Bike Day

Today was "Bike Day" at Cherish's preschool. The parents were invited to attend, and I will say: it was a lot of fun!

Here are some pictures of Cherish with her schoolmates:

When we returned home from China, I noticed that Cherish had completely outgrown her helmet, and that she was outgrowing her bike. So, we got her a new helmet, and she will soon be getting a bigger bike. But for now, she was happy to have a bike she was accustomed to:

 Every time around the track,

she was goo-goo-gaa-gaa over Andrew sitting watching her:

My side-kick:

 When she finished riding her bike, she played hopscotch...

 with her bike helmet on =):

What a great day to be a VPK student!

Andrew's first time at the beach

Eww! What is this stuff?

 Cherish explaining sand and shells:

"What's that?"

A kite!

(That Cherish purchased for Andrew out of her own money.)

Back to the sand and liking it better:

 Birds! (which he loves)

Signing and saying "Birds!"

Chasing the birds:

With no fear:

Awed:

He found a treasure...

A feather:

He kept running away and chasing the birds:

And, thus, that was pretty much the remainder of my time at the beach:

chasing Andrew who was chasing the birds.

He had a blast!

He sleeps with Jesus

Andrew has been plagued with nightmares and night terrors ever since we received him. He suffers greatly. Pretty much every night. Some nights with multiple night terrors.

Tuesday afternoon during nap time Andrew had a night terror that was the worst I had ever witnessed and the longest I had ever seen him endure. After his nap, Andrew found a little New Testament on one of my bookshelves. He picked it up and carried it around the house, hugging it tightly.

I had an idea. I placed it under his pillow for him to sleep with. He seemed quite pleased.

Before bedtime I showed him the Bible under his pillow and prayed over him. He reached under the pillow, felt the Bible, smiled, and rolled over to sleep.

He woke up twice that night but had no night terrors. 

Last night Pappy and Nanny treated Cherish and Andrew to an afternoon and evening out. This was a first for Andrew--being away from home without his mommy. He seemed a bit disturbed as the car he was riding in was driving away from our house without mommy in it!

Derek and I went on a date, and then picked the children up at Pappy and Nanny's house afterwards. The children had a change in their schedules and they went to bed late--two ingredients that I have found trigger the worst nightmares and night terrors for Andrew.

I reminded Andrew that he was going to "sleep with Jesus" and showed him his New Testament. Once again, he smiled, reached under his pillow, felt the Bible, and turned over and went to sleep.

He. never. woke. up. once. last. night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not once was he disturbed.

He had no bad dreams.

He had no night terrors.

He had peace!

Complete peace.

(For him and the family)

This was what I saw this morning when I went in to get him up for the day:

He has had no night terrors since the New Testament has been under his pillow!

This much I know:

Jesus is the Living Word of God (John 1).

He loves and cares for children.

He is the God of all comfort.

Andrew is now sleeping peacefully.

Thank You, LORD, for granting sweet sleep to this precious child!

40 Bags in 40 Days

Some friends of mine told me about the "40 Bags in 40 Days" challenge, and I accepted the challenge with quite a bit of excitement.

I made my list of "zones" and began the tackling process.

Day 1: "Clean out the filing cabinet and the surrounding area"

The drawers were packed!

Going through all that paperwork yielded a total of

4 garbage bags full of shredded paper!

Initially, at the end of "Day 1" I had 3 garbage bags packed with shredded paper, but on "Day 2" Derek was so excited about the progress, that he went through the files again and produced more papers to shred. It was so nice!

Day 2: "Re-file and re-label files in the filing cabinet"

Done. (The bottom drawer looks the same, but it is practically empty.) Yay for more space to file the endless paperwork that enters this house!

The process of cleaning and shredding was quite refreshing. We kept what was necessary (like old tax returns...), but we let go of so much other "baggage". It was as if we were choosing to let go of the past in order to embrace the future. It was rejuvenating.

Would you like to join the "40 Bags in 40 Days" challenge? Send me a message. I'd love to know.

Family Bonding Time

Monday, Presidents' Day, Derek took off work and treated us all to a day at the zoo. We had such a great time being together and watching Andrew experience many "firsts".

Andrew is head-over-heels for birds, zebras, and squirrel monkeys. It was a blast watching him get so excited over each and every bird that he saw and hearing him squeal with pleasure over the "littlest things"! Here are some pictures:

What a handsome man!

Surprisingly not afraid:

My map reader and someone who shared her interest:

Giddy over being able to feed the giraffe:

The "observer":

Enough observing! Get that boy up and on that slide!

He was afraid at first:

But, here he is the second time down and look at that smile:

What. a. smile!!!!!

Do it again! (And this time, take off his hat so momma can see his face!)

Yes! He likes it!

Watching the squirrel monkeys:

He watched and watched them.

My climber taking a little break:

It was so wonderful being all together.

What a fun day!

Family Time

We are so blessed when family comes by to visit. It. makes. our. day. week. month! It was so nice to have Uncle Acie, Aunt Maureen, and my brother drop in for a visit yesterday. It was great!

Tea Party Hostess:

Andrew's first time on the trampoline:

(He likes his sister's scooter.)

Good night kisses:

What a fantastic day!

We love our family!