11 months!

Here we are, a little less than one month away from Elijah turning 1! Honestly, I can't believe he is almost a year. In some ways I feel like he has been a member of our family forever and then there are moments where I feel like he is just a little baby. This kid is hilarious, his smirks and little personality keep us all entertained. We are still battling his eczema, which drives me crazy. I get so frustrated about it, but I know it could be so much worse. Elijah is starting to walk. He will take a several steps and then sit down and then other times he refuses to try.....little does he know that walking is so much better than crawling. Our little man is a chunk and mommy really would like for him to walk. Parker loves to call him her "little cutie" and can't seem to keep her hands off of him. Hudson loves to entertain Elijah, he is a great big brother. I am so thankful that our kids *LOVE* to play with one another. Elijah gets right in to play with Hudson and Parker and most times they will let him join in. We continue to pray that they will be the best of friends. Happy 11 months Elijah!!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving

This year we did a Thanksgiving tree. The kids and I went on a nature hunt and found some sticks/branches that we thought would be good to make our tree out of and then I traced and cut out some leaves for all of us (minus Elijah). Starting on Nov. 1st at dinner (or before bed) we could talk about the different things we were each thankful for and then each one of us would write one down on a leaf and then hang it on the tree. We loved this!!!!! The Thanksgiving Tree is definitely something I want to continue for our family. It helped engage our kids in conversation and served as a great reminder for all the things we are thankful for. There is a wide variety of things written down, some serious some silly and some somewhere in between. Here are just a few of them (you can try and figure out who wrote what): Dora, all the people in the world, pink, jokes, quiet, clean water, books, music, God's grace and mercy, God, Church, orange, babies, the opportunity to travel and the list goes on and on. The kids want to keep going, but tomorrow we start our new Advent book that we got. We are really excited to start this with them!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving, I know we did! And on a side note, this was Elijah's 1st Thanksgiving

Hudson

Today our oldest turns 5 years old! I can't believe how fast these 5 years have gone. I can vividly remember the day he was born. He is an amazing boy that we are honored to parent. Today at lunch we went around the table and each of us shared some of the things we love about him. Here are some of the things that were said: his enthusiasm for life - the big things and the small things, that he loves God (Parker), that he is a great encourager, how he loves his little sister and brother. As we went around Hudson was embarrassed that we were all saying these things to him, but you could tell that he was full of joy. We are truly blessed by Hudson and can't wait to see what this next year brings.

Some of Hudson's favorite things:
~anything sports related, but loves to play soccer
~Church
~His Bible (he just got a new devotional Bible that he loves to read)
~reading
~playing with Parker and Elijah
~learning - this kid loves to learn about anything and everything
~asking questions
~science experiments
~running - he ran a 1 mile race a couple weeks ago and did great (he keeps asking when he can race again)

I am humbled to see how the Lord has been working in Hudson's life. He loves to pray for other countries and that everyone will love God. He also enjoys teaching Parker about the Bible. I am blown away by how this child loves the things of God. At his new school this year he has memorized the Lord's Prayer and every time he recites it to me I am close to tears. I pray that God will continue to open his heart and mind to Himself and that Hudson will have a desire to bring the Gospel to the nations.

Hudson we love you!!!!!!

Here are few pictures from the last 5 years (in no specific order)

Seaworld

At the beginning of October our little family went to Seaworld before Christian started his new job. September was an "interesting" month for us. Christian finished his job at Crew Land at the beginning of the month and then spent 2 weeks in College Station working followed by 2 weeks in Colorado. For awhile we were pretty certain we would be moving to one of those places, but the Lord opened up a door for us to stay here and Christian is now working in Fort Worth. All of that to say that we wanted to do a little family getaway after Christian being gone on and off for a month. We packed up the van and headed to San Antonio. The kids had a blast! They loved Seaworld - the shows, the animals and the children's rides. Christian and I had so much fun watching them enjoy the rides and riding with them. We also spent one morning at the San Antonio Children's Museum. I'm so glad we had the opportunity to take a little trip in between all our "transitions". And of course, here are some fun photos of the trip.