Merry! Merry! Merry!!

Christmas is absolutely my most favorite holiday of the year!! I LOVE that we are intentionally celebrating Jesus's birthday, that the children get to hear His Holy name over and over and over again and I pray that "The Reason" for this season is beginning to sink in a little.... the sweet nativities all around and family together A LOT! I love that Kaitlyn is here for 2 weeks!! I love family time together especially when all my kids are here!! I love watching children play together and love on each other and I love buying or creating or thinking of fun gifts to give.... and I love watching the excitement of opening presents from Santa and I love not having to wake up early to go anywhere for a whole week after - especially for the big kids - just rest and fun!! LOVE IT!! It stinks this year that Mimi and GP haven't been able to come -which means we also haven't gotten to see Ashleigh yet but we're praying for a quick recovery so they can still hopefully come...... we have really missed getting to see them this year - but Swine Flu is not welcome here.... UGH!!
Hope you had a very Merry Merry Christmas too!!
This was the first year Aunt Sheri was here to start off the holiday season....
The kids loved making a Gingerbread House :)


We had Christmas at Granny's and Aunt Paula read the Christmas Story from Luke... This is one of my favorite traditions...
The children all sat quietly and listened :)








And Lilly Ann had a Christmas program at Forest Hill Kids Day Out!

Happy Birthday, Dear Jesus!

Happy Birthday dear Harrison!!

"I love you all the way to Heaven......AND BACK!" (this will always be the very last thing I say to you just before bed each night - UNTIL YOUR LIKE 30!! :)


My sweet little boy is getting so stinkin big!! I can't believe he's 7 now!!
This was a "big" year for him and it's just sort of bitter sweet!! I don't remember a year he grew so much at one time! Physically or emotionally!
He's very particular about his hair - not interested in anyone cutting it off :) and he just goes outside to play at his own will - he's always been more monitored but lately we've been letting him run over to get Griffin on his own and it all just feels sooooooo BIG! He loves to make his own microwave meals - whatever that may be, and he will just go and play in his room for what seems like forever - and when I give him kisses - like lots and lots and lots of kisses - he'll say, "MOOOOMMMM!"

I so miss my snuggly boy - although he'll still snuggle with me if I let him lay in my bed to watch tv at night - as long as I don't block the tv!! He used to think I was a lot more wonderful - my all time favorite HD quote is....
"Mommy I think your a princess no matter what your jammies look like!"
Don't get me wrong I love a happy big boy - he's confident and content to be Harrison and that is so sweet I just can't get my little tiny boy with great big blue eyes and curls out of my head - my third appendage! The one everyone always said was "my buddy" always with me and always wanted to be with me :)
At his party this year he and his friends swam and played and had such a great time! At the end, we all came into a room and had cupcakes and ice cream.... I was just standing there watching him laugh and be silly with all his best buddies around him - 20 to be exact.... and I just said out loud, "What a sweet day this was for Harrison to get to be with all of his best friends on his actual birthday!! Thank you for coming and making this such a sweet day for him!" To which Harrison replied.... "MOM!" That was my cue to HUSH and let him be cool a little longer!!
I love you so much, Brother!! Happy 7th Birthday!! You are such a sweet sweet boy! My only son! This Christmas time reminds me that you are so much like the only son - Jesus! You were made so perfectly in His Image and while we celebrate the birthday of our Savior we also get to celebrate YOU, Peanut! The first little tiny baby I got to carry in my belly while you grew and grew (and GREW!) I will never forget the first night in the hospital! EVERYONE came to see you and meet you! Even the nurses because you were the biggest baby of the month!! At 10.2 ounces and 22 and 1/2 inches long!! OH MY STARS!! I woke up at like 3 o'clock in the morning because you were so quiet and it was my first night with you! I looked over to a glass bed sitting next to me and the most beautiful blue eyes.... starring back at me! I just cried the happiest tears - it was quiet - you were happy too - not crying just watching me :) That was the moment I fell in love with you and I will be for the rest of my life!! And I can not even imagine but the bible tells us that God loves you even more than I do!!

"Before the throne of God above, I have a strong and perfect plea, a great high priest whose name is Love, who ever lives and pleads for me. My name is graven on His hands. My name is written on His heart."

ONE FABULOUS GIRL!!

Have I told you lately how amazing Kaitlyn is???? WELL..... she NEVER ceases to amaze us! I can only tell you she is just such a fabulous gift from God! She is such a sweet example for the younger children in her life and I feel so incredibly blessed that I get to be her step-mom!! Let me just tell you - She is so very thoughtful, loving, adorable, giving,kind, creative as can be, very very very resilient, God fearing and INCREDIBLY SMART!! OH MY STARS!!!
SO, I say all of that to say SHE GOT AN 1800 ON HER S A T S!! Kaitlyn has been such a hard worker and great student since day one! She always puts her studies first and then she plays and she takes such pride in her hard work! She's an amazing leader in her school too! At Lausanne she was class president of her class and then at the end of July she moved to a new school in Monroe, North Carolina and was voted Vice President within the first few months of her new school! Everyone is drawn to her and know she has such dependable leadership skills! We are so incredibly proud of her and wish so much we could hug her neck and throw confetti in the sky and jump up and down with her so I am hoping you can hear in my words we are sooooooo proud and celebrating Kaitlyn today!! And the even sweeter thing is....
SHE IS SO PROUD TOO!! Yea Kait!! We love you sooooooo much!! We are not at all surprised by this but just want to hhhhhhhhuuuuuuuuuugggggggggg your neck and high five you and cry happy tears with you..... YOU ROCK!! We love you sooo much!

I Don't Want to Raise Successful Children

This sweet devotional was given to me by a friend and I just LOVE IT!
I hope you do too!
Have a Blessed Day!
Christi

"Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it." Proverbs 22:6 (NIV)

I don't want to raise successful children. That's a shocking thing to read, and a shocking thing for a mother to type. So, let me clarify.

I used to define success according to my child's report card. Good grades and academic achievement would surely equal a good child with great potential in this world. But then several of my children wound up being average students with average grades. Though we carted them off to tutors and spent many a late night at the kitchen table helping them, they remained average. And I remained concerned and frustrated.

One report card day I found myself facedown in the fibers of my carpet crying and wonderi ng, "Where have I gone wrong as a mom?"

I dug into Scriptures. I begged God for wisdom and discernment. I prayed for God's perspective with each of my kids. Finally, one day it dawned on me - what if I simply chose to embrace the natural bent of each of my kids as God's way to protect them and keep them on the path toward His best plans for their lives?

What if my A student needs academic success to prepare her for God's plans while my average to below-average student needs to be steered away from a more academic future? What if my sports star kid needs that athletic excellence for his future assignments by God, but my benchwarmer kid is being protected from getting off course by her lack in this area?

And that's when it finally dawned on me. My job isn't to push success for my kids. My job as a parent is to recognize the unique way God created each child and point them to Jesus at every turn along their journey toward adulthood. Yes, I wan t my kids to learn and thrive and grow up educated, but it's not a flaw in me or them if they don't have straight A report cards and trophy cases full of sports medals.

Proverbs 22:6 says, "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it" (NIV).

I am challenged to ponder these words, "… in the way he should go." Are we training our kids that the "way he should go" is to chase worldly achievement or to chase God? Whatever they learn to chase as a child, they will chase as adults. Therefore, we must be challenged to honestly assess the way we are pointing them to go.

My daughter, Hope, is one of my average students. She has also warmed many a bench in the sports she's tried, and can always be found hiding on the back row of the stage during school concerts. Using the world's benchmarks for achievement, Hope wouldn't be seen as a child positioned for success. But God…

This past January, my 15 year old Hope, shocked me when she announced she wanted to go to Ethiopia with some missionary friends of ours and live in the remote African bush for the summer. Yes, she may not have trophies and straight A report cards but she does have a heart of gold.. And because she's not entrenched in sports and academic pursuits that could have created obligations for her summer, she was free to go to Africa. Free to chase God in a really big way.

One of the first e-mails she sent me from Ethiopia read, "Mom, I've fallen in love with the AIDS orphanage children. They rushed at me when I held my arms out and I tried with all my might to hold all 30 of them at once. I love it here."

Now, don't get me wrong. I do expect Hope to return to her studies this fall, give 100% effort, and finish her high school career having done her very best. She will most likely then go to college. But she probably won't be delivering the valedictorian address or wearing the honors cords and medals. She'll be the on e with a vision of a dying AIDS orphan pressing against her heart ready to chase God's plans to the ends of the earth.

So back to my original statement, I don't want to raise successful children. It's true, I don't. Though Hope's sister coming behind her is an A student and can always be found on the front row of school performances - we don't chase after success for her either. I trust God that she needs those things in her life for the plans He's unfolding in her life. We train with that bent in mind. But, we don't chase it. Just like Hope, we point her in the direction of God at every turn and pray like crazy.

I stand by what I said and I'll say it again, I don't want to raise successful children. Because--- raising God-honoring adults who will set the world on fire for Christ is just so much more rewarding.

Dear Lord, being a mom is a really tough job. Please help me, teach me and show me how to define success for my kids. In J esus' Name, Amen.

"Ballet" Lilly Ann Style!

We will FOREVER be holding our breath and watching her go!! One of the GREATEST things about Lilly Annabella Shaw is that she is absolutely JUST LILLY! She is the most adorable, most hilarious, most independent "little tiny" I have ever met! She is so incredibly self-confident and happy to just do her own thing and Ballet is NO DIFFERENT! I know I have said it 100 times or more I'm sure but when it comes to Lil's we will forever be holding our breath and watching her go!! And I just LOVE it! The other day I looked up to see her carrying A CHAIR into my room! I asked her what she was doing. She said, "I'm going to brush my teeth." And I thought... If I didn't see her she would've brushed her teeth, fixed her hair and gone off to college! Some days I'm not even sure why I'm here- she just doesn't need me much at all! :) But boy do I need Her! She teaches me daily about patience and humbles me immediately if I ever think I've got the Mommy thing figured out....Whew! IF ONLY she would stay on her "nap mat" for nap time at school and stop going potty in her panties.... INSTEAD.... She sings and dances and visits her friends during nap time and she wants to keep playing instead of go to the bathroom when she has to potty! :) Sounds like a Happy Little Girl to me....just not terribly obedient!!



The funniest thing of all.....


AND NOW WE DO GYMNASTICS INSTEAD :)