers that are not stopped, nor slowed by anything.

Except kryptonite.

I have been lovingly named

"Supermom" by a few of my young friends.

Although it is flattering, I have quickly

made sure that they both know that I am

FAR from "Supermom" status.

And a few nights ago I had a "kyrptonite moment."

I was heading up a VERY BIG event and three things

slipped my mind COMPLETELY.

Three things I normally would have easily handled.

I quickly texted one of my young friends, who

happened to be the "victim" of one of my mind-slipping

incidents, reminding her that I am indeed not

"Supermom."

"Even Superman has kryptonite"

came her texted reply.

That text has been revolutionary to my life this past week.

As I have pondered and processed that comment' I have

realized that I need to be careful about pushing

myself to my "kryptonite level."

My "kryptonite level" is when I commit to more

than I can handle while still doing well what is most important to me.

You see, last week when I was heading up the VERY BIG

event, I was at maximum capacity.

Mentally, physically and emotionally.

Then, a few more things fell into my responsibility pile

and I proudly claimed I could handle them.

Sadly enough, those things slipped my mind

and I was mortified to discover that I had

let some people down.

Then, last night I had another "kryptonite moment"

as my responsibilities for Family Bible Week at our church

were coming to a climax.

I saw my dear friend again and we shared a quick moment.

"I'm having another kyrptonite moment."

She smiled and today kindly reminded me that

kryptonite takes a while to wear off.

I came home and as I was feeding Joel, our youngest,

before bed I saw this on facebook.

* taken from An Abiding Mom

Amazingly enough it was just what I needed.

Even more amazing than that is the fact that

this dear friend and I are doing a Bible study

together this summer, one that we started today.

And the book we are studying is called

Secrets of the Vine.

Anyone see the irony?

I'll give you a hint.

The book is based on John 15.

What word in John 15 appears at least 10 times?

ABIDE!

God is so good!

He has been working on this very idea

in my mind and heart for some time and

it all came to a culmination last night with this

great chart.

I say all of this to remind myself that I

need to focus on abiding in the Vine

or I will continue to be at my "kyrptonite level."

God has been so timely, yet again, to bring this to

my attention as I look at our calendar for the summer.

This summer's calendar, more than any other in my memory,

has been overwhelming to me.

Yet, if I can keep my focus on abiding in the Vine I know

He will strengthen me and together we will

get through it.

In fact, we won't simply get through it,

we will get through it abundantly.

John 10:10

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy;

I came that they may have life,

and have it abundantly.

It's official now

We have been waiting for this to arrive... 

And this is the OFFICIAL transcript from the

University of Wisconsin -- Platteville.

Lord, thank You that it is official!