Four.

Four.  It's seems like such a small and insignificant number until you have babies, and then it becomes a big number.  All of the sudden, your baby turns four and becomes a kid.  A full blown kid.  No more baby face, no more toddler years...nope.  Kid.

At four, my baby girl doesn't look like a baby, she looks like a little girl.  And I'm ok with that.  Though, it's taken some time to get there.  How can I not be ok with it, though, when she asks to go have her four year pictures taken and photographs like this:



This year, she finally learned to genuinely smile for the camera!

She also learned:

Her numbers (by recognition) from 1-30, to count to 100, to do simple addition and simple subtraction and how to measure.

How to read.  We've been working through "Learn to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" and it has been fabulous for us.  She's excited every day about our reading lessons.  We're more than halfway through and she's reading short stories, now!  She's anxious to get to the end because when she finishes the book, she gets to go to the bookstore and pick her very first book to read by herself.   

At four, Logan loves to pick out all of her own clothing.  If she had it her way, she'd wear leggings, a tunic top and a tutu every. waking. moment.  Come to think of it, she even wears them when she sleeps! She says that a ballerina always needs to be prepared to "pirouette" with a twirly skirt.

She and her brother have such a special relationship.  They truly are best friends.  They play together, laugh together, fight together, cry together (whine together, complain together.... ;) ), and love each other to pieces.  It's such a blessing to watch this relationship blossom.

I don't know that I'd say Logan is shy.  It takes a few minutes to get her shell to crack, but then she'll talk your ear off and show you every dance she's ever learned.

She's spunky as can be and is slowly learning to use the spunk to her advantage instead of using it in ways that earn her consequences.

She's quick and reasons very well.  Several weeks ago she came to me and said, "Mommy, Lucy (her doll) just woke up from her nap.  She's not going to be tired when it's time for my nap.  I am going to do the unselfish and loving thing by staying awake during my nap so she doesn't have to nap again."

......it's tough when they use your logic against you.

Logan enjoys playing outside, but also loves to sit on her bed and read stories for hours on end.  She's content to be with several friends or sit in her room and play on her own.  She's pretty easy to please.

Her very favorite thing to do is be Lucy's mommy.  We don't go too many places without her and when we do, I hear about it the whole trip.  It's "not safe to leave Lucy at home alone where she could choke, drown, sit in a dirty diaper (though, she is potty training now thanks to the potty seat that Mimi and Granddaddy gave her for her birthday), etc, etc...."  Lucy is her little baby and I think she'd do just about anything for that little doll.

Logan is blossoming into a beautiful little dancer.  She's in year 2 of ballet and counts down the days to class as soon as the previous week's class lets out.  She practices everything she's learned throughout the week, talks about what she wants to share during share time (the only time during class when the girls are allowed to talk about anything other than dance) and loves to show anyone who will watch what she's been up to.

We feel so blessed to have been given such a gift in Logan.  She keeps us on our toes and keeps us smiling.  Her eyes light up a room, her smile is infectious and her laughter is enough to get even the grupmiest people out of their moods.  

We pray every day that the Lord would soften her heart and do a work in her so that one day we can see her do work for the Kingdom.  

 

What a joy it is to be her parent and to be able to call her our own!

Logan's Birthday

Logan turned 4 on January 28th!  I can't believe that our little baby is FOUR.  When I look at her, it's hard to imagine she was ever a 6lb 7oz baby.  But she's turning into such a sweet thing, it's so much fun to walk alongside her as she grows.

We had big plans for Logan's birthday.  Sunday night we met up with Aunt Diane and Uncle Thom for dinner and cake!  Logan requested Moe's because she loves the "Cheesey-dias."

Then we headed home and had some cake.  We went to Target earlier in the week and Logan looked through their big book of cakes and picked the one she wanted.  No input from mom this year, which was strange but exciting (and bittersweet).  We tasked Mike with picking up candles, but he forgot so this was his improvisation for her:

Brody enjoyed the cake very, very much.

The Boles' got Logan a tent that is more like two little houses that connect and the kids love it!  They play with it all of the time.

We had planned to take Logan and several of her girlfriends to our local tea house for a tea party.  Unfortunately, Logan woke up the night before her birthday with a bad, bad stomach bug and we ended up having to cancel the party.  It was a hard decision to make, but we did our best to make the day a special one at home.

We always tell Logan that God has blessed her with a best friend that gets to live with her and that she should be so thankful to always have a playmate.  And I think it hit her on her birthday how true it was.  Even though we couldn't go out and celebrate, she had someone at home who was glad to celebrate and play with her, sick and all!

Logan got several bitty baby/big girl outfits that matched.  She and Lucy will be stylin' together come spring!

Mike and I really weren't sure what to get Logan until about 2 weeks before her birthday.  That's when the Sofia the First costume was released on the disney store online.  After confirming that's what we wanted to get her with Mike, I went to order it (a mere 12 hours after it's release) and it was SOLD OUT.  I contacted their customer service and they said they had no idea when it'd be back in stock (it still isn't, by the way).  I called our disney store in town who didn't have it and told me that it hadn't been released to physical stores yet and then called my sister in law to brainstorm.  She called her store who actually did confirm that the physical stores have them, but that they had just sold out.  They did tell her when their next shipment would come in, though.  

So as we waited for that shipment to come in (hoping they'd have her size) I started calling other disney stores--in Miami, in Orlando, Tallahassee, basically anywhere I had friends or family who could pick it up and ship it to me.  After talking to another lady, who I "met" through the disney store facebook page, I realized that if I asked, any store would ship merchandise for me.  They don't advertise this because they don't want their stores to turn into warehouse distribution centers.  So I started calling every store I could get numbers for and finally found one in Queens, NY who had one in stock in L's size.  It was a thrilling victory for me...Mike just shook his head and laughed.  Thankfully, Lindsey was able to pick up the amulet (Sofia's special necklace) from her Disney Store as it was the other coveted item I was unable to locate.

All of the effort was worth it when this little one opened it up!

She had no idea that they had released the costume and was shocked to see it in her birthday bag.

 

By the end of the day she was feeling much better.  We're going to try and get out sometime this week and take some 4 year pictures and then I'll do a post with all of her 4 year stats.  

Happy Birthday, sweet Logan!

Ft. Jackson

Mike had some training to do last month at Ft. Jackson for a weekend.  We decided that since he'd have a hotel room and we'd only be 20 minutes from our dear friends, the Tolberts, that the kids and I would head down there with him.  We were able to have a good dinner and catch up with them (well....as much as you can catch up with 4 kids under 4) on Friday night and then Patty and I headed to the zoo with the kids on Saturday!  I am so thankful for our friendship.  From Thursday morning 6am breakfast groups in high school, seeing each other every so often in college, and blessed to have a year together in seminary.  I love having friends that I can spend 2 minutes with and feel like I haven't missed a day!

I wish I had more pictures, but with all four kids and only two mommies with wagons (on a Saturday, no less), our hands were pretty full!  We finally were able to pull the cameras out when we headed over to the botanical section of the zoo where they had a small playground, a playhouse and it was a little more relaxed.

Now, by the time we were able to get all four kids in a picture together, not even our two picture pros were very into the idea (it was minutes before finding food and heading home).  I cropped out the babies in the first two (and you'll see why in the last one):

Anna Kate and Logan!  They took to each other so quickly, it was like they had been friends for years, too.  Logan keeps asking when we're going to go back and visit her friend, again.  We may have to head down there a few times while Mike is there again this summer.

And here it is.  Brody wanted NO PART of sitting there with all of those girls and Caroline looks like she's thinking, "oh my, why in the world did they sit me down here with this screaming kid.  what is his problem?!"  haha  Maybe we'll get a good one of them all next time...

Snapshots

Just a few pictures from life here.  We've had a crazy month with illness and such so I've been neglecting the blog but still have taken a ton of pictures to make up for it!

I've not met children who like to snuggle as much as mine do.  Snuggle mommy, snuggle daddy, snuggle each other, they are just both very, very affectionate.

This was the week before Logan's birthday.  She was up with us talking about how she couldn't wait to turn four.

Logan loves having her picture taken now that she has a good "camera smile" so she constantly is coming up along side her brother and saying things like, "you HAVE to get a picture of this" or "wouldn't this make a good picture?"  or "aren't we so cute?  don't you want a picture of this?"  :)

Kathy's Story

Before Nana passed, she spent time writing out her testimony.  I wanted to put it here so when I get the blog printed, it's there for the kids to have.  I also want to give as many people the opportunity to be blessed by her story as I can.  So, without anything further, here is Kathy's story.

 “Be very careful never to forget what you have seen God doing for you.  May His miracles have a deep and permanent effect upon your life! Tell your children and your grandchildren about the glorious miracles He did.” Deuteronomy 4:9 TLB

To my precious family,

God has blessed me with 57 years of joy as a wife, mother and nana. He is so good. :) I wanted to record my story of miracles for you, because I want you to know how much Jesus loves you.  My greatest desire is for you to love him right back.  Forever!

Looking back at my life, I thought I was somewhat “religious.”  I went to church fairly often, but I didn't have a relationship with Jesus Christ, and I only prayed when I really wanted something.  When I was 20, I was diagnosed with cancer.  I had to drop out of college for surgery, followed by several rounds of intensive cobalt radiation treatments that nearly killed me.  I felt sure that I could beat it, and I didn't think God would let me down.  Eight months after being diagnosed with cancer, I married Don, my high school sweetheart, who stayed by my side through it all, despite doctors' predictions that I wouldn't live a long life.

God granted me a miracle, healing me from Hodgkin's disease. We thought that all the sickness was behind us. But, three years later, the day of my college graduation, I was told the cancer had returned. I was shocked, because I didn't think a bad thing could happen to me twice.  I was full of anger.  I struggled through my first year of teaching, receiving chemo every other weekend. The worst news came when those treatments ended, and doctors told us we would probably be unable to have children. 

At that point, I was raging mad at God!

Then, two years later, God blessed us with our miracle baby, Kimberly.  I was so happy, I “forgave God” for putting me through so much.  We couldn't believe it when 11 months later, we were told that Kim was totally deaf.  She would never hear us speak.  She would have to attend special classes and use sign language her whole life.  At that moment, I hardened my heart and shut God out of my life.  For five years, I let that anger toward God grow in me and missed out on the comfort and joy He wanted to give me.  Still, He was faithful.  He brought people into our lives that helped Kim to use hearing aids and to speak.  Then, he blessed us with two more miracles – our twins, Lindsey and Michael!

Because I was so angry at God, I left the church when I thought I would be unable to have children.  My children were the ones that drew me back to God. When they were in nursery school, they asked to go to Sunday School like their friends. So, I reluctantly went back to church.  I even took a job as the Christian education director at our church in Amherst, and Don and I taught Sunday School classes. We were back to accepting the role of “religion” in our lives.  I still was wary of God, but He was slowly softening my heart and drawing me closer to him. God brought me to my knees time after time, but He never gave up on me.

It wasn't until we moved to Findlay in 1998 that I discovered what it truly means to have a relationship with Jesus.  The funny thing was, I thought I knew who God was. I thought I understood the role of Jesus. So, it baffled me when I saw people walking into our new church with Bibles and talking about Jesus saving them. I couldn't understand what I assumed was a fanatical approach to church and religion. I even questioned the pastor about it. He explained to me that I needed Jesus, and the cross on which he died was like a bridge over the great divide between Him and me. My sin was separating me from God.  I finally asked God for forgiveness and accepted Jesus Christ into my heart as my savior and Lord of my life.

When I turned my life over to Jesus, I had the peace that no matter what I faced in the future, He would be in control of my life. He would encourage me. He would sustain me. I was His daughter, and I would one day go home to be with Him eternally in Heaven, where He had already prepared a place for me.

My Bible is precious to me, because through God's word, I can see how he has always had a plan for my life.  I have spent much time in His Word the past few years, especially after I learned, yet again, that my battle with cancer was not finished. It was just days before Easter of 2008 when I found myself in the emergency room with intense pain in my chest. Doctors admitted me into the intensive care unit to treat blood clots in my lungs. They also discovered breast cancer and congestive heart failure – a result of the aggressive cancer treatments earlier in my life.  This time, I was able to give the situation to God and trust that He would walk me through whatever was to come. I was in His hands, and this was His plan.

Next, I underwent surgery to install a pacemaker, which doctors felt would help me survive the next surgery – a lumpectomy. Although the tumor was removed, doctors felt it was a matter of time before the cancer returned. Still, God answered prayers and blessed me with more time.  None of us knows the number of days we have.  Knowing that mine always had the potential of being shortened, taught me to enjoy each moment.

I ended up back in the hospital again in January of 2010 with pneumonia and a 35 percent chance of survival. Doctors predicted I wouldn't make it.  But, as all the family gathered to say goodbye, I pulled through and went home again five days later.  God blessed me with nearly three more wonderful years with the people I love, especially my four precious grandbabies – each one a miracle. 

In each circumstance, I know God gave me yet another miracle.  Doctors really didn't know what to make of me.  According to statistics, I should have died long ago. According to my medical chart, I should not have been functioning like I was with so much energy.  I never missed an opportunity to tell them that Jesus is the reason for my peace, joy and strength.  There was no other reason than Jesus' miracles that I kept walking out of those hospital rooms with joy in my heart and back to my life with family and friends.

Facing cancer again with the joy and peace of Jesus in my heart has been a totally different experience. It has drawn people to me, because they have seen the change in my heart and they want to know its source. What a blessing it has been to be able to tell them about Jesus. I believe that is why God has given me the miracles I have had in the last four years.  I pray my story of peace and joy in the midst of trials will be an encouragement to others. 

I am grieving that I have to say goodbye. I don't want to miss out on any moment with the ones I love most. But, my prayer is that each of you will find the peace and joy I have found in Jesus. I look forward to our reunion again one day in Heaven. And, while I can't be here to encourage you in your journey, know that I have loved you with my whole heart. I have confidence that you will be blessed beyond measure in this life, and you will persevere during times of pain and heartache.  I intend to be up in the bleachers in Heaven with “the great crowd of witnesses” cheering you on. And when you miss me, think of me hosting story time with all the children in Heaven, wearing pantyhose on my head while we sing, “Do Your Ears Hang Low.”

Ohio Pictures

While we were in Ohio, I was able to catch a few pictures.  Most of them are from the kiddos playing in the snow.  They had a nice snowfall before we drove up and then had some more pour down while we were there.  

Here's Logan, ready to head out:

Excited to be making snowballs and snow angels!

Brody was ok, so long as he didn't have to touch the snow.

They both had fun being pulled around in the sled.

Sweet little girl in bed one night:

The kids with Papa before we left:

Logan and Benjamin:

All of the cousins:

Logan and I:

Nana

Christmas day also came with some sad news as Mike's mom (Nana) lost her battle to cancer (and other things) and passed away.  While the news came as no surprise, it was no less devastating for us.  Nana was a special lady who we all loved.  Mike's comment on it was that this was our worst Christmas ever, but her best Christmas ever as she got to celebrate with Jesus.  It was a huge reminder that life on earth doesn't go on forever and that we're so thankful for the blood of the lamb and the truth he brought when he came.  We're thankful that Nana is in heaven.  We're also so thankful for the memories she left behind and the different things she did for the kids before she passed so that we'd have fond reminders of her as they grow up.

For the last few years, she had been working on putting together a story time video for her grandkids.  She was a children's librarian, and with that position came an incredible love for books and storytelling--and she could tell stories!  This DVD was a compilation of some of her favorites and it's such a blessing to be able to turn it on and have Nana there for the kids to see.  They certainly miss her and light up as her face fills the screen and she happily tells them to "wiggle their fingers high, wiggle them low, fold them together and hold them just so" (see Logan's hands?) before beginning a series of stories.

She also left us with quite a library of books!  Another perk of having a Nana who was a children's librarian is having tons of wonderful book suggestions.  And we've loved every one of them!  She started the kids' library before Logan was even born, but continued to help build it as they grew.  Anytime she visited, she took us to the bookstore and helped us pick out books.  She'd read them books at her house and we'd eventually have to buy them because the kids wouldn't stop asking to hear them over and over.  And more recently, she sent 19 of her very favorite children's books wrapped up for the kids to open every day before Christmas.  It was such a treasure to open each one and read a personal note about the book from Nana.  The kids were just as excited to open a new one each day as they were the day before.  We've got so many books from Nana that they fill a whole nook in our little bookshelf!  Logan calls it her "Nana library."  Here the kids are with their (recent) favorite Nana books.  Logan is holding "Dance Tanya"  (would you expect anything less from our little ballerina?) and Brody is reading "Puff Puff Chugga Chugga" which Mike and I can both recite from memory now.....and that's no small feat, it's a long story!

We are so thankful for her 57 years on earth.  I'm thankful that I was able to get to know her over the last 8 years and I'm so glad that she was Mike's mom.  Mike and I especially thankful that she shocked the doctors and outlived their short life prediction, and was able to meet 4 of her grand babies.  She will be sorely missed, but fondly remembered.