My Liddy Bug Is Eight Already!?!

Eight years ago today, the Lord blessed us with one special little girl (correction...she was really a big girl weighing in at 8lbs. 13 oz.). What a precious day that was to welcome another child into our family. We didn't know if this new baby would be a boy or a girl and we were quite excited to find out! I remember we weren't sure for another boy's name and we were discussing it back and forth while I labored. This time around, the process was sooo much easier than with Jakers, so it was light-hearted joking happening when someone mentioned Lester. Well, the first thing I recall when baby was being born was my mom exclaiming, "It's got chubby cheeks!" Shortly thereafter, the doctor chimes in, saying, "It's a Lesterette!" And this is how I received the joyful news that I had a daughter.
Lydia, you captured our hearts from the beginning and it has been a wonderful eight years since that day, March 10, 2003. There is so much that I love about you, Lid. You are a loving and caring child and you were nicknamed, "So Sweet Lid," at a young age. You aren't afraid of a challenge and you aren't afraid to fail at something and try again. You have a passion for the things you love...reading, writing your own stories, your friends, and I can't forget your sense of fashion. Even as a toddler, you loved your "pretty-pretties!" I believe I will be taking lessons from you soon.
Lydia, my prayer for you is that you will grow to become a woman who continues to love the Lord and serve Him. That you take that passion you have shown us and use it for the Lord's Glory. He loves you so much more than I/we ever could and it is exciting to think about what God has planned for your life.

You will always be mommy's little girl! I love you so much!

A Poll

So, I know some of you who read this and don't comment. And I am totally ok with that...however, I am presenting you with the golden opportunity! No giveaways or anything exciting like that, but I am in need of some advise.

When we bought our house, we knew we were going to re-do every room. Not a question in my mind about it. Our kitchen had the lovely 70's wallpaper color theme of burnt orange and lime green. And carpet that was supposed to look like tile. Yeah, you read that right. I wish I had a picture to share of that classy stuff but that was back in the day before we had a digital camera.

During the last 11 years we have lived here, we have slowly, but surely made those transformations. And we are currently in the middle of two more. Dan is building us a cabinet/shelving unit floor to almost ceiling in our lower level. I am super excited for this! While he has been working on this, I have been stripping off the dreaded wallpaper again. But at least, this time it was wallpaper we applied. I stripped off what was under the chair rail in our kitchen. A lot of this paper was torn and scuffed up. So, my goal is just to give it a fresh look. Now, here is where the advice part comes in. Originally, I was leaning toward just painting it a neutral tan/beige color. If we decide to try and sell our house, that seems like a safer option. However, I have always liked color. And if I knew we were going to live here a while longer, my choice would be to put a fun shade up. There are many different colors in our wallpaper above the chair rail, so I have a few options. Green is out... I think there is enough green in our front room. And we have a lot of red downstairs in the golden/red room. My favorite color is purple and there is a pretty plum shade in the wallpaper. So, that is probably what my choice would be. Dan says we should go with it. That even if we were to put the house on the market, the chances of the next buyers wanting to change it all up are probable...like we did when we bought our house.

So, the official pole question:
Should I
a. play it safe and paint it a neutral shade
or
b. go with color!

Just A Few Things I Want To Remember

A little randomness in no particular order:

Lydia's idea for a girly-girl nose plug...maybe they distribute these on The Loving (and looping) Airplane.

"Stisters" as Claire would say. There are a lot of squabbles in our house. I know, I'm sure that is shocking to hear. But I love it when I find our kiddos getting along..had to capture this as evidence.
We had a great time in the end of December when Uncle Rich, Aunt Araceli, and Noelani came and visited for a few days. Here is the only decent shot I got of the 4 cousins. Not too shabby, considering...

I had this to work with.

Glued to the tube, watching one of our favorites...

NACHO LIBRE!!!!

Two "reject" pancakes Dan made. Coincidentally, I gave Dan a new pancake griddle for Christmas. I expect no more sad looking pancakes.

We went out to one of our favorite restaurants to celebrate Dan getting a job. It was fun to hang out with 15 family and friends...and Bucca's was the best place to do that since you can be LOUD AND CRAZY! (Lydia is doing a great job demonstrating that).

No more pictures for now, but here are a few verbal memories to share...

*Jake woke up on Monday telling me he had dreamed he lost his tooth. We went about the morning and I took the kids to school. Later, at supper time, Jake was laughing about something. I asked Jake to smile, he did, and I discovered it had not been just a dream. He had more of a "whole-y smile." We still have not found the tooth...I'm wondering if he swallowed it.

*Was reading to Claire the other day and I grabbed the next book on the stack, which happened to be a Little Mermaid book. Don't know what was going through her mind, but I heard her mutter, "Ariel and the three wise men." Hmmm, now that would be an interesting book.

*In love with Mr. Bean

This summer, I had taken the kids to a free movie at the theatre. I believe it was called Mr. Bean's vacation. I wasn't sure if they would like the unusual humor, especially Claire, but they all enjoyed it. Enough so, that when I was at a garage sale this past fall, I nabbed a collection of 3 Mr. Bean VHS tapes. I had wrapped them up for Christmas. Claire has been asking and asking to watch them, so last night, while the ice storm was hitting us hard, we started watching Mr. Bean, vol. 1. There were lots of giggles, so I think the love of Mr. Bean continues.

If We Are The Body

It's crowded in worship today As she slips in Trying to fade into the faces
The girls' teasing laughter is carrying farther than they know Farther than they know

CHORUS But if we are the Body Why aren't His arms reaching Why aren't His hands healing Why aren't His words teaching And if we are the Body Why aren't His feet going Why is His love not showing them there is a way There is a way

A traveler is far away from home He sheds his coat And quietly sinks into the back row The weight of their judgmental glances tells him that his chances Are better out on the road

CHORUS But if we are the Body Why aren't His arms reaching Why aren't His hands healing Why aren't His words teaching And if we are the Body Why aren't His feet going Why is His love not showing them there is a way

Jesus paid much too high a price For us to pick and choose who should come And we are the Body of Christ Chorus (2x) If we are the body Why aren't His arms reaching Why aren't His hands healing Why aren't His words teaching And if we are the body Why aren't His feet going Why is His love not showing them there is a way Jesus is the way

This song by Casting Crowns has been coursing though my brain for much of this month. Can't seem to get it out of my head. Not that I want to though. I'm sure a huge reason for this is something I have been meaning to share on my blog for some time...but time has escaped me lately. But it is so worth sharing! We have some wonderful friends, Beth and Ryan Riddell. Beth has been a childhood friend and I don't know what I would do without the love and support she has given me over especially the last few years. Her husband is a pastor and he felt the Lord was calling him to take a big step. For the entire of month of January he has been "homeless." He has been sleeping in a van at night. During the daytime hours, he has been finding the homeless, connecting with them, hearing their story, and sharing the love of Jesus with them. One of his goals he felt the Lord wanted him to do was to raise awareness for the kids who are aging out of the foster care system and ending up on the streets. He is trying to also raise money to give to the New Family Tree ministry located here in Dayton, Ohio. To learn more about this ministry, you can go to www.newfamilytree.net Also, if you are interested in the journey Ryan has gone on, he has a video blog that he has kept up with at www.30dayshomeless.tv

God has done some amazing things already, including the salvation of 4 people who came to the church Ryan pastors at. He has allowed Ryan's story to have been aired on some local television stations. He was also K-Love's featured story of the day once this month and even had a comic written about him. Obviously, Ryan and Beth point all the good that has come of this situation back to our Heavenly Father. Please be in prayer for Ryan as he finishes out the month. And for Beth and the boys, as they are ready to have their husband/daddy home!

Back to the Casting Crowns song...yesterday, once again, I was singing this song in my head, but for a different reason. I found out some pretty sad news. A couple of years ago, when I worked in the child care room at work, I met a family who had just come to the States from the Middle East (can't remember exactly where). The mom was so sweet and even though we had a language barrier between us, a small bond was formed. They had two children who were only a year apart in age. I didn't see the mom at all last year, since I quit working. But it has been fun to reconnect with her in the hallways this year with Claire going to preschool. Anyhow, her daughter, who was Claire's age, passed away a couple of weeks ago. No one had told me because they forgot I had that connection to the family. Needless to say I was shocked and it felt like someone had kicked me hard in the stomach. I hugged the mom and told her I would pray. My mind raced to this song wondering how "if I am the body," how can I reach and touch this family in a meaningful way?

Catching Up In The New Year - Part 5

The 4th Annual Christmas Cookie Creations Grandma K. came over this year to help cut out the cookies. Jake was at a friend's house, so it was just the girls. Thanks so much for your help mom. I would've been up all night.

While we, of course, have the traditional Christmas cookie cutters, it seems like each year we add some interesting ones to the mix as well. This year, one of the ones we added was a cow in honor of Dayton (see previous post). We also made some gingerbread cookies as well as sugar cookies. They were delish!

Mixing, mixing, and more mixing up colors.

Saturday afternoon was when the decorating began. Here is Uncle Matt working on his airplane...how fitting. Lid...keep those fingers out of your mouth!

Whew...look at all dem cookies. Good thing we had multiple people to pass them out to.

Lydia with one of her favs.

Jake with his patriotic airplane.

Aunt Sarah Beth's fat lipped lady was cause for some giggling.

I "won" some new cookie cutters for finding the pickle on my aunt's tree in TX. Was fun to make some snowflakes this year.

Jake's brick house turned out nicely.

But this Colts cookie was his most important one. He says he is saving it for the Superbowl when the Colts win. Way to be a fan!

Mr. and Mrs. Tuey helped decorate this year! Yes, that is a foot. I told you we have some interesting choices.

Ashleigh was quite happy we saved her a few to decorate for her family. Although, this one didn't make it on the plate.

Catching Up In The New Year - Part 4

Just a few pictures of the kids last day of school...and a special picture with Claire in it just for my friend, Becky!

Jake beside his desk mate...this girl is the one who he gets in trouble with in the area of talking.

Lydia, Maddie, and Holly

Claire and I with Mrs. Frederick (Lid's teacher).

Don't know how, but somehow, when Claire touched Mrs. Claus again, she shrunk...Whoopsies! Look who's carrying an ice scraper!

Playing Catch Up In The New Year - Part 3

Earlier in December, I got the honor of traveling to Texas to visit my maternal grandma. I love her dearly but don't get to see her very often, so each time I'm there I am so grateful and try and treasure my time with her. I also get a chance to visit with my Aunt Nancy (my mom's sister) and Uncle Bill since they take such good care of my grandma! My traveling buddies were my mom...and Sarah Beth and Matthew. This was taken on the plane before the excruciating pain began for my sis and me. On our descent, I had bad ear pain, which I know can be normal. But then I felt severe pain in my nasal passages and figured it was due to me being on the tail end of a cold. My description of it was that it felt like sharpened pencils being rammed up my nose into my eye sockets. Lovely, I know...but that was what it felt like. Unbeknownst to me, while I was crying and suffering, my sister was experiencing something very similar behind me. She was not sick, so I have no idea if it was due to my cold or not. All I know is that I probably majorly freaked out the lady next to me (I was in between her and my mom). We conversed back and forth during the beginning of our flight. But when the plane landed she said not a word to me and booked it out of there. She was heading to Vegas and had another plane to catch...we'll just say that was the reason.

Growing up, we had a pug named Suzie. Whenever my grandma would come into town though, our dog turned into my grandma's dog. Suzie would follow her around wherever she went. Suzie's favorite spot was curled up right beside my grandma, or better yet, on her lap. Well, a few years ago, my grandma got her own pug for a companion...and guess what she named her? Suzie! She made me chuckle many a time with her little tongue always sticking out.

Friday, we got an unexpected visit from my cousin, Tom, who lives in San Antonio! Was nice to catch up with him a little bit.

These are my uncles two horses. Ebony is the black one...my mind is blank for the other. They are so pretty. Saddens me that I can't really be around them though with my allergies.

I took my aunt and uncles Christmas picture with the horses. This was them just getting ready.

We got a really neat experience...one of their cows gave birth while we were there. While we didn't actually see it born, we got to see it minutes after. Poor calf dropped into a pile o'pooh, so this picture was of my uncle getting ready to wipe him down.

We were cheering him on as he started trying to use those wobbly legs.

Since we were there, Aunt Nancy let us name the calf. Only rule is that it cannot be a people name. I suggested Dayton since his birth fell on the weekend we were visiting. So, Dayton it was!

All cozy and warm now. As I took this picture, I was reminded of Jesus' birth in a similar setting.

As always, the weekend went by much too quickly and we had to say our good-byes. Can't wait to see you again, Grandma, Aunt Nancy, and Uncle Bill. Maybe next time, I can bring my hubby along! Love you all!