Quick Update

Cooper's allergy testing: Well, according to his tests, he has outgrown everything but peanuts! I don't believe it! I have been dealing with his food allergies since he was 14 months old, and he has outgrown them? I am in denial I guess. But he is highly allergic to everything outside, so we are starting shots after the new year. That should be fun. We are thankful though that God has healed him.

The Holidays: We have been on the road. We drove 5 hours to Shreveport, spent the night, and went 9 more hours (with three stops) to Birmingham, AL, and stayed in a lake house with a total of 26 of Jason's family members. It was really fun. We only see most of them every two years, and I really enjoy being with them. His cousins (4 girls) and I really get along, and we enjoy all of their husbands. There were 8 kids from 2 months up to 11 years old. But they were all well behaved considering. Campbell was passed around from person to person, but he did really well. Lots of card playing, some fishing, hiking, shopping, and lots of cooking. We had a church service on Sunday morning. My brother-in-law Bryan played his guitar and led us in some songs, and Jason gave the message, about 5 minutes, maybe. And we prayed together. It was really special. Of course that is when Campbell decided to fuss, so I missed most of the prayer time. I am very thankful for my in-laws and the Christian legacy they have made. Among the 9 families, there are 6 ministers I think.

Now we are back in Shreveport for a few days. Its amazing how different our families are, both good, just very different. We'll be back to the grind next week, and we'll have to detox the kids from sweets, going to bed late, and being held all day. Hopefully I will get a minute to reflect and see if there is anything I need to work on this year. All in all life is really good right now, but I'm sure I can change a few things.

Since I'm on high speed, here are some pictures. Merry Christmas and Have a blessed New Year!

Update

Sorry, I just realized I never said how Cooper's testing went. I guess because there wasn't much to report. When the nurse came in to start the tests, she only had about 30 little stick things, and so I asked her if that was all. He had 89 last time. And her response was, "Oh, you wanted food testing?". Well, yes. Since that's the only things I can control, and last time he was allergic to everything under the sun, and the point was to see if he outgrew anything! I was a little frustrated. So they only did the 30 and he will have to go back on Monday for more. He did great though, and yes, he is still highly allergic to peanuts. A few things came back negative, which made no sense, so I think they will do them again on Monday. Tomorrow is his 7th birthday. My big baby is 7. My goodness, how time flies. We are going to the space center. He so wants to be an astronaut now!

SNOW!

You really can't help being in the Christmas spirit when its snowing, in HOUSTON! Its so pretty! If it wasn't so cold, I would go stand in it. It wasn't really fun to drive in coming back from Coop's first basketball practice, but it was fun to see Cade's face since he's never seen snow before, that we can remember.

Christmas, part 2

Well, just as soon as I complained about the lack of Christmas spirit in my house, it changed. When I took Cade to school yesterday, his teacher asked me if I knew anyone who would want a 5 ft tree before she gave it to Goodwill. I took it, and when I brought it home, it brought the Christmas spirit with it! Its really cute, big enough to not be a silly little tree, but not so big that it was a big deal to decorate. We turned on Christmas music, put the tree in the living room, the boys moved their ornaments from their little tree to it, we made popcorn strings (we being me) and paper chains and it is really cute. That let me to put the stockings up and even wrap a few presents today. And the nativity set is on the fireplace in its rightful place. So all is well. The guilt of not doing anything for Christmas is gone, and yet, I didn't have to do hardly anything at all.

Campbell had his 4 month check up today, and all is well. 75% head, 75% height and 50% weight. And the doctor told me I am just fine waiting until 6 months to start cereal. I use the excuse that its because of food allergies, but really, its out of laziness. Once you start the cereal, you can't stop the feeding of food for the rest of their lives. Might as well put it off for two more months!

Speaking of, Cooper has a round of allergy testing tomorrow. He hasn't been tested for three years. I am a little nervous, mostly about the process, not the results. He doesn't remember the torture of the last time, which is good, but he doesn't know what to expect, and we don't want to scare him. You can read my very first blog to hear about the last time. God taught me some mightly lessons. I'll let you know how it goes this time. I'm just fine if God doesn't need me to learn anything.

Christmas...

Usually I am all about Christmas, decorating my house from top to bottom. But this year, if you want to see my Christmas tree, you'll have to look at the blogs from last year because there is no tree. Well, there is a 3 foot tree that the boys decorated in the playroom, and that is it. I have told people that having the third child hasn't been that hard, but apparently, it is harder than I was admitting because I am so tired, and the thought of getting everything out of the attic and unpacking it, putting it up, enjoying it for two weeks, and then packing it all back up again, is just too much. I have the box of stockings sitting in the floor by the front door, and there it has been sitting for 4 days now. I guess making a bigger mess of my house than it is already in does not sound appealing. Don't get me wrong, I am enjoying buying gifts and listening to Christmas music, and loving the homemade ornaments my boys are bringing home. And they were both wonderful in their choir programs Sunday night, but I guess I'm trying to keep it simple. Christmas isn't about the tree and lights anyway, right? Of course, if I want to remind the children about Jesus, I should probably actually set up the nativity scene I got out of the attic. Last year we started a new tradition of taking Mary and Joseph and putting them upstairs and everyday they slowly make their way to the living room where the stable is. They haven't started their journey yet. It may only take them a few days to make it to Bethlehem!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today is my mom's birthday, I won't say how old she is. I am so thankful for her. She has been through so much, but she hasn't let it get her down, she just gets right back up and tries something new. She prays for me and my family daily, I know because she sends me the verse she prayed over us. She is going back to school to get her doctorate, a very admirable thing. She takes care of her dad and step mom who both have Alzheimer's, very draining. We have had to get used to a new relationship now that I am a mom, and sometimes when she is in my house, it causes a little strife, but we work through it and are patient and forgive each other. I would guess that she is the happiest she has ever been right now. And what a great birthday gift is that! Happy Birthday Mom!

Prayer

I accepted Christ when I was 8, and have enjoyed a pretty great spiritual walk since then. God has gotten a hold of me a few times before I went too far down the wrong path, and used a few really tough times to help grow my relationship with Him. But the one thing in my spiritual life I have never been good at or really even enjoyed was my prayer life. I have tried off and on to get better, but to no avail. And now with three kids, well, you know, its just tough to spend that quality time with God. Yes, if I would get off the computer and turn off the tv I would have time. So, its not really the kids fault.
Anyway, we just finished a 6 week study at church on prayer, and it caught my attention enough to actually buy the book it was based on (thanks mom). Prayer, Does it Really Make a Difference?, by Philip Yancy. I highly recommend it. He really helps to answer all the questions and struggles I have had with prayer, like, if God already knows everything, why do I need to pray? And if He already has the plan, is my prayer going to change anything? I am only a little ways thru, and it has really encouraged me to start making the effort to pray. I'm not there yet. But the past two days I have taken a few minutes to really pray for my boys and Jason. For that, I have used The Power of a Praying Parent, and Praying Wife, by Stormie Omartian. Highly recommend those too. So I figure if I blog about it, it will hold me somewhat accountable to keep it up. Between 3-4 everyday, I'm kind of tired and there is nothing on tv, so that's the time I have prayed and read more in my book, and I will try to keep it up. And I will try to blog some about what the book is teaching me. I may have to read it a few times to get it all. Today's chapter was about looking at how Jesus prayed. Its obviously important because even though Jesus knew God knew everything and already had a plan, he totally depended on it daily to survive living on this earth. I want to totally depend on it, but right now, I depend on myself. No wonder I'm tired.