12 + 12 + 12 + 1

I started to write that February was my favorite month, but that is really not true.  I like every month for a different reason.  And although the urge to list all the reasons is strong, I will stay focused and move forward...This was not my birthday cake, but we did enjoy it at the Blue & Gold banquet Sunday evening.  The assistant den leader's wife made it. In case it is not obvious, the theme was Legos. Parker and Macy especially enjoyed eating Lego marshmallows.

This was my birthday cake.....

I've had some incredible birthday cakes through the years, but nothing beats the homemade goodness of chocolate sheet cake.  It wasn't until we lived in Texas that I heard it called Texas sheet cake.  Texans are a proud bunch and everything pretty much revolves around the Lone Star state.  Nevertheless, I only got one piece. I have always shared my birthday weekend with Pa who turned 85 on Tuesday.  I know for a fact that the birthday boy had more than one piece.  :)  The next afternoon, no one admitted they had eaten the rest of the birthday cake.  For the record, fourth of it was left Saturday night.  So what is a birthday girl to do?  Make another one, of course!  If you don't understand the importance of more than one piece of chocolate sheet cake, come on over & I'll share...

Macy

Here is what our girl normally looks like:

 Macy is always ready to go bye-bye!  She loves to deliver Parker and I to school in the mornings - at least until we get out of the car.  But we blow kisses as Tony peels out of the parking lot...This is the best Macy has looked in a week.  Our baby got a viral infection, saw the dr. on Tuesday, visited the ER Friday evening, finally slept the whole night after 7 nights of coughing, crying, and Wonder Pets marathons with Daddy from 2 to 4 in the morning....

Our Sleet Day By The Numbers

4 loads of laundry
3 loads of dishes
3 kids - our neighbor spent the day playing with Parker
2 cups of coffee
2 loaves of banana nut bread made
1 book finished
1 Diet Coke
1 new widget - see Kids Eat Free! :)

Profound thought #2

After 9 inches of snow, a snow day, and Tony saying if you want to go, all of us will get in the car and go with you, I called and cancelled a doctor's appointment that I had been waiting 3 months for.  When the receptionist said I would have to wait another 8 weeks, I said "Don't cancel my appointment.  I'll call you back."  Tony relented and said I could go alone but with lots of warnings - be careful, be very careful, be extremely careful.  At 11:00, the roads were still pretty treacherous, but between 30 to 50 miles per hour, I had plenty of time to think and listen to my Inspirational playlist on my Ipod (Yes, Tony, I turned it on before I pulled out of the garage.)  I was amazed as I traveled that the roads could be a hard packed grayish white and then be a smooth black a minute later.  After cruising a stretch of smooth black, I was facing two hills on Highway 40. I could see from the top that way down was clear and easy but the valley was full of muck but the way back up was clear.  Please let me get through the valley was my quick prayer.  Then a profound thought hit me.  Isn't life just like that?  You're doing just fine, your loved ones are doing just fine, and then all of a sudden you're in a pile of muck. You can spend a lot of time in the valley and the only way out is uphill.  Thankfully, we never leave the valley alone.  God uses our family, our friends, and even strangers to push us out of the valley and back up the hill. 

My profound thought for the new year...maybe my only one for the whole year

As you may know, we have been wrestling with Macy sleeping in her crib.  She goes down usually without a fuss, but a few hours later she is screaming at the top of the her lungs.  We've tried a variety of tricks.  Macy's personal favorite is when we surrender & let her sleep with us.  Since she is in the 95 percentile for her height and has mastered a 360 degree spin in bed, Tony & I wake up tired and a tad cranky.  One of our numerous resolutions was to get Macy to sleep through the night in her crib. 
Tonight as I put her down, I offered to do "100 minutes" like we do with Parker (that is a whole other story).  Laying on her pillow pet, snuggled in her crotchet blanket, I held her hand through the crib bars.  As I listened to her breathe,  I had my profound thought.  None of us want to face the darkness alone.  We want to be swaddled in the security of our loved ones.  We may not know what the darkness holds, but we trust that the ones who love us will be there until the morning light.

You too?

I blinked, turned around twice, and it was gone!  When I was young, it seemed the four weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas stretched into the longest 4 weeks of the whole year.  Now that I am one of Santa's many helpers, those 4 weeks fly by faster than you can sing the Twelve Days of Christmas.  Despite all of our attempts to be organized, wrapped, & ready, Elf Tony & I only managed 2 and a half hours of sleep on Christmas Eve.  To make matters even funnier, in a sleep-deprived fog I deleated all my cute Christmas Eve pics.  Yes, worse than getting coal Christmas morning, is a mother without record of her labor.  Christmas morning, I threw in the towel.  Besides who really wants their picture taken in their pjs with bed hair?  I consoled (kidded) myself that I was living in the moment and not taking pictures of the moment.  Do you buy that?  I don't either.  But it sure sounded good Christmas morning....I hope you had a very merry time and a lot more sleep!

Becky Kelley - Where's the Line to See Jesus - OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO

I am so proud of myself - not because I had anything to do witb this video, but because I got it on my blog!  Whoo-hoo!  We worship with Becky and her extended family.  We love them all but especially her mom and dad.  Her mom teaches the twos and threes with her sister (We love Nancy too!).  These ladies have been teaching that class FOREVER.  Now we know the twos and threes make us laugh and remind us of why Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me....For the kingdom of God belongs to such as these."  Nevertheless, after teaching King's Kids for four years, I confess there are some Sundays, I long for the peace of worship,  But then I think of Ann and Nancy who have taught these kiddos FOREVER and I just shut that inner voice up!  I tell myself - serve like these ladies serve: quietly, without recoginition, and joyfully.  We love Mr. Steve for a lot of different reasons.  One being how he has become a part of Parker's story.  Parker looks for Mr. Steve every Sunday for his magic trick.  Bless Mr. Steve because he preforms every Sunday with a smile on his face.  It's a little thing.  But has such a huge effect. By making time for Parker and all the other kids who also love the magic trick, he tells them this is what it means to be a part of God's family.  The family always has time for you and is happy to see you.  I know that Mr. Steve will be a part of Parker's faith story.  We also love that next to Santa, Mr. Steve is the star of our Breakfast with Santa.  We can always count on him to be the life of the party with his keyboard!  He wrote this song!  He is just amazingly talented!  Finally, we love the little star at the end of the video. :)  We look forward to her reply to the Question of the Day.  She always says something precious.  When we review our Sunday morning on the way home from church, we listen to Parker's version, try to guess Macy's, and always remember the little star's answer and smile.  Parker gets a kick out of it too.  Anyway, this is my very little part to bless Becky on this road she is on.  Now, do your part and pass it on! :)