Finding My Fathers Through Worship

As many of you know, the last half of the year has been tough for me since the loss of my Daddy in June.

It is amazing how everything reminds me of him, and not one day passes that I do not miss him terribly and wish so very much he was here.

Lately, during worship at our church, I have felt so close to him. It has been hard to put into words, so I haven't even tried, but I wanted to share it today.

I think the reason worshipping God makes me feel so close to my Daddy is because I know that when I am worshipping God, I am doing the same thing my Daddy is doing up in Heaven... except my Daddy gets to look into the very face of God.

Santa, I Hope You Have Tissues!

Emily asked me tonight when I was on the computer if she could write a letter to Santa on it. I told her if she wanted to write a letter to Santa, we could get a piece of paper and she could tell me what to write. She knew exactly what she wanted to say, and I could barely keep up as she rattled it off. What she said made me want to smile and cry at the same time:


Dear Santa Claus,

I want you to bring me a new bicycle like Grampy has when I'm bigger. I love Grampy and I miss Grampy. I love you, Santa, and bring me two bicycles.

Love,
Emily


It is heartbreaking to see the loss of Emily's Grampy (my Daddy) through her eyes.

But, because of God's grace, one day we will be with him again!

Thank you, Jesus.

Emily Speaks About Etiquette :)

This morning, in the car on the way to church, I told Emily that if someone gave her a present at church today, she needed to use her manners... and proceeded to go through a quick reminder course on how to do so:

Me: "If someone gives you a present, you say, 'Thank you, Ma'am!' and then, 'I love it!', or something else to let them know you like it. Then you can hug them, if you want."

Emily: "Right. I'll say, Thank you, Ma'am, I love it!'"

Me: "That's right. You're a good girl!"

Emily: "Then, I'll say, 'You can bring me another present some other time if you need to.'"

:) Hmmm... good thing she's not spoiled or anything!

Miss Manners

Today I got to bask in the glory of feeling like I must be doing something right as a mother... :)

Emily and I were at the returns counter at Wal-Mart and one of the cashiers cooed over Emily and asked, "How are you?"

Emily promptly smiled and said like a little grown-up, "I'm doing well."

The ladies behind the counter couldn't get over how polite and sweet her response was...

And I was beaming! :)

Here Comes The... Flower Girl!

Emily is going to be a flower girl for the first time!

Last night, her Uncle Jon asked us if she could be the flower girl in his wedding in February!

We are excited! :)

Our Little PK (Pastor's Kid)!

Okay, so Emily is definitely a pastor's kid!

Today, I brought her to the church because Josh asked me to come and meet the sign man with him (we are getting a new church sign, and we are in the planning, designing, and negotiating stages). The man was going to be bringing sketches we'd asked him to make up, etc.

So, anyway, I brought Emily, and on the way over prepped her about how she would have to stay and play in the church nursery, because I was going to be in a meeting with a man and Daddy. To my surprise, SHE DID! I had to count to three to get her to go/stay in, but then she did, beautifully!

Until she called out a while later, "I peed in my pants"!

I forgot to tell her she could come out to use the potty. WHOOPS!

After cleaning her up (which involved stripping her down to just her shirt and a pull-up I had stashed in the nursery ages ago, since I had no extra clothes), I went back into Josh's office (had to count to three again), and we resumed our meeting. When I left, I saw she had been coloring and, of course, playing with every toy in the nursery.

So, here's what makes her the perfect PK...

When I went in to get her a little later, she showed me the art projects she had done in my absence! My child had gotten the kid scissors, a glue stick, construction paper, and crayons and cotton balls and made pieces of artwork for her two best friends (Carlie Claire and Ani) and herself!

WHAT IN THE WORLD?? :)

It was the cutest thing! It was like, having spent so much time at the church and in her little classes and everything else, she just went on about her little business as if it was churchtime and the teacher had told her what to do!

That's my girl!! (Now, I know what you're thinking--- What a horrible lack of supervision; what if she'd gotten hurt? Well, I'm choosing not to think about that scary possibility!!! And if you're a pastor's wife, you probably know that, unfortunately, your kid spends a lot of time at the church without proper supervision!) :)

My Baby Girl

Okay, so here are two sweet pictures of Emily from her birthday that I just had to share. This is from her actual birthday, which we celebrated at home (her party was in Florida on November 3oth).

The make-up from Great-Uncle Don and Aunt Barb was a hit--- but maybe when Great-Aunt Barb comes to visit, she can tell Emily that the stuff she is putting on goes on her LIPS... :)

Emily's New Room

Emily is very proud of her new blue princess room! She has been begging us to paint it blue since we moved in six months ago, and we finally got it painted the week before her birthday. Mama is not into "character-themed" bedrooms, but I must say, it turned out cute! :)

Ready for a Girls' Night Out

Miss Norma, a lady in our church, took Emily on a special "girls only" outing about a week before her birthday. They went to The Wacky Bear Factory, where they made a French poodle with a beating heart, and then to Chick-Fil-A to eat and play. At Chick-Fil-A, Emily only wanted ice cream, and then also ended up having some of Miss Norma's french fries, which she decided to dip INTO the ice cream. Miss Norma thought it was so cute when Emily told her that they better not tell Mama and Daddy she had ice cream! (We try to feed her healthy food, but she does get sweets now--- Miss Norma thought it was a hoot!)

Daddy's Little Girl

Here are some recent pictures of Daddy and his Little Girl... them together on her birthday, and Emily helping Mama and Daddy in the yard before Thanksgiving... I love the John Deere hat, courtesy of Grampy, Christmas 2006! :)

I Feel Cheated!

They said we were going to get 2 1/2- 3 inches of snow today--- and we got NOTHING!

I feel cheated! It would have been Emily's first time seeing snow!

I even made a special trip to the grocery last night, because I was told you can't get out of our street if it snows (because of the hills)... I'm telling you, I was prepared!

"But, I want to help!!!"

This is the phrase I got to hear three million times today, as my little girl desperately tried to help me and the ladies start decorating the church for Christmas.

The ladies and I had a planning session/shopping trip yesterday, then met at 9:ooam today to get down to the nitty-gritty. Daddy was supposed to keep Emily at home, and you can guess what happened with that...

He tried to get some work done in his office AT THE CHURCH, hence brought Emily with him... ahhhh, what a SPLENDID idea!...

As if the last billion times we tried that actually worked...

He and a man from our church soon left to get our (home) Christmas tree, leaving Emily with the ladies and I full-time, with no daddy to even run interference... that was REALLY fun...

Oh, how I love her! I'm exhausted, but I love her! She's not coming with me tommorrow when I go back, but I love her!

And Daddy should be grounded! :)

P.S.--- If you want to know why pastors' kids act like they own the church, it's because it's their second home. They are there all the time; it's not a "sacred" place they go once a week. Just today, when Mama was up on a ladder, Emily managed to get ahold of the drum set. This was after she sang solos on the piano. This was after she touched every fragile ornament she could get her hands on... $15.00 ornaments, mind you!

Emily is Potty-Trained!!!

Okay, so this is overdue (she's been trained for a few weeks), but I forgot to share this momentous occasion, and if you are reading this, I guess you are at my parent-bragging-about-their-kid's-pooping habits mercy! :)

Emily has been officially potty-trained since a week before her 4th birthday, and we are so proud! I'm confident she would have been trained a lot sooner, had her daddy and I not started her so early (18 months), then stopped and started a million times since (basically, had we ever gotten serious about it)!

We actually have Grammy and Grampy to thank in large part--- they had Emily almost trained two separate times, then gave her back to us, and it all went downhill from there!

On Grammy's last visit (at the end of October), she started training Emily ONCE AGAIN, and I vowed to myself when she left that I would stick with it, seriously! Once I did that, it was a snap. Emily was beyond ready!

Okay, so you would think that as a stay-at-home mom, I would have an easy time potty-training (more time to devote to it, in theory, etc.). But, the problem is, I feel like I'm not your "normal" stay-at-home mom... I'm an involved pastor's wife, who has also moved five times in less than seven years of marriage... three of those moves occuring since my daughter's been born... and have served with my husband in five different churches. So, my point is, I refuse to beat myself up over not doing the potty-training thing perfectly! :)

CONGRATULATIONS, EMILY!!! :)

It's COLD!!!

I don't care what my husband says, it's colder here in Mississippi than it was in Alabama!

He keeps trying to convince me that, so far, it isn't any colder... I think he's crazy! I am freezing my hiney off!!

Just thought I'd share that... :)

I love that it feels like Christmas, but I am so not into the bundling-my-kid-up-just-to-get-in-the-car thing!! Or the freezing-to-death-in-my-own-house thing!!

I was raised in Florida... where we wear flip-flops in the winter! :)

Our Deer Family

Okay, so we are convinced that the deer we keep seeing in our backyard are the same family--- a buck, a mama, and three babies!

It is so neat, because we are smack in the middle of a neighborhood... but, we have woods and a lake behind us separating us from the houses behind us, so I guess that's how the deer can survive.

We see them ALL the time, right in our backyard! When they see us, they get scared and stand perfectly still, so we get to just gaze at them and appreciate their beauty! We also see them all the time when we are driving on our street--- off to the side and in even in our neighbors' front yards (there is more than just our deer family, of course)--- it's incredible!

I need to get a picture!!

Emily Gets Ice Cream for Skipping Church!

Okay, let me explain :)...

We got home from Florida Tuesday night.

Last night, I was sick and couldn't make it to church. Daddy, of course, had to be there an hour early and do some important things before service started, so Emily had to stay home with me. She was DEVASTATED!!

"How will people see me??", she wailed. "But, Ani will miss me!!", she cried.

It was heartbreaking!! Tears were streaming down her face, and Mama felt horrible! So...

"How about Daddy brings you home an ice cream sundae from McDonald's, since it's not your fault you're not going to church?", I asked.

She was still devastated.

Eventually, after Daddy left, she calmed down. And I said a silent prayer of thanks that my Baby Girl loves going to church so much... even though, sometimes, it is just to see her friends and all those who spoil her! :) After all, they do become your extended family!