Happy Valentine's Day

Here are a few pictures from Emma's valentine's celebration week. She had a cute party Wednesday night with Mrs. Joene and Saturday she and I baked cookies. This is what she said while stirring the dough - "Mommy, I'm your helper like the men in the boat helped Jesus." M - "That's right Emma and I think Jesus is so happy you are a good helper. I bet you make Him smile." E - "yeah, and I say cheeeeeeeeeese!" Amen for little hearts that already love Him.

Dry Bones

For those of you who heard Pastor Brent Ross' message on dry bones I wanted to share this video. I saw it almost a year ago and I couldn't help but picture it as Pastor Brent brought his message Sunday, and even those that followed Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Man, did we experience God this week or what? If you're not excited about what He did this week you need to have a serious gut check.

Hi World, it's me.

Yikes - this blog has been neglected, nearly abandoned! I miss writing, so here I am, with things on my heart to share. First things first, let's catch up...

- Christmas was a lot of fun this year. Emma and Avery made their first debut in the Children's Christmas program, dressed as ornaments, and fit to be tied. They just didn't have the patience to "sit on their names" on the stage for too long. It was still a blessing to hear Emma sing her favorite song from the program - "Go tell it on mountain, that Jesus Christ is born." I can still hear her singing that, missing words and all. She was such a tool on Christmas morning too. Troy taught her to be the gift passer so she made each of our piles commanding "don't touch mommy, gotta wait". Her big gifts this year was an art easel that converts to a desk from Nonna and G-daddy, a toy storage unit (yes, she gets excited about cleanliness), a train set from Auntie and Unkie and a cool dvd Bible see / read along.

- We spent new years with the Peacocks. Avery and Emma attempted their first pallet sleepover, but Emma ended up in the guest bed with Troy and me. Robert's pancakes were super yummy :) Later that day we drove to North Carolina to be with Drew, Kelly and the girls as Drew was deploying for Afghanistan. It was so good to see the girls and to be there to send Drew off.

- Here we are in the second month of the year already! God and I have a pretty cool relationship going on this year...stay tuned for what He's doing in me.

Emma Conversations

Last night right before dinner.

E - I want a snack mommy.

M - We are about to eat supper Emma.

E - Pizza mommy?

M - No, baby. We don't have any pizza. I made tater-tot casserole.

E - (pauses) Call the pizza man mommy.

A few Disney photos

Birthdays, Disney World and lingering colds

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Emma and daddy, happy birthday to you! Emma turned 2 last Sunday and Troy turned 29 the next day. We celebrated birthdays in Disney World this year with my parents and had a "magical" time. We got an amazing deal through the military discount program and were able to arrive on Sunday and visit all four parks over the next 5 days. Emma did really well with the long days and over stimulation...until Wednesday. We decided to try out the awesome pirate ship pool at our resort. It was supposed to be heated, but, well, it was wasn't. So we tried the "big" pool. It was better but still not too enjoyable. We spent more time sun bathing and people watching - yes, she gets it honest. At lunch Emma became comatose - she just layed on my chest - my child doesn't turn down food people. She and I went back to the room and took a nap. After nap we headed to the Hollywood Studios park which resulted in a trip to the first aid center. This place isn't called Disney World just for semantics - this place has thought of everything. They had a nurse who took Emma's temp and offered a dose of motrin and further instructions for "Disney paramedics" who can assist in-room by dialing 911 from our resort phone - you get this? When you dial 911 from Disney, you are not connecting to the world we know - it's the disney people. I'm still not sure if I think this is cool or scary. Anyway, to make this incredibly long story short - we ended up at a "disney" urgent care center the next afternoon to get a shabby diagnosis of absolutely nothing. No flu, no ear infection...instead we were told we brought her "too early".

Troy came down with "nothing" that night, and me, well I was glad I hadn't...until Friday morning. The "nothing" creeped on me too. We still managed to walk through Animal Kingdom, which by the way, is the most disappointing place at Disney World. We arrived home late Friday night and thought we were on the road to recovery.

Sunday afternoon we had a small birthday party for Emma at my parent's house. Poor girl, she just didn't have the energy to celebrate. She laid in the bounce house most of the time and let everyone else's jumping bounce her around. We took intermission while opening presents. We tried to keep our germs to ourselves.

Emma has been to her own doctor this week and still has "nothing" that she is supposed to just ride out. I guess that's what I have too - "nothing" with a side of cough and no voice.

Anyway - aside from colds, Troy and I still can't believe we're the parents of a 2 year old. Emma is doing new things everyday that amaze us, catch us off guard, and sometimes act as a check and balance of our parenting skills. Having a child is the closet parallel we've experienced to understanding God's love and desire for us. Emma is a excellent accountability partner!

Halloween

I made Emma's costume this year! With the help of an awesome lady from our church I sewed a pumpkin tu-tu dress for Emma. It was so much fun. Emma enjoyed the fall festival at church and trunk-and-treating with her two pals Avery and Natalie. Here are a few pictures:

Emma Conversations

Scene - Emma's room picking out shoes to go run errands

E - how about this one?

M - those don't match emma. they are pink and green and you are wearing black. how about these? (I point to a black pair)

E - nope, don't want it. this one! (brown flip flops)

M - Emma, those don't match either baby. They are brown and you are wearing black. Can you pick out a black pair that you would like to wear?

E - Mommy? (pause)

M - yes Emma?

E - be quiet please

Circus

My parents took the three of us the Shriner's Circus last week. Emma had never been to a circus before so we weren't sure how she would like it, but she did incredibly well considering the only nap she had was the one in the car on the way there after church. She mostly enjoyed the lights, music and cotton candy! She had one upset - after intermission the clowns came out and did a scene in which they were "painting" - they kept running into one another and spilling paint everywhere. Emma began to cry and told me through her sobs "they not playing nice" - it was a good time for a diaper change. Oh, and I almost forgot - I hope I get to experience the joy of being a grandparent one day - my child is rotten because of these grandparent people - she came home with 3 light-up toys. I can understand 2 as a stretch, one for each hand g-daddy said, but 3! His argument - the third was a necklace and she didn't have to hold it!

Youth Sunday

Each year our Pastors allow the youth group to take over the Sunday morning worship service. This year's service pretty much ROCKED!!! I am so proud of the kids and can't say enough how God shows up and suprises me time and time again. I directed the kids in the drama portion of their service and challenged them to allow God to use their talents in a human video presentation. It would be pretty stellar if God gave me the talent to create one of these myself, but I'm not that awesome so we copied one that we found online. Kudos to Heather's mom for video-taping the presentation:

LIFHOUSE HUMAN VIDEO

ღ†ςђгเรtเคภ ςђเςк†ღ | MySpace Video

Emma Conversations

[getting ready for church]

E - What you doing mommy?

M - Putting on my shirt, Emma.

[I get my shirt on]

E - Good job mommy. [she places her cup on the table and begins to clap] Big girl mommy.

M - Awe, thank you Emma.

E - I'm proud of you Mommy.

Emma Conversations

E - I talk to Jesus on the phone mommy?

[I hand her my cell phone]

E - Hi Jesus. What you doing?

[Emma looks at me]

M - What is Jesus saying Emma?

E - Cock-a-doodle-dooooooooooooo

Like Father, Like Daughter

It seems like Emma is being a copy-cat more and more these days. Here's her most recent venture - insisting on shaving like Daddy.

Emma Conversations

The scene - arriving home - trying to get Emma out of the car into the house along with all of the other stuff I'm carrying. Emma crawls in the front seat and is "driving"

Me - Emma get down please, it's time to go inside

Emma - I'm driving Mommy

Me - I see that Emma, but now it's time to go inside.

[she doesn't move, she's giving me that sideways view and smirk, I proceed to pick her up and put her on the floor and make her walk inside. she starts crying]

Me - I'm sorry baby that you can't drive right now. You need a bath and it's almost time for night night.

Emma [in a pathetic whimper] I'm sorry more mommy

Sophie, meet Jesus

Here's picture of Emma (excuse our mis-matched pj set) showing Sophie all the pictures in her Bible, pointing out baby Moses, the lions and all the animals on the arc. Our daughter isn't quite 2 yet and she is already talking about Jesus - how awesome is our God!

Today we played house

Today was a great day. Troy was off. I had to work this morning but it went by quickly. I cooked a big dinner and Emma helped me make home-made mac-n-cheese. Troy videotaped her - she is so funny - she decided she needed 2 bites while we were stirring. We played hide-and-seek outside after dinner and wrote on the drive way with chalk. I baked a home-made cake and the each of us ate a slice at the table together while enjoying a glass of milk. The TV was off. It was nice. Troy and I both got to say bed-time prayers with Emma - a rare treat these days with Troy's work schedule.

We also got to bring Sophie home today. Emma is so happy to have her home but doesn't quite understand that she still needs a lot of rest. We have to force-feed her with a syringe - hopefully she will make a full recovery. We are hoping to have her as a part of our family for a long time.

Today reminded me of playing house when I was a little girl. Pretend play was always perfect - the perfect husband, babies and home-cooked meals - just like today.

Life with Sophie

Well Sophie has been in our home for 5 days now. We think she likes it here. So far Emma has included Sophie in story time, pointing out all of the animals in the books "Sophie, this a bird, this a dog, see Sophie?" She tells her were to go potty (on her potty mats) and encourages her to go everywhere we go in the house "come on Sophie" - it's so fun to watch Emma incorporate Sophie into her life. She has even picked up on my short name - Soph and will say "come on Soph" - it's adorable. Today Emma asked me for a towel, so I gave her one, but she told me "no, anoder one" so I luckily figured out she needed a paper towel. Once I gave it to her she bent down to Sophie, placed it on her nose and said "blow Sophie." I'm looking foward to Emma having a real sibling one day.

Be careful what you pray for

God is BIG! I've been reading Elizabeth's George's A Wife After God's Heart and have been taking to heart her challenges each week. After thinking through my letter of committment to God regarding my family (week one) and the role I play as the wife and mother I have been incorporating those desires in my prayer time each day. One of my prayers has been to keep a tidy house, one that my husband doesn't have to go behind me and clean his self. For those of you who know me well, you're going to laugh at God's sense of humor here. For those who might need a little explaining, let's just say this homegirl ain't concerned with a little messiness around the abode - I mean for real, does it really matter that my piles stay piles for weeks at a time? Anyway, here's the "urge" God gave me last Friday after work while Emma was sleeping:



yes folks, that's me, scrubbing my base-boards. It's not spring, we don't have company coming in town, and I'm not pregnant and nesting - go figure!!!

Welcome Sophie to the Henderson Family!

We got a dog today. Now we're a truly bone-a-fide American family. Meet Sophia (Sophie) Renee Henderson; she's a 2.5 pound silky malti-poo.

Emma's Prayer

Emma's prayer last night (her list of people she calls out, I'm not sure if she is praying for these or thanking Jesus for them, oh and if you're name isn't listed don't fret - she changes it up each night)..and in this order:
-mommy
-daddy
-nonna
-g-daddy
-memommie
-uncle bill
-unkie
-auntie
-natalie
-noah
(pause)
"anyone else?"
and, baby brother, amen

okay then, there you have it. and for those of you who might question, no we're not trying to creatively blog that we're expecting...not yet at least ;0

on a more serious note, i was sick monday evening and auntie and unkie came to our rescue and took emma for the night. when i talked to emma on the phone tuesday she said 'i pray Jesus make mommy feel bedder' - i just teared up. I am thankful God gives me and Troy the desire to be obedient in raising our child according to His plans, even more thankful we rejoice in it! (um, and again, sickness on monday night not equal to expecting)