Bible reading with Eden

after eden and I ate scrambled eggs for lunch, she brought me one of her bibles to read to her. it's a children's one with pictures and abbreviated stories...but more grown-up than a board book one. it has 300 or so thin, pretty pages.

so....we begin in Genesis. she is fascinated that adam and eve are in the garden of eden. we've told her this before, but today it seems to really click. her eyes twinkle and she says "like me! dockery! I'm EDEN dockery! and God loves dockery! can you believe it, mom?!" yes, eden, I can.

we read that God made all the animals and she reaffirms her love of aquariums. and going to them with Jackson (her cousin).

we keep going and she asks what is happening on each page.

we get to pharoah and he is illustrated as a bald guy....she asks "mom, is that charlie brown?"

we see the plagued nile river turned bloody...she shouts "what BEAUTIFUL red water!"

on to the arc of the covenant..."is that baby Jesus in there?"

daniel with the lions, mean kings, moses in the basket. she just can't get enough of the stories.

then we hit the new testament. she is thrilled, as always, to see baby Jesus amongst the cows and lone donkey. she says "there was nobody at their church that day". well, sort of, eden.

Jesus gets baptized and "the fishies were watching". I bet they were.

then He eats the last supper with His friends. I show her the cross and He's hanging on it. He died so we could go to heaven. she says she misses Him and wishes He could come to her house. I told her He is always with us and He's coming back to get us. we look at the picture of Him in the sun shiney clouds. she says she's going to hug Him and that would make Him happy.

I have no doubt it would thrill Him.

then she learns we are supposed to tell other people this story.

my greatest prayer is that she does. and that I don't screw up trying to teach her about Him.

I want to raise little world changers. and by God's grace and love, I'm gonna.

seriously embarrassing to me...

I had to post this so that my family could see charlotte being so cute and trying to sing/talk while having the hiccups. I sound so ridiculous that I can't even handle it. but, it's just mom voice. so I'll get over it.

a word from charlotte...or maybe just a pretty noise

our little talker...ready for halloween in her glow in the dark skeleton onesie (thanks walmart).

sweet moriah

hey everyone!

we have some very sweet friends that have a little girl named moriah. she was born just days after charlotte (and was also an upside down breech baby!). on thursday, september 24th, she will be having surgery to repair two holes in her heart. just wanted to ask you blog readers to please pray for her and the winchell family. their blog is called team winchell and is on my blog list over here ---->.

we love you moriah pearl winchell!

sorry, but...

...they are just so durn cute.

lovingly with adoration and splendor

The last few days have been rough. But, that isn’t at all surprising, because I knew today was coming. September 3rd. I try so hard to focus on good things, remember his voice and smile, and not that horrible night. But…most times that just doesn’t work. I have to allow myself to remember the worst…get down into the dark times, and then emerge into my memory of the sweet ones. And dream of life now and what is to come.
Seven years ago, today, I lost my first love. Part of my heart and being. To a drunk driver. A drunk and high driver, rather…who was unable to realize he was driving down the wrong side of the road.
I was supposed to be with Doug that night, but decided to stay home and study greek. Greek, for crying out loud. And for a long while after his death, I wished that I had been in that car, because the grief of staying here in this life without him seemed too great to bear.
But the thing is…I wasn’t with him. He was taken. I am still here. And while I don’t still kiss his picture every night before bed, or sleep with his shirt, or smell his bottle of cologne…I miss that tall, brown-eyed boy every day. The strangeness of his death and absence never goes away.
So much has happened in seven years.
I have…
sat in Greenwich cemetery for hours, felt alone, cried, questioned my God, loved my God, read, written, wondered, prayed, been angry, traveled, learned some French, painted, made new friends, cherished my old friends, taken off a ring, fallen in love again, put on another ring, married that love in the pasture, become a Texan, worked in Mexico, become a nurse, stared into the eyes of my children.

How his life and death have molded my life is immeasurable. How fresh the memories of his crooked bottom teeth, long, messy hair, tall frame, laughter, and beautiful mind are in my soul. For that I could not be more thankful. Every now and then I let myself watch a movie of him moving around and talking just to see him.
I don’t have much more figured out about life than I did seven years ago. I still don’t know why --and have accepted the fact that I won’t while I am here on earth.
What ultimately gets me out of the pits of the anniversary of Doug’s earthly death is Jesus. Because of Him, Doug isn’t dead. Seriously. He isn’t. and I know that better than anything. oh what a day it will be when I see them both together…Jesus and Doug that is. When I join them. I get chills just typing that.

Douglas Michael Shippy, a life lived fully, to the hilt, and in this sin soaked world a life cut short. Our best friend, our beloved.
To a life lived with brilliance, humor, and clever wit.
To every companionable silence, every insightful conversation, to an almost irrepressible mirth.
To a voracious appetite for good books, swiss cake rolls, and grand ambitions.
To an uncompromising loyalty to the people he claimed as his own.
To an unpretentious faith.
Redeem us restore us, ransom us all, until we come again into a knowledge of him not through this glass darkly, but face to face
(written by jenny martin)

If I weren’t breastfeeding I’d smoke a cheap cigar for you tonight, my douglas. Perhaps I’ll settle for pineapple and pepperoni pizza…another one of your faves. Here’s to you. Here’s to life. Life with no death.

Lovingly with adoration and splendor,

abigail

growing and gains

yesterday, eden and I took charlotte to the pediatrician for vaccinations and a little check-up. turns out our little 6lb 11oz, 19 1/2 inch wonder has grown quite a bit. she now weighs 10lbs 6oz and is 21 1/2 inches long! whoa baby. chub-arific! the doctor said that she looked perfect and to keep doing what we're doing. eden watched intently as he checked her out...she sat right next to her on the table and chatted it up with the doctor. we only had one cry fest...while charlotte was screaming and getting shots, eden fell off of a chair and landed on her head. I was holding charlotte's arms so they wouldn't be in the nurse's way, so I had to wait to scoop them both up in my arms. some breast milk for charlotte and a tinkerbell sticker for eden, and they were both good as new. one more adventure in mothering. I just adore those two girls.

in other news...pumpkin spice lattes are back at starbucks. hallelujah. amen.