Six

Six years ago today I was in Charlottesville in a hospital room wondering what in the world I had gotten myself into. I had a baby in my arms, and I was clueless on what to do with her. I knew it was too late to send her back, but I was definitely scared to move forward with her. Yet, I knew I loved her. How do you love someone you've only known for a few hours? It's truly one of the Lord's great mysteries. Fast forward (really fast) six years, and we have Madelyn:





She's bright, funny, talkative, inquisitive, strong-willed, determined, particular, and happy. She can read, write, operate the iPad with ease, navigate on the computer, and tie her shoes(!!!) just to name a few skills. She's currently in AWANA (Sparks), playing soccer, and in the children's choir at church. Her ability to memorize and recall scripture is amazing to me. We had to buy her an extra book for Sparks because she completed her book and completely reviewed that book before January was over. I thought she could use a bit more of a challenge, so the new book has new verses and passages, and some of them can be pretty long. Hopefully, this can keep her busy until May.

Today, we celebrated in a low-key way. It was a federal holiday, so JD decided to actually take it off and spent the day with us. Madelyn opened presents, and she got to choose dinner. Any guesses as to what she chose???


chicken nuggets and mac and cheese.

JD and I enjoyed our Ruth's Chris leftovers from Friday night:-)

Here she is opening gifts from us:




I've been making the kids scrapbooks every year and giving them as birthday presents. I hope I can continue with this because they really enjoy them.


Time for cake:

Loving Isabel

Deep thoughts by Pierce

Pierce has been coming up with some good comments lately.

Pierce: Did Jesus have any sons?
Me: No. Jesus was never married.
Pierce: Was God ever married?
Me: No.
Pierce: How did God have a son, then?

You Shall Be My Witnesses...

at preschool.

I'll preface the story by explaining that, while Pierce's preschool is in a church, they are not heavy on Bible teaching. I don't think they really talk about God at all except when they pray before snack time. I think his teacher was pleasantly surprised by this conversation.

Pierce's preschool teacher relayed this story to me today. She and Pierce were discussing the Wizard of Oz.

Pierce: Witches aren't real.

Mrs. G: No. It's just a fun story.

Pierce: None of the story is real.

Mrs. G.: You're right. It's just a pretend story.

Pierce: Dorothy was having a dream. But I know a real story.

Mrs. G: Oh really. What's it about?

Pierce: God and Jesus. The Bible is a real story.

Mrs. G: Absolutely, Pierce. I love Bible stories because they are real.

Pierce quotes

I heard a crash in the play room:

Me: Pierce, are you okay?
Pierce (in a whiny voice): Yeah.
Me: What are you doing?
Pierce: I'm flying.
Me: You're what?
Pierce: I'm Buzz Lightyear and I'm trying to fly.
Me: How's that working out for you?
Pierce: Not good. I keep crashing. I guess I'm falling with style.

Yesterday outside:

Pierce: I'm bored.
Me: Please don't tell me that. You can run, ride your bike, play soccer...
Pierce: Okay, I think I'll play with this classic soccer ball. (an old, half-deflated rubber ball)

Better late than never--Super Bowl party

We hosted our Sunday school class's Super Bowl party. We had a great time, and the game was pretty entertaining. Thankfully, the only family who really cared about the game was able to go to bed happy. Thanks, everyone, for coming! You can click here to view the party album or click on the picture below.

Super Bowl Party

Two down. Eighteen to go.

Yes. It happened. The bottom middle teeth are now gone. I'm surprised they held on as long as they did, but she finally got tired of the wiggling and dangling. Her permanent teeth are already making serious progress, and I think it's safe to say that she'll need braces.

T-R-O-U-B-L-E

This is what our Izzy Busy does to keep us on our toes:






She was just getting started here:







You might be thinking, "Why doesn't she just clean it up at the beginning and close the door?" Well, you have to be quick, so initially, I just move her out of the pantry and close the door. But, inevitably, someone opens the door again and doesn't close it. And I find the resulting disaster.

Here, she's putting the diaper bag over her head. She likes this game until she slams into something.


Sour cream, anyone?


And her latest and craziest trick:




Yep, Izzy Busy keeps us busy.