Music to my ears

Most of our family and friends know this, but I am pretty sure we have an up-n-coming musician in our home. William has liked drums and the guitar for awhile now and absolutely loves listening to music. He often talks about 'his band' and tells me stories of them playing and of course Tim Bach is always there. As I am taking a break to write, I hear him strumming on his guitar making up another song. The song that brought a smile to my face is"I will obey my mom....or I will get into trouble". Picture him singing at the top of his lungs and in the most rock-n-roll way a four year old can sing. Sometimes I really feel like he never listens to me and he never obeys (like today!) and then he breaks out singing this great song. What a wonderful thing to hear! :)

Dondra

What Day is It?

As the thanksgiving holiday has come and gone, I can not help but take a moment to truly be thankful for the blessings of the year and the special time we had last week. We started the week off right with a long trip to target to get all the last minute necessities for making dressing, pies, and all the other once a year food. Wednesday was a day to prepare and to answer William's unending question of 'when are grumpy and granny lou going to be here?' Thanksgiving day brought about such a warmth and a delight for me. I enjoyed being able to get everything ready and especially enjoyed watching Tim carve the smoked turkey I purchased so I wouldn't mess it all up. After we had all gathered around the table, had a prayer of thanksgiving, and dug into the great food, my sweet boy says "what day is it mommy?" I told him again that it was thanksgiving and what this day meant and he says to me "you know what tomorrow is?" "It's Christmas!" You guessed it! Earlier in the week, I had told William that after thanksgiving, it was Christmas. So...as I take that moment and offer up thanksgiving, I want to remember what day it is and that every day gets closer to celebrating Jesus' birthday.

Dondra

Being an Aunt

This past weekend we celebrated our thanksgiving meal with mawmaw, pawpaw, Dodie, Jake and Hannah. This was our first holiday to be together with the new addition of baby Hannah. I so enjoyed being around everyone and getting to spend some special time with my niece. We laughed our heads off as Dodie passes Hannah over to mawmaw, going across the table, and with the best timing ever, Hannah drops drool on the pumpkin pie. Or what about helping her take a bath and seeing William play with his cousin and trying to be ever so careful and gentle. As I thought about being an aunt on the way home I couldn't help but be overwhelmed with a bittersweet emotion. These are some of the firsts of many holidays with her but not really with her. Next year, my sister, brother-in-law, and niece will go to peru to serve as God has led them. It will be different; it will be hard; it will be challenging; it will be rewarding. So...as time will allow these coming months, I look forward to spending time with this precious one, my little niece. I will cherish every minute with her and hope she will always know that she has a special place in my heart.

Dondra

Brave

It never ceases to amaze me at how resilient kids can be especially my own. We started out having a good week but William's cough just wasn't getting better. As a cautious mom, I called the doctor just to make sure because I noticed he was wheezing more and more. After almost 2 hours in the doctors office, we had a breathing treatment and were being diagnosed with a small case of pneumonia in his chest. To add to the long wait, we go to the pharmacy for another hour to get all his medication. Luckily, he took a nap during this time. We had a hard and trying day tuesday and yet he never really complained. He took everything in stride and spoke of how brave he was. As he finished his breathing treatment, with mommy covering his ears, he says "that sounded like a train and I am glad it's over." We had to go have an xray on wednesday and yet another case of a big boy being very brave. He went in, did exactly what the tech asked (I need her secret!) and came out yelling "mommy, I did it! I did it! I was soooo brave." The tech bragged on him and he was happy to have his bone picture taken. He reminds me that I need to be brave and resilient; he has truly amazed me this week and I am so proud of him.

Dondra

Lost

I have started reading a book entitled "Lost Women of the Bible" and I have come to find out that God has purposely deteremined for me to read this book at this particular time in my life. It's amazing how God does that! :) There are some days that I do feel lost...lost in my purpose when it seems all I do is the laundry, pick up hot wheels for a hundred times a day, and the countless other responsiblities a stay-at-home mom faces. Here recently I have felt lost more in my place. My place in the home as a wife and mother, my place in the church, my place in relationships and wondering okay God, why do I feel lost and without purpose or a place? I know this sounds crazy but there are days that these questions just get me down. As i was reading about Sarah the author brought out an amazing part of Sarah's life that I had never really thought about. I am fond of Sarah because her promise of a child was answered and I can truly relate to that (though I am glad I wasn't 90 years old!). The amazing part of Sarah's life was the long part, almost 89 years, of her waiting on God. Thinking that He had left her. That He wasn't going to bless her. These were the silent years. The years were she had to question every day what is my purpose and place. So...as I look at my own life and the waiting or wondering of the silent times (maybe days, maybe months or years) I find a comfort in knowing that God will forever keep His promises and there will be answers. There will be a time of hearing from God and the silence will disapper and I will know my small purpose and place in His perfect Will.

Dondra

Traditions

As the holidays get closer and closer, I look forward to the many things we do as a family that have become little traditions. I was thinking the other day that I would like to document these and that way we can continue to share them as our family grows and gets older. I was also thinking of the little 'traditions' that William and I do just the two of us. As they come to my mind, I want to remember them as special moments too. Some of them are...

*when we go shopping at Target we get popcorn and drink
*when Tim is out of town we usually have a special dinner, like tonight, at Chipotle on the patio
*he is my shopping buddy; he may not want to admit it later, but he normally does well if we need to go to Kohl's or Hobby Lobby or Michaels
*we watch special movies together
*we say our verses together at breakfast or lunch or even in the car
*we all play a game in the car...to see if each person can recognize who is singing on the radio; he is quite good at this game. He knows Keith Urban (of course), Rascal Flatts, Sara Evans, and he is learning more and more. He is definitely a music man!

There are others that as we do them and make new ones I will need to record. I look forward to this holiday season and sharing more and more traditions with him and enjoying this season.

Dondra

Happy Halloween

As yesterday progressed, the same question came over and over again. "When are we going trick or treatin'? "I am going to be a good pirate mommy." He had a great time getting dressed with his pirate jeans and shirt, his tattoos, hat, eye patch and sword. The best thing I will remember is how he got into pirate mode outside waiting for it to get dark. He would chase his daddy around the yard and play swords and 'pretend' to get the bad guys or bad pirates. He definitely got into character and as he did mommy got some great pictures of our 'good' pirate.