"Are you SERIOUS?!"

Finally, an update! Yes, a new post is being posted. And in honor of the tradition of our previous posts, I thought I'd share this.

Aaron, Ellie and I were at home for lunch. Aaron is preparing the lunch, I am sorting the mail and Ellie is watching a Fraggle Rock episode, when she turns and asks quietly, "Can you help me with my nose?"

"AWESOME!" I think. "She's asking for help with her boogies instead of digging for them herself. This is a good sign!"

I take over the lunch duties while Aaron assists with the nose blowing. I am picking off grapes from the stem when I hear Aaron exclaim, "Are you SERIOUS?!" Well, of course I am curious, so I go over to investigate. And yes, Ellie has blown out something huge and green out of her nose. She can definitely breath better now! The evidence of her nasal effort is nestled in the crease of the kleenex ... a green Polly Pocket shoe covered in snot. Are you SERIOUS?!? And I, being the good mother that I am, walked over to the kitchen counter to laugh while Aaron discussed the dangers of putting toys up our noses.



~JG

FUEL @CLC - Silence and Solitude

At Christian Life Center this week we are starting a series called "FUEL". The adults, the youth, the kids, small groups...we are aligning everything for six weeks to start the year off.


The series discusses Fuel for our souls - godly habits that we should develop in our lives. This week is Silence and Solitude.

As a pastoral staff we are writing devotions to be emailed out each day (you can sign up for them here), and I thought I'd share mine with you for the week (a preview copy!):

I have two children – Caleb, age 4 ½, and Ellie, almost 3. They are the essence of energy. Anyone that has children, or has been around children, knows how they can run circles around you and still have more energy later…long after yours is depleted.

That being said, I love to play with my kids! Ellie loves when I play princess with her (I don’t dress up like the princess…I am the prince) – we dance the Sleeping Beauty waltz, we try on glass slippers, we’re upset at the mean stepsisters – it fills up her love tank! Caleb loves when I fly spaceships and airplanes around the house, build new train tracks with his Thomas set, or just wrestle with him in the living room. These are things my kids love, and I do them because it helps my children understand how much I love and cherish them.

But do you know what I love? I love to sit with my kids at night and read them a story. I love to hold them close in the morning when they wake up and tell them how much I love them. I love when they look me in the eyes and listen carefully when I have something special to tell them. These things show me that they love me.

There are things I can’t tell them in the middle of a game of hide and seek. Some things they won’t hear and understand when we’re outside swinging or playing in the snow. Sometimes they need to be still and just listen to hear the good things I want to tell them.

When I saw some of Pastor Del’s main verses this week I thought of these things.

Psalm 131:2, “I have stilled and quieted my soul.”

Psalm 46:10, “Be still and know that I am God.”

Remember to take time out of your comings and goings to just be still with the best-Father-of-them-all and see what He has in store for you!

God bless!
AG

The Sweetest Gift of Christmas

I must say, Ellie has given me the best Christmas gift of all (other than Jesus of course) ... being potty trained. WOOHOO! How sweeeeeeeet it is! Sing it with me (to the tune of "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth"...

"All mommy wants for Christmas is no diapers
no diapers, yes no diapers!
If I don't have to change anymore diapers ...
Then I'll have a super duper Christmas!"

HUZZAH!

Yup, she's been in underwear all week and she's been DRY. And just the past 2 days, she's started telling us when she has to go potty! We've been out shopping plenty and she's been dry all through it. We are pretty excited!!!

And here's a cute picture of the "big girl" to celebrate!


Merry Christmas to us!!! No more diapers (except at bed)! YEAH!
~JG

Little things

Well, here are the little things of life.

1. We are growing Ellie's bangs out. We have entered the world of headbands, barretts, etc. How long will this ordeal be? Only her hair (and God) knows.

2. I gave up the potty training that I have been trying the past few days ... for both our sakes. She doesn't seem to get it, and I don't have the patience. I did finally find training underwear ... and they will be waiting for her in a few weeks or months. I don't like diapers ... but I dislike wet underwear (and worse) much more.

3. I took Ellie to the doctor this morning and she has some sort of bronchitis thing (I probably have the same thing - my doctor's appt. is tomorrow morning). So we went to Target and got her prescription and hopefully that will cure her cough. Poor thing has been coughing for almost a month now. Last night she woke up at midnight with a temperature, so she crawled into bed with me. At 2am she finally fell asleep. Then Caleb woke up missing daddy (who is on a trip to TN). Rough night for all of us. Tomorrow morning I go to the doctor and will hopefully get some medicine to cure MY hacking cough. Enough is enough!

4. Looking forward to my Grandma, aunt and uncle coming in town! They arrive tomorrow (it's a busy day!). Yeah!

5. Watched the movie Up!. Wonderful! I cried 11 minutes into it both times we watched it.

That's about all. Time to put Caleb down to an early bed (Ellie's already down). Yeah!

~JG

Star Wars in Concert

Tonight Aaron and I (along with Dick and Darlene and our friend Bryan) went to the SUPER AWESOME Star Wars in Concert at the Wachovia Center in Philly. Again ... AWESOME!!! The Royal Philharmonic played Star Wars music from all 6 movies accompanied by scenes from the movies on a massive screen overhead ... and in between each song Anthony Daniels (aka C3PO) narrated live! He has such a cool voice and expressive face. It was the best concert ever!





In addition, around the rim of the Wachovia Center were various props and costumes from the movies - Chewbacca, an original score of music from John Williams, prop guns, and my favorite - Queen Amidala's costume when she visited the Senate (see the picture!), etc. There was also "licensed Star Wars in Concert" stuff to buy ... t-shirts for $35 and such. I did NOT purchase the $50 Princess Leia hoodie! But it was really cool!




Perhaps my favorite part of the music was the Darth Vader sequence (see the movie below) showing his redemption. After all, that is the heart of Star Wars - the rise, tragic fall and ultimate redemption of a man. The need and search for redemption lies in every heart for it is placed there by God. And our need for redemption is so powerful that 6 blockbuster movies were made about it. Watching the images and listening to the music, I am reminded how thankful I am for my redemption given to me by Jesus.





Perhaps the funniest thing about the concert was all the people that came dressed in costumes! Kids came with their parents and we saw little storm troopers, jedi's and fighter pilots ... and many many lightsabers. One family came dressed up - the mom was Princess Leia (complete with bun hairdo ... with glowlights around each bun) and the dad draped himself rather well with Christmas lights ... the kids were little jedis.

On the way home, we were behind a minivan that had a little lightsaber duel going on inside! It was dark and all we could see were a green and blue lightsaber going at it in the minivan (what was being said inside we could only wonder ... "If you don't put those lightsabers down this minute, so help me, I will pull this car over and ..."). What a funny end to the night!

Yes, the Wachovia Center full of crazy Star Wars fans and we had a fabulous evening!!! So GLAD we went!

~JG

Ignorance is Bliss

After saying prayers with Ellie tonight, I left to get some vaseline since above and below her lips are chapped (from sucking on them). As I put on the vaseline, she was pursing her mouth in a ever-so-slightly odd way and I had that "mommy intuition." So I asked her, "Ellie, are you eating boogies?" And she opened her mouth, stuck out her tongue, and right there was the biggest hard boogie ever. Disgusting! And even more disgusting was that I groaned and picked it off her tongue to throw in the trash! Sigh. What we mothers do.

I should have ignored my intuition and let her eat her boogie.

~JG

I want to remember . . .

Last night at dinner, Aaron and I were downloading about our days and the kids were eating (somewhat) quietly. All of the sudden, Ellie pipes up, "Mommy, thanks for making this DELICIOUS dinner." Just like that. Completely out of the blue. So sweetly. And in a complete sentence ... as only a 2 year old can say it. I stopped and looked at her and teared up! It was such a sweet moment! Then Caleb saw how happy I was when Ellie said that so he piped in, "Thank you mommy for making this delicious CUP to eat! Heehee." Nothing like 4 year old silliness. I just said "Yup, no problem," but silently thought, "Good try Caleb but Ellie won this round of 'mommy's favorite'!" HA. And then commenced a 5 minute conversation between Caleb and Ellie of silly things to eat ... the ceiling (always a favorite), the chair, the cup, the floor ... and I think they may have actually eaten some actual food in there as well. Ahhhhh ... the sweetest moments of life usually aren't the big ones.

~JG