I have the sweetest 2 1/2 year old little boy!! Sorry ladies, the Lord gave me the most precious of all :). Lately, Truett has been expressing his thankfulness to me in abundance. I don't know what brought this on. We don't reward him for being thankful, so I know that's not motivating him. He is just thankful.

Like yesterday, we were driving down Bayshore and he was looking out at the water and was talking to himself as he was remembering a recent time when I scooped him and his baby brother up to go see the cruise ship set out from port. We raced to the end of Davis Islands and sat on the beach and watched the big ship go by. Truett waved his arms in delight and shouted over and over, "I'm seeing an ocean liner! A real one! Out in the Tampa Bay!" We had been learning about things that go in water and he has always taken to the big ships. So when I got the text from Artie that the cruise ship was in full view, I couldn't resist to bring Truett happiness. I delighted to go and do that because Truett did.

As Truett was remembering that fun, spontaneous outing he gently said to me, "Mommy, thank you. Thank you for taking me to see the ocean liner. Thank you, Mommy."

And again, one night last week I took Truett out on a 'late night' date (past HIS bedtime) just the two of us to go get ice cream (because we always have Wes with us too of course). We had the most precious time together. He is just a joy! And all the way home he was telling me thank you. Over and over again. I got to where I wanted to tell him he didn't have to tell me thank you that much, but he was enjoying telling me. And he always wanted me to affirm it by saying 'you're welcome, I had fun too'. (Side note - a few nights later I was asking Truett if he would want to go on another date with just Mommy. His response, "well, Mommy, I think you need to take Wesee with just you, not Truett." Such a loving child!)

And tonight, I was cleaning up the kitchen from dinner and Truett looks over at me and says, "I loves you, Mommy. So much!" Ok, I'm going to burst with love for this child...I can't stand it!

The point is this ... Truett's thankfulness blesses me. It endears him to me even more. Does he HAVE to say thank you? No. But he does. And often. And if I'm being honest, it makes me want to bless him more because I know he'll be thankful. Truly, it just doesn't get much better than that. A child being genuinely thankful. I got a very small glimpse of how God must feel when we are thankful to Him. How much it must bless Him when we exude gratefulness for how much He demonstrates His love for us. To worship Him in gratitude brings Him glory!

Everytime Truett says thank you I can't help but smile. I have a new perspective on the Heaven-end of being thankful to God. How cool to know that when I am truly, genuinely thankful it might possibly bring a smile to the Holy Face of God, and maybe, just maybe, it endears me to Him even more than before.

"Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe"

**Me and my sweet friend, Hannah

***Wibke, Becky and Grace

Our church just finished a sermon series entitled, "52 Days", which was a study of the book of Nehemiah, in the Bible. In this book, a man becomes burdened for the city of God to be rebuilt and established for the worship of the One True God. Through many miracles of favor with the king, to unlimited resources, to victory over discouragement and doubt, to hearts being renewed in the strength of the Lord, to families being united in purpose, and ultimately all to the glory of God with an onlooking city from ruins to restoration. Nehemiah led the people in the building project and in the pursuit of God. He demonstrated perseverence and hope, and led the people in humiliy, diligence, and honour.

Happy 1st Birthday Wesley! I would call this post "Happy Birthday Wes" but really, this post is a reflection of the past year as a whole...for me.

As I rocked Wesley on the night of his birthday, I was thinking what my life would be like had he not been born. This thought occured to me immediately, "way too manageable!!!"

Some days, I feel like the past year has flown by. Other days, I felt it would never end. Plainly put, this past year has been a wonderful yet hard year. Wonderful in the obvious. A child being born into our family, the gift of new life, the fun and excitement of having a new baby and new person to get to know, the fun of Truett having a sibling and constant playmate, the blessing of Carrie knowing another one of her nephews and just Wesley- he's a lively, funny and fearless little one. So brave and full of adventure already. He gets easier as he grows. He likes to be in the know of whats going on. You won't really find him playing off by himself (like his brother Truett likes to do). He is always roaming from room to room, seeing what everybody else is up to. He'll come spend some time with Mommy while I make the bed in the morning, then he'll roam into Truett's room and knock over whatever he's trying to build or setup in his room, he'll go to the kitchen to check on Daddy for a bite of whatever he's eating or to climb on the dishwasher and then he'll go to the dining room and peer out the french doors to see what anyone/thing is doing outside. He's a climber and an active little fellow. I like to call him "complete BOY". He loves to spit his water, throw his food, knock things down and tumble. He also has quite a thing for snuggling. He is a super sweet hugging boy. He always has been. O, and he loves Elmo. He is a complete delight and I can't imagine our family without him.


BUT (not to be used as a negation of the good), it has been a hard year too. For many reasons. I will list a couple. One is the simple addition of another baby so quickly. Sometimes I wonder if people think I actually tried and anticipated having another baby that quickly (16 months almost to the day, to be exact). Well, to clear the record...I DIDN'T! He is a complete miracle, destined-to-be-here kind of baby (if you know what I mean ;) ). And I will be the first to tell you, I didn't take to it very well. Especially in the beginning. Which is my number two reason. I found struggles with all sorts of ugly things in ME, but one in particular (which I'm convinced will be the number God will be doing on me until I am like Him in glory!) is a struggle with control. I think all us moms deal with it to some degree when we become mothers, lets be honest. But for me, having the two babies so close together was a huge catalyst in my life to chizzle CHUNKS of the ugly thing away. Wesley was a very good baby, but he never did take to any of my scheduling (which is a nice way to say "control"). I would list out things he "wouldn't do" or "would do" that drove me crazy, but really - in reflecting on this past year - it was ME that was making such a struggle with it. It just drove me crazy that things were not predictable, calm and/or easy. (Now, I'm not being hard on Wesley, he just was sooooo different than my firstborn and it drove me nuts that he was, because THAT was how I knew how to do this!) Clearly now, I was the one that needed to adapt. (And all this was going on while reason #3 was crashing on us...which I will possibly write about at another time.)

I am grateful for this work of God in my life. I'm sure I have alot more to learn (especially through the babies yet to be born. Yes, we want more even after all this! And now I know why people stop having children after they have two close together), but I find so much peace knowing that God hasn't left me like I was. Through all of this (and other catalysts), I have learned to endure and push through hard things. I mean, you can't just run away and leave when it gets hard. (Though I did tell Artie one night in my tiredness that I wanted to just get in the car and drive to Texas and back just to be alone and quiet! The next morning I told Artie I was going to the grocery store and he quickly chimed in with "I thought you were going to TX?" Ha ha! At least we could laugh about it!) I have learned to keep going, keep giving, keep loving, keep ministering, keep seeking the Lord, keep finding fulfillment in His call, staying grateful, walking in the ways of the Spirit, loving in DEED, sacrificing and most of all trusting Him to be everything in me that I need to go on.

Now, I know this is so small in comparison to the struggles of world hunger, billions of people in the world not knowing the Lord, and the fact that people out there are suffering far worse than me. (And I have a post about all that coming, that is burning in my heart!) But, I also know that the God who redeemed me from the path I was headed on loves me enough to do this work in me through any and all means in my life, including and especially my children and husband. Praise God! They continue to be God's greatest tool in my selfish life. I am so grateful for my faithful, patient husband who always reminds me of and illustrates the calm of Christ in my times of chaos. But I guess that's what marriage is all about...standing by each other during the deep works of God in our lives, which can be a pretty dirty construction site at times. At least on my end it is.

So here's to a year, FULL of many blessings, happy times, laughter, and much joy. And also to the difficulties, which God will always use to produce in us the glory of Him!

In the words of a wise friend, "The days are long, but the years are short."