A Grand Ol' Time

These last 3 1/2 days, I have had the privilege of spending almost every waking hour with my best friend, Kathy.  Eric and I brought the boys to Dallas, where Eric has had a medical conference from 6:30am to 6pm every day, including Saturday and Sunday (till noon).  That meant I've been on my own in a moderately unfamiliar city.  Thankfully, Kathy hasn't stated her new job yet, so we've been hanging out!  We spent most of the first day wandering the Galleria, looking at maternity clothes for her, getting our makeovers done at M-A-C, eating at Chick-fil-a, La Madeleine's, and then finally at Grand Lux Cafe.  Our second day was spent at the pool at her apartment complex, then a long nap, shopping at Marshall's and Walmart, and finally a fun Big Night Out dinner for 2 at the Melting Pot.  Our third day we hung out and ate some more Chick-fil-a while the boys napped in the morning, but after lunch we went to the Dallas World Aquarium where Michael fell in love with this gorgeous Jaguar.  Needless to say, his souvenir for the trip is a 12-inch stuffed Jaguar from the gift shop.  We visited Panera Bread for dinner and La Madeleine's for dessert before calling it an early night.  This morning, we had breakfast at Cracker Barrel, for which Nate was finally able to join us (he's had to do put in quite a few extra hours at work this weekend, leaving Kathy to play with me!).  Through it all, Michael and Nathan have been wonderful and cooperative.  Sure, they got tired and fussy a few times, but understandably so, since they're schedules were a little messed up while I dragged them all over Dallas and they've had to sleep in unfamiliar surroundings.

Here are some pictures from the Dallas World Aquarium:

The Jaguar that Michael didn't want to leave.

This is the Tunnel that you walk through with so many different types of Sharks, Sting Rays, and large Turtles swimming all around you and above you.

There was also a cute little Giant River Otter.

This rainforest had a 40 ft waterfall, all sorts of birds flying around, monkeys jumping, black-neck swans swimming, giant turtles, a huge manatee, ducks, monstrous catfish, other fish and animals!

Good friends are a blessing.  My prayer for Michael and Nathan is that God will provide them with a best friend, too.  And when I say best friend, I don't just mean a really good friend.  Instead, I mean a friend that the Bible describes in Proverbs 18:34 - "but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother." Of course, my prayer is that they will be each other's best friend, but either way, as long as they have a true, Godly friend like that, that is the most important thing.

things my son says...

My sweet first-born son is only a little over 2 1/2 years old.  Yet, here are some of the things he says:

I love to hear Michael call me "Mommy."  It's sweet, innocent, and even nostalgic in its own way.  Yet, the last couple weeks, I'm starting to hear more and more often: "Mo-o-om!"  I can't help thinking to myself that Michael's too young to switch to the more grown-up "Mom" and I'm not quite ready for it.  I mean, he's only 2 1/2!!  That's practically still a baby!  Now I see why some families have kids about 3 years apart - the older one was growing up too fast and becoming independent, and the parents wanted another little dependent baby!  But I have already told myself that if Michael is ready for more independence, I'm going to help him, guide him, and do my best to not smother him.  So not easy!

I never realized how often I must have said "what happened?"  But Michael has learned to ask "What happened?" anytime Eric or I show any kind of concern or distress with any situation.  It is extremely sweet, and often brings things back into the proper perspective when I have to think of an appropriate answer to Michael's "what happened?"  For example, there was the time that Michael "took me" on our Mother's Day date to Jones Hall to watch "Thomas the Train, Live On-Stage!"  Since I've never been the best with directions and am not as familiar with Downtown Houston, I had a lot of trouble finding my way back to the right highway and locating the on-ramps.  I found myself driving around Downtown lost without the GPS, which Eric had forgotten to return to the car after the latest oil change.  I've never handled being lost very well, so I was on the verge of panic and tears because my cell phone battery had died.  In my emotional distress, I was convinced that Michael and I would be lost in Downtown Houston forever, with no way to contact Eric and the looming impossibility of finding my way out of Downtown and to the right highway.  Needless to say, my whimpering was heard by Michael and he started to ask me, "What happened?  What happened, Mommy?"  It was a good reminder to get a grip and start praying for some help!

One of the things that I don't allow Michael to do is to throw major tantrums.  From the first time he ever cried because he didn't get what he wanted, at less than a year old, I made the decision that if he ever cried or fussed, I would absolutely never give in because of the precedent it would set.  Even if I was about to change my mind and let him have what he wanted, the second he cries, it's "over" and I become immovable in my decision.  As he got older, and he started to want to cry loudly to try to get what he wanted, I would tell him to "stop crying, or you're going to get a spanking."  I know it seems a little harsh, but in general, I would have to say that Michael doesn't throw tantrums.  ("Thank-you, Lord! Please don't let that change!! And please let Nathan be the same!!")  And when he does cry because he didn't get what he wanted and I say the above to him, he will literally exert visible self-control and stop crying, giving me the opportunity to praise him and love on him.  Well, lately, Michael has taken to yelling "STOP CRYING!  STOP CRYING!" to Nathan whenever he cries for any reason.  Of course, Nathan, being only 10 1/2 months old, doesn't really listen to Michael, but Eric and I get a kick out of it.

Other cute things:  Michael calls Lightening McQueen "Kachow".  He used to call Gordon (from Thomas the Train and friends) "Jordan," because his cousin's name is Jordan.  But now he knows Gordon's name and calls Jordan, "Gordon."  I guess he hasn't yet realized that their names are not the same.  He calls the movie Kung-Fu Panda "Kun-bu Bear".  He used to have octopus down-pat, but now he calls it "opposite."  He used to call giraffes "raff," but now he says that right.  There are many others, but those are the ones that I can think of off the top of my head.

So what is Nathan saying these days?  Well, let's see.  There's "Up!" which I really think he knows what that means.  He says "Ummm!" with every bite of food, and will tell us "Umm!" when he's hungry and wants to eat.  Something he picked up from me when I first started to feed him solid food.  Things he's said one time only: "nonono" and "ball."  Of course there's been a few "Mama's", too!

Laughter

Two of the cutest and funniest things that happen on a daily basis over here in the Lee household is as follows.

The first fun thing is tickling Michael and Nathan until their giggling and laughing uncontrollably - at the same time!  Michael is ticklish at the armpits and the soles of his feet.  Nathan is ticklish on his belly.  I love putting them side-by-side on the floor and then just tickling them over and over again, Michael squirming and laughing and kicking his little legs, twisting to get away, but then immediately returning for more, and Nathan with his little arms and legs waving in the air in pure joy.  Their little laughter is music to my ears.

The second fun thing is playing with Nathan on the stairs.  Nathan is now very good at climbing up the stairs.  Since he doesn't know how to come back down on his own yet, I'm always chasing close behind him.  One of Nathan's favorite things is chewing on Michael's socks, which can often be found lying at the bottom of the stairs near his tennis shoes.  Nathan loves to grab a sock, then take off climbing up the stairs, giggling gleefully, completely pleased with himself.  Halfway up, he'll look back to make sure I'm following him, and when he sees me, he giggles joyfully and keeps climbing.  Then, the moment you make a move to chase after him, he squeals loudly with obvious delight and lunges forward, trying to get up faster and escape with his little treasure grasped tightly in his hand.

Encountering God

A light-bulb went off this morning.  I have always known, for many years, that God the Father and Jesus Christ love me.  But for the last few years, God's love had become too general to be specific to me.  What I mean by that is this: God loves the world.  God loves everyone.  Even the person who is unkind and mean, God loves them, too.  And while that is the truest testimony of God's mercy, grace, and goodness, part of me began to think that if everyone is special, no one is special.  And so God loves me, yes, but if God loves everyone, is that special?  So, this morning, as I was going over Henry Blackaby's "Experiencing God," I was reminded that every time the Holy Spirit impresses something upon me, every time I learn something new, every time a passage of Scripture speaks to me, those moments are my very own, very personal, very intimate encounter with God.  And why do I have encounters with God?  Because God loves me in a very personal, very unique, and very intimate way.  *Ding* Light bulb!

Thanks to Roger Patterson, the senior pastor of my church, I had the privilege of having a second, most wonderful encounter with the Lord today!  You see, I've grown up being told to pursue righteousness.  To hunger and thirst for righteousness.  But I never understood HOW to do that.  In the past, I would have said something like: keep the 10 commandments, love everyone, pray for everyone, forgive everyone, put others first, serve others, try not to sin, seek God's glory and His kingdom, etc, etc.  It was always just so overwhelming, and even then I would not have ever used the word "righteous" to describe any of it.  However, today, Roger told us the answer to my question was found in Romans 6:13 - "Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness."  My job was to offer every part of my body (mind, eyes, mouth/tongue, hands, feet, etc) to God, to allow him to use each part of my body as an instrument of righteousness.  Does that mean it will be easy - of course not!  But what an exciting revelation, an amazing encounter, and an encouragement to hunger and thirst for righteousness!  Feel free to help keep me accountable!

The last thing I want to share is a quote from "Billy Graham in Quotes."  This is not my official review on this book, that will come later when I have read it in its entirety, but from time to time, I'll probably share from the book when something impresses me.  The quote is: "America's Declaration of Independence speaks of 'the pursuit of happiness,' but nowhere in the Bible are we told to pursue this.  Happiness is elusive, and we don't find it by seeking it."  I was particularly touched by this quote because it is so true - the harder you try to find happiness (thus, consumed with self), the more discontent and unhappy you will likely be.  The best way to find happiness is to stop worrying about yourself, start loving and caring and serving others, and most importantly, learning about and loving God/Jesus Christ/the Holy Spirit.  Then you will find joy unspeakable, peace beyond understanding, and love unlimited.

The Basics of Life

At the end of last week, I heard a radio DJ say, "Whew! We made it through another week."  After hearing that, I couldn't stop thinking about how I disagreed with that statement.  I'm not going to deny that I have often had that attitude myself, but over the last couple weeks, God has been changing that.  I recently had a dear friend that was diagnosed with brain cancer.  He has a 2 year old daughter and his wife has been like an older sister to me.  Our prayer is for a miraculous healing or cure, but it's really made me think about how short our time here on Earth is and how precious each day is.  Now, instead of thinking, "Whew, I made it through another week," I now think of how to take advantage of each day with my boys because my time to be as powerful an influence in their life as I have the opportunity to be now is short.  Soon, they will grow up and transfer their primary emulation to their Daddy.  For now, I'm just going to enjoy every moment of loving and teaching them.

As a grateful and proud Mommy, I must brag on Michael and Nathan.  Earlier today, I had a servant team meeting for the Women's Bible Study with our church, WUBC/Crosspoint.  We're studying Beth Moore's "Jesus, the One and Only."  Because this is our only meeting prior to the start of the studies, it's a really important meeting and I really had to focus.  Michael and Nathan were the only kids there, but they were both so incredibly well-behaved.  Neither had any problems.  No crying, no whining.  Whenever I would ask Michael to do something, he would obey quickly.  They didn't disrupt the meeting and weren't too distracting.  I was so proud of them!

But more importantly than their good behavior, was one of the coolest things that Michael said today.  Michael likes to watch the movie, "Kung Fu Panda."  Originally, it was not one of the movies I thought was appropriate for him because it's not rated "G," but Eric has been letting him watch it and now he loves it.  Well, during one of the scenes, the old wise turtle dies.  Michael would always ask, "what happened to turtle?"  I would always tell him that the turtle went to Heaven.  Since he's only 2 1/2, I just wanted to start with introducing the concept of going to Heaven after life here without confusing it too much with whether or not the turtle really goes to Heaven (that will be for another day when he's older).  Then, today, Michael said, "I want to go to Heaven."  So I said, "I want you to go to Heaven!  The way to get to Heaven is through Jesus Christ.  Jesus is the way to Heaven.  He loves you and died for you so you can go to Heaven.  He saved you!"  I was just so excited that I've been able to at least introduce some basic aspects of our faith to him.  Of course, he's not old enough to understand sin and death and the need for salvation, but I found it to be such an encouraging start!

Joy of Mine

One of the greatest joys of being a Mommy is having the privilege of watching your sons start playing together.  Now, today wasn't the first time that they rolled a ball back and forth, but it's the first day that they really seemed to connect with each other while doing so.

While this picture is from a week ago when Nathan climbed up the stairs on his own for the first time ever, I just had to brag about this cute little baby.

Of course, Eric and I aren't sure if Nathan has actually spoken his first words yet.  He almost daily hears "NO NO NO" when we're trying to stop Michael from pushing him over.  And a couple weeks ago, it certainly sounded like he said "no no no," but he never repeated that.  Then, today, while climbing the stairs, he looked straight up at me from the bottom step and very clearly said "upupup!"

So what has God taught me today?  I learned that Michael is extremely sensitive to my moods.  If I'm upset for any reason, he mirrors my mood with whining, crying, and sleepiness.  Lesson: resolve all conflicts as quickly as I am able so that I can be my normal self and Michael can be his usual bright, cheerful, happy little self.  Thank-you, Lord, for all the men in my life, all 3. :-)

Showers of Blessings

Oh how I love to hear the sound of falling raindrops as they hit the ground outside; the unevenness as they filter through the tree leaves and gather into bigger droplets before smashing onto the concrete below; combine that with the pitter-patter on my roof and the ping-ping-ping on the metal flue cap and the symphony of sounds soothes my heart and mind.  And with our drought conditions, this rain is truly a blessing - oh too short of a blessing.  Even the bird that is cooing loudly, "whOO-WHOO whoo-whoo" over and over again as I type is joining in protest that the rain has already petered out.

Recently, I have started to read "Wild at Heart" by John Eldridge to both Michael and Nathan.  While they're only 2 1/2 years old and 10 months, I figured it would be in the rotation of books that I will read regularly to the boys.  So if you ever wonder why I let them run a little wild and let some things go instead of reigning them in - that's why.  I've decided not to raise "nice" boys.  Kind, respectful, responsible, and Godly.  Absolutely.  Just not "nice" and passive. :-)


Funny thing that happened this past weekend.  On Friday, I had gone to lunch with my Mother-in-Law, Sister-in-Law, 2 nieces, and Michael.  Nathan stayed with his Grandpa "A-Kong".  I had ordered a salmon fried rice for Michael, one that he has enjoyed and eaten well in the past.  This day was no different.  He ate about half of the large bowl that would have easily fed an adult.  After everyone else had finished eating, Michael seemed to have stopped eating the rice as well, so I asked the waiter for a box.  He told me that he would take the bowl to the kitchen and box it for us there.  Since I thought Michael was finished eating, I said OK.  However, as soon as the waiter put his hand on the bowl, Michael immediately grabbed it with both hands, refusing to let the waiter take it away.  The waiter finally had to just bring us the box for me to do it.  Then, on Sunday, Eric and I decided to go to Saltgrass for lunch after church.  The same thing happened when we asked the waiter for a box for Michael's left-over Macaroni and Cheese.  The waiter wanted to take the food and box it for us and Michael grabbed it and looked extremely distrustfully at the waiter from the corner of his eyes.

Michael's repertoire of facial expressions has truly expanded to include all sorts of non-verbal communications.  When there's something he's not too thrilled about, he often gives sidelong glances.  Of course, there's also the open-the-mouth-wide-and-cry-loudly-while-giving-a-sidelong-glance-to-the-person-that-is-keeping-me-from-doing-or-getting-what-I-want.  Most of these don't last long since he never gets what he wants, but I usually have to suppress a laugh at how ridiculously cute he still looks.

Nathan is everywhere and into everything.  He has finally discovered our sweet Greyhound, Valentine.  She had always patiently endured Michael tugging on her fur and ears and putting his fingers in her nose and ears.  And now she is once again patiently allowing another little baby to crawl over her body as he discovers his little world.

A List of 10

Several years ago, I heard a story about a woman who had been happily married for 30+ years.  She was asked by a younger woman what her secret was.  The woman stated that in the beginning of her marriage, she had decided that she would make a list of 10 things her husband did that bothered her, and those 10 things, she would choose to let them go and not let them irritate her.  The younger woman then asked her what was on her list of 10 things.  The woman replied that she never actually made a list, but every time her husband did something that irritated her, she would just say to herself, "Well, that's one of his 10 things."

Eric and I talked about this story yesterday, then we sat down and started to work on our lists.  Yes, we're writing them down because if I don't, I'm more likely to say, "Well, that's NOT one of the 10 things, so I'm going to nag about that."  Thankfully, neither of us could think of 10 things, so there's still room on our lists!  But during one of my Quiet Times recently, I read Mark 9:35, where Jesus said "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all."  With that in mind, I find it so much easier to pick-up and clean-up after everyone.

On a lighter note:  Earlier, while cooking in the kitchen, I decided to let Nathan play in my cabinet of tupperware and mixing bowls to help keep him occupied and out of trouble.  On a scale of 1-10, the noise Nathan made was maybe a 2 or 3.  But then Michael saw Nathan playing with the mixing bowls and decided he wanted to play, too.  I'm sure you can easily imagine how much fun he had and how joyously a 2 1/2 year old boy can throw stainless steel bowls at each other and on to our slate floors, purely for the joy of watching them bounce off each other and hear that magnificent "CLANG" and "CLONG" they made.  The noise level was so loud that I started to worry about hearing damage for all 3 of us!

Dedicating this Blog

Well, I've never blogged before, but I guess you have to start somewhere and sometime, right?  So far, Eric and I have 2 wonderful sons, Michael and Nathan.  This blog is dedicated to both of our sons.

What's new?

Well, Michael and Nathan have started to play together.  The first time was when Michael entertained Nathan while both sat in their car seats.  Michael is forward facing while Nathan is still rear-facing.  One time, while driving them around, I heard Nathan break out into a laugh, followed immediately by Michael laughing.  Looking in the rear-view mirror, I saw Michael looking over at Nathan, then repeatedly stick out his tongue and blow as hard as he could, making a "phthbbb" sound, spit flying everywhere and drool dripping down the front of his shirt.  Nathan would burst out laughing, then Michael would laugh, then repeat.

Another time, Nathan was on all fours on the carpet.  Michael dropped to all fours, got right in Nathan's face, both giggled, then Michael took off crawling.  Nathan, still giggling, followed after him.

Newest thing that we're teaching them:  For Nathan, I'm teaching him how to crawl up and down the stairs.  He likes to go up, but he fusses when I try to teach him how to go back down.  For Michael, we're teaching him to say a bedtime prayer: "Dear Jesus, Thank you for my family.  Thank you for my friends.  Thank you for my blessings.  Amen."