just some stuff

does a switch flip with every birthday? because since brooks has turned two, it's like time is moving at triple the speed. he's like a grown up. a little grown up that still wears diapers and calls me mommy.

he's stopped saying "yes" and has moved on to "yay-uh". i know we have southern accents...but his is ridiculous. and also really funny. we're working on "yes ma'am" and "yes sir". "yay-uh" just isn't gonna cut it. he's using his spoon finally, and doing very well at it, always insisting that "brooks do it!" everything, in fact, is "brooks do it!" ok, ok, mr. independent...

he's totally into the trains he got for christmas, and has even been setting up his own track, something he's never done before. i love watching him play, seeing his little face as he concentrates, has successes, gets frustrated, or starts laughing with delight when things go the way he hoped. his battery-powered train runs off the track a lot, prompting a "mommy! thomas stuuuuck". the southern accent strikes again...

tonight, i heard him and his daddy laughing back in our bonus room. i tiptoed back there and caught them playing golf on the wii. brooks doesn't quite know where to look, at the screen or at what he's doing, but he loves doing whatever daddy does. he holds his controller like a champ, and swings away at all the wrong times. those two playing together is precious. such an answer to prayers from long ago. they called out to me eventually, "mommy! bowling!" i picked up a spare before they moved on to tennis, and totally forgot i was there. my boys...

we read some books and snuggled for a bit. i hope i never forget the way his hair smells, how his little hands reach over to mine and pull them around his body. those little hands push me away sometimes, so when they pull me to him...it's magic i never want to take for granted. we are so in love with this boy, with our little family.

two

i was at kroger a few hours ago, buying stuff for fruit salad, some milk, and an elmo balloon.

'cause our boy will be two tomorrow.

i simply cannot believe he's only been in our lives for two years, and yet i can't believe how quickly the time has gone. we've been together a long time, and have so many great memories that happened pre-brooks...but it's like we started all over when he got here, and i almost don't remember our lives before him. in a really good way.

we never thought we would have this boy. that God chose to give him to us is our huge blessing. a blessing that doesn't get old, one that we haven't forgotten.

i prayed for a child who would call me momma. i prayed for hands that would reach up to mine. i prayed for a boy to spend time with, to tickle, laugh, sing songs, color, and play outside with.

maybe you're tired of hearing all of this. but we aren't tired of praising Him for all of it.

and tomorrow, at 8:50 am, he turns two.    wow.

he's so big. he told me so, just today, as he was sitting on the edge of the couch. he's been watching rudolph the red-nosed reindeer, and keeps telling me he's "in-de-pend-dent" and that he wants to be a dentist. he loves to sing, particularly if he's standing on the hearth (his "stage"). his current song favorites are the alphabet, twinkle twinkle, and a song his gigi made up that we'll call "up high". he loves the moon and stars, sitting on his rocking horse, watching super why, thomas the train, elmo, and mickey mouse. he likes to throw things and hit things and sometimes people (we're working on it). he's feeding himself with a spoon and fork, is afraid of the vaccuum, hated santa this year, and likes to have his back rubbed. he runs as fast as he can to greet his daddy when he gets home from work each day, yelling "daddy home!" he tells us "wuv you", and gives the best hugs and kisses. he loves any sport with a ball, and told me today that he likes to "play and scream". when i asked why, he replied, "cause it's fun!"  duh.  he speaks in complete sentences regularly, and daily says things that we have never said in his presence (today he told me our neighbors were gypsies. i kid you not.) if you ask him what he did on any given day, he'll tell you he went to church. his glo-worm is his "sweet baby" and he loves to read, especially llama llama. we laugh a lot. we talk a lot. we snuggle and get cozy a lot.

it's been a fantastic two years. i want to freeze time. and i can't wait to see who he grows up to be.

happy birthday brooks. momma and daddy love you more than you can ever know. i hope you love your elmo balloon.

a hunting trip

yes, that's right. i went hunting. i know several of you are shocked and appalled. some have even threatened to withhold their friendship. perhaps i was channeling my inner redneck. maybe i lost my mind for a few hours ('cause it was COLD!). or maybe i just wanted to hang out with some of my favorite people, and they wanted to hunt. 

our day started at 0430. not because it had to, but because my mother can't seem to set an alarm clock properly. her "phone messed up". uh huh. sure it did. an hour later, when it was actually time to get up, i put on my five layers, coat and gloves, got my chapstick and my hand warmers and waddled out the door into the crisp, dark morning (i feel certain that my comma placement in that sentence is lacking, but i just don't care). 

we were in boze hollow, a magical place that my grandparents own. my grandfather built the cabin himself, years ago, then added on to it later to make it a perfectly livable place. there's electricity, heat, running water, two lofts (so fun to sleep in), a king-size bed and even a jacuzzi tub and washer/dryer. it's down in a valley (the "hollow") surrounded by beautiful, deer-laden hills. he has tree stands and blinds built all along the property. you can actually even hunt from the front porch if you're so inclined. my grandmother has made it beautiful with plenty of warm and cozy things, cabin-appropriate decor, and yummy food. my mom and step-dad had decorated it for thanksgiving and the big stone fireplace had been roaring all week. 

stepping out into the hollow is one of my favorite things to do. it's just really such a beautiful place. on this morning, it was still dark, with thousands of stars shining brightly in the sky. we walked in silence, the three of us, towards the deer stand, our boots crunching softly on the frosty ground. we squeezed ourselves into the tall stand, arranged ourselves and our gear, and we waited. i think i fell asleep at one point; i'm not very good at waiting. then my mom and i got the giggles and couldn't stop. by that point, we had only seen a couple of young does (which we decided not to shoot at), our giggles had likely scared away every animal within a few miles, and we were freezing, so we decided to pack it up. 

no sooner had we stood up and started moving our gear around did we hear a rustling down below us. we all froze in our tracks and looked out of the stand. the two does we had seen far off in the distance earlier had returned, and were standing just below our deer stand. they were prancing through the grass, picking their feet up quickly in a staccato-like movement, to avoid the cold ground, something i have never seen. they looked right at us and just stopped, their fluffy white tails raised high (in what i am told is preparation for something fairly PG-13). they pranced around for a few seconds, stopping to look our way a few times, and then they were off, bouncing through the woods. i'm sure there was a buck nearby, but we never saw him. we got back to the cabin, warmed our bones by the fire and with strong coffee, and haven't been able to stop talking about the beautiful does we saw. so near to us. so quiet. 

i went hunting to be with people i love. it isn't something i thought i would enjoy, but i actually kind of did. it was cold, and early, and maybe i'll take a book next time, but i'd like to go again. maybe one day i'll even learn to shoot and grow a beard.  

the wrappings

i've been working on some homemade christmas presents for a few weeks now, and since i don't really have a ton of storage space, they've been sitting out on my kitchen counter. it's been driving me nuts.

so yesterday, i decided to do something about it and went to the local dollar store to see what kinds of wrapping paper, tags, and other goodies i could find to help jump start me in the present wrapping department. sadly, my local dollar store was lacking in its amount of variety. it was a cold, wet blanket on my cheery "it's almost christmas" mood. i am a huge christmas person. i don't appreciate having my christmas spirit dampened. i also happen to throughly enjoy giving presents, and i really look forward each year to making them pretty. i've been clipping magazine articles, taking photos, and pinning like crazy for ideas for how to wrap gifts this year, with the goal being simple, yet beautiful, primitive, yet festive. i know...that's a lot of thought for something that's going to get ripped to shreds, but i just like pretty things, and i like making things pretty. i had big plans when i walked into dollar tree, plans that did not come to fruition there.

plan b: i ran next door to big lots.  i'm not normally a big lots shopper. i don't have anything against it, but it's just not somewhere i usually go. but let me tell you...when those automatic doors whooshed open...(insert light shining from heaven, angels singing)  christmas was at big lots. there were aisles and aisles of paper, ribbons, bows, snowmen, reindeer, glitter, trees, boxes, and bags. my senses were on overload as i grabbed my cart and practically skipped down the aisles. christmas music was playing over the speakers. it was magical. i searched for things with pinecones, burlap, twine, anything i could find that would look great with my simple, rustic christmas scheme.

and then something else caught my eye. i have an almost two year old son who loves elmo, mickey mouse, and thomas the train. i am excited this year to introduce him to snowmen, reindeer, and santa claus. i had been imagining my tree with all my perfectly wrapped presents underneath, but when i saw the character wrapping paper, my primitive antique-loving, burlap-wrapped brain jumped ship. i came home with one roll of brown paper for the few gifts that i still want to look pretty, and three rolls of toddler-approved paper: mickey mouse, rudolph the red-nosed reindeer (claymation characters), and snowmen (big fluffy ones that you just want to squeeze!). i can hardly wait for him to see his gifts, all bright and colorfully wrapped. none of the wrapping paper goes with my theme. and i couldn't care less. i love "making christmas", as we say in our house, and i am so excited to make it for my little guy this year.

now if only i can talk my husband into letting me get started a little early...

the story

there was a brief time in my younger life that i aspired to be a harmonica player. i remember asking for a harmonica one year for christmas, and when i got it, i practiced "you are my sunshine" over and over for at least a couple of days. and then that was that. it sat on my shelf for a while before it made its way elsewhere (wherever harmonicas go...?).

in church today, two men played a beautiful, BEAUTIFUL duet with a harmonica and a guitar. it was so simple, so pretty. they played "i love to tell the story, 'twill be my theme in glory, to tell the old, old story of Jesus and His love." it's one of those hymns...an oldie but a goodie. as i sang along softly, i prayed that i would always love to tell the story, that i would tell it without hesitation, without fear.

at lunch, we got to visit with our pastor and his wife. we don't know them very well, so we spent some time sharing about our lives. i got to tell our story, the story of God's grace and providence in our lives, the story of our miracle. i always worry that i over-share, and i probably do, but it's hard to stop once i get started. i love our story. i love how He brought us through, how He healed my body and our hearts. they shared some of their own story, their own miracles. i never get tired of hearing how God works in people's lives, especially when it's in such incredible ways.

of course, our story is nothing without Jesus. and while i'm quick to tell of His hand in our lives, i'm not always as quick to simply tell of Him. of His miraculous birth, His sacrificial death, His incredible resurrection. of His saving, all-consuming love and grace. of His forgiveness, His commands for obedience, of His desire for our whole hearts.

the old, old story of Jesus and His love...it's why i have a story.

our moon

"see mmmoooooonnn!!!!", he says to me. every day. every night.
he's in love with the moon, the stars, airplanes, and clouds. but especially the moon. he spots it early in the day, when the sun's still out but the moon is quietly starting to show its face. he notices when it's not there, when it's covered by clouds, when he can't see the stars. we go outside before bed, all bundled up in blankets, just to get one last look. his daddy sprayed a glow-in-the-dark moon on his ceiling and stuck up some stars that get him by when he can't see the real thing. this kid loves his moon.

we sing about it. "i see the moon and the moon sees me. God made the moon and God made me." he laughs and grins and starts naming other things to insert into the song: daddy, mommy, brooks, hot dogs, truck, stars, baseball...it gets downright silly sometimes. but oh, how i love seeing him laugh and smile. i love that we get to talk about the shape of the moon, what it might be doing when we can't see it (pa dale told him it's eating cheetos...sometimes he says it's sleeping, then starts snoring to show me what he means). we wait with anticipation for the clouds to move past. he cries out, "i see it! there it is!" his little finger points excitedly as the moon starts to peek out.

God's creation is incredible. our Creator is incredible. i love seeing it all through the eyes of my boy.

we're baaaaaaaccccckkkkkkk!

i know i said we moved to a different site. and we did. but now we're back.

i didn't like the other site as much. it just didn't feel like home. all that scary stuff that happened here...well, it's in the past. and i'm ok with it now. and so, i wanted to come back. back home, to where it all began.

let me catch you up...

brooks is almost 2. he's amazing. jeremy and i are so blessed to have each other and him. we're learning as we go (as i'm sure you'll see) and are having fun along the way. God is teaching us even more about His timing, His will, His plan...

please stick around and share our lives with us!

we're moving

to those of you who follow regularly...sorry things haven't been so regular. so much of what's here, while important and essential in making us who we are, is now a part of our past. moving forward, i needed something new to help inspire me to write a little more. please continue to follow us at www.blessinginabrooks.wordpress.com

xoxo, jenn