Christmas Photos

the 3 amigos

sound asleep...

our first bites of banana




an ice storm

note the feeding trough on the donkey's head...

we let Demani help us decorate the tree...he proceeded to throw the ornaments on the tree with amazing accuracy...

Merry Christmas to all!!

Merry Christmas!

Holiness in the Midst of a Mess

(written for MOPS, Mothers of Preschoolers)

Christmas is all about celebrating the birth of Jesus. The birth of our Redeemer and the birth of Hope. The birth of a baby is beautiful, joyous, painful, and messy. Can you seriously imagine giving birth in a barn? I can’t even fathom what it must have been like! There wasn’t a sterile environment, just the floor of the barn and hopefully a bed of hay for Mary to lay on. There was no running hot water, just a muddy stable. There were no women there to help Mary birth Jesus– I am sure Joseph did his best. It’s a good bet that animals were the only witnesses to baby Jesus’ arrival. It was a messy endeavor at best. Why did it have to be so messy? Why did Jesus have to be born in this way? Why in a barn….

Because we are messy. You and me. We live in a messy place called Earth and we lead crazy, messy lives. We live in the midst of mess: broken relationships, bitterness, unrepentant spirits, squabbling children, sadness, tight budgets, tiredness, and some of us have spit up on our shirts. Our lives are complicated, broken, and messy and we can’t simplify, mend, or clean it all up.

Jesus was born pure and holy and He stayed that way in the midst of a messy world. He was born into a world of mess to be our Rescuer, to make the way to God a more simpler route. He came to mend our broken hearts and lives, and to be the final atonement so that God sees us as clean and welcomes us into His kingdom. See, Jesus is okay with coming into a mess and will give us what we need to fix our messes. He will help us forgive, help us be patient and enable us to become more disciplined. Actually, to become more like Him. More holy and less messy.

We can’t hide our messes from God, He knows the areas of our lives that need work. If we truly seek to find Him, as the wisemen did that first Christmas, then He will reveal to us the messes we are hiding from ourselves. The way to become more like Jesus, more holy and less messy, is to know Him. He wants nothing more than to hang with messy me. With messy you.

As you celebrate Christmas this year, remember the messy stable and the holiness that resided there; remember the Savior born to redeem us from our messiness to live victorious lives. Celebrate this sacrifice, this redemption by striving to know Jesus better. There’s no better way to celebrate.

Happy Thanksgiving!

love this pic!
reluctantly checking out the snowman. You may recall Demani's disdain for sand? Apparently it's the same for snow!
dancing with Papa
adorable outfits from Cousaunt Rachel

Rolling...

Mekai rolled over for the first time unaided last Thursday, November 20 and Seren rolled today!! I got the second rolls on video but not the first... Demani wanted to watch the video that I had just taken of Seren rolling so Mathwon showed it to him. After seeing it and hearing the cheers when Seren rolled over he promptly laid down and started to roll over himself! Bless his heart Mathwon's dad is here for Thanksgiving and Demani is just eating him up. John was holding Seren and Demani was wanting him to play basketball (again) and he was standing next to John and pointing to Seren and saying "Done!" He wanted his Papa to play with him and be done holding Seren!

A family divided...

The 3 blessings

While the video is loading...and loading... All is well here. We are all learning a lot these days...that feet are fun to play with, that mommy loves when I give her those wide mouth drooly smiles, that the will of a toddler is AMAZING, and that love isn't enough. My love that is. I realized this after losing my temper with Demani during another torturous diaper changing session. I immediately felt bad and asked Demani for his forgiveness and in the midst of our hug I was blindsided with the truth that my love isn't enough. It brought me to tears. I can't love Demani enough, though I love him so much I would do anything for him and still my love falls dreadfully short. My love for him doesn't prevent me from losing my temper with him. It doesn't keep me from getting so frustrated with him that I wonder if I should rethink preschool. My love for him doesn't absolve the times that what mommy has to do is more important than Demani. I can't love him enough. It was a sobering realization. And I wondered, what do I do with this? In that moment I was so aware of my short comings and my imperfection and my sin and thus so acutely aware of my need for God and His perfect love. It was such a vivid lesson for me. I really feel like something clicked for me... In order for me to love Demani the best I can, I have to love him with a love that is not my own. I have to open myself up and let God take control of Bethany and then and only then can I have any hope of displaying to Demani what love truly is.

The video never loaded (I finally accepted this after several tries taking several hours)....soooo here are some pictures. I'll try video again soon.


Nothing's better than eating cereal with Dad on my Spiderman couch and watching Monday Night Football!

Sleepy babies


Oatmeal and a Little Bear book (Thanks Mrs. Vickie!). What a way to start a day!

Some kids in our neighborhood built tepees in the woods next to our house.

The Birthday Boy

We celebrated Demani's birthday on his birthday, Saturday October 25. The theme was Little Bear. There were friends and family, tons of delish food, and yummy cake. Though the birthday boy preferred his fruit :) over his birthday cake! Demani was a champ and blew out his candles in one breath as if we had practiced or something! How did he know exactly what to do? It's amazing how they do that...

I can't quite capture in words or pictures all that Demani is :) I could jump on the blog daily and tell you story after story and I still wouldn't quite capture the essence of Demani. He has become quite vocal and a bit demanding as he turned two, it's as if someone flipped a switch...he is amazing with his brother and sister. He practically lays on them to hug them and he lets them grab at him and tug on his hair. He just laughs and points as if to say, "she got me!" He has taken to trying to scare us and will say 'boo' a lot :) He enjoyed the world series and has a T-ball thing to hit balls off of. He loves baseball.

We still have dance party every Friday and sometimes daily! He is a big fan of Faith Hill's song that introduces Sunday Night Football. We jammed to it last night about 4 times...seriously... after the first time ended he went and got the remote...apparently he knows we can rewind! Last weekend was a fabulous weekend of celebrating Demani and the gift he is to us. Happy Birthday little man!


I've never been thankful for road work before...

Dressed up as a farmer to hand out candy (I pulled it together as trick or treaters were coming up the driveway...) His mouth is open because he is saying one of his favorite words...'mine'.

Workbench from Grandpa Howard. Thanks Grandpa!

Tent from Seren and Mekai for his birthday.

Playing with blocks with Grammy and Grampy and Seren

Trying out the cake

Enjoying the birthday song

Blowing out the candles

A visit from Great-Aunt Nene

Yum!

Fresh from a bath

Raking Leaves

At Caleb's birthday party with Fox
Demani's "twin" and good buddy Caleb
Playing at the park at Caleb's birthday party

Playing in the leaves
Helping daddy rake

Melted

On this day, October 17, 2008 Demani Kade said I love you back to me. I said I love you when Mathwon was taking him to put him in bed and he said "love you." I was a puddle. I think Mathwon was one too.

Then within 5 minutes of being in his crib, Mathwon checked on him because he was making a lot of noise and he had taken off his jammies and was sitting there in his undershirt and diaper with one sock on and one sock stuck in the footie of the jammies....this is what Friday nights are made of :)

Seren and Mekai - 4months old!

Seren and Mekai are 4 months old already! Tomorrow is their 4 month birthday. They had a dr appt yesterday and they are both growing well.

Mekai
2 months: 22 1/2 inches long, 10 lbs
4 months: 25 inches long, 12 lbs 13 oz


Seren
2 months: 21 5/8 inches long, 9lbs 4oz
4 months: 24 1/4 inches long, 12 lbs 2 oz

Their heads are both 15 1/2 inches :)

For their 4 month birthday they slept through the night for the first time on Thursday night! From 10:30pm to 7am!!!

A pretty drive

Peanut butter and jelly with Dad. And Mom's favorite jammies (from Auntie Timo) on Mekai (Demani wore them too!)
Oatmeal with puppy (a daily ritual)
Boys will be boys ;)


Pretty little Seren


Demani diapering his little friends

I followed a friend to MOPS today and she took a different way than I have ever gone before. The drive was breath-taking. The hills were bursting forth with every shade of orange, red, and yellow. It was just a great way to calm down after the craziness of trying to get ready to get out the door. It was a wonderful way to start the day - God's splendor all over the hills in radiant color and in my van, in the form of three little blessings. It's a good day. Demani's diaper rash is getting better (from rough diapers due to teething and antibiotics) The antibiotics due to a double ear infection...and through it all he still smiles but it's been a rough week or so for the little man. But we are on the mend.

Happy Fall!

Fall has officially arrived here in Upstate New York! The trees are becoming more colorful and vibrant each day and we have a pumpkin and a mum and have enjoyed some cider and donuts so yep it's official! :)

We've been trying to enjoy getting outside as much as we can before the weather turns. Mathwon and Demani go 'sledding' on the hill in our backyard. The two of them enjoy countless walks and trips outside. Last week Mathwon took Demani to the zoo here in Binghamton...they went to IHOP first for breakfast! We also went to Endicott Cider Mill with friends and Demani enjoyed some apple cider! We went to the Apple Fest and to Apple Hills with Aunt Linda.

We recently enjoyed a visit from Aunt Tiffany, my Aunt Linda and Aunt Nene, and my Grandpa and his sister-in-law Ada May! As well as from Dave, Shelley, and Jaime who were on their way home from seeing Trevor in Boston. It's been a fun month!

And believe it or not, Demani's second birthday is just around the corner....

I think I recently turned a corner ( I hope so) regarding finding myself in Binghamton, NY. This week a bunch of my family is vacationing together in Myrtle Beach. As I texted back and forth with my sister who is there, she texted, I wish you were here. I paused just for a moment and looked at my cozy home, where 2 little angelic faces looked up at me, my hubby was enjoying some well earned football watching, and my oldest was fast asleep in his crib and I thought to myself, I am right where I want to be. It seems so simple and maybe silly but I feel like it is a big step and is progress in the right direction. Nothing feels more right than to have a peace about where you are in life. So though a walk on the beach and hanging with family sounds like a lot of fun - the hills of Bing and the color that is bursting from them is beginning to feel 'right'. Soak up some sun for me Kendra!

Seren and Mekai are all smiles. And Demani has had a lot of tears this week...teething. ;( No fun for a little guy. He is faring well though. He sure dotes on his siblings - he is always hugging them, wiping their faces with a burp rag, or making them smile. He enjoys copying what he sees mom and dad do and has taken to diapering, feeding, and swaddling....his puppy. He puts him in the swing too and pushes the swing...it's just too cute. The babies are growing so fast and will be 4 months old Oct 12 and Demani will be 2 Oct 25!