Conversations Part II

Scenario A: I was putting Jayden's jacket on and accidentally knocked his book off his lap.

Jayden: Mommy, you say "excuse me book."

Me: Oh...well I'm sorry. Excuse me book I need to put Jayden's jacket on.

Jayden: Thank you mommy.

Scenario B: Demetrius had just finished making coffee in his new French Press he got for Christmas and he was sitting down in the living room with his cup of coffee. Jayden, with much confusion and a little sarcasm says...

"Mommy, where's your coffee?"

Apparently if daddy is drinking coffee then mommy is drinking coffee. This kid likes things to be the SAME way all the time. Funny.

Scenario C: We are driving home from a birthday party and we are a few minutes down the road when Jayden very seriously says...

Jayden: "Daddy PUT on your SEATBELT."

Demetrius: Ok Jayden thanks for reminding me.

Christmas with GG, Auntie and Uncle Brian

D's family came in a few days after Christmas so we got to do it all over again! (Thanks for taking the crazy long trip down here and for staying and enjoying the kids!) Again, not many pictures of everyone but we did capture the kids with their favorites. Journey got another stroller. She (and all of the other kiddos in our house) LOVE to push just about anything in the baby strollers.

Um...i could get used to this!

Jayden got a big boy bike from Demetrius' family. We thought for sure it would be a year before he could ride it. But, much to our surprise he asked to get on it a few days ago and rode it down the sidewalk to our neighbors house.

Christmas with the Kelloggs

Pop and Journey Girl....my parents, grandmother and sister came for Christmas Eve, Christmas and a few extra days. It was great having them and we are so thankful they came all the way down here to be with us.

Jayden with his Pop...this boy loves some Pop! For some crazy reason we didn't get any pictures of mom, nanny or my sister Angie. Sad.

Jayden with his first best friend Lapo. He is our neighbor and they play together A LOT! We have even been asked if they are twins by a random passer-by. Here they are on Christmas day...just doing what they do-riding their matching tricycles.

Doing their signature dance.

The Merry Christmas Post

Daddy and his girl on Christmas Day.

She was a little unsure about all the picture taking but she did love opening presents.

Rock star Jayden with his new acoustic guitar.

Priceless look on his face when he saw his guitar under the Christmas tree.

Journey's favorite...a purse (really a diaper caddy). She stuffs it full and carries it around like a little mama.

CHEESE!

"Munch" (aka Lunch)

Gabbie...just being sweet Gabbie.

Jocelyn feeding her babies lunch.

I posted these of Jayden and Journey to give props to IKEA for the super cool functional bibs. $2.99 for a pack of two. My kids won't ever wear bibs (and Jayden doesn't need one he just didn't want to be left out :) BUT Journey thinks it's a shirt so she doesn't try to rip it off. Oh, and we got a French Press coffee maker at IKEA for $9.99!!!

My New Favorite Passage...words to live by.

"If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings."

Arkansas?

Here are some pictures from my girls trip to Arkansas. I went with my 3 best friends from college and Portia's best friend from high school (Tiana, who is now officially my friend too).

We went to the botanical gardens for some amazing Christmas lights. They also had a chapel that was glass and wood beams only. The walls were glass...talk about beautiful!

Ah...to be together again. It's always so good to be with these sweet friends.

Portia and I at the airport in Little Rock. Waiting for Julia to arrive.

We stayed at Rachel's family's condo in Hot Springs. She is sporting her two little puppies in that bag. They travel with her everywhere and no one even knows they're there. They are such good puppies.

Our view from the condo.

The bath houses make Hot Springs famous. We spent about 3 hours in the "healing" waters of the QuaPaw Baths. There were four pools of HOT spring water and basically people just come and hang out in their swimsuits and enjoy the natural warmth of the waters. We felt amazing when we left there!

The average water temp of the springs is 140F. All over the city you will see steam rising out of random places. Overall, it was a great trip. But, I won't be leaving my hubby and kids behind next time. After 2 days I was more than ready for them to join us.

I've been waiting for this...

My favorite things people blog about are conversations with their kids. I've been in Hot Springs, Arkansas all last week (post on that later) but Demetrius had an awesome convo with Jayden that I thought was share-worthy. Demetrius was laying in our bed....

Jayden: Daddy I need milk.

Demetrius: Ok go get me your cup.

Jayden: Ok daddy I got my cup. Hop up, I need milk.

Demetrius: Ok Jayden, wait a minute.

Jayden: Hop up Daddy. Milk.

Demetrius: Ok

As Jayden leads Demetrius into the kitchen he turns around and says...

Jayden: Thank you Daddy. Thanks for obeying.

Do EVERYTHING without Complaining...

I'm a complainer. Self proclaimed and otherwise (just ask my sweet husband). It's something that I am dealing with and desire to be free from. Lately we have been telling Jayden not to complain. When he starts whining (like most/all 2 year olds) we remind him by saying "please don't complain." I want to show him what it looks like to live honestly but "to do everything without complaining or groaning." I want him to learn to have a thankful heart. Funny how you see your own behavior in your kids.

I'm coming to realize that the opposite of a complaining heart is a grateful one. I have so much to be grateful for in my life...and honestly very little to legitimately complain about.

I wanted to share a link to a girl's blog I've been following (ok I'm stalking her). Her name is Katie (her boyfriend Ben is on the track team at Univ of FL), she's 21 years old and she bought a house in Uganda (where she lives with her 14 daughters) and started a ministry to orphans and the poorest Ugandan families. Her faith is remarkable and her love for her "neighbor" is inspiring. The blog is also a reality check for me. There is real, hard core, legitimate, seemingly unending suffering going on all around her and she gives her readers a glimpse of it....while be grateful and even cheerful (yet HONEST).

http://kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com/

Elf Yourself-Can view until 1-15-10

I'm sure you've all done the "elf yourself" videos. My mom sent this to us and of course we laughed hysterically. Jayden and Journey dancing hip hop to "jingle bells."

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/1fiqFfjLFPk7OOeS5cDt

December :)

What's up.

Just doing what I do...chillin.'

I know this isn't a good picture but I wanted to make sure I got one photo of Journey in winter attire. Yep, it was cold for part of one whole day. Don't worry...it's back in the 80s.

This was taken at some seminary friends house (Sandy and Heather) during a Christmas brunch. We had a blast and the kids enjoyed some extra time with Daddy. If you look closely you can see Journey's bald spots. She has started pulling her hair out in clumps. Nice...so I trimmed it today in hopes that she won't be able to get ahold of it to pull it out. By the time I cut it, it was quite thin and she only had hair in the middle/top of her head.

My sister Angie came to hang out for a few days. She also brought ornaments for our Christmas tree. Thanks sis! (Don't we look alike:)

Did you know? Me either. Now we do.

• every 1 second a woman dies from complications in child birth
• every 5 seconds a child dies from hunger related complications
• every 15 seconds a child dies as a result of unclean drinking water
• every 30 seconds a child dies of malaria

"Fifteen thousand Africans are dying each day of preventable, treatable diseases-AIDS, malaria, TB-for lack of drugs that we take for granted. This statistic alone makes a fool of the idea many of us hold on to very tightly: the idea of equality. What is happening in Africa mocks our pieties, doubts our concern and questions our commitment to the whole concept. Because if we're honest, there's no way we could conclude that such mass death day after day would ever be allowed to happen anywhere else. Certainly not North America, Europe or Japan. An entire continent bursting into flames? Deep down, if we really accept that their lives-African lives-are equal to ours, we would all be doing more to put the fire out. It's an uncomfortable truth." -taken from: The hole in our gospel.

This part of the book impacted me because a young couple in our church has a baby that has been diagnosed with a fatal disease and I have been so sick about it. I have woken up at night praying for them as my heart aches to consider their pain. It's so much easier to identify with one child as opposed to 26,000 children who die every day (every day?) in African countries.

"Don't fail to do something just because you can't do everything." Bob Pierce

Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless;
maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Psalm 82:3

Some good come-backs....

In light of my last post I'd love to hear some good come-backs. You know how sometimes you walk away from a stranger and say "man, I wish I would have said ________."

I met a lady at the YMCA a few days ago that has 5 kids (the youngest two are twins). She said many times people in public will ask her, "did you want all those kids." Ummm, no not really just the first three. Or many of my friends with twins hear people ask, "are they fertility?" Ummm, no they are children and that is actually a really personal question. A friend of a friend has a biracial (asian/american) child and someone at a church function asked her, "when did you get him." Ummm, about a second after I gave birth to him. Someone asked me a few weeks ago if my children had the same father. Ummm, yes but that really is none of your business.

We were having this discussion in my small group at church and a few good, straight-to-the-point come backs were shared. I love them and maybe you will too the next time someone says something dumb to you about your family :)

"Did you forget to think before you said that."
"Where those inside words that accidentally came out."

If you have any other good ones...please share!

On a lighter note....maybe.

Something has been bothering me for a while. My kids have some obvious differences. The most frequently mentioned is their hair. Strangers and friends alike comment on (compliment) Jayden's hair all the time. I think he is absolutely stunning and handsome and I think a lot of times most people mean well. I do really appreciate the positive way people respond to our kids in public, it is a great reminder that people are accepting of our racially mixed family. I also think some comments reveal some hidden racial preferences about beauty.

When I have both of my kids together and all I hear is how beautiful his blonde hair is (or how beautiful he is in general), it bothers me. Not because he's not beautiful (or unique...I get that) but because she (with her dark kinky hair) is too. Someone has literally said to Jayden, "how did you get to be the lucky one with all that blonde hair." I just wonder how Journey will interpret those comments? I'm not sure how else she could other than thinking darker hair, skin, etc. is not as pretty as light skin and blonde hair.

Sounds like I'm succumbing to the age old argument that "people shouldn't mix races because it's just hard on the kids." I am aware that my kids could potentially face some hard questions in life. I cringe at the thought and also welcome it. My response to the many, many people who have asked that age old question is this...."As Christians, is our primary responsibility to teach our kids what is easy or what it right."

In the image of God he created them.