Look out, American Idol!

There are some gifts and talents the good Lord has given to me. I'm not particularly awesome at any of them but my efforts seem to pay off and sometimes people say nice things to me about it. For example, I love to take pictures and sometimes people like what I capture. And I'm a decent scrapbooker (thanks for my scrapbooking best friend, Kim). So, I have some skillz but not that many nor that amazing.

Certainly, no one has ever said that I could sing. Okay, I lied. My mom likes for me to sing "You Were Meant for Me" by Jewel and "Part of That World" from Little Mermaid. Other than my dear mum, my singing is not particularly enjoyable to anyone but me. I'm okay with that.

There is a particular demographic that I am finding actually likes my singing. My kids cannot go to sleep without a few lullabies. I happily oblige. It's very sweet and just like I had hoped it would be when I was dreaming of being a mom.

I thought only my kids liked my singing. But, today I found 17 other kids who enjoyed it. In fact, they asked for me to sing again! For real.

The scene - I'm the special guest reader in Jon's class and we read to the kids for 30 minutes. That's a lot of reading. We read from The Jesus Storybook Bible (prodigal son story), a Valentine's book about love and Jon picked "The Prince of Egypt" from the class library. I'm reading along and get to part where Moses's mom sings a final lullaby to him. To myself I think, "Seriously? I have to sing?!? No one told me that it was guest reader/singer!"

I give it a go and it's not good. But when I see the kids, they have the sweetest smiles on their faces. It's like I'm tucking them in or something. We get to a stopping point and I'm asked by numerous kids to sing it again. And I did. Oh my stars.

So, this is reason #584,212 that I love kids.

The 411 on Josiah

I thought it fitting to reacquaint you to my children since it has been over a year since I've posted about them here. And why not start in the middle with Josiah.

Where to begin...

Jon was quoted saying this about his little brother in November 2008, "It's good to have a Siah around." That pretty much says it. If you want a buddy or a partner in crime, he's your guy. He has mastered the fine art of being a great pal. He has honed this skill with hours upon hours of playing with his best friend in the whole wide world, Jon.

Say you are sleepy and don't want to nap all by your lonesome. Yep, look no further than Siah Sam. I remember putting him in the bed with us around 5 am every morning after an early morning feed. He and JD would just cuddle so close and it was precious. Fast forward four years later and Josiah's preferred form of sleeping is next to a loved one. I get that. It does feel very nice and many an afternoon is spent with the two of us sharing a pillow.

The other night, Josiah was so sweet. We played a table talk game and the question was to share something that was beautiful to you. His answer, "The picture of Mommy in her wedding dress upstairs in your bedroom. And napping with you, Mom." A few hours later, he beat me to the punch when going to Rachel's room. She woke up with big tears around 1 am and while I dragged myself out of bed, he rushed to her side to offer her a baby doll. And if you are hurt, he is right next to you giving you a loving, gentle touch.

Another thing about Josiah, he is goofy. He loves a good time and loves to get you to laugh.

These are just a few of the many things that make me love this boy. I will add that like my other children, and probably most people, he is complex. That same boy with the tender touch is also the one upon whom I can place blame for breaking 99% of the things broken in the past 4 years. And when he is frustrated, he looks like he wants to punch someone badly. To sum it up, he is very physical.

He experiences his world by touching things (I should say - by touching EVERYTHING), standing on them and possibly breaking it too. And all this touching stuff leads to a certain pace of things that does not always bring out my best side. The words, "Come on, Siah!" are uttered very often around here.

I will skip the stories dealing with #2 (and you know what kind of #2 I'm talking about) and the crazy things that have happened with that part of living with him. I will just say that there are times when I stumble upon things and I just have to ask myself outloud, "Who does this kind of stuff?!?"

So, as you can see, it is very good to have a Siah around. Life would be pretty boring and less lovely without that sweet boy in our family. We love you!

Shall we try this again?

Oh dear - Dec 4, 2010... date of last post. What in the world happened?? Where did my blogging go?

Well, if I am choosing to not feel like a failure at this, then I just cut myself some slack. I mean, 3 kids (until November - it was 3 under the age of 5). So, for 2012... I shall TRY. :)

Happy New Year!!!

Amen to that!

I still need to explain these photos though it is technically "Wordless Wednesday."

Doing work for Awanas.

Drawing a picture of "something you talk about with God."

In case you cannot quite read it all, Jon on his own decided to write, "Dear God, help me to not sin." Amen to that!

Wordless Wednesday

I think I'll say yes...

Ah, the moment I've waited for arrived. I should not have been surprised to hear the good news. In fact, I'm now 3-3. Every man in this house... wants to marry me! Oh, my stars - I am a happy woman!


It was Josiah's turn to pledge his forever love to me and it went something like this. "Mom, I love you." My response, "Oh, I do love you too, my boy." And then he said it, "I want to marry you because you're beautiful and I love you." >sigh< Really, does it get better than this??!!??

Wordless Wednesday - Because I have boys...

Guess what room in our house needs this??