Happy 2 months!

Graeme was two months old today! We don't go for his 2 month check-up until December 14th, so I don't have all his stats. Here is a cutie picture of our 2 month old though!

Thankfulness

I have so much to be thankful for this year. I could go on and on; but for simplicity sake; lets just say I am most thankful for Christ and his finished work on the cross, my incredible husband, my two beautiful children here with us on earth, and our son we are excited to meet in Heaven one day. We had a GREAT weekend of eating with both sides of the family, and then getting our Christmas tree!!! I am super excited the Advent season has started; and I am going to take the challenge from church today to praise him like I never have before.

Just a few pictures from Graeme's first Thanksgiving.

One more post tonight

I know I just posted but I feel like I want to post again tonight. And the last post was about a song, and this one is as well. I mentioned several weeks ago that everyone needs to leave your house now and buy Steven Curtis Chapman's "Beauty Will Rise." I am still urging that by the way! All of the songs have spoken familiarity, truth, and encouragement into my life recently; but I have been grappling with one in particular.

"Beauty Will Rise"

It was the day the world went wrong
I screamed til my voice was gone
And watched through the tears as everything
Came crashing down

Slowly panic turns to pain
As we awake to what remains
And sift through the ashes
That are left behind

But buried deep beneath
All our broken dreams we have this hope

Out of these ashes beauty will rise
And we will dance among the ruins
We will see it with our own eyes
Out of these ashes beauty will rise
For we know joy is coming in the morning
In the morning, beauty will rise

So take another breath for now
And let the tears come washing down
And if you can't believe, I will believe for you

Cause I have seen the signs of spring
Just watch and see

Out of these ashes beauty will rise
And we will dance among the ruins
We will see it with our own eyes
Out of these ashes beauty will rise
For we know joy is coming in the morning
In the morning

I can hear it in the distance
And it's not too far away
It's the music and the laughter
Of a wedding and a feast
I can almost feel the hand of God
Reaching for my face to wipe the tears away
You say it's time to make everything new
Make it all new

This is our hope
This is a promise
This is our hope
This is a promise

It will take our breath away
To see the beauty that's been made
Out of the ashes, out of the ashes

It will take our breath away
To see the beauty that He's made
Out of the ashes, out of the ashes

Out of these ashes
Beauty will rise
And we will dance among the ruins
We will see it with our own eyes
Out of this darkness
New light will shine
And we'll know the joy that's coming in the morning
In the morning
Beauty will rise

Oh, beauty will rise
Oh, oh, oh, beauty will rise
Oh, oh, oh, beauty will rise
Oh, oh, oh, beauty will rise

This concept of beauty for ashes has always been a favorite of mine; in both aspects of the beauty of the second coming (we will become new creations), as well as beauty that sometimes comes out of our earthly trials and sufferings. Shane and Shane have a pretty incredible song called "Beauty for Ashes" as well. There have been plenty of songs written about this idea; but I can't seem to quit listening to this latest one. I have never heard a more authentic cry from the heart than I do while listening to this CD. In fact, he even states in the CD jacket, that they released voice recordings from a impromptu voice session in a hotel room one night.

I can't help but wonder, where is the beauty in Kenan's death? Are we even promised tangible earthly beauty from every "pile of ashes" in our life? What has come out of that situation that I can call beauty? Learning Christ is the only thing you need or want when you hit rock bottom is definitely beauty, but I can't honestly say I live in that daily. I "head" know it all day long. I "heart" know it 98% of the time, but there are days when he isn't my one and only desire. Therefore, is that really beauty if I haven't attained that yet?

No matter whether the beauty just hasn't been seen yet, or hasn't been created yet; I'm ready for it to "take my breath away," once I find it.

Here we go again

I think last year, my CD player could have played Bebo's latest Christmas album without the CD actually being in the player from memory! ha Well, this year I don't think it will be much different. There will most definitely be some Bebo, Alan (Sus, I am excitedly awaiting our annual car ride!), and of course the classics like Frosty and Rudolph. The only difference this year is that we will be adding Downhere to our repertoire. All you musical gurus (aka, the entire Clendenin family plus my sister); may have heard of this group before; but they are new to me. Andrew and I heard them on the way home from church the other day and I'm totally and utterly hooked. You know me and my month long jags of one CD; well this one might be a multiple months jag!

My absolute favorite so far is the song "How Many Kings?" Ummm, amazing lyrics AND I love the sound of this song. Look it up on youtube. I don't know how to post the video, but you NEED to hear this song.

DOWNHERE LYRICS – How Many Kings

Follow the star to a place unexpected
Would you believe after all we’ve projected
A child in a manger

Lowly and small, the weakest of all
Unlikeliness hero, wrapped in his mothers shawl
Just a child
Is this who we’ve waited for?

Cause how many kings, stepped down from their thrones?
How many lords have abandoned their homes?
How many greats have become the least for me?
How many Gods have poured out their hearts
To romance a world that has torn all apart?
How many fathers gave up their sons for me?

Bringing our gifts for the newborn savior
All that we have whether costly or meek
Because we believe
Gold for his honor and frankincense for his pleasure
And myrrh for the cross he’ll suffer
Do you believe, is this who we’ve waited for?
It’s who we’ve waited for

How many kings, stepped down from their thrones?
How many lords have abandoned their homes?
How many greats have become the least for me?
How many Gods have poured out their hearts
To romance a world that has torn all apart?
How many fathers gave up their sons for me?
Only one did that for me

All for me
All for you
All for me
All for you

Football team anyone?

So, Susanna thinks the "Clendenin" family is trying to make our own football team! ha We found out last night that Paul and Lydia are having a boy!!! We are so thankful to hear that baby boy Collins is healthy and already a BIG boy. I told Lydia she sure knows how to grow them! ha We are so excited and thankful for this precious babe of Lydia and Pauls! We love you guys. Congratulations!!!

Bob, the Plump and Perky Turkey

Ceilidh has decided she is naming her Thanksgiving turkey, "Bob, the Plump and Perky Turkey." I have no idea where Bob came from, but she has loved reading the book entitled "The Plump and Perky Turkey." ha I have been trying to explain to her the origins of Thanksgiving and decided to make an Indian Headdress the other day. She looked adorable. She even begged to wear it to biblestudy the next morning! The nursery workers didn't know what to think when I dropped her off! ha

Yesterday my friend, Karie, invited us over to make Tom Tom cupcakes. ADORABLE!!! She always has such cute ideas! Ceilidh enjoyed making them, and I enjoyed eating them! Thanks for thinking about us Karie!


Just a cutie picture of Andrew Jr. ha


Graeme during the cupcake decorating


Benjamin enjoying the spoils of cupcake decorating


Karie's adorable model


Ceilidh's cupcake




Emma's cupcake




Karie

"Rock a bye baby...."

Babies, babies, babies everywhere! The count is now up to 13 women I know (between family, school friends, Baity Hill friends, and bible study); all delivering between January 30th and April 17th!! That is a lot of babes, and I LOVE it!! This weekend however, it was Kristen, Jared, and baby Dakota's turn to be celebrated! I will post pictures in a little while. I am on the non-picture computer, and have the sweetest baby boy nestled on my chest right now. Therefore, I am not moving b/c I know these moments don't last long!

We had a great time just sitting around catching up with everyone and getting excited about Dakota's arrival. These next 3 1/2 weeks are going to FLY by... hopefully at least for Kristen! ha Everyone pitched in with yummy appetizers and Mel created a fantastic diaper cake for decoration! The party would not have been complete without a few rounds of baby scattegories. Of course, Steph, having no children would win! haha I am still pretty impressed Steph! wink

Thanks again to everyone who was able to come, especially Steph and Mel who drove many hours to come! We missed you guys who were busy this weekend. Can't wait to post about the big day when Dakota makes her grand appearance!

Slacking

Sorry to Susanna for not posting a Birthday Wish! I can't always get to blogging during the day; and then once the day has passed, I sometimes forget to go back and post what I wanted to write about. That being said, I think I am going to stop posting bdays and anniversaries so as not to leave anyone out (besides my own family of 4). One last shout out though to Chris and Neisha. Happy 8th anniversary today!! I love you guys!

Clearing the camera

Tomorrow we are celebrating Baby DRC at a baby shower for Kristen; so I had to clear the camera tonight. I can't believe how old my Ceilidh looks!!! Where did the last 2 1/2 years go?!












This is a video of Graeme's first smile! I hate it isn't a clearer picture. Guess you will just have to see it in person!

Big Updates

I finally got a minute to sit down and blog; thank you Curious George! ha Everyone has had a good week so far. That is really exciting to say! ha

Ceilidh has actually taken a nap once or twice, even if it was only an hour or so. Even cooler than that though, she has been blowing my mind with her "reading" (memorization) of ALL her books; both her own and library. She has been "reading" her rhyming books for awhile now word for word. Last night though, she started reciting one of her library books that was a complete 15 page story without any rhyming words! It was pretty amazing. If she couldn't do the page word for word she would only miss one or two words. It is so fun to watch her little mind develop.

More exciting than watching her mind develop, is watching her spirit develop! Monday morning, Ceilidh asked Jesus to live in her heart!!!! It was the sweetest conversation I have ever had in my entire life. We were driving down the road from a doctor's appointment, and totally out of the blue she says, "Mommy, Jesus loves me SOOOOO much." I said "yes, thats right." We then had to go through everyone else Jesus' loves including all family and friends! ha She then states but in a questioning way, "God is Jesus' Daddy." "Yes buddy, thats right." Ceilidh then says, "Jesus lives in our hearts." I told her that yes he could if we wanted him to, we just had to ask him. She actually told me that she wanted to ask him to live in her heart! We talked in simple terms about the cross and prayed a prayer of salvation together! How incredibly cool that the Lord allowed me to be involved in this incredible moment. Now before all you theologians start "nay saying"; we are totally aware that this is something we have to continue to talk to her about and explaining more as she continues to get older and understand more. The bible clearly states though, that we adults should have faith like a child. There is definitely something to her bringing it up totally out of the blue, and wanting Jesus to be apart of her life. I am so proud of her. I am even more thankful to God that he is already answering our prayers for our children to come to an understanding of him early in life!

Little Graeme is doing well also! He had his first month check-up on Monday. This little boy weighs a whooping 10lbs 14oz! He is almost 11 pounds! This is such a new thing to have a big baby! ha Ceilidh was so little. Graeme is also in the 75% for height right now. We are so glad for a good report all the way around!

I've also had a good week, due to the flowers I received from my wonderful husband on Monday! woohoo
Ceilidh is "starving" (her words! ha), for breakfast, so I will stop for now. Quickly though, you need to leave your house right now and go buy the new "Beauty Will Rise" CD by Steven Curtis Chapman. Andrew and I have had it playing non-stop since Sunday afternoon. All the songs were written after his five(?) year old daughter Maria died. I have lots to say about each song, but not enough time or emotional energy to do that right now. Just trust me, go buy it. You won't be disappointed.

I am currently obsessed with coupon"ing!" It is pretty sad how excited I get when I find a really good one! ha I am so sad I missed HT's triple coupon week. Now that I have a better understanding of how all this works; Saving money, here I come! If you are interested, my favorite websites at this point are:
www.southernsavers.com
www.retailmenot.com
www.couponmountain.com

Ok, she is "REALLY STARVING" now! ha

Another 2010 baby!

So excited to share that Nicole, Tim, and Hudson are expecting a new addition!!! Nicole joins a list of 6 other women I know that are expecting in 2010, and 3 of them are due in the month of April! Nicole is one of my favorite people in the whole world; so naturally I love her babies as well! ha We will have to wait until April to know Baby Carey's sex and name. She is much stronger than I am! ha

Congratulations Tim and Nicole!!! I love you guys!

Oh, and congrats to the proud grandparents, Sam and Debbie as well!

"Lets go to Halloween"

So, Andrew and I still haven't figured out how we are going to handle the whole Halloween thing yet... but decided this year, since we are living in the middle of kids central, we would participate in a "dress up day." She just saw so much about it on her shows, decorations, even some of her books; that we decided to explain it to her as a day to have fun dressing up. I know people have very different and very strong opinions about this Holiday. For us, it just doesn't make sense to spend money (costumes, candy, etc) on a Holiday that doesn't promote anything we want to encourage in her life. (Sidenote: Strictly my opinion, not a judgement of any kind.) That being said, kids are adorable in costumes, and she is still young enough to have a "dress up" night with lots of treats! ha

Our community had a Halloween Bash at the community house with games and food. Ceilidh had a BLAST! She stood at our window and watched all the kids walking up the hill for the 30 minutes prior to the party starting. She was so excited, that she kept yelling, "My 'fiends' are going to the party! Lets go to Halloween!" ha I think she thought the whole night that Halloween was a place, and that place was the community building. She made a mask, 'fished' for candy, pumpkin bowled, played pass the pumpkin, and watched a pinata break. After the party, we went trick or treating through the halls of the buildings. It was getting late, so we only did a few halls. She thought it was the coolest thing to knock on someone else's door and then get candy! ha The coolest "treat" she got were Dora stickers. What a great idea! What kid doesn't like Dora and Diego? ha The sour patches were mommy's favorite though.

Overall, we had a really fun night. It was so much fun to watch her excitement. Graeme hung out in a football sleeper. He was an aspiring football player. (Thanks Neisha and Chris... it is adorable!)