I have been way behind on blogging for a lot of different reasons, including tons of Holiday festivities. One of the things I have really been wanting to share is about the advent project I’ve been doing with the kids. I started writing this post 2 weeks ago before we started advent! This is like my 4th attempt, we’ll see if I actually get it posted this time. Here goes,

This is our first year to try Truth In The Tinsel.

 If you haven’t heard of it, it is an awesome devotion/advent/Christmas-craft-activity that teaches kids the story of Jesus birth. Not just a little snapshot for the Sunday before Christmas, but a daily devotion that really digs into the Biblical account of Christ’s birth in a way that little ones can grasp.

I was a bit apprehensive at first. I had the same feeling I did when I started the 31 day series because it’s something that I committed to at the last minute with little or no preparation. But we are about half way through now and so far it has been GREAT!

Each day Z will find “a clue” in his Bible. I just taped a CD envelope on the inside cover of his Bible. It’s perfect because the envelope has a clear window on the front so he can see the clue right away.

Then we look up a passage in scripture and pick out where the clue is found in the Bible. Z loves this part, and since he is now learning to read it’s the perfect opportunity for him to learn how to find references in the Bible.

Then we talk about it and make an ornament to go along with the lesson for the day.

Here are some the first 10  days as seen through my iPhone.

Many of these are modified from the books version for time sake or lack of materials  (I made notations in red for those participating), but that’s all part of the fun. I’ve enjoyed seeing all the Facebook posts showing variations and personalization of the same craft.

If you haven’t checked out Truth in the Tinsel or seen it floating around on Pinterest you should take a peak. It’s not too late to implement one of the modified schedules or pick and choose for yourself what and how you want to do it, and of course there is always next year, and the year after that.  Not to name drop, but I happen to know Amanda White (author, creator, blogger extraordinaire) personally from when I lived in Atlanta, and she is the real deal. With that said, this is not a promotional post, I did not get paid, no freebies. She doesn’t even know I am writing this, so it’s all totally unbiased and true.

I can’t wait to work on the rest of Truth in the Tinsel and I am already taking notes on what I can do next year. Not only have I loved teaching my kids about the story of Christ’s arrival, but I am learning a lot too. Hooray for Advent!

I wanted to update all of my readers on how the Keith family is doing. In case you haven’t seen my last post our dear pastor lost his granddaughter on Thanksgiving day. We are close with their whole family and our children play in the nursery together at least once a week. Although we are still mourning the loss of this precious 18 month old baby we will be celebrating her life tomorrow at her funeral.

The family is doing as well as could be expected. The other two girls have been tested and are completely healthy. As far as I know the cause of death is unknown. The autopsy showed nothing wrong with PK. She went down for a nap and despite her mother knowing CPR and a pulse being detected she still did not make it. God had a plan in mind for her and she is now walking on streets of gold.

On Sunday pastor spoke about crisis at Christmas (the message was already planned). During communion the elders came up behind the pastor and lifted up his arms and prayed for him.

It was a beautiful moment. Pastor also thanked everyone for the outpouring of love and sympathy and then he read this letter from my dad.

“When we lost Zeb, there was such outpouring from the body of Christ. We will never forget it. One letter in particular touched me more than any other. Not because of the eloquent words, but because of the sincerity and the fact that such wisdom could come from a 16 year old young man. I hear the heart of a pastor in it. It has endeared me to not only him, but your whole family.

It was written in his own hand writing on a simple piece of paper ripped from a spiral bound notebook, but we have cherished it and kept it all these years. Hopefully the words will bring as much comfort to you as they did to me in this time. Our hearts ache.”

Here is an excerpt from that letter written by PK’s dad 22 years ago, before he was a husband, before he was a dad, before he lost a child. 

“I just want you to know that you have a church family that’s backing you up all the way and what you go through we all go through also. WE feel your pain, and we sympathize with you. I know that you all are strong enough to make it through this tough time, for you do not go through it alone. I love every one of you as if a family member, and when you need help call me.” 

There was a lot more to it than that, but this is the part that I could now say right back to his family in the midst of this valley without changing a single word. 

I know the funeral is going to be tough. It brings back a lot of memories for me since Zeb’s funeral was at the same church with many of the same people. A couple nights ago as I was putting Zion to bed I held his hand and laid there in the dark with tears rolling down my cheeks. Zeb was just a little older than Zion when he passed away. This isn’t something I think about a lot, but like the letter said what one goes through we all go through. Our brother and sister in Christ lost their child, and I am hurting for them. 

PK’s mom is the nursery coordinator (among so many other things that she does around the church). She has been spending the past several months figuring out a way to do a complete overhaul to the sorely outdated facility. She was the one that decided that in lieu of flowers, donation could be made in PK’s honor to renovate the nursery. PK loved the nursery and to have it dedicated to her and have her memory cherished and appreciated by all her friends and the future of the church body sounds like the best idea ever! 

I know I am going on and on, but as you can tell this has touched me deeply. Pastor said that when PK’s older sister (who is 6) asked about if PK was coming home from the hospital he told her “You know how sometimes you fall asleep downstairs and then you wake up the next day in your bed and you didn’t even realize that anything had happened? Well that is what happened with your sister.” She fell asleep at home and woke up in her heavenly home for all eternity and one day we will all be reunited singing praises to our God who is still on His throne. 

I had a Thanksgiving post planned. It was going to be about heritage. I am so thankful for my heritage and it’s been on my heart lately since recently Ezie was dedicated in the same church and by the same pastor where I was dedicated as a baby. 

Our church is even called Heritage Fellowship so heritage is of great importance to us.

The reason I did not get this post published is because on Thanksgiving day before we sat down to eat dinner tragedy struck and we had been informed that our pastor’s granddaughter who is 18 months old suddenly, and completely unexpectedly, stopped breathing. She still had a pulse so we, along with all those connected to this family from all around the world, began to pray. Unfortunately later that evening we read this update from the pastor (I put the initials of his granddaughter instead of her name).

Today, I am thankful that my son and his wife know the Lord. It is in times like this we are very grateful that they have family and friends who love them. Thankful for the support system they have, a support system of people of faith who will be praying for them as they are passing through the valley of Baca (the valley of weeping).


Earth has no sorrows, that Heaven cannot heal. God gave them beautiful little twin girls. Today the Lord who does all things right, chose to take PK home earlier than the rest of us. We are thankful for the blessing she has been, the joy she has given us, and the place in our hearts that she will always have. Thank you Lord for the privilege we had to love this special God given baby. We thank you because we know that you make all things work together for good.

Since then both of their other daughters were admitted to the hospital. I have no information on what type of illness this is (if that is even what it is). I do know that their oldest daughter who is Z’s age (6) has been discharged and this is the latest update about PK’s twin.

PL is still in Children’s Hospital in Cincinnati. They will finish their testing today, late last night they were planning on a spinal tap this morning. 

My heart has been broken over all this. Pastor and his family were there for us when we lost my little brother 22 years ago. In fact my dad even pulled out a letter of sympathy that he had saved, which was written by Pastor’s son (the twins father who is shown standing beside pastor in the photo above). 

When we moved here almost two years ago our Pastor’s daughter-in-law (the twins mother) was pregnant with the twins while I was pregnant with Ezie. We had plenty in common just from motherhood and pregnancy, but we bonded more when SJ was diagnosed because she happens to work for an ENT. In fact she “moved mountains” to get us an appointment with one of the best ENTs in the nation and then she got the appointment date moved up so that we could see him sooner. He is the Doctor that we go to today and I am so grateful that we had this connection. My friend also recently wrote a letter on SJ’s behalf to an association that gives scholarships to children with hearing loss. The letter brought me to tears, and I was so grateful for her friendship and how she has been there for me in the midst of such a difficult time.

 I had no idea what she would have to go through though. I can’t even imagine being in their shoes on Thanksgiving day. As a church we are all mourning this loss. I worked in the nursery for the Friday night service and knowing that PK is gone is very difficult to process. This is a little shot of her and Ezie hanging out in the nursery a few weeks ago. 

I know all of you mothers and friends reading this can imagine the blanket of sorrow that is covering the church right now as we grieve the loss of this precious little life. PLEASE pray for the Keith family this Holiday season. This is a hard enough thing to go through without it happening on Thanksgiving day. This family has walked through some difficult times with us, and now we are ready to walk along side them, and just be there for comfort and support knowing that, as pastor said, God makes all things work together for good. 

When I think about what the seasons feel like here in middle America I feel like it’s mostly winter and summer with little slivers of transition that we call spring and fall. I know all about the solstice, yeah, yeah. But summer this year, although very mild, lingered into October

On a school field trip to the pumpkin patch in October. Feeling totally comfortable in shorts and a tank top! 

and as Halloween drew nearer I wasn’t sure if we were going to see much with the fall foliage this year, but it did happen,

I could have an entire album of photos of the trees with how gorgeous it was this year, but I’ll just have to hold onto my mental snapshots because I was way too busy to venture out with my camera. 

just in time before the first snow in mid November.

So the postcard-worthy autumn lasted barely a month, but I still enjoyed every bit of it.

When the leaves started falling and Z asked if we could make a big pile to play in I told him we didn’t have a rake. We actually don’t even have a yard, but the next day as we made our way to the bus and rustled through the crunchy brown layers on the ground he said “mom, I know you said we don’t have a rake, but could we just play in the leaves?” How could I refuse? We found a patch of grass where autumn leaves abound and those three had the time of their lives. I am so glad we stopped to enjoy this season, however brief it is.

This time 4 years ago I found out I was having a baby GIRL! From the moment we received the news everyone, whether they knew me or not, had something to say about the gender of the baby on the way. “OOOOOH a baby girl! They have the cutest stuff out there for little girls. Get ready to go shopping… the bows, the dresses, the shoes! You are going to have a blast”.

Now, I am not too much of a girly girl. I never have been that type, but I definitely got into the idea of having a little mini me sporting some trendy hipsters styles.

J and I just celebrated 13 years of marriage.

Photo by Cracker Jack Photography taken on our 10 year anniversary

I feel a little guilty because what should be a celebration of the two of us as a couple, felt more like pamper the wife day. But J insisted and I am only going to resist the offer so many times, right?

They recently added “What Not To Wear” on Netflix and I have been ripping through each episode since I don’t have any other shows that I am watching right now. Watching Stacy and Clinton work their magic has definitely inspired me to spruce up my own look. Even though it’s a superficial endeavor I really feel like there has been one blessing after another allowing me to do something for myself.

First off I have a super sweet friend send me a gift card for clothes for me and the kids. I was able to get this sweater, the boots, and sooo much more for this upcoming season (Gap Clearance Store all the way!).

 I am honestly overwhelmed with gratitude.

 Then yesterday my parents watched the kids so that J and I could go out. First we hit up the mall and as soon as we walked into Dillard’s a lady handed me a card promoting Clinique’s latest offer which was to have a consultation and get lipstick and perfume free. It took me a minute. You want to give me a  makeover and free stuff? Right now? I don’t pay anything? Okay, where do I sign!?

The consultant was fabulous. I sat there with my eyes closed and mostly just forgot where I was. It was wonderful! At that point she could have given me clown makeup and I didn’t care. I was just happy to be sitting down and not responsible for anything. As the makeover progressed the other ladies at the counter starting commenting, and oohing and ahhing.

I was so anxious to see what the results would be. This lady spent more time on my eyes than I do on my entire face (and hair actually). Then it was just like on What Not To Wear with Carmindy, she was done and I could look in the mirror. It was dramatic and SO different then what I would normally do (on the days that do anything), but I loved it. I had a blast and J loved it too.

After the makeover we did some more shopping and just had an amazing time together. We love our kids, but do I even need to explain why we were thrilled to be childless?

Right now I would rate my marriage as a 10, but not all days are a perfect 10 you know? I don’t even like to think about the tough times our marriage has been through, let alone announce it on the internet, but there is no denying that there have been ups and downs in the past 13 years. It’s definitely not like the fairy tale you read about, and I think it’s important that we are honest about that. In fact, to quote a friend that has been married for over 30 years, “there were times if he were a fish I would have thrown him back in the water”. The good news is though, he is not a fish, and I am glad because I would have missed so much. J is the best husband I could ever ask for. My favorite thing about him, if I had to pick, is his integrity. I feel like we are finally learning how to express our love for each other and my love tank is full! If you would have seen me at the mall yesterday you would have caught me beaming, maybe even floating. I have tried to pinpoint what this feeling was. What is this thing that I have, for various reasons, never really allowed myself to feel for the longest time? Then it occurred to me. I can feel his adoration. I have learned how to be adored and it feels good.

I shared about Ezie’s first birthday last month, but it was all about the party. I definitely need to get caught up on his latest milestones before he takes off into toddler hood.

I can’t believe how much Ezie has changed in the past month (maybe I should just copy paste that sentence into all of the one month updates at this age).

At 11 months he said his first word. It’s hard to say which one came first because sometimes he is imitating, and sometimes it’s an approximation, or you think he may be babbling. Or maybe I am over analyzing because I do speech therapy everyday.

Anyway, here is a list of the words he can say

bye bye
uh oh
ma ma
da da
bubbles
ball
stop
beep

He has also taken his first steps and is on the verge of walking. We started doing the step counting. I don’t know if anyone else does this, but first you count how many seconds they stand without falling. Then when they even lift a foot and move it an inch that counts as the first step. Every time they attempt walking from then on you see if they can break their previous record. Z and I have counted up to 17 steps, but crawling is still his forte for now.

Last month I reported Ezie’s love for straws, but he is really into more complex play now. He likes to put on other peoples shoes, or take my keys and try to put them in the door, or act like everything is a phone and talk on it. It is absolutely one of my hearts greatest joys to see him explore and discover the world around him. And that is where the hormones come in.

Admittedly, if you would have talked to me right after he turned one you would have caught me at an emotional time. I NEVER lamented my other two kids growing up and doing new things, but this baby has been different. I have been through so much change already that I really felt like having him as a baby, like he had been for the past year, was the best thing for me. I knew it was not realistic, but baby Ezie was so easy to handle. He didn’t resist direction, he didn’t have an opinion, he mostly just sat there and looked cute, and I was okay with that. Of course I wanted him to grow and develop in a healthy way! I was just struggling with the idea of chasing a toddler around while already being exhausted as it is.  I just have had to trust God to believe that it was even doable at all. That’s how I felt, and granted I may feel that way again on certain days, but the Lord has a way of molding a mother’s heart and I feel completely different about it now.

The other day Ezie put a box on his head and would crawl around like that until he bumped into something (or the box fell off) then he would say “uh oh” and repeat the whole process all over again. This month as I watch Ezie try to join in during playtime with his siblings, or I heard him sing, or saw him stand up on his own, or dance, I remembered that this is actually one of my favorite ages and I am so looking forward to this next year! I can’t wait for him to be a full blown walking talking toddler.

Then I think about him being two, but I stop, because right now I have a whole year before I have to worry about enjoying that stage.