Hilarious

This is Brody playing with the cars. He is pulling himself up on everything with EASE. He does it so fast!!! And then he is soooooo happy about it! It's adorable to see him so proud of himself!

Judah wanted to feed Brody tonight in a BIG way. He was insistant. I gave in, thinking he might actually surprise me. He did.

Not only did he do a great job feeding his little brother, but he really enjoyed it. He made it a pretty messy meal, but it was fun for everyone.

Judah manages to make us laugh so much every day.

Tonight, I wasn't feeling good (head-cold, ugh!), so I asked Jake to put Judah to bed so I could get ready for bed and rest. Jake came to me after awhile and said Judah was asking for "My Mommy." Jake told Judah, "Mommy doesn't feel good. Should we pray for Mommy?" Judah said, "Yes." And then he prayed, "God, make Mommy -- My Mommy feel better, pleeeeeaaassseee."

Sunday, I went to church early for worship team practice, and when I left, both boys were dressed and ready to go to church. Jake told me before Sunday School that Judah changed shirts. (Even though I put him in the shirt he asked for. Anyway...) He wanted to wear his dinosaur shirt, Jake was telling me. Jake put it on him, and Judah shook his head and said, "Mommy's gonna be mad." Jake asked him why, but he just kept repeating, "Mommy's gonna be mad."

So, Jake asked me why I would be mad that he was wearing that shirt. I had to explain, because it really is funny that Judah thought him wearing it would make me mad.

Judah wanted to wear that dinosaur shirt maybe a week or two ago. It was just a normal day at home, and we were going to be playing outside. This shirt is new (not something we have a lot of -- "new" shirts) -- one I bought on sale a year ago. This particular shirt is also WHITE with dinosaurs on the front. I realize now that when I bought it, I wasn't really thinking about a young man wearing WHITE. But, live and learn.

So, when Judah wanted to wear it, I just flippantly said, "No, we aren't going to wear the dinosaur shirt now. It's a nice shirt and we don't want it to get dirty. We need at least one nice white shirt."

So, Judah thought that since I told him he couldn't wear it then, that I would be upset with him wearing it AT ALL. After Jake told me that Judah repeated, "Mommy's gonna be mad," I busted up laughing. (I laugh out loud - literally - now just remembering it.) Everyone in our Sunday School kept looking at us, wondering what our deal was, but I just couldn't stop laughing.

Oh, the beautiful mind of a 2 year old!

This is a picture of Judah showing me his dirt on his hands and knees. So proud of that dirt!

I go crazy many days, but in the end, I love my boys. They make messes and get dirty, and undo all the cleaning I do. (Read: Brody managed to get ahold of an almost-empty sleeve of crackers and shake it all over the floor. I cleaned it up saying, "Oh, I love you dear. I love you.") But, I wouldn't trade any of it for anything. The fact that they make me laugh with such simple things is worth more than anything you can offer.

Being Sensitive

As most everyone knows, it has been raining a ton here in Kansas. Last week, we went to the park after a day of rain. The woodchips under the playground were very waterlogged and messy. The sandbox was completely full of water. It was awful.

What was worse was that someone left a little baby doll at the park on the ground, missing an arm. I moved the sopping-wet doll to the bench to dry out and hoped the owner might return for it.

As we were leaving, some Jr. High kids came into the park to play. A boy took the doll by a leg and started making sarcastic comments like, "Anyone want to play with a doll? Haha!" He then went on to take the doll to the "pool" of a sandbox and flung the doll into the water with great gusto.

Judah watched the whole thing with shock. I didn't really think anything of it until bedtime many hours later. We went on about our walk and the rest of our night.

Then, Judah and I began talking at bedtime about the day. He was stuck on the baby doll being flung into the water. He was really upset about it. I could see the worry and pain in his eyes in thinking about the well-being of the baby doll after it had been thrown so thoughtlessly. It pained me to see him so worried and upset about the doll. So, I drove (in the dark) to the park and "rescued" the baby doll from the water. I also retrived the doll's arm from the water.

I got home and Judah was still awake. So, I talked to him about the doll. I told him that mommy had taken care of the doll and it was downstairs ready for mommy to clean. He seemed instantly relieved that the doll was no longer in distress.

This morning, I fixed the doll's arm and found some clothes for it. I asked Judah what the baby's name was, and he seemed indecisive. He started by saying, "Mommy. Daddy." Then he said, "Mitch." I have no idea where he got that, but that's what he said. After lunch, he kept going back and forth between "Mitch" and "Rich." We'll see later what he finally settles on.

This is Judah cuddling with the baby (and Monkey). He really enjoys taking care of the baby.

I love seeing Judah's care and concern for a "baby" that he thought was in distress. I know it won't last, but I enjoy seeing such wonderful innocence from him now.

God is ALWAYS here

The things Judah says on a daily basis never cease to amaze me. He is so cute and funny with his wonderful imagination.

I was working on mixing paint in the garage while Brody was napping, and Judah was with me, just playing with the jogging stroller (the old one) while I was busy working with the paint. I was talking with Judah while I worked, as I always try to do just to keep communicating with him even though I'm busy with something.

So, Judah latched the seatbelt part of the stroller and started saying he had a baby in the stroller. He was talking to the baby in a high-pitched (moreso than he usual high pitch - ha) voice, "Hi, Baby. Want to walk, Baby? Okay!" It was adorable.

He kept showing this "baby" things in the garage. Judah saw the paint tray from Jake painting the house, and he said, "Daddy's paint!" Then he worked SO HARD to turn the stroller around so "the baby" could see Daddy's paint. I asked him about his baby a few times, and he would answer and then keep talking to the baby. Finally, I said, "Judah, what's the baby's name?" He quickly answered, "God." I was dumb-stricken. God was sitting in that stroller! Judah kept going on with his game, completely unaware of the power of his words and his imagination.

I kept working, well aware that God was sitting in the stroller, watching everything going on. A few minutes later, Judah almost knocked some paint over. I started to get upset, then I remembered -- God was sitting in the stroller. How should I react? What should I say? I directed Judah and his stroller in a different direction and explained that he almost knocked the paint over and needed to watch where he was going. "Okay, Mommy," he said and went on with his game.

This very small part of the day stuck with me, though. I should ALWAYS act as if God was sitting in the room, watching everything I'm saying and doing. My little 2 year old convicted me in a big way today, and it is an experience that will stick with me for a long time.

Such Pure Truth

Brody LOVES to swing outside on the swingset. He is such a happy boy. He is really crawling now, rather than just army crawling. It's so great to see him mobile.

Judah and Jake fishing. Judah loves to go fishing with Daddy.

I had the most interesting conversation with Judah this morning. We were playing outside (as we do almost all day, every day anymore), and we started talking about people being mean. I told Judah that it isn't good to be a mean person.

Judah asked, "Why?" This is a normal response to most everything we say to him.

I wanted to be clear this time that I knew what he was asking. I said, "Why are people mean?"

Judah replied, "Yeah."

I said, "Because they need to know Jesus."

Judah said, "I know Jesus."

I said with a smile, "You do!?"

Judah replied, "Yes, I know Jesus. He helps people."

I said, "Really?"

Judah responded, "Yes!" Then he paused and added, "Batman, too. He helps people. Jesus helps people, too. I like 'em."

Judah went on to say several more times that he knows Jesus. It made my heart swell that he is learning who Jesus is and feels that he knows Him! I owe a big thank-you to his extremely patient Sunday School teacher, Roberta, who does such a great job teaching all of the kids about Jesus and how we should all be kind. I'm glad, too, that he is learning about Jesus from Jake and I at home.

I'm looking forward to a very joyful and blessed week. Are you?