Happy Birthday My Son

William, my sweet boy, my Squishy had his fifth birthday today. How appropriate that it falls on Thanksgiving this year. We are in deed thankful for this guy. He is a light in our home. His smile can only cause others to do the same. His laugh, infectious. I have only known this boy for six months and he has completely stolen my heart.

He LOVES pumpkin pie. The first time he had it, he asked, "Mummy, what izz dees? It is verrry goot!" When I told him it was pumpkin, he said, "Oh pumpkeen izz goot. Pumkeen izz verry goot. Mummy, my like it." So given the day, he had a birthday pie, rather than birthday cake.

Blowing out the candles.

Look at that huge bite.

Can you believe it all fit?


When it came time to open gifts, he looked at us like we were nuts. He had this look on his face that seemed to be saying, "What am I supposed to do with this?" I told him to rip it open, that there would be a toy inside for him...a present. After the first, one he would look at me and say, "Mommy reep et?"

He got an enchima (monkey in Lungandan...totally spelled phonetically) from his grandma and grandpa. The also sent him a cool building set and a tractor. Thank you grandma and grandpa...you hit the jack pot with the monkey.

Our wonderful friends dropped off two books for him. Curious George and Spot's Birthday. Thank you Dodson family for the books. We are looking forward to
snuggling up and and reading about the funny misadventures of one curious enchima.

"Mommy, yook at dees."

What a wonderful day. Happy birthday my sweet boy!

The Tree

We decorated our Christmas tree this morning. Normally we would do this Thanksgiving day, but tomorrow also happens to be my Squishy's 5th birthday.

We have not been much on Christmas around here the last few years, and have on several occasions, contemplated not having a tree any more. I would be so cool with that....the kids however...not so much. In an attempt to find some meaning out of all this tree business, I decided that as we decorated the tree today, I would ask the kids how the tree and the things on it, called us to remember Christ.

We started with the obvious, the tree and the lights.

Trust me when I say, we had a great family devotion time this morning. So I asked, "How does this tree and the lights remind us of Jesus?" Here are some of the responses:

"Jesus died on a tree."

"The tree is green, it reminds me of the new life I have in Christ."

"The lights remind me that Jesus is the Light of the world."

"It also reminds me that I am to be a light for the world, pointing them to Jesus."

"All Christmas trees are in the shape of a triangle. That is a good picture of the trinity."

"Jesus was a carpenter, he worked with trees."

"The star is like the star the wise men followed to find Jesus."

"It smells good." I couldn't get her to articulate why the tree smelling good reminds her of Jesus...but I could think of some reasons.

Next we strung popcorn and fruit loops to hang as our decorations.

Here are there responses to the same question, focusing on the decorations:

"Popcorn is a seed. One popcorn seed planted makes many popcorn seeds. It is like the gospel. We have the seed planted in us and it makes many more seeds."

(I added red food coloring to the popcorn while it was popping)

"The popcorn is red and white. It reminds of Jesus purity and His blood that makes me pure."

"The fruit loops are circles, that is shows completeness. Jesus completed all that needed to be done, so we could be saved.

"They taste good...ya know taste and see that God is good."

How about some pictures of these wise ones

Then we added candy canes. They all told me what they could remember of the Story of the Candy Cane.

As Christmas get closers we will do individual studies on some of the names given to Jesus in the scriptures using Adorenments. I have has these for years, but have never used them. This year we will.

I must say, I have a new appreciation for the tree in my living room. I am certain that when I look at it for the next four weeks, I will think not how beautiful the tree is, but about how beautiful my Savior is.

Where Do You Fall?

Here is a nice web site to put all our woes into perspective. I encourage you to enter in some smaller numbers (after you enter your own) the results should shock us. I know it shocked me.

This is information that I struggle with all the time. Every time I want to buy something, I think about the people we saw in Uganda drinking filthy water. I think about the children in tattered and torn clothes. I think about the kids who were blessed enough to have shoes, even though most were painfully to small for their feet. I think about how I was able to check myself in to a clinic and receive the best medical care the area could afford, in order to treat a resistant strain of malaria. I think about the mothers and fathers who will bury their child today, because they didn't have $5 for malaria medicine. These are the things I think about.

Even yesterday, while I shopped for Christmas gifts for my children. I wondered. We already do Christmas VERY meagerly in our home. Each child gets one gift, and the budget is low. Still I wondered. Is this what I should be doing with this money? Will I have to answer one day for these purchases...that we don't need...when there are people starving...people dying. I think often about how blessed we are. Then I wonder, where is the line? At what point does my spending cost someone else? I honestly don't know the answer. I am however, thankful that the Lord has opened my eyes to at least question what we spend and where we spend it. Something tells me though, that when I do stand before my God, that I will not regret giving in abundance. I just might wished I had given much more.


My dear friend April, told me a quote one time, and I have never forgotten it (although I have forgotten who said it...so I am hoping she will leave a comment and tell us who said it)

"Live simply. So others may simply live."