a new fave...

Yum-o. Out here at mom & dad's, mom & I have discovered the lovely, new (to me, anyway) mint crisp M&M's. They're dangerous, ladies... I'm thinking of putting some in some brownies I'm making tonight!

Nana

So my sweet Nana (mom's mom) had a heart attack Monday! That was the last thing any of us ever expected.... I've waited for a few years now for a call like that from my mom about my Pop (mom's dad), but didn't ever expect it about Nana. Sweet thing! She had to have a triple bypass, and is still in ICU. I was with mom & dad until last night, but needed to get back today to try to finish up the year at preschool... Am going back out Sunday afternoon, unless things get bad between now & then, which I don't anticipate, but you never know. (BTW, it's amazing to watch your parents care for their parents. I'm in awe of how great my folks are with nana & pop...hope I'm raising my girls to be as amazing as my parents are! Anyhow...)

It was sweet, when mom talked with her Monday morning before the surgery, she said, "Just think, if I wake up in heaven, I'll have nothing to do but sit and adore my precious Jesus!" Made me cry, of course. It was comforting to know that Nana was ready to go, but I don't think any of us are ready for her to go... seems like she might get to stay for a while longer, but I hate that she has to go through the pain of recovery and rehab from open heart surgery.

So if you still have a Nana around, go give her a big hug if you're able to. If you can't give her a hug, send her a card (my Nana loves cards, and I just kinda assume all Nanas out there love cards, too). And if you think of my sweet Nana, pray for her.

everything orange!

OK, so sorry for my delay in posting....I went to a conference in Atlanta last Saturday, and returned in the wee small hours of the morning Thursday, so have been playing catch up since then!

So I went to the Orange Conference, which is put on by the reThink Group, an organization that "encourages churches to reThink the way they minister to families" (from their website). Our church uses the curriculum that they publish for preschoolers and children, so off to the conference I went with 6 others from the preschool/children's area. Can't say enough great stuff about this conference...the basic premise behind Orange is that 2 influences working together make a greater impact upon a child's life than 2 influences working alone, so RED (the home, love from the family) works with YELLOW (the church, light from the gospel) to make ORANGE... So it's the goal of an "orange" church to partner with parents and train parents to be spiritual leaders in their homes, to impact their children for the cause of Christ.... Way more to it than that, but that's it in a nutshell.

So I wanted to share this resource with you all - it's the best preschool CD I've heard (it's called With Me Every Day), ever, I think. The music is thoughtful, and quality-wise, super. Not another inane Christian children's CD (the girls have a few that make me want to pull my hair out!). One example: the song "You're Amazing," says "You're amazing, and I lift my hands to worship, and I sing and dance to praise you, how wonderful you are!" It's joyful, and it's a wonderful introduction to biblical truths musically. It's the CD that goes along with our preschool curriculum, First Look, and helps teach the 3 basic truths we hope that our kiddos learn by the time they leave our preschool program: God Made Me, God Loves Me, and Jesus Wants to be My Friend Forever. To hear samples of the songs, go here, and find With Me Every Day.

Also got to hear Donald Miller (Blue Like Jazz Don Miller) speak at the conference, so here's just a note, if you haven't read Blue Like Jazz yet, by all means try to do it soon... I'll have more to say about that later, I'm sure, but for now, just a recommendation.

pingu

Ready for some good, silly fun? Let me introduce you to Pingu! He's become a favorite here in our home since auntie introduced us a few months ago. "Pingu is a Swiss animated children's television series...about a family of penguins who live at the South Pole" (from Pingu's Wikipedia page) . It's just fun...Pingu doesn't speak English (or any other real language for that matter), but "a honking 'penguin language,' (called Penguinese)," (again, from the Wikipedia page) that's really funny. The girls and I try to honk at each other now and again, or talk like the seal from this video about Pingu fishing (btw, there are loads of Pingu videos on youtube, or you can look at the official Pingu website, or on the PBS Kids' Sprout Pingu site for others). Anyhow, good silly fun. We like that around here!

fox in socks & mittens

Last weekend Miss K got to bring the class "pet," Fox in Socks, home for the weekend. Here's her experience with Fox (who she calls Fox in Socks and Mittens), her words:

FRIDAY

Poor Fox! First MA threw up on him, so he had to have a bath.

Later Fox in Socks went outside to ride bikes with us.

Fox in Socks and Mittens rode on my bike.

Fox in Socks loved Dixie so much.

Dixie was so happy that Fox in Socks wanted to ride on her back.

SATURDAY

It was a horse race day.

First we went on the train to the aquarium.

Fox in Socks was scared of the train because he was afraid of falling.

Fox in Socks was excited about the octopus.

Fox in Socks was scared of this polka-dotted Goliath Grouper

because he thought it was a stingray.

Fox in Socks liked the lunch table at the aquarium.

He felt good and tired taking a break from the animals at lunch.

He even tried to eat my sandwich. That made me sad.

He loved the Manatee.

He was afraid the cage would break and the sharks would eat him.

After the aquarium we went to Starbucks for hot chocolate.

Then it was time for a trolley ride.

He thought it was fun and he tried to eat us.

He got excited about the horse races.

He did not like the Miranda Lambert Concert.

He thought the singing was terrible.

He was terribly surprised by the singing, he said,

“I didn’t like it. I didn’t like it. I didn’t like it.”

SUNDAY & MONDAY

We had to spend all day Sunday and Monday resting because we were so tired.

I had a fun weekend with Fox in Socks.

remember this?

So I'd never heard of it before, but the other day honey learned about being "rick rolled," and, of course had to share it...

So now I'm sharing it with you....And to think I used to LOVE this dude...

celebrate!

I absolutely LOVE my children's sincere abandon when it comes to celebrating amazing things the Lord has done...

We found out yesterday that honey got that job we'd been waiting to hear about! He received the call about 8:30, while he was reading to the girls. Well, bedtime ritual was shot, so we danced for a while, and then set about sharing the news with others. While honey talked on the phone, Miss K decorated him with stickers, and made a "daddy got a new job!" badge for him. The girls really don't know what it means that daddy got a new job, but they saw how excited we were, and they joined right in with abandon. It was FANTASTIC.

I hope I celebrate the amazing things I see my Father doing in the same manner, even when I don't quite understand all that it means, like David did in 2 Samuel 6, when he danced before the Lord with all his might...

Father, thank you for times of celebration and rejoicing. I know that I have so much to celebrate in Who You are, and what You've done, but I forget sometimes. Help me to remember...and help me to dance with abandon, celebrating You often.