Three Cuties!

These girls are just too cute! This was taken while we were visiting our friends Jen and Travis. Isn't it just obvious how much they enjoy one another? I could just eat them up!

Well, Here We Are Again

Sorry for the delay in blogging. We have returned from our travels abroad (you know, since Texas is like a whole other country), but we hit the ground running with no end in sight yet. I find myself looking forward to next Wednesday already, the first day I have nothing planned! I have had to suspend telling you about our adventures because we've been too busy having them. Never knew laundry could be an adventure, but with the amount I've done in the last few days, it has resembled mountain climbing or some sort of large animal hunting. I've honestly begun to wonder if our clothes are multiplying in the laundry hamper; big socks are making little socks, little underwear seem to be coming from nowhere, etc. I think with the addition of another baby next summer (surprise for those who didn't know that little tidbit), we're going to have to invest in a bigger laundry hamper!

The other day I heard the girls arguing in the backseat, but for once I found that their argument brought me joy. Sarah Grace was trying to tell me something about Jesus dying on the cross. She was having a hard time getting it all out, but I was going to give her time and see what she came out with. Well, the whole time she was talking, Lainey was trying to correct her and was saying, "No, Sarah Grace, he died to forgive us of our sins. Just say that." Well, Sarah Grace finally got out all that she wanted to say and did include that Jesus died to forgive us of our sins to which Lainey said, "Well, I'm glad you finally said that. I've been trying to tell you that the whole time." How grateful I am that they were arguing about why Jesus died for us and that Lainey was trying to teach Sarah Grace some correct theology. If only all of their arguments were over such subjects!

I Don't Know. . .

To paraphrase the classic Coen brothers' movie Raising Arizona, "Girl, you've got a panty on your head."



We're off to Texas this week to celebrate Thanksgiving so the blog posts will be a little more sporadic than usual. Hope you all have a wonderful holiday! I am grateful most of all for the forgiveness and salvation offered through Jesus and I pray that you have received this most precious gift as your own. I am also grateful for the gifts He has given me: a husband who loves Jesus and me; beautiful, healthy children who help me see the love, grace, and glory of God every day and who also provide great entertainment every day; an extended family who is very good to us; and a church family who treats us as though we are their own. God has indeed been good to us in spite of our not deserving it. I pray that I am found thanking Him everyday and not just when the calendar says it's time!

Today in church we sang Victory in Jesus. Love, love, love that hymn and the message found in its words. As the man leading our service today said, "It's the gospel in a nutshell." I'm telling you it makes me ready to go and the last line of the third verse brings tears to my eyes as it makes me think about the joy we'll have there!

I heard an old, old story, how a Savior came from glory,
How he gave His life on Calvary to save a wretch like me;
I heard about His groaning, of His precious blood's atoning,
Then I repented of my sins and won the victory.

I heard about His healing, of His cleansing power revealing,
How he made the lame to walk again and caused the blind to see;
And then I cried, "Dear Jesus, come and heal my broken spirit,"
And somehow Jesus came and bro't to me the victory.

I heard about a mansion He has built for me in glory,
And I heard about the streets of gold beyond the crystal sea;
About the angels singing, and the old redemption story,
And some sweet day I'll sing up there the song of victory.

Chorus:
O victory in Jesus, my Savior, forever,
He sought me and bo't me with His redeeming blood;
He loved me ere I knew Him, and all my love is due Him,
He plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing flood.


And as our pastor says, "You are dismissed."

Sarah Grace, Genius Speller?

I am sometimes amazed at how grown up my girls can seem all of a sudden. Today Sarah Grace asked if she could have a piece of paper because she wanted to draw a picture of Mommy and Daddy. Well she drew us and then said, "Mommy, you are biiiiiig." That's what you want to hear. It reminded me of the time that we lived in NC and I was very pregnant with Sarah Grace and I was changing Lainey's diaper in her room, but it was early in the morning and I didn't want to turn the light on so I just did it by the night light; she could see my shadow on the wall and she said, "That looks like an elephant." I said, "That's not an elephant, Lainey, that's your big, fat mama!" I didn't know whether to laugh or cry; I think I did both. Anyway, then Sarah Grace wanted to know how to draw an apple, so I told her. I went on doing what I was doing and later heard her spelling the word apple. Lest you be too impressed and start to puff up with pride at how lucky you are to know such a child prodigy, let me clarify and say this is what I heard: M-O-P-K Apple. I know she didn't get it right, but she's trying! And let's remember that she's still only 2 though she is very aware that her birthday isn't too far away now and has been telling me for the last week what kind of cake she wants. It changes daily, sometimes hourly. Her choices so far have been Princess, Pooh Bear, Elmo, Abby Cadabby, and Hook'Em Horns (for all you UT fans). Since we still have several weeks to go, I'm guessing I'm going to have a few more choices to wade through!

Stay At Home Wednesdays

You never know what each day might hold when you wake up in the morning. Some days hold great excitement that you didn't know would be there while others can hold great disappointments that leave you weary and running for cover. Today held none of those things, but was just an average run of the mill day. I like those. I find myself looking forward to Wednesdays now because it and Thursday, my second favorite day, are the only days of the week that I don't have to leave the house. And in fact, I haven't. I walked outside twice today. Once to take the trash to the street before 7:00 and once to get a book about Thanksgiving out of our van. Perhaps that sounds boring to some, but to me, it's great. I don't see how some moms go non-stop every day shuttling their kids from place to place trying to juggle soccer practice, dance class, church, dinner, groceries, etc. I chose to be a stay at home mom because I wanted to do just that-stay at home with my kids! I didn't want to be an "in the van and on the road driving from place to place while bonding with my kids from the front seat" mom. Like I say, I understand that staying at home with three kids may seem boring to some, but I can assure you it is not. I do not eat bon-bons and I do not watch soap operas all day (or at all for that matter). (I do, however, look forward to our evening snack of chocolate milk and some sort of sweet treat after we put the girls to bed, but I digress.) Today I did lots and lots of laundry (and wondered how in the world there was already so much when I just washed everything on Saturday; I now understand why my Aunt Janice always had something in the laundry; something was always dirty!) while listening to Lainey and Sarah Grace play (though not always nicely and lovingly) in their room. I taught my girls about counting pennies and dimes and saw the look of excitement on Lainey's face when she counted to 100 by 10's. I was around when Lainey came into the kitchen to ask if even when God was mad at us, did He still love us and was able to tell her that yes, indeed He does; He may not like what we've done, but He always loves us and is very willing to forgive us when we ask. I think this question was prompted by the fact that she'd just gotten a spanking for being quite sassy (if 5 is this dramatic what is 15 going to be like? Oh well, I won't borrow trouble.) and needed to know that both we and God still loved her a whole lot. And then I was around to hear the girls giggle and to see them dance around the living room together as they watched The Nutcracker on a DVD. They were precious with their twirls and jumps (even though it did make the entire house shake each time). (My, I'm speaking parenthetically a lot tonight!) These are the reasons I wanted to stay home. So if not leaving the house on Wednesdays and Thursdays is what it takes to experience all those things then I'm going to guard them with all my might and become a hermit for two days of the week!

And just a side note, to prove that life is not boring, as I was helping Lainey do her lesson today on the letter Q, I took a break to go to the bathroom. No I realize that's not exciting; it's what I discovered on my way to the bathroom. As I walked down the hallway, I caught a whiff of something and knew without doubt that somewhere in the very near vicinity, one of our cats had pooped. Always exciting to search for that. Lon came about that time and joined me in my quest. We determined it was in our room and searched under clothing, in the bed linens, under the bed and finally discovered that Felix decided the best place for his diarrhea! was in our closet. And it wasn't enough that he did it there; no, he had to do it in several places. Always pleasant. Seriously thinking of listing dear old Felix as a freebie on Craig's List! Hopefully tomorrow will hold a little less of that kind of adventure; if not, he's banished to the garage for a long, long time.

Why We Need To Have A Yard Sale

It's never a good sign when they can get in their toy box. Our cup (and toy box) runneth over. Perhaps Santa's sleigh will be a little lighter this year! Either that or he'll give us a bigger house!

Never A Dull Moment in the Graham Home

These girls really make me laugh sometimes with the things they say. Yesterday while Sarah Grace and Abby and I were waiting on Lainey to finish up with school, I asked Sarah Grace what she wanted to do in the afternoon. She initially said she didn't want to do anything so I asked her if she wanted to go somewhere. She said she did. I asked where she wanted to go. She said, "Cicago." That's Chicago for you non-Sarah Grace speakers. I said, "Well, I don't believe we'll be able to make it to Chicago today. How about Bellingham?" She was quickly appeased. They're very curious little girls as well and ask interesting questions. On the way home from school, Sarah Grace said, "MOM (as though I wasn't answering her quickly enough), does 'Brack' Obama have kids?" Once I answered, she was satisfied and didn't ask anymore about that. We had to run some errands yesterday afternoon, one of which involved running by someone's house to sign some paperwork. Sarah Grace wanted to know where we were going so Lon told her that we had to go sign some paperwork at someone's house. That briefly satisfied her but a little later, she asked, "Where's the paperwork house?" But the best question by far came from Lainey last night. Lainey, Sarah Grace and I were lying on the couch and our cat Felix walked by. Lainey asked, "Why don't cats wear underwear?" You know, who HASN'T wondered that? After I stopped laughing, I tried to explain that animals don't wear clothes and that cats don't really care about being modest (as later evidenced by Felix sitting down in front of us to lick himself).