Our New Year's Eve baby was soundly sleeping when we rang in the New Year.
The Chief and I both agreed that as blessed as our last New Year's Eve was, we much preferred 2012 over 2011. 
The first birthday cake was thoroughly dissected, tasted, and enjoyed.
This month finds Josiah giving kisses and dancing. His cuteness overwhelms me. lol
I can barely talk above a whisper. I lost my voice late Sunday night. Not having a voice is challenging. Way challenging.
Tuesday morning the carpet in our hallway was strangely wet. There are five kids in my house. Statistics say, somebody spilled something. A couple hours later it was wetter. It was time to phone the Chief and launch a bigger investigation. The culprit was a pinhole in the plumbing. With the amount of water pressure coming into the house, that pinhole was a constant little spray. Commence operation fix leak, restore water. My handy husband (thank God for youtube and texts to my stepdad) spent all of his evening working hard to get water restored. We live in the middle of nowhere. The hardware store closed and the final fix couldn't be made until this morning when the store opened. The Chief got our part and within minutes I could hear him saying, "Now we're cookin' with peanut oil!" (Phil - Duck Dynasty).
Josiah learned to jump. Video evidence below.
Judah has started wearing glasses part-time. The doctor expects him to outgrow his eye strain and not need the glasses later on. In the mean time, we think he is pretty cute.
Our nativity scene has added a few characters. One is obvious. The other additions are tiny and harder to spot. See anything that doesn't belong?
Preseason basketball practice got a little overcrowded. Good thing it was time to start regular season practice. Check out Gracie taking a foul shot (during preseason practice) below.
Hoping the weekend finds us with dry carpets and restored voices!
"But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You; Let them ever shout for joy, because You defend them; Let those also who love Your name Be joyful in You. For You, O LORD, will bless the righteous; With favor You will surround him as with a shield." (Ps 5:11-12)
(Thanks to the Chief for loaning me his iPad pics and video.)
As we are doing all our Christmas things, I am remembering how I felt doing them last year at 36+ weeks pregnant!
Josiah points at things and whispers "tisit?" So cute. It is his version of "what is it?" It started one day when we were looking at a bug. He was pointing at it and I was saying, "what is it? what do you see?" Now he points at things and whispers "tisit".
He lifts his hands in the air to praise Jesus when he hears music and joins in with his own little singing voice. He's precious.
Did you know they are dropping the ball in Time Square for his birthday this year?
Yesterday, I shared my heart with you about the attack on family. Today, I want to share with you a sermon (Thanks for sending me the link, Joy!) about the attack on teens. Have your tissues ready. I know it is long-ish but I hope you won't let long-ish stop you from hearing a dad pour his heart out to the youth at his church. This pastor is sharing his son's personal story. My two oldest daughters will have listened to this before the day is out. It is powerful. It is honest. Very honest.
May every yoke be broken from this generation, in Jesus' name!
Living 6 or 7 hours away from family brings Thanksgiving into perspective. We are so thankful for our vacation time to be able to drive in for a visit! We are so thankful for cousin reunions. It makes those three or four times a year so precious to us! I am amazed when I see the cousins (my nieces and nephews) pick up right where they left off the last time they were together (sometimes months in between visits). I believe their hearts are knit together by God. After all, he designed them to be family. He chose for them to belong to the same "tribe". God is so good!
(Pictured is one half of our cousin tribe in our big white mammoth van.)
I've watched these babies grow (and the babies not pictured too). The days have turned into years much too fast!
I read some statistics on family this week that just breaks my heart. The enemy desires to separate and divide families. He desires to steal a generation. If ever we pray, we must pray for our children, our nieces, our nephews, our grandchildren, our neighbor's children, the children in our church...
An Assessment of Today's Families
The family today is in desperate need of help. Consider the following staggering statistics:
One out of every three children is born out of wedlock.
One out of every two marriages ends in divorce, including Christian marriages.
One out of every three pregnancies ends in abortion.
One million teenage girls became pregnant out of wedlock.
Five hundred thousand of those girls will abort their babies.
Of all the 14 Year Old girls alive today, 40 percent will become pregnant by their 19th birthday.
60 percent of all church-involved teenagers are sexually active.
Other statistics that impact the health of the family:
One out of every four students drop out of high school.
66 percent of American high school seniors have used illegal drugs.
We have 90 million functional illiterates in our society.
Now, that the bejeebies have been scared out of us with those numbers, let me say that in spite of these negative statistics, there is still much hope for the family because of God's Word and the church. God has answers if we search for them with a willing heart. As sure as the enemy attacks, there is greater power in God's ability to heal and to restore!
See previous post, "Scriptures to pray for my children".
Statistics taken from Hope for the Family.
I love this printable bookmark of scriptures to pray over my children. Such a great reminder of God's promises!
(Click here for other great ways to pray for your children/grandchildren.)
I'm devastated blown away that my New Year's baby is about to be a year old. He has twelve teeth. Shakes head for "no". Tries to wrestle with dad and big brother. He wins, for now. Time changed and he didn't (way to mess up a baby's schedule, daylight savings). He doesn't like shoes but needs to wear them because he walks everywhere. Sweet as ever.
2012, why are you passing so quickly? So cruel.
Half-dressed baby on the loose.
Now if I can just figure out what he did with that other sock.
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